Carrying a Jurassic on me
Chapter 807 - 437: Professor Qi Becomes an Academician

Chapter 807: Chapter 437: Professor Qi Becomes an Academician

"Professor Qi said that if we ever go to Provincial City, he’d treat us to a meal to celebrate, as if he got promoted," Yan Fei had just finished saying goodbye and hung up the phone with Professor Qi. He started to share the news with Xu Xiaoyan without waiting for her to ask.

"What promotion, can’t you even understand what you’re being told?" Xu Xiaoyan despised him. "I don’t believe Professor Qi would get promoted. What really happened? Give me the exact words he said."

"He said he got some title or something, and that his benefits might increase a bit, but he didn’t say much else," Yan Fei said, feeling wronged but then suddenly got a bright idea. "I have a way, watch me. Find someone to ask about it..."

And he dialed Professor He’s number in Provincial City. The girl really misunderstood him this time. Someone like Professor Qi wasn’t one for many words. He simply mentioned he had joined some academy where he didn’t need to go to work, and before Yan Fei could grasp it all, he said he would treat him to a meal to celebrate next time he was in Provincial City.

As soon as Professor He answered the call, his booming voice came through, vigorous as always, no matter the time, "Little Yan, you remembered to call me? What’s up?"

Yan Fei chuckled, "Nothing much! I’m just so free, I thought I’d shoot the breeze with you!"

"Sure!" Professor He laughed heartily, genuinely happy. Usually students, whether graduated or not, were each more serious and solemn than the last when they met him. It was rare for him to know someone who’d banter with him just for fun. "I heard you were on TV, and you waited so long to call me. Are you worried I’d ask for drinks?"

"You know about that?" Yan Fei was surprised. "Do you still watch our TV station?"

"Who watches your TV station? All they do is sell medicine..." Professor He’s contempt was palpable even through the phone. "Someone told me. Do you think I have nothing better to do than to keep an eye on you? How’s that earthworm thing going? Get a new variety bred sooner rather than later and patent it. Start promoting it so our people don’t end up raising earthworms without our own new variety. It’d be embarrassing to say the least."

Yan Fei felt warmth in his heart. The old man was tough talking but truly had his back. If he didn’t watch Wan City TV, how could he know they sold medicine all day? He must have watched it after hearing Yan Fei was on TV.

"When is it considered that a new variety has been completely bred? How do I get that patent?" he wondered, as he asked aloud.

"Stinky kid, I’ve always told you to study hard and aim high, not to just think about making money all the time! See, now you don’t understand again, do you?" Professor He would not let Yan Fei off the hook, seizing the opportunity to lecture him. "I’m not going to tell you, just to keep you puzzled..."

"Come on, spill it! I’m hanging up if you don’t," Yan Fei threatened over the phone, running out of options.

"Haha, it’s hard to explain. Wait until you come here, and I’ll give you a proper lesson. It’s different from applying for a patent for an invention, like a machine. It’s complex to explain in a few words. With plant and animal patents, you can’t patent the new species itself, but the method you developed to breed it. The recognition process is quite complicated. You’ll understand when I teach you in person," Professor He explained.

"Alright then!" Yan Fei was just inquiring; there was no rush as he still had time. "Oh right, Professor Qi said he’s treating us. You know what it’s about, right? That whole academician thing, what’s that all about?"

"You don’t know what an academician is?" Professor He was a bit puzzled. "Didn’t you learn about it in school? Mr. Deng and Mr. Qian, who developed the atomic bomb, they’re academicians of the Academy of Sciences, as is Mr. Yuan who invented hybrid rice. You didn’t know this? Are you even a student?"

"I know, of course! Even if I don’t study much, I still know about these things..." Yan Fei was replying casually when suddenly he realized. "What? Are you saying Professor Qi became an academician too? Just like them, that level of an academician?"

Miss Xu Xiaoyan, beside him, with her already large eyes, now had them wide as saucers. It felt like something from legend suddenly happened right before her, realizing someone she knew had become an academician made the whole world seem unreal.

Yan Fei had been the one on the phone with Professor Qi, but the professor had mentioned it so casually that Yan Fei hadn’t even considered this possibility!

