THD Chapter 31

Where there is competition, there is attention. It is like horse racing. Everyone hopes the horse they support will win. Sometimes that desire burns even more fiercely than the horse's own will to win. Although most netizens only stayed interested for a short time, a considerable number remained in this battlefield, determined to see who would emerge victorious.

Because of venue limitations, people outside X University could not watch the event in person. As a result, students on campus became war correspondents, providing live updates on the university forum.

The broadcast continued for four years.

For four long years, everyone involved was exhausted by the constant attention.

Ye Xiqing never disappointed those who had placed their hopes on her. Even after entering university, she continued to achieve one perfect score after another. She never lost marks on objective questions, and since the courses she had chosen contained almost no subjective assessments, her transcript became almost frightening to look at.

Her supporters should have had every reason to celebrate. Unfortunately, the supporters of her rival were an exceptionally arrogant bunch. They carried themselves with supreme confidence and habitually looked down on everyone else, especially women.

"The top student got another perfect score. As for everything else? Nothing."

"Hilarious. She's nothing but an exam-taking robot. When her future boss asks her to finish a project, is she going to ask, 'Where's the test paper?'"

"Haha! Everyone keeps praising her as a genius, but apart from written exams, she has absolutely nothing. Honestly, I'm starting to think she cheated. Competitions are hard to manipulate, but written grades are easy to fake. Everyone knows that."

"So you mean you never ranked first in your grade because you chose not to cheat?"

"Who knows? Anyway, Qin Nian won first place in another competition and even joined one of his supervisor's major research projects."

Ye Xiqing's fans were furious whenever they read comments like these. However, people's opinions are rarely firm, and repeated criticism gradually wears them down. After hearing the same arguments over and over, even some of her supporters began to believe that Ye Xiqing should prove herself in areas beyond examinations.

Yet Ye Xiqing never did what they hoped. Aside from taking exams, she never participated in any research projects or competitions.

Her fans were infuriated by the constant attacks, but they refused to pressure Ye Xiqing into changing her plans just to satisfy outsiders. They could only swallow their anger in silence.

Hou Nianyun, the most passionate among them, was so enraged that she enrolled in boxing classes. Every punch she threw at the heavy bag was aimed at those disgusting men, as though she could beat them all to death.

Unfortunately, reality rarely follows people's wishes.

The time came for Ye Xiqing's graduation thesis defense, and one of the examiners turned out to be none other than Qin Nian.

Originally, Qin Nian's supervisor was supposed to attend. However, undergraduate thesis defenses were not particularly strict, and the professor was too busy, so she sent Qin Nian in her place. By sheer coincidence, Ye Xiqing was assigned to that very session.

When Hou Nianyun heard the news, she nearly fainted.

She could already imagine how ecstatic Qin Nian's supporters would be.

Sure enough, the campus forum exploded.

"Hahaha! Which genius arranged this?"

"The professor is secretly getting revenge for her student."

"Qing's fans keep picking fights with both classmates and seniors. Now the professor has sent Qin Nian to oversee her thesis defense."

"The first thing Scholar Qin will see is the junior who looked down on him having to bow respectfully before her seniors. Hahaha!"

After the news spread, Ye Xiqing's detractors celebrated like never before.

Her supporters fought back as best they could.

"So what if he's four years older? Do you think being born earlier makes you more capable?"

Their words accomplished nothing.

The feeling of helplessness became so overwhelming that many even suspected someone within the university deliberately arranged this because they disliked Ye Xiqing.

While everyone else celebrated, Qin Nian himself was extremely nervous.

This four-year-long rivalry had not only tormented the spectators but had also worn down his already fragile nerves.

The awkward farewell four years ago had been embarrassing enough. Instead of fading away, the matter had only grown larger with time.

His supporters had become increasingly bold, boasting about him without restraint, while he himself became more and more anxious.

He found himself paying constant attention to Ye Xiqing. Every award she received felt like another thorn lodged in his heart.

