Chapter 38: Chapters 39 and 40 (Combined)

Lin Yilan was stunned for a moment, then asked excitedly, "Professor Wu, really? Do you mean you want me to prepare an English paper?"

Professor Wu glanced at her. In the few times they had met, this was the first time he had seen her display the emotions of a young person. In previous meetings, this student had appeared far too mature, and being tall, he wouldn't have guessed she was still a minor if he hadn't checked her file later.

"Prepare a paper, in both Chinese and English versions. Once it's finished, bring it to my office, and I'll take a look at it for you." Seeing her enthusiasm for the project and considering her young age, he decided to be blunt, "You are the sole author of this paper. If anyone asks you to add their name, just refuse them directly."

"If you ever run into someone like that, just send them to me."

He was well aware that although the National College Entrance Examination had been reinstated for two years and past grievances were slowly being settled, the previous decade had seen many opportunists enter the school, and those people were surely growing anxious now.

Judging by the Principal's attitude, he knew that if these people wanted to remain at the university, they had to produce tangible results. Professor Wu knew very well that very few of them were capable of doing so. Most of these so-called professors only had two methods: stealing or snatching the achievements of others in the school.

And a student like Lin Yilan was the easiest target.

Lin Yilan looked at Professor Wu, feeling flattered; he was truly kind to his students.

But why was Professor Wu looking at her like that? Lin Yilan couldn't help but touch her face. The last time someone looked at her this way was when she first returned to the Beijing courtyard after receiving her admission notice, and her grandmother was worried she would be bullied by the idle young men in the neighborhood.

But later... ahem.

Professor Wu's kind, worried gaze really did remind her of her grandmother.

Lin Yilan shivered involuntarily and quickly shook the messy thoughts out of her head. She bowed gratefully to Professor Wu, "Thank you, Professor Wu."

"By the way, I noticed quite a few books on ancient architecture research on your desk in the study room. You aren't planning to pursue a career in the protection and research of ancient architecture, are you?" Professor Wu's heart skipped a beat. "Student Lin Yilan, I think you have immense talent in architectural design; going down the path of ancient architecture would be a bit of a waste of your gifts."

"Of course, I'm not saying the field of ancient architecture is bad, but your design talent leans more toward modernity. You should exert your talents in a field that suits you better." Professor Wu rambled on; he was genuinely afraid that this promising talent he had scouted would be poached by the ancient architecture department.

He knew that the group of people studying ancient architecture in the department were trying to poach students. If the timing hadn't been so awkward, he would have already found a way to make Lin Yilan his own student.

He suddenly remembered a colleague at a design institute complaining to him recently that young people were becoming increasingly money-oriented. A thought flashed through Professor Wu's mind. "And one more thing, our salaries are much higher than those in the ancient architecture field. So, Student Lin, you... you won't go into that direction, will you?"

Professor Wu asked this last sentence so cautiously that it left Lin Yilan completely dumbfounded.

Why was such a prominent figure being so polite to her?

To avoid losing her composure in front of the professor, Lin Yilan put her hands behind her back and pinched her palms hard, struggling to keep from crying out.

"Professor Wu, I can assure you that I will never abandon architectural design. My goal is to become a brilliant architect."

"As for the field of ancient architecture, I am indeed very interested in it because I believe there are many things within it that can be applied to modern architectural design, but I certainly will not specialize in that area."

Hearing this, Professor Wu felt half his worry dissipate. He waved his hand and looked at the female student in front of him. He had heard she had excellent grades, but she looked so thin and frail. It really made him worry about whether she would be bullied when she started arguing with those old relics at her future workplace.

He thought for a long time and finally squeezed out, "You... should eat more in the future!"

"Ah?" Lin Yilan touched her cheek sheepishly. "Thank you for your concern, Professor Wu."

Her build was indeed deceptive; she was fair-skinned with a small frame, and wearing her hair in two braids like the other girls, she did look like she could be easily bullied.

But Lin Yilan squeezed the muscles on her arm. Having farmed for so many years and grown up in the countryside with her parents, how could she be delicate or weak?

Besides, having learned some military boxing from her uncle back in the day, she couldn't claim to be invincible, but she certainly wouldn't be easily harmed.

After watching Professor Wu leave, Lin Yilan also left the library, having decided not to continue with her drawings.

Watching the backs of Lin Yilan and Professor Wu as they walked away, someone clenched their fists.

Determined to write the paper, Lin Yilan became even busier than before.

In Hang Xiulan's words, you wouldn't even catch a glimpse of Lin Yilan until the dorm check at nine o'clock every night.

When she woke up in the morning, Lin Yilan's bed was already neatly made; when she brushed her teeth, Lin Yilan had already returned.

