The Mad Beauty Professor Forced Me to Mark Her - Chapter 10

Before reaching adulthood, Qi Si had never known what it meant to be poor.

She was born in an era of rapid economic growth. Her father was a southerner who had come to Jinghai to make a living, and her mother’s family had once owned a declining factory. Although her parents’ life could not be called rich or noble, materially speaking, they had been completely able to give Qi Si a carefree environment where she never lacked food or clothing. At most, the chaos of their later marriage had caused Qi Si a certain amount of psychological harm.

Last summer, Qi Si had taken thirty thousand yuan from home and begun her gap-year travels. Although that decision had been unconventional, not a single person around her had opposed it. Qi Pan had even worried that thirty thousand yuan would not be enough for her to spend on the road and repeatedly reminded Qi Si to call him for more money if she ran short.

The young and ignorant Qi Si had not taken money seriously at all. Her mind had been filled only with freedom and distant places. It was not until the first month after leaving home that she realized money was actually so easy to spend. A year later, she came to understand even more deeply—

Money was even harder to earn.

Earning money was hard. Borrowing money was even harder.

Most of Qi Si’s relatives lived in southern cities and had little contact with the Qi family. Qi Si could not bring herself to ask them. Banks and financial institutions were also unwilling to lend money to a university student like her who had nothing. Because she had taken a gap year last year, she had also missed the chance to apply for a student loan. The only option left to her was high-interest online loans.

After thinking it over, Qi Si decided to call MII.

She had considered asking Zhou Danqing for help, but Boss Zhou was a benefactor to her, and Qi Si did not want to trouble such a benefactor over such an embarrassing matter.

“Yo, top student. Finally remembered me?” MII’s voice carried a slightly smoky texture, husky and very charming.

“Can you lend me some money?” Qi Si felt as though every word was an execution.

MII laughed softly and said sweetly, “Baby, call me Sister once, and I’ll agree to anything. You can borrow as much as you want.”

Qi Si said, “I’m not joking, Sister MII. I’ll pay you back the next time I get money.”

“I know. I’m not joking either.” MII seemed to be smoking. Through the phone, she exhaled toward her. “The drug from University A I told you about last time—do you want to consider it?”

Qi Si had a very good memory. “The one for sixteen thousand?”

“The price went up. Eighteen thousand. Are you coming?”

“Why did the price go up?”

“They didn’t manage to recruit anyone for their lab last month. This drug has very high requirements for test subjects. The Alphas I brought over were in too poor physical condition and were all screened out during the medical exam. Baby, you’ll definitely pass. Your physique could charm someone to death.”

A drug with high requirements and high compensation had to have severe side effects.

Qi Si said, “So you’re saying I have to agree to test the drug before you’ll lend me money?”

MII burst out laughing, then her tone shifted as she said, “Yes.”

“After testing this drug, will it affect selling my gland later?”

MII froze. “What?”

“It’s the drug that can temporarily deactivate an Alpha’s gland, right? If the gland becomes inactive, then later, if I want to… sell the gland, will it be affected?” Qi Si spoke these shocking words calmly.

MII fell silent on the other end. After a while, Qi Si reminded her, “Sister MII?”

“You’re thinking too much. Why don’t we pick a place and talk face-to-face?”

Qi Si said, “But I need money now. Urgently.”

MII said, “I’ll transfer it to you.”

By borrowing money from MII at the cost of agreeing to a drug trial, Qi Si’s crisis was temporarily resolved.

She sat on the grass in the park beside the school and lifted her head to glance at the sky. At that moment, the sky was clear blue, and wild geese flew past.

She felt somewhat relieved that she had not done anything impulsive in the laboratory earlier. A bad life was still better than a good death. She still had two younger sisters with no one to support them.

The next day at noon, while getting food in the cafeteria, Qi Si heard the students lining up behind her discussing Lin Ye’s laboratory.

“It was clearly a freshman’s mistake, but Professor Lin didn’t distinguish right from wrong and dumped all her anger on Su Moxiao. What did Su Moxiao do wrong? She had just come back from holiday and got scolded. I heard Lin Ye won’t let her stay in the lab anymore. Seriously, even if she made a small mistake, was there any need to go that far?”

“Lin Ye is just sick. Is she jealous that the student under her is pretty?”

“If we’re talking about looks, Lin Ye is even prettier, right? What would she be jealous of?”

“What use is being pretty? With the way she is, even if she were the most beautiful person in the world, no one would dare get close to her. Whoever marries her will definitely be unlucky for life!”

“Hahaha, Professor Lin isn’t married yet?”