At first, he comforted himself by believing she was only good at taking exams. But after watching her earn perfect score after perfect score, even someone as proud as Qin Nian had to admit that Ye Xiqing was nowhere near as ordinary as the rumors claimed.

Moreover, many people overlooked an important fact.

Ye Xiqing was not standing alone.

Behind her stood Yang Wenqing.

Qin Nian's supervisor held considerable influence within X University's academic circles, but Yang Wenqing occupied an even higher position.

Why was Yang Wenqing not helping this student?

If she truly decided to support Ye Xiqing, just how far could Ye Xiqing's career go?

Every time those thoughts crossed his mind, Qin Nian lost both his appetite and his sleep.

Perhaps there was an unspoken understanding between teacher and student. At this critical moment, his supervisor suddenly became "too busy" to attend.

Qin Nian entered the classroom with a nervous heart.

After looking around and noticing that Yang Wenqing was absent as well, he finally let out a sigh of relief.

He had already read Ye Xiqing's thesis countless times, searching for every possible flaw he could criticize.

The thesis was about medication for menstrual pain.

Qin Nian genuinely could not understand why Ye Xiqing had chosen such a topic. It seemed almost absurd, but at the same time it gave him plenty of opportunities to raise difficult questions.

Remembering Ye Xiqing's promise from four years ago, Qin Nian silently waited for her arrival.

He already knew she had an extraordinary future ahead of her.

But until you truly grow up, I will always remain one step ahead of you.

This scene had also existed in the original novel.

There, it was supposed to be a sweet and romantic encounter between the male and female leads.

With Ye Xiqing's arrival, however, it had turned into a fierce battlefield instead.

Qin Nian waited patiently, barely paying attention to the other students' thesis defenses. He cared only about the person he had been waiting for.

Yet from the beginning of the session until its conclusion, the person he expected never appeared.

He sat there in stunned silence.

Turning toward the chair of the examination panel, he asked, "Were there two students who didn't show up?"

The panel chair happened to be another of Yang Wenqing's students. Whenever Yang Wenqing was busy, she would take charge of supervising the graduating class.

Hearing his question, she smiled.

"Really? Let me check."

After looking through the list of names, she suddenly understood.

"Oh, those two? Their theses were exempted from the defense. There must have been a communication error, so the notice never reached you. Sorry about that."

Qin Nian blinked.

What?

He had prepared himself so thoroughly, expecting to display his superiority during the defense.

He never imagined that Ye Xiqing would not appear at all.

Unable to hide his disappointment, he asked coldly, "Why were those two exempted from the defense?"

The panel chair maintained her gentle smile.

"Who knows? Those were instructions from higher up. We simply follow orders."

Before Qin Nian could ask anything further, she had already packed up her materials and left.

After everyone had left, Qin Nian emerged from the defense room with a gloomy expression. His roommates and friends immediately crowded around him, throwing their arms over his shoulders as they laughed.

"How was your defense with the academic superstar?"

Qin Nian shrugged off their hands and sneered.

"What was there to enjoy? Her thesis was already exempt from defense. Why did I even have to show up in person?"

His friends froze, unable to understand what he meant. After Qin Nian explained what had happened, their expressions changed immediately.

While the university forum was still buzzing with anticipation over the defense results, a sarcastic post suddenly appeared on the front page.

"Why is everyone still waiting? The academic superstar's thesis was already exempt from defense."

Before anyone could react, countless eager commenters rushed in to share their opinions.

Before Ye Xiqing's fans could even mock Qin Nian's supporters for their dashed hopes, a new wave of public opinion had already erupted.

Why was Ye Xiqing exempt from the defense?

"I thought Ye Xiqing was only too scared to enter competitions. Now she's even afraid of defending her thesis?"

"This is hilarious! I've always thought this so-called robotics genius was suspicious. Looks like she's finally been exposed."

"Ye Xiqing's fans are always bragging that she's some rich heiress. Looks like money really can make the devil turn the millstone. [doge]"

"Is Professor Yang Wenqing seriously not going to address this? Isn't she worried about ruining her own reputation?"

