Chapter 147: Rumors

“Tan Mo recognizes so many words! She has saved us so much time since now we don’t have to check the dictionaries. She even helps us when we do have to check the dictionary,” Wang Yuemu said. “We hardly need to raise our heads from our work now.”

“Enough, everybody!” When Ying Siyuan heard this, an acrid sensation bubbled up in his heart. It was almost as though his heart was a lemon being squeezed of its juice.

“You guys snatched Tan Mo from our team and are now celebrating her contributions. Must you really say it out loud to provoke us?” Ying Siyuan gnashed his teeth as he spoke.

“That’s right.” Guan Ruyue chipped in.

Wang Yuemu chuckled and said, “Our team has been struggling for such a long time. We rarely produce such good results. Must you take this joy away from us?”

Inside the research room, Tan Mo was making good progress.

Everyone was nice and since they were all scholars, they didn’t disparage each other’s opinions.

Everyone had accepted Tan Mo with open arms. They were constantly joking around and no one got angry easily.

By the time Tan Mo had completely assimilated into the group, it was time to attend Professor Zhao’s class.

…

Since only 20 people attended his class, the lesson took place in a small classroom.

The moment Tan Mo walked in, she saw rows of tables and chairs set a good distance apart from each other. There was a huge gap between each table, and there was a lot of space.

When she walked in, there was still around 20 minutes until the start of class. Yet the classroom was already packed with students.

Tan Mo gave the room a cursory glance and determined the number of people in attendance accurately.

There were exactly 20 people.

Professor Zhao had yet to arrive.

Since it was a class meant for second-year university students, she didn’t see Wu Xiaoye in the classroom.

Tan Mo didn’t know anyone else in the history major except for Wu Xiaoye.

Tan Mo was just about to step inside the classroom and find a seat when she heard some people discussing some gossip among themselves.

“Did you guys hear about it? A freshman has joined Professor Guo’s research team.”

“I heard. It’s a pity that I don’t know anyone from the research team. I wanted to hear their opinions about it.”

Tan Mo thought, isn’t that normal? The research team were all students studying for PhDs.

It was a bit early for a second-year student to be acquainted with PhD students.

She had completely forgotten that she was only a year-one student.

“Apart from the fact that the student is a freshman, I don’t know anything else.”

“Actually, I do know a few students in the Chinese major. They’re all second-year students. Many of them have strong opinions regarding this. Everyone in the Chinese major wants to join Professor Guo’s team, but no one dares to get their hopes up. After all, the team is made out of PhD students who were all top students. And now there are rumors that a freshman has joined them. Who could be happy about that?”

“A year-one student is capable of joining the team, so why can’t a year-two student do the same? We are one year ahead,” someone joined in the conversation.

“That’s why it’s so unfair,” someone else said. “If only PhD students are allowed to join, okay, it’s no use arguing. But why was a freshman allowed to join while other students aren’t? School has barely started, and they have only attended a few classes thus far.”

“What’s the background of the freshman?” someone asked.

All the students in the class shook their heads. They had no idea.

Every member of Professor Guo’s team was cream of the crop. They devoted their time wholeheartedly to research and rarely participated in social gatherings.

No one was acquainted with them, nor had anyone ever exchanged even a few words with them.

“Yang Jiamao, you know a lot of people. Did you hear anything?” a boy asked.

Yang Jiamao had a huge social circle. He was acquainted with a few PhD students.

“Hey, I’ve heard enough. I purposely tried to scout for news. I know Ying Siyuan from Professor Guo’s research team. But he refused to say anything,” Yang Jiamao said gloomily.

…

Ying Siyuan, who was working hard in the research room, suddenly sneezed.

“Did you catch a cold? Did we set the AC too low?” Wang Yuemu glanced at him.

“Senior Ying, you seem rather vulnerable. Although scholars are stereotypically frail, none of us girls have fallen ill yet. How could you catch a cold because of the AC?” Pu Xinyan mocked him.

“I’m not sick.” Ying Siyuan rubbed his nose before continuing, “I think someone is talking about me.”

“Who do you think it is?” Shen Hongshan chuckled.

Ever since Ying Siyuan had been a freshman in Beijing University, he had never had a girlfriend. Who could be thinking about him at this moment?

“Enough about that. A second-year student came to ask me about Tan Mo a while back.” After pondering about it for a moment, Ying Siyuan continued, “…from the History major.”

“He’s a second-year student studying history. Why did he ask about our Chinese major?” Guan Ruyue had her misgivings. “Even if someone wanted to poach her, it would be someone from Professor Zhao’s team. Why would a year-two do that?”

“Who knows? All I know is that he asked about Tan Mo’s background and how a first-year student could join our research team.” Ying Siyuan chuckled.

Ling Zumu instantly started talking about a conspiracy theory. “Was the student sent by Professor Zhao’s team? They might have assumed that we won’t answer their questions if they approached us personally. Hence, they got a second-year student to ask questions so that we would let down our guard…”

Wu Jiazhen rushed over. Before Ying Siyuan had time to react, Wu Jiazhen’s huge face was hovering right in front of him. He was so shocked that he almost tumbled out of his chair.

“Sh*t! What’s up with you? You scared me!” Ying Siyuan exclaimed in shock.

“Senior, did you tell them?” Wu Jiazhen stared at Ying Siyuan anxiously.

It’s imperative to keep it from them.

“I didn’t.” Ying Siyuan shoved Wu Jiazhen’s enormous face aside. “Do you think I lacked such caution? I didn’t say anything. But I don’t think it was someone sent by Professor Zhao’s team. Because the kid asked me which class the first-year student belonged to. He asked about her gender and how she got in. He clearly knew absolutely nothing about Tan Mo. If he had been someone sent by Professor Zhao, would they have asked this sort of questions?”

“That’s true.” Wu Jiazhen nodded his head.

“But I was very cautious.” Ying Siyuan engaged in self-praise. “It doesn’t matter what intentions he had. Since I didn’t say anything, nothing could have gone wrong.”

“Right! Our leader is such a wise man!” Wu Jiazhen flashed him a thumbs-up to back him up.

Back in the classroom, Yang Jiamao continued, “I only asked because my friends in the Chinese major also inquired about the student. Otherwise, it would have had nothing to do with our History major, even if the student was a freshman. However, I wasn’t able to glean much.

“There are probably a lot of students in the Chinese major feeling a sense of injustice, right? It doesn’t really matter to the undergraduates. But many PhD students were unable to join, and yet they allowed a freshman to join. Would this be fair to them?

“Most important, they have only attended a handful of classes so far. All these classes are specialized, and the content is drastically different from that learned in middle school and high school. Someone actually joined Professor Guo’s team with the standards of a high schooler? What a laughable joke!”

Tan Mo raised her brows. She had never imagined that the Chinese and History major students would be spreading rumors about her, even though she wasn’t even part of those departments.