Chapter 595: Grading

Chapter 595: Chapter 610: Grading

The three Ph.D. students excitedly followed An Ning. It was their first time visiting her office.

The moment they stepped inside, they thought they had gone to the wrong place. They all backed out into the hallway to look again, confirming that An Ning’s name was on the door.

“What is it? My humble office can’t hold the three of you?”

An Ning’s one sentence scared them into trying to enter the room all at once, only to get stuck in the doorway together.

Sitting in the office’s only rocking chair, An Ning looked at the three people wedged in her doorway and asked doubtfully, “Are you sure your degrees are real?”

After a difficult struggle of moving back in unison, then forward in unison, only to remain stuck, the three Ph.D.s finally communicated, letting the woman go first.

Once the three of them were standing inside the office, they fidgeted awkwardly. They had just made fools of themselves.

“Did you bring your theses?”

“I did!”

“I did!”

“I didn’t!”

The last one to speak was extremely sheepish. He snapped to attention, standing tall and straight as he shouted, “I’ll go back and get it right now!”

An Ning waved her hand dismissively.

“No need. The two who brought them can copy them onto my computer. The one who didn’t can email it to me later.”

At her command, two of the doctoral students copied their theses onto An Ning’s computer while the third watched with envy.

“What, are you waiting for me to buy you dinner?”

The three of them immediately shook their heads and left in a hurry. If one of them hadn’t been a step slower, they would have gotten stuck in the door again.

The whole scene gave An Ning, who was watching from behind, a headache.

‘Their brains don’t seem to be working right.’

Sitting in her rocking chair, An Ning casually picked up a book from the floor. She would read first; the cafeteria was too crowded right now.

The entire office contained a laptop on the floor, a rocking chair, a stack of books next to the chair, and a water kettle on top of the books. That was the extent of the office’s furnishings.

No wonder the three of them looked like they’d seen a ghost when they came in.

But An Ning didn’t care. She wasn’t here to sit in an office, anyway. She did things however she felt most comfortable.

A little after eight o’clock, An Ning closed her book and rode her bicycle to the university cafeteria. She had been taking all her meals at the university lately.

After breakfast, with nothing else to do, An Ning decided to go see An Guoping.

An Guoping was interning at a hospital in Beijing and was so busy he rarely had time to eat with them.

An Ning bought An Guoping’s favorite pork hock over rice from the university cafeteria and headed straight for the hospital.

When she arrived, An Ning called An Guoping, but there was no answer. He was probably busy.

‘I’ll go in and look around first,’ she thought. ‘It would be best if I find him, but if not, I’ll just leave it at the department he’s rotating in and leave a message.’

An Guoping had mentioned a few days ago that he was currently rotating through the Emergency Department. An Ning found it after a quick search on the first floor and began looking around.

“Who are you looking for?”

A nurse looked An Ning up and down, her gaze landing on the container in her hand.

“I’m looking for An Guoping.”

The moment the nurse heard An Guoping’s name, her expression changed. After half a minute of silence, she said, “Just wait here.”

An Ning’s eyes followed the nurse as she walked away. She saw her hurry over and say something to another female nurse.

The second nurse turned, glanced at An Ning with displeasure, and gave a slight snort. She then strode over to An Ning.

“What do you want with An Guoping?”

An Ning retorted, “Are you An Guoping? I don’t recall him having a sex change.”

“What kind of attitude is that!” The young nurse glared, holding out a hand. “If you’re delivering something, just give it to me. Outsiders aren’t allowed in here, and Doctor An is busy right now.”

Normally, An Ning would have just agreed, but the other woman’s attitude annoyed her.

“No, thank you. I’m afraid you’ll turn around and throw out the meal I went out of my way to buy for him. Then my trip would be for nothing.”

An Ning sat down on a chair in the waiting area, food container in her lap, and crossed one leg over the other. “I’ll wait myself. No matter how busy Doctor An is, he has to come out eventually.”

The young nurse frowned, staring at An Ning. “You’re interfering with our work. If you don’t leave now, I’ll call security.”

“Go ahead. I’d also be very curious to know which hospital regulation I’ve broken.”

Faced with the unyielding An Ning, the young nurse stomped her foot in anger, then turned and ran off, looking as if she had been bullied.

Having seen right through the nurse’s designs on her coworker, An Ning muttered to herself, “A messy crush.”

With nothing to do while sitting there, An Ning took out her phone and started tinkering with it.

Her phone was one she had custom-built herself, and its functions were extremely powerful.

Out of boredom, she decided to take a look at the Ph.D. students’ theses.

After finishing the first thesis, An Ning’s head began to hurt.

‘This is the best a Ph.D. student can do?’

On second thought, An Ning decided she shouldn’t be the only one suffering.

She edited a text message and sent it.

At that very moment, one of the three doctoral students received a text from An Ning.

“Quiet, quiet! My advisor just texted me!”

“Is it from Dr. An? What is she like? Is she really that young? I wonder how her brain is wired.”

“I’m so jealous of you. Getting to study under Dr. An… If you could learn even a tenth of what she knows, you’d be set for life.”

The surrounded student nodded in agreement. As he opened the message, he said, “Maybe she read my thesis and is giving me some suggestions—”

He went silent.

A curious person nearby leaned over, glanced at the phone, and subconsciously read the message aloud: “I have read your thesis. This paper poses no threat to me in the academic world, but it will ruin my reputation in the world of education.”

A sharp intake of breath went through the onlookers.

That was a bit savage.

As if that wasn’t savage enough, the end of the message was appended with four words: “Rewrite the entire thing.”

“Hey, did you guys see they installed a new vending machine by the entrance?”

“What… Really? Let’s go check it out.”

The crowd that had been gathered around was suddenly lured away by a non-existent vending machine.

The Ph.D. student whose thesis had just been torn apart felt a little indignant and started to type a reply, but he deleted the words after a few taps.

The final message he sent was: “Received. Will rewrite. Thank you, Advisor.”

Obedient, humble, grateful.

Back at the hospital, An Ning read the second thesis. Her headache grew worse.

TAP, TAP, TAP. A few words typed, and the message was sent.

The female Ph.D. student who received An Ning’s message was alone, running a test, so no one was watching. But when she saw the message, her world came crashing down.

“Please do not include my name in the thesis acknowledgments. This isn’t an acknowledgment; it’s slander. Rewrite the entire thing.”

The female student felt she could no longer continue with her experiment. She wanted to cry.

No one had ever told her that Advisor An’s words were so venomous!

Just as An Ning was about to start on the third thesis, she finally saw An Guoping.

“An Guoping!”

Her call made An Guoping, who was in a white coat, start with excitement. He rushed over to An Ning, but he didn’t call her “sis,” nor did he use her name.

An Guoping didn’t want anyone to know about his relationship with An Ning.

As it was, An Ning’s status as a patent magnate and her connection to Luo’s Pharmaceutical already attracted a lot of attention.

Fortunately, her photo hadn’t circulated much, so people outside of academia didn’t pay her much mind.

“What are you doing here?”

“I brought you lunch.”