Jiang Nan

Biodata

Background / History

Family and Education

Jiang Nan comes from a wealthy pharmaceutical-industry family in Xiaoshan. Her father, Jiang Hongyue, runs Jiangdong Pharmaceutical Factory, while her grandmother studied in the former Soviet Union and helped develop China’s chemical and pharmaceutical industries. Jiang Nan and her father describe her grandmother’s contributions during the memorial service 6 13.

She completed a direct-entry doctoral program at Xiaoheshan University of Technology, graduating at the end of the year before the main events. She joined its School of Pharmacy in 2008. Her academic ability and family standing meant that her advisor had never subjected her to the mistreatment Wu Chen experienced abroad 6 13 15.

Original Timeline

In Wu Chen’s memories of his previous life, Jiang Nan published four SCI Q1 papers and became a full professor before turning thirty. She was also known for rejecting a wealthy suitor’s elaborate campus display of roses without appearing herself, sending someone to tell him to “Scram” 6.

A serious accident later struck Jiangdong Pharmaceutical Factory, leading to bankruptcy and leaving her with several hundred million yuan in debt. She remained unmarried at thirty-five. These events belong to the original timeline, not to outcomes already established after Wu Chen’s rebirth 6 19.

Appearance

• Build: Slender, with long, straight legs that make her appear taller than her actual height 13.
• Features: Fair skin, clear eyes with distinctly dark pupils, a smooth forehead, and a slender neck 5 41.
• Hair: Long and black; worn both neatly tied back and loose 41 46.
• Presentation: Usually clean, elegant, and composed. During her grandmother’s final hospitalization, sleeplessness leaves her eyes swollen and her hair disheveled 5.
• Clothing: Wears stockings and wedge heels, but changes into ankle socks and sneakers when preparing to visit the company office 18.

Personality

Jiang Nan initially presents a cool, formal manner, but is willing to confront people directly. She rebukes Lavrov for disrespecting her grandmother’s memorial service and openly challenges Wang Hongfa’s belittling of Chinese research. Her patriotism also helps inspire Wu Chen to stop concealing his opposition to Wang 6 8.

Her scientific outlook emphasizes experimental evidence and the consequences of error. She does not reject technological progress, but disputes Wu Chen’s confidence in using AI simulations to identify promising drugs, insisting that pharmaceutical claims require real experimental data 12 13.

She is decisive and practical in business. After bargaining fiercely over her investment, she promptly arranges the next steps, finds premises, and handles factory acquisition work. She also shows a mischievous, calculating side when helping devise the scheme against Wang Hongfa, dismissing the aloof “goddess” image others have assigned her 16 19 27 29.

Despite her family’s wealth, she is comfortable eating inexpensive Shaxian snacks and does not object to a modest restaurant’s greasy furnishings. Her kindness is similarly practical: she comforts Min Xinrou, finds her accommodation, and advances the rent 18 41 42.

She resists pressure to marry and says she wants to focus on work. Although she repeatedly denies dating Wu Chen, their growing familiarity brings out laughter, irritation, concern, and eventually an attraction she finds difficult to explain 13 15 44 47 49.

Abilities & Skills

Pharmacy and Research

Jiang Nan is described as naturally gifted in pharmacy and holds a doctorate in the field 15 47.

• Understands pharmacological principles and questions unsupported claims about drug effectiveness 12 13.
• Conducts experiments with enough concentration that interruptions irritate her 46.
• Recognizes the limits of her computing knowledge and consults Chen Beitao on AI-related questions 20 49.
• Her four SCI Q1 papers and early full professorship are achievements documented in the original timeline 6.

Russian

Jiang Nan can understand and speak Russian, including Lavrov’s heavily accented speech 6.

• Identifies his improper remark and immediately confronts him in Russian 6.
• Her grandmother’s Soviet educational background provides family context for this ability, though the text does not specify how Jiang Nan learned the language 6.

Business and Operations

Jiang Nan supplies much of Hazelnut Technology’s early organizational work 18 19 27.

• Handles registration preparations, office rental, renovation planning, and prospective customer contacts 18 19.
• Identifies a bankrupt factory suitable for acquisition and manages liquidation, approvals, and transfer procedures 19 27.
• Coordinates production materials and factory matters while Wu Chen concentrates on research and teaching 28 49.
• Uses local connections to secure resources quickly, including inexpensive accommodation for Min Xinrou 42.

Negotiation and Strategy

Jiang Nan helps design the effort to draw Wang Hongfa into a costly SNN research project 29.

