"That was actually a compliment!" Once Xi Yanfan got started, she became impossible to stop.
"Some of the students were saying that they originally thought you were an Academic Second Generation—the kind whose elders were all old-school scholars who secretly handed you a few papers to boost you, even though you didn't really have much ability."
"But after seeing you busy in the lab these past few days, everyone thinks you're genuinely impressive. You must really have some ability!"
Song He laughed. "My parents sell mutton soup. What they could give me wasn't called a paper. It was called a recipe."
"Some students also said the teachers treat you especially well and are biased toward you. But other students immediately argued that the teachers were only taking care of top students. Whoever ranked first would receive the same treatment..."
Xi Yanfan chattered on, dumping all the students' private discussions in one go.
At that moment, she was like a little spy, gathering eavesdropped information and reporting it to her boss with unwavering loyalty.
Song He lowered his head and browsed papers, but he spared one ear for listening, nodding from time to time.
There wasn't really anything substantial in those discussions. The students were merely curious about the legendary big shot, so they came up with all sorts of wild guesses. At the same time, they had initially been dissatisfied with him, but after finishing several days of classes, they had basically become thoroughly convinced.
Song He was already used to this sort of thing. He was too young and had achieved too much, so suspicion was inevitable. Therefore, whenever he went somewhere new, he had to conquer everyone around him all over again with solid ability and personal charm.
"By the way, you just said that you'd... you'd interrogate