After hanging up the phone, Chen Lin let out a sigh.
"It's confirmed, it really is like that."
The high-ranking official in front of him had a grim expression. The Chen Buhui incident had a very negative impact on the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
If something like stealing research achievements could happen, who would dare to cooperate with the Academy? Who would dare to work there? Who would apply to its affiliated universities?
"This black sheep must be expelled from the ranks. Commander Chen won't object, will he?"
Chen Lin nodded, "Of course not. She brought this upon herself."
Some people thought the Chen family was overly protective of its own, but that protectiveness had principles.
The Chen family never shied away from trouble, but they also never bullied others.
Chen Buhui's actions had crossed the bottom line of the Chen family's principles.
Stealing the hard-earned achievements of over a decade of someone else's work, and as a senior figure at that—it was simply despicable.
Thinking this, Chen Lin also called Chen Xiao. In the end, the two reached a consensus to expel Chen Buhui from the Chen family.
When Chen Buhui received this news, she felt the world spin around her. But even more devastating blows followed one after another.
The authorities directly arrested Chen Buhui on charges of theft.
Chen Buhui finally realized she was finished.
Her family had abandoned her, the Chinese Academy of Sciences had abandoned her, the country had abandoned her.
She had become a public enemy, despised by everyone, and was even going to prison?
Under the weight of these multiple psychological blows, she went insane.
In the end, the Chen family couldn't bear it and arranged for someone to help admit her to a psychiatric hospital.
The person whose patent she had stolen was actually a former student of hers.
Now he was the chief expert of the Luo Corporation's R&D team. Only in his forties, his hair was already completely white.
Some said it was from overwork, but only he himself knew it was all because of Chen Buhui.
The feeling of having his name finally cleared caused him to kneel on the ground and cry for over an hour.
"Thank you, Manager Liu... thank you for helping me get justice."
The reason he could join Luo Corporation was because they had promised him that one day they would help him seek justice.
And now, that day had finally come.
Liu Meng shook her head, "It wasn't me who helped you, it was Luo Corporation."
"I will work hard and dedicate myself to the company." Scientists aren't usually very eloquent; he could only try to express himself like other employees.
Liu Meng smiled and nodded, she could feel his emotions.
At the same time, Luo Yao and Lin Ran were also enjoying the drama at the manor.
[Chen Buhui's story is finally over]: Wow, stealing her own student's work? How can there be such a disgusting expert? What is the Chinese Academy of Sciences doing?
[No Wine, Fake Coffee]: Unimaginable. The despair of having over a decade of hard research stolen by your own teacher. If it were me, I would have grabbed a knife and hacked Chen Buhui to pieces long ago.
[The More Scandalous, The More Appealing]: Someone like Chen Buhui dared to accuse Luo Corporation of stealing her team's technology? Indeed, where there's smoke, there's fire, and Chen Buhui was the biggest fire of all.
Lin Ran took the phone from Luo Yao's hand, "Looking at it for too long will tire your eyes."
Hearing Lin Ran say this, Luo Yao did feel a bit sleepy.
It was quite rare for this kind of drowsiness to come over her.
Suddenly, Lin Ran's phone vibrated.
"Brother Lin, you finally answered! I've missed you so much."
Lin Ran paused, "Old Wu, that's not your usual style. Just say what's up."
Wu Zhishang's happy laughter came through the receiver, "Hehehe! Brother Lin, Shen Jingbing and I are getting married, and we're inviting you to the wedding."
"What the...? You're marrying who?" Lin Ran's voice cracked.
There was a moment of silence on the other end before he said, "What I just said might have been unclear. Shen Jingbing and I are getting married on the same day. I'm marrying Zhang Xinyan, and Shen Jingbing is marrying our company's receptionist. I thought since we're all brothers, having the wedding together would be more lively and fun."
Lin Ran breathed a sigh of relief; he had really been startled just now.
