ATLAS TRANSLATES

Professor Ma had a dedicated rest room at Jiang University.

It was quite a distance from the Physics building, so Bai Lian had to take a campus shuttle to get there.

As soon as she got off the shuttle, she noticed people from the Finance Department waiting at the bus stop. Bai Lian had become quite well-known at Jiang University these past few days, easily recognizable by both her face and her reserved demeanor.

Today she wore a simple long T-shirt and black jeans. Her clothes were often embroidered by Ji Heng.

The T-shirt had a simple, lazy-looking black cat embroidered on the left side.

The loose top made her look slender. With her Bluetooth earphones and upright posture, she deterred anyone who might have wanted to ask for her WeChat.

—

“That’s Bai Lian from the Physics Department,” Finance Department director Yan Zhiming turned to tell Song Min beside him. “She’s this year’s people’s choice for campus beauty. Did you know she’s performing at the welcome ceremony?”

Song Min watched her retreating figure, remembering seeing Bai Lian at Jiang Music before. His interest was piqued: “What’s she performing?”

“Singing? I think that’s it,” Yan Zhiming scratched his head, “I’m not really sure.”

Song Min nodded, not pursuing the topic further.

When they returned to the Finance Department, Song Min mentioned this to Bai Shaoqi.

Bai Shaoqi asked an upperclassman about it.

“Oh, about that,” the Finance Department senior laughed over the phone, “She was originally going to sing, but it clashed with your performance, so our president asked them to change the song. Let me see… she’s now doing a gun-spinning performance instead. But whatever they change to won’t affect you much. I see many of your fans saying they’ll come to our Finance Department’s welcome ceremony.”

Bai Shaoqi’s influence was considerable, which was good publicity for their Finance Department.

As for making Bai Lian change her performance, the Finance Department didn’t care much about it.

They didn’t think it would have any impact on them.

—

Professor Ma’s rest room was in the University’s main building.

Most professors had gone to lunch at this time.

In the rest room, Dean Huang was talking with Professor Ma at the conference table. Seeing Bai Lian, Dean Huang wasn’t surprised and greeted her with a smile: “Student Bai.”

“Professor Ma, Director Huang.” Bai Lian greeted them both.

Assistant Yun already knew Bai Lian was coming. He took a disposable cup to make her some tea.

“Sit,” Professor Ma took off his glasses, casually pointing to an empty seat nearby. “I heard you participated in the mathematical modeling competition?”

“Yes, and won first prize,” Dean Huang added from the side.

Professor Ma looked visibly pleased. “It’s good to participate in more competitions. How were today’s lectures?”

Understanding Professor Ma’s lectures wasn’t easy for freshmen. He was similar to Jiang Fuli – when encountering concepts he thought were too simple, he tended to skip over them.

Bai Lian was used to Jiang Fuli’s teaching style and could keep up with the pace.

“It was fine,” Bai Lian accepted the tea from Assistant Yun with thanks.

“Hmm.” Professor Ma was naturally satisfied with someone he had chosen at first sight. Of course, he would be even more satisfied if Jiang He could come along as part of the package.

He had just returned and given Bai Lian several academic reports. Now he asked her a few questions, which she answered one by one.

Dean Huang sat beside Professor Ma, holding his teacup, nodding as he watched.

“There’s a mid-term research meeting where one group from your Tongfeng class will be selected for a project,” Professor Ma said, getting to the point. “You all should perform well. There aren’t many projects available for freshmen, and at this stage, it tests team cooperation abilities.”

“I understand,” Bai Lian nodded.

“Also, there’s a new quantum field literature piece I’ll send you later,” Professor Ma thought briefly. “Analyze it well and try to write a report.”

Bai Lian had read enough reviews by now, and Professor Ma hoped she would gain more academic exposure.

After Bai Lian left, Dean Huang put down his teacup and sighed, “Her comprehension is truly remarkable.”

—

At the cafeteria.

Tang Ming and Ding Wenyang’s group swiped their cards in a grand procession.

