It was August, the height of summer, and the weather was exceptionally hot and humid.
On the morning of the meeting, the temperature soared to 37 degrees Celsius, the heat wave was rising and falling, the cicadas were buzzing, but a conference room in the college's administrative building was extremely quiet.
There was a long solid wood table in the center of the conference room, and the leaders and teachers of the college sat around the table.
The vice president picked up a glass, and the Sterculia lychnophora in the glass floated away. He drank several sips of water, and then said, "Everyone knows that Professor Qian from our school has moved to another school. Professor Qian was the leader of the 'Molecular Dynamics' discipline, and his departure has far-reaching impacts on all aspects. Students' problems, project problems, fund problems... All these things need to be dealt with as soon as possible."
A leader from the Academic Affairs Office interrupted and said, "This is the current situation. With Professor Qian gone, the leader of the molecular dynamics discipline will be taken over by Professor Qu from our college. This is a tentative decision, and the specific rules still need to be submitted to the higher authorities for approval."
"Teacher Qu"'s real name is Qu Zongyi. He is about 40 years old, in the prime of his life, with strong academic ability. He is indeed worthy of being the new generation leader of "molecular dynamics".
Therefore, there was no objection from the entire college.
The leader continued, "Teacher Qian left behind two doctoral students and four master's students. He went to a university in the northwest, which is far away from us. If he continues to be the mentor of these six students, he can only tutor them remotely through the Internet... There is no one in charge of the laboratory. According to our students, Teacher Qian has not replied to their emails for more than half a month, so what can I do?"
The vice president frowned and asked, "What should we do?"
The leader bent his left elbow, rested his hand on the table, picked up a pen with his right hand, and raised his voice: "I called Teacher Qian. Teacher Qian said that he had just arrived at the new school and was too busy with work. He could only teach students after he was done with his work. His students all asked the college to change their tutors, and the college also took it very seriously..."
While the leader was still narrating the cause and effect, the cicadas outside the window chirped even louder.
Lin Zhixia sat upright in her chair. Tan Qianche happened to be sitting next to Lin Zhixia. Although he and Lin Zhixia were not in the same college, his research direction overlapped with that of Professor Qian who had changed jobs, so he followed the department head to the meeting.
He hadn't expected the meeting to be so dull.
He was drowsy.
Lin Zhixia asked him quietly: "Are you sleepy?"
He raised the corner of his lips and smiled lively: "Are you talking about me? I'm very sober."
Lin Zhixia stopped talking.
Tan Qianche asked her in return: "Do you plan to accept a new student?"
"I haven't thought about it yet," Lin Zhixia answered cautiously, "I don't know what project they are working on."
Tan Qianche took out a stack of documents from his backpack and handed them to Lin Zhixia: "This is the students' project report. The department head gave it to me. The department head asked me to pick a student and assign him to my research group. The students have good basic skills and are all good seedlings. You can also pick a few, since there is no one in your group."
Lin Zhixia flipped through the file and said, "Thank you."
Tan Qianche said calmly: "You are my junior sister, why are you being polite?"
Lin Zhixia quickly browsed through every page of the project report. She took a fancy to a doctoral student named Fang Yiwen. Fang Yiwen's ideas were very clear, her research direction was very novel, and her future development was immeasurable. She had just entered the second year of her doctoral degree this year.
"This student is outstanding." Lin Zhixia said to herself.
Tan Qianche glanced down and said, "Fang Yiwen? She's quite smart. I've heard her presentation."
Lin Zhixia nodded: "Teacher Qu should be able to take her."
"You can't take her on your own?" Tan Qianche reminded, "You are a specially appointed associate professor and are qualified to take on doctoral students."
Lin Zhixia said nothing. She closed the report and fell into deep thought.
In the following days, Lin Zhixia did not express her opinion.
Lin Zhixia believes that the best new mentor for Fang Yiwen should be a big name in the college. In comparison, Lin Zhixia is too inexperienced and has never supervised a doctoral student, which might let Fang Yiwen down.
The actual development was beyond Lin Zhixia's expectations.
Fang Yiwen couldn't find a mentor who was willing to accept her.
Fang Yiwen contacted four professors and was rejected four times by them.
Why is this? !
The doctoral seniors who were one year older than her all found new mentors quickly.
Fang Yiwen's academic level is not weak, and she is young and young, so what is it that she is not doing well enough? She is puzzled.
When she was at her wit's end, she stood in a daze in the teaching building and happened to meet Tan Qianche. Tan Qianche told Fang Yiwen bluntly that Lin Zhixia from the Interdisciplinary College particularly admired her. She didn't dare to delay for a day and immediately found Lin Zhixia and described her situation.
Lin Zhixia made the decision without any hesitation.
Fang Yiwen breathed a sigh of relief.
She also brought another master's student into Lin Zhixia's group.
