Volume One, Chapter Six: Hold On, Old Man!

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Su Jin carried a bag of apples to the door of Room 1006. Just as she was about to knock, the door opened from the inside, and a short-haired girl stepped out.

“Senior?”

Su Jin called out instinctively, a smile appearing on her face. “Are you here to visit the professor?”

“I transferred to the Western History Department last year. I’m not your senior, so don’t be so familiar,” the short-haired girl snapped, bristling like a cat whose tail had been stepped on.

That year and a bit in the Vietnamese History Department had been nothing but a disgrace for her.

Su Jin’s smile faded slightly. “What business does a Western History student have visiting my professor’s hospital room?”

“To persuade him to give up. He’s getting old and shouldn’t be chasing unrealistic dreams every day. Using unofficial history as official research, even taking on students—he’s misleading them.”

Su Jin’s smile disappeared completely. “The professor is seeking to uncover forgotten history, to prove the existence of our country’s five thousand years of civilization.”

“Pfft!”

Liu Lei laughed out loud, crossing her arms and leaning closer to Su Jin. “Relying on that scroll he got from who knows where to fool the school for decades, now the whole program’s about to be shut down, and you still believe in him?”

A trace of contempt flickered in Liu Lei’s eyes.

“I was deceived for over a year. If I hadn’t switched majors in time, I might never have graduated. Do you know where I’m going for graduate school now? MIT! Where can your Vietnamese History Department students even go for grad school? Oh right, you can’t even get a diploma in your own major.”

Her sarcastic tirade lifted her spirits considerably.

Su Jin remained calm and composed. “Not everyone is interested in MIT.”

“Ha!” Liu Lei applauded mockingly. “Still buy into that patriotism nonsense? I just wonder what kind of job you’ll find, how much money you’ll make. But that’s none of my business. I’ve got a bright future ahead, so I won’t waste my life hanging out with people who think they’re so lofty.”

Su Jin glared at her angrily. “If it weren’t for those patriots with their love for the country, for those who silently dedicated their lives to our nation, you wouldn’t even have the chance to stand here and chat with me. You can be selfish, but you have no right to mock others’ patriotism!”

Liu Lei’s face turned pale, then flushed, then shifted colors unpredictably.

After a long pause, she finally composed herself and said, “What you’re doing can’t compare to the martyrs at all.”

Su Jin nodded. “No, it can’t. But we are doing what we can to restore the true history of our nation. What position do you have to mock us?”

Liu Lei’s features twisted into a sneer. She snorted coldly and strode past Su Jin, leaving the room.

Su Jin ignored her and pushed open the door, stepping inside.

It was a six-bed ward, and Professor Hu was in the bed nearest the bathroom.

Professor Hu was not very old—just shy of fifty—but after many days in the hospital, his beard was unshaven, making him appear worn and weary.

Seeing Su Jin deftly peeling an apple and flicking the skin into the trash bin, he shrank back into the corner of the bed.

When Su Jin finished peeling and handed him the apple, he gave a cautious chuckle and said dryly, “Actually, I’m not fond of apples.”

Su Jin took back the apple and bit off a big chunk.

“Why didn’t you scold her when she came to show off in front of you?” Su Jin asked Hu Ming, eating the apple.

He was angry.

A good disciple would naturally be angry.

Hu Ming became even more timid. “She’s not wrong. The school has decided to dissolve our department. We can’t do anything.”

Liu Lei always felt deceived by him, which led her to enroll in a hopeless major.

Now that she had the chance, of course she wanted to show off.

“It won’t be dissolved.”

Su Jin swallowed her bite and looked at Hu Ming seriously. “The scroll might still be restored.”

Hu Ming suddenly rushed to her side, trembling with excitement. “You found a way? How?”

Su Jin didn’t know how to repair it yet.

After contacting Shen Yubai, she might find a method.

She had come today to reassure Professor Hu to focus on his recovery.

She teased him a little. “It’s a secret.”

Su Jin winked playfully. “Anyway, at next month’s hearing, I’ll definitely show the school our progress.”

Out of the corner of her eye, she spotted a shadow lurking near the door who hadn’t left. Su Jin deliberately raised her voice.

“Old man, you’ve got to hold on. Then we’ll show those ungrateful people a lesson!”

The door slammed shut with a bang.

It was clear how resentful that person was to storm off like that.

Su Jin didn’t care. As long as her mentor was well, she could continue researching alongside him.

“Hold on, I will. I want to see the grand Vietnamese history uncovered and recognized by the whole world!”

Hu Ming brushed away his earlier despair and looked at least five years younger.

Thinking of his life's efforts, he felt he had not lived in vain.

Excited, thrilled.

But when he saw Su Jin leaving with the apples, all his emotions turned to disbelief. “Why are you taking the apples?”

“You said you don’t like apples.”

“I can save them for my wife,” Su Jin said regretfully, putting the apples back.

If only the professor’s wife didn’t like apples either, then she could bring them back for Shen Yubai to try.

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At the entrance of Jiangcheng University, there were many quaint little shops, but the girls’ favorite was the cake shop right at the door.

Baked fresh daily, its aroma wafted outside, tempting passersby to stop.

However, the prices of the various breads inside were not cheap. Wang Qiqi loved them but couldn’t afford to buy many.

When Liu Lei gave her a recharge card for the cake shop, she grabbed it eagerly.

“Do you know if Su Jin has made any new progress recently?”

Liu Lei didn’t beat around the bush, directly asking the girl opposite.

When Wang Qiqi said nothing unusual, Liu Lei didn’t believe it at all.

That day at the hospital, she clearly heard Su Jin mention that the scroll restoration was promising.

“You’re her roommate and haven’t noticed anything unusual? Then what am I even asking you for!”

Liu Lei’s unpleasant tone made Wang Qiqi’s heart skip a beat as she clutched the recharge card tighter.

There was a thousand yuan on it—enough for a semester’s worth of bread.

She absolutely couldn’t lose Liu Lei’s sponsorship.

She wanted to buy new clothes and shoes like other classmates, to have the latest phone, to enjoy delicious bread!

She tried hard to recall Su Jin’s recent daily routine.

But the more anxious she was, the less she could remember.

Liu Lei had lost patience. She grabbed her bag and was about to leave, but Wang Qiqi hurriedly called after her, “I… I found something!”

Seeing Liu Lei stop, Wang Qiqi’s panicked eyes darted around. When she saw a white bottle on top of a glass cabinet, a memory flashed in her mind of a medicine bottle in the trash bin.

Wang Qiqi said excitedly, “She’s been taking medicine recently!”

Liu Lei’s irritation couldn’t be hidden.

She didn’t care what medicine Su Jin was taking or what illness she had. All she cared about was the scroll restoration.

She just wanted the cursed Vietnamese History Department to be shut down by the school soon, to prove that Professor Hu was a fraud, and to prove that her choice to transfer to Western History was the right one!

Wang Qiqi’s heart sank, but she had no other lifeline.

She had to keep providing relevant information to prove she was still useful.

“Rifampin! I checked—it’s used to treat tuberculosis. Su Jin might have tuberculosis. It’s contagious…”

“Wait!”

Liu Lei interrupted. “Su Jin has tuberculosis?”

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