Chapter 1211 - 1208: No Beating Allowed

"Grandpa—"

When they arrived at Grandpa's house, the courtyard outside the door was covered with red paper left from burned firecrackers. Ah Qing carried tea, cigarettes, and alcohol in one hand, local specialty gifts for relatives in the other, and had the Little Fox on her shoulder as she walked into the house.

"Hey! Ah Qing is here....."

In the living room, Grandpa was still sitting in his wheelchair looking as weak as ever, his face showing tiredness and lack of energy like he hadn't really woken up. He looked a bit sluggishly at Ah Qing coming in, then gave a smile in greeting.

"Eh? Where are your cousins?"

Ansheng, who had come to Grandpa's house, glanced around the living room in some confusion. He saw Ah Qing's eldest aunt, eldest uncle, second uncle, and youngest aunt, as well as a girl wearing glasses squatting in a corner, obsequiously talking on the phone.

Grandpa's house was lively, but Ansheng remembered Ah Qing saying she had three male cousins, two younger female cousins, and one older female cousin.

The only person who could be the older female cousin was the one squatting in the corner on the phone. The younger cousins weren't in sight for now. Chen Tianyun was supposed to come back in the evening. The people busy in the kitchen were clearly the caretakers looking after Grandpa's daily needs.

"Uh.....your cousins? They went to school and then straight into the army, they're probably all on duty out of town now?"

Hearing the Little Fox's question, Ah Qing froze for a moment, then explained a bit embarrassedly.

Among Ah Qing's three cousins, Chen Tianyun was the oldest and currently living a good life, working with Lin Kui, trying hard to extend the Chen Clan line.

The other two cousins weren't that old, both about the age of fresh college graduates.

It was just that those two idiots only had so-so grades and didn't get into their dream military academies, so they enlisted right after high school.

Now they were all serving far from home, and whether they could come back for the New Year depended on their assignments.

So not seeing any cousins at Grandpa's house was perfectly normal.

"Mm.....I can tell your mom really busted her ass to keep Old Deng alive."

Perched on Ah Qing's shoulder, Ansheng looked around the room and, after taking it all in, nodded knowingly. He glanced at Ah Qing and cracked a joke.

Even though Ansheng couldn't tell exactly what industries Ah Qing's eldest aunt and uncles worked in, Grandpa's children all carried a sharp, capable air. The eldest and second uncles even had buzz cuts, standing like pines and sitting like bells.

They clearly came out of the military. Chen Peipei, the fourth in the family, had even done time in the militia.

And their youngest aunt obviously had also served.

Given Grandpa's pre-retirement position, it was obvious he'd wanted his children to enlist; whether they climbed the ranks or switched to civilian posts, they'd end up with decent futures.

Then suddenly, when it came to Chen Peipei, some random blond punk popped out of nowhere and ran off with her.

The fact that Yu Zhenghong hadn't been beaten to death when he was young had to be thanks to Chen Peipei constantly talking Grandpa down.

No wonder Grandpa's love rival from back in the day still holds a grudge against Old Deng to this day.

The Peipei household is glowing purple with auspicious qi; just leaking a bit of their procurement channels is enough for people to make a killing.

"Ah-haha..."

Listening to the Little Fox roast her parents, Ah Qing could only scratch her head and laugh awkwardly twice, not daring to chime in.

Hugging the Little Fox, Ah Qing looked around the house and started introducing the elders to him one by one.

However, when Ah Qing tried to introduce the Little Fox, the elders just chuckled, took out their phones, opened their "special follow" list under the music app, and showed Ah Qing's ID.

"With our family's little fortune fox, who needs an introduction? The local video recommendations serve him up every day."

The youngest aunt, in her early thirties and not yet forty, waved her phone in front of Ah Qing, then reached out and held the Little Fox's paw, giving it a shake. "Let me get a bit of that luck too."

"Lan, your cousin brought the Little Fox over. What are you doing squatting in that corner? Get over here and pet him a couple of times."

The youngest aunt called out to Ah Qing's older female cousin, Chen Qinglan.

"Oh...I'll come over as soon as I'm done with this New Year call." Chen Qinglan pushed up her thick glasses, covered the receiver, said that to her aunt, and then continued her phone call.

"Yes yes yes, I really am an idiot, but at least I believe suffering is a blessing...Professor, I'm begging you, please 'unspoken-rule' me! I want to be your live-in maid. You know me, I'm a cleanliness freak, I'll keep everything spotless."

"Prof....don't kick me out into society, it's a cruel world out there."

"Stop scolding me, stop scolding me, it's the New Year....."

With a miserable expression, Chen Qinglan promised over the phone that as soon as the holiday was over, she'd roll back and dive right into reading math proofs.

"Uh...."

Ah Qing stared, stunned, then turned her gaze toward her second uncle.

"......She had to pick grad school, and of all things she chose applied math. That damn thesis—open it up and it's seven straight pages of math proofs."

"One sheet of paper, one person, one whole day." Ah Qing's second uncle, Chen Qinglan's dad, curled his lip and complained.

With math, either you get it or you don't; if you don't, a student's about as useful as a calculator.

At least with a calculator, you can press a few buttons when you're bored and listen to it go 'reset, reset.'

Chen Qinglan had sworn that math grads have great prospects, with tons of positions in computing, finance, corporations, and government. Graduate and you're taking off.

She wasn't wrong.

But you've got to actually graduate first.

"Math? Yeah...that's a lot of pressure." Ah Qing looked at Chen Qinglan in shock. She hadn't expected her to jump from [Automation and Control Engineering] straight into doing research in the math department.

This exam route really chews through A4 paper and staples.

"Don't mind her. Their female advisor is like in permanent menopause, can't get through a day without calling her students idiots a few times, otherwise her blood gets stuck or something."

The second uncle waved for Ah Qing not to worry about Chen Qinglan; those math department papers were clearly not meant for human eyes.

Just one glance worked better than sleeping pills.

"Gulp..."

Ah Qing couldn't help swallowing, a faint nervousness stirring in her heart. After she gets her guaranteed grad placement in the future, would Professor Huang and the others be yelling at her a dozen times a day?

"Ah Qing, don't be scared. If we can't out-argue them, can't we still let our hands do the talking?"

Ansheng patted Ah Qing's head, speaking in a soothing tone. "We'll secretly work hard at night and turn the crops in the fields into Spiritual Particle Plants."

"If your advisor scolds you, you let the crops pull themselves up by the roots and go give them a couple of punches. I guarantee they won't be able to handle it."

"And make sure both punches land right on the mouth. If they've still got the energy to scold you after that, then that's true love. It means they really want you to succeed..."

Ansheng looked at Ah Qing with a teasing grin, pitching bad ideas just to make her laugh.

For Ah Qing, the path to grad school didn't even need exams—Master Fuli's signboard was right there.

Whoever took Ah Qing under their wing wouldn't even need to lift a finger. Just flash their title and it'd automatically link them to Master Fuli.

She might even end up in the Spirit Particle Science textbooks.

Ah Qing only needed to say, "If you don't want me here, I'll go elsewhere," and before she could finish the next line, the advisor would probably jump up on the spot, grab lab equipment, and camp at the doorway like a tower defense game, doing everything to fend off the hordes of experts and professors drawn by the news.

"You little brat, Xiaolan!"

Listening to the Little Fox narrate her future grad school daily life like that, Ah Qing rolled her eyes.

"Haven't you seen the sign hanging at the door of our lab?"

"[No beating up experts, professors, advisors, principals (crossed out)]?"