Chapter Ch26.2 - I’ve got this Scholar’s back (8)
Lu Jingmo had been picked up and spun around five or six times. He sat back at the table, feeling dizzy, still a little bit dazed.
Although Gu Chuanbai was busy these days, he was always full of drive. Lu Jingmo’s guess was that he must have been hard at work preparing some sort of surprise for him to see. He had also bribed Gu Chuanbai’s roommate for information with the promise of not taking attendance for one more class, but he still couldn’t get any definite answer.
According to the plot line, Gu Chuanbai’s experiment was blocked by his instructor and then the accident happened. This incident happened during his second year as a graduate student.
Although he did deliberately offer some guidance, if Gu Chuanbai could create a complete experiment design using just these sporadic guidance, plus the data obtained in Zhan Pei’s laboratory, then it seems that his talent wasn’t much worse than the protagonist who had yet to enroll in the school.
Feeling a little uneasy, Lu Jingmo sat down by supporting himself with the edge of the table. He scooped some of the stew on top of his rice and asked the system in his mind, “Can you get into the surveillance cameras of the cryo-electron microscopy center?”
“Yes! I can even get into the Oval Office!”
The system liked these kinds of secret agent-style tasks the most. After two rotations of the buffering icon, it quickly invaded the campus system through the wireless network. It called up the monitoring of the microscopy center.
Lu Jingmo slowly dug into his rice, going through the images he saw in his mind. He zoomed in on some of the screenshots and his expression changed. He put down his chopsticks, got up immediately and dashed out of the office.
Gu Chuanbai really had designed the experiment earlier than expected.
Instructors also needed to continue to publish papers. Zhan Pei often demanded that he be put his name on students’ works. But in exchange, he didn’t unnecessarily obstruct students from doing experiments with promising publication prospects.
However, Gu Chuanbai’s experiment inadvertently overlapped partially with the experiment and research paper for which Zhan Pei falsified his data. Moreover, he got completely different results. The impact factor of that paper has reached 50 or 60 points. Once the truth was revealed, his achievements over the past years could collapse and vanish.
So long as Gu Chuanbai was still under Zhan Pei, this experiment will never be given the go ahead.
Gu Chuanbai had now already gone over and Zhan Pei will try his best to pour cold water on him. The shock of this crisis coming from a freshly enrolled graduate student, full of hope and enthusiasm, was completely different, as compared to if it had come from a second year graduate student who has already seen through Zhan Pei.
When Lu Jingmo rushed out, he had forgotten to wear his coat. He had already closed the door by the time he realized that it was a little cold. Lu Jingmo had no intention of going back to get his coat however. He frowned and raised his hand towards the elevator panel.
He must rush over as quickly as possible.
The sky was already dark, and the evening breeze pierced his clothes with its chill, quickly taking away any of the remaining heat from his body.
Lu Jingmo walked hurriedly, a fine layer of sweat had formed on his forehead. He looked one by one in the corridor all the way to the cryo-electron microscopy laboratory, finally seeing an office with its door ajar. The shouts of reprimands coming from inside were so loud that almost everyone could hear him clearly.
“…overly ambitious incompetent! What do you know? And you dare tell me you’re going to do an experiment? You had the nerve to submit an experiment design of this level? This writing is sh*t. Were you expecting me to correct your typos?”
Zhan Pei slammed the palm of his hand loudly against the table, sternly berating the graduate student who had an exaggerated opinion of his abilities. However, there was a tiny trace of anger resulting from shame in his eyes.
The experiment plan that Gu Chuanbai handed over naturally wasn’t as unbearable as he said. As a matter of fact, the design was even quite clever. There were many steps that made even his eyes brighten.
But he also knew better than anyone that if this experiment continues, his academic career will probably be ruined and even his previous honors will be overthrown.
Those pages of carefully collated experiment plans were thrown all over the ground. Half of them had shoe prints on them. It cut a thoroughly sorry image.
Gu Chuanbai’s complexion flushed red. He gritted his teeth and stood opposite him, clenching his fists even tighter.
Zhan Pei was both frightened and angered. As he scolded, he became even more irresponsible in his words. He ridiculed in a cold voice, “Did you develop this material with your breast-feeding infant of a professor? How old is he? What does he know? He got here by relying on other people carrying him along. He had a few papers who knows who he got to ghostwrite for him and so he were invited in as distinguished professor&#k2014;”
“No.”
