Chapter Two: The Thesis Controversy

“By the way, Yang Hui, your thesis fell into the water and you never got it back. I’m afraid you’ll have to write it again! Honestly, it wasn’t that long, you’ve written it once before, so writing it again shouldn’t be a big deal. Why did you have to be so impulsive?” Yang Wei put down his pen and turned around, puzzled.

“Thesis? What thesis?” Yang Hui asked in surprise. Then, suddenly, he remembered: indeed, back in university, he once dropped his thesis into the water. He couldn’t swim, tried to retrieve it, and nearly drowned. The whole campus laughed at him afterwards! The memory was painful; it was not something he liked to recall.

“Hey, you were the one who said it was your thesis, and then jumped in after it. Nobody could stop you! Now you pretend not to remember—are you afraid of being mocked? People will laugh anyway, they always do. Ha! Just thinking about it makes me want to laugh again!” Yang Wei burst out in laughter.

Watching Yang Wei laugh, Yang Hui felt a sudden nostalgia for his university days. But this wasn’t the time for sentimentality; he had to deal with the present situation.

“You know nothing. When my thesis is finally published, it will cause a sensation. Naturally, it couldn’t be leaked ahead of time—it had to be kept secret, so I had to retrieve it or destroy it. Otherwise, why do you think I was so desperate to jump in? Do you understand confidentiality regulations?” With a raised eyebrow and a slight, disdainful smile, Yang Hui retorted immediately. Of course, this was his story now; in his previous life, he hadn’t had such a good excuse, nor had he tried to conceal anything. Having lived decades longer this time, he was naturally more cunning!

“Oh, so you have a classified document now? Everyone in our dorm knows your thesis, and it wasn’t exactly sensational!” Yang Wei mercilessly pointed out the flaws in Yang Hui’s thesis.

Yang Hui responded with another scornful smile, tapping his fingers lightly on the iron bed frame. For a moment, he felt a surge of confidence. In his former life, he truly couldn’t have produced a thesis that would make waves. But now, things were different. With his knowledge and experience, writing a groundbreaking thesis wouldn’t be difficult.

“No, no, no, what you all saw was just the surface. The real thesis, you haven’t seen. The only physical copy is now lying at the bottom of the river—it was the first draft and an absolute secret. Just wait, I’ll give you all a surprise.”

Hearing Yang Hui’s excuse, Yang Wei felt he couldn’t keep arguing with him; there was no point in continuing. He picked up his pen, ready to resume writing.

Suddenly, he remembered something and said, “Alright, I’ll wait for your surprise. But before that, you’d better figure out how to deal with this mess. Your little incident will make you famous all over the university soon enough.”

Just then, a knock sounded at the door. Yang Wei sighed, put down his pen, and stood up to open it. “Must be Changhong and Yongqing back.”

Tang Changhong was the first to walk in and, seeing Yang Hui, asked, “Yang Hui, the whole campus is talking about how you almost gave up on life and jumped into the river because of a broken heart. But I’m puzzled—you don’t even have a girlfriend, so where’s this heartbreak coming from?”

“Right, right! Changhong and I heard the rumors several times on our way here, each more exaggerated than the last. What actually happened?” Wang Yongqing leaped in and added, looking at Yang Hui, waiting for his explanation.

“Hah, I knew this would make him famous, but I never imagined the rumors would spread so fast and get so twisted!” Yang Wei laughed as he spoke, his finger still pointing at Yang Hui with no intention of letting up.

As expected, things were unfolding just as he thought. In this dull, engineering university, any bit of gossip could last for ages, and this incident was truly sensational. After being embellished by the student body’s creativity, it was bound to become even more dramatic—soon, everyone would know. What a run of bad luck, Yang Hui thought, feeling speechless.

So Yang Hui had no choice but to explain to the two of them again, of course mentioning his “classified thesis.” Naturally, Tang Changhong and Liu Yongqing both joined in mocking Yang Hui’s “secret thesis,” and promised to wait for his surprise.

Nonetheless, once they understood the reason, the three of them criticized Yang Hui’s reckless dive in the dorm once more. Tang Changhong even offered to teach Yang Hui and Yang Wei how to swim, so they wouldn’t drown in the future.

