Chapter 32

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Upon hearing Wu Congshan’s voice, Lin Yilan immediately stood up. Professor Wu was a towering figure in the domestic architectural field. While she could feign sorrow to fool some other professors, in front of this esteemed scholar, she could only shrink back instantly.

Moreover, hearing Professor Wu ask about the project she was handling suggested he likely suspected something. With this thought, Lin Yilan quickly abandoned the pitiful act she had previously put on.

“Professor Wu, the project I am currently working on is a simple residential house in a rural area around Jing City.”

Teacher Zhao, witnessing her sudden change of expression, frowned at Lin Yilan and scoffed disdainfully upon hearing her words. However, because Professor Wu was present, he quickly restrained himself.

Professor Wu stood up and approached Lin Yilan. “Lin, would you be willing to show me the design drawings for your project?”

Seeing Professor Wu’s polite tone, Lin Yilan’s voice softened considerably. “Of course, I’d be happy to. It just so happens that the assignment Professor Shen gave us earlier involved refining the design drawings for this project.”

Professor Shen raised an eyebrow. “Lin, that’s a bit lazy of you, isn’t it?”

Lin Yilan knew well that this behavior was not exactly commendable, so she took this opportunity to confess to Professor Shen. Otherwise, if he reviewed her drawings today and saw similar designs in future assignments, it might cause trouble.

With a sincere expression, she apologized. “Professor Shen, I know I shouldn’t have been lazy, but I’ve just been extremely busy lately.”

Seeing her genuinely acknowledging her fault, Professor Shen didn’t let her off easily. “Alright, just this once, no more next time. You’re only freshmen; you must cherish every opportunity to develop.”

Lin Yilan placed her hands in front of her and nodded obediently.

Had this incident not occurred, Professor Shen would have continued to think Lin Yilan was just a reserved and obedient rural girl. It certainly opened his eyes and reminded him never to underestimate any student again.

Professor Wu gently patted Professor Shen’s shoulder. “Let’s go. I’m still waiting to see your student’s project drawings.”

Seeing this, Lin Yilan hurried toward the office door. Professor Shen was good at many things, but he loved to nag—more than her own father. She wondered if this was a common trait among male professors.

Teacher Zhao, noticing the three preparing to leave, immediately stopped them. “Professor Wu, Professor Shen, you haven’t fully discussed Lin’s matter yet.”

Professor Wu waved cheerfully. “Xiao Zhao, weren’t we just about to verify that? As for the matter of romance, we’ll leave that to you to investigate. I trust you’ll give our student a fair outcome.”

Professor Shen chimed in beside him, “Teacher Zhao, thank you for your efforts. Lin has denied dating anyone, and we teachers tend to believe her. So please, investigate thoroughly to find out what really happened.”

Lin Yilan, unwilling to back down, lowered her eyebrows and said bitterly, “Teacher Zhao, I trust you will clear my name. What I didn’t do, I simply didn’t do. Thank you, Teacher Zhao.”

With just a few words, they persuaded Teacher Zhao to let them go, and he could only helplessly allow it.

Standing beside Teacher Zhao, Peng Junhua looked at Lin Yilan’s retreating figure with a faint look of envy.

Outside the office, the three headed toward the female dormitory building.

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Along the way, young men and women passed by, their laughter vibrant and full of youthful energy.

Lin Yilan gazed at an ancient banyan tree by the roadside, struggling to believe that one day Professor Wu would actually see her design work. The feeling was both exhilarating and surreal.

It felt as if she had been transported to another world—probably because her excitement was overwhelming.

Before entering Industrial University, she had hoped to encounter Professor Wu, maybe even attend his class, but she never expected to meet him so early, right after starting her freshman year.

Her heart pounded wildly, as if it had broken free of its bounds, swimming from her chest to her head, echoing loudly in her mind.

Wait a moment—

Just as she was immersed in this thrilling, tingling excitement, she suddenly realized that the design drawings she brought were nothing more than a very ordinary rural house.

Neither the exterior facade nor the interior decoration featured anything special to avoid standing out.

Instantly, her heart plunged from the height of summer into the depths of winter.

Sigh—

She sighed inwardly and slowly lowered her head.

Professor Shen, walking beside her, noticed the shift in her mood and found it somewhat amusing. She was indeed just a child.