Gu Chuanbai’s voice was so low and hoarse that it almost seemed to bleed. He finally spoke up, interrupting his words, his eyes darkened. “Professor Lu is much more talented that you are. His talent is so much stronger than you think. Just because you can’t see it doesn’t mean you’re allowed to slander others…”
This was the first time Zhan Pei had been contradicted so unbridled-ly. Zhan Pei suddenly got up in anger. He raised his hand, about to strike.
Gu Chuanbai stood there. The rim of his eyes were burning hot but his body was cold.
He was this person’s graduate student. His future prospects, his diploma, all his hopes were in this person’s hands.
It didn’t matter if everything he had painstaking worked for was trampled on. It didn’t matter if he was criticized as being worthless. He can endure. He could salvage the excess reagents and do experiments at night when there was no one. But if Zhan Pei was determined to suppress him, he may never get his graduate diploma in this lifetime.
His future prospects collapsed. His last hope quietly evaporated. It seemed that he had already unknowingly fallen into a hopeless situation a long time ago, only that he had just noticed it now.
He had another promise.
He originally wanted to surprise his little professor.
The back of his shoulders, which had always been straight, slowly bent down. Gu Chuanbai closed his eyes, gritted his teeth and waited for the slap to connect. But his wrist was grasped firmly by a hand.
The strength of that hand hardly allowed him the chance to resist. He was pulled to stand behind someone’s back. Gu Chuanbai’s heart suddenly jumped. His eyes opened wide as looked at that familiar figure that suddenly appeared in front of him. His throat suddenly turned hoarse and tight.
Lu Jingmo firmly guarded him. His other hand was firmly clamped around Zhan Pei’s wrist. He forcefully tightening his hold until Zhan Pei was even already grimacing in pain. He struggling desperately. “What are you doing! Who told you to come in—here? This has nothing to do with you!”
“My student is being bullied here. I am his teacher. I don’t believe this has nothing to do with me.”
Lu Jingmo spoke every word slowly. His voice was cold as if it had been seeped in an ice cold spring.
He no longer clamped on the other’s wrist but he leaned down and squatted, picking up the pages one by one. He carefully dusted them clean.
Gu Chuanbai’s chest suddenly rose and fell intensely. He stepped forward to grab the pieces of paper and tear them up. However, Lu Jingmo had already hidden them behind him. He gently held him with one hand. “Teacher will take a look. Teacher wants to see.”
His tone eased. It revealed the hoarseness that had not yet been relieved from his two hour lecture that afternoon.
Gu Chuanbai paused his movements. He allowed himself to relax. Looking at his familiar sleek and gentle dark eyes, his body suddenly couldn’t stop trembling.
Lu Jingmo held his hand. He squeezed it a couple of time as though to console him. He then turned around and looked at Zhan Pei. “Hand him over to me.”
“You want to take him?”
Zhan Pei raised his eyebrows. An obvious sneer appeared on his face. He said coldly: “Professor Lu, this is Z University! Putting aside the issue whether you’re even qualified to take on students right now, even if you did, according to our school’s rules, the transfer of graduate students needs their original mentor’s consent-do you understand?”
“Are you disagreeing?”
Lu Jingmo’s gaze swept over him. His tone was still calm but Zhan Pei inexplicably felt a chill. “What are planning to do? I’m telling you, there is surveillance here. Don’t you dare think about laying a hand–”
“Professor Zhan, rest assured.”
Lu Jingmo lowered his gaze, folded the sheets of paper carefully, and put them into his shirt pocket. “Do you dare to let Chuanbai replicate the experiment in the paper you published on “CELL”?”
Replicating experiments was the means to test whether the results of an experiment were genuine. Zhan Pei’s paper has not been replicated despite it being so many years already. He always made excuses, saying that the variables were difficult to control or that the experimental conditions could not be completely replicated.
In the beginning, he spent several year frightened and on the edge. But these past few years, the interest in that topic had gradually waned and his paper was no longer mentioned. He finally felt a little relieved but, after all, there still existed a shadow in his heart.
It was precisely because of this that when he saw the experiment design that Gu Chuanbai had handed in, he was suddenly shamed into anger that he was determined to use any means, by hook or by crook, to stop it.
Lu Jingmo’s voice wasn’t at all loud but Zhan Pei’s eyes widened in an instant. Deep horror appeared in the depths of his eyes. “Professor Lu, what–what do you mean?! That is a biochemical experiment. It’s not something your botany laboratory should be engaged in! Using the school funds to do something like this—”
“I have a private laboratory.”
Lu Jingmo was not good at arguing with others and he has reached his limit at this point. He lowered his head slightly and averted his eyes. He slowly responded.
