Probably a Weakling

Probably a Weakling

After the meeting, almost everyone was both thrilled and impatient.

Professor Lu quickly outlined several broad topics, and everyone picked the one they liked, so people from the same school wouldn't end up working on the same idea.

If this series of papers was published smoothly, it could practically fill an entire special issue. It was a golden opportunity for the School of Mechanical Engineering to break into the national top ten!

"With a higher ranking, our graduates won't have to worry about finding jobs... and we'll attract all kinds of high-end manufacturing companies, too."

Thinking about how all the various metrics would improve to some extent, Professor Lu grew happier by the minute and couldn't help bursting into laughter.

Happiness had come too fast. It was almost too much to handle.

"Oh, right. Zhang Yuan's paper needs to be published as soon as possible. All our work is built on it. Until it's published, we can't publish any of our own papers."

Professor Lu suddenly remembered. "Ideally, it should appear in Modern Science as soon as possible."

Modern Science was practically the journal with the highest impact factor in the country—a top-tier Q1 journal.

"...I'll help him revise it myself!" Lin Wenda said.

"No." Professor Lu shook his head. "He isn't your student, so you shouldn't go making changes to it. If you don't do a good job, people will gossip. Just give him a few pointers and let him handle it himself."

"Honestly, they're all minor details that don't really matter. The sooner it gets accepted, the sooner we can publish our papers..."

"Exactly."

Formal journals generally used a three-stage review process: an initial review by an editor, peer review, and a final review by the editor-in-chief. The process could take as little as a month or two, or as long as six months to a year. The wait made Professor Lu extremely anxious.

It was urgent. Truly urgent.

As long as Zhang Yuan's paper remained unpublished, they couldn't cite its findings in their own research.

Publishing without citing it would be plagiarism, and that could lead to serious trouble!

"Ugh, send him the editor's expedited-submission email, too. Let's get it published quickly."

As for whether it would be accepted?

Neither Professor Lu nor Lin Wenda had even considered that question.

If even this paper couldn't get accepted, Modern Science might as well shut down.

Half an hour later, Wang Zhong found a new email in his inbox.

"An innovative, high-value paper. I recommend submitting it directly to Modern Science..."

"Suggested revisions as follows..."

Seeing his grandstudent praised naturally made Wang Zhong beam with delight. If the paper weren't any good, they wouldn't have recommended submitting it to Modern Science.

Then he forwarded the email to Zhang Yuan.

Zhang Yuan received it soon after. He glanced down at the email and was stunned.

"They want me to submit to Modern Science!"

Zhang Yuan thought it over carefully, then let out a long sigh.

He'd planned to submit it to some random journal, but Professor Wang had even sent him the submission address.

It seemed the "inspirations" his father had left him were carefully selected gems, far better than he'd imagined.

If Zhang Yuan hadn't taken the time to think them over, he never would have discovered the treasures hidden inside.

"Thanks, Dad."

Only then did he begin to understand his father's painstaking intentions.

Since the suggested revisions said he should submit it as soon as possible, a few quick changes would do. He could revise a few sentences, for instance, or cut some parts that were too wordy...

Well, to him, those things were meaningless.

He was hardworking, but he didn't waste his effort on pointless things.

"That'll do."

After spending three hours making a few small changes, Zhang Yuan didn't want to trouble the big shots by asking them to review the paper again, so he sent it straight to the editor's inbox...

"Come out and have some fun!"

Just then, a woman's voice came from outside.

When he opened the door, he found Han Ziyue had shown up uninvited, smiling at him from the dorm entrance.

He had no idea how she'd managed to get past the dorm supervisor and sneak into the men's dormitory.

Zhang Yuan had submitted his paper and was in a great mood. "Don't you have training? Summer camp is for studying, not playing. Besides, a girl coming to the men's dorm... that's kind of..."

"What?"

Zhang Yuan looked up at the ceiling. "It's... unsafe."

Han Ziyue boldly walked into the room and looked around. "Why do you sound like my dad? What era are we living in? You're still so uptight!"

"What? Uptight?"

Han Ziyue teased him again. "It's Saturday! You don't have to spend every minute of the day studying, studying, studying. And as for safety... it's not like you'd dare do anything to me, right? You used to be such a good boy."

Zhang Yuan blushed. "I really wouldn't."

The little room wasn't messy at all. In fact, it was very tidy, without the usual smell of a boys' dorm.

"You keep the place so clean. You must be good at housework..."

Zhang Yuan thought of his messy father. If he didn't do the housework, who would?

He could cook, do the laundry, and even scrub toilets...

"I'm going to be on a spaceship. If I don't keep myself clean, I'll stink up the whole ship. If too many people complained, they'd revoke my right to stay awake and force me into cryosleep."

Han Ziyue sat curiously on another stool, resting her chin on one hand. "Haha, they force you into cryosleep for bad hygiene?"

"Of course. And they do the same if you break the law. You stay asleep until a new civilization is established. Then they let you wake up and put you on trial according to the law." Zhang Yuan shrugged and closed a few open books on the desk.

"That's awful! You wake up from cryosleep just to go to prison?"

Zhang Yuan nodded. "Exactly... but most people wouldn't deliberately break the law. What did you come looking for me for?"

Han Ziyue invited him, "It's nothing in particular. How about we go to the water park together?"

"No, I'm going to study!"

Remembering the solemn vow he'd made the night before, Zhang Yuan pulled over a stool and sat seriously in front of the computer, "pretending" to revise the paper he'd already submitted.

But the "study to distract yourself" trick wasn't foolproof. With a girl watching him from behind, Zhang Yuan couldn't help feeling distracted.

"Ah, I remember now. You really are a top student. You loved doing homework even back in high school. When you went out with my sister, you'd often do her homework for her, and you even did mine..."

Han Ziyue reminisced, finding it hilarious.

"When did I ever love doing homework? I was forced to..." Zhang Yuan thought back to around five or six years ago.

Back then, Han Ziyue always liked to play third wheel. Zhang Yuan even had to get her permission before he could kiss his girlfriend. It was incredibly annoying.

And now, in the blink of an eye, she'd grown up.

Time really did flow like water.

Han Ziyue glanced at Zhang Yuan's computer screen, sounding a little admiring. "Is this a paper you wrote? Can I take a look? Are you going to submit it? Writing a paper must be harder than winning an award in a competition, right?"

"...I don't know which is harder. I've never won any awards in competitions, either. They each have their own difficulties, I guess."

Deep down, Zhang Yuan doubted whether Miss Han, who was all looks and no brains, could understand even five consecutive words of it.

Judging by her aura of weakness... she was probably a total loser.

She'd never liked doing homework, so she'd never been a top student.

And a second-year college student—not to look down on you... but she really didn't have the ability.