Give Him Some Time

Sun Xiang was a biology teacher in No. 6 High School's Elite Class.

He had earned his master's degree from Zhejiang University, one of the C9 League schools. That résumé alone was a ceiling most people would never reach in their entire lives.

At an ordinary public high school outside, he would have been someone every principal fought to recruit.

But in the teachers' office of Jiangcheng No. 6 High School's Elite Class, Sun Xiang always felt that he was merely an obscure nobody, somewhere below average.

He could not help it. The people sitting around him were either physics coaches who had produced National Training Team gold medalists or senior math teachers who had participated in drafting the college entrance examination.

At the moment, Sun Xiang was carrying a stack of freshly graded quiz papers into the office, feeling somewhat frustrated.

No. 6 High School's students were already quite good, but compared with those nationally renowned elite schools, they still fell far short.

After teaching for so long, I've only barely managed to understand the underlying logic of the "three-line system."

Sun Xiang sighed inwardly.

The nuclear-cytoplasmic interaction model for cytoplasmic male sterility, or CMS—the genetic diagram he had drawn on the blackboard last class—was difficult precisely because it was so convoluted.

Only when the cytoplasmic gene was S, the mutant type, and the nuclear gene was rr, recessive—that was, S-rr—would male sterility be expressed.

The maintainer line, N-rr, provided normal cytoplasm and recessive nuclear genes, allowing the sterile line to reproduce.

The restorer line, N-RR—or S-RR—provided dominant restorer genes, enabling hybrid offspring with S-Rr to regain fertility. Those were the hybrid rice seeds capable of high yields.

The whole thing twisted around so much that even Elite Class students had to ruin several test papers before they finally got their heads around it.

Sun Xiang walked over to his desk and immediately spotted Old Chen standing there with a thermos in hand, wearing a "kindly" smile.

A rather unfamiliar-looking student was standing beside him.

"Heh, Old Chen really loves tormenting those kids."

Sun Xiang chuckled and sat down.

Just as he was about to start writing next week's lesson plan...

The student who had been standing in front of Old Chen moments ago had already darted over to him.

"Hello, teacher. I'm a new transfer student today. My name is Li Dong."

Li Dong's eyes were filled with a thirst for fleece—cough, for knowledge.

"I still don't quite understand the nuclear-cytoplasmic interaction model you discussed last class," Li Dong asked eagerly.

"How exactly do nuclear genes and cytoplasmic genes collude on a microscopic level to make perfectly healthy pollen suddenly become sterile? What are the principles of material transfer and metabolism involved?"

Sun Xiang froze for a moment.

It was not because a student had come to ask a question. In an Elite Class, chasing after teachers with questions after class was the norm.

The main thing was... hadn't this kid just been doing problems with Old Chen? Why had he suddenly abandoned Old Chen and come to ask about biology?

Sun Xiang turned to glance at Old Chen.

Old Chen was currently staring blankly at the words "Instantaneous-Center Trajectory Geometric Solution" on the scratch paper. Noticing Sun Xiang's gaze, he looked up and nodded with a complicated expression.

That seemed to mean: I've already been instantly defeated over here.

Sun Xiang was startled, but he quickly adjusted himself into a teacher's state of mind.

"Sit down. Let's talk."

To be honest, Li Dong's question had been rather vague, like someone trying to build a skyscraper without laying the foundations.

Still, he decided to explain it thoroughly to this new transfer student in simple terms.

"Actually, the cytoplasmic gene S you mentioned is located on mitochondrial DNA in the vast majority of plants."

Sun Xiang drew a simple diagram of a cell's structure on paper.

"Mitochondria are the cell's energy factories. You know that, right?"

"So, when this cytoplasmic gene mutates into S, it encodes an abnormal protein with cytotoxic properties."

"This protein directly interferes with mitochondrial oxidative phosphorylation, causing ATP synthesis to be impaired."

Seeing that Li Dong was listening intently, Sun Xiang continued.

"During pollen development, especially during the uninucleate and binucleate stages, energy consumption is extremely high."

"So if the mitochondria go on strike and cannot supply enough energy, the pollen naturally aborts."

"As for the nuclear gene R, the protein it encodes can be transported into the mitochondria and degrade this toxic protein, thereby restoring the energy supply."

"That is the interaction at the microscopic level."

At that moment, Li Dong's foundational attributes came into full effect.

The high school biology knowledge he had previously memorized by rote now became like a thread, linking everything together and elevating it.

"Teacher, I understand now!"

Li Dong almost instinctively extrapolated from the explanation.

"Since the problem lies in mitochondrial energy metabolism, causing the pollen to lack energy..."

"But pollen itself cannot provide that much energy. Its nutrients should be supplied by the surrounding somatic cells, right?"

Li Dong searched through the biology terms he had painfully crammed over the past two days.

"For example... tapetal cells?"

"If the toxic protein causes an energy shortage, does that mean the tapetal cells undergo apoptosis prematurely or too late because of abnormal energy metabolism? Would that cut off the pollen's nutrient supply line and ultimately lead to male sterility?"

