Chapter 598: I Don't Understand the World of Top Students

After the New Year, Xia Shixuan and Li Shiqing had both returned to work. Sun Qian also began setting up her own studio in Yunzhong City, while Wen Yuan had already flown to Sokovia with Sylvie.

As for the two veteran Top Students, Li Yan and Zhu Xiang, they certainly weren’t about to laze around at home. They had arrived in Yunzhong City early to oversee preparations for the research institute.

As the research institute’s sole sponsor, Shen Yibin naturally had to meet with them. He’d just been incredibly busy the past couple of days and had only now managed to free up some time. He planned to head to the zoo first to get an update on the institute’s progress and see what else the two veteran Top Students might need. Once that was settled, he would resume his journey to find his next pet.

“Bin, we’ve been waiting for you! The two experts are inside doing research. I’ll take you in!” Having heard Shen Yibin was coming, Dong had been waiting at the entrance. The moment he saw him, he began to lead him to the offices. He had recently managed to clear out a few of the zoo’s scarce offices for Li Yan, Zhu Xiang, and their team of research grunts, even vacating his own.

“Hold on a second, I need to get these two settled first!” Shen Yibin had brought Hah’Er and Xiaoliu with him in the car. If they were going anywhere else, that lazy bum Xiaoliu would have surely refused to come. But the zoo was a different story entirely. After all, his hard-won harem was waiting for him at Hou Mountain. The moment he heard they were going to the zoo, the little guy leaped out of his hammock without a word and dove into Shen Yibin’s car. Shen Yibin figured you couldn’t chase him away with a stick. Then again, if a stick was actually involved, it was hard to say who would end up beating whom.

Hah’Er waddled forward, holding gifts for the black bear family of three. Xiaoliu, carrying fruit to bestow upon his many concubines, swaggered straight for Hou Mountain. When they reached Xiong Mountain, they happened to see Hou Longtao’s parents had brought him to visit the three black bears, so Shen Yibin stayed behind to chat for a while longer.

By the time he’d taken care of these odds and ends, more than half an hour had passed. Shen Yibin had expected Li Yan and Zhu Xiang to be annoyed at him for being late, but when he entered the office, he saw Li Yan hunched over a strangely shaped microscope, utterly still. Zhu Xiang was clutching a laptop, rapidly scrolling through an article written entirely in English. The two of them were so completely engrossed, they hadn’t noticed Shen Yibin arrive at all.

“AHEM… AHEM! Gentlemen…” Dong coughed several times without getting a response, so he had no choice but to raise his voice. ‘He’s your sponsor, for crying out loud! You could at least greet him when he walks in!’

“No shouting in the lab. Keep it down,” Li Yan snapped, still hunched over the microscope, not even bothering to look up.

“I was just starting to get a handle on this paper, and you just shattered my train of thought! My inspiration’s gone!” So Zhu Xiang had been reading a research paper; no wonder he was so engrossed.

“Oh, is this the new microscope? Does it work well?” Shen Yibin asked softly, slowly walking over to Li Yan’s side.

“It’s a high-end, three-hundred-thousand-US-dollar microscope. Of course it works well,” Li Yan said, his tone suggesting Shen Yibin shouldn’t ask stupid questions. “But this area hasn’t been sterilized or made into a cleanroom, so observations inevitably get contaminated. We can’t leverage its full capabilities yet. We’ll only see its peak performance once the new lab is finished.” He casually handed over a petri dish. “Here, put this back where it goes and grab the one next to it.” ‘He’s treating me like one of his research grunts.’

“And where is that?” Shen Yibin asked, taking the petri dish in confusion. ‘I don’t mind lending a hand, but I have no idea where anything is in this lab.’

“How can you not even do a simple… Oh, it’s you, Mr. Shen!” Li Yan looked up, ready to scold him, but quickly bit his tongue when he saw who it was.

“Ah, Mr. Shen is here! Welcome, welcome,” Zhu Xiang said, finally looking up from his laptop. “By the way, when is the next round of funding coming through? A few pieces of equipment need to be custom-ordered, and if we don’t sign the contracts now, we won’t be able to use them right when the lab is finished.”

‘Heh, his very first words to me are a request for money. I finally get why someone so brilliant hasn’t managed to land his own lab. If I were his superior, I wouldn’t like this attitude either!’ Shen Yibin was at a loss for words over their complete lack of social skills. Then again, he’d probably be even more uncomfortable if they started flattering him. Besides, they were just thinking about the institute’s best interests. “The money is already in the bank,” he said. “You can access it as soon as the budget audit is approved. You’ll need to talk to the auditors.”

“Good, that’s good!” With that said, the pair looked ready to get back to what they were doing. As far as they were concerned, their work was far more important than entertaining Shen Yibin.

“Gentlemen, Mr. Shen came all this way for a visit. We should at least accompany him to the construction site,” Dong said, feeling he had to intervene. “If you have any feedback on the project, this is a good chance to tell Mr. Shen directly, isn’t it?”

“Uh, I think I did notice a few minor issues last time,” Li Yan said, scratching his head.

“Mm, me too. Let’s go have a look, then!” Zhu Xiang reluctantly closed his laptop. The two scientists followed Shen Yibin and Dong out of the office and headed toward the construction site.

When they reached the construction site, before even stepping inside, Shen Yibin was struck dumb by the sign at the entrance. There, in large, glossy black letters, was the name: “Yunzhong City Zoo Affiliated Research Institute.”

“Dean Dong, I know I said you could name the institute, but did you have to be so uninspired?” ‘Look at this name. It sounds so lame! The things I’ve brought out so far have all been top-quality, and there are even more high-tech products in the Future Pet Shop’s store that I’ll be providing regularly. As long as you two are actually as brilliant as you seem, you’re bound to produce some valuable research.’

‘At that point, publishing papers and winning awards will be a natural consequence!’ Shen Yibin couldn’t help but picture the scene: at the solemn, prestigious China National Science and Technology Awards ceremony, a top government official is holding the award plaque as the host announces the winners. “And the recipients of this year’s Grand Prize in Science and Technology are… Professor Li Yan and Professor Zhu Xiang from… the Yunzhong City Zoo Affiliated Research Institute…”

‘How awkward does that sound? It drags down the prestige of the entire awards ceremony! That name alone will probably cut your chances of winning by twenty percent!’

“Eh, we’re affiliated with the Yunzhong City Zoo anyway, so the name is fitting,” the two experts said dismissively. “Besides, a name isn’t important. What’s crucial is whether or not we can produce actual results.”

‘Back when I was job hunting, I wouldn’t even have applied to a company with such a lame name. Sigh, I’ll never understand the world you Top Students live in!’