"She's already boarded the pirate ship. I've wanted to say this for ages. Yang Wenqing isn't as incredible as everyone makes her out to be. If she weren't a woman promoted as a role model by the higher-ups, she wouldn't have such a lofty reputation based on her academic ability. There are plenty of people more capable than her."

Public opinion snowballed, and even Professor Yang Wenqing became caught in the backlash.

Ye Xiqing's fans were furious, but they were powerless to stop it. It was as though the forum had been flooded with paid trolls, and even outside marketing accounts had begun amplifying the controversy.

Hou Nianyun couldn't understand why they had once again been cornered like this.

If Ye Xiqing attended the defense, those smug, disgusting men would celebrate. If she skipped it, she would be swallowed by an even larger storm of public criticism.

Hou Nianyun and the rest of the fandom were angry, yet no one came to their defense.

Only after the topic climbed to the trending charts and everyone joined the discussion did Professor Yang Wenqing finally respond.

"Thesis defenses exist to test whether students truly understand their research. My student and her team have already completed the project described in their thesis. They successfully developed an original medication for dysmenorrhea, and it has already passed Phase II clinical trials. Do you really think this procedure is still necessary?"

Everyone fell silent.

Phase II clinical trials?

Not only were the bystanders confused, even Hou Nianyun had no idea what that meant.

She had followed Ye Xiqing for four years, but pharmaceutical science was completely outside her field. Whenever haters brought up technical terms, she had always searched them online afterward.

Fortunately, she no longer needed to.

The Ye Xiqing Fan Group had already exploded.

"Phase II clinical trials are the second stage of human testing before a drug can be approved for sale."

"Because drugs directly affect people's lives, every new medication has to pass four clinical phases before entering the market. Phase I evaluates safety. Phase II evaluates both safety and effectiveness. Phase III confirms those results with large-scale testing. Phase IV continues monitoring the drug after release for any rare side effects."

"Phase I isn't usually the hardest. Unless someone deliberately creates a dangerous compound, most drugs can pass basic safety testing."

"But Phase II is the real hurdle!"

"Because this stage determines whether the drug actually works. If it doesn't treat the disease, then it's nothing more than a random chemical compound."

"And Professor Yang just said Xi Shen and her team passed Phase II!"

"They passed Phase II!"

"Do you understand what that means?"

"It means Xi Shen has independently developed a brand-new drug from scratch. She owns the patent, and if everything continues successfully, it could eventually be released onto the market!"

"Qin Nian's fans keep bragging about competition awards and published papers. Compared to a finished drug that has already passed Phase II clinical trials, what are those worth?"

The moment that message appeared, the entire group erupted in celebration.

Hou Nianyun was overjoyed as well, but another thought suddenly crossed her mind.

"But... what if it doesn't pass the next two phases? Won't the haters just use that against her?"

The members explaining the science were speechless.

"Seriously? Do you even know what time it is?"

"This is Xi Shen's undergraduate thesis defense!"

"What kind of graduation theses do most seniors submit? They're complete garbage! If the defense committee didn't deliberately overlook the flaws, half of them wouldn't even pass!"

"You can't even defend your own thesis, yet you're questioning a paper backed by a drug that has already passed Phase II clinical trials? What qualifications do you have to criticize it?"

Hou Nianyun: "..."

"What are you people saying...?"

"Whose thesis is garbage?"

As a senior in the same graduating class, she felt personally attacked.

But so what?

Her idol had ascended to another level.

Grinning from ear to ear, Hou Nianyun typed into the fan group.

"So... can we pop the champagne now?"

"Pop it!"

"Hahaha!"

In an instant, Hou Nianyun transformed into a warrior of vengeance. Every grievance she had endured over the past four years vanished without a trace.

She opened her laptop and launched her ultimate counterattack.

"Where are the haters now?"

"Where are the haters?"

"You all loved saying those things before. Why are you so quiet now?"

"Hahahaha!"

Little Hou gripped her keyboard like a weapon.

"Haters, speak up!"

"Haters, speak up!"

These were the soldiers Qingqing had raised.

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