Around 5:40 the next evening, Lin Jie arrived at Chunlai Restaurant near the east gate of Binhai University, the venue for Professor Chen Shi's student gathering.

The lowest temperature today dropped to minus three degrees, which is quite low for the coastal Binhai.

Being somewhat afraid of the cold, Lin Jie dutifully followed Lin Miao's advice, dressing warmly with an especially cozy down jacket on top.

In a large private room, Lin Jie met the senior classmates who had already arrived.

There were eleven master's students, six PhD students, and including Yan Beichen, three combined bachelor-master-doctorate students, fourteen males, and six females, totaling twenty people.

Seeing the room full of people, Lin Jie couldn't help but marvel, a tutor with so many students, it's really a wonder if they can be taught to excel.

The one who called Lin Jie, Shijing Mountain, is an in-service PhD student in his forties, efficient and mature, enthusiastically introducing everyone to Lin Jie one by one.

After getting to know everyone, they sat around a large rotating dining table by hierarchy.

The youngest, Lin Jie, received special care and sat next to the organizer, Shijing Mountain.

With a smile, Shijing Mountain said, "Junior Brother Lin, knowing you were coming to this gathering, Lu Xiaoyu, Song Licheng, and Qiu Zhengwen all specially took time off from their hospital internships to be here!"

Song Licheng, dark and thin, shouted enthusiastically, "We watched Junior Brother Lin's assessment and defense live from start to finish without missing a bit. Junior Brother Lin's talent makes me look up in awe. This rare gathering, of course, we had to overcome any difficulties to attend!"

Lu Xiaoyu, with looks that were just about decent, tucked a strand of long hair behind her ear and softly agreed, "Indeed, Junior Brother Lin impressed us all that day, making us submit willingly!"

With a simple and honest appearance, Song Licheng didn't speak, just nodded with a smile at Lin Jie.

"With Junior Brother Lin's talent, going directly for a PhD is more than ample!"

"What a pity this special admission policy only allows for a master's!"

"Junior Brother, your look when operating on that sheep was simply stunning!"

Everyone chimed in with heaps of praise.

Seeing their enthusiasm, almost flattering, Lin Jie was somewhat surprised. He clearly recalled Lu Kaicheng once saying that Professor Chen's students harbored quite a bit of resentment towards themselves.

Actually, this is what is known as things have changed.

With Lin Jie's performance in the admission assessment, everyone understood that as long as his health remained stable, he would at least grow into a renowned medical expert in the country.

They also knew that Lin Jie would certainly be particularly valued by Professor Chen Shi. In this situation, if they continued to antagonize Lin Jie, they'd pure be out of their minds.

Of course, whether their warmth and praise were genuine or not, only they knew.

With everyone's careful attention, Lin Jie had a quite pleasant meal.

Around nine o'clock in the evening, the gathering came to an end.

As doctors and future doctors, they greatly understood the concept of health preservation. After the meal, no one suggested heading to bars or KTVs to continue the fun, and instead, everyone dispersed.

Shijing Mountain did not return to school with the other junior classmates but walked slowly with Lin Jie towards the parking lot.

As they reached Lin Jie's car, he suddenly spoke, "Junior Brother, I want to ask for a favor, there's a small matter I'd like to discuss with you!"

"Oh, a favor? What is it?" Lin Jie replied casually!

Shijing Mountain slowly said, "I am assisting the teacher with a research project and found a few undergraduates to help with some minor tasks. Among them is a student named Lai Haoming. He works diligently and performs quite well."

Coming out from the warm restaurant to the open outdoors, the twenty-degree temperature difference felt cold, and though Lin Jie was warmly dressed, the chill still seeped in from his unshielded face and neck.

Seeing Shijing Mountain had the inclination for a long conversation, Lin Jie promptly pressed the car key, unlocked the car, opened the car door, and said, "Let's talk inside the car, it's quite cold outside."

"Oh, sure..."

Sitting in the passenger seat, Shijing Mountain looked around the car interior and smiled, "It's indeed a luxury car, from the outside it doesn't look much different from an ordinary car, but once inside, the feeling is completely different!"

Lin Jie started the car and turned on the heater, "For me, it's just a means of transportation, not much different in function from a regular car. Senior Brother Shi, please continue."

Shijing Mountain pondered for a moment and continued, "Today I learned something from Lai Haoming."

"Lai Haoming also watched your entire assessment live and was genuinely impressed, thinking you were simply extraordinary."

"A few days ago, during a phone call with his family, he took you as a role model and recounted your story to them to inspire himself."

Shijing Mountain sighed and said, "The family of those six girls who publicly sought help online is from the same village as his. They also have a child with a congenital heart defect!"

"Lai Haoming's parents may have wanted to encourage this family and casually mentioned your story during a chat."

He slowly shook his head and said, "It was unexpected that the family came up with this method."

"Since it broke out online, Lai Haoming has been uneasy and wanted to explain the facts to you in person, but was somewhat worried and afraid. It was only when I noticed him being distracted at work and proactively asked him that he told me!"

"Junior Brother, I know that online incident caused you a lot of trouble. But, Lai Haoming is essentially a good person, and this incident was purely an unintended mistake on his part. I hope you can forgive him."

In Lin Jie's heart, he felt a bit amused.

If those six children's parents were so quick-witted, they would have used this means to seek attention and help long ago. Why delay until now? Clearly, someone must have been advising them.

He said solemnly, "This matter has reached a fairly satisfactory resolution for the time being."

"As for Lai Haoming, it's not really a matter of forgiveness or not. After all, because of him, that struggling family finally got some attention and assistance."

"However, his actions indeed caused considerable inconvenience to my personal life. I don't care if it was unintentional or intentional. I won't give him trouble, but he'd better not appear in front of me again."

Shijing Mountain was taken aback!

He didn't expect Lin Jie to respond this way. In his mind, even if Lin Jie was displeased, he would feign generosity, expressing understanding and forgiveness.

With an awkward smile, Shijing Mountain said, "Junior Brother Lin, to be honest with you, this Lai Haoming has already applied for the teacher's graduate program. His grades are good, and the teacher is quite satisfied with him."

This was something Lin Jie heard for the first time!

He gave a light "oh" and said indifferently, "Then please tell him to focus his main efforts on his second choice, or working first wouldn't be a bad idea!"

Shijing Mountain's expression immediately turned dark, unhappy as he said, "You don't have the authority to intervene in graduate admissions!"

Lin Jie snorted and said, "I don't have the authority, but Professor Chen has the authority to decide who to admit."

"Professor Chen, the An Family, and my relationship, I believe you know some of it."

"Did this Lai Haoming get kicked by a donkey? He applied for Professor Chen's graduate program and dared to pull off this stunt? With his intelligence, I doubt he can even pass the entrance exams for cultural studies!"

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