182: Chapter 182: Wang Shulin Rejects the Director's and Producer's Strong Invitations

Kyoto, History Staff Quarters.

In the living room, the television was already playing the next segment of the program, but the four old professors' minds were clearly not on it.

After being struck down by Jiang Zhe, the top students were now much more humble in the questions they answered.

Professor Chen Runzhi held his phone, his index finger scrolling across the screen, eventually stopping on the name of Leng Qingsong.

He looked up at the other three.

Old Qian nodded.

Old Liu didn't speak, just made a gesture to call quickly.

Professor Chen Runzhi pressed the dial button.

The sound of "beep-beep-beep" came from the phone as it waited.

Leng Qingsong looked at the incoming call from Professor Chen Runzhi on his phone, frowned slightly, covered the microphone, and answered in a low voice.

From the other end of the line, Professor Chen Runzhi's voice came through with unconcealable amusement, "Old Leng, do you know you've hit the jackpot?"

"What do you mean hit the jackpot?"

"That young girl who connected with you just now, her name is Jiang Xiaoyu; her brother is the one who has been stirring up trouble in the academic world... no, that's not right, the one stirring up the internet!"

Leng Qingsong was stunned, somewhat confused: "Jiang Xiaoyu, should I know her?"

Professor Liang, who was listening in from the side, had his eyes light up when he heard the name Jiang Xiaoyu. He leaned over and whispered, "Xiaoyu? Wait, the audience member who connected just now gave the opportunity to her brother... Xiaoyu's brother..."

Professor Liang's eyes suddenly shone, and he revealed a realization-filled smile, "So that's it, that's right, that's right; the voice was processed so I didn't recognize it, but that speaking style—being able to easily combine interdisciplinary knowledge, tossing it out effortlessly, and carrying a tone of subversive conclusions—it's correct, it's definitely Jiang Xiaoyu's brother."

Hearing this, Professor Leng became even more confused, "What do you mean? Explain clearly!"

Professor Liang began to explain: "Jiang Xiaoyu's brother is the one behind the two papers recently published by the team of Ouyang Baili and Guan Jingming at Huaqing University. One paper is [The Universe is a Black Hole], and the other is [3.5% Probability that the Interior of the Sun is Only 36 Degrees]. Their viewpoints have always come from [J], and the acknowledgments both mention the inspiration from [J]. Currently, many people in the academic world and online are guessing who this [J] is. I never expected this!"

Leng Qingsong held his phone, completely stunned.

On the other end of the phone, Professor Chen Runzhi's voice continued, "Professor Liang explained it right. Do you understand now? You spent 300,000 to have the most mysterious, and perhaps the biggest, rising academic star answer two of your questions. Old Leng, you made a killing on this one!"

Professor Leng finally came to his senses after hearing this, his expression of astonishment instantly transforming into an irrepressible smile and surprise, "Hahaha, so that's it. I haven't read those papers, but I've heard of [J]. I've hit the jackpot; this 300,000 was well spent!"

Professor Chen Runzhi added: "If you want to hear more revelations about him later, you can check out Jiang Xiaoyu's live stream channel."

"Thanks, but I don't have any time recently; I'm traveling all over the country to attend events; it's too much. I'll watch it when I have time. I'll treat you to Michelin later. It seems I need to keep up with the times and watch live streams occasionally."

"Honestly, why is it always Michelin tires? Can't you treat me to a roadside stir-fry?"

"Tires..."

Professor Leng was just excited, but was immediately left speechless by Professor Chen Runzhi.

As Jiang Zhe's connection ended, the television station's ratings quickly plummeted back to normal levels.

The director and producer looked at the suddenly fluctuating lines, exchanged glances, felt exhausted, and wanted to cry.

Backstage at the program recording site, the actors gradually dispersed and returned to the break area.

Seven or eight top student representatives from various departments at Huaqing University, Dabei University, and Shanghai gathered together, their expressions a mix of excitement, agitation, and even curiosity.

"Do you know who that person's brother, the one who connected just now, actually is?" one Huaqing top student couldn't help but ask: "Some of the research he cited, I hadn't even heard of, but once I searched for it, it definitely exists."

"Exactly, and the perspective!" a top female student from Shanghai had bright eyes, "He completely jumped out of our framework. He wasn't answering the question; he was reconstructing the question itself. He pulled Professor Leng's confusion directly to the level of quantum physics and consciousness philosophy. And what's terrifying is—what's terrifying is that it actually makes sense!"