He wasn't surprised that Wu Zhishang and Zhang Xinyan were getting married. After all, there had been signs between them for a long time, and there had been quite a bit of recent romantic drama.
But Shen Jingbing and Xiao Xiaole had only been a couple for a few days, wasn't this development a bit too fast?
Truly his capable right-hand man, always quick to act.
"Alright, I got it. Just tell me the date and time."
Wu Zhishang: "Brother Lin, I'm on my way to the manor right now. I want to deliver the invitation to you in person."
Lin Ran didn't stop him. It was a happy occasion, so let him come.
After hanging up, Luo Yao asked curiously, "One of the two obedient... Wu Zhishang is getting married?"
"Yeah, I really didn't expect things to move so fast for them."
Luo Yao didn't say much more, just asked Uncle Fu to prepare two red envelopes.
"Ah Ran, I won't see him later. I suddenly feel quite sleepy."
"Then you rest well. Some people do get sleepy early in pregnancy."
Luo Yao had suffered from insomnia, so if pregnancy could help her get more rest, that was a good thing.
Lin Ran gently soothed her to sleep, and soon Luo Yao's breathing became even.
At the same time, Wu Zhishang arrived at the manor. Lin Ran met him downstairs.
"Brother Lin, where's sister-in-law?"
"She's resting. You can tell me whatever it is."
Wu Zhishang handed Lin Ran his and Shen Jingbing's wedding invitations. Lin Ran frowned, "Aren't they all digital invitations these days? You're running around delivering them in person."
"For others, they're digital. But you're my best brother, I had to deliver yours personally. Shen Jingbing wanted to come too, but he has a very important livestream, so I brought his as well."
Lin Ran nodded, looking at the radiantly happy Wu Zhishang, and suddenly felt his good friend had changed.
He was no longer that love-and-marriage-phobic wounded youth. Now, Wu Zhishang had fallen head over heels in love.
Lin Ran suddenly became very curious about how that little minx Zhang Xinyan had managed to win over Wu Zhishang.
"Old Wu, what's the real story between you and Zhang Xinyan? I'm genuinely curious."
With Luo Yao asleep and Lin Ran awake with nothing much to do, listening to some gossip seemed like a good way to pass the time.
Wu Zhishang nodded. Now he could openly tell Lin Ran his story.
Next, let's look at the past story from Wu Zhishang's perspective. (It won't be long)
The timeline rewinds to before the New Year.
That day, Zhao Miaomiao and Lv Jian came to make trouble at the Nuanyao Group building and were encountered by Zhang Xinyan.
She took on both of them alone and became famous in one fight, earning the title of "War Goddess" within Nuanyao Group.
However, she herself wasn't satisfied with this battle and was still reviewing it in her office.
Until a voice said, "Ahem! Show me."
Zhang Xinyan looked at Wu Zhishang's concerned expression, full of question marks: "Show what?"
Following his gaze, she finally understood what he meant and slowly extended her hand.
It was injured during the fight earlier. Wu Zhishang carefully applied medicine to it. Zhang Xinyan felt her heart racing and her face flushing.
This was the first time a guy had shown her such gentle concern, and it moved her.
"I... I can do it myself."
