Volume 1: The Happy Life in the Ivory Tower Chapter 61: A Bunch of Useless People Can't Think of a Way Out

  The classroom door slammed shut with a loud "bang", and Lei Dapeng and Simu Xian rushed out of the room. The classroom fell silent, watching the two leave, before whispers slowly started to emerge.

  "What's going on, how did they get beaten back?" asked Miao Li from the same class, who was often called "dòu huā" (bean flower) by Lei Da Peng. She asked Zhao Hui behind her, and he sneered with a bit of schadenfreude, wiping his hair: "Serves them right, let them get beaten, they've only been interning for a few days and already appeared on TV, have they reached the end of their rope? Have they fallen into a pot of boiling oil?"

  "What a person you are." Miao Li gave her a glance and didn't ask anymore. When she asked Li Baochun on the left, this city student replied very calmly: "Either it's off-topic or plagiarism, our department still has Professor Song in charge this year, being strict, hurry up and prepare for the defense!"

  "It's rare to have a few who don't plagiarize. Mine is plagiarized." Miao Li lowered her voice and said, her seat not far from Simu Xian's girlfriend Liu Cuicloud, afraid of being overheard, she asked in an even lower tone: "Didn't Professor Song retire?"

  "You don't understand, Professor Song is our department's golden signboard. Among his students, there are those who have become county heads, deputy city mayors, and even provincial-level cadres. When it comes to contacting local education systems for recruitment and reserve matters, no one has a bigger face than him. The principal even specially invited the old general to preside over this." Zhao Hui said.

  "Even if we increase the number of personnel, it won't work, our city is already overstaffed by 30%."

  "It's not necessarily about being a teacher, there are many paths."

  "Whatever, how many people from our university come back each year? Peking University and Tsinghua don't lack them. We're just a second-rate school, competing with others for food bowls, can we even compete? The municipal kindergarten is recruiting postgraduates."

  "Come on, this is the era of comparing fathers, who compares academic qualifications with whom?!"

  "I'm begging you, there's a good dad, who lives in this broken school..."

  Li Baochun and Zhao Hui started arguing, but it was a dispute that wouldn't lead to any conclusion anyway. As for the others, they couldn't help but feel a little pleased that three idiots in their class were simultaneously punished. So there were also rumors spreading about this incident.

  Some people were secretly delighted, and many girls who had been given various flower nicknames by Lei Dapeng whispered to each other, saying that someone like Lei Dapeng shouldn't have been allowed to graduate; some speculated that the three papers must have come from unknown sources, maybe they had plagiarized, after all, something similar had happened last year when two students from different classes submitted the same paper, and it was later revealed that they had bought it online, causing a stir at the time; of course, more people suspected that the school was intentionally making things difficult for the three of them, after all, the aftermath of the previous incident had not yet subsided.

  Everyone has a bit of schadenfreude in their bones, especially when they see others having bad luck. Including Class Monitor Ding Yizhi, it was him who announced the thesis defense notice and only mentioned at the end, with a tone that seemed to intentionally stir up conflict: "Lei Dapeng, Si Muxian, and Shan Yong, you three don't need to prepare for the defense, your papers didn't pass. The department has notified you to rewrite them."

  This sentence triggered a small earthquake in the whole class. At this time, listening to the whispers of his classmates around him was like a beautiful and pleasant music that made Ding Yizhi feel secretly pleased. Every fleeting flower has its moment, and finally waited for these three to show off.

  "Class monitor, what's going on?" Wang Huating called out to her classmate beside her to give up her seat and sat down with the class monitor.

  "What's going on? You're talking about those two?" Ding Yizhi asked, still with a serious and official tone.

  "What else can you do? Where did you get the answer sheet from?" Wang Huating said.

  "The department office told us to go get it, and the three of them had their papers completely eliminated. Their names weren't even in the ranking for the defense." Ding Yizhi said.

  "That's not right, is it? Le Dapeng and Shan Yong can't write well, but Si Muxian shouldn't be out of the question either. What level he is at, we all understand, don't we?" Wang Huating said that Si Xian, who was sour, had a literary talent comparable to Le Dapeng's eating ability, which ordinary people couldn't match.

  "It's not necessarily the case, after all, it's always possible that there was a deviation in understanding the question. He wrote about Luoyang culture and such, which wasn't among the topics given out by the department." said Ding Yizhi.

  Wang Hua Ting was stunned, these three brothers, each one more unusual than the last, even Si Mu Xian had caught some of their habits, always trying to stand out. If they really couldn't even pass the initial review, that would be a problem, but what she worried about most wasn't Si Mu Xian. Those other two weirdos might stir up who-knows-what kind of trouble.

