I'm back in 1990

Chapter 125: Second Senior Brother?

Cola Novels, your portable library, contains more than ten thousand volumes.

Things quickly returned to normal. Shortly after the academic journal published the article, Wang Deyi was added as a member of the academic committee. Someone had to accept the favor from above, and if the students were unhappy, then the teachers would have to take over!

Moreover, Wang Deyi is an expert in the field of economics and has done extensive research on tax system issues. He also revised and submitted Huang Xiaochuan's paper. He understands Huang Xiaochuan's paper ideas and original intentions best, so all the benefits were given to him.

For a school, an outstanding young person is definitely not as desirable as a member of the academic committee who is a native of the school, and this outcome may be the best.

Huang Xiaochuan, the person involved, didn't care. Everyone was happy with this arrangement. However, the old man knew exactly why this windfall had fallen into his lap.

Ever since this shameless old man got involved with him, he's had incredible luck, winning the highest honor in Chinese academia. And then there's that hospital incident—he owes that favor a huge, insurmountable debt!

However, the school was kind enough not to forget Huang Xiaochuan and gave him a bonus. The amount was not large, only a hundred yuan, which was quite good, considering that the school was also poor at the time!

Even Wu Duo and the other two authors, who were listed as co-authors, each received a bonus of thirty yuan. Of course, the honorary significance outweighed the economic significance, since this would greatly benefit their future career development by adding this to their resumes.

Although Wang Deyi hadn't taught any students for a long time, his former students called to congratulate him after hearing that their mentor had been added to the academic committee. Some even traveled from afar to visit him, perfectly illustrating the saying, "When you're poor, no one cares even in the bustling city; when you're rich, distant relatives come calling even in the deep mountains!"

The academic circle in China is only so big. Perhaps some trivial matters go unnoticed, but the sudden addition of a member to the academic committee is a big deal, and the circle becomes extremely lively.

The annual nomination and election of academicians is a major event in the academic community. Wang Deyi's name was not originally on this year's candidate list, but the election has been completed and the list has been finalized.

Unexpectedly, his name was suddenly added to the confirmation list, and it did not take up any of the other selected academic committee members' slots. In other words, an extra slot was specially added this year for Wang Deyi, which was a big deal.

Immediately, some interested people investigated the reason and discovered that Wang Deyi was one of the authors of the article published in Renren Daily not long ago. Combined with Wang Deyi's status as the corresponding author in academic journals, people used their imagination to roughly guess the reason and confirm one thing: the central government was going to reform the original tax system, and the reform would be quite significant.

But what happened to the first author, Huang Xiaochuan?

In fact, small groups exist everywhere. There's a saying: "Wherever there are people, there is a social hierarchy." Of course, academia is no exception.

For Wang Deyi's former students, if their beloved teacher was just a quiet old man living in the ivory tower of a university, then the only connection they had was a little bit of affection. They would send a postcard or write a letter during holidays to show their concern, and those with a bit of human touch would visit him once a year.

It's not fair to say that all these students are bad; after all, people come here for profit, and those who have Wang Deyi in mind are already quite good.

However, it's different when Wang Deyi becomes an academician. The resources that academicians control are incomparable to those of an ordinary university professor. This involves the evaluation of certain special professional titles in the future, the allocation of funds, and so on.

The same applies to the school. The more big names like academicians from our school, the better. They can help the school secure more research funding and have more say in the future. So, as soon as Wang Deyi became an academician, the school immediately changed his office and arranged an assistant to take care of his work and life. It felt like he went from being an ugly duckling to a swan overnight.

Just three days after Wang Deyi was elected as a member of the academic committee, one of his former students traveled all the way from Shenzhen to visit his teacher.

"Congratulations, teacher! Congratulations on becoming a member of the academic committee!" A chubby man who looked nearly forty years old held Wang Deyi's hand tightly with a big smile, reluctant to let go.

"Qiming! What brings you here?" Wang Deyi asked casually, then subtly withdrew his hand.

Jiang Qiming didn't seem to mind and continued to smile, saying, "I heard the good news and was so excited I couldn't sleep all night. If it weren't for the difficulty in buying plane tickets, I should have arrived yesterday. Please don't blame me for being late, teacher."

"Have a seat! Xu Hui, make me a cup of tea." After gesturing for Jiang Qiming to sit down, Wang Deyi instructed the assistant assigned to him by the school to make Jiang Qiming a cup of tea.

