Chapter 306: 18th Birthday

Professor Yue stood up and left with his plate.

The other two professors looked at him speechlessly until Professor Zhao broke the silence. “How rude! Is he going to leave just like that?”

They both followed Professor Yue with their eyes until they noticed Tan Mo sitting in the direction where the latter was headed and immediately understood what was going on.

“Professor Yue!” Ming Yeqing exclaimed in surprise when he raised his head to see the professor standing in front of him. His heart almost leaped out of his mouth.

Tan Mo quickly turned around and couldn’t hide her surprise either. “Professor Yue?”

She pretended as if she hadn’t noticed that he was in the canteen as well.

The professor smiled and sat down next to Ming Yeqing, which was also across from Tan Mo.

“Professor Yue, do you need anything from us?” Tan Mo could tell something bad was about to happen.

“Tan Mo, are you interested in joining my research team?” Professor Yue asked as if he was waiting for Tan Mo’s decision, but then quickly followed up without giving her a chance to reply. “Good. You’re in!”

‘What do you mean I’m in? I haven’t even given you my answer yet!’ Tan Mo scolded him in her head.

“There’s not much to do on my team. You don’t have to come every day like you have to with Professor Guo and Professor Zhao’s research teams,” Professor Yue explained with a grin. “You just have to come from time to time to see how the calculations have progressed and occasionally join in the discussions. Or you can just use your spare time to do some calculations of your own. Of course, we also have group projects, but the time is pretty flexible.”

Professor Yue then turned to Ming Yeqing. “Most of the time, we’ll only gather everyone when there’s a new discovery. Yeqing can tell you the details.”

“But, Professor Yue, I haven’t agreed yet…” Tan Mo pouted.

Unlike Professor Zhao and Professor Guo, Professor Yue didn’t offer her anything to join his team. He didn’t even wait for her acknowledgment and had already accepted it as a given.

“Tan Mo, what you can do is amazing. You shouldn’t waste that talent of yours. Our university needs more people like you now,” Professor Yue said as he switched his approach. “You know that Beijing University is always the best in liberal arts, but Tsinghua University always beats us in scientific subjects. I have to admit that Tsinghua University always has the better scientific talents, and most would choose to study there first. We’re lucky that Yeqing decided to study here because of his mother. Still, I really hope that one day we can beat Tsinghua University in this aspect as well. Since you have the ability to do so, are you not going to help us? You’ve already helped the language and history majors. Why not help us as well?”

Professor Yue was now staring at Tan Mo hopefully.

Seeing that Tan Mo still wasn’t convinced, Professor Yue then continued to urge, “Think about it. Do you remember how arrogant the Tsinghua students were, looking down on us even though we were better than them in that aspect? How arrogant do you think their science students are when they’re crowned the best in the nation?”

Tan Mo didn’t know what to reply. Professor Yue was right, and she could already imagine the smug looks on the faces of the Tsinghua University’s science students.

“Word about you solving the question I gave my team has already spread around the campus. Everyone is extremely curious about you, and they’ve been asking Yeqing questions nonstop. They’re all super looking forward to you joining the team.” Professor Yue smiled and turned to Ming Yeqing. “Right?”

Ming Yeqing could only look at his professor dumbfoundedly.

“Is it true that it won’t use a lot of my time?” Tan Mo asked Ming Yeqing as she didn’t trust Professor Yue.

“Well, the timetable is definitely more flexible than the research teams you’re in now, since you have to spend a lot of time going through the research materials there.” Ming Yeqing told the truth. “All we do are calculations and testing. We don’t even have to stay in the research room when the calculations are running automatically.”

“That’s right. Well, it comes down to if you’re interested or not.” Professor Yue nodded. “How about this? Instead of joining the team officially, just think of yourself as a foreign aid kind of role.”

In the end, Tan Mo wasn’t in the aeronautic engineering major. She was also considered more of outside help for Professor Zhao and Professor Guo’s research teams as well.

“All you have to do is when you feel like it, drop by the research room. Maybe you might find a discussion you’re interested in, and you can join us. And if you find a problem that you think you know the solution to, maybe you can solve it with us as well.” Professor Yue promised her that the load would be light.

“That’s it?” Tan Mo asked.

“Yes. It’s simple, right?” Professor Yue laughed awkwardly. “I know you already have a lot of things on your plate, so I won’t increase your responsibilities.”

“I see… Well, I’m okay with that then,” Tan Mo finally agreed.

A huge grin immediately appeared on Professor Yue’s face.

He could finally be part of the exclusive group that now only consisted of Professor Guo and Professor Zhao. He would have a lot of things to talk about with them now.

“I’ve already told all the kids in my team that you’ll be joining us!” Professor Yue exclaimed happily. “They’re already expecting you, so you don’t have to worry about anything.”

‘Seriously?’ Tan Mo sighed to herself.

“Just let Yeqing know when you want to come. He’ll introduce you to the team,” Professor Yue then said. Most of them aren’t that much older than you. Some are even like you and Yeqing, kids with special talents who have gathered a lot of professional knowledge. The youngest we have, other than Yeqing, is a senior student and up to Ph.D. students. That’s pretty much about it. I’ll take my leave now. Enjoy your meal.”

Now that he’d already gotten what he came for, Professor Yue decided to leave the kids alone and left.

Since all three of them had no classes after lunch, Tan Mo and Qin Muye followed Ming Yeqing to Professor Yue’s research room so that Tan Mo could introduce herself to the team and get to know the other students.

The team was much larger than Professor Guo’s and Professor Zhao’s.

Three students were discussing a calculation in front of a blackboard, while another student was doing another calculation on another blackboard.

A group of students had gathered at a table doing tests based on the calculation results.

Since they were all people who loved doing experiments and calculations, none of them were against Tan Mo joining their team. Instead, all of them were even curious as to what kind of a person their university legend was.

There was no person who was like Shen Jingyi on the team.

Tan Mo wasn’t eager to join in their discussions right away. She decided to introduce herself briefly and get to know everyone on the team later. Then she left with Qin Muye while Ming Yeqing stayed behind to work on the calculations.

The two best friends stayed together until dinnertime was over.

“Don’t forget we’re leaving together tomorrow, okay?” Tan Mo reminded her as they were about to return to their own dorms.

“Of course I remember! How could I ever forget your 18th birthday?” Qin Muye smiled enviously. “Don’t forget it’s my birthday next month, okay?”