CH 6

Hearing his xuejie compliment a person like this, Lu Han asked in surprise: “Is he a xuezhang that stays at school? Or is he doing a Ph.D.?”

The xuejie shook her head: “Neither, he’s already a guaranteed postgraduate even though he’s only starting his 4th-year next term. Don’t judge him by his young age, you have no idea how many big prizes he got his hands on. You know Ni Weinian, Professor Ni right? From our school, nearly 80% of applicants for the summer internship came for him. But he never recruits outsiders, and Fang Huaining is part of that Professor Ni’s group.” 

“Professor Ni hasn’t taken postgrad students under him for many years now. Not only did he personally take him under, but he also put him in almost every project. It really shows how much he likes him. The Ace is indeed the Ace after all.

“Wow, then this Fang xuezhang is really amazing. “Li Han obediently agreed.

“Being smart is indeed amazing, but what’s more amazing is that he’s hot!” The xuejie pointed out realistically.

Their university, University A, has always been producing talents. Impressive seniors who are studying postgrads and Ph.Ds are not uncommon in the research institute. It’s not like there’s no geniuses, but there really are only a handful of those who has such excellent both external and internal conditions. To sum up, Fang Huaining has a high overall score. His morality, talents and wisdom are all extraordinary. He truly deserves the “Ace” title. 

This conversation made everyone laugh, Li Han also followed along and laughed before saying especially cheerfully: “I really want to get to know Fang xuezhang better… how about we call their group to join us for lunch later?”

“Kiddo, you’re very generous and we really appreciate it, but if you want to invite the Ace for lunch, it won’t be so easy. Except for a few acquaintances, Fang Huaining hardly eats with other people. Our Ace is quite aloof.”

“Is that so…” When Li Han heard this, his naive expression couldn’t help but become bitter, looking very upset.

The xuejie thought he was adorable and couldn’t help teasing him: “Actually, it’s not impossible, here, he’s about to come over, you can try asking, maybe he’ll get touched by you and agree to it.”

Li Ting got a message from his phone, he turned it on to take a look, it was from someone called A-Chang. It wrote: There is a thunderstorm tonight, do you want to come take care of it?

Li Ting lifted his head to look at Li Han, then at the tall boy in the distance who was slowly walking over, he suddenly said, “I’m leaving.”

Li Han was still pondering over what his xuejies said, when he heard his brother’s voice, he turned his head in a daze: “Huh?”

“I’m leaving.” Li Ting repeated and put his phone back into his pocket. 

“Oh, okay…”

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Those people seems to be a few years older than them, and they should all be studying for masters and doctors. Except for the boy who is walking in the middle… thin and tall, walking at a steady pace. From a distance and among ordinary people, his whole aura is shining.

When he got closer, Li Han was even more surprised. Although the university he attended was not as good as Uni A, his school’s computer science program is also among the best in City A. He has seen all kinds of students and knows how shut-in they are. Nearly half of them are old-fashioned, and the other half are both ugly and old-fashioned. Someone like Wang Qin who is neither old-fashioned nor ugly and can still be considered tall and handsome is already a rare existence. It’s no wonder that Wang Qin’s popular with several boys and girls at school, but compared to the one before him, Li Han finally understood the difference between the sky and the ground. 

This Fang xuezhang is just like a celebrity that came out of the movie, small face, pale skin, and long legs. His temperament is neither rough nor soft. There is a strong heroic aura shown from his delicate facial features. At first glance, people can make out his star-like graceful eyes and dignified appearance. His every little action made people’s gaze follow him involuntarily.

Might be from the fact that Li Han’s silly behavior of standing there was too abrupt, Fang Huaining and his party, who’s pathway got blocked, noticed Li Han before he spoke and looked straight at him.

After meeting that person’s eyes, Li Han’s heart palpitated. He was stunned for a moment before snapping out of it and said: “Um… are you F-Fang xuezhang?”

His eloquence was good, he could sort his thoughts to express his intentions without hindrance. Even if the invitation previously was out of politeness and courtesy, it has now become sincere. 

It’s just a pity that, as his xuejies had expected, Fang xuezhang listened to his words expressionlessly and then rejected it without consideration.

“Sorry, I don’t have time.”

Fang Huaining said as he looked at Li Han politely, but after speaking, he didn’t wait for the other’s reply and said his goodbyes to those beside him.

“I’m leaving, I need to go to the suburbs.” 

“The case from Hexin Industry?” The seniors expressed their understanding, “That thing is a bit troublesome, but the company is quite generous. The jobs that your Old Ni take on are quite conscientious.”