"Okay, Committee Member Wang!" After becoming a member of the Academic Committee, everyone's way of addressing Wang Deyi changed.

"Qiming! You didn't come all this way just for this, did you?" Wang Deyi casually asked Jiang Qiming why he had come.

"That's right! I came here specifically to congratulate you on this matter." Jiang Qiming made no attempt to hide his purpose.

"Qiming! That's enough, a phone call would have been enough, why make a special trip?" Wang Deyi said politely. Actually, he was originally quite averse to this, but when he thought of Huang Xiaochuan and the saying that a hero needs three helpers, he forcibly abandoned his original aloofness and principles of not competing with the world.

He wanted to pave a path for Huang Xiaochuan. Since Huang Xiaochuan wanted to become a university teacher, conduct research, and teach students, he would use his remaining energy to help him move forward. As for his original students, except for a very few, the rest could become Huang Xiaochuan's help in the future.

After Xu Hui placed the brewed tea on the coffee table, Wang Deyi instructed, "Xu Hui, please find Xiao Chuan for me and have him come to my office. Tell him I need to speak with him."

"Okay, Committee Member Wang, I'll contact him right away."

After Xu Hui left, Wang Deyi exchanged pleasantries with Jiang Qiming.

Wang Deyi was very clear about Jiang Qiming's intentions. To say that his student was not particularly good, he was not bad either. His interpersonal skills were second only to Huang Xiaochuan among his students. That's right, the old gentleman had already regarded Huang Xiaochuan as his last disciple, although he required Huang Xiaochuan to take his postgraduate entrance examination seriously.

Having just become a member of the academic committee, he did need someone to cheer him on; otherwise, he, a lone commander, would not be able to protect his future successor, Huang Xiaochuan. Therefore, he welcomed Jiang Qiming's arrival.

Huang Xiaochuan, who was designated as Wang Deyi's successor, was on his way to his office.

After receiving a page from Xu Hui, Huang Xiaochuan called him back and, upon learning that the old man was looking for him, immediately went over.

Upon entering the office, Huang Xiaochuan didn't notice Jiang Qiming's presence. He grinned and said, "You've really upgraded your equipment this time, old man. Is this office big enough?"

"Even if it's big, it's not enough for you to bounce off with a fart." The old man brought up the old story again.

"Hey! Why are you bringing up something you don't want to talk about?" Huang Xiaochuan was extremely embarrassed.

Wang Deyi knew what kind of person Huang Xiaochuan was, and you still had the nerve to pretend: "Alright, stop pretending, let me introduce you."

Huang Xiaochuan then noticed a fat man huddled on the sofa and quickly straightened himself out.

"What's this?" Jiang Qiming stood up, looking at the young man in front of him who was so disrespectful to his teacher. He had to admit that the kid was much more handsome than him.

"Qiming, this is your junior brother Huang Xiaochuan. Xiaochuan, this is your second senior brother Jiang Qiming. You two should get to know each other. You brothers should get closer in the future."

Huang Xiaochuan looked confused: "Second Senior Brother?"

The tall, stout middle-aged man in front of me, with his bulbous nose, big mouth, and small eyes, really does look a bit like Zhu Bajie (Pigsy).

When did I become your junior? Aren't I your graduate student yet?

"Junior brother?" Jiang Qiming looked at Huang Xiaochuan with a puzzled expression, then at Wang Deyi, wondering when the teacher accepted graduate students.

"Xiao Chuan is going to apply to my graduate program in the future, so he'll be your junior!"

Jiang Qiming suddenly realized, "Oh right, I haven't taken on any students in a long time. Now I've suddenly taken on a student, and it's none other than my junior brother! It seems that this junior brother should be a senior this year and should be applying for graduate school this year."

He greeted Huang Xiaochuan warmly: "Hello, junior brother. I am your second senior brother, Jiang Qiming, an associate professor in the Department of Economics at Shenzhen University."

Huang Xiaochuan was stunned. Were all the old man's students that amazing? One of them was even an associate professor?

"Hello, Professor Jiang!"

Jiang Qiming scolded, "Call me Second Senior Brother, and you call me Professor Jiang in front of the teacher? Are you trying to embarrass me?"

At this moment, Wang Deyi also said, "Your second senior brother is right, listen to him."

Huang Xiaochuan then tried calling out again, "Second Senior Brother?"

"Okay!" Jiang Qiming grinned and agreed happily.