Another top male biology student from Dabei University shook his head and smiled, "At least it sounds terrifyingly logically consistent. I'm starting to doubt whether the textbooks we've studied all these years are too flat, too two-dimensional!"

After discussing it for a while, they began to search online to see if any new academic stars had appeared recently.

Soon, they saw the papers by [J], but they didn't delve into them.

Instead, they found Jiang Xiaoyu's live stream channel on the Dougou Platform. When they saw the familiar title and introduction, and the comments from old viewers...

This group of top students and academic geniuses looked at each other in sudden realization.

"So, she talks about these things all the time!"

"So it's Xiaoyu's brother..."

"No wonder the angle was so novel. Brothers and sisters, let's follow; we need to relearn some things too."

Not far away, in the program director's room.

The director and producer, both middle-aged men, looked distressed.

Suddenly, the producer said calmly: "What he talks about is mysterious, yes, but it sounds well-founded and subversive enough. Being able to trigger large-scale thinking and patterns, this Xiaoyu's brother is not an effect an ordinary academic rising star can bring."

"Director, let's try again. Operator Wang refused you last time; let's try once more now. If we don't try, it's a disservice to these ratings, no matter how much money it costs!"

The director hardened his expression and slammed the table, "Okay, let's try immediately. We can even plan a special program just for him, exclusively inviting Jiang Xiaoyu and her brother."

A few minutes later, at the Kyoto Hotel in the same city.

In the hotel lobby lounge area, on the sofa, Wang Shulin's phone rang, "Cheng Dao, I've seen everything you mentioned; the popularity is indeed amazing. However, regarding your invitation for Jiang Xiaoyu and Xiaoyu's brother to participate in a special program, I'm afraid that's not possible for now!"

"Why? We can renegotiate the terms—even make it exclusive!"

"It's not a question of exclusivity. Local television stations have already contacted me, and they offered exclusivity too; so it's not a matter of terms."

"It's about respecting their wishes. Every time Jiang Xiaoyu starts a stream, the original intention is to record her brother tutoring her in their daily life."

"Xiaoyu's brother is not a public figure, and he has no intention of debuting. The connection on the program just now was purely accidental because Jiang Xiaoyu secretly signed up. Our platform respects privacy and autonomy."

If it were anyone else, Operator Wang would also be respectful, but not to the same degree as he was with Jiang Xiaoyu!

Because Jiang Zhe is a national-level secret...

The other end of the phone was silent for 2.5 seconds, and the director's voice sounded somewhat reluctant, "Then, in the future?"

"In the future? No one can say. Unless Jiang Xiaoyu gets a whim one day and wants to sign up for some activity... then your program can secretly rejoice. But before that, please do not disturb us, thank you!"

New Year's Day, early morning.

The noise on the internet did not subside because of the arrival of the New Year.

On the contrary, phenomena like clones, ghosts of possibilities, and Professor Leng spending 300,000 to ask two questions quickly dominated the trending search lists.

At this time, on major social platforms, academic forums, and even private chat groups of intellectuals, colleagues and fans were fiercely discussing the short dozen minutes during yesterday's New Year's Eve television program.

"It seems it's definitely [J]."

"Jiang Xiaoyu's live stream happened to be suspended yesterday, and then she entered the Intelligence Peak Competition and was selected as a lucky audience member. As it turned out, she didn't know the answer, so she gave the opportunity to her brother."

"Yes, I'm so envious of Professor Leng. 300,000 to get one-on-one personal guidance. It makes me want to go too. I'm currently working on whether there is an antidote for the rabies virus after it invades the brain nerves..."

"I asked the operations supervisor of the Dougou Platform last night, and they hinted that it was at the national level that they are preventing us from disturbing him; but the state has not interfered with [J]'s freedom; it seems some things might be true!"

"That, that would be extraordinary!"

Of course, there were those who joined in the fun and those who were skeptical.

There were fierce refuters who believed this was just pretentious pseudo-scientific packaging;

But more people fell into a daze—if regret could really summon another version of oneself, if life could just be an accelerated replay; then many inherent cognitions seemed to be starting to shake.

While heading to work in the early morning, Professor Leng's private email inbox received dozens of emails overnight.

There were discussions from colleagues, media invitations, and even several academic figures with special status, politely seeking more information about the connected guest.

Professor Leng Qingsong replied immediately after getting up, and refused on the grounds of