Chapter 44 Chapters 51 and 52

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“Knock, knock—”
“Please come in.”
Lin Yilan pushed open the door and greeted Professor Wu.
“Professor Wu.”
Professor Wu removed his glasses, set his pen aside, and spoke gently, “Xiao Lin, you’re here.”
Such sudden kindness felt oddly intimidating.
Based on what she knew about Professor Wu, when he suddenly became so amiable, there was only one possibility: he was about to pull a trick.
Lin Yilan touched her arm and quietly took a small step back. “Professor Wu, what did you want to see me about?”
Professor Wu took out a large envelope from beside him and handed it to Lin Yilan. “Your paper was selected for *The Architect* magazine, expected to be published in the April issue. Congratulations in advance. Once the sample copy arrives, I’ll have someone call you to pick it up.”
“Oh, and the Chinese version should appear in the May issue of *Architectural Research*.”
One good piece of news after another left her thrilled.
Her hands clenched into fists behind her back as she struggled to restrain the smile threatening to break out.
“Thank you, Professor Wu. Without your help, my paper wouldn’t have been selected so easily.” After the initial excitement, she didn’t forget to express her gratitude.
Professor Wu waved her off. “No need to thank me. Although I haven’t directly taught you all, I still consider you my students.
As a teacher, the more successful my students are, the happier I become.
Your paper being chosen sets a great example for your class. If you have new ideas in the future, feel free to come to me.”
Mentioning this reminded Professor Wu of the trouble with Peng Junhua last time, and he felt a sharp twitch at his temple.
In all his years of teaching, nothing so embarrassing had ever happened.
His eyes glanced at Lin Yilan standing nearby, and his mood instantly lifted.
“By the way, the Beijing City Construction Bureau contacted me. They’re quite interested in your design plans—they discussed them for several days.
Good. It’s about time those old stubborn officials saw what the young talents from our school can do.” He chuckled as if finally venting some frustration.
Lin Yilan didn’t dare get involved in Professor Wu’s grudges, so she just smiled awkwardly. “Professor Wu, the leaders of the Construction Bureau came to see you?”
Professor Wu glanced at her. “Your design plans all bear my approval signature. Do you think those suspicious folks at the Bureau wouldn’t come ask me about it?”
“I took the chance to review your project plans carefully. Not bad—I underestimated you.
At your current level, you could easily handle our department’s freshman courses. Do you have any thoughts?”
Lin Yilan felt tempted. She rubbed her fingers together and fell silent.
Ever since she received her admission letter, she had considered skipping a grade. Setting aside whether she could keep up with the curriculum, she was still only part of the second cohort of university students since the official lifting of the college entrance exam restrictions. Skipping a grade would only save one year, which didn’t seem very meaningful.
Skipping all five years of university felt inappropriate. She wasn’t fully aware of the current standards in architecture, and some of the senior professors’ courses at school were too valuable to miss.
After calming down, Lin Yilan shook her head. “Professor Wu, I think I’ll just follow the regular pace for now. Building a solid foundation is important for me.” She offered this half-hearted explanation.
Professor Wu hummed in acknowledgment and didn’t comment further. He shifted gears to discuss the project again. “The leaders at the Construction Bureau told me they might use your bathroom design in other courtyard houses, and possibly even in reconstructing public restrooms.”
Seeing her eyes light up, he quickly added, “They’re not sure if they’ll actually use it yet. And if they do, you won’t receive any subsidy—at most, it’ll be noted in your university records and might help you get a good job placement upon graduation.”

