Am I a Shill?

"Li Ye, another one of your submissions got published. Haven't you been busy writing your graduation thesis these past few days? How did you still have time to submit articles?"

The newly appointed class monitor, Chen Xiaoling, walked into the classroom holding an economics newspaper and tossed it in front of Li Ye, who was bent over his writing.

Li Ye glanced at it and nodded. "I think I dashed this off last month. They probably had too many submissions, so it only got through the queue and published now."

"Good heavens, you dashed it off? Can you possibly say anything more infuriating?"

Chen Xiaoling said with envy, jealousy, and resentment, "I read it on my way over. This article of yours would be more than enough to serve as a graduation thesis, yet you call it something you 'just casually wrote.'

Alas, poor fools like us rack our brains over a graduation thesis and still can't produce one."

"Let me see, let me see. This graduation thesis is giving me a splitting headache! Maybe I can find some inspiration."

Classmate Pu Xianghe took the economics newspaper and saw the bold headline of Li Ye's submitted article—The Inevitable Trend of Transformation in Our Nation's Transportation Market.

Pu Xianghe asked in surprise, "Li Ye, you've researched this topic too?"

Li Ye smiled. "I have a few opinions and guesses. I just wrote them down casually; it doesn't count as research."

"You're being modest again, being modest again," Pu Xianghe said, shaking his head. "Li Ye, we've had our fill of that modest temperament of yours over the past four years. Don't fool us like that."

"Come on, come on, let's analyze and study Li Ye's great casual masterpiece."

Several classmates gathered around, eagerly huddling together to read the article in the