The group found a place to sit. Ding Wenyang went to order food with Tang Ming. “Why is Student Bai’s card different from ours?”

New student cards all had Jiang University’s gate and sky in blue.

Though Tang Ming’s card was also from Jiang University, it had a brick-red color overall.

This was Jiang Fuli’s card. Tang Ming casually said, “Sister Lian put stickers on it.”

Stickers?

Why didn’t she use celebrity stickers?

But Ding Wenyang didn’t think much about it, because the next second he saw the card balance—

998,114.8.

Ding Wenyang was a local from Jiang City, and his family was quite well-off, but even with a good background, he had never seen anyone treat their meal card like a bank card.

He looked at the balance in silence.

Even when the group gathered to eat, Ding Wenyang still hadn’t quite recovered.

“Professor Ma’s content today was too complex,” at the table, someone started discussing today’s topology class. Few at the table understood it. “Liang Wuyu, did you understand?”

Liang Wuyu was on the side, eating while looking at his phone. Hearing this, he looked up, “I understood most of the class content, but the assigned topic’s direction isn’t very clear.”

Having no direction was normal; Ding Wenyang was also clueless.

Tang Ming looked at his group chat with Bai Lian and Jiang Fuli. Jiang Fuli had only sent two characters—

[Eight o’clock.]

He started slowly poking at his food, wondering if he should bring an extra voice recorder tonight. “Hey, where’s our group’s genius Wang Xin?”

Tang Ming asked Ding Wenyang when he noticed Wang Xin wasn’t there.

Ding Wenyang said Wang Xin was their group’s soul.

“He’s coming soon,” Ding Wenyang was just saying this when he saw Wang Xin coming from the entrance. He quickly waved to Wang Xin, “Over here!”

Wang Xin approached and nodded friendly to them, “Hello.”

—

The Tongfeng class’s afternoon courses ran from two to five-thirty.

The afternoon class was electromagnetics.

There were no evening classes, but there was self-study time, also used for academic group discussions.

Besides Professor Ma’s questions, the group meeting also had a literature report assignment. Ding Wenyang and Wang Xin were familiar with the process. “Professor Zhou asked us to find new literature for reports. I found several papers, let’s use this quantum theory one. We’ll need to look up some data to support it…”

He shared the literature in the group chat, mainly seeking the opinions of the five new students.

Liang Wuyu and Xu Zhiyue had no objections.

Ding Wenyang turned his gaze to Bai Lian’s group of three. Bai Lian was receiving the paper Professor Ma sent her, briefly looking up: “That’s fine.”

Ning Xiao and Tang Ming had no experience reading papers, but both had collected data before.

Liang Wuyu pushed his glasses up and spoke, “I’ll handle the review.”

“Sister Lian can do the main report,” Tang Ming suggested.

As part of their group’s regular scores, the presenter was also important. This person needed to calmly handle professors’ questions. Bai Lian’s previous reports at the Boyuan Base were deeply impressed in Tang Ming and Xu Zhiyue’s minds.

Hearing this, Ding Wenyang looked at Bai Lian.

She sat in the upper position, with a straight back, long fingers resting on the keyboard, raising her head to listen to them talk, her eyebrows like distant mountains, in a very relaxed posture.

Liang Wuyu and Xu Zhiyue had seen Bai Lian’s confident manner at the podium before, and neither had any objections.

Seeing that even Liang Wuyu didn’t object, Ding Wenyang also thought it was feasible. The professors would surely appreciate such a clean, beautiful, and highly intelligent female student. “Alright, then that’s settled. Bai Lian, you just familiarize yourself with the paper, make a PowerPoint, and write a summary.”

“…That’s fine,” Bai Lian had originally wanted to do their data and write the research background.

She had read many reviews, and this course report aligned with her research direction.

But since they decided to let her present, she didn’t refuse.

At seven-thirty, Bai Lian left with Tang Ming and Ning Xiao.

“You’re leaving already?” Ding Wenyang looked up, and Xu Zhiyue also looked at Bai Lian.

Tang Ming saw others still studying seriously, so he lowered his voice, “We’re going to learn from a master. Don’t worry, when I figure out Professor Ma’s question, I’ll explain it to you.”