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Lin Yilan immediately deflated like a punctured balloon but pulled herself together again. “Alright, thank you, Professor Wu. I understand.”
This was a time when even patent laws hadn’t been established; she shouldn’t expect too much.
Professor Wu noticed her disappointment but said nothing. Since he’d known Lin Yilan, she’d been steadily taking on design projects, but surprisingly, she hadn’t shown any resistance.
It seemed she wasn’t overly obsessed with making money either.
For some reason, this gave Professor Wu a small sense of joy.
“Well, I have nothing else. Your counselor should be at the classroom now. You’d better head back.”
Lin Yilan nodded. “Okay, Professor Wu, I’ll go then.”
After leaving his office, Lin Yilan hurried toward the classroom.
As fate would have it, she collided with someone around a corridor bend.
“Sorry.” Lin Yilan rubbed her left upper arm and winced.
The person she bumped into also apologized simultaneously, “I’m sorry.”
Lin Yilan looked up and recognized the student—a familiar face, likely from the Architecture Department.
“Are you okay?” she asked, trying to move her left arm.
The young man shook his head with a smile. “I’m fine, how about you?”
She shook her head too, about to say she was fine when the school bell rang.
“Ding-ling-ling-ling—”
Startled by the bell, she anxiously said, “I have something to do. I’ll head back first.”
With that, she dashed toward her classroom.
The young man stayed where he was, watching her retreating figure and murmured, “This girl looks familiar.”
“Is she one of our Architecture students?” He touched his chin, his eyes lost in thought.
After standing there for two minutes, he glanced at his watch, gave up the thought, and walked toward the direction Lin Yilan had come from.
Though he didn’t remember everything, he had noted her face.
Meanwhile, Lin Yilan strode into the neighboring Architecture Department building.
She barely caught her breath when she saw the counselor enter the classroom, so she hurried on toward it.
“Screech—” The rubber soles scraped harshly against the concrete floor.
“Are you crazy?” Lin Yilan patted her chest, panting and glaring at the person who suddenly appeared. She nearly twisted her ankle trying to avoid him. “Ji Xuecheng, do you realize your behavior is inappropriate?”
Ji Xuecheng’s face looked pale and strained, as if he’d suffered a shock. His lips had a faint purple tint and trembled constantly, making him look on the verge of collapse.
Seeing this, Lin Yilan swallowed the curse she wanted to utter. She scanned the area and noticed that it was just the two of them. She quickly pulled away from Ji Xuecheng.
Could this guy be trying to fake illness at school? She hadn’t heard he had any heart condition.
“What did Professor Wu want to see you for?” Ji Xuecheng challenged.
Lin Yilan paused, seemingly caught off guard. “What did you say?”
Ji Xuecheng repeated, “What did Professor Wu want from you?”
Lin Yilan was silent.
Silence reigned like a still night at Kangqiao.
She remembered she wasn’t particularly close to Ji Xuecheng and that his usual circle of friends didn’t seem very friendly with her either.
“Why do you want to know?” she asked sincerely.
Ji Xuecheng frowned. “Just answer me. Why so many questions?”
Annoyed by his tone, Lin Yilan scoffed sarcastically, “Who do you think you are?”
She immediately realized she shouldn’t waste emotions on someone like this and quickly calmed down. “I don’t want to tell you what I went for. If you’re fine, I’m heading back—the counselor just came in.”
She tried to walk around him.
Ji Xuecheng stepped sideways to block her.
“Lin, why won’t you answer me? Is it that hard?”
Seeing his chest rise and fall erratically, as if he were ill, Lin Yilan took two steps back.
“Ji, aren’t you overstepping a bit?”
“Why should I tell you where I’m going?”
Why do young people nowadays all act like they own the world?
After saying this, for some unknown reason, Ji Xuecheng suddenly fell silent.
Lin Yilan watched his pained expression and couldn’t help but roll her eyes.
“I’m not asking about you. I’m asking what Professor Wu wanted with you.” Ji Xuecheng repeated his question.
Lin Yilan had no patience to go in circles with him.
Just then, the counselor’s voice came from the classroom.
“Where’s our class youth league secretary? And why isn’t Lin Yilan here?”
Seizing Ji Xuecheng’s moment of distraction, Lin Yilan bolted past him and rushed into the classroom, shouting, “Sorry, teacher! I was just in the professor’s office.”
The counselor saw her standing at the door, hair slightly disheveled and breathing hard, and silently swallowed the words she was about to say.
“Lin Yilan, you’re back. Please take your seat quickly.”
With permission granted, Lin Yilan faced the questioning stares of Zhang Jianlin, Han Zhifang, and the others as she returned to her seat.
Once seated, Xiong Zhaodi leaned in and whispered, “Xiao Lin, why did you look so angry coming back from Professor Wu’s office?”
Lin Yilan was about to respond when Ji Xuecheng appeared at the door. She suppressed the urge to roll her eyes and explained, “It’s nothing to do with Professor Wu. I just ran into an idiot on the way back.”
Xiong Zhaodi, about to ask what ‘idiot’ meant, saw Lin Yilan’s murderous glare and wisely kept silent.
That word clearly wasn’t something pleasant.

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