• Proposes approaching Wu Chen first as part of an act intended to strengthen Wang’s confidence in SNN 29.
• Questions Lavrov’s reported performance, reliance on human intervention, and implementation costs 47.
• Negotiates a collaboration that commits substantially more university funding than pharmaceutical-factory funding 48.
• Refuses to disparage Wu Chen’s research even when doing so would help maintain her cover 48.

Business Interests

Hazelnut Technology Investment

Jiangdong–University Research Collaboration

Jiang Nan negotiates the agreement on behalf of Jiangdong Pharmaceutical Factory while participating in the plan against Wang Hongfa 29 48.

Although Wu Chen warns that the purely SNN-based vision approach has no future, Jiang Nan proceeds partly because Chen Beitao believes useful research results might still emerge 49.

Story Role / Major Arcs

Grandmother’s Final Photograph

Jiang Nan brings her grandmother the restored photograph completed by Wu Chen shortly before the elderly woman dies. At the subsequent memorial service, she receives visitors, confronts Lavrov over his conduct, and delivers a eulogy with her father. Wu Chen recognizes the memorial portrait as his first restoration job 5 6.

Pill Inspection and Company Formation

After Wu Chen exposes Wang Hongfa’s appropriation of his research, Jiang Nan gives him a ride home and asks whether he has a better solution for her father’s pill-inspection problem. She arranges a factory test despite their disagreement over AI-assisted drug research 8 9 12 13.

Little Jiang No. 1’s successful production-line demonstration establishes the technology’s practical value. After learning why Wu Chen abandoned his doctorate, Jiang Nan offers her own money to start the company. They negotiate ownership terms and register Hangcheng Hazelnut Technology Co., Ltd. in Binjiang 14 15 16 18.

She then secures office space, introduces Chen Beitao to Wu Chen’s work, and helps acquire the factory needed to manufacture Little Jiang No. 2 19 20 27.

Campus Rumors and Min Xinrou’s Housing

When rumors link Wu Chen romantically to Min Xinrou, Jiang Nan comforts the student and supports Wu Chen’s public denial. During the ensuing inquiry, she retrieves equipment he has prepared as evidence 33 35 36.

After Min Xinrou becomes afraid to return to her dormitory, Jiang Nan takes her to dinner, finds a room, advances the housing payment, and helps her move 41 42.

Negotiations and Renewed Accusations

Jiang Nan carries out the negotiations with Wang Hongfa but breaks from the act when he attacks Wu Chen’s academic credibility. She defends the legitimacy of Wu Chen’s published papers and then waits outside his classroom to warn him about the trending accusations 47 48.

Her concern continues even though she believes he can handle the controversy. When she becomes frustrated at carrying both financial and operational burdens, Wu Chen thanks her with a bottled coffee, easing her mood 49.

Relationships

• Wu Chen — Business partner and recipient of her founding investment. Their initial reserve develops into teasing familiarity, trust, and emerging attraction, but they are not confirmed to be dating in the supplied chapters 15 16 33 44 47 49.
• Jiang Hongyue — Father and director of Jiangdong Pharmaceutical Factory. He initially considers Wu Chen as a prospective son-in-law, but also assures Jiang Nan that her parents will support her even if she never marries 13.
• Lai Shuxian — Mother. She admires Wu Chen’s refusal to sacrifice his dignity for a degree and encourages Jiang Nan to consider him romantically, creating tension over marriage pressure 20 44.
• Grandmother — A major contributor to the family pharmaceutical enterprise. Jiang Nan attends her final hospitalization and brings her the restored photograph before her death 5 6.
• Chen Beitao — Best friend and trusted AI specialist at Peking University. Jiang Nan proposes bringing her into Hazelnut Technology and relies on her technical judgment 19 20 49.
• Min Xinrou — A student she protects during the rumor incident and helps leave an unsafe-feeling dormitory situation 33 41 42.
• Wang Hongfa — University superior and target of her joint scheme with Wu Chen. Her dislike of his foreign-worshipping attitude deepens into disgust after learning about his misconduct 8 29 47 48.
• Lavrov — Prospective supplier whose disrespectful behavior she challenges and whose technical claims she later scrutinizes 6 47.

Equipment / Items

• Red Mercedes-Benz C200 — Her regular car, kept clean and understated without unnecessary ornaments. She frequently drives Wu Chen between his apartment, the university, and factory sites; he becomes the first other person she allows to drive it 8 12 19.

Notable Quotes

“Please show some respect. This isn't a bar. It's my grandmother's memorial service!” — Addressing Lavrov in Russian 6

“Sorry, I only trust real experimental data.” — On pharmaceutical research 13

“Those are all labels you people stuck on me. I've never cared about them.” — On her aloof “goddess” reputation 29