Sun Xiang simply stared at Li Dong and stopped explaining.

Abnormal apoptosis of tapetal cells?

Was that something a high school student could deduce?!

This was a fertility mechanism that would only be explored in depth at the undergraduate or even graduate level, in plant developmental biology and molecular genetics!

"Y-you... had you studied this before?"

Sun Xiang asked.

"No, but I saw this stuff before and couldn't understand it. After your explanation just now, I felt that it should work this way."

Li Dong was completely sincere.

Old Chen, standing not far away, had heard every word of their conversation clearly.

Anyone who could sit in this office was an academic standout. Though he did not fully understand it, what Li Dong said was reasoned and logically sound. It clearly did not sound like nonsense.

Old Chen stared at Li Dong's back, secretly shocked.

Does this kid even have a weakness?

Chinese: ...

English: ...

Old Chen understood very well that many people could learn knowledge thoroughly and score full marks. Those people were called academic standouts.

But between an academic standout and a true academic god lay an abyss called "knowledge transfer and underlying insight."

Academic standouts mastered what was known, while academic gods could use the known to find the edges of the unknown...

That was intuition!

"As expected of a teacher from No. 6 High School. Your level is incredible!"

Teacher Sun's explanation had thoroughly satisfied Li Dong. He was preparing to hurry into the group chat and fleece Mendel.

Just then, the office door was pushed open.

Director of Academic Affairs Liu Limin walked in. He looked around, and upon seeing Li Dong, he immediately breathed a sigh of relief.

"Li Dong, why did you run over here?" Liu Limin beckoned.

"Come on, go with me to the principal's office."

As he spoke, Liu Limin nodded toward Old Chen and Sun Xiang.

"Old Chen, the principal is looking for you too. Sorry to trouble you, but please come along as well."

Old Chen nodded and set down his thermos.

When Li Dong heard that he was going to see the principal, he was still thinking about the task in the group chat and hurriedly clutched his stomach.

"Director Liu, my stomach suddenly hurts a little. Can I use the restroom first?"

"Go quickly and come back quickly. We'll wait for you in the hallway."

Liu Limin waved him off.

Li Dong slipped into the men's restroom and opened the Azure Dragon Study Group.

He directly @-mentioned Mendel with the complete chain of logic he had gotten for free from Sun Xiang: "nuclear-cytoplasmic interaction, mitochondrial toxic proteins, impaired energy metabolism, and abnormal apoptosis of tapetal cells."

After sending it, he waited for more than a full minute.

Only then did Mendel's reply pop up on the screen.

[Gregor Johann Mendel]: Oh.

And then...

There was no then!

Li Dong stared at that single word, "Oh," and felt utterly terrible.

I worked so hard, even using a bathroom escape, to teach you about microscopic genetics, and you don't even send a red packet? All I get is an "Oh"?!

"Are all biology people this black-hearted? What a freeloader!"

Li Dong did not realize at all whether Mendel even understood terms like mitochondria and toxic proteins.

But Mendel was not Joule, nor was he Newton. When they did not understand something, they would ask questions and voice doubts.

Mendel, on the other hand, would only quietly get to work. He wanted to research it. Though he did not understand those terms, he understood the logic.

So he did not treat Li Dong the way others had treated him, with doubt and denial.

After waiting for a while without any new messages, Li Dong could only leave the group chat in disappointment.

What he did not know was that just as he exited the group chat, one group member spoke.

[Ronald Fisher]: Please give him some time...

Back in the teachers' office, Sun Xiang was still sitting in his chair.

He watched Li Dong and the others leave, feeling extremely strange.

That student gave him the impression of being both weak and formidable.

When he first asked questions, his foundation had seemed shallow, even somewhat amateurish.

Yet after Sun Xiang gave him a slight explanation of the principles, he could race along the logical chain and deduce deeper, more specialized points of knowledge.

"What exactly is he?"

The principal of No. 6 High School was still attending a national key high school principals' forum in the provincial capital, so Vice Principal Zhao was overseeing the school today.

Liu Limin led Li Dong and Old Chen to the principal's office.

"Principal Zhao, I've brought them."

Liu Limin knocked on the door.

"Please, come in."

Vice Principal Zhao was a slightly plump middle-aged man who looked quite amiable.

The moment he saw them enter, he immediately stood up and shook Old Chen's hand, his manner exceedingly polite.

"Ah, Old Chen, sorry to make you come all this way."

"It's fine, it's fine. Just tell me what you need, Principal Zhao."

Old Chen waved casually and naturally sat down on the sofa.

Vice Principal Zhao turned to Li Dong.

"This must be student Li Dong, right? Sit, everyone, sit."

Only after everyone had taken their seats did he speak.

"I invited everyone here today because of this."

"Li Dong, now that you have transferred into our No. 6 High School, the school will certainly provide you with the highest-level platform."

"So, do you know about the Yau High School Science Award?"