As for why Professor Qi could have become an academician, Yan Fei could figure it out without even thinking hard—it must be because those wheat crops were successful. Wheat was a major food crop, after all, and improving its yield surely had a different significance than other crops.

"Haha, scared you there, didn’t I, kid!" Professor He across the line was simply too proud of himself, probably already picturing the shock of two people on the other end of the phone. "That’s an academician of the Academy of Sciences we’re talking about! Our entire province has only a few of those, didn’t see that coming, did you? Hahaha..."

"It’s not you!" Despite being shocked, Yan Fei still couldn’t stand Comrade Old He’s smugness and found different ways to take him down a peg. "No wonder Professor Qi sounded so happy earlier, even said he’d treat to a meal. Too bad, it’s Professor Qi, not Professor He, looks like you missed your chance to treat..."

"Pah! You little brat!" Professor He retorted, not willing to give in. "What grade are you starting this school year, kid? Just you wait, when you end up in my hands, I’ll show you. By the way, if you really manage to stabilize that earthworm breed, I’ll consider admitting you out of turn. I’ll have a new way to deal with you every single day!"

"Is that something a professor should be saying?" Yan Fei sneered. "Sorry to say, but I’m just starting first year of high school when the semester begins, and even if I forged a school record, I’d still have to wait two years to take the college entrance exam. You want to deal with me, well, keep waiting! By the way, tell me about that academician, how much extra do they give per month?"

"Just a little capitalist through and through, always thinking about the benefits," Professor He scorned him again. "A stipend of two hundred yuan a month, how’s that, not too shabby, eh?"

"Ah..."

"Ah what? This is extra, what about it?" Professor He, hearing Yan Fei exclaim ’ah’ on the other end of the line and then fall silent, couldn’t help but explain himself again.

"Nothing, just think that’s a bit little," Yan Fei said frankly. Honestly, in his eyes, that wasn’t much. Zhang Hui at the veterinary station initially came to the cattle farm part-time, and he had offered him two hundred yuan!

"Little?" Professor He suddenly became excited. "This is an honor, you understand? It’s the recognition of our hard work in research... forget it, I have no common language with a little capitalist like you. You wouldn’t get it even if I explained. By the way, you kid, aren’t you coming to Provincial City during the holidays anymore? My house is running out of honey, and the wine is almost gone too. Why don’t you come and butter me up a bit, and in return, I’ll see if I can arrange for you to be admitted out of turn to go straight to university, how’s that?"

"Can’t stand people who offer backdoor deals like yours, I must get into university on my own merits, otherwise it would lower my class," Yan Fei bragged awesomely, putting on airs. "Do you know what I’ve been doing this summer? I’ve learned island nation’s language, and now I’ve mastered it. No kidding, for me, taking the college entrance exam is hardly harder than slaughtering a head of cattle!"

This was all because he had gained confidence from learning a foreign language, and his self-assurance had inflated tremendously.

"Fine, I’m not afraid of your boasting, when the time comes and you don’t get admitted, I’ll have the last laugh," Professor He admitted defeat, hoping that in the future, Yan might fail and he could regain some face. "If you’re around with nothing to do, just drop by for a visit, and stop by Old Qi’s place too. No one’s there all day. Now that he’s become an academician, the visitors he gets aren’t always the ones he wants to see..."

"Sure thing!" Yan Fei agreed readily. "I’ll visit whenever I feel like it, easy peasy. I’ll bring you both some of the fine beef I sold in Hong Kong, been learning to make steak lately... oh... almost forgot to ask, can your teeth still handle beef?"

"..."

The two of them chatted for a while longer before Yan Fei finally hung up the phone.

The girl who had been waiting for him immediately asked, "Are you going to Provincial City?"

"Do you want to go?" Yan Fei asked her in return.

"I kind of want to see the house, but I also don’t really feel like going. School’s not starting yet, so I don’t really feel like going to Provincial City," the girl was a bit conflicted.

"We’ll talk about it when you feel like going, no rush. Or we could wait until school starts, head over a couple of days early; the new house still needs furniture! There’s nothing to see there for now, let’s wait until I’ve got all the furniture ready and sent over..."