Chapter 82

Chapter 82

A flustered group helped Jiang Lei, whose nose was bleeding from the impact. The big guys exchanged bewildered glances, momentarily stunned.

As for being angry, Jiang Lei was indeed furious—being struck in the face with a ball for no reason, his nose bone hurting like it might break. But more critically, his head was spinning in a daze, sapping any energy for anger. An older guy, noticing his apparent discomfort, quickly called someone to carry Jiang Lei to the hospital, while Qian Qian and her friend lagged behind and headed straight home.

Feng Xia just saw it as a minor thing in her life. She couldn't stand that idiot's behavior—hitting someone and then grinning while he came over to apologize. If he really panicked, his face would have gone white. But that guy acted like he was being insulting. Since he didn’t value others’ faces, making him taste the same thing seemed only fair.

After eating, Feng Xia returned to the library, where Old Zhang was already seated. Seeing the bag of red bean cakes she had brought back, he hurriedly grabbed one and stuffed it into his mouth. The cakes were still warm and fragrant. After finishing a big lecture, Old Zhang was genuinely hungry, munching through more than half the bag before stopping. He took a sip of tea, utterly satisfied.

“Oh, by the way, Feng Xia, come with me to Huaqing tomorrow. They’re working on some research over there, and I’ll take you to get some experience,” Old Zhang said with a hint of pride.

Feng Xia nodded. Getting a chance to observe on-site was good. Besides, Old Gentleman Wan had earlier asked her to visit an old acquaintance at Huaqing, which she hadn’t yet done. This would be a good opportunity to get her face known.

During this period, Professor Zhu Guangya had been totally buried with the Liquid Lithium Battery project, even meeting with the big boss a few times. Unfortunately, while he and Feng Xia were co-project leads, when it came to the subsequent arrangements and negotiations, Feng Xia, being a mere child, didn't know the ins and outs of favor-trading and politics, so Professor Zhu had to handle it all. As a result, Feng Xia hadn’t seen him for days.

For this trip to Huaqing, Feng Xia had already informed Professor Chen Yue, who was delighted at the idea of the young girl exploring Beijing and cheerfully saw her off.

If Professor Zhu Guangya knew that Feng Xia, who had achieved a major breakthrough in the battery, was now switching to studying fluid mechanics, he would likely drop everything to come drag her back from Huaqing.

The Huaqing University laboratory wasn’t as spacious and bright as Laboratory 101, but it was way better than the Field Army base. When the others saw Old Zhang arriving with a young girl, they all started teasing him.

“Hey, Old Zhang, whose little granddaughter is this? Such a pretty girl.”

Old Zhang replied sternly, “This is my student, Feng Xia. She’s here with me to observe your experiment.”

Feng Xia politely greeted the distinguished experts. They thought Old Zhang was joking and didn't take offense. One of them even patted Feng Xia’s head and pulled two pieces of candy from his pocket to give her.

The experiment was conducted by a relatively young team—students of these lab experts. Having so many people watching made them really nervous, but seeing a young girl helped them relax a bit. A few female students even gave Feng Xia a quiet smile, and the lab atmosphere was quite pleasant.

The experiment began. The students were working on a submarine engine project, an area where the Flower Kingdom currently had a complete blank. Many scientists were striving to explore it, as filling this gap would further expand the Navy’s combat advantages.

The small engine hit the water with a splash and was gradually controlled to sink deeper. The water tank simulated the high pressure of the ocean. The deeper it went, the harder it was for it to spin, until it hit the middle of the tank and gave out completely. The students looked a bit down, but they composed themselves and finished the experiment report.

Feng Xia looked at the retrieved engine, which was nearly shattered. Examining it closely, she could see distinct cracks on the body—clearly, this engine was unqualified for deep-sea high pressure.

Gazing at the blue pool of water, a thought flashed through her mind. She grabbed a piece of paper from the experimental bench and picked up a pen. A glimmer of understanding about the general solution to the Navier-Stokes equations stirred within her.

She wrote with inspiration, formulas flowing onto the paper like crazy. Old Zhang and the others, after finishing the experiment report, planned to take his little disciple to browse the Huaqing library. But they found her bent over the lab bench, writing furiously. Looking at the process, they realized—she was solving for the general solution of the NS equations!

Old Zhang followed her reasoning and found no errors. His heart pounded violently. He felt Feng Xia was about to produce something extraordinary.

Just then, someone called out to Old Zhang: “Old Zhang, let’s go eat!” He waved his hand and made a silencing gesture, signaling not to disturb Feng Xia.

But the lab door had to be closed. One of Huaqing’s senior experts, seeing Old Zhang’s serious demeanor, grew curious and squeezed over to glance at the papers. After a few looks, his feet seemed rooted to the spot; he couldn’t move away. He stood there, eyes fixed on Feng Xia’s equations, peering for a long time. When others grew curious and wanted to come over, Old Zhang stopped them and cleared everyone out, leaving only that Huaqing expert—his closest friend.

Feng Xia had been writing for an hour. The two elderly professors, unable to stand for long, each pulled up a chair and sat beside her, organizing her drafts. Occasionally they exchanged quiet remarks, their eyes upon her filled with excitement and fervor—the eager gaze of watching a rising star.

By sunset, Feng Xia stopped writing, only one step away from the general solution of the NS equations. It wasn’t that she didn’t want to continue; her brain was protesting. In fact, toward the end, she had been almost forcibly sustaining her mental calculations with her superpower, consuming energy at dozens of times the normal rate. Now she was utterly exhausted.

Old Zhang looked at his weary student and praised her repeatedly: “Wonderful, wonderful! You’ve essentially derived the general solution, haven’t you? Just a few more steps, though the computation is heavy. Based on your ability, this problem should be solved by tomorrow at the latest. Come on, let’s not rush. You must be hungry. Let’s go eat.”

Old Zhang and Professor Liao Wen from Huaqing had already organized Feng Xia’s drafts, placing them in a kraft paper envelope sealed with thread. They carefully put it into Feng Xia’s backpack. This was something that would gain international acclaim; they couldn’t be too careful.

At that moment, Feng Xia felt only one thing: hunger—so hungry she could eat an ox. Others might say that as hyperbole, but for Feng Xia, it was literal.

She fished out the two candies from her pocket, unwrapped them, and popped them into her mouth, crunching and swallowing quickly. She was starving. The two elderly professors were alarmed by the look of hunger in her eyes, and Old Zhang, feeling deeply sorry, dragged his student to the cafeteria.

It was dinner time, and the cafeteria was bustling with noise. Old Zhang disregarded everything, went straight to the faculty window, shamelessly jumped the queue, and personally got a large box of meat for his student, who sat waiting to eat. He watched her wolf it down with a look of loving excitement.

He couldn’t let her go hungry—she was the future star of Flower Kingdom’s physics world.

Professor Liao Wen, who had been a step slower, also brought a large bowl of pork rib soup and set it before Feng Xia, his expression equally loving and excited.

The surrounding students couldn’t help but stare. Who was this princess on tour? Were these two big shots really doting on their little girl like this?