Jiang Tinglan said, “The experiment they’re doing now is the one our school conducted yesterday. I suspect it might be that issue… But I’m worried that if I’m wrong, I’ll embarrass our school. After all, even the Qizhi staff haven’t been able to identify the problem.”
Lu Yanzhao thought for a moment, then smiled encouragingly. “It’s fine. You can tell them your theory. In an emergency, even the staff might overlook something.”
“Besides, we’ve already terminated our contract with Qizhi. Even if you’re wrong, we won’t be coming back a second time.”
“And if you’re right, there might still be room to negotiate Director Yu’s contract renewal.”
“She doesn’t want to renew the contract right now, but that’s really because Qizhi hasn’t met her standards. If you help Qizhi resolve such a major public-relations crisis, you might even be able to negotiate better terms.”
A spark slowly lit up in Jiang Tinglan’s eyes.
Although she still had never met Board Director Yu, Board Director Yu had helped resolve the conflict in her family and secured an enrichment opportunity for students of average ability like her—an opportunity that had originally been reserved for top students. When Zhao Chengyu had bullied her, she had even asked Assistant Lu to stand up for her…
One thing after another, and she had never repaid Board Director Yu for any of it.
This time, she would take the risk!
Even if she was wrong, they wouldn’t be coming back in the future anyway. There was nothing to be afraid of!
She nodded. “All right.”
She headed back toward the laboratory.
Just then, she saw several reporters preparing to enter and film the students who had been poisoned up close.
She hurriedly called out, “Don’t go in!”
But no one paid any attention to her. She was only a student, after all.
A mass poisoning incident involving students was sensational material. The reporters would blur the students’ faces later, but first they had to capture footage from the scene.
However, as soon as the media entered, they quickly realized something was wrong.
They began to feel dizzy and nauseated as well.
One of them doubled over against the doorframe and retched. He nearly dropped his camera.
Jiang Tinglan ran over and said, “I told you not to go in! It’s almost as if I was trying to hurt you!”
“This experiment is one our school conducted just yesterday. It’s called ‘Dynamic Adsorption of Simulated Pollutants by Porous Functional Materials and In Situ Fluorescence Detection.’”
“It’s an extremely difficult chemistry competition experiment, well beyond the scope of high-school knowledge. When we conducted it yesterday, we nearly ran into the same problem.”
The experiment consisted of countless highly complex modules.
Standing outside the window, she pointed toward the condensation section above the sample column, near the end of the experimental process.
“Look there. You can see a layer of condensation on the outside wall that shouldn’t be there.”
“That means the pollutants weren’t properly directed into the exhaust-treatment system. Instead, they escaped into the laboratory.”
“But the pollutant gas you’re using is colorless and odorless, so you couldn’t smell it or notice anything unusual.”
She lowered her head and glanced at the experimental logbook through the laboratory window.
“Did you try to save time by connecting the material-activation and dynamic-testing stages too closely? That would have left a small amount of the amine modifier inside the material.”
The pollutant was colorless and odorless, so the Qizhi staff had not been certain that this was the problem.
But after the reporters rushed inside and were poisoned despite not touching anything, they were able to confirm that improper experimental procedures had indeed caused the pollutant to leak.
They immediately terminated the experiment, shut off the internal circulation, and switched to external air exhaust.
Zhao Chengyu refused to accept it. “No! We’ve been working on this experiment all afternoon. We’re almost done collecting the data!”
Another student beside him grew anxious as well. “That’s right! Don’t shut it down!”
The day before, when Shengde had attempted an experiment of such difficulty, the students at Mingde had secretly hoped they would fail, even though they had not said so aloud.
They had discovered that the Shengde students they looked down on were actually on par with them—and in some areas, even better than them—despite going beyond the usual scope of high-school examinations.
And Shengde had successfully completed the experiment the day before.
If Mingde failed while conducting the same experiment today, wouldn’t that be humiliating?
That was why they had rushed through the transitions between the various stages of the experiment.
Now that they knew the poisoning had been caused by an exhaust leak… it actually didn’t seem like a big deal anymore!
The Mingde students were all unwilling to terminate the experiment.
“The pollutant isn’t highly toxic. We’re only a little dizzy. We can rest after we finish the experiment.”
“That’s right. Let us finish it!”
Jiang Tinglan observed the setup for a while longer before saying, “There’s no point. Stop the experiment. Your detection system has been contaminated by the escaped gas and the abnormal baseline. Any curve you obtain from this point on will be meaningless.”
Zhao Chengyu’s expression changed. “How do you know that?”
Jiang Tinglan pointed toward the display table. “The color of the collection tube is wrong. Take a careful look and compare it with the others.”
The Mingde students immediately went over to examine it.
Some of them were already convinced.
But Zhao Chengyu still gritted his teeth. “We’re finishing the experiment no matter what!”
Jiang Tinglan shook her head and sighed. “What’s the point? Admitting that you’ve failed is also part of growing up.”
Just as when she had been scammed—although her mother and Board Director Yu had not blamed her, she had continued to blame herself.
She had also admitted that her own foolishness had played a part in what happened.
But after acknowledging it, she would avoid that trap the next time. That was how people grew.
The Qizhi staff no longer listened to the students’ arguments and forcibly terminated the experiment.
The medical personnel arrived soon afterward.
They confirmed that the mild poisoning had indeed been caused by a leak of pollutant gas.
The students who appeared to be in the worst condition had not actually been seriously poisoned. Their brief fainting spells had been caused by low blood sugar and shock after becoming dizzy.
The situation was brought under control within ten minutes.
The cause was also exactly as Jiang Tinglan had determined.
The other media outlets at the scene recorded everything. But there did not seem to be anything they could use against anyone. There had been no conflict between the students. When something went wrong at Mingde, the Shengde students had still come over to help without holding a grudge.
Once the experiment ran into trouble, Qizhi’s medical staff arrived quickly, and the emergency response was smooth and efficient.
The two reporters from Yuantiao News had slipped away long ago.
Lu Yanzhao had recorded everything on his phone, including those two reporters.
He now sent the video back to Shengde’s legal department.
Lu Yanzhao said, “Keep an eye on this media outlet for the next few days. They filmed the chaos at the beginning today, but they didn’t stay to cover the clarification or the subsequent handling of the problem. I’m worried they’ll take things out of context and smear Shengde.”
The legal department replied, “Understood. Don’t worry.”
This incident probably wouldn’t have any lingering consequences.
But Lu Yanzhao was curious. Had those reporters really been paid to smear them?
If so, who had hired them?
Lu Yanzhao had met three of Yu Xiaxing’s older siblings so far.
His impression was that their relationship with Yu Xiaxing wasn’t particularly bad… Could the remaining siblings be responsible?
When Yu Zheng had arranged for him to go undercover by Yu Xiaxing’s side, he had gained a general understanding of each member of the Yu family’s personality.
Yu Zhining and Yu Lingyi could be stubborn in certain ways, but their conduct was still fairly upright.
As for Yu Xiaxing and Yu Zheng, although their behavior could be rather ruthless, they were kind at heart.
As for the siblings Yu Yuanchen and Yu Suisui, they were utterly decadent, vicious, and lawless.
