In the lab.
When he heard there was a problem with the nucleophilic substitution step, Xu Yun didn't even furrow his brow. He asked calmly,
"Xiao Zhao, there are plenty of reasons a substitution reaction might fail. What exactly happened? Is the substance not reacting?"
"It is reacting."
Xiao Zhao scratched his head, perplexed, confusion flickering in his eyes.
"The balanced equation should be fine, but no product is forming. Not even any crude product."
"How much bipyridine?"
"3 eq%."
"I see. Hold on a moment."
At that, Xu Yun immediately picked up a pen and paper and began calculating at the table, his expression perfectly composed.
He wasn't deliberately trying to look serious. He genuinely didn't think this was a big deal. In his previous life, he had taken part in several large-scale physics research projects. Some of the major projects cost millions every dozen seconds, equipment wear and tear included, and a single mistake could make all their work go to waste.
This project had a total budget of less than a million yuan, and only fifty thousand yuan had been released as the first batch of operating funds. It would've been strange if that made him nervous.
A moment later, Xu Yun gently set down his pen and looked at Xiao Zhao.
"CuI, 4 eq%. Increase the bipyridine to 4 eq%, and try refluxing it at 170 degrees for three hours. No—180 degrees."
Xu Yun and the others had taken thorough precautions to keep the experiment away from light, so there was little need to worry about the iodinated starting material decomposing. Since the substitution reaction wasn't producing any product, the problem most likely lay with the ring.
After dealing with Xiao Zhao's problem, another girl in the research group, Zhou Peiyao, raised her hand. She was the only other girl besides Tang Yiqiu.
"Senior, the epoxide ring-opening reaction is having problems too!"
"Don't rush. Tell me exactly what happened."
And so, for most of the first half of the day, Xu Yun dealt with the team's growing pains and problems balancing the compounds.
After all, apart from Qiu Sheng, the other five lab assistants were all in their third year of graduate school or below.
For example, Xiao Zhao, whose problem Xu Yun had just addressed, was a second-year graduate student. Li Yi, Zhou Peiyao, and another male student were first-years, while Tang Yiqiu was still an undergraduate senior.
They might have found written problems a breeze, but as for hands-on experience...
They had practically none.
So Xu Yun guided them and corrected their mistakes as time ticked by.
"Phew—"
A few hours later, Xu Yun let out a long breath and glanced at his watch. It was eleven thirty in the morning.
The preliminary stage he'd planned for this project had twenty-two steps in total. By the end of the morning, the research group had slowly made its way to the nickel acetate/sodium borohydride catalytic hydrogenation step, completing about 36 percent of the work.
At this rate, they might be able to bring their progress to around 60 percent today.
If things went well tomorrow, they might finish all the preliminary work.
They had use of the lab for two weeks, which meant Xu Yun had about twelve days to tackle the synthesis.
That was a little faster than he'd expected. After all, the mission reward was the formula for fifth-generation imidacloprid, while he was currently working on the fourth generation. Aside from the cyclization approach, he'd have to figure out almost every step himself.
He quickly surveyed the lab. The various reactions had more or less reached the observation stage, so he cleared his throat and said,
"Okay, everyone, put down what you're doing and go get lunch. We'll continue afterward.
"Old Qiu, do me a favor and stay behind to keep an eye on the lab. I'll take the junior students to Food Square for lunch, then I'll come back and relieve you."
As the research group's second-in-command and one of the only two doctoral students present, Qiu Sheng was the obvious choice to take the shift. He nodded readily.
"Got it. Go ahead and enjoy your meal. I'll take care of the lab."
Once they'd settled on who would stay behind, the group changed into their regular clothes in accordance with lab protocol. Led by Xu Yun, they headed to the University of Science and Technology of China's Food Square.
Food Square was short for Food Plaza. It was also a well-known gathering spot for eateries near the University of Science and Technology of China.
Xu Yun had attended an ordinary undergraduate university in his previous life. A classmate in his major had an uncle who ran a barbecue joint beside Food Square, and her boyfriend studied zoology and botany. Every week, he and his roommates would sneak a few rabbits out of the lab, then drag their girlfriends and the girls' roommates to the barbecue shop to mooch fire and seasoning. In the end, six of the eight people from the two dorms became couples.
The tradition continued until after Xu Yun graduated. Then he heard that one day, some fool had accidentally brought out a rabbit that had been given medication. The whole group ended up with diarrhea so bad they had to go to the hospital. After that, the university's labs tightened their rules.
Xu Yun and the others chatted and joked as they walked, eventually arriving at a grilled-fish restaurant.
At some point, a lot of casual, single-serving grilled-fish restaurants had sprung up around the country. The average meal cost less than thirty yuan, which was pretty convenient for office workers and people with social anxiety.
Once inside, the six of them each ordered their favorite flavor, then sat down and started scrolling through their phones.
It couldn't be helped. This was the standard social routine for young people these days. Without their phones, they could hardly stay alive.
Tang Yiqiu and Zhou Peiyao were both avid gossip-watchers. As soon as they opened Weibo, they went straight to the trending list.
"Huh? Three Mice's poster controversy blew up. I actually like their snacks."
"The comments say it's a poster from 2019. People are digging it up now to stir things up."
"What? So they've been causing trouble since 2019?"
"Uh, I guess that's one way to put it."
"Look at this one, too. A new novel by the Qidian webnovelist 'Novice Angler' flopped, and he fainted at home from hunger. That's so pitiful!"
Listening to the junior students chatter away, Xu Yun couldn't help smiling.
He actually liked the lively atmosphere of a group of people talking over one another. Unfortunately, after graduation, the pressures of work and the problems of real life came one after another, and get-togethers with colleagues no longer had that same feel.
He missed those days without all the scheming.
Just then, Li Yi let out a long, "Huh?"
"Everyone, look at number eight on the trending list. This is freaking ridiculous!"
Li Yi's remark immediately caught everyone's attention. Seeing that a few of them didn't have Weibo, he simply turned his phone around and showed them the post.
"Look."
Xiao Zhao, who was sitting closest, immediately leaned over and read aloud.
"#NewtonPortrait, Anta? Uh, what's this trending topic about?"
Li Yi grinned.
"A famous British collector just passed away. Before he died, he donated all his collection to a British museum. The museum held a ceremony today to mark the pieces' arrival and invited a bunch of media to take a look.
"One of the items was a painted portrait of Newton, supposedly made in 1701. But someone spotted a pair of sneakers on the table behind him."
" Sneakers?"
Li Yi nodded vigorously, his grin widening.
"Yeah. They look like Anta's winter release for this year. Some people are saying Newton was a Huaxia time-traveler; others are accusing Anta of malicious marketing. But the problem is, Anta withdrew from BCI back during the Zhuzhou cotton controversy, and BXC was broadcasting the ceremony. There's no way they'd have cooperated on something like this, in any case."
Zhou Peiyao thought it over and asked,
"Could a domestic marketing account have made the story up?"
Li Yi shook his head.
"Impossible. Some junior students from our department who are studying abroad have confirmed it. I hear the foreign media are going crazy. No matter how this ends, John Bull has lost face. Xu God, don't you agree?"
Faced with Li Yi's question, Xu Yun mechanically murmured, "Mm," while a thousand thoughts raced through his mind.
Those sneakers in the portrait—could they be the bonus Easter egg from the reward?
What had happened in the instance...
Had actually been reflected in reality?!
Before you continue