Chapter 59
Xie Yujia was running so fast that she almost tripped over the steps outside the library and landed in Hao Ren's arms.
She barely steadied herself, and her face was red due to the run. She panted and said, "Are you going back to your dorm?"
"Yeah?" Hao Ren looked at her, baffled.
"I…I am heading back to my dorm, too," Xie Yujia said after half a second pause.
"Oh. Let's walk back together," Hao Ren still looked nonplussed.
"Wait for me for a second; my bicycle is over there," with her books in her arms, Xie Yujia walked to the parking lot on the right side of the library. She put the books in the basket in the front and unlocked the bike before walking it to Hao Ren.
Dressed in a white s.h.i.+rt, a pair of denim shorts, and a pair of green canvas shoes while walking a semi-new bike, Xie Yujia looked like the girl-next-door.
In Hao Ren's mind, she had the perfect image and should be the most popular girl in the school instead of that blatantly dressed-up Lin Li from the Third Cla.s.s.
Seeing Hao Ren staring at her, Xie Yujia blushed and said, "Let's go."
"Ok," Hao Ren walked with her shoulder to shoulder. They walked across the open s.p.a.ce in front of the library and crossed the bridge over the school lake.
The sun was s.h.i.+ning, and the bike rolled forward slowly, matching their steps. They walked for a dozen meters in silence before Xie Yujia asked abruptly, "How is your grandma?"
"She is fine now," Hao Ren thought for a moment and said, "Thank you for your concern."
Xie Yujia lowered her head and asked after a few seconds, "What is going on between you and Su Han?"
With her white hands on the bike handles, her soft and elegant body leaned slightly to one side.
"She is my distant cousin," Hao Ren forced himself to say the words even himself wouldn't believe.
"That day, Thursday, I saw you enter her office," Xie Yujia said.
Hao Ren turned to look at her; now he knew that the person who had followed him was actually Xie Yujia. He thought quickly and said, "Oh… I went to ask her about something I didn't quite understand from her cla.s.s."
"Oh, so she tutored you privately," Xie Yujia said immediately.
"Well," Hao Ren smiled at the a.s.sumption, though the content of the tutoring session wasn't about the topic taught in the cla.s.s but about cultivation.
"Any more questions?" Hao Ren asked after Xie Yujia turned silent.
"No," Xie Yujia shook her head.
Looking at her bright and pretty face, Hao Ren thought the beautiful Cla.s.s President was quite cute.
They continued to walk. Although Xie Yujia had the bike with her and had finished asking her questions, she didn't seem like she was in a hurry.
"Warm Welcome to World Famous Biologist Hao Zhonghua and Globally Well-Known Meteorologist Yue Yang Who Will Be Giving Lectures in the University!"
A red banner hanging over the top of the Green Hill Cafeteria came into their view.
It was hung here to get more students' attention.
Looking up at the banner, Xie Yujia started another topic, "I didn't expect our school to be able to invite such famous people to give guest lectures here."
"Oh? Do you know them?" Hao Ren was surprised.
Seeing Hao Ren's surprise, Xie Yujia said immediately, "How can I not know them? Hao Zhonghua is China's most famous biologist, and the domestic media says that he is the most promising Chinese candidate for the n.o.bel Biology Prize. His paper on genetic information transcription has been published in Nature Magazine in the United States. International media also has a high opinion of his other research projects, though I can't remember the t.i.tles now…"
Xie Yujia had a lot to say about the global reputation of the so-called Greatest Biologist in China. However, when she talked about his biological research projects, she couldn't remember the t.i.tles.
Seeing the confusion on Hao Ren's face, Xie Yujia was angry at her futile efforts. "Anyway, he is one of the greatest scientists in China. Besides, he is very young, only in his forties. He published papers in all kinds of science magazines, and he is in the news frequently. You haven't heard of him at all?"
Seeing her serious expression as if she was giving a lecture to a student, Hao Ren had an urge to laugh.
"You guys only know about playing online games, watching movies or reading comic books in your dorm, and you don't care a bit about the world around you. If you guys keep going like this, you will be left behind by the world!" with one hand on her hip, Xie Yujia lectured him sternly.
Seeing her all riled up, Hao Ren had to give in. "Ok! Ok! Now I'll remember his name," he said.
"Good!" Xie Yujia was satisfied. "It would be shameful if you knew nothing about such a famous scientist! Besides, he should be a distant relative of yours."
"Distant relative?" Hao Ren was baffled.
"Yeah. Since you both have the surname of Hao, you guys probably belonged to the same family 300 years ago," Xie Yujia stared at Hao Ren and said.
Hao Ren chuckled. "You are right, Cla.s.s President. I didn't know you are a fan of this Hao Zhonghua."
"Be respectful! He is the most famous scientist in China!" Xie Yujia began to lecture him again.
"Yeah, yeah…" Hao Ren didn't want to argue with a girl or the Cla.s.s President. He surrendered and said, "Cla.s.s President, I guess you will definitely go to the lecture this Thursday."
"Of course! And this time he isn't alone! His wife will be here, too! This is a rare opportunity for us undergraduates! As academicians, he and his wife are busy with their research and rarely show their faces in public. I wonder how the school managed to invite them both to give us lectures... This is even a rare opportunity for doctoral students!"
Xie Yujia was excited about this topic. She had been a straight-A student since elementary school, and she had her eyes on science and technology. As a result, her admiration of scientists was understandable.
Of course, even the students who had no interest in science would go to the auditorium to see the famous couple Hao Zhonghua and Yue Yang.
Xie Yujia continued her lecture while walking with Hao Ren, "Hao Zhonghua is only in his forties, but he is already a member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences 1. And his wife, Yue Yang, is also awesome since she is a member of the Chinese Academy of Engineering. Some say each of them could be a member of both the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Chinese Academy of Engineering, but they aren't given the t.i.tles because of their young ages…"
Hearing the "gossip" about the couple from Xie Yujia, Hao Ren found the serious look on her face funny.
Soon, Xie Yujia found that Hao Ren was still unimpressed after her lecture and was almost treating what she said as some jokes. She was seriously upset and said, "You! You don't have any respect for such great scientists!"
Hao Ren was about to argue his case when the cell phone in his pocket began to buzz.
Digging out his phone, he saw it was from Cao Ronghua. He answered lazily, "Well, I'm on my way. You can take out the cards now."
"It's not about the cards! Sh*t went down!" Cao Ronghua's agitated voice came from the phone, "Zhao Jiayi is in a fight with the guys from the basketball team!"