Chapter 439: Chapter 432: The New Assistant
Inside the private room, Chonghui was still feasting.
After swallowing another shrimp dumpling, he looked curiously at Shi Qianqian, who had already stopped eating.
"You’re eating so little, is something bothering you? Did today’s data mess up, or is the direction of the new paper not quite right?"
Shi Qianqian rolled her eyes at Chonghui and then looked down at her stomach.
After confirming it was still flat, perfectly showcasing a slender waistline, she sighed with relief and said, "I just don’t have much appetite today..."
Chonghui interrupted with a sarcastic "heh."
In front of a well-informed psychologist, all disguises are futile.
Shi Qianqian took a deep breath. To avoid creating a scene that might leave a bad impression at first glance, she was too lazy to argue with him today.
She simply worried, "Junior brother has been out for a long time, hasn’t met with an accident, has he?"
Chonghui didn’t even look up, "If you’re worried about him, just go find him."
"Good idea, you said it!"
Before the words were completely out, Shi Qianqian had already dashed out like the wind.
Chonghui sneered disdainfully.
Heh, women.
Picking up a nearby wet wipe, Chonghui wiped his hands and closed his eyes to feel the state of his body.
Just as he was contemplating whether to stop at being eight-tenths full or to try filling his stomach a bit more.
Suddenly, the door of the room opened again, Shi Qianqian came back.
Came back alone.
Chonghui blinked, looking at Shi Qianqian who suddenly appeared much different in temperament, "Where’s junior brother? Did something really happen to him?"
Shi Qianqian slowly shook her head, "No, nothing happened to him."
"Then you are..."
"I just found out my ’incident’ is over."
Saying this, Shi Qianqian pulled over a plate of boneless phoenix claws, eating as she began discussing with Chonghui:
"What kind of chart do you think could best represent the data we received recently? Also, the project recommended by the teacher to us, I saw Beijing University seems to be working on it too, do you think there might be any conflict..."
Shi Qianqian’s expression was calm, her tone steady.
Yet Chonghui found her more intimidating now than before.
...
Shortly after Shi Qianqian returned, Nan Zhubin also pushed open the door.
He didn’t elaborate on the specifics.
After all, the court’s schedule was still a private matter without any progress.
The short gathering quickly ended, with the unexpected appearance of Liu Jiahang having taken up quite some time, the planned "campus tour" for today was temporarily canceled.
There’s always tomorrow.
The next day, Nan Zhubin also didn’t go to school but returned to the company with Chonghui.
Because Bai Qinghua sent a message—Nan Zhubin’s assistant had been selected.
This meant Nan Zhubin could start scheduling according to his own itinerary.
Chonghui looked at the eager Nan Zhubin with unsurprised eyes, "I’ll drive you there, I have a consultation in the afternoon anyway."
In Beidu in July, the weather was already quite hot.
On a sunny day, just watching the scorching road could activate the temperature perception in one’s skin through synesthesia, making people begin to gasp quietly.
Fortunately, Nan Zhubin’s itinerary was quite reasonable today: from an air-conditioned room in the morning, getting wind as soon as they were in the car; Bai Qinghua’s company was also in a rather advanced office building, upon arrival, they went into a cool basement, and in the elevator, they could directly enjoy central air conditioning.
When Nan Zhubin and Chonghui stepped through the automatic doors, they felt so relaxed that they didn’t sweat at all.
"Teacher Chong is here... and Teacher Nan!"
The receptionist Shanshan, who met them briefly yesterday, initially greeted them with a professionally courteous smile, but upon clearly seeing the person behind Chonghui, her entire face bloomed with genuine emotion.
The student intern today was a different girl than yesterday, her eyes even widened at the sight.
"Good morning." Chonghui nodded in response.
"Good morning." Nan Zhubin politely donned a socially standard smile.
But receptionist Shanshan felt that Nan Zhubin’s smile must also be sincere.
As they walked away, behind them there were small murmurs.
"Sister Shan, who is the teacher behind them?"
"Let me tell you, this is the boss’s new disciple, quite impressive, even more than Old Liu..."
Chonghui smiled with a sense of pride.
Looking at Nan Zhubin, Chonghui pointed in the direction of the reception and talked about his assistant today.
"Just like there’s a position at the reception left for student interns, there are many student intern roles for consultant assistants as well."
Chonghui pointed at himself, "Intern consultants like us usually have assistants who are other students from the same group, making schedule adjustments more flexible. Don’t worry, they are definitely qualified."
"But your assistant is a senior-year undergraduate student, I’ve seen him before, seems to be seeking a teacher for thesis guidance, apparently planning to pursue graduate studies later, also joining our teacher’s group."
Through Bai Qinghua’s introduction yesterday, Nan Zhubin knew his senior brother and sister were Weng Pinting, Chonghui, and Shi Qianqian.
Adding Nan Zhubin and Bai Qinghua himself, this "school" was exactly five people.
But it didn’t mean Bai Qinghua’s entire research group had just these few people. As a professor, Bai Qinghua also had fixed teaching guidance tasks at school and took several students every year.
Those were just "students," Nan Zhubin and others were "disciples."
Though they would address each other as "senior brother" and "senior sister" when meeting, their nature was different.
The difference was similar to the one between Huang Xin and Nan Zhubin under Lin Lulin.
The former, the mentor would provide relevant guidance needed for graduation, and might even use his network to help find jobs post-graduation.
But most of the time, these students had to rely on self-study, seeing the mentor once a week was considered frequent.
The latter was truly the sect’s heir. Bai Qinghua would plan a systematic path for their educational journey and constantly supervise it, taking them to conferences, lectures, and classes and introducing them to his connections when needed.
In textbooks, it’s usually described as a story illustrating their relationship: Bai Qinghua, constrained by the times, could only propose a certain conjecture, then Nan, Weng, Chong, and Shi continued to research this conjecture for twenty to thirty years after their mentor’s death, proving and enriching it into a viable theory, earning a place in history.
Using a fantasy novel analogy, it’s the difference between "official disciples" and "Direct Disciples."
Arranging a bachelor’s "official disciple" as Nan Zhubin’s assistant was likely considering Nan Zhubin’s status as yet to enroll.
Arranging a proud and arrogant graduate student assistant might require extra effort to build a work relationship—not that Nan Zhubin couldn’t do it, but it would waste necessary energy.
Bai Qinghua’s arrangement was quite thoughtful.
Nan Zhubin contemplated and asked, "Senior brother, have you seen my assistant junior brother before, is he diligent in his work?"
Getting to know a person requires multiple perspectives.
But when Nan Zhubin met the assistant, he realized—they seemed to have met before?
Watching the young man’s expression transition smoothly from [reserved] to [surprised] then to [Oh no, I might have trouble].
Nan Zhubin curled his lips, restraining himself from laughing.