Chapter 154 - Can You Behave Like a Normal Person?

“Of course, Tsinghua University won the previous competitions because you guys went easy on us, right?” Professor Liu said mockingly.

Judging from his tone of voice, it was obvious that he didn’t think that had really happened.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

“Ha, ha, ha, think whatever you want. You should refer to the official university rankings.” Professor Guo didn’t want to get into this conversation.

“Indeed, Beijing University’s Chinese major always ranks first every year,” Professor Liu continued. “But this ranking is scored comprehensively on a few components. It doesn’t mean that your students are the most capable.”

Otherwise, why would his students lose 90 percent of the time?

“It’s only a competition. Does winning first place mean that one is more capable?” Professor Guo could not accept this.

“Then does your official university ranking mean that you’re more capable?” Professor Liu asked.

“If you can’t accept this, then you should win first place. It’s that simple.” Professor Liu snorted. A piece of snot flew out of his nose and almost landed on Professor Guo.

Professor Guo became extremely enraged.

Wang Yuemu and her team were under quite a lot of pressure.

She and Ying Siyuan had previously participated in the competition events twice. This was last year and the year before.

Unfortunately, they had lost both times.

No one else in the current team had participated.

Some of them were too busy with research. Others had not been selected.

After all, the team had mostly been made of older students.

However, they had to admit that Tsinghua University was quite a strong contender.

At this point, Professor Liu had finished provoking them. He laughed and said, “I’ll be taking my leave now. I’ll be anticipating good results from your team in this year’s competition. After all, you guys are officially the top-ranked university. Surely you can’t keep up this losing streak, right?”

Even after Professor Liu had stepped out of the research room, they could hear his proud laughter echoing down the corridor.

Professor Guo took a deep breath. “Yuemu, Siyuan!”

“Yes, Prof?”

Wang Yuemu and Ying Siyuan didn’t dare to joke around. Both of them stood up solemnly and reported to him.

“I won’t be selecting anyone else for this competition. You guys will represent us again.” Professor Guo continued, “Win the competition!

“All of you are my personal mentees, including Tan Mo. Once you’ve entered my team, I am your mentor,” Professor Guo declared. “If you guys can’t win, then nobody else will be able to either. So, don’t bring shame to our team or our university.”

Tan Mo’s role wasn’t simply to lend a helping hand.

Everyone here was doing research, and, while they worked, they didn’t just keep to themselves.

In the midst of their research work, they were learning and holding mutual discussions at the same time.

They even had Professor Guo’s support, and he would point out all the minute details to them.

This environment was even more conducive than normal lectures.

In other words, these were private tutoring sessions.

Usual lectures organized by the school were certainly not as comprehensive as these personal tutoring sessions.

This was because lecturers usually had to cater to the majority of the students and teach accordingly. They could not slow down their lessons.

If a student couldn’t catch up, he would have no choice but to ask the lecturer privately.

But private tutoring sessions were different. There were fewer students in groups of fours and fives. Sometimes, there was even a one-to-one student/teacher ratio.

If there was something you didn’t understand, you could ask the professor immediately. He would be able to explain the concept until you understood it well.

The outcome was naturally different.

“Yes!”

“Yes!”

Wang Yuemu and Ying Siyuan stood at attention and replied simultaneously.

Professor Guo walked off in a huff, his arms behind his back.

Since Professor Guo had been upset, the atmosphere in the research room had become quite tense.

Everyone was affected by the imposing atmosphere.

Once Professor Guo took his leave, everyone finally let out a sigh of relief.

Tan Mo’s little head finally peeked out from behind the computer screen. “Who was that professor?”

“He’s Professor Liu. He teaches Tsinghua University’s Chinese major.” Wang Yuemu looked at her and explained. At the same time, she stroked Tan Mo’s head.

Tan Mo was such a bright and intelligent girl. Yet, she was also very young.

She had already become the mascot of the team.

Everyone who saw her was tempted to stroke her hair.

It made them very uncomfortable to go one day without stroking her head.

“Professor Guo doesn’t seem to like him,” Tan Mo said in a soft voice.

“Ha, ha, ha, it’s not that he doesn’t like him. They are old rivals,” Ying Siyuan explained with a smile. Then he glanced at the door cautiously.

Once he was certain that Professor Guo had left, he continued, “They are both well on in years, and they have been competing with each other for a very long time. They aren’t exactly enemies, they are more like nemeses. Professor Guo and Professor Liu even graduated from the same school, and they were taught by the same teacher.

“Back when they were students, they were also very competitive.” Ying Siyuan was extremely familiar with their relationship. “Of course, this came with lots of benefits. Their results were always stellar because they spurred each other on.

“Subsequently, one of them went to Tsinghua University. while the other came to Beijing University. They were both heads of Chinese Departments, and this competitive spirit was ignited once more. They competed in the official university rankings, as well as in the results of their research work. They would also compete to see whose students were more outstanding. All in all, they competed about almost everything.”

Wang Yuemu chuckled as she said in a low voice, “They’ve been competing for such a long time. Longer than the time they’ve been married to their wives!”

When everyone heard this, they laughed.

They must be destined for one another, right?

“Five years ago, the Ancient Text Competition was rolled out. All the most important education institutions were involved, but, to be honest, it was always a competition between the schools that were ranked in the top six. The other universities were always unable to advance to the final rounds,” Wang Yuemu explained. “Ying Siyuan and I started participating two years ago. We’ve joined a total of two competition events. Because we previously had seniors in our team, the extra seniors were unable to participate.”

“However, given their personalities, they were honestly not keen on participating in these kind of events,” Ying Siyuan said. “They would rather spend their time on learning and research. If it were up to me, I feel the same.”

“Indeed, participating in competitions is very time-consuming. Every year, a different city hosts the competition. Fundamentally, the responsibility is rotated between the top six schools,” Wang Yuemu continued. “If I remember correctly, Tsinghua University is in charge this year.”

Pu Xinyan chuckled. “I heard that the Principal of Tsinghua University, Mr. Shu, gave Tan Mo a personal invitation to attend. In the end, Mr. Mu won her over. We should take this chance to tour Tsinghua University. We’ll let Mr. Shu take a good look at the student Mr. Mu snatched away from him.”

“Can you behave like a normal person, please?” Shen Hongshan said. This was such poor logic.

However, a smile had also surfaced on his face.

“Oh, right, when the time comes, Tan Mo must definitely come along with us,” Ling Zimu said.

“What is this competition about?” Tan Mo was still completely in the dark.

“To be honest, it’s the same content as our usual research work. The different scripts and writing styles used in the different time periods are tested: for example, the Western Zhou, the Chinese bronze inscriptions in the Spring and Autumn Annals, the Warring State script, and the Qin seal script,” Wang Yuemu explained. “We also need to know a few translations of the ancient text documents. Most of these types of questions are multiple choice and you don’t have to do a translation on the spot. Otherwise, it would take up too much time. However, they are first come, first serve buzzer questions, and that is how the scores are calculated.”

“To be honest, it wouldn’t be very challenging to you,” Ying Siyuan added.