Ye Qiusuo returned to her residence after recording the program and slept for a full day and night. When she woke up, it was five in the morning. She didn't go back to sleep. Instead, she got up, washed up, drank a glass of cold water, and sat down at her desk to turn on her computer.
Various messages kept popping up, along with research topics sent by the several graduate students she was supervising. Ye Qiusuo spent an hour and a half dealing with these matters, then sent a text message to one of the students.
Ye: [Bring your project and come find me this afternoon. There are a few points I want to discuss with you.]
After sending this message, Ye Qiusuo began writing her own paper.
She had completed her Ph.D. at the university last year and stayed on as a faculty member after graduation. Not only did she have to write papers and mentor students, but she also had several projects in hand. Taking a full day and night off like this was an immense luxury for Ye Qiusuo.
Outside, the sun gradually rose. A beam of light shone through the unevenly drawn living room curtains, moving from the floor all the way onto the grid of the wine cabinet.
It wasn't until one in the afternoon that Ye Qiusuo closed the document, marking the end of her morning's work. She rummaged through the fridge and found the bread she had bought the day before yesterday. Checking that it wasn't expired yet, she used it as her lunch.
Unlike her usual habit of eating while continuing to work, Ye Qiusuo sat on the sofa, bread in hand, unusually distracted.
She was still thinking about the dream she had at the recording site that day.
Casually turning on the TV, Ye Qiusuo didn't tune into the news channel she watched daily. Instead, she wanted to switch to an entertainment channel.
However, having not watched other channels for years, she wasn't very familiar with them. After flipping past a few channels playing advertisements, she finally stopped on Gaoxing Channel Two.
She had recorded a program at Gaoxing TV last time.
Moreover, this Gaoxing TV station appeared numerous times in the book from her dream.
Ten minutes later.
Frowning, Ye Qiusuo stared at the brightly colored cartoon characters on the TV screen for a long time, watching them bounce around joyfully, and began to suspect that she had simply been too exhausted that day and had a false dream.
Before she could ponder further, the doorbell suddenly rang. Ye Qiusuo got up to answer it; it was the student she had asked to come over.
"Hello, Professor." The student standing outside was actually the same age as Ye Qiusuo, but he addressed her as 'Professor' sincerely, even with a hint of admiring respect.
"Come in first." Ye Qiusuo stepped aside to let him in, closed the door after he entered, took the stack of documents from his hand, flipped through them, and got straight to the point without any preamble. "There's a problem with the data on line six of page 12. Go to the lab and complete the final test yourself, then revise it."
The student seemed already accustomed to her direct, no-nonsense style. He turned and replied, "Professor, that line of data is cited from a Tier 1 journal paper. It shouldn't have any issues."
Ye Qiusuo shot a glance at the student. "Shouldn't?"
The student was taken aback. The first author of the paper he cited was a well-known scholar in the field, whose published papers always had extremely high impact factors. This paper had just been published recently; its data and other aspects were relatively new and very suitable for his project.
"The data is problematic. There's no need to extend from it further. Find another set." Ye Qiusuo stated bluntly.
The student hesitated for a moment. "But..." He found it hard to believe. After all, the paper was already published in a Tier 1 journal, and its citation rate had skyrocketed in less than a week. How could there be a problem?
Just then, the student's phone rang. It was someone from the same research group. He sneakily glanced at his professor, noticed she wasn't paying attention to him but was instead staring at the TV, so he answered the call and asked quietly, "What's up?"
"There's a problem! The author of the paper we cited on page 12 has voluntarily retracted the article!" The voice on the other end was anxious. "You haven't shown it to the professor yet, have you?"
The student: "...When?!"
"Just five minutes ago. They said there were some issues with the data, and the author requested a retraction." The person on the other end had just discovered this when logging onto the journal website to look for materials.
"......"
"Finished talking?" Ye Qiusuo shifted her gaze back, calmly watching the student hang up the phone. "The paper you cited will probably be retracted in a few days. Remember to find other data."
The student lowered his head in shame. "It's already been retracted." Professor Ye is still Professor Ye, after all.
The speed surprised Ye Qiusuo. It seemed the author must have discovered their mistake early. There were many capable people in academia; with that set of data published, someone would have eventually found the error—it was only a matter of time.
Ye Qiusuo walked to her computer desk, picked up a USB drive, and handed it to the student. "There are some materials inside that you can use for reference."
"Thank you, Professor!" Relieved that he wasn't scolded, the student let out a sigh. Out of the corner of his eye, he caught sight of the cartoons on the TV screen. His mouth running ahead of his brain, he remarked casually, "Professor, you watch Gaoxing Channel Two too? My niece loves it."
