ATLAS TRANSLATES

Kong Wei was opening presents at her desk.

Behind her, Yu Simin opened the dorm door and immediately noticed the girl standing there. “Senior Ye?”

With only a few female students in the Physics Department this year, Ye Jingxian remembered them. She smiled as she walked into room 407: “I’m here to find Xu Qian and Bai Lian.”

Kong Wei was always respectful to seniors and stood up to greet Ye Jingxian.

Ye Jingxian came to convince Bai Lian and Xu Qian to participate in the freshman performance. “It’s at the end of the month. We haven’t finalized the program list yet, so there’s still time.”

“Xu Qian, aren’t you good at dancing?” Ye Jingxian spoke to Xu Qian. “Our Physics Department finally has a group of talented junior sisters like you. This year we’re organizing it together with the Finance Department. I heard they have a campus beauty who’s an online celebrity studying music. Our Physics Department is finally rising!”

In previous years, freshmen had always competed to perform, especially the male students.

After speaking, Ye Jingxian turned to look at Bai Lian.

Bai Lian sat at her desk with her computer pushed to one side. Her beige dress draped over the chair as she held a black pen, writing musical notation.

Ye Jingxian noticed a music theory textbook on the left and thought she must understand music theory. “Junior, how about singing a song? Perform together with Xu Qian.”

Xu Qian put down her pen and lifted her head slightly. “Senior, we’ll think about it.”

“Think about” meant there was a chance. Ye Jingxian nodded and exchanged phone numbers with Xu Qian.

“Oh right,” Ye Jingxian remembered something else and spoke to Bai Lian, “Are you interested in joining any student unions or clubs? Not just our department’s student union, but also the Youth Society. If you need anything, you can find me.”

“Thank you, Senior,” Bai Lian replied politely.

After Ye Jingxian left, Kong Wei and Yu Simin exchanged glances, noting the differences between people.

Kong Wei continued opening her gift box. Inside was a silk dust bag containing a small bangs clip shaped like an elegant butterfly. The left wing was made of a complete piece of polished light pink crystal, while the right wing was studded with clear rhinestones.

It sparkled brilliantly under the dorm lights.

Though Kong Wei’s hair wasn’t long, she immediately fell in love with the hair clip. “This is so pretty! Bai Lian, you have such good taste!”

She checked herself in the mirror and clipped it into her bangs.

Seeing the beautiful hair clip, Yu Simin also opened her gift. Her clip was the same as Kong Wei’s but in a different color.

Hers was light green crystal.

Only Xu Qian, sitting behind Bai Lian, opened her gift and placed the hair clip on some draft paper, examining the refraction of the diamonds on one butterfly wing.

The scattered diamonds completely obscured the black writing on the draft paper beneath.

Xu Qian studied the small clip closely, noting its handmade craftsmanship, but couldn’t match it to any brand.

At seven o’clock, the class gathered. Yu Simin and Kong Wei touched up their makeup and changed clothes. When they called for Bai Lian, she was still reading.

The Physics Building was some distance from the freshman girls’ dorm.

The four roommates set out at 6:40. Yu Simin’s gathering point was upstairs.

Kong Wei, Xu Qian and Bai Lian went to room 302. The door was half open, and they could hear voices before entering. Kong Wei led them in and they sat in the last row.

Students sat together by dorm room groups.

Almost everyone had arrived.

Theory Class 1 had slightly more female students than other classes.

Seven girls in total – the other four had already arrived and were sitting closer to the front, chatting animatedly with classmates.

The arrival of Bai Lian’s group drew quite a bit of attention. Kong Wei was naturally friendly with everyone, Xu Qian was somewhat cold, and Bai Lian’s face stood out from the crowd.

The male students in the second-to-last row glanced back, staring at the three girls for a few seconds before coming to their senses.

Suddenly they began to doubt whether these girls really belonged in their Physics Department.

In front, one male student nudged his neighbor’s shoulder. “The freshmen in our Theory class this year are top-tier beauties, no worse than the English or Finance departments…”

Many gazes turned their way, but Bai Lian calmly kept her head down, reading her textbook undisturbed.

Just then, the front door opened.

The Theory class advisor entered – a middle-aged man, not very tall, wearing gold-rimmed glasses. He only brought his phone and introduced himself quite humorously.

Then he scanned the whole class and spoke directly, “Where is student Bai Lian? Come up and introduce yourself.”

At the name “Bai Lian”…

Some were unfamiliar with the name, but students from Jiangjing Affiliated Middle School knew it well and began whispering amongst themselves.