This villain was supposed to be reserved for the future protagonist. Doing something here wasn’t part of his original intention but leaving scum like Zhan Pei here for another year would mean another batch of harmed students.
Since he wouldn’t peacefully had over his graduate student, he had no choice but to eliminate this scum in advance.
The system was also scared witless by his decision. Realizing that the host was in a foul mood, the mechanical sound carefully and stutteringly reminded, “Ho-host, this a scum character means to be abused by the Gary Sue protagonist. He’s important to the plot later on. The protagonist is meant to bully the villain… …”
“I know. Give me the protagonist’s system number. I’ll pay him experience points.”
Lu Deng replied calmly in his mind. Paying no mind to the system that’d been startled into buffering, he raised his head to look at ashen-faced Zhan Pei. He stretched his hand out to Gu Chuanbai, his expression warm again. “Let’s go. Go back with teacher.”
Gu Chuanbai looked up at him, but his body was still so stiff that he didn’t know how to move. Lu Jingmo simply leaned forward and grabbed his hand. He led him out of the office, heading outside.
The sound of footsteps echoed in the empty corridor. The busy graduate students poked their heads out of the laboratory and then hurriedly retracted them. In their long numb and dim eyes, a barely discernible look of envy flashed through.
Gu Chuanbai was led through the endlessly long white corridor and out the main doors of the laboratory building.
The wind outside was very cold but the street lights were shining with warm yellow light.
Lu Jingmo wasn’t wearing enough layers and shivered when he was struck by the wind. Gu Chuanbai suddenly regained his senses. He quickly took off his jacket and tried to wrap it around the other. But Lu Jingmo gently held back his arm. “You wear it. I’m fine.”
Gu Chuanbai looked at him and didn’t move. His cold body, though, gradually warmed up.
The intense sorrow and grief broke through and froze over. The dull pain of numbness, though, gradually began to sharpen and it was like knife cutting back and forth in his chest, causing blood to spread to his throat. He collapsed, unable to support his body.
Lu Jingmo managed to catch him in his arms in time.
Their chests were pressed together. Surrounded by the familiar warmth, Gu Chuanbai’s breathing faintly turned rapid.
The body holding him was chilled slightly by the night wind but the strength in his arms was steady as always.
The softness and ease that only appeared when two of them were alone faded away. The young professor in front of him revealed unmistakable calm and reliability. His lips was stretched into a stubborn line. Unquestionable strength appeared in his gentle face.
Gu Chuanbai’s lips began to tremble. A couple of shaky breaths trembled in his throat before he was finally able to call out hoarsely, “Teacher…”
“Teacher is here.”
Lu Jingmo suppressed the rest of his words with his response. He tightened his hold and opened his mouth to speak again, but a low voice shaking with barely suppressed sobs, sounded in his ear: “Teacher, I don’t feel well…”
“Teacher knows.”
Lu Jingmo responded, taking him deeper in his arms. He gently patted him on his back. “Teacher’s here. Teacher will keep you in his arms until you feel better…”
He still wasn’t good at comforting. Lu Deng could only use his body to warm the opponent’s stiff and cold body. Until the body in his arms gradually warmed, the trembling that seemed to come from his bones gradually calmed down.
Lu Deng still held him firmly.
He wasn’t good at quarreling with others. This time he came to support Gu Chuanbai. He didn’t know how he looked as he did so. He probably didn’t look very imposing.
But he had to come. He had to bring him back.
As a teacher, he had to protect his students.
Finally struggling free from the intense emotional outburst, Gu Chuanbai’s eyes gradually cleared. It was only then that he realized that Lu Jingmo’s body was already ice-cold. His lips had gone pale.
As though he was completely ignorant toward his own situation, Lu Jingmo was still earnestly staring at him.
It was not until he had confirmed that Gu Chuanbai had finally regained his senses that Lu Jingmo’s face finally eased into his gentle smile. He raised his hand to wipe his tears for him. His voice was soft. “You’re feeling better now.”
The warm current that had poured into heart instantly melted away the ice and frost. Even his bleeding wounds seemed to be quietly comforted. Gu Chuanbai stared at him dazed. The light at the bottom of his eyes gradually brightened.
With much difficulty, he managed to raise his lips into a smile. Gu Chuanbai nodded vigorously. He raised his hand to wipe away the tears on his face and went to help his little professor. “I’m feeling all better now. Let’s go back…”
Before he could finish his words, Lu Jingmo had already collapsed into his arms. He lowered his head against his shoulder. He couldn’t help the dryness in his throat and coughs racked his body.