As soon as he entered the school, Leng Chuanjin rushed towards the research institute building at top speed.
When he saw the bustling crowd downstairs, his heart sank.
"Did you see the news this morning?"
"Sure did! Isn't that Xia Sanghuan the one who's been doing research with Professor He?"
"She's in the same major as me, but she's never taken classes with us."
The students were whispering to each other. It was easy to hear the schadenfreude in their voices.
Since she enrolled, Xia Sanghuan had only been a name on the class roster. She spent all her other time in the research lab.
Just this special treatment had made many students envious.
After all, most of the people who had worked with Professor He were selected by him only after years of further study at the school.
Moreover, if a thesis could pass through Professor He's hands, even just having him make a few revisions, that thesis could gain a reputation in the academic world.
Such a great opportunity falling into the hands of an unknown girl just like that would make anyone feel dissatisfied.
"Excuse me, please."
Yun Ye stretched out his arms in front and cleared a path for him.
The student pushed aside by Yun Ye turned around discontentedly. Just as he was about to complain, he met Leng Chuanjin's fierce gaze.
His look sent shivers down one's spine, so the student had no choice but to shut his mouth resentfully.
"Wow, isn't that Leng Chuanjin?"
"He was the one who came to pick up Xia Sanghuan from school that day too!"
"Really?"
As the man arrived, the students' discussions became even more intense.
"I knew Xia Sanghuan could get such good treatment as soon as she came. She must be a nepotism case."
"Didn't the news say she's the daughter of the Fu family?"
"Come on, you believe that? She has the surname Xia. How could she be a daughter of the Fu family? The media must have written it randomly just to get attention."
"Doesn't the Fu family only have two daughters? One is Fu Moning and the other is Fu Youqing."
"The media just treats us like fools."
He didn't pay attention to what they were saying and quickened his pace into the building.
It wasn't until he got into the elevator that the buzzing in his ears lessened a bit.
He clenched his fists and found his palms were all sweaty.
It wasn't because of the people outside, but because he was worried about Xia Sanghuan.
Although he didn't deliberately listen to what those people were talking about, with so many people talking, some words inevitably got into his ears.
They would rather believe that she got the chance to further her studies with Professor He through some dirty means than believe that she was really the young miss the Fu family had been looking for for many years.
It was only a few floors, but he felt that the elevator was moving extremely slowly.
When the elevator "dinged" and the door opened, he almost rushed out instantly.
He had thought that the people inside the research institute wouldn't speak ill of the girl like those outside, but the truth proved him wrong.
When he saw a group of people standing in front of the research room of Xia Sanghuan and He Jianyu, he felt that the thread holding his sanity was about to break.
...
When Xia Sanghuan first arrived at school, everything was calm.
Apart from the security guard at the school gate giving her a strange look, nothing happened.
Since she always came early, she rarely ran into any students on the way.
This was also one of the reasons why she still hadn't made any friends at school.
She arrived at the research room as briskly as usual. However, not long after Professor He came, everything changed.
Professor He opened the door, walked up to her with a solemn expression, and patiently waited for her to finish preparing for the experiment in hand before patting her on the shoulder.
"Sanghuan, stop for a moment."
The girl looked at him in confusion and then obediently put the test tube back on the test tube rack.
Although Professor He always had a stern face, he had never shown such a serious expression to her.
He took out his phone, pulled up the news page, and showed it to her.
"Is this true?"
"... What?"
When she saw the news title, she realized the seriousness of the situation.
She clicked on the video and audio, and her face sank as she listened.
Her voice from the phone echoed in the huge laboratory, sounding so harsh.
"It wasn't me."
She suppressed the panic in her heart, turned off the screen, and handed the phone back to him.
She thought Professor He would kick her out next, but instead, he just let out a sigh of relief.
"It's good that it wasn't you."
She was stunned for a moment.
"But the person in the video is clearly me..."
She added carefully.
"I know."
"Although I'm not sure what exactly happened, my intuition tells me that you're not stupid enough to kill someone in public and get caught on camera."
Hearing Professor He's words, she didn't know how to feel for a moment.
"So, what exactly happened?"
"Can you tell me?"
She nodded, sorted out her thoughts, and was just about to explain the whole thing to Professor He.
However, at that moment, the door of the research room was roughly knocked on.
"I'll go open it."
Professor He raised his hand to stop Xia Sanghuan from opening the door and walked forward himself.
He opened the door, and standing outside was the senior who had once been against the girl.
Behind him were the members of his research group.
"Professor He, we'd like to have a chat with classmate Xia Sanghuan."
Although the way they knocked on the door was rude, their attitude towards Professor He was still very respectful.
"I don't think you have anything to talk about."
Professor He pushed his glasses, and his expression was even more severe than usual.
"Moreover, it's working time now. Instead of doing your research properly in your own research room, you come to our research room to cause trouble.
"What kind of behavior is this!"
The senior was intimidated by the professor's aura and involuntarily took two steps back.
Only later did he feel a bit aggrieved. After all, Professor He was just an old man, while he was a young and strong young man.
He gritted his teeth and remembered what Wei Linjun had just said to them.
Actually, they didn't know about this news at first. The high - intensity work and pressure every day left them with no time to care about social news.
Just now, while Wei Linjun was helping them record data, he casually said,
"I really don't understand how someone like classmate Xia Sanghuan managed to get into our Philnos College."
His voice wasn't loud, but it was loud enough for every student in the research room to hear.
Hearing this, they all stopped their work and looked up at him curiously.
Seeing their reaction, he smiled helplessly and shrugged at them.
"It's nothing. Just some of my thoughts."
Although he said so, it piqued their strong curiosity.