Chapter 111 - 110: Shared Glory, Heads Held High
Chapter 111: Chapter 110: Shared Glory, Heads Held High
Jiang He suggested, "It’s lunchtime. How about we go to Cafeteria Two and talk while we eat?"
Wang Xiaoqing happily agreed, "Okay, let’s go."
Jiang He then called out to Yang Xu. "Professor, why don’t you join us? There are some details about the practical implementation that we could use your expert eye on."
Yang Xu: "Huh?!"
He scratched his head and looked around before clearing his throat. "Alright, then. I happen to be hungry anyway. I’ll join you at Cafeteria Two for a quick bite."
The three of them walked off side by side.
Sun Changming: "..."
He watched their departing figures. ’A family of three... No, a teacher and his two students.’ For some reason, a sudden emptiness hollowed out his chest.
The mid-October wind blew in through the window at the end of the hall, carrying a slight chill.
Sun Changming patted the pocket of his white coat.
The craving for a cigarette hit him.
As he smoked, he suddenly thought of his late wife.
’My dear, do you still blame me for not being able to cure our son?’
Sun Changming exhaled a ring of smoke.
For a moment, it was as if he could see her and their son.
The three of them, a family. It had been so long since they’d last eaten together it felt like a memory from a past life.
’I miss you both... so much.’
...
After the pre-screening meeting ended, news about Jiang He spread like wildfire through the various circles at Southern Medical University.
Chen Hao was one of the first to find out.
As a core member of the LNR project, he was riding high and finally feeling on top of his game.
’A rising tide lifts all boats!’
Chen Hao composed himself, then dialed his dad’s number.
"Hey, Dad! Listen to this—I have some huge news!"
On the other end of the line, Father Chen sounded dismissive. "What is it now? If you need money, just spit it out."
"It’s not about money! It’s Jiang He—he published a paper! A top-tier paper in a core domestic journal! The *Chinese Journal of Surgery*! The kind of paper that could rewrite clinical guidelines! And I’m on his project team! Remember? I worked with him over the National Day holiday! My name is on it as a core member!"
"Oh. That’s nice. Good for you. Keep up the hard work."
Father Chen didn’t understand the prestige involved, so his tone remained flat.
Chen Hao held the phone in silence for a full five seconds.
Finally, he said, "Dad... this guarantees me a spot in grad school."
The other end of the line suddenly fell silent.
A full ten seconds passed.
Then Father Chen’s voice came through. "Holy crap! It’s that big of a deal?!"
Chen Hao finally smiled, satisfied. "You bet it is! Whose son do you think I am? And just look who I’m working with!"
Father Chen gushed, "Amazing, just amazing! Son, I’ll wire you some money this afternoon. Jiang He is a true benefactor to our family. Make sure you show your gratitude and repay this favor!"
Chen Hao: "Roger that!"
...
Wang Bo was also ecstatic.
Although he was currently obsessed with writing his web novel, he had contributed to this success too.
So, he wrote a special non-story Chapter to share the good news with his readers.
Minutes later, the reader comments started rolling in:
"Where’s the new Chapter?"
"I saw the update notification and dropped my pants for this? I open it and it’s just some announcement? Lame."
"Who cares if you published a paper? Hurry up and post a new Chapter!"
Wang Bo: "..."
As it turned out, his readers couldn’t care less about him publishing a paper. They only cared about how many Chapters he’d released that day.
"Tsk..."
Wang Bo sheepishly deleted the announcement Chapter, sighed, opened Word, and began the thankless grind of writing.
Objectively speaking, Wang Bo actually had a knack for writing web novels.
He had a keen sense of what readers in ’08 found satisfying, and the title of his ongoing series was *City’s Close-Combat Evil Young Master*.
In those years, the acceptable boundaries for web fiction were much, much wider.
Twelve female protagonists: the innocent campus belle, the ice-queen CEO, the fiery policewoman, the cold-blooded assassin, the peerless physician... If you know, you know.
As he wrote, Wang Bo started getting turned on by his own story.
Then, with a silky-smooth motion, he switched applications.
...
Meanwhile, Li Zijian had just finished composing a long, grandiloquent post about the paper’s publication and shared it on his QQ Space page.
Not long after, a new notification popped up in his friend requests.
It was from Han Tiantian: "Are you there? Can we meet up and talk? What happened before... it was all a misunderstanding. I’ve been wanting to find a chance to explain."
Li Zijian stared silently at the words.
If this had been right after they had broken up, he would have accepted without a second thought. He would have pathetically rushed to meet her, listened to her flimsy excuses, and begged her to take him back.
But now... at this very moment.
Looking at the message now, Li Zijian felt an indescribable, euphoric satisfaction wash over him, rushing straight to the crown of his head.
’This feels incredible!’
It turned out that when you truly started climbing in life...
...the people who once caused you unbearable pain, the ones you thought were impossibly out of your league, would suddenly seem so ridiculous, so cheap.
He tapped open the reply box and typed: "Piss off, you bitch."
He hit send.
Then, he blocked her, deleted her, all in one smooth, unbroken motion.
After all that, Li Zijian tossed his phone aside and let out a long, heavy breath.
Everything was quiet around him.
He lowered his head.
Suddenly, his eyes began to burn, reddening against his will.
His vision blurred as large, fat tears splashed onto the floor.
He clenched his jaw, trying not to make a sound, but his shoulders shook violently.
Finally, he couldn’t hold it back any longer and broke into heart-wrenching sobs.
He didn’t even know why he was crying; he just knew he had to.
Perhaps he was mourning the pathetic man he used to be, the one who saw himself as lower than dust. Or perhaps he was finally releasing all the pent-up grievances and frustrations that had been weighing on him for so long.
After that good cry, Li Zijian said goodbye to his past as a simp... and began his long journey down the path of becoming a playboy...
...
「Southern Medical University, Women’s Dormitory」
Cheng Xiyao sat at her desk, carefully organizing the theories Jiang He had discussed.
Her roommate, on the top bunk across the way, poked her head down. "Xiyao, I saw the post on the school’s BBS about that paper. It’s for the project Jiang He’s leading, right? I can’t believe he actually pulled it off—getting published in the *Chinese Journal of Surgery*! You’re so lucky you got on that team. That’s amazing!"
Cheng Xiyao’s hand paused for a fraction of a second.
She knew perfectly well that this was the same roommate who, just a few days ago, had been gossiping about her in another room, calling her a useless "vase" who was nothing but a pretty face.
Seeing this girl’s hypocritical act now, Cheng Xiyao was, in fact, gloating inside.
’Sweet, sweet vindication!’
Of course, on the surface, she remained gentle and polite. She gave a small smile and said, "I was just lucky Jiang He was willing to give me a chance. I still have some research to finish, so I’m heading to the library."
With that, she packed her bag and left.
The moment the door closed, the roommate couldn’t hold back anymore and started complaining.
"Tch, what’s with the high-and-mighty act? I have no idea how she even got in with Jiang He. Why would he let *her* onto such an important project? I bet they’ve already slept together. Heh heh..."
Another roommate chimed in, "Exactly. And I heard she’s on Dingxiang Garden every day, chasing after some ’expert.’ Does she really think she’s some kind of femme fatale of the academic world? A pretty face is just a pretty face."
In fact...
Cheng Xiyao had only closed the door. She hadn’t walked away.
She stood quietly outside, hearing every single word from inside the room with perfect clarity.
After listening to it all, she didn’t burst back in, furious, to start a fight.
Instead, a small smile played on her lips.
’Good. Her roommates’ vicious words have given me all the motivation I need for today.’
When it came to thriving on toxicity...