Though Bai Lian was reading, she was always good at multitasking. Hearing the advisor’s voice, she stood up in her beige linen dress, her black hair casually pinned up with a jade hairpin.

Her eyebrows had just been shaped by Lu Xiaohan that afternoon, making them slightly thinner. Her usually lazy yet beautiful eyes with their hint of wildness now carried an added classical beauty.

She picked up the chalk and calmly introduced herself, writing her name stroke by stroke on the blackboard—

Bai Lian.

The previously relaxed Theory class suddenly became lively.

“Wait! Isn’t this the girl who went viral on the Jiangjing University forum this afternoon? I saw that post about her, it’s got hundreds of replies,” a male student recognized her and whispered to those nearby. “She’s actually in our Theoretical Physics major?”

The students in Class 302 continued discussing.

The advisor didn’t stop them. He just turned his head to look at the girl standing straight beside him and clicked his tongue. Let them discuss – in a few more days, she probably wouldn’t belong to their Theory department anymore.

Outside.

A professor wearing a loose T-shirt passed by 302 and heard the noisy discussion. He turned his head, “Which class is this? They’re quite energetic.”

“Professor Zhou, these are Professor Xia’s students, Theoretical Physics major,” the teaching assistant replied.

Theoretical Physics was one of the lower-scoring majors in the Physics Department.

Zhou Wenqing was this year’s advisor for the Tongfeng class and a doctoral supervisor. He glanced at 302 as he walked past without further comment.

The teaching assistant handed over a list, “Professor Zhou, here’s the list of high school graduates applying for the Tongfeng class this year – 67 people. The exam is Saturday morning at 8 in the Golden Lecture Hall.”

The Tongfeng class was mainly for specially recruited students. In previous years, not many regular high school graduates applied – at most ten, with only four or five ultimately being admitted based purely on scores. Sometimes only one or two high school graduates would be accepted.

This year’s applicants far exceeded previous years, increasing seven to eight times.

After the freshman gathering and introductions finished, Bai Lian took her books to the library where Yang Lin had already saved them seats.

Xu Qian didn’t go to the library tonight.

Kong Wei returned to 407 with Xu Qian. “You and Bai Lian are working so hard! Already studying so intensely when school just started.”

“I’ve basically given up already,” Xu Qian noticed the hair clip casually pinned in Kong Wei’s bangs.

“This early?”

“The questions are difficult this year, and it’s not my strong suit.” Xu Qian looked away.

Kong Wei wasn’t familiar with the Tongfeng class exam questions. While chatting with Xu Qian, she used her phone to look for Jiangjing University and University Town forums. She only knew about the university’s Tieba forum, which mostly had official announcements.

It wasn’t until their Theory classmates explained tonight that she learned about Jiangjing University’s forum.

The forum was created and managed by computer science genius seniors. Kong Wei got the forum address from the class group chat and finally found her community. The forum had few ads but many posts about “Physics,” “Accounting,” “Graduate School Exam Past Papers” and similar topics.

Besides these, there were several pinned hot posts marked in red—

[Heard there are many applicants for Tongfeng class this year, what’s going on?]

These battles between geniuses had nothing to do with ordinary students like them.

[The Finance Department freshmen are impressive this year, several good-looking junior sisters and brothers]

And another—

[Who remembers the girl who passed by Jiangjing University last year? She’s become our junior this year!]

Kong Wei clicked on it and saw two photos at the top. The first was a side profile of a girl wearing a white jacket with her hands in her pockets.

She stood confidently under a tree, a lock of black hair falling casually across her chest, her almond eyes half-closed, looking like a lazy cat sunbathing under a winter tree.

The other photo was taken at the west gate that afternoon.

Kong Wei slowly scrolled through the replies, noting the high status levels of the responding seniors.

[Why isn’t she in our Chemistry Department? Why isn’t she in our Chemistry Department? Why isn’t she in our Chemistry Department?]

[100 yuan reward for freshman’s phone number and WeChat]

[Latest news: seems she’s a Physics Department freshman!]

[I say she’s this year’s freshman beauty queen, anyone disagree?]

[…]

The university students’ gossip abilities couldn’t be underestimated. They quickly dug up Bai Lian’s name.

Kong Wei even saw a photo of Bai Lian’s back as she wrote her name.

It must have been posted by someone from their class.

As Kong Wei browsed the thread, other freshmen had also discovered the unofficial forum’s address.

Gradually, more content appeared under this hot post.

Wang Xu: [Bai Lian – pretty face, right? Beautiful name, right? Aren’t there any freshmen who can’t breathe when they see this name?]