Ye Qiusuo looked at the student impassively.
The student: "......"
In an attempt to salvage the awkward situation, the student desperately tried to recover. "Both Gaoxing Channel One and Two are great, hahaha."
"What's on Channel One?" Ye Qiusuo suddenly asked.
Since Professor Ye was initiating conversation, the student immediately became an open book. "It's the entertainment channel. My younger sister loves watching it; many of the celebrities she likes have been on Channel One."
Ye Qiusuo seemed thoughtful. She picked up the remote, searched for a while, and finally found a channel called Gaoxing Channel One. It was indeed an entertainment channel; even the advertisements featured various young celebrities.
If she remembered correctly, the program she recorded last time should air on this channel this Saturday. According to the book, Wan Yurou would use this program to directly trend on social media, subsequently solidifying her 'beauty scholar' persona firmly.
Gaoxing Channel One was playing something, but Ye Qiusuo didn't see it clearly. She was too busy recalling the plot from the book.
Now that the plot had changed, she wondered if the trending topics would still involve her.
"Professor, if there's nothing else, I'll head back first..." the student said softly.
Ye Qiusuo snapped back to attention and waved her hand. "Remember to change the data set. Return the USB drive to me next week."
The student scurried out. Just as he left, his phone rang again. It was someone from his group asking about the situation.
"The professor had already discovered the data was problematic earlier. I didn't believe it at first," the student said after explaining for a bit, sighing in admiration. "Professor Ye is too impressive."
They were the first group of students Ye Qiusuo was mentoring—five in total. Initially, upon learning they had been assigned to a young professor, none of them were pleased.
After all, in these science and engineering fields, a supervisor with shallow experience meant they likely wouldn't get good projects and would have little influence.
Of the five, two had been selected by Ye Qiusuo herself. There was also a high-scoring student who had made a mistake. He originally intended to choose Professor Ye Qiusu, but didn't expect there to be two Professor Ye's at the university this year, and their names sounded somewhat similar.
This mistaken student had long heard of Professor Ye's reputation but had never met her. In a momentary lapse of judgment, he directly chose Ye Qiusuo, feeling that this name sounded more formidable.
This person was naturally the student called over by Ye Qiusuo today, Lin Lu.
The remaining two students were essentially the ones leftover after other professors had made their picks, then tossed to Ye Qiusuo.
In short, not a single one had come voluntarily.
However, after starting school, these students realized something was off—their teacher was actually quite impressive. This was evident in her effortless command of various materials and data, her exceptional strength, and the high regard the school had for her.
"But the teacher seems to like watching cartoons," the students whispered in gossip. "When I first arrived, her living room was playing 'Three Little Sheep'."
Who would have thought that a distinguished professor would be watching "Three Little Sheep" at home? To cover it up, she had even quickly changed the channel. Remembering this, the students felt Professor Ye wasn't so intimidating after all.
Professor Ye, who enjoys cartoons, was now staring intently at the TV.
On screen was a recently launched singing competition show, arguably the highest-rated program this year, with Xie Xi serving as a mentor.
—Xie Xi is the only male supporting character in the entire story who does not fall for the female lead.
Ye Qiusuo watched Xie Xi on TV. If she remembered correctly, this was where his star began to plummet, eventually becoming a stepping stone for the male lead in the book.
Standing in front of the sofa, Ye Qiusuo quietly observed the young, handsome man on the screen, deep in thought.
...
On Saturday, "Knowledge Q&A" officially premiered on Gaoxing Channel One.
Wan Yurou performed remarkably well on the show. Especially as a celebrity, her score was actually higher than top performers from various other industries, naturally attracting everyone's attention.
The show's first trending topic was about Wan Yurou. After all, celebrities often carry certain stereotypes in the audience's mind. Her performance, significantly above the typical celebrity standard, won the favor of many viewers.
#WanYurouHighScore#
The comments under this trending topic were all praising Wan Yurou. Many netizens said they were seeing her in a new light, never expecting her to be so knowledgeable.
But as the program continued, another trending topic soon emerged: #Celestial Sphere Tech Guest#
This topic kept rising, even beginning to surpass Wan Yurou's.
If nothing else, the mere words 'Celestial Sphere Tech' were enough to capture the public's attention.
The company was usually very low-profile, but its capabilities were anything but. Their products in recent years had permeated every aspect of daily life. Their latest smart medical watch hadn't even been released yet but had already attracted significant attention.
It was said to be at the forefront globally.
