Chapter 470: Rarity Makes Things Precious

"Mm-hmm, go ahead, I'm listening."

The moment Yu Dazhang heard him bring that up, his eyes lit up and half the alcohol left his system.

When men gossip, it's almost always about women.

Especially after drinking — once the liquor kicks in, things they'd normally be too embarrassed to say come spilling out without a care.

"Don't be fooled just because she's a woman." Chen Yang said, tongue thick:

"Let me tell you, she's got big ambitions — made professor at 30. Can't you tell from that alone?"

Tell what, exactly… Yu Dazhang honestly didn't know much about this field.

Is becoming a professor at 30 not normal?

He was an outsider, so he didn't dare probe too deeply, and could only ask vaguely:

"Um, how old are you this year?"

Chen Yang shook his head and blinked twice:

"Thirty-one."

Now that you put it that way, I get it… Yu Dazhang muttered to himself.

So he's a whole year older than Ying Xuelian.

But their ranks are several tiers apart.

Chen Yang hasn't even landed the most entry-level teaching assistant position yet, while Ying Xuelian is already a professor.

"What's that look for?"

Seeing Yu Dazhang staring at him with a look that seemed to want to say something but holding back, Chen Yang said, displeased:

"A postdoc at my age is perfectly normal. Oh right, I haven't asked you yet — how old are you this year?"

If I say it, I'm afraid it'll hit you too hard… Yu Dazhang picked up his glass:

"Come on, bottoms up first. The three of us meeting here is fate."

"Right, it's fate!" Liu Hai raised his glass too:

"Come on, bottoms up."

Seeing this, Chen Yang reflexively raised his cup:

"Drink together, bottoms up."

The three clinked their glasses, then tipped their heads back and drained them in one go.

"That hits the spot." Chen Yang set his cup down and looked at Yu Dazhang again:

"You still haven't said how old you are."

Pretty persistent, aren't you… Yu Dazhang answered helplessly:

"Twenty-four."

"How old?" Chen Yang thought he'd misheard, rubbed his face, and asked again.

"Twenty-four years old." Yu Dazhang answered.

At this, even Liu Hai turned a look of astonishment his way.

Under a normal academic trajectory, with no interruptions in schooling, the standard age for finishing a doctorate is 28.

Anyone younger than that implies skipping grades during basic education, graduating early during the master's stage, and so on.

But cases like that usually don't make it all the way to a doctoral degree.

Everyone knows what happens when you try to rush growth.

In the early eighties, domestic universities all set up classes for gifted youth, aimed at cultivating precocious teenage talent.

Later they were shut down one after another, until they vanished without a trace.

There were many reasons, but the main one was that those so-called prodigies didn't end well.

So when Yu Dazhang said he was 24, Chen Yang and Liu Hai both froze, exchanging glances, finding it hard to believe.

A 24-year-old doctorate, and this fat too…

Can you even fake a doctoral degree in this country now?

Impossible.

Anyone who comes to work here has passed layer upon layer of vetting — not just their education, but their family going back three generations gets checked down to the last detail.

"My choice to come work here in the first place was asking to be humiliated."

Chen Yang said with a bitter smile:

"Here it's nothing but academic bigwigs, or geniuses like you who take your breath away — even a mere woman is someone I can only look up to and never reach."

Liu Hai shook his head and sighed beside him:

"I'm 29 this year. Before coming here, I always thought I was a chosen one. Only after arriving did I realize I'm nothing but a negligible mediocrity."

How did a little drinking turn into them putting themselves down like this… Yu Dazhang hadn't expected his fake degree to deal the two of them such a heavy blow.

"You're being way too modest."

Yu Dazhang didn't dare put on airs in front of these two real doctors:

"I just got lucky. Honestly, when it comes to knowledge reserves, I'm far behind you two. Compared to you, my doctorate is pretty hollow."