  At this point, she suddenly got up and asked Ding Yizhi a question, but she didn't even bother to answer, hastily rushing out of the classroom and heading straight for the department office. She ran to the third floor of the department office and stopped abruptly at the door. The department was having a meeting, and through the gap in the door, she could see Department Head Wang Hengbin, Class Advisor Ren Qun, and other teachers from the department, as well as several school leaders. Every year around this time, the department and the school would form an answer committee composed of professors, associate professors, and senior lecturers. She didn't dare to disturb this meeting.

  She tiptoed out, went downstairs, and didn't even think about going back to the classroom. She walked straight out of the hallway, her mind in a mess because of this annoying thing. She touched her phone and dialed Shanyu's number.

  Something even more depressing happened, her phone was hung up. She was so angry that she had the urge to smash her mobile phone.

  Just about to leave, unexpectedly saw the two brothers sitting under the Thinker sculpture, Wang Huating walked slowly closer, wanting to comfort a few words, after all, they had been in Cai Mao Village for so long, taking care of each other had become a habit, as she got closer, she heard their conversation...

  "Damn it, who the hell did this? Once I find out, you're going to be in big trouble. I'll bring my dad's city management team over and beat the crap out of you, you can't even take care of yourself." Lei Dapeng was venting his frustrations.

  "Does that work? If it works, I'll copy it too." Si Mu Xian retorted, and Lei Da Peng's solution was to beat him up!

  But this method obviously can't solve the problem, and I don't know what's going on. Lei Dapeng was choked and said angrily: "What to do? Your level is so high that it doesn't work, and Egg Brother and I write another one, and it gets knocked back again, how to do? Can't get it back, can't answer the questions, how to do? I think this is not a matter of thesis, someone is messing with us, there are many people in the class who copy and buy, why did they knock back our original work?"

  "I also find it strange, shouldn't be the case, Director Wang has been taking care of us, and Teacher Ren can't wait for us to graduate as soon as possible... Who else do you think we can't get along with?" Simu Xian asked with a confused expression. Lei Dapeng slid his finger and said: "You're stupid, apart from Director Wang and Teacher Ren, basically everyone has trouble getting along with us, who do you think is willing to be nice to you?"

  This remark made Simu Xian's face fall, but it was also a fact. Who likes disobedient students, whether it's the school or that teacher?

  Wang Huating was about to go forward, but heard Lei Dapeng complaining: "Why hasn't Egg Brother come back yet."

  Si Mu Xian said casually, "Do you think he can come back? He's out having fun with Zuo Xiying in the forest park, let alone getting a graduation certificate. Even if his house was on fire, it's unlikely he'd return."

  Wang Hua-ting, who was originally ready to go forward, felt a stinging sensation in her heart upon hearing these words, and her footsteps unconsciously came to a halt. Her face twitched unnaturally for a moment.

  Lei Dapeng looked up and said, "That's true, Egg Brother has always been prone to forgetting his friends when he sees a beauty. I reckon that even if we get past this pass, Egg Brother will still be stuck here."

  When Lei Dapeng turned back unintentionally, he saw Wang Huating behind the sculpture. He was stunned and poked Si Mu Xian to signal him. The two looked at Wang Huating, who couldn't hide her anger, took a deep breath, and forced out an emotionless sentence: "What are you going to do?"

  "This isn't the right way, is it?" said Lei Dapeng.

  "Seriously, I'll ask Teacher Ren what's going on. Don't jump to conclusions, it may not be someone trying to make things difficult for you guys." Wang Huating said, and even she couldn't figure out what was really going on at the moment.

  But this remark was not to his liking, and Simu Xian's face fell as he muttered under his breath. Everything can be questioned, but questioning one's own abilities is like questioning Le Ge's culinary skills - it's too humiliating. And who knows if they'll even get away with it? He wasn't the only one; Lei Dapeng also scoffed at Party Hua's words of advice, not even bothering to respond.

  "You deal with it yourselves, anyway I'm doing this for your own good." Wang Huating was also irritated by the attitude of these two brothers, and she shot back a sentence before turning around and running off, looking very angry.

  These two guys looked at the back of the team leader, Lei Dapeng from enthusiastic pursuit to disappointment and frustration, sighed: "My dad was right, women are like dogs, whoever has the ability to take them away... I'm not capable of this in this life."

  Si Mu Xian suddenly turned his head, and from Lei Da Peng's eyes, he still saw infinite nostalgia. This time, however, it was not as transparently lustful as before, but a pure and expectant gaze. After thinking for a moment, he changed the subject and said: "Don't be depressed, Second Brother. With your family background, you can lead many beautiful dogs after graduation."

  "That's true, but it wouldn't be fun anymore." Lei Dapeng shook his head with a pure and innocent look, while Simu Xian just wrapped his arm around Lei Ge's shoulder, everything was understood without needing to be said.

  Be depressed! Be heartbroken! Be disappointed!