The master's student was named Xu Lingbo, and he was only 23 years old this year. He had a crew cut, was thin, had dark skin, and looked like a spirited young man. On the first day he met Lin Zhixia, he brought her a bunch of local specialties from the countryside—hickory nuts, local eggs, sweet potato flour, and dried mushrooms—two full bags, all of which he had brought back from his rural hometown before returning home for the summer vacation.
Lin Zhixia was shocked, but she said seriously, "You don't have to give me any gifts. I won't accept anything."
In a large office, with the air conditioner blowing cold air non-stop, Xu Lingbo stood straight and explained calmly: "My dad asked me to get something for Teacher Lin, but I didn't take it, and my dad scolded me every day. The mountain products are made by my family, but Teacher Lin doesn't want them. I have no place to put them in my dormitory, and I'm afraid they will go bad."
Lin Zhixia came up with a solution: "How about this, I'll transfer you 2,000 yuan, and it will be considered as you selling the things to me. Don't give me any more gifts in the future, I don't need anything."
After saying that, Lin Zhixia opened Alipay on her mobile phone and wanted to transfer two thousand yuan to Xu Lingbo.
How could Xu Lingbo dare to accept Lin Zhixia’s money
What's more, those mountain products can't be sold for less than two thousand!
Xu Lingbo picked up the snakeskin bag and ran out of Lin Zhixia's office quickly.
On the way back to the dormitory, Xu Lingbo ran into classmates in the boys' dormitory. The classmates asked him, "What do you think of Professor Lin?" Xu Lingbo could only say that Professor Lin was incorruptible, kind-hearted, and beautiful. As for whether he was easy to get along with, we would have to wait and see.
The summer heat in the provincial capital ended at the end of August, and an autumn rain in early September brought the long-lost coolness to the city. For several consecutive days, the sky was foggy and rainy, but Lin Zhixia was in a particularly good mood. There were three students in her research group - two master's students and one doctoral student. The laboratory was almost ready and sufficient to carry out some preliminary work.
Lin Zhixia and her three students agreed that they would hold a group meeting every Thursday morning. All students must report on their work this week and plans for next week, and Lin Zhixia will also assign them learning tasks.
Before Lin Zhixia finished speaking, Fang Yiwen interrupted her: "Teacher Lin, I want to publish a paper this semester."
Fang Yiwen was wearing a long-sleeved T-shirt and loose wide-leg pants. She wore a pair of black-framed glasses, and her hair hung down on both sides of the frame. Her hair was fluffy and messy. Her junior classmate Xu Lingbo whispered, "Senior sister, before your next meeting... wash your hair."
Fang Yiwen whispered to him: "I just washed my hair with soap this morning."
"Senior sister," Xu Lingbo said helplessly, "Grandpas and grandmas in my hometown don't use soap to wash their hair anymore."
Fang Yiwen was very serious. She immediately argued: "I use shampoo soap, the main ingredient is fatty acid sodium salt, the alkaline pH value does not exceed 9, hair is keratin, keratin and fatty acid sodium salt in warm water environment chemical reaction..."
"Master, Master, Senior Sister!" Zhan Rui called her loudly.
She turned her head and asked, "What's wrong?"
Zhan Rui pointed at Lin Zhixia.
Fang Yiwen suddenly realized that they were still in a group meeting! Why did she quarrel with her junior? It was really wrong. She quickly apologized to Lin Zhixia: "Teacher Lin, I'm sorry, Teacher Lin, I..."
"It's okay," Lin Zhixia didn't seem to mind at all, "We just met not long ago, it will take some time for us to get used to each other, I will get to know you slowly."
After that, Lin Zhixia handed her a document: "You didn't publish a paper in your first year of doctoral studies. I checked the training plan left by your previous supervisor. He wrote it concisely and I read it quickly... This is the reading material I prepared for you."
Fang Yiwen took the document directly without saying thank you and lowered her head to read it on the spot.
Xu Lingbo gave an awkward but polite smile.
Zhan Rui's eyes were wandering and his face was slightly red.
Today's group meeting ended in a strange and indescribable atmosphere.
A few days later, undergraduate students who had just entered their third year received a notice from the school and began to select courses online. The very novel course "Quantum Bits and Computers" came into the public eye for the first time.
The students also discovered that Lin Zhixia, the teacher who taught "Quantum Bits and Computers", had just turned 22 this year and had a very impressive academic resume. Many students chose this course without hesitation because of her reputation. Some boys also rushed to participate in the "class grabbing business" after seeing Lin Zhixia's photos. In the end, all 110 places in this course were snapped up. In just two days, there was not a single place left.
Lin Zhixia was a little happy.
She couldn't wait to tell Jiang Yubai the news.
That morning, Jiang Yubai happened to come to the university town with his secretary, assistant, lawyer, executives of an Internet company, and equipment suppliers of the "Quantum Technology Laboratory".
Jiang Yubai had already discussed with the college leaders and allowed Lin Zhixia to serve as the head and senior consultant of the "Quantum Technology Laboratory", which would also play a certain role in promoting the development of the school's emerging disciplines. Today, Jiang Yubai brought a group of employees to the college to sign a contract in order to avoid future labor disputes within the company.