Hello, Mr. Major General

It was the magnetic field again.

 Huo Shaoheng switched his computer on in silence and managed to locate the dissertation that Gu Xiangwen had written. He paid for the dissertation and had it downloaded onto his computer. He then started perusing the material in detail. However, he could not understand the dissertation, as it involved a different field of study. He had a good grasp of the theories in the computing field, but the dissertation discussed theoretical aspects of high energy physics.

He recognized individual words, but when those same words were strung together, he couldn’t comprehend what they were saying.

 Helpless, he forwarded the dissertation to his mother, Song Jinning. She was an expert in that area and had been restarting an experiment at that time. He called her up.

 Song Jinning had just returned to her office from the laboratory when she saw the incoming call from Huo Shaoheng. Surprised, she swiped her phone to answer it. “Shaoheng? I don’t recall the sun rising from the west today,” she teased as she walked back into her office and sat down behind her desk.

 His calm voice spoke from her phone. “Ms. Song, I just sent you a dissertation regarding research on magnetic fields. Could you please take a look at it and summarize the main points for me in a way that I can understand?”

 “Research on magnetic fields? Son, why are you interested in high energy physics?” Song Jinning switched on her computer and opened up her email inbox and found his email.

 She opened the attached dissertation, gave it a skim, and said, “This is an old paper that’s considered to have laid the foundation and starting point in the research of Blue Planet in all countries. Why? Is there a problem?”

 Huo Shaoheng said, enunciating every word, “This was written by Kevin-Ku, who is Nianzhi’s father, Gu Xiangwen.”

 Song Jinning stood up in surprise. “Is it really Nianzhi’s father?! Haha. This is wonderful. When will you ask him out? We, as future in-laws, can hold a good chat together and an academic discussion at the same time! To think that I said only Nianzhi is worthy of you. Now that I know about her father, it looks like you are the one standing to gain. Did you know that Kevin-Ku is a rare talent in the field of physics? I wonder if he will even agree to let his daughter marry you. After all, you do not dabble in the field of physics…” Song Jinning expressed some sort of regret at that.

 Huo Shaoheng: “…”

 “Ms. Song, let us stay on topic and not side-track too much.” Huo Shaoheng knocked on the keyboard in front of him as if nothing had happened.

 He would never let Song Jinning know that he didn’t need any approval from Gu Xiangwen, as he was already married to his daughter. Thus, it had been inaccurate for Ms. Song to say “future in-laws.” She should have said “in-laws” instead.

 1For confidential reasons, Huo Shaoheng had never told Song Jinning about what had happened to Gu Xiangwen. As a result, Song Jinning only knew about Kevin-Ku. She was unaware that Gu Xiangwen was actually Kevin-Ku.

 Similarly, Huo Shaoheng hadn’t known that the eminent figure in the international academic world, Kevin-Ku, was actually Gu Nianzhi’s father, Gu Xiangwen, the person who they had been searching for. He had only recently learned the truth about his identity from Xie Dezhao.

 Huo Shaoheng’s admiration for Gu Xiangwen grew at the thought of it. The man was truly brilliant. Not only was he able to leave his mark in this world, but he was also able to do it in such a way that unless it was by pure coincidence, no one would have gotten wind of any information on him.

 All these matters seemed almost like they occurred coincidentally, but could there be some sort of a connection between them? Perhaps it was similar to the person who had managed to use the golden coin to his advantage. Maybe Gu Xiangwen was also an expert in that department.

 The dissertation written by Gu Xiangwen was both foundational and ground-breaking, but viewed in modern times, it was not too technical. Each country had already made progress leaps and bounds ahead of this with the research they had done based on the foundation built upon his dissertation.

 Huo Shaoheng quickly understood what the paper was about after a brief explanation from Song Jinning.

 Ishihara Baisan and Gu Xiangwen must have worked on the same potentially ground-breaking research, as it then was, at the same time. However, Gu Xiangwen had achieved a breakthrough in his research first and had his dissertation published in the most well-known international magazine in physics. Thus, he had become the “Father of Magnetic Fields.”

 Ishihara Baisan, who had been secretly competing against him, couldn’t stand his success. Then again, the both of them did physics, so if he could not accept that, could it be that Ishihara Baisan had always been the pioneer, so he couldn’t take it when he was surpassed by Gu Xiangwen?

 Huo Shaoheng shook his head and stopped himself from mulling over the reason why Ishihara Baisan had committed seppuku.

 Besides, the Huaxia Empire only stood to gain from his death. Why should he care about the reason behind it? The right-wing was only any good without the Japanese in it.

 …

 Gu Nianzhi was absorbed in a nerve-wracking final review. She had completed her dissertation at last and had printed it out before she sent it over to He Zhichu. As her tutor, he was the one responsible for giving it a final review.