When they reached the female dormitory, Professors Wu and Shen stopped and watched Lin Yilan.

“Professor Wu, Professor Shen, please wait a moment. I’m going back to the dorm to get the drawings,” Lin said, nodding at them.

Then she turned and briskly walked toward the dormitory.

After Lin entered the female dormitory, Professor Wu asked, “Xiao Shen, what do you think of this student?”

Professor Shen respectfully glanced at Professor Wu, unsure whether he was asking about Lin’s academic performance or her character.

After a moment of thought, recalling the Lin he had met before, he said straightforwardly, “Sir, I believe Lin Yilan would not do anything against the school’s regulations. She’s diligent in her studies.”

Professor Wu remained silent.

When Teacher Zhao asked them to discuss how to handle Lin’s situation, after learning the full story and hearing from Professor Shen about Lin’s learning attitude and assignment quality, they decided not to take immediate action against her.

Another reason was that they wanted to shield Lin from Teacher Zhao, who was sent by the Academic Affairs Office.

Even disregarding Professor Shen’s private assurance to the other professors on Lin’s behalf, Lin was a hardworking student with clear design talent, and there was no concrete evidence she had violated any rules.

Thus, everyone agreed to temporarily brush off Teacher Zhao.

Standing here with Xiao Shen beneath the female dormitory was purely accidental.

“Xiao Lan, why did you take so long to come back? Did Senior Peng ask for you?” Xiong Zhaodi asked, noticing Lin busily rummaging through her small cabinet beside her desk.

“No, I’ll talk to you later,” Lin replied, focused on searching through the cabinet.

She first pulled out the project file for the house belonging to Lai Chengrong’s parents, took out all the design drawings, then stuffed the remaining items back into the cabinet.

After quickly checking the drawings, she hurriedly ran out of the dormitory.

Although a plain rural brick house design might not impress an industry giant, what if it did…?

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Lin Yilan still held some hope. Even if the experts didn’t look at her work differently, getting a few words of guidance would be valuable.

Clutching the drawings, she rushed to Professors Shen and Wu.

“Professors, here are the drawings for my project,” she said, panting softly.

Professor Wu took the drawings and began flipping through them.

At first, he was casual, having learned about Lin’s background and knowing she had no prior professional education and only two months at university, believing she couldn’t produce anything truly professional.

But he was soon proven wrong.

Every detail on the drawings was drafted according to standards.

Regardless of design level, these drawings could be taken straight to construction, indistinguishable from those by most ordinary architects.

“Where did you learn these drafting requirements? Xiao Shen, did you teach her?” Professor Wu asked curiously, glancing at Lin and then at Shen.

Lin gave a dry laugh. “I borrowed books on the subject from the library.”

Professor Shen added, “My course only briefly touched on the basics; we haven’t covered it in depth.”

Professor Wu nodded and continued examining Lin’s drawings.

One sheet after another, he handed the reviewed drawings to Xiao Shen.

“Lin, I thought these were just drafts from your previous attempts, but you actually brought the finalized version,” Shen said with admiration. “You’ve designed this house with great detail.”

Lin scratched her head. If she hadn’t worried about shoddy construction, she wouldn’t have made the drawings so meticulous.

Indeed, after compiling the finished drawings, even she was startled—someone unaware might think it was a design for a large villa.

Meanwhile, Professor Wu slowed his pace after seeing the kitchen layout.

“Your kitchen design follows modern villa or apartment standards?” He pointed to the stove and sink on the drawings.

Lin nodded. “Although the village currently lacks running water, I reviewed recent data and believe the village will connect to tap water within a few years.”

Her kitchen design accounted for the expected speed of urban redevelopment and water infrastructure improvements, leaving room for future water connection.

Professor Wu looked at her with interest, then continued scanning through the drawings.

Next, he pointed at the cabinets in the kitchen. “Is this a hanging cabinet?”

Lin glanced at it. “Yes.”

“Then the height of this hanging cabinet is a bit low. When I inspected overseas, foreign hanging cabinets were installed above 1800mm. Yours is roughly at mid-kitchen height.” He brought the drawing closer, studying the height markings carefully. “No, you marked 800mm—too low. What were you thinking?”