No Need to Save Face for Fools
Zhang Yuan seemed to hear Ye Kaifu's inner thoughts. He suddenly looked up and glanced around.
"Why do I feel like someone's calling me? Are you calling me?"
"No! I'm reading." Ye Kaifu hurried to explain.
Zhang Yuan lowered his head again. After staring at the page for a while, he said suspiciously, "...Never mind. These papers don't seem worth reading. I've decided to sit in on a public lecture and change things up a little. Want to come?"
It was currently the season when various Olympiad training camps were getting underway, and students could sit in on all kinds of university lectures for free.
Zhang Yuan figured he might as well find something simple to pass the time...
Yeah, that was it.
Reading papers for too long wore him out, too. Taking a short break would make him more productive.
At those words, a wave of uncontrollable joy surged through Ye Kaifu, like a sweet spring bursting forth in a dry desert.
"Haha, he's finally going out... He's going to let himself go! I knew he was just putting on an act!"
"What are you laughing about? You seem so happy."
Ye Kaifu's mind had wandered, and he didn't answer.
"Hey! Are you coming or not?"
Ye Kaifu hurriedly snapped back to attention and put on a serious face. "No, I just got dust in my eye. That... paper of yours—is it finished?"
Zhang Yuan sighed. "Not even close. I've just finished reading the literature and organizing my thoughts. It'll be good to go out and sit in on a lecture. Once I get back, I'll have to start writing. It'll probably take me days to finish it all in one go."
Damn it, he really was going to a lecture?
Well, fine. A lecture was better than staying cooped up in the dorm.
"All right," Ye Kaifu said. "I've been meaning to sit in on one, too... I've never attended a class at Xisha University. I wonder how good the teachers are. There sure are a lot of pretty girls here."
"A lot of pretty girls?"
"Of course! You have me bring you food every day, so how would you know?"
Stepping out of the dorm felt strangely like returning to the human world.
Zhang Yuan took several deep breaths.
The air was fresh, with a faint salty tang from the sea. In the distance, he could hear seagulls calling. Those clever birds knew that wherever people lived, there was food.
Then he remembered that only twelve days remained of his vacation, and a subtle sense of urgency rose in him.
Time really did fly!
Writing a paper wasn't just mental work; it was physical work, too. Putting the ideas in his head down on paper exactly as he imagined them was exhausting.
The first thing he had to do was organize his ideas and figure out what he wanted to work on. That part was actually difficult, but his father's paper had provided guidance and made it much easier.
Next came reading a large number of papers to see whether anyone had worked in the same direction.
For the topic Zhang Yuan was working on—"robot kinematics"—there was an overwhelming amount of literature: "forward kinematics," "inverse kinematics," and methods such as the "vector method," the "screw theory method," and the "quaternion method."
But the desire to write a paper was often inversely proportional to the number of papers one read.
Why?
Sometimes, as you read, you discovered that someone else had already come up with your idea, and it was no longer worth much.
Other times, you suddenly realized that compared to everyone else's ideas, yours was complete garbage...
That was why producing a paper of real value was so difficult. You had to come up with something no one else had thought of, and it also had to have practical value. How could that be easy?
Fortunately, after a week of reading, Zhang Yuan had more or less confirmed that no one had written about his father's idea.
And it was very likely to have greater practical value than the mainstream algorithms!
He wasn't sure how innovative the paper was or what tier of journal it could be published in. After all, he'd never been part of this field before.
Zhang Yuan had set himself just one goal: finish it completely before boarding the spaceship!
They turned the corner, went into the cafeteria, and grabbed a couple of steamed buns before hurrying to the classroom.
Class was about to start, and the room was packed.
There was one strange thing, though: the first three rows were empty.
Unable to find an open seat, Zhang Yuan reluctantly sat at the far left of the first row.
Ye Kaifu had no choice but to steel himself and sit beside Zhang Yuan.
Based on his usual classroom experience, when the first three rows were empty, it meant one of two things. Either the class was utterly useless—so useless that even the top students couldn't be bothered to attend—like "Literature and Life," "Law, Religion, and Human Order," or "World History"...
Or it was so difficult that even the top students couldn't understand it. There was no point listening anyway, so they couldn't be bothered.
Or maybe... the teacher was a sadist!
They often put students on the spot. Sitting in the front row meant risking being called on, so everyone voted with their feet and flocked to the back.
Ye Kaifu frowned. "That doesn't make sense. The teachers have their pride, too... They must be pretty unhappy about this."
Xisha University was a decent school. This kind of thing really shouldn't happen.
Zhang Yuan said impassively, "Don't overthink it. The teachers are used to teaching a bunch of fools by now. They don't need fools to save face for them. They just don't want things to get too out of hand."
"Fair enough."
Just then, hurried footsteps sounded in the hallway, and a young, beautiful teacher walked in.
"Sorry, this is my first time teaching this class, so I may not have much experience... My surname is Wang, and my name is Wang Lili. You can call me Teacher Wang."
Her voice was soft and sweet.
"Why don't you come sit up front? It's a shame to leave all those seats empty..."
Pretty girls always won people over. Soon, a number of male students stirred and volunteered to move up from the back, showing the beautiful teacher plenty of respect.
Judging by her age, she was probably a graduate student.
It was nothing unusual for her to teach on behalf of her advisor. She could review her knowledge and earn some money, too. Of course, a graduate student might not be quite qualified to teach undergraduates, so this senior student had to be one of the best.
Seeing a crowd of male students move seats, Ye Kaifu began to feel smug again.
Haha, you're all such shameless bandwagoners!
What was the point of moving up now?
We'd already earned the teacher's goodwill by sitting in the front row from the start.
But when he saw Zhang Yuan sitting there with a serious expression, his mind seemingly elsewhere, Ye Kaifu quickly settled down and stopped letting his imagination run wild.
The strong were truly strong. A teacher's looks didn't affect them in the slightest.
"No wonder. In the lives of the strong, there are only two words: 'study.' The arrival of a beautiful woman doesn't disturb them at all."
"Now that's impressive!"
Before you continue