Lü Yongchang frowned slightly.
If he remembered correctly, this sound had once made him lose his temper.
After all, during an intense research assignment, the rhythmic clicking of a ballpoint pen was practically an instrument of torture!
He looked toward the source of the sound.
Uh...
The girl beside him held an entirely pink ballpoint pen, frowning at the workbook in front of her while her right hand unconsciously clicked its button.
A trace of resignation appeared in Lü Yongchang's eyes.
He remembered now.
In his previous life, this habit of Su Yutong's had caused him to lose his temper during a research assignment, a rare occurrence for him.
Su Yutong had broken the habit after that.
But now... clearly, she had yet to correct this bad habit.
Lü Yongchang knew perfectly well that unless she quickly solved the problem before her, that clicking would probably... keep him company all day!
Left with no choice, Lü Yongchang took a deep breath, turned his head, and asked quietly, "Are you having trouble with a problem?"
Startled, Su Yutong abruptly stopped clicking her pen.
When she saw that Lü Yongchang was the one asking, a flicker of wariness instantly crossed her eyes.
Could it be... this guy had finally worked up the courage to hit on her?
In that instant, Su Yutong had already thought of at least three ways to turn him down!
"I said... are you stuck on something?"
Noticing the wariness in Su Yutong's eyes, Lü Yongchang pointed helplessly at her workbook, then at the ballpoint pen in her hand. "That... is a little noisy."
"..."
The two stared at each other in silence.
Gradually, an embarrassed look appeared on Su Yutong's face.
Her cheeks flushed slightly, and she nodded gently. "Sorry... I disturbed you. I'll try my best to keep this habit under control!"
Looking resigned and reluctant, Lü Yongchang said, "Let me see the problem."
"Maybe I can help you solve it."
Seriously, try her best to keep it under control?
He certainly didn't want to be disturbed while reading papers!
Sure enough, women would only slow down his research!
"Really?!"
A look of delighted surprise appeared in Su Yutong's eyes, and she hurriedly moved the workbook in front of Lü Yongchang.
Then she watched him expectantly.
Seeing her like this, an image suddenly popped into Lü Yongchang's mind.
A hamster!
Right now, Su Yutong looked exactly like an oversized hamster clutching a sunflower seed and staring fixedly at him.
Lü Yongchang sighed again and turned to the workbook before him.
It was an extremely basic limit problem.
"You know how to use L'Hôpital's Rule, right? Just apply it here. It's very simple."
As he spoke, Lü Yongchang prepared to return the workbook to Su Yutong.
But clearly, he had overestimated the current Su Yutong.
Seeing her clutching her pen and looking around in utter bewilderment, Lü Yongchang sighed again.
"Never mind. I'll write out the steps for you."
He picked up his fountain pen, quickly wrote the standard solution steps on a sheet of A4 paper, and handed it to Su Yutong along with the workbook.
Lü Yongchang was more accustomed to fountain pens than ballpoint pens.
He liked the soft scratching sound a fountain pen made as it moved across paper.
"Th-thank you."
Su Yutong instinctively took the workbook and thanked him softly.
Looking at the neat fountain-pen handwriting on the A4 sheet, Su Yutong unconsciously glanced at the somewhat rounded handwriting on her own scratch paper, a hint of embarrassment and curiosity appearing in her eyes.
"Could I ask your name? I'm Su Yutong, from the applied physics department."
Without turning his head, Lü Yongchang gave his name somewhat impatiently. "Lü Yongchang."
Solving the problem and talking had already wasted nearly five minutes of his time!
Sure enough!
Women would only become stumbling blocks on his path of research!
Lamenting inwardly, Lü Yongchang shifted his gaze to another paper.
"A brief analysis of the factors affecting sonoluminescence"
By now, he had completely forgotten the guilt he had felt toward Su Yutong not long ago.
Of course, even if he remembered it, he had plenty of reasons to convince himself otherwise.
Reasons such as romance being inappropriate when humanity's very survival was at stake were a dime a dozen!
Besides, the current Su Yutong wasn't the Su Yutong from his previous life. She had no feelings for him at all!
As for Su Yutong, after getting the cold shoulder from Lü Yongchang, she turned away in embarrassment and resumed studying the workbook before her.
"Ding-dong."
A notification sounded from the phone beside him, interrupting Lü Yongchang as he browsed the papers.
He raised his head slightly and looked at the phone on the table.
A news alert appeared on the lock screen.
"Xia Country announces its withdrawal from the ITER Project!"
"Shocking! The real reason behind Xia Country's withdrawal from the ITER Project is..."
"Morally bankrupt! How could researchers do such a thing!"
Lü Yongchang's heart sank.
He remembered now.
At this point in time, Xia Country had been subjected to vicious targeting within the ITER Project and had been left with no choice but to withdraw.
This had also sown the seeds of future trouble!
Xia Country had successfully developed controlled nuclear fusion technology more than two full years later than the Western countries!
As a result, Xia Country had held little sway in the Human Federation that eventually formed.
Only after Lü Yongchang became chief scientist of the Human Federation Academy of Sciences had Xia Country's standing begun to improve!
It was only then that Lü Yongchang learned that a string of frame-ups had been behind Xia Country's voluntary withdrawal from the ITER Project!
"Damn it..."
Lü Yongchang stared coldly at the phone on the table.
As a citizen of Xia Country, he would never allow something like this to happen again!
So what if they withdrew from ITER!
He would make every country targeting Xia Country understand that Xia Country would call the shots in the world of the future!
Lü Yongchang quickly gathered his things from the table and stood up to leave.
He couldn't wait any longer!
He needed to go ask Professor Guan Hualiang about the results of his review!
"Huh... you're leaving?"
Su Yutong's distinctively cool, clear voice came from beside him.
Lü Yongchang nodded gently and left without another word.
"Tch... so aloof!"
Watching Lü Yongchang's retreating figure, Su Yutong pursed her lips. "You deserve to stay single forever!"
The next moment, the A4 sheet Lü Yongchang had left on the table caught her attention.
Seeing the densely packed equations and symbols on it, she covered her slightly parted lips in surprise.
This... she had thought this guy was in the same year as her!
Now it looked like he was probably some hotshot master's or PhD student!
An unusual glimmer flickered in Su Yutong's eyes as a seed of curiosity gradually took root and sprouted in her heart.
Before you continue