As a result, the others in the dorm, already stressed by finals and influenced by Lin Yilan, also became frantic.

What was going on? They were all acting as if she were the only one who didn't love studying.

Clearly, she had been working hard too, Hang Xiulan thought as she sat in the empty dormitory, slumped over her desk in frustration.

"Thump—"

The sound of the dormitory door being pushed open made Hang Xiulan look up in surprise.

Who was it? Who was the good soul returning to the dorm at one in the afternoon?

Lin Yilan placed her book bag on the desk and saw Hang Xiulan sitting diagonally across from her, resting her chin on her hand and smiling foolishly at her.

While taking her textbooks out of her bag and tidying up the items on her desk, she didn't stop talking. "Hang Xiulan, why are you suddenly acting crazy?"

Hang Xiulan waved her hand coquettishly, "Speak properly!"

"Why are you back so early? Did you decide to let yourself get some proper rest in the dorm?"

Lin Yilan put on her backpack and picked up her Lei Feng hat from the desk. "I don't plan on resting in the dorm. I have something to do outside, just came back to grab something."

"I won't say more, I'm off." She shoved her bicycle key into her pocket, waved at Hang Xiulan, and left the dormitory.

Lin Yilan walked down the stairs, putting on her hat as she went. In this weather, if you didn't guard against the cold, the wind would blow straight down your neck while you were cycling.

Once she left the dormitory building, the cold wind hit her face. There were only a few days left of 1979.

The eighties were coming, and the golden age of the rapid development of the construction industry was coming soon, too.

But for now, all of this had nothing to do with Lin Yilan, who was cycling through the cold wind. For her, what mattered more was how to develop herself as quickly as possible.

The family of her mother's ex-husband felt like a tight-fillet spell on the Monkey King's head, preventing her from relaxing, and what made her even more terrified was that the spell was turning into a death countdown.

Whenever she thought of the ending for their family in the original book, her teeth felt cold.

Although their situation had changed significantly compared to the description in the book, she didn't have the courage to gamble. She knew very well that only she could save herself.

But her current rate of development was too slow; she had to find more ways to move forward.

Even though it was cold outside, her heart was burning with a battle, urging her to push forward.

"Screech—"

Seeing Zhao Qiangjun's gate, Lin Yilan squeezed the brakes.

After parking her bicycle in the courtyard and greeting the couple, Lin Yilan began to survey the environment outside the house.

One of the prerequisites for having a bathroom was that there had to be a sewage manhole near Zhao Qiangjun's house.

Although the sewage system in Beijing at this time was far from as perfect as it would become later, the main urban area already had a simple, decent sewage system.

Fortunately, after walking less than twenty-five steps, Lin Yilan saw a sewage manhole.

She immediately took her sketchbook out of her bag and marked the location of the manhole.

Having spent the entire afternoon, Lin Yilan finally finished measuring the environment around the house.

Just as she was finishing up and preparing to head home, an elderly woman wearing a red armband appeared from nowhere and grabbed her arm.

"Little girl, don't move!" the old woman said, her brows furrowed, her tone aggressive.

Lin Yilan didn't dare to move; she knew the power of these neighborhood committee women.

Then, a child appeared behind the woman. "Auntie Wang, I'm telling you, she’s been wandering around here all afternoon, and I've never seen her before. Is she a kidnapper?"

How unjust! She had forgotten that everyone's vigilance was particularly high at this time.

She didn't want to be taken in for questioning, so she hurriedly explained to the woman, "Auntie, I'm a student at the Industrial University. I'm here to help my brother renovate his house."

The woman looked at Lin Yilan suspiciously. "Whose brother?"

Lin Yilan used her free hand to point at Zhao Qiangjun's courtyard. "My brother lives here; my bicycle is still parked inside."

As she spoke, she took her student ID out of her pocket. "Auntie, this is my student ID; I'm really not a kidnapper."

After taking the student ID and inspecting it, the woman skeptically released Lin Yilan's arm. She handed the ID back to her and said, "Come with me to Zhao Yingxiong's house; I'm going to ask him."

"Young lady, don't blame the child. There have been way too many kidnappers lately. A child went missing in the neighborhood next to ours two days ago, and the police are still looking for them." Once she started to believe that Lin Yilan might indeed be Zhao Yingxiong's sister, her attitude softened.

After all, everyone in the neighborhood knew about Zhao Yingxiong.

Even the child beside them now leaned out from behind the woman and stared at Lin Yilan with wide, expectant eyes.

Lin Yilan nodded quickly. "Auntie, I think what you're doing is great. It’s all for the safety of the neighborhood. If there really were kidnappers or spies, this is the only way to protect the neighbors and the children."