Fellow Freshman: [How could we not know her? I recognized her as soon as I saw her photos. Thank goodness she went to Physics and not our Math Department.]

[Chemistry Department seniors, please spare us (crying)]

What was this about? The internet-savvy seniors dug deeper—

[Bai Lian scored perfect marks on this year’s national exam, surpassing Liang Wuyu to become the top scorer. Here’s her score [screenshot]. Also, both she and Liang Wuyu have registered for the Tongfeng class exam [registration screenshot]]

With this final reply, the post completely blew up.

Bai Lian knew nothing about this as she carried her books and laptop to the library between the Rose and South Plum areas.

Many students were out at this hour.

Not far away, the Song family and Bai Qiming were still on campus, escorting Song Min and Bai Shaoqi back to their dorms.

Bai Qiming walked alongside Mr. Yin, discussing business matters. Bai Qiming’s mood had improved slightly recently after hearing that Bai Shaoke had caught Dr. Zuo’s attention. Thoughts of Bai Lian didn’t pain him as much anymore.

Though he still occasionally thought about it in the middle of the night.

Mrs. Song walked behind with Bai Shaoqi. “For the freshman performance, will you play the guzheng?”

Bai Shaoqi nodded, “I heard some department leaders will come watch. The seniors all want me to perform.”

Her video account was always popular on social media.

She had natural influence and was skilled at socializing. In just a few days, she had already gained some reputation in the Finance Department.

Though Song Min’s grades weren’t as good as Bai Lian’s, he had long been involved in company business with the Song family and Mr. Yin, becoming a hot new talent in the financial world. Among the Finance Department freshmen, his popularity was no less than Bai Shaoqi’s.

Along the way, many Finance Department students greeted Bai Shaoqi and Song Min.

“Will your dean come? Dean Feng is the chairman of Jiangjing’s Industry and Commerce Federation.” Mr. Yin heard this and turned his head. He had specially accompanied Bai Qiming today to see Bai Shaoke, and they had just finished dinner with him before sending him to the library.

“Not sure,” Song Min shook his head. “Just heard some leaders will come.”

Mr. Yin advised: “Try to get offers from your Finance Department’s student union.”

Besides Bai Shaoke, Mr. Yin’s willingness to escort them to school was also due to his relationships with Bai Shaoqi and Song Min.

As they walked, Song Min suddenly stopped, his gaze fixed ahead.

Mrs. Song was puzzled. Looking up, she saw a girl wearing bluetooth earphones approaching. Her head was slightly lowered, long eyelashes downcast, her manner lazy yet natural, steady and reserved, walking toward the library.

It was Bai Lian.

Bai Qiming also stopped. Watching the girl walk toward them, he seemed to return to two months ago. Over these two months, the people at the Bai family ancestral hall had mentioned Bai Lian to him hundreds of times.

Mr. Yin didn’t know Bai Lian, only thinking that Jiangjing University’s students were quite attractive this year.

Mrs. Song’s smile also faltered slightly as she spoke: “Bai Lian…”

Bai Lian casually turned a page of English reading, her peripheral vision catching the group ahead.

Beside them.

Hearing the familiar name, a middle-aged man stopped and smiled warmly upon seeing Bai Lian: “Student Bai Lian.”

Bai Lian also recognized him. She removed her earphones, walked past Bai Qiming and Mr. Yin’s group up the steps, and politely greeted him: “Dean Shu.”

“Coming to the library so late?” Dean Shu stood on the steps, noting the computer and books in her hands, understanding dawning: “Taking the Tongfeng class exam?”

Bai Lian put away her bluetooth earphones and took out her student card. “Yes.”

“Confident?”

Bai Lian’s fingers idly tapped her student card. Hearing this, she raised an eyebrow.

Dean Shu showed understanding, sighing with a smile, “Of course. Student Bai Lian, I still hope you’ll come to our department.”

After their brief exchange, Bai Lian used her card to enter the library. Dean Shu naturally wouldn’t greet strangers and walked past Bai Qiming’s group.

This was the first time Bai Qiming had heard of the Tongfeng class. He watched Bai Lian’s retreating figure, still not fully understanding: “What’s the Tongfeng class?”

“There’s a saying: China’s geniuses look to Jiangjing University, Jiangjing’s geniuses look to Tongfeng. The Tongfeng class is Jiangjing’s ceiling – those resources aren’t something ordinary students can compare to. They can apply for lab positions as freshmen,” Mr. Yin sighed, suddenly remembering something and asked Mrs. Song, “That girl heading to take the Tongfeng exam, you know her?”