CH 5

After coming out of the Dean’s office, Meng Zezhi was not in a hurry to go back, instead he turned around and went to the library.

“Biochemistry, Biopharmacology, Pharmaceutical Analysis ……”

Meng Zezhi searched all the way, and finally found all the books he was looking for in a small corner.

After going through the book borrowing procedure, Meng Zezhi held the books and walked out the door of the library, but he didn’t expect to bump into a person at the corner.

With a thud, the books in their hands fell to the ground.

Meng Zezhi was a tall and big man, so he was fine, but he saw the man opposite him stagger back two steps, then turn around and fall backwards.

Meng Zezhi was quickly stepped forward, grabbing the railing on the corridor wall with one hand and stopping the man at the waist with the other, bringing him into his arms and stabilizing him.

He can’t help but breathe a sigh of relief. A faint fragrance of lotus leaf and mint came to him. It was not very vivid.

As he listened to the sound of breathing slowing down in his ears, Meng Zezhi loosened the hand that was around the waist of the person in his arms.

The man turned around, around twenty-four or twenty-five, with a delicate and beautiful face. Leather shoes, black suit trousers, white shirt, sleeves rolled up to the elbows, revealing the beautiful lines of his forearms. Probably because of the hot weather, he also did not wear a tie. The button was unbuttoned to the second, revealing the delicate collar bone inside.

Meng Zezhi’s eyes flickered slightly. A hot, moist breath hit his chin, only then did he come back to his senses, calmly taking two steps backwards.

His eyes fell on the books scattered all over the floor: “Sorry!”

Almost at the same time, the man swept a glance at Meng Zezhi’s Adam apple and said with pursed lips, “Sorry!”

The air was quiet for a moment, and there seemed to be nothing more to say as the two men knelt down and gathered up the books on the floor.

When the books had been rearranged, Meng Zezhi stood up and nodded slightly at the other man, who nodded in response, before they turned, one going upstairs and the other going down.

Meng Zezhi did not take this little incident to heart. He went to the mathematics department’s reference room with his books and borrowed a few more copies of the latest mathematics journals.

The sky suddenly darkened just as he walked out of the library door. In a short while, there were flashes of lightning and bean-sized raindrops began to fall.

With one hand clutching his books and the other hand held high above his head, Meng Zezhi ran towards the bus shelter not far away.

After reaching the place, Meng Zezhi patted the water droplets off his clothes, and with a sweep of his eyes, he realised that he had bumped into that man again.

He nodded gently as a greeting.

Having only met each other once, and seeing that the other person had no intention of making conversation, Meng Zezhi gave up his intention to talk.

The two of them stood in silence, one behind the other.

With the cold and moist autumn wind, the rain was getting heavier and heavier. It looked like it would not stop for a while. The temperature around them also dropped.

Meng Zezhi keenly heard a fidgeting sound.

He then remembered that the person behind him was only wearing a thin shirt, and with this strong wind blowing, he was probably cold.

Meng Zezhi subconsciously reached out to unbutton his jacket, but on second thought, he felt it would be too abrupt and had to button the jacket up again.

After thinking about it, he took two steps back and then moved half a step to his right.

Zhu Zhengqing, who was rubbing his arms, sucked on his somewhat itchy nose and suddenly felt that the cold wind blowing against him was much less. He raised his head and was faced with a black wall.

No, it wasn’t a wall, it was a man against the light.

Recalling the scene in the library when the other man hugged him, Zhu Zhengqing’s ears twitched slightly and he lowered his head to look at the ground. The expression on his face was a little unclear.

Just as Meng Zezhi’s legs were about to go numb from standing, the rain finally stopped.

He breathed a sigh of relief and stepped out of the bus shelter.

Looking at Meng Zezhi’s back, Zhu Zhengqing pursed his lips.

For a man this old, he probably even had children in primary school.

With this in mind, he held his books and walked in the opposite direction to Meng Zezhi.

After returning to his office and dismissing the second group of students who had come to report, Meng Zezhi opened his computer and typed the words *’Deinagkistrodon’ into the search bar of his browser, then took out his mobile phone and dialed the number on the webpage.

