Chapter 180: Motivation

The Natural Science Reading Room of the library.

Zheng Fa put away his exercise book and took out several borrowed volumes from the collection.

The freshman curriculum for the Physics Department at Jingcheng University is actually quite light; aside from some public courses, only three major courses are mandatory—

"General Physics," "Advanced Mathematics," and "Linear Algebra."

For Zheng Fa, only the "General Physics" course actually required some effort, but not much—this course, as an introductory class for the Physics Department, is set with very gentle difficulty.

The difficulty of the assignments was not particularly great for Zheng Fa either.

Of course, at Jingcheng University, there is never a lack of overachievers who have surplus energy.

For instance, Dai Yuan, the roommate Zheng Fa met upon arrival, was a competition student by background; he seemed to have already read through "General Physics" thoroughly—recently, he appeared to be heading straight for the Four Major Mechanics.

Zheng Fa was not in such a rush.

Mainly because he did not pursue becoming a physicist; entering the Physics Department was, in the end, a hope to find a path to understand talismans, or even to understand Qi.

Simply put, he wanted to find a stone from another mountain within physics.

For example, right now, he was holding a copy of "The Evolution of Physics" and reading it.

This was a popular science book about the history of physics, written several decades ago.

For students of the School of Physics, this book was actually a bit too shallow.

But Zheng Fa read it quite seriously—the book's authors included one of them, Einstein; when writing this book, he inevitably brought along some of his own thought patterns, which was something Zheng Fa valued quite highly.

Halfway through, Zheng Fa could not help but close the book and ponder deeply:

The theory of the Three-Character Talisman is actually unable to proceed further now.

The biggest problem is that the functions of the other two types of sub-characters are difficult to clarify, remaining merely speculation.

In the process of physics development, generally when encountering such a situation—most would resort to experiments to verify or falsify the speculation.

"Experiments..." Zheng Fa could not help but think of Tian Laoshi's laboratory again, and couldn't help but feel a bit of a headache.

A cost of several million to ten million, Zheng Fa learned later, was actually on the low side.

Scientific research, this thing, has absolutely no ceiling.

If one were to conduct physics experiments like Zheng Fa does...

The cost would be hard to predict.

Tang Lingwu had always shown herself to be very much like a wealthy woman.

But Zheng Fa, unless absolutely necessary, was unwilling to keep using Tang Lingwu's money.

Mainly because—Tang Lingwu did not have that much money.

If she were to take out a few hundred thousand or a million, it might not disturb her family.

But several million to ten million—would inevitably disturb Aunt Ye and Tang Lingwu's father.

Perhaps he and Tang Lingwu did not need to be so clear-cut with each other.

Whether speaking of their bond, or considering that he had given Tang Lingwu the opportunity to cultivate immortality, Tang Lingwu probably would not mind this money.

But...

Aunt Ye, or Tang Lingwu's father, probably would not think so.

Zheng Fa believed in equivalent exchange.

It was just a matter of what needed to be paid, and what needed to be gained.

All the intricacies of this still needed consideration.

At a table diagonally across, Senior Yang, whom he had met while queuing earlier, scratched his head.

Although only a morning had passed, he strangely felt that he was another year further from graduation.

Even more tragic was—

As he scratched, he discovered his hair had decreased again!

Thinking of this, Senior Yang could not help but feel sorrow rising from within, and he could not even continue writing his thesis.

His gaze swept around the room, and his eyes naturally flew to Zheng Fa.

Regarding Zheng Fa, his impression was quite deep—not only because they had met a few times in the library.

But because once, while passing the gymnasium, he had seen this junior student meditating!

Speaking reasonably, students of the Physics Department generally only exhibit this symptom when reaching the doctoral stage.

This junior student's case belonged to early-onset...

Later, after meeting him more often in the library, he understood clearly: although this junior student was a bit eccentric, he seemed relatively normal.

Looking at Zheng Fa, his heart could not help but fill with emotion.

He always felt he was somewhat like this junior student—although this junior student had more hair, longer legs, and a smoother face.

But once upon a time, he himself was like this junior student, obsessed with learning and ignoring external matters.

But now, he felt he was wrong:

When your research talent does not reach the level of those geniuses, being too obsessed with learning is not a particularly good choice:

For example, right now, he had no girlfriend, no job, and graduation was uncertain.

Seeing Zheng Fa, he thought of these past events, and his passion for research dropped by another third.

Should he just give up and delay graduation?

At the library entrance, Tang Lingwu walked in gently.

She walked to the spot beside Zheng Fa; Zheng Fa looked up at her, put away the books and exercise book on the table, and the two walked out of the library side by side.

Seemingly afraid of disturbing others studying, the two only began to talk after walking out of the reading room door.

Senior Yang, who had originally been leaning against the railing to clear his mind, could not help but glance at the two with the corner of his eye—mainly looking at Tang Lingwu.

When the girl walked into the library, he had already noticed her on the second floor.

I didn't expect her to come looking for this junior brother...

Their voices reached his ears.

"Why were you frowning just now? What were you thinking?"

He heard that beautiful girl ask the junior brother.

"Nothing..." the junior brother said softly, "I was just thinking I need to find a way to make money."

Senior Yang felt a pang of sympathy in his heart.

He remembered this junior brother was only a freshman?

Was he already shouldering the burden of life now?

No wonder he studied so seriously.

"I have money! I have however much you need."

The girl's words made him feel as if he had heard an unsolved mystery.

He even felt a hint of grievance in the junior sister's voice.

Grievance?

He looked up and saw the junior sister looking at the junior brother with an expression of hurt on her face.

"I know, I know." He saw the junior brother comforting the other person: "I know you have money, but with so much money, you'd have to explain to your parents if you took it out..."

"No need. I'll just ask my mom about a million; it should be fine."

"..."

Senior Yang stood where he was, staring blankly as Zheng Fa left with Tang Lingwu.

His expression was extremely complex.

He took a deep breath, slowly walked into the reading room, and resolved to fight his thesis to the death once more.

At this moment, he deeply realized the difference between himself and Zheng Fa.

And—this junior brother works so hard even though he has such a beautiful, wealthy girlfriend.

I, damn it, have nothing but scientific research.

What right do I have to be decadent?

Zheng Fa did not know he had unconsciously motivated Senior Yang; seeing Tang Lingwu still somewhat unhappy, he also felt a headache.

The two arrived at the nursing home together.

Tian Laoshi saw Tang Lingwu and smiled, "What's wrong? Why is your mouth pouting so high?"

She looked much better already, even squatting on that patch of empty ground observing something.

Zheng Fa could not help but ask, "Tian Laoshi, what are you doing?"

"I was thinking, although the lab hasn't been set up, this land can be planted. Not having a lab doesn't mean we can't do research." Tian Laoshi smiled, "The land is already prepared; if we spread some base fertilizer, we can still catch a winter wheat crop."

Zheng Fa was stunned.

He suddenly realized his misconception—he had always been thinking of building a perfect lab, but in reality, basic physics experiments could solve many confusions!