Seeing the two of them about to continue, he quickly changed the subject:

"Oh right, you just said Professor Ying isn't simple — tell me more, I love hearing this." He accidentally let slip what was on his mind.

"You're interested in Professor Ying too?" Chen Yang asked, somewhat surprised.

Why did he say "too"?

Yu Dazhang and Liu Hai stared at Chen Yang with curiosity.

Who was the other person?

"No..." Chen Yang quickly corrected himself:

"I mean, Professor Ying is so much older than you, and you have feelings for her too?"

Yu Dazhang threw caution to the wind and simply went along with his words:

"I like women older than me, the more mature the better."

A young married woman is a gentle haven, a ray of light in the darkness... these past few days, Yu Dazhang had come to deeply appreciate this truth.

Ever since he joined the research team, Ying Xuelian had been nothing short of solicitous toward him.

Not only did she look after him at work, she often asked after his well-being in daily life.

Encountering such a gentle, considerate, highly educated woman — an ordinary person really wouldn't be able to withstand it.

"Then you'd better be careful."

Chen Yang reminded him:

"The people who have designs on her are by no means few. Becoming a professor at thirty — intelligence alone isn't enough for that."

This time, before Yu Dazhang could respond, Liu Hai jumped in:

"Where did you even get that twisted logic? Now you're spinning conspiracy theories. I think Professor Ying is a perfectly fine person, and she's got real talent and learning to boot."

Wine loosened their tongues, and the two went back and forth, arguing until their faces were flushed.

The topic never once strayed from Ying Xuelian.

Yu Dazhang slowly understood — when these two had first come to work here, they too had been personally mentored by Ying Xuelian.

But people are different.

Some people felt genuine gratitude, believing her help had spared them many detours in their work.

Then there were those who nursed jealousy, feeling they were no worse than Ying Xuelian, yet had never received the same recognition and opportunities.

And that wasn't all.

Yu Dazhang also noticed that Chen Yang harbored a certain unusual feeling toward Ying Xuelian.

When Chen Yang was sober, he had never spoken a single bad word about Ying Xuelian, and even helped her raise a little squirrel.

At least in Yu Dazhang's eyes, the two of them were quite close.

Sober words are few; drunken words speak the heart.

What was unexpected was that once drunk, Chen Yang actually harbored so many grievances toward Ying Xuelian.

By contrast, Liu Hai seemed perfectly normal — even when drunk, he was still defending Ying Xuelian.

Yu Dazhang looked at the two drunken men and shook his head helplessly.

No matter the matter, once feelings get mixed in, it becomes extraordinarily complicated.

When there's only one woman among a group of men, it gets even more complicated.

It's just like in school — when there's only one class beauty in a class, even if she never does anything deliberate, she still becomes the focus of every boy's attention.

Rare things are precious, after all.

Another two days passed.

Yu Dazhang had now fully settled into his new work environment.

Not only was his work going more and more smoothly, he had also picked up plenty of gossip about the entire research team.

For instance, what hobbies the two academicians had in their daily lives.

Who took a dislike to whom.

But the richest source of gossip was still Ying Xuelian.

It wasn't just the rank-and-file folks in their academic circle who were interested in her — from academicians down to researchers, everyone paid her considerable attention.

Speaking of which, Ying Xuelian couldn't exactly be called a great beauty.

But she had a unique air about her that made men, upon seeing her, unable to resist wanting to draw near.

Add to that her faint scholarly air, and she seemed all the more fresh and elegant.

Besides, she was the type whose looks grew on you.

The longer one knew her, the more one felt she was so clean, so pure, without the slightest impurity.

In Yu Dazhang's eyes, Ying Xuelian was like a cup of clear tea — one had to savor it slowly to appreciate its subtle charm.

That evening, Li Mingzhao sent someone to fetch Yu Dazhang out.

When the two met, Yu Dazhang said directly:

"I've learned pretty much everything I need to. This show can begin."

(End of Chapter)