“She’s still young. She became an associate professor at twenty-seven. I heard that the year she was evaluated, a young lecturer who had failed the evaluation six times had a breakdown and jumped off a building. Other people were being forced to the end by the ‘up or out’ system, but Lin Ye passed on her first try. Comparing people really can drive someone mad!”

“The gap is that big?”

“Of course. Why do you think Su Moxiao tried so hard to get into her lab? University A has so many lab resources, but she chose Lin Ye precisely because Lin Ye is capable and can produce papers!”

“That’s too ridiculous. If she were just a little gentler to students, people could still endure it for their future…”

“Don’t endure it. What future matters more than your life? In my opinion, it’s better to switch labs early. Can’t results be produced in any lab?”

“Sigh, you may not know this, but my roommate is doing her graduation project in their lab. She said Su Moxiao seems to have a crush on Lin Ye.”

“Holy crap. Isn’t Su Moxiao an Omega? OO romance? Are you kidding?”

“I don’t know. Anyway, Su Moxiao really likes copying Lin Ye’s style. Whatever clothes Lin Ye wears, a few days later Su Moxiao buys the same kind. Whatever bag Lin Ye carries, Su Moxiao follows and buys it too. Even her hair now was permed to imitate Lin Ye’s.”

“This… she likes her supervisor that openly? And ended up getting kicked out?”

“It’s all Yuan Lü’s fault!”

“So infuriating!”

Qi Si, the culprit herself, acted as though she had heard nothing. After getting her favorite shredded pork in garlic sauce and vegetables, she had just turned around when someone bumped into her head-on and knocked over her food.

The tray flipped toward her. Scalding hot food spilled over her body. Then, with a clang, Qi Si’s tray fell to the floor, drawing countless gazes.

“It’s her?”

“How miserable.”

Qi Si glanced at the person who had bumped into her. From the gloating look in the other person’s eyes, she understood that this was another targeted attack.

Covered in mess, her hand scalded red, Qi Si stood in front of the cafeteria window and got a rag from the cafeteria auntie. She wiped the food off herself, then suddenly pressed the rag hard against the culprit’s face and wiped.

Everyone was startled. The girls who had been lining up behind her and gossiping earlier fled the fastest, switching to another window to continue lining up.

Someone rushed over to pull Qi Si away, but Qi Si shoved them back hard. The expression on her face clearly said three words: don’t mess with me.

The bystanders avoided her at once. The culprit ended up covered in filth and left in a sorry state. Only Qi Si remained at the window where she stood.

She briefly cleaned up the food waste, took off her dirtied jacket, and underneath was a black striped tank top that showed off her figure very well, causing someone to involuntarily let out a “wow.”

Just like that, as if nothing had happened, Qi Si asked the auntie at the window to give her another serving of food.

Someone nearby whispered, after all this, how could she still eat?

Others secretly took photos, envying her mental state.

University A’s cafeteria did not separate faculty and students. For convenience, many single young teachers also chose to eat in the cafeteria.

Leather shoes stepped across the cafeteria’s sticky floor with a tapping sound. Lin Ye walked up behind Qi Si and lined up, her tone neither salty nor bland as she said, “What happened to you?”

Qi Si turned back to look at her, her tone as usual. “Nothing. I accidentally knocked over my tray.”

Lin Ye looked over the mess she was in and revealed a slightly mocking smile. “Oh, really?”

Qi Si said, “Be careful not to step on the food on the floor. Or I can get your food for you. What do you want to eat?”

Lin Ye raised an eyebrow at her.

Three meters away, the students who could hear their conversation were shocked and whispered, “That’s Professor L-Lin? Are they that close?”

Qi Si got food and soup for Lin Ye, then found a seat and placed the tray down. Before she could sit, the students beside them quickly picked up their own trays and left.

From Qi Si’s observation, this girl who was willing to talk to her did not seem very popular either. She might even be more severely ostracized than Qi Si.

Many people would secretly look at Qi Si, meet her eyes, and even smile politely and greet her. But many people around them did not even dare look at the person beside her. Someone walking with their head lowered nearly ran into her head-on, then immediately turned and walked back. There were even people making faces at her where she could not see.

Hiss. Fellow sufferers indeed.

Qi Si comforted the other woman. “Don’t bother with them. University only lasts four or five years. It’ll be over quickly.”

Lin Ye did not understand why she said that, but still gave an “mm.”

The meal was very quiet. Qi Si helped her take her tray, then after saying goodbye, returned to the dorm to change clothes, opened her computer, and studied as usual.

