Xu Lingbo’s voice was extremely small, like a mosquito humming: “Mountain goods.”

In early September, just as the semester began, Xu Lingbo had brought Lin Zhixia a bag of mountain goods. Lin Zhixia refused to accept gifts from students, so Xu Lingbo could only carry the mountain goods back to the boys’ dormitory, then, through various relationship channels, sell the items to alumni of different grades.

Cassava powder and walnuts sold the fastest, quickly snapped up by alumni. Xu Lingbo’s closet still contained a large bag of dried mushrooms that no one inquired about. Nevertheless, Xu Lingbo was already quite satisfied. He had earned nearly one thousand yuan.

Xu Lingbo thought Lin Zhixia would criticize him for not focusing on his studies.

Unexpectedly, Lin Zhixia didn’t care about his on-campus business at all, only asking: “Did you finish reading the paper I found for you?”

Xu Lingbo recalled the “graduate student meeting slacking techniques” taught by his roommate. He nodded repeatedly, pursing his lips: “Yes, I’ve finished it, I’ve finished it.”

Lin Zhixia responded meaningfully: “Good.”

Xu Lingbo grinned at her: “Professor Lin, I’m going to the lab now. I brought breakfast for the senior sister. She woke up at five…”

The “senior sister” Xu Lingbo mentioned was Fang Yiwen, Lin Zhixia’s only doctoral student.

Lin Zhixia was a specially appointed professor at the university, enjoying extremely high treatment. She held numerous titles, had ample funding, and her laboratory was equipped with first-class equipment. She had planned a very clear direction for Fang Yiwen, and since Fang Yiwen originally loved research, now with such good conditions and such a supportive advisor, she worked on experiments tirelessly day and night.

Xu Lingbo was responsible for her logistical support.

He often brought meals for the senior sister.

In Xu Lingbo’s view, the three students in their group depended on each other for survival, yet others mocked them as the “old, weak, sick, and disabled group” and also ridiculed their undergraduate alma mater, which infuriated him. So through “bringing meals to the senior sister,” he contributed to the senior sister’s academic career, accelerating her paper production speed. As long as the senior sister published a first-author SCI paper in a top-tier journal, their entire group could hold their heads high.

While lost in these thoughts, Xu Lingbo hugged a bag of breakfast and rushed into the college’s laboratory building.

He encountered many students and teachers.

He greeted everyone with a smile, proactively saying hello to all, thus becoming familiar throughout the entire college. However, when he saw Fang Yiwen, he immediately restrained his smile and respectfully presented the breakfast: “Senior sister, come eat.”

Fang Yiwen sat in an ergonomic chair. Her left leg was stretched straight, right leg raised, knee bent, heel resting on the edge of the seat—her sitting posture casual, relaxed, unconventional.

She asked slowly: “How much was the breakfast? I’ll transfer you money via Alipay.”

Xu Lingbo said, “Four yuan and ninety cents, senior sister.”

Fang Yiwen glanced at it: “Come on, don’t try to fool me. Pot stickers, meat buns, tea eggs, tofu pudding… this must be at least nine yuan forty, right? I’ll transfer you nine yuan forty.”

Xu Lingbo scratched his head: “I sold some mountain goods and made some money.”

Fang Yiwen snorted coldly: “You making money has nothing to do with me. I should repay exactly what I owe you—can’t you calculate this properly?”

Xu Lingbo pressed his hands downward: “Alright, alright, senior sister. You continue with your experiment. I’m going back to the dorm to catch some sleep. If Professor Lin comes to check on us, send me a text message, and I’ll come right over.”

Fang Yiwen agreed.

Xu Lingbo cheered “Woohoo!” and leisurely left the laboratory. Just a few steps after exiting, he happened to bump right into Zhan Rui.

Zhan Rui stammered “Sorry” for quite a while, prompting Xu Lingbo to tease: “Hey, you do artificial intelligence research, what are you doing in this lab? Look up, this is the Quantum Frontier Laboratory.”

Zhan Rui explained: “My-my dorm internet is slow, I-I need to use the cluster…”

Xu Lingbo patted his shoulder: “Go on in, senior sister is inside.”

Zhan Rui and Fang Yiwen had already become familiar with each other. He discovered that as long as he completely separated emotion from reason, he could get along well with Fang Yiwen. He walked to a seat beside Fang Yiwen and sat down silently. Fang Yiwen asked him: “Have you eaten breakfast?”

He answered: “The-the cafeteria was too crowded, I brought…” He pulled out a box of strawberry cookies from his backpack.

Zhan Rui was a person skilled at observation and summarization. He noticed Lin Zhixia’s obsession with strawberries, so he guessed there must be some connection between strawberries and high intelligence. Therefore, when buying snacks and drinks now, he generally chooses strawberry flavor.

Fang Yiwen, however, said: “Eating cookies for breakfast, doesn’t your mouth get dry? Have some of mine, I haven’t started eating yet.”

She quickly finished a cup of soy milk, freeing up a plastic cup. She poured half of her tofu pudding into the cup and pushed the remaining bowl of tofu pudding in front of Zhan Rui. She also gave him some pot stickers and meat buns. Zhan Rui hurriedly said: “Thank you…”

Fang Yiwen held one hand in front of his eyes: “Don’t talk, don’t make a sound, okay? I’m thinking about formulas.”