e, Immortal Body, Transmigration, System, Progression Fantasy, Academy Setting, Third-Person Perspective. Alternate Title: Transmigrating into a High Martial World and Reading Live Comments. Bad news: I transmigrated. This is a terrifying high-martial world, and my original, pathetically weak body fell into a coma and never woke up. Good news: I got a Popularity Points system upon arrival. I can see live comments and even create an unkillable alternate identity. Starting out, the alternate identity has all stats at 1. The system tells me that to grow stronger, I must participate in the plot, gain popularity points to allocate stats and grow stronger, and ultimately awaken my original body. And so, carrying my original body on my back, I officially entered Huaqing Academy, where the story's protagonist resides. From that moment on, Chen Guan kicked the original plot to pieces. Live Comments: [Doesn't anyone find this mysterious coffin guy creepy? He can summon indescribable grey misty hands.] [Is this guy a hero or a villain? What kind of onion became a spirit?] [By the way, does anyone know who's in the coffin? Shouldn't the debt for saving his life be repaid by now?] [According to unofficial histories, the person in the coffin was Chen Guan's first love. Their love was once passionate and earth-shattering, but they were separated by life and death due to worldly circumstances. What a star-crossed pair.] ... Years later, the world knew of a demon god born from a coffin, shrouded in grey mist, impossible to gaze upon directly. His foremost divine emissary often wielded a scythe, reaping lives like the god of death. As war approached, facing former friends and a boundless sea of enemies, Chen Guan merely raised his scythe. "Would you like to dance as well?"
s + Rent Collection Wealth】 At the start, he inherited a rundown house in the urban village from his grandfather. The house had no tenants, but the moment he was diagnosed with a terminal illness, a self-proclaimed empress from the Tianxuan Continent arrived as his first tenant. Ye Chuan soon discovered that with every new tenant moving in, not only did he receive massive daily payments, but he also obtained unique items related to their backgrounds. 【Acquired Bai Qianshuang’s related item: Tiger Strength Pill—dramatically enhances physical power!】 【Acquired Bai Qianshuang’s related item: Deer Blood Pill—significantly boosts vitality!】 …… From that day on, all sorts of bizarre tenants began appearing in the house: the empress from Tianxuan Continent, an apocalyptic sorceress from the Magic Realm, a mysterious scientific girl who fell through a spacetime rift… Every single day, he received strange, powerful items and endless money. Then one day, he suddenly realized—he had become invincible. Enough, enough! Stop giving me more!
. As long as he maintains the villain image and follows the plot to the grand finale, he can obtain generous rewards and return to the real world. So Gu Chen'an entered the role and began to act as a scumbag villain, but who would have expected that the female leads could hear his inner thoughts. Miss Su from the Su family was shocked: "I originally thought Gu Chen'an was a scumbag, but I didn't expect he turned out to be a gentleman! What? You said I have to call off the engagement? I definitely won't, I'll piss you off!" Bai Yuan Tian was dumbfounded: "Young Master Gu is usually unreasonable and a complete brat, but he actually calls me little sweetie in his heart? What, Young Master Gu even said he likes me?" As the female leads' images collapsed more and more, the plot also collapsed with it. Gu Chen'an looked at all this chaos. "Ladies, don't aggro me, if you keep this up the male lead really will stab me, I still need to survive to the grand finale!"
nd fell into a coma while saving his younger sister from an out-of-control car. He became a vegetable. No one knew that his consciousness had crossed into a world of cultivation. Over the course of sixty years, he began as the lowest kind of mine slave, struggling to survive amid mountains of corpses and seas of blood. By sheer chance, he eventually obtained the complete memories of a fallen Immortal King. Alchemy, medicine, formations, feng shui, physiognomy, artifact forging… Every great inheritance of the cultivation world was now his. But when he opened his eyes again, he discovered that ten full years had passed in the modern world. To pay for his treatment, his father had sold the family’s shop and house, leaving himself covered in lasting injuries and illness. His mother had cared for him day and night, and more than half of her hair had already turned white. His younger sister, who had been only fifteen back then, was now twenty-five. To help repay the family’s debts, she had been forced to lower her head and put on a smiling face in places of glittering lights and endless revelry. Only then did Chen Xuan understand that what he had lost was not merely ten years. He had lost the life his entire family was meant to have. The good news was that he had brought back the memories of an Immortal King’s entire lifetime. The bad news was that his soul had returned alone—his cultivation had not come with him. Spiritual energy was scarce, resources were depleted, and the modern world still had firearms, surveillance, capital, and laws. If he wanted to protect his family, break free from everyone’s control, and become truly invincible beneath the heavens, he would have to start all over again.