Professor Ma’s question wasn’t easy for them to thoroughly research now, unless they had a doctoral brother tutoring them like Gao Yuan.

But Ding Wenyang didn’t discourage Tang Ming’s confidence, “Good, I’ll wait for you.”

—

At this time, there were no discussion rooms available in the library.

They also couldn’t find any empty lecture halls.

Jiang Fuli was at the coffee shop below Doctoral Building One.

Many people checked in at the doctoral building, but it also put pressure on Jiang University students, and few dared to come drink coffee at the shop below.

When Bai Lian and her two companions arrived, Jiang Fuli was already sitting on the sofa against the wall inside.

He had his computer in front of him, slightly leaning against the backrest, with stern brows and eyes, typing a few words to reply to a paper with one hand, while impatiently tapping the table with the other.

He emanated an unapproachable aura.

A waiter holding a cup of coffee hesitated and lingered five meters away from him, not daring to approach.

Bai Lian walked over and took the coffee from the waiter’s tray, “I’ll take it over.”

She walked to Jiang Fuli’s side, calmly sat down, and pushed the coffee over, “Teacher Jiang, your coffee.”

Hearing her voice, Jiang Fuli looked up, slowly took off his glasses, and sat up straight: “Professor Ma taught your class today?”

“Yes, though his explanations weren’t as clear as yours.” Bai Lian took out her phone and showed him the exercises Professor Ma had left in the morning.

Tang Ming and Ning Xiao sat somewhat nervously across from them.

Jiang Fuli finally took her phone, very casually saying, “Oh.”

He could see the general approach at a glance, but Jiang Fuli still patiently explained twice. Of course, considering Tang Ming’s intelligence across from him, he explained quite thoroughly.

At ten o’clock.

The small class ended. Because of Jiang Fuli’s presence, Tang Ming and Ning Xiao wisely packed their bags and left first.

“Oh, your grandfather told me,” Jiang Fuli slowly walked with her towards the girls’ dormitory, remembering something, “about your grandfather’s grandson’s full-month celebration. He invited me. Are you going?”

No one dared mention this to Bai Lian; only he was bold enough.

Though Xu Zhiyue had seen Bai Lian for many days and often pestered her on WeChat, she hadn’t mentioned this either.

Bai Lian stepped on the tree’s shadow, glancing at him, “Why are you asking me?”

Jiang Fuli raised his delicate brows with a “who else would I ask” expression. He said indifferently: “If you go, I’ll go. If you don’t go, why would I go?”

He was very matter-of-fact.

Bai Lian’s computer was in his hands. She casually clasped her hands together, slightly raising her head, “We’ll see.”

—

Meanwhile.

At the Mu family home, Butler Lou also conveyed this news to Mu Yining.

“Full-month celebration?” Mu Yining had just finished work, carrying the smell of alcohol. She took off her coat and thought briefly, “Let me check the time.”

If nothing else, they had to show respect to Bai Lian.

Butler Lou poured her a glass of water and looked around, “The young master hasn’t been home for a long time. You’ll inevitably meet the master then, so you should bring the young master to meet him.”

The young master he referred to was Mu Yining’s husband, Dong Xiaobo, an artist who rarely stayed at the Mu family home.

The Dong family was also quite prestigious in Jiang City, a family of scholars, on par with the current Liu family.

“He recently…” Mu Yining thought briefly, “seems to be getting close to Wanxuan.”

“Miss Ren?” Butler Lou hadn’t heard this name for a long time.

He also hadn’t seen Ren Wanxuan recently.

“Mm.” As Mu Yining spoke, she took out her phone and made a call, which Dong Xiaobo quickly answered.

“Yining,” on the other end of the phone, Dong Xiaobo’s voice showed surprise, “I’m still out now. Do you know your niece’s calligraphy is so much better than yours and Mu Shao’s! Her Liang style writing also has great character, though there’s still room for improvement. I didn’t expect the Mu family to have such an artistically talented child. My father really likes her.”