Someone said caringly: “Huaining, it’s raining tonight, quite heavy actually, remember to bring an umbrella.”

Fang Huaining nodded to each senior, and went straight towards the school gates.

“Told you it’s a bit difficult, the Ace has always been like this. Let us go eat instead, we won’t actually let you pay.” The xuejies said while smiling. 

Li Han kept his eyes on the leaving boy. It was until he got pushed by Wang Qin that he came back to his senses.

Wang Qin questioned: “What’s wrong?”

Li Han lowered his head: “Nothing…”

The job from Hexin Industry was not a scientific research topic, Ni Weinian purely accepted it for money. In Ni Weinian’s words, if academics don’t make enough income to match their talents, how will they have the enthusiasm to study and innovate? In fact, there are many similar kinds of good paying jobs, which aren’t just piled in his hands. The old man fairly distributes it to the kids below him. It’s no wonder the students in other groups are jealous and would make every attempt to join. 

Fang Huaining does not care about the money, but he knows that Elder Ni is treating him well. Therefore, even if the company is far and changes their mind every week, making them redo their work from time to time, Fang Huaining has no complaints.

After riding the bus for almost two hours, Fang Huaining arrived at the destination. This is a newly established head office. He and two other seniors are required to help rebuild the internet network and all aspects of the system. Most of the employees have not yet been transferred so there are only a few people in the entire building.

When Fang Huaining walked into the gate of Hexin Industry’s reception, he inadvertently caught a small electric scooter passing by on the sidewalk from the corner of his eye.

Fang Huaining fell in a daze and inexplicably thought that it was familiar, but when looked back again, he found nothing. 

Did he see wrong?

He entered the switchboard room. As he worked, half the day passed. When he remembered about lunch, it was already three o’clock.

Leaning against the huge glass wall, Fang Huaining, who stole a moment to rest, looked into the distance to relieve his sore eyes. A place similar to a science and technology park’s probably going to be built here in the future, but it has not yet been developed. Most of the surrounding area is wasteland and farmland, and there are almost no people.

Oh, never mind, there is a person nearby. 

He saw a man in a straw hat ploughing the soil with a pickaxe in the boiling heat.

Is he a farmer from nearby? Fang Huaining thought, still working hard under such a blazing sun, it might be tough. Looking at the iced coffee in his hand, and feeling the cool air-conditioning around him, Fang Huaining couldn’t help but feel a little guilty.

Not sure if this uncle will get a heat stroke.

Wait, it seems like… he’s not an uncle. 

He saw the other rolled up his pants because of the heat and revealing the two pale slender legs underneath. Fang Huaining was first a little surprised which soon turned into shocked.

Perhaps he was afraid of the scorching sun, the farmer put down his pickaxe, turned to the soil pile beside him and pushed out a small broken electric scooter from behind. He pushed it all the way to the big tree planted by Hexin Industrial. After confirming that the cushion on the scooter was out of the sun, he straightened his clothes, took a drink of water, picked the pickaxe back up, and returned to work.

And this period of time was enough for Fang Huaining to see the farmer’s whole face under the straw hat.

Fang Huaining: “………” 

He, who has always been known as the aloof and calm Ace in the eyes of others, currently feels that his view of the world is subtly shaken by unknown external forces.

He doesn’t even know if he should be surprised that he met this person again or if he should question why this guy is over here… farming?!

Is he originally a farmer?

Is his family situation so bad that he has to work part time everywhere? 

Isn’t he a university student?

Shouldn’t he be able to find an easier job since he has such an outstanding ability to earn money?

It can’t be that he’s helping someone right?

If it hadn’t been for the self-discipline engraved in his bones to pull Fang Huaining back to serious affairs, he would probably still be able to stay there and continue guessing for a long time. However, Fang Huaining’s extremely high concentration made him forget all those mixed thoughts after he started working. It was when a thunder sounded that he was able to return to his senses. He found that the sky outside was already dark since who-knows-when and the thunderstorm mentioned by his seniors was also hitting strongly. 

Fang Huaining walked to the window and unconsciously looked towards that other side. In the splashing rain, the electric scooter was still parked in its original place, but the person was no longer there. However, a small canvas shed covered the field that person was busily working on earlier, sheltering the crops underneath.

Although the small shed was simple, it was unexpectedly solid and stubbornly still in the wind and rain. Fang Huaining watched quietly, for some reason, he didn’t move for a long time…