Zhan Rui nodded repeatedly.

The senior sister and junior brother from the same academic group thus sat together, quietly enjoying a hearty breakfast.

Xu Lingbo stood blankly at the doorway. Gazing at his senior sister’s fluffy and unrestrained hair from afar, he didn’t know why, but an unavoidable sour feeling rose in his heart.

*

The day was clear and bright, with a gentle breeze. The morning nine o’clock class bell rang punctually.

Lin Zhixia walked into a lecture hall with her head held high.

The entire classroom was fully occupied, packed densely with students. This grand scene greatly encouraged Lin Zhixia.

She walked onto the podium, facing the students, and heard a burst of whispers.

A group of freshman boys from the same dormitory had come to audit Lin Zhixia’s class. They had arrived at six in the morning to secure seats. They sat in the middle of the first row, closest to Lin Zhixia and with the clearest view. One young man who had just turned seventeen said directly: “She’s so beautiful, exactly my type…”

Another boy quietly agreed: “The real person is prettier than her photos.”

Such comments continued one after another.

Lin Zhixia opened the computer on the lectern, adjusted her course slides, and then spoke: “Please be quiet, class is beginning.”

The sounds in the classroom gradually subsided.

Numerous students turned their gazes toward her simultaneously. She smiled at them, and a freshman boy in the front row opened his phone, positioned it in the middle of his pencil case with the camera aimed at Lin Zhixia, and secretly recorded a video.

His roommate tried to stop him: “Don’t do that…”

But he replied very sincerely: “What’s the problem? I just want to learn more about this course.”

The next second, Lin Zhixia spoke: “Hello, everyone, I am Lin Zhixia. This semester, I will guide you through ‘Quantum Bits and Computers.’ Our course arrangement includes two lectures, one assignment class, and one lab class each week. Regular assignments account for thirty percent of the total grade, while the exam accounts for seventy percent. I have already activated the school forum section; if you encounter any problems after class, just ask questions openly in the forum, and I will answer them.”

She stood straight, her voice clear: “In class, if you have any questions, feel free to raise your hand and interrupt me at any time. Every Friday afternoon from two to three is my office hour; if you want to communicate with me face-to-face, you’re welcome to find me in the college office building…”

At the podium below, many students began taking notes rapidly.

Lin Zhixia recalled briefly that she hadn’t even begun discussing knowledge points yet—why were the boys in the front row already taking notes? Perhaps this was the positive attitude of good students. Back in the day, Jin Baihui also never let go of her notebook.

Lin Zhixia nodded slightly.

After briefly introducing the course outline, without wasting even a minute, she directly began teaching the content of the first lesson. She explained the basic concepts once, extended to the mathematical derivations behind the concepts, and demonstrated them on the blackboard for the students to see.

Suddenly, a junior year male student raised his right hand, preparing to ask a question.

This male student had proper features and determined eyes. Acclaimed as the “God of the Interdisciplinary College,” his university average score to date was as high as 98 points. In his freshman year, he had already read through the string theory textbook written by the world-renowned theoretical physicist Joseph Polski. He raised his hand high and was quickly noticed by Lin Zhixia.

Lin Zhixia held her chalk: “Do you have a question?”

The boy stood up and, in just a few words, questioned the boundary conditions of Lin Zhixia’s mathematical derivation.

Lin Zhixia was immediately energized.

She lowered a new blackboard, her hands moving like flying, proving her formula. Her speaking pace gradually quickened, the material she covered expanded more and more, and she told everyone without hesitation that these points would be key examination content in the final exam and would also appear in the students’ assignments over the next few months.

The group of young people below the podium revealed shocked expressions.

Before the official start of the “Quantum Bits and Computers” course, the college had organized an assessment. The vice dean, department head, and several professors—including Professor Shen Zhaohua from the Physics Department—had specifically attended. They jointly evaluated Lin Zhixia’s teaching quality.

Many professors at the school believed that Lin Zhixia was Professor Shen Zhaohua’s granddaughter.

Lin Zhixia’s first paper was affiliated with Shen Zhaohua’s Marine Physics Laboratory. When Lin Zhixia was young, she often appeared in Shen Zhaohua’s research group. Shen Zhaohua’s favorite student—a female doctoral candidate named Zhu Chan—was especially kind to Lin Zhixia, always smiling.

In recent years, Shen Zhaohua has achieved major research breakthroughs. She was an internationally recognized world-class top scientist, constantly busy and rarely seen. The fact that she made time to observe the teaching assessment of Lin Zhixia, this new teacher with a new course, was enough to explain some things.

Thus, Lin Zhixia’s assessment was successfully passed.

*

After Lin Zhixia’s first class ended, the classroom erupted with noisy conversations.

Lin Zhixia left the classroom and went to the corridor to call a laboratory equipment manufacturer. She still needed some customized equipment and could only communicate directly with the manufacturer.

She didn’t hear the discussions inside the classroom.

The male student nicknamed the “God of the Interdisciplinary College” stood in the center of the classroom, telling everyone, “Professor Lin is quite good. Her class is worth attending. Have you checked the assignments? The quality is quite high.”

Unexpectedly, this very remark caused the call for “course withdrawal” to gradually spread.