A Lawyer's Letter—Care to Learn About It?

Zhu Fangcai was in quite a good mood today.

He had only been firing off his usual attacks at everything under the sun, never expecting to accidentally rage his way into the number one trending topic.

Although both Jinling University and the editorial department of Modern Communications and Geographic Information Technology had responded, stating that there was nothing wrong with the papers, self-defense from the accused party could not possibly satisfy the gawking masses.

And now, with no other options left, Jinling University had even sent him a lawyer's letter!

In the letter, Jin University solemnly declared that there was nothing wrong with the papers. Not only did it demand that he immediately retract his statements, but it also demanded that he apologize for what he had said. Otherwise, Jin University reserved the right to sue.

Furthermore, Jin University's official Weibo account, which had already locked its comments, posted replies from several academic editors responsible for reviewing submissions at Modern Communications and Geographic Information Technology, proving that the papers did possess academic value. This caused some netizens who loved watching the chaos to regain a bit of reason and begin reflecting on whether they had been led by the nose...

But would Zhu Bigmouth be afraid?

What could a university's official Weibo account do? Play influencer?

A lawyer's letter was great!

Wasn't it just getting sued? It wasn't as if this was his first time.

He had been worried about how to keep the hype going!

In just two days, he had gained nearly four hundred thousand followers, pushing his follower count past three million! His ad revenue had increased by far more than a little. Once he hyped up this lawyer's letter too, he might even break four million followers!

Therefore, Zhu Fangcai paid no attention to the lawyer's letter. Not only that, he immediately turned on his computer, logged into Weibo's web version, and began editing his second post.

Or rather, a manifesto of war!

The Hypocrite's Humiliation and Rage—Starting with a Lawyer's Letter

Satisfied with the title, Zhu Fangcai continued tapping away at the keyboard. Following the template he had prepared, he began filling in the text.

"Jinling University has issued a response. There's supposedly nothing wrong with the papers. Very official, and full of official jargon."

"...Even if we take a step back and think about it carefully, assuming the papers really have no problems, how could a freshman undergraduate publish nine SCI papers in a single month? Who can prove that he wrote those papers? I say either they were plagiarized, or someone else ghostwrote them!"

"...After discovering academic fraud, a university's first response was not to investigate the student involved, but to try to silence the whistleblower with a lawyer's letter. Such conduct chills the heart of every citizen concerned about education! It seems this student's background is anything but ordinary!"

"If I have offended some important figure, then I apologize to you. But I will not apologize! Why should I apologize for something absolutely correct? I am also a scientific researcher myself, and I believe it is impossible to complete nine papers in a month. At the same time, I am an education commentator. I believe I have the right to stand up for the public and maintain my doubts!"

"If you want me to apologize, then have this Lu person confront me face-to-face and answer all my questions. But does he dare?"

As he typed the two words "Lu person," Zhu Fangcai paused. His eyes suddenly shifted, and a sinister smile curled across his lips. He pressed backspace to erase it and changed the reference to "a certain student named Zhou."

Not only was he going to point out that the person's surname was Lu.

He was also going to name him as Zhou!

Click. Send!

Zhu Fangcai hit the send button, crossed one leg over the other in his computer chair, and started picking at his feet.

In the brief time he spent picking at his feet, comments and likes began flooding in.

[Shocked! He's actually a freshman!]

[His surname is Lu and his name is Zhou? So this "awesome" undergraduate is called Lu Zhou! That settles it, doesn't it?]

[I feel sorry for our education system...]

[Support Teacher Zhu! Fight academic fraud to the end! (Fist) (Fist)]

[If this were Country X, once academic fraud was confirmed, the police would take you away...]

[What are those people saying there's nothing wrong with the papers even thinking? Jinling University is obviously protecting its own student. They have to protect their academic reputation, after all. But from the looks of it, this student has made such a huge mess that he's finished now. (Smile)]

[...]

Hahahahaha!

Watching the search volume soar, Zhu Fangcai was practically delirious with joy.

Just then, the phone on his desk rang.

He cleared his throat, picked up the phone, and pressed the answer button.