In the second week after the nude mouse incident, Qi Si still occasionally experienced being shoved on the road, having soup splashed on her in the cafeteria, and being ambushed on her way back to the dorm. But these targeted methods did not exceed the bottom line of student pranks, so they were not major problems.

During this period, Qi Si reduced how often she went out. Unless necessary, she rarely even went to the cafeteria. Many times, for convenience, she ate instant noodles in the dorm. It just so happened that she could use this period to bury herself in studying. Her mind was entirely on programming, and she was enjoying it tirelessly.

Until one day, a message popped up on her computer:

789167137 requests to add you as a friend.

Verification message: You’ve been doxxed.

Qi Si searched online for the definition of “doxxing,” and her heart dropped.

“The person who deliberately bumped into you in the cafeteria that day was Zhou Weihang.”

“The same one who fought with you in the corridor on the first day of class.”

“Zhou Weihang has a group chat full of his shady friends. They used to talk about movies, play games, and share porn resources. Recently, they’ve been planning every day how to target you.”

“My friend is lurking in the group and sent me some of their chat logs. You’d better take a look.”

The pink little penguin icon kept popping up with messages, including many screenshots from the group chat. The high-frequency term that appeared inside was “74,” a homophone of Qi Si’s name.

“They said they want to force you to leave University A’s medical school and plan to spend money to have someone dox you.”

“Before, it was only petty trouble. But starting recently, the methods they’re discussing have become more and more bottomless.”

“Because of the laboratory incident, they think you made her lose face and ruined her entire life.”

“Is your family’s address on Jikang Road?”

“They’re planning to go after your family. I don’t know when. They might already be staking the place out.”

Jikang Road, Vanke Anjing Apartments.

If these people really doxxed her and found the address, what would happen to Qi Si’s younger sisters?! What would happen to Jiang Mingzhu? How furious would Qi Pan become?!

Damn them. If they had guts, why couldn’t they come at her directly?

Qi Si looked at the constantly flashing profile picture, and her heart sank into an ice cellar.

Because of Su Moxiao, these people were planning to destroy her completely?

Qi Si spent a long time carefully reading those chat screenshots. There were already more than ten people threatening to deal with her, and another four or five discussing how to stake out and target her family.

Qi Si felt chills run down her spine. She could not imagine that students would do something like this. Her hand trembled as she clicked the cursor and typed a reply: “Was this instigated by Su Moxiao?”

The pink penguin paused for a moment before sending a message.

“I don’t know. You can go find her and reconcile with her. See if that can stop them. The mountain-climbing trip before had a pretty good effect, didn’t it?”

If reconciliation worked, how would Qi Si have fallen to this point?

After reading the messages, it was already nine at night. Qi Si called Jiang Mingzhu, then sprinted out of the dorm to look for Su Moxiao.

Su Moxiao’s phone would not connect, so she thought of going to the laboratory to find her. She would drag the person out first and deal with the rest later.

Qi Si stood downstairs at the laboratory and pressed the doorbell.

“I’m Qi Si. I’m here to find…” Before she could finish speaking, the electronic door automatically popped open.

Huang Bian was the tall Eldest Senior Brother who had questioned her that day. He was holding a stack of documents and waiting for her in the corridor, his expression kind as he said, “Student Qi Si, I was just about to call you.”

Qi Si asked, “Are the investigation results out?”

“Yes. Although they haven’t been announced yet, everyone who should know already knows. Actually, on the first day of the incident, Junior Sister Liu performed autopsies on the nude mice that died, and the surveillance footage was later restored too.” Huang Bian adjusted his glasses. “To be honest, I was quite surprised. I didn’t expect her to do something like this.”

Qi Si said, “Her?”

Huang Bian laughed. “Looks like the lab’s confidentiality work has been pretty good. You still haven’t heard anything?”

Qi Si found it somewhat unbelievable. “Su Moxiao did it?”

“Yes. She deleted the surveillance footage and introduced pathogens to the nude mice. She probably thought that would make it foolproof, but she didn’t know—and actually, none of us knew either—that Professor Lin has backups of all the laboratory surveillance footage. Even if footage is deleted, it can be restored. It wasn’t hard to investigate clearly. It’s just that the result was very unexpected.”

Qi Si froze in place. It felt as if all the blood in her body had been drained away, and numbness spread from head to toe.

Just now, she had still been wondering whether reconciliation was possible in this matter. But Su Moxiao actually hated her to this extent? She had deliberately tricked her into becoming a research assistant, then designed a scheme to frame her?

