Chapter 131 - 117: Patient Zero
The autumn sunlight pierced through the old glass window, striking her fair profile and illuminating the unyielding resolve in her eyes.
Just like the Jingtai Lan in her hands.
Copper wires were soldered to a copper base, waiting to be filled with enamel and fired in a kiln.
No matter how high the temperature, they would ultimately fuse into a seamless whole, never to be separated or stripped away.
Shen Yu whispered in her heart:
’Silly Dr. Jiang, no matter what you’re afraid of, I won’t let you bear it all alone...’
...
...
Jiang He had a dream.
The dream began beautifully, but ended as a nightmare.
When he opened his eyes, the dorm room was dark and quiet.
Lying on his single bed, he raised a hand and wiped his forehead with the back of it. He was covered in cold sweat.
’I can’t let that nightmare come true.’
’I have to work harder, just a little bit harder...’
Jiang He let out a long breath and glanced at his phone. There was a new message.
Wang Kuan: [Dr. Jiang, the money has been transferred to your account. Please check to confirm.]
Jiang He: [Got it.]
With the money in his account, his mood improved slightly.
’Sister Kuan really is a good person.’
After that, Jiang He found the group chat for the miRNA early screening project.
He quickly typed: [Meeting at 8 PM tonight, second floor of the coffee shop.]
A few seconds after he sent the message, Gu Yizhou replied: [Boss, your foot is still injured, and you pulled an all-nighter in the ER last night. Why don’t you take today off to rest?]
Jiang He replied: [No days off. Meet as scheduled.]
「8 PM.」
「The second floor of the coffee shop.」
As Jiang He made his way up the stairs on a crutch, the small group conversing in low tones fell silent, all eyes turning to him at once.
Then, everyone rose to their feet.
Lu Xiaolin’s face was filled with regret. "Jiang He," he said, "it rained so hard last night, and I’m such a heavy sleeper. You know how it is, rainy nights are perfect for sleeping. My phone was on silent, so I didn’t hear a thing... When I heard about the ER this morning, I really wanted to kick myself. I should have been there to help."
Jiang He gave him a gentle smile. "Don’t worry about it, Senior."
Yi Xiangwan pressed his palms together and bowed dramatically to Jiang He. "All hail the River God! I’m serious. In my eyes, you’re a giant... Er, well, of course, you were always a giant."
Gu Yizhou, unable to stand the lame joke, handed Jiang He a glass of warm water, his eyes full of concern. "Big Bro, is your foot really okay? Want me to get a stool so you can elevate it? It’ll swell if the circulation’s bad."
Jiang He had once saved his girlfriend, so Gu Yizhou always looked at him with a deeper respect than the others.
Cheng Xiyao sat across from them, her chin resting in her hands, quietly watching Jiang He.
Word of last night’s events had spread across campus. Listening to the heart-pounding stories of the rescue, she felt a single, overwhelming urge:
’Jiang He is incredible! I want to be just like him!’
Tang Pei looked up from his bag as he took out some documents. "Did you guys see that Youku link on the BBS?"
"Yeah, I saw it."
"You mean the one where all the students stopped to applaud Jiang He and Chen Hao as they were walking back?"
Tang Pei nodded. "It was pretty powerful. I haven’t felt that fired up in a long time."
Chen Hao, who had arrived with Jiang He, couldn’t help but grin upon hearing this.
Although last night’s ordeal had matured him quite a bit...
...something this awesome still made his ego swell a little.
’The second I saw the video, I forwarded the link to my dad. You know the feeling, right?’
Chen Hao was just about to chime in and bask in the glory a little longer.
But Jiang He cut him off. "Notebooks out."
He then pulled a whiteboard over and got straight to the point.
"We’ve already covered the theory of RNA extraction. Today, we’re going over the practical details. The most critical part of the extraction process is preventing RNase contamination. I’m only going to cover the reagent proportions and centrifugation speed once, so take good notes."
One moment, they were expressing awe and concern; the next, he had launched directly into a high-intensity research lecture.
Jiang He’s speaking pace was steady yet rapid, as if he didn’t want to waste a single second on flattery or sentiment...
Everyone scrambled to open their notebooks, uncap their pens, and struggle to keep up with his pace.
「An hour and a half later.」
The lecture was over.
"That’s all for today. Go home and mentally walk through the steps we covered a few times."
Jiang He closed his notes.
The group filed downstairs and left.
Before they left, everyone heaped another round of praise on Jiang He.
Most of them gave normal compliments. Yi Xiangwan, for instance, exclaimed, "Old Jiang, your lecturing is even better than a professor’s!"
Gu Yizhou reminded him, "Big Bro, make sure you ice your foot as soon as you get back."
Only Xiaocheng was a little different.
In the middle of her praise, the girl suddenly brought up Zhiyu.
"Jiang He, your lecture was brilliant," she said. "Your thinking is so ahead of its time. Oh! Speaking of ’ahead of its time,’ have you guys seen Dingxiang Garden? The master, Zhiyu, posted something!"
"Oh my god, even Professor Xiaoqing herself replied to his post to ask for guidance!"
"It’s not just our school, either. Department heads from top-tier hospitals like Peking Union Medical College Hospital and Huaxi are all lining up in the comments. I wonder which legendary figure Elder Zhi is in real life. If I could just meet him and attend one of his lectures in person, I could die happy..."
Cheng Xiyao rambled on endlessly.
Sitting in his chair, Jiang He let out a deep sigh...
「After everyone had left.」
He began to plan his next move.
’The two million in funding has arrived.’
’The 2008 market crash is about to hit rock bottom. I can start preparing to buy the dip in increments.’
’Once I grow this capital, it will be more than enough to cover all the initial expenses for the miRNA project.’
’Funding is secured. Next up are equipment and a facility.’
Jiang He pulled a notebook from his pocket and flipped it open. Written inside was a number Xu Wenpei had given him previously.