"Hello?"

"Hello, Mr. Zhu. This is the Academic Affairs Office of Jinling University..."

"Oh? Pretty capable, aren't you? You even got my number? Let me say this first: I'm not one of your students. If you have something to say, say it quickly. If you need to fart, let it out." Zhu Fangcai pulled a cigarette from the pack, placed it between his lips, and leisurely lit it.

Zhu Fangcai's arrogant attitude made the teacher on the other end pause slightly, but she continued in a restrained tone. "...Then I'll get straight to the point. Your groundless accusations have caused distress to a student at our university. We hope you will take this matter seriously and apologize for your words and actions."

Zhu Fangcai smiled, flicked off some ash, and said leisurely, "Distress? I don't see what distress there is. Of course, you can question whether I'm wrong, but you cannot restrict my right to speak. What I say is my freedom!"

"You!" Enraged by Zhu Fangcai's attitude, the teacher only managed one word before quickly stopping herself.

One could never underestimate the shamelessness of a scoundrel. If he recorded the call and edited it, tomorrow's headlines might become a university threatening a whistleblower.

Seeing that the enraged teacher had stopped speaking, Zhu Fangcai smacked his lips and inwardly muttered that it was a pity. Switching the phone to his other hand, he continued, "All right, let's not waste time. I can apologize, but only if you can prove two things to me. First, that the papers are genuinely useful and not padded with fluff! And mind you, I mean proof from someone more authoritative. What does it count for when you prove yourselves? Second, that he truly wrote the papers himself! If you cannot prove those two things, then I will continue to stand by my views! For the clear skies of academia, I'll fight to the end!"

With that, Zhu Fangcai hung up without another word.

Over the past few days, Lu Zhou had felt like he had become a giant panda. He had no idea who had leaked his WeChat, but suddenly a whole bunch of people were trying to add him.

[Big shot, please ghostwrite a paper for me!]

[I'd like to ask about SCI-related matters. Could you approve my request?]

[Please ghostwrite an SCI paper for me. The price is negotiable.]

It seemed there were still people who recognized genuine talent.

Although their way of expressing support was rather baffling.

Of course, there were also plenty of even more baffling insults. They were probably fans of that Mr. Zhu, and fanatics at that.

Having gotten used to it, Lu Zhou did not take it too seriously. Those trolls only repeated the same few lines over and over, with no creativity whatsoever.

As for his family, none of them used Weibo, so there was no way they would see this negative news. And in terms of how much it affected his life, the impact was actually negligible. He had even gone to tutor Han Mengqi in Mathematics yesterday and the day before as if nothing had happened.

Nobody on the streets recognized him as that Lu Zhou. As for the university, it was summer break, so there were hardly any people around.

Just then, Lu Zhou noticed that Chen Yushan had sent him a message.

[Chen Yushan: I haven't seen you in the library lately... Are you okay?]

[Chen Yushan: That person is awful! You worked so hard on those papers...]

[Chen Yushan: How about... you come out tonight, and I'll treat you to dinner?]

Seeing that someone still cared about him so much, Lu Zhou could not help feeling warmed. He tapped out a reply on the screen. [Another day. I still have to cooperate with an interview from Jinling Daily later, and I don't know when it'll be over.]

[Chen Yushan: You're going to be in the newspaper???]

[Lu Zhou: Though not for anything good...]

Lu Zhou waited for a while before Chen Yushan sent two replies.

[I believe in you!]

[Keep it up!]

Mm.

Lu Zhou smiled and checked the time on his phone.

It was about time!

When Lu Zhou arrived at the lecture hall, aside from Director Lu, several other leaders from the School of Mathematics were already there.

Because they had read Lu Zhou's papers, these professors all had a very favorable impression of him. When Lu Zhou greeted them, the leaders smiled and nodded at him in a friendly manner.

There was nothing wrong with a student from their own university, so naturally they would present a united front to the outside world.

The Jinling Daily reporter was setting up the interview equipment. Taking advantage of the gap, Director Lu walked over to Lu Zhou, pulled him aside, and reminded him, "Are you ready? The reporter will ask you questions later. Just answer whatever you're comfortable answering."

