Chapter 151: Because You're Still of Some Use
Zhang Hongcai fell silent for a moment, his gaze sweeping over the monitor.
Just then, everyone was looking at him.
Zhang Hongcai had chosen a roll-call vote, so everyone could see who was casting what vote in front of their windows, along with the final tally.
For a moment, Zhang Hongcai also thought about just abstaining and calling it a day.
Since everyone wasn't busy, why not just drag it out.
It was nothing more than a test of willpower, after all.
But remembering he still had to pick up a foreign professor today, and prepare for the professor's lecture in the afternoon, Zhang Hongcai realized he was the one with the least time to waste.
Thinking about what Wu Chengze had said yesterday... forget it, too lazy to waste any more time.
Zhang Hongcai reached out, taking hold of the mouse.
"Zhang, once this issue is reported, it's like kicking the ball to the higher-ups, think it through," someone reminded at the crucial moment.
Zhang Hongcai glanced at the professor who had spoken and clicked support directly.
The final vote was frozen at 7:6.
"Alright, let's leave it at that. Whether this matter itself is irregular and can be approved is for the committee to consider. Those who are dissatisfied with the results of this meeting, there are complete video recordings of the session on the server, which I will preserve for seven days. You may download them with various accounts and go for a committee review.
I hereby announce the end of the meeting."
Having said that, Zhang Hongcai couldn't be bothered with these people any longer and immediately closed the meeting software.
That done, he still had other things to attend to.
At this moment, Zhang Hongcai felt a sense of relief wash over him.
That's just the way people are.
Before making a decision, one feels torn, but after deciding, it suddenly seems like it's not such a big deal.
As for any future storms this might bring, Zhang Hongcai was too lazy to even think about it.
None of his business.
...
Inside the laboratory building of Xilin University of Technology, Hanna was still earnestly reading a paper.
Initially, she thought Qiao Ze was overly presumptuous.
But once she began thinking, she cast all emotions aside.
That's probably the charm of mathematics.
For those who appreciate it, once they truly immerse themselves, they forget everything, even themselves. Only the lines of expressions and the fluttering mathematical symbols remain in their minds.
In fact, when Hanna was in college, she always thought that interesting math papers were like the magic books in Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.
As long as she could understand the content, it was as if she had infinite magical power, capable of elegantly solving problems that plagued countless people.
When she came across a doubtful point, she would casually pick up a pen from the desk, sketch a few diagrams on the draft paper, or write a few formulas, then circle a few areas, completely ignoring that the paper she used was actually the material she had brought for Qiao Ze to see.
As for Qiao Ze, after tossing the paper to Hanna, he hadn't glanced at this exotic beauty again.
No, it wasn't that he saw her as unattractive.
It wasn't face blindness either; in fact, he could remember features on someone's face after just one glance, and not forget them for a long time. That's why he could recognize Professor Qian at the dinner party for the three professors from Yanbei and recall the minor flaws in his online lecture content.
It was mainly because his brain could directly skip over judging such trivial things as beauty or ugliness.
Just as he was once again going through Dou Dou's source code. Although this little thing didn't have a form yet, he felt it was very clever just by thinking about it.
As for Su Mucheng, she quietly watched her video.
After all, she had an exam coming up.
And the questions were set by Qiao Ze himself.
Ah, Qiao was good in everything, just not quite understanding about sparing the fair sex. He always made the questions a bit too hard for her, and if she got them wrong, he'd make her go over the explanations and do it again, as if he really wanted to train her into a great mathematician.
In truth, her goals were not so grand.
But what could she do?
She couldn't reason with Qiao Ze.
The guy always had a way of winning arguments silently; she had no choice but to surrender.
Right at that moment, Su Mucheng's phone suddenly vibrated.
The girl picked up the phone and glanced at it—it was a message popping up on WeChat from Chen Yiwen.
"Boss lady, let's have dinner with my brother Qiao tonight; I'll treat, and you can pick any place you like."
Having been around Qiao Ze, Su Mucheng had learned some ways to get to the point, like how she keenly noted that this guy used the honorific "you."
Based on Su Mucheng's understanding of Chen Yiwen, tonight's dinner clearly signalled something amiss.
"Spill it, did you boast about your close relationship with Qiao on your name and end up getting carried away again?"
"Heh heh, only the boss lady gets me. Well... I've been getting along with a junior, and one day we got to talking about Brother Qiao. All the girls in her dorm are quite curious about brother Qiao; some even doubt his abilities! So I thought, isn't this the perfect chance for brother Qiao to make an impression on the junior girls? They should see just how great brother Qiao really is!"
"Pff, you were chasing a junior girl, bragging about your close ties with Qiao, and then couldn't live up to your own hype, so now you need Qiao to join dinner to prove it, right?"
"Haha… Boss lady, you're indeed perceptive."
"Hmph, aren't you afraid your junior girl will lose interest in you after seeing Qiao?"
"Well, boss lady, do you think there's a chance that after the juniors meet brother Qiao, they might think I'm quite alright as a normal guy who can talk, understand romance, and knows warmth and cold?"
"Hehe, Chen Yiwen, it's 11:13 now, if I'm not mistaken. Aren't you supposed to be in class? Who gave you the courage to be chatting on WeChat during class?"