 After dinner, Gu Nianzhi and Ma Qiqi carried their schoolbags along and headed to the library. They planned to do some last-minute revision work.

 They met Ishihara Taro at the library. He didn’t speak to them. He acted as if he didn’t know them, instead conversing and laughing intimately with their school counselor, Gui Suyao.

 The two of them brushed past Gu Nianzhi and Ma Qiqi. Gui Suyao was only focused on Ishihara Taro. She was completely unaware that the students who had just walked past her were Gu Nianzhi and Ma Qiqi. Ishihara Taro, on the other hand, recognized them but didn’t start a conversation with them. With raised brows and a slight smile, he glanced at them.

 Gu Nianzhi pulled Ma Qiqi over as something came to her mind. In a soft voice, she asked, “Qiqi, is Ishihara Taro someone that Counselor Gui just got to know recently, or did they already know each other before? Do you know?” Ma Qiqi was better acquainted with their classmates and thus knew the latest gossip.

 Since Gu Nianzhi asked, she whispered to her in a hushed tone, “… I heard that they got to know each other before Christmas, outside of school. Counselor Gui was so thrilled when Ishihara Taro transferred over to our school. It’s rumored that he only transferred to our school because of Counselor Gui.”

 A romantic move like that wouldn’t just charm an eighteen or nineteen-year-old girl; it would have the same effect on a mature lady like Gui Suyao, who was about twenty-six to twenty-seven years old.

 Gu Nianzhi gazed pensively in the direction that Gui Suyao and Ishihara Taro had disappeared in. She had an inkling that what Ishihara Taro did might not be as simple as throwing the golden coin.

 “They knew each other before Christmas?”

 “Indeed. A story on everyone’s lips.”

 “How did they meet? Did anyone share details about it?” Interested, Gu Nianzhi grabbed onto Ma Qiqi as she asked for more details.

 Those who like to gossip find no greater pleasure than sharing juicy details with others.

 Ma Qiqi pulled her into the corridor of the library and whispered, “… Of course there were rumors about it. Did you really think that Counselor Gui would keep mum with a chance like this?”

 “And what did they say?”

 “I heard that Counselor Gui sprained her ankle when she was shopping at Scion Plaza. Then, she happened to meet a handsome Japanese who lent her a helping hand. He helped take her home, and he brought a physician over to her house the very next day. They got close quickly because of that,” Ma Qiqi said excitedly.

 Gu Nianzhi squinted at her. “Really? They already knew each other before Christmas? Then why didn’t he attend the Christmas ball? Counselor Gui was able to bear not showing him off?”

 “I heard that Ishihara Taro was invited to the ball, but he couldn’t make it, because he had to accompany his grandfather, who had just traveled to China. He even told her not to get angry, because they would have plenty of time together, and they didn’t need to rush into things. After that, as you already know, he transferred to our school. Now he’s hanging out with Counselor Gui again.”

 Gu Nianzhi’s eyes flashed. “But previously, Ishihara Taro seemed like he was interested in our Ma Qiqi!”

 Embarrassed, Ma Qiqi gave her a nudge. “Enough of that already. I only spoke a few words to him before, and everyone just kicked up a blind fuss about it. Even Counselor Gui got upset.”

 “Oh? So that was when rumors about them knowing each other at an earlier time started to spread, right?” Gu Nianzhi analyzed carefully. “Looks like someone got jealous and decided to lead others into her narrative.”

 In no time, the whys and wherefores of the “story on everyone’s lips” were made abundantly clear.

 Ma Qiqi thought about it for a while, and then broke into a laugh. “If you hadn’t mentioned this, I wouldn’t have noticed the timing in the sequence of events.”

 “It looks like Counselor Gui really got jealous and decided to release details about how she had gotten to know Ishihara Taro at an earlier time.”

 Ma Qiqi pursed her lips. “Please. I have a boyfriend. Who wants to be fighting with her over that little Japanese guy? Besides, I’m a few years older than him, and I don’t like guys that are younger than me.”

 Gu Nianzhi gave her a thumbs-up. “You’ve got good taste.”

 In her mind, though, she pondered if Ishihara Taro could be linked to the incident that had happened to her and He Zhichu on the road after they left Bar Jinling on Christmas night.

After all, he had attempted to cause her death at least twice. Gu Nianzhi had also experienced an explicable and even more hazardous situation recently, before the two incidents. She was only able to escape from the situation with He Zhichu due to his special car.

 1Initially, she hadn’t drawn a connection between Ishihara Taro and the night train break malfunction incident, because before now, there hadn’t seemed to be a connection between the two.

 After hearing what Ma Qiqi said, she found it suspicious that Gui Suyao and Ishihara Taro had become close with one another just before Christmas.

 Perhaps Gui Suyao was the connection between her accident and Ishihara Taro.