"I understand." Lu Zhou nodded.

Director Lu said nothing more and patted him on the shoulder. "Then go over there."

The interview began.

Sitting on a classroom chair and facing the camera and microphone, Lu Zhou unexpectedly discovered that he was even calmer than he had imagined.

The female reporter with a ponytail smiled at him. After receiving the signal that they could begin, she asked in a broadcaster-like voice, "Hello, I'm a reporter from Jinling Daily. May I interview you? How did you complete nine SCI papers in one month?"

It was the question he had expected.

Lu Zhou thought for a moment before replying, "Honestly, I don't think it was particularly difficult. All nine SCI papers were about the application of Artificial Intelligence in drone logistics. That is already a fairly cutting-edge field, so I don't think producing results is especially hard. Besides, I had been researching it for a while before that. I only began writing the papers recently..."

The young reporter nodded and gave him an encouraging look before moving on to the second question. "Regarding Mr. Zhu's accusation that your papers are padded with fluff, is there anything you would like to say to him?"

"I think calling them padded with fluff is a false proposition. He cannot claim that my papers are padded with fluff just because he doesn't understand computer technology at all. Has he seriously read my papers? Has he verified the algorithms I proposed in them? Maybe he hasn't read them at all, or maybe he can't even understand them..." Lu Zhou said helplessly.

"Mr. Zhu probably won't like hearing that. He has always called himself a scientific researcher." The reporter smiled and continued, "But for a freshman... or rather, an undergraduate about to enter their sophomore year, publishing SCI papers—especially nine papers in a single month—really is rather unbelievable. That is also the focus of the public's doubts. Mr. Zhu has therefore also suggested that the papers may have been plagiarized or may not have been written by you personally..."

"Those are completely baseless slanders." Lu Zhou shrugged, keeping his tone as restrained as possible. "Starting from the first Mathematics paper I published, every paper was completed in the library. If necessary, I can apply to the university to provide surveillance records."

"There's no need for surveillance records. You mentioned that you had previously published Mathematics papers... Is that true?" The reporter keenly caught the newsworthy point in Lu Zhou's words and immediately dug further into it.

There was no way to hide something that could easily be investigated. Rather than letting others dig it up and use it as material to attack him, he might as well reveal it himself first.

With that in mind, Lu Zhou nodded and generously admitted it. "Yes. Not only computer science papers—I previously published two papers in the foreign core journal Communications in Mathematics and Applications. One of them was even published before those nine computer science papers. So nine papers in one month is actually inaccurate. It should be ten papers in one month."

Upon hearing this, the reporter's eyes lit up, while Director Lu's face nearly turned black. He frantically signaled to Lu Zhou with his eyes, telling him not to steer the topic toward something unfavorable to himself.

But Lu Zhou deliberately pretended not to see him.

Since the other side had chosen a high-profile attack, keeping a low profile at a time like this was useless. Only an equally high-profile counterattack could give him a chance to turn things around.

After all, this kind of public opinion war was not a debate competition. Moreover, the mud thrown at him by the other side was inherently difficult to disprove. If he said dedicated academic editors could prove the professionalism of his papers, others could jump out and question those editors' "authority," or suspect the university and journals of covering things up to protect their reputations.

As for expecting the gawking masses to learn independent thinking...

That was less likely than expecting watermelons to learn how to think.

No matter what the truth was, public opinion that gained an overwhelming advantage would presumptuously pass final judgment on everything.

Therefore, Lu Zhou had already made up his mind.

Ordinary people could not do it, but geniuses were not ordinary people.

Since they wanted to smear him as an academic tumor who only knew how to pad papers with fluff, then he would package himself as a genius!

The reporter nodded and was about to ask the next question when an unmistakably loud knock suddenly sounded from outside the classroom.

The interview was interrupted. Director Lu frowned slightly and was just about to ask what was going on when the teacher who entered spoke eagerly, her voice filled with delight.

"Director Lu! Our department's mailroom has received a letter of thanks from New York University! The recipient is... Lu Zhou!"