From the looks of it, the doxxing matter was most likely true. Su Moxiao was willing to take such a huge risk to frame her, which meant she truly wanted to destroy Qi Si.

If she could be this vicious, wouldn’t Zhou Weihang and the others be even worse?

Qi Si was very worried about her family’s safety.

“This incident frightened you badly, didn’t it?” Huang Bian sighed and comforted her. “Ever since Professor Lin took over our laboratory, there’s never been a mistake. That day, Professor Lin originally said she was going to a meeting, but for some reason, she turned back and happened to run into this incident. Even I got scolded terribly. Haha, thankfully the truth has been investigated clearly. Now a lot of people’s filters for Junior Sister Moxiao are going to shatter.”

Qi Si felt as though her own reason was about to shatter. She lifted her head and asked, “Where is Su Moxiao?”

Huang Bian said, “She came by this afternoon. She got scolded and left. Are you looking for her because you want her to apologize?”

“I don’t know. Would she apologize?” Qi Si’s mind was in chaos. “Where is your supervisor?”

“What are you looking for our supervisor for? The punishments that needed to be given have already been given.” Seeing her ashen expression, Huang Bian was afraid she would truly provoke Lin Ye and hurriedly stopped her. “Don’t go inside. Hey, hey!”

The more Huang Bian reacted this way, the more it proved that Lin Ye had not finished work yet and should still be in the laboratory building.

According to what Qi Si had heard from others, this Lin Ye was probably someone who could keep Su Moxiao under control. Perhaps she could offer help.

That was better than calling the police only after something happened, right?

Qi Si searched room by room. Huang Bian chased after her from behind. The tall man grew out of breath after only a few steps and had no choice but to ask Liu Yilan for help. “Junior sister, come help. That Qi Si from last time is here. She says she wants to find Professor Lin…”

The moment Liu Yilan heard that it involved Lin Ye, she grabbed a baton and left, storming after Qi Si. She caught up and swung the baton over with a muffled strike.

Huang Bian covered his eyes, unable to watch.

How did she end up using a baton for this?!

Qi Si heard a rush of wind sweep toward her. Before she could turn back, she was struck heavily. A woman with a high ponytail grabbed the back of her collar, and her ears filled with that woman’s roar. “Unauthorized personnel, get out!”

The pain slowly brought Qi Si’s reason back. Only then did she remember that she was an “unauthorized outsider,” powerless and without influence. On what grounds would the people in the laboratory help her?

Su Moxiao had entered the laboratory through connections. Her family had a background, she had resources at school, and behind her was a pile of brainless fans who had appeared from who knew where. Perhaps once this matter quieted down, Su Moxiao could still return to the lab as usual and even obtain a paper with her name on it.

What could Qi Si do? Behind her, she only had a fragile family and two younger sisters waiting to be fed.

Fight them? What ability did she have?

Qi Si lowered her eyelids. Her gaze swept over Liu Yilan, but she said nothing. With her head down, she turned and walked back.

Huang Bian worried about her while also blaming Liu Yilan. “You should throw that baton away. It’s too dangerous. If you injure someone, can you take responsibility?”

“You’re the one who let her in. You bring every tiny little matter to bother Professor Lin. What, is anyone going to be allowed to come sightseeing in our laboratory from now on? How are you even acting as Eldest Senior Brother?”

The two of them began arguing. Liu Yilan put away the baton and left, while Huang Bian’s face flushed red with anger.

Behind them, a door opened with a creak.

The corridor abruptly fell silent. Liu Yilan froze. Huang Bian lowered his head and greeted, “Professor.”

Qi Si looked back and saw a young and beautiful woman standing at the end of the corridor. She wore a white cashmere sweater, her legs slender and straight, and her hair tied in a low ponytail. She stood against the light, looking at Qi Si.

“What happened to you?” Lin Ye asked Qi Si.

Her unusually gentle tone made Liu Yilan and Huang Bian freeze at the same time, their eyes widening in disbelief. They had followed her for years and had never once seen Professor Lin speak in such an approachable tone.

And she had taken the initiative to speak to some little nobody who had not even grown all her feathers?

What exactly was going on?

Qi Si stared blankly at Lin Ye and remembered that they seemed to have met many times, but she could not clearly say where.

The woman seemed to smile without smiling, staring only at her. That gaze made Qi Si’s face burn a little.

Qi Si walked up to Lin Ye and found that she was even taller than Lin Ye. After comparing their heights and voices, Qi Si lowered her voice and said, “Sister, help me.”

Lin Ye’s eyelashes trembled slightly.

“That night, I saw you testing drugs on them.”