(T/N: a venomous pit viper, also called a five-paced viper or five-step snake

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deinagkistrodon)

“Hello, Cao County Snake Farm? I want to order a batch of Deinagkistrodon venom. What do you need snake venom for? Oh, I’m a professor at Capital University, and I need to use Deinagkistrodon venom for an experiment.”

“No dried powder, I need fresh venom. Forty-one grams? For now, let’s take a hundred grams …… Okay, I’ll send you the money and ID card photo once I add WeChat.”

Hanging up the phone, it was already noon. Thinking that there were no classes in the afternoon anyway, Meng Zezhi informed the student group and went home.

After lunch, Meng Zezhi ran to the supermarket. When He came out again he had an extra fruit basket in his hand. He then drove to the hospital.

“Teacher!”

In the sanatorium, Meng Zezhi took out a knife from the drawer, opened the fruit basket, took out an apple and sat on the bed to peel it.

The one lying on the hospital bed was none other than his predecessor’s mentor, Professor Wan Zhexian, who was about to celebrate his 90th birthday and had been in the sanatorium for five or six years. With special doctors and nurses looking after him, the old man looked in quite good spirits.

Professor Wan straightened the newspaper in his hand, without even looking at him, and simply said, “Why do you come to see me, a bad old man, today?”

“I want to ask you a favour, teacher!” Meng Zezhi said honestly.

Professor Wan also lost the mood to read the newspaper and said in a good voice, “If you want to talk about the school not giving you enrollment quota, then you don’t have to say anything. Dean Fu and I had talked about it before.”

It was true. Without his consent, how could the school make such a decision without permission.

“It’s not about that.” Meng Zezhi’s face remained unchanged.

“En?” Hearing this, Professor Wan put down the newspaper in his hand and looked up at him.

“Senior sister, is she still at Tsinghua University?”

The senior sister Meng Zezhi spoke of was Professor Wan’s eldest daughter. Unlike Professor Wan, this senior sister of Meng Zezhi’s was not a fan of mathematics, instead, she had a high level of attainment in microbiology.

Professor Wan looked proud: “MIT has asked her to teach there, and she has agreed to leave next month.”

He gave Meng Zezhi a side glance, “What, is something wrong?”

Hearing this, Meng Zezhi couldn’t help but frown, but he was afraid that Professor Wan would be worried and get angry, so he could only say vaguely, “There’s something. I want to go into the biology lab.”

That’s right, he just remembered that this student of his had studied biology for his second degree at university.

Professor Wan looked hesitant as he looked at Meng Zezhi, sizing the man up and down, and said, “You’re not quite the same as before.”

The hostility between his eyebrows was gone, and he looked gentle and mild. In a trance, Professor Wan had the feeling that he was seeing the calm and self-possessed student from back then again.

“After all I have been through, I have to grow up a bit.” Meng Zezhi cut a small piece of apple for him.

Professor Wan reached out to take it, took a bite and asked, “Is it important?”

It was about Meng Zezhi’s wish to enter the biology lab.

“Life is at stake.” Meng Zezhi said helplessly.

Professor Wan didn’t think that Meng Zezhi would lie to him. Not to mention that this student, apart from his poor character, had not disappointed him to the point of giving up.

As the saying goes, all children are debts, and this student is no different.

“There is definitely nothing that can be done on your sister’s side, but I know of someone who can certainly help you.” Professor Wan said.

Meng Zezhi’s eyes lit up, “Teacher?”

Forget it, it’s just giving up an old face, isn’t it?

Professor Wan sighed, “Your senior sister’s younger brother has returned to China. He is Professor *Montani’s closed-door disciple. He is also the child of my old friend’s family. It took a lot of effort for the Capital University to invite him back.”

(T/N: in raws his name was mengtani but MTL gave me Montani so I just kept it like this)

Professor Montani was a world-renowned biologist who has won the Nobel Prize.

“I’ll make a phone call for you to ask about it in the evening.”

“Okay.” Meng Zezhi breathed a sigh of relief. With Professor Wan on his side, things were already halfway done.

He said, “When your ninetieth birthday comes, I’ll give you a big gift. I guarantee you’ll like it.”

Professor Wan gave a light hum, which sounded very flattering, “Okay, I’ll wait.”