Cultivation: I Have Studied Abroad in the Modern World
Chapter 186 - 86 Motivation

Chapter 186: Chapter 86 Motivation

Natural Science Reading Room of the library.

Zheng Fa packed up his exercise books and took out a few borrowed library collections.

The curriculum for freshmen in the Physics Department at Beijing University is actually quite relaxed—apart from some general courses, there are only three professional courses that are mandatory—

"General Physics", "Advanced Mathematics", "Linear Algebra".

For Zheng Fa, only "General Physics" needed some attention, but not much—as an introductory course for the Physics Department, its difficulty level is quite gentle.

The homework wasn’t too challenging for Zheng Fa, either.

Of course, at Beijing University, there’s no shortage of top students who had more than enough academic prowess.

For example, Dai Yuan, the roommate Zheng Fa met at registration, who was a competition student and seemed to have already mastered "General Physics"—recently, it looked like he was aiming directly at the four major mechanics.

Zheng Fa wasn’t in such a hurry.

Mainly because he was not aiming to become a physicist, entering the School of Physics was ultimately to find a way to understand Spirit Talismans, and even the nature of Spiritual Energy.

Simply put, he wanted to find the stone from other hills that could serve to polish his own jade in physics.

Such as now, he was reading a book called "Evolution of Physics".

This is a popular science book about the history of physics, written decades ago.

For students of the School of Physics, this book might be a bit superficial.

But Zheng Fa took it very seriously—the book was co-authored by Einstein, and when written, it inevitably carried some of his own patterns of thinking, which Zheng Fa valued.

Halfway through reading, Zheng Fa couldn’t help but close the book and ponder deeply:

At present, the theory of Three Child Talismans can’t be progressed further.

The biggest problem is that the functions of the other two types of Sub-talismans are hard to define, remaining speculative.

In the development of physics, when faced with such situations—most would resort to experimentation to confirm or refute conjectures.

"Experiment..." Zheng Fa couldn’t help but think of Mrs. Tian’s laboratory again, and it gave him a bit of a headache.

Costs ranging from several million to ten million, Zheng Fa only understood later that that was even on the low end.

The thing with scientific research is that it’s purely uncapped.

If he were to conduct physical experiments like Zheng Fa...

The cost would be hard to predict.

Tang Lingwu has always shown herself to be very much like a wealthy lady.

But Zheng Fa didn’t want to keep using Tang Lingwu’s money unless it was absolutely necessary.

Mainly because — Tang Lingwu didn’t have that much money.

She could probably take out a few tens to a hundred million without alarming her family.

But several hundred to a thousand million—that would inevitably alarm Mrs. Ye and Tang Lingwu’s father.

Perhaps Zheng and Tang Lingwu didn’t need to be so clear-cut with each other.

Whether from the standpoint of their friendship or the fact that he gave Tang Lingwu the opportunity to cultivate, Tang Lingwu probably wouldn’t mind the money.

But...

Both Mrs. Ye and Tang Lingwu’s father probably wouldn’t see it that way.

Zheng Fa believed in the principle of equivalent exchange.

It’s just a matter of what needs to be given and what needs to be received.

All the particulars still needed consideration.

...

Diagonally across the table, Yang, whom he had met in line before, scratched his head.

Although it was only a morning, he inexplicably felt like he was another year further away from graduation.

And more sadly—

With a scratch, he found he had less hair again!

Thinking of this, Yang couldn’t help but feel a surge of sorrow, and couldn’t continue with his thesis.

His gaze wandered around the room and inadvertently landed on Zheng Fa.

He had quite a strong impression of Zheng Fa—not just because they’d encountered each other in the library a few times.

But because once when he was passing the gym, he saw this junior meditating!

Reasonably speaking, Physics majors tend to show these symptoms only when they reach the doctorate stage.

This junior’s case seemed to be... early onset.

After repeatedly meeting him at the library, he finally understood that this junior brother might be a bit quirky, but seemed fairly normal after all.

Seeing Zheng Fa, he couldn’t help feeling emotional.

He always felt he had something in common with this junior brother—even though this junior had more hair, longer legs, and smoother skin on his face.

But there was a time when he, too, was engrossed in his studies without a care for anything else.

However, he now thought he had been mistaken:

When your scientific talent isn’t on par with those geniuses, being too addicted to studying is not a particularly good choice:

For instance, he didn’t have a girlfriend, nor a job, and even his graduation was uncertain.

Seeing Zheng Fa reminded him of these past memories, and his passion for scientific research fell another notch.

Should he just give up and delay graduation?

...

At the entrance of the library, Tang Lingwu walked in gently.

She walked over to Zheng Fa’s side. Zheng lifted his head to glance at her, then packed up his books and exercise booklets, and the two of them walked out of the library shoulder to shoulder.

It seemed they were careful not to disturb others studying, so they didn’t start chatting until after they had left the reading room.

Yang, who was initially just leaning against the railing to clear his mind, couldn’t help but let his eyes drift towards the two—primarily Tang Lingwu.

He had noticed this girl when she walked into the library from the second floor.

Unexpectedly, she was here to meet this junior brother...

Their conversation reached his ears.

"What were you furrowing your brows about just now?"

He heard the beautiful girl ask the junior brother.

"It’s nothing..." the junior brother said softly: "I was just thinking that I need to find a way to make money."

Yang felt some sympathy in his heart.

He remembered that this junior brother was only a freshman?

Was he already shouldering the burdens of life?

No wonder he studied so diligently.

"I have money, you know? I can help you with any amount you need."

That girl’s words sounded to him like some unresolved mystery,

He even felt that there was a hint of grievance in the sister’s voice.

Grievance?

He looked up and saw that the girl was looking at the junior brother with an injured expression on her face.

"I know, I know." He saw the junior brother comforting the other: "I know you have money, but you have to explain to your parents where all this money is coming from..."

"No need, I can talk to my mom about ten million, it shouldn’t be a big issue."

"..."

Yang stood in place, staring blankly as Zheng Fa and Tang Lingwu left.

His eyes were filled with complexity.

He took a deep breath, slowly walked back into the reading room, and decided to battle to the death with his thesis.

At this moment, he deeply realized how different he was from Zheng Fa.

Moreover—his junior brother still worked so hard despite having such a beautiful and rich girlfriend.

I, damn it, have nothing but scientific research.

What right do I have to give up?

...

Zheng Fa had no idea that he had unwittingly inspired Yang. Seeing Tang Lingwu still somewhat upset also gave him a bit of a headache.

The two of them arrived at the retirement home together.

Mrs. Tian laughed when she saw Tang Lingwu: "What’s wrong? Why is your lip curled up so high?"

She looked to have fully recovered and was even squatting on some bare ground, observing something.

Zheng Fa couldn’t help asking: "Mrs. Tian, what are you doing?"

"I was thinking, although the lab hasn’t started up yet, we can begin planting here, and it’s not like we can’t do research without a lab." Mrs. Tian laughed: "The ground is ready, just needs some base fertilizer, and we’ll be in time for planting winter wheat."

Zheng Fa was startled.

Suddenly, he realized his mistake—he had always been thinking about setting up a perfect laboratory, but in reality, basic physical experiments could solve many problems!