Bro Lu, Something Big Happened!

At six that evening, as agreed, Lu Zhou went into the kitchen, tied on an apron, and started cooking. The little girl followed right behind him into the kitchen, standing nearby and watching with obvious interest.

The fridge had been stocked with quite a few ingredients, probably bought by Madam Yang.

There was tofu, pork tenderloin, and some fresh vegetables. Not only that, seasonings that had nearly run out, like salt and Sichuan peppercorns, had also been replenished.

It seemed she had tacitly approved of him using her stove. After all, she did not want her daughter eating junk food and takeout every day.

But...

Why didn't she hire a nanny, then?

Lu Zhou did not particularly care. Being able to settle dinner at a client's home was naturally ideal, especially since he did not have to spend his own money. After confirming that Han Mengqi could eat spicy food, he got to work.

Han Mengqi asked, "Have you worked as a tutor before?"

As Lu Zhou poured oil into the hot pan, he replied, "It's my first time."

Han Mengqi widened her eyes in surprise. "Huh? I think you're a pretty good teacher."

"Really? Maybe because I occasionally helped my younger sister study before." He stir-fried the minced meat, added the tofu and water, covered the pot, and turned the heat down to let it simmer. Then he moved to the cutting board beside him and started cutting tomatoes.

He was making mapo tofu. The tomatoes were for the next dish, scrambled eggs with tomatoes.

"You have a younger sister?" Han Mengqi looked at Lu Zhou in surprise. "How old is she?"

"She's the same age as you, in her first year of high school. After this summer, she'll be a second-year."

Han Mengqi leaned close to the pot and wrinkled her little nose as she inhaled the aroma, looking utterly intoxicated before letting out a sigh.

"I'm so jealous..."

"What's there to be jealous of? Little sisters are a huge hassle."

Han Mengqi tilted her head. "Do you hate your sister?"

Lu Zhou thought for a moment, then shook his head. "Not really. She's family. How could I hate her?"

Rather, because she was family, no matter how troublesome she was, he was willing to put up with it.

"I'm still jealous..." Han Mengqi pouted. "It'd be nice if I had an older brother too."

What? So she wanted to be the one causing trouble?

Lu Zhou rolled his eyes.

Standing beside him and watching the bubbles rise in the pot, Han Mengqi remained silent for a while. Then, struck by a sudden thought, she asked, "Do you think that if my mom divorces my dad, she might give me an older brother?"

Lu Zhou thought about it. "I don't know... But even if she did, wouldn't that be a younger brother or sister?"

Besides, were you really hoping your parents would get divorced?

He simply could not understand it.

Han Mengqi blushed, realizing she had asked a stupid question. She stuck out her tongue and stopped talking.

When the dishes were brought to the table, Lu Zhou had cooked three cups of rice this time, so he was not worried about there being too little.

Sitting at the dining table, Han Mengqi shoveled mouthful after mouthful of mapo tofu into her mouth. Her fair forehead was covered in fine beads of sweat, and even though her collar had been soaked through with fragrant sweat, she did not care. She kept exclaiming about how good and satisfying it was.

Watching the restless little girl, Lu Zhou smiled. "You're just like your sister. You both like spicy food."

Han Mengqi, who had opened her mouth to take another bite, froze. She moved her spoon away and tilted her head. "Huh? My sister doesn't like spicy food."

Lu Zhou: ???

Han Mengqi tilted her head, looking at Lu Zhou strangely. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing." Lu Zhou looked awkward.

I'll treat her to another meal next time and find a chance to apologize...

After dinner, Lu Zhou cleaned up the dishes, reminded Han Mengqi, who was home alone, to stay safe, and then took his leave.

Outside the residential complex, he called a Didi and headed straight back to school.

When Lu Zhou got out of the car at the school gate, he happened to receive a WeChat transfer from Madam Yang.

[Transfer: 1000]

And...

[Yang Danyun: Thank you.]