Yang Wei, unable to bear Tang Changhong’s lecture including himself, quickly suggested that it was getting late and just about time for dinner. They should all head to the cafeteria.

On the way, Yang Hui couldn’t shake the feeling of discomfort, as if he were being watched by the CIA again. “See? You’re already famous. Everyone who knows you is watching you, you’re the king of the campus now,” Yang Wei joked.

Yang Hui walked toward the cafeteria, enduring the stares. He was nearly fifty years old—why should he care about harmless looks? Still, he found the glances amusing and oddly nostalgic.

He got his meal and looked for a table. But he soon noticed that several people from his field were watching him closely. Ah, knowing too many people had its disadvantages now; decades later, students might not even recognize their own classmates after four years.

At that moment, someone across from him suddenly spoke. “Yang Hui, I heard you jumped into the river? Some say it was because of a broken heart. We’ve always been at odds, but I’ve never heard you had a girlfriend. As a civilized modern college student, I refuse to believe such rumors! Ha!”

Hearing this, Yang Hui laughed inwardly. Zhao Ziqiang—this guy was considered a top student at the university, though their relationship had never been good. It wasn’t about competing for female classmates; in this era, students rarely dated, buried as they were in their studies. Their conflicts were purely academic, each holding fast to their own views. In truth, it wasn’t much of a feud. Academic disagreements—could they even be called conflicts? After all, they were all educated people.

Zhao Ziqiang, since you’ve raised this issue today, I’ll take the opportunity to explain myself to everyone, so they don’t keep staring at me like a monkey.

With his voice a little louder, Yang Hui stood and said, “Everyone, please don’t believe the wild rumors going around. Yes, I did jump into the river, but not out of heartbreak. It was to retrieve my thesis from the river—or to destroy it, to be precise. Please stop discussing it. Thank you.” With that, Yang Hui sat back down.

The cafeteria immediately fell silent. A few seconds later, the crowd erupted in murmurs. “He jumped in just for a thesis? Even if he retrieved it, it would be soaked.”

“Exactly, that excuse doesn’t hold water. Maybe there’s something he’s not telling us.”

All sorts of questions popped up. Clearly, no one believed Yang Hui’s honest explanation—this was still the 1980s, and yet even now, telling the truth didn’t seem to work.

...

Then Zhao Ziqiang spoke again. “Yang Hui, is that really your explanation? We’re all college students here, capable of logical thinking—don’t treat us like fools.”

The crowd echoed: “Yeah, exactly...”

Yang Hui had no choice but to go deeper. “I wanted to destroy that thesis. If someone else found it, my work would be leaked. It was for security!” If this were twenty years later, everyone would understand—by then, plagiarism and fake theses would be rampant. But in this era, no one had ever heard of thesis fraud.

“A thesis lost in the river—who would bother to fish it out? You make it sound like your thesis is a classified document from the Central Committee!” Someone out of nowhere quipped, sparking laughter.

“Haha, exactly! If it’s truly a secret, maybe we should go dredge it up ourselves and see!” Another sharp voice suggested, instantly receiving enthusiastic support.

Zhao Ziqiang seemed to understand now. “Yang Hui, you mean your thesis is important, sensational even? If that’s the case, I can see why you’d be so nervous. But that would make this an academic issue between us. I’ll be very interested to see what masterpiece has you so anxious!”

With that realization, Zhao Ziqiang stopped questioning along with the others. Truthfully, he looked down on the crowd of mediocrities.

“Yang Hui, everyone’s now focused on your thesis. If you’re confident in it, bring it out as your shield—let the attention shift to your thesis instead of your river jump. That should do the trick,” Tang Changhong whispered to Yang Hui.

“That might work,” Yang and Liu quietly agreed.

It seemed feasible. Yang Hui nodded silently, then stood up and addressed the crowd again. “Yes, my thesis is explosive. If it leaks ahead of time, it won’t be good. Just wait and see.”

With that, he said no more, sitting down to eat quietly.

The cafeteria settled down, but the storm around the thesis seemed only to be beginning...