  It's all here, can't describe the mood at this time. In the past, it was just Lei Dapeng or Dan Yong being anxious and scratching their ears, but now it's good, two brothers are in a difficult situation, and Egg Brother who is waiting has not returned yet. The two phones rang, took a look, it was that group of friends, but even the thought of connecting was gone, didn't bother to respond.

  Feeling depressed, but someone came with great enthusiasm and shouted from afar: "Sha Lei, Mu Xian... are you guys here? You're so hard to find! You didn't even notify your brothers when you returned the day before yesterday. What's going on? Your hair is all messy, and you didn't even answer your phone... Hey, hey, Xiaoguangchang, Leigey is here, everyone come over."

  While shouting Lei Dapeng and Si Muxian, he rushed to the phone and shouted, it was Zhao Xiangyang with smelly feet. As soon as the phone rang, several old brothers came running from the teaching building, Lin Yin Road, and the dormitory direction. Lao Bao, Ma Gan, all from the sports department, electronics department, those goods, each one excited, surrounded the two people sitting on the ground.

  "Wow, Leig is so handsome." Someone stroked Lei Dapeng's cheek and flattered him.

  "Hey, Xian Ge is also quite capable." Someone patted Simu Xian's head in praise.

  "Haven't you two brothers gotten fat? You're ignoring us now." Someone noticed something was off.

  Lei Dapeng quickly knocked away one hand and blocked the other, but despite his efforts, he was still hit by his brothers several times. Normally, he wouldn't mind, but this time he was furious and cursed: "Get out, get out, all of you, my paper has been rejected and I'm in a bad mood."

  "Lei Ge, aren't you often hanged? What's so depressing about that?" Chou Jiao asked in surprise.

  "Why didn't you say so earlier, brothers will buy one for you, it's not a big deal." Ma Geng patted his chest, wanting to take charge. Lao Bao pointed at Sima Xian and asked: "With Brother Xian here, what are you worried about? Let him write a whole article, isn't that settled?"

  "He was also hanged." Lei Dapeng pointed sideways with his hand.

  At this point, all of them were stunned, and even more fiercely, Lei Dapeng said: "Egg brother was also hanged, the whole Chinese department is just us two, didn't answer the questions and got kicked out, how about you guys, are you excited?"

  Haha... A group of brothers looked up and laughed wildly. These three brothers always had a great time whenever they met, and today was the most hilarious.

  Lao Bao laughed a few times and suddenly said: "Hey, this is getting interesting. Is someone intentionally messing with the three brothers?"

  Everyone couldn't help but laugh, looking at each other. Originally, it was a joyful occasion for brothers to meet after a long time, but now everyone is depressed. In the midst of depression, Zhao Xiangyang whispered: "It makes sense, I wonder if someone in school is playing a prank, maybe intentionally making it impossible for the three brothers to get their graduation certificates."

  "It's like that, Ma School is really stingy, some people are short a few hundred yuan in tuition and they won't give you the graduation certificate, no way to negotiate." Added a sports department student.

  "It's possible." Old Bao squatted down and analyzed: "From the time we stirred up the beehive, nothing happened at all. The police didn't even write a report for inspection, it was just like that, nothing happened. I thought... is someone trying to frame us?"

  "It's true, there are many rotten people among the teachers. In the previous semester, there was a case where a beautiful female student wasn't allowed to pass an exam unless she let someone touch her."

  "Yeah, there's this thing, but shouldn't it be passable with a bit of effort? I mean, Lei Ge is like that, no one would think to make an exception for him."

  "No, no, it shouldn't be like this. If all three of them were hanged at the same time, that would mean it's extremely targeted, and not what you guys think."

  "Or is it still about what happened last time!?"

  The brothers were all talking at once, each helping to analyze the situation, and their opinions gradually became unified. Lei Dapeng joined in with a loud shout: "Brothers, help me find out who it was, I'll turn around and beat him half to death!"

  Ten people make a tiger, and at this time, even Simu Xian also slightly believed that this was someone's deliberate intention. However, unfortunately, at this level, it is impossible to know who is above, and the several brothers discussed for half a day, obviously all a bit overestimating their abilities, unable to think of a good solution. After a while, Zhao Yang reminded them that they had forgotten about Song Siying's important matter, which was to hold a grand banquet to welcome back the two brothers who had returned from internship. This time, even Lei Dapeng, the foodie, didn't have the heart for it. However, Lao Bao directed again, saying that Song Siying's uncle is the logistics director of the school, and this matter might be something she can help with. Besides, with Egg Brother back, what is there to fear?

  As a result, Lei Dapeng was incited to the point of being unable to sit still, and even Simu Xian was shaken. He was surrounded by this group of people, who called out in front and behind him as they left the school gate, hailed two taxis, and rushed straight to the Yibin Hotel where Kuai Jie had invited them for dinner...