The moment he saw those words, "Thank you," Lu Zhou paused slightly, then smiled and tapped out a reply on the screen.

[You're welcome.]

Just as he was about to put his phone into his pocket, a call suddenly came in.

The moment he saw that it was from Liu Rui, Lu Zhou immediately grinned. He figured the guy had probably forgotten his keys again and answered the call.

But just as he was about to tease him a little, an urgent voice came from the phone.

"Bro Lu, something big happened!"

After this happened, Liu Rui had notified him immediately.

Although Lu Zhou had the feeling that the guy was somewhat gloating, at least he had not kept it from him or tried to sabotage him behind his back. As usual, Lu Zhou could not be bothered to deal with him.

What mattered now was what exactly this article was about.

After rushing back to the dorm, Lu Zhou took Liu Rui's phone and stared at the Weibo post on the screen.

<On the Academic Climate of Contemporary Hua Nation Universities—Starting with an Undergraduate's Paper>

The article first discussed the broader academic environment in Hua Nation, jumping from mathematics to physics, then from computers to moral ethics, before finally tying the subject to the grand question of why Hua Nation could not produce great scientists like Einstein or Newton.

Anyone who had written articles knew that the broader the topic, the easier it was to make things up and ramble. Professionalism was no longer necessary.

Then came a whole string of carefully loaded phrasing. Without discussing the academic value of the papers, it fixated on the fact that nine SCI papers had been published within a month, all in the same journal, and painted an undergraduate as an "academic tumor" who knew nothing and only resorted to underhanded tricks in publishing papers.

Yes, it had used the term "academic tumor."

Finally, it named the undergraduate as someone from Jin University with the surname Lu.

The writer was Zhu Fangcai, an education commentator, popular science author, and well-known independent scholar. Beside his profile picture was the badge for a major Weibo influencer.

Good lord, he had over a million followers!

However...

Lu Zhou was completely dumbfounded.

Who was this guy?

I have no grudge against you, so what the hell are you trying to do to me?

I earned those papers with my own ability. Why can't I publish them? Did I eat your rice or drink your tap water?

Clearly not realizing how serious the situation was, Liu Rui held back a laugh and mocked him from the side. "Since when did you know computers? You can even publish SCI papers now?"

There was another sentence he did not say aloud, only in his heart: Maybe I'll publish a couple myself someday.

"I learned it while watching porn, okay? What's it to you?" Lu Zhou glared at him.

Seeing that Lu Zhou was in a bad mood, Liu Rui immediately shut up.

After taking a deep breath, Lu Zhou calmed down and asked, "Where did you see this?"

He did not believe Liu Rui was bored enough to follow some famous education commentator or popular science author.

"A senior from the Computer Science department in a mathematical modeling training group shared it on Moments, and I happened to see it... Of course, I didn't share it!" Liu Rui hurriedly clarified.

Jealousy was jealousy, and competitiveness was competitiveness. Being petty did not necessarily mean being malicious. They were dormmates, after all. He still could not bring himself to do something so harmful to someone else and pointless for himself.

Lu Zhou ignored him and continued staring at the Weibo post.

Seeing that Lu Zhou was not speaking, Liu Rui cautiously asked, "What do we do?"

Lu Zhou could not think of what to do either. After all, he did not even have a Weibo account. He had only heard of Weibo and had never used it.

Lu Zhou said, "...Help me curse him out."

Liu Rui said, "What should I curse him for... Wait, why don't you do it yourself?"

Lu Zhou said, "I don't have a Weibo account."

Liu Rui said, "..."

In the end, Lu Zhou and Liu Rui discussed it and decided to ignore the troll.

So what if he insulted him?

I won't even spare you a glance. Go perform your one-man show by yourself! Whoever wants to bother with you can bother with you!

Then Lu Zhou slung his laptop bag over his shoulder and went to the library to study.

However, he had ultimately underestimated the matter.

Because he was not only Lu Zhou. He also had another identity: a student of Jin University...