The trending topic featured a short clipped video. After the host finished speaking, the spotlight fell on one of the fifty guests. Bullet comments immediately flooded the video:
[Huh, Contestant 43 looks kind of good.]
[Is Contestant 43 a celebrity too?]
[What does this have to do with the Celestial Sphere Tech guest?]
Several people on the show mentioned that Near-Field Communication was one of the methods used in that Celestial Sphere Tech project. Only Contestant 43 disagreed. Her somewhat cold remarks made the guests on stage appear awkward for a moment.
[Contestant 43 is a bit clueless, isn't she? Everyone said it might be one of the methods, and she just has to argue.]
[Probably trying to show off her knowledge?]
[Everyone was clearly trying to smooth things over, but she just had to keep talking, completely oblivious.]
In the next moment, actor Xia Zhoubing stepped in to ask Contestant 43 why she was so sure, voicing everyone's thoughts. When Contestant 43 on stage stated expressionlessly that the project was under her charge, the camera deliberately panned across the audience, capturing their unmistakable looks of astonishment.
Even the bullet comments paused for a second, followed by a frenzy of comments.
[Damn, she's in charge of that project?!]
[Her name? Why doesn't Contestant 43 have a name tag? Everyone else does.]
But the program's editing at this point cast doubt on whether Contestant 43 was truly the project lead at Celestial Sphere Tech, immediately steering the audience in another direction.
[Contestant 43 looks like she's barely in her early 20s. She could be in charge of a project at Celestial Sphere Tech? I don't buy it.]
[Building a persona shouldn't be done like this. Isn't she afraid of overreaching?]
[This amateur has some big ambitions. Not afraid of being exposed while pretending to be something she's not.]
Guided by the show's editing, camera angles, and captions, the audience's reaction shifted from initial surprise to disbelief, and they began criticizing Contestant 43 for using any means necessary to get famous.
Netizens started digging into the Celestial Sphere Tech project, but like the director's assistant before, they couldn't find much useful information. The project was currently in a confidential phase; the person in charge was only listed by surname, followed by the title 'Professor'.
Netizens went to the official website looking for a Professor Ye, only finding a Ye Qiusu.
As they dug deeper, the netizens reached the same conclusion as the staff.
—This Contestant 43 was impersonating Professor Ye Qiusu from Huajing University.
In comparison, Wan Yurou was clearly more likable to the audience.
Wan Yurou's management team also hadn't expected a contrast with such an unscrupulous amateur guest impersonating a professor, which further elevated Wan Yurou's image. Her trending topic began to climb, eventually reaching number one.
"Saved us the cost of buying a hot search," the agent said to Wan Yurou in the dressing room.
...
Professor Ye was still busy with her thesis. She didn't even know the show had aired on Saturday. She had to guide her students with experiments, and on top of that, Celestial Sphere Tech had built a new wind tunnel lab that she needed to inspect for any issues.
She was so busy every day that her feet barely touched the ground, with no time to even think about being a minor character in a book.
"Yezi, we're recording the second episode on Sunday. Can you make it?" a friend from the program team called to ask.
Second episode?
Ye Qiusuo finally remembered. She took the phone from her shoulder with her left hand, straightened up, and held it to her left ear. She gestured for the lab staff around her to continue, then walked out.
"Has the show aired already?" Ye Qiusuo stood by the glass railing, looking down at the company employees coming and going below.
"...It has."
Hearing her friend's tone, Ye Qiusuo asked directly, "Are Wan Yurou and I on the trending topics?" According to the plot, both she and Wan Yurou should be. She had made some changes, but it seemed they hadn't made a difference.
"Yeah. The netizens are saying your claim of being the project lead is fake."
Ye Qiusuo thought for a moment and asked, "Are they also calling Wan Yurou an academic genius?"
Since the netizens were still singling her out, the female lead should have successfully established that persona.
Her friend on the other end wasn't surprised, assuming Ye Qiusuo had seen the trending topics on Weibo, and comforted her, "Don't pay attention to those comments. Those netizens don't know anything."
Truthfully, her friend wasn't entirely sure what Ye Qiusuo did either. They were high school classmates. Ye Qiusuo had skipped a grade, they were only in the same class for half a year before Ye Qiusuo skipped ahead again, but they had been close back then.
Running into Ye Qiusuo on the street that day was a coincidence; she had been desperate and asked for a favor.
Ye Qiusuo continued, "What time tomorrow?" In the book, she was eliminated in the first episode. Participating in the second was the result of her changes.
"9 PM. It'll probably record for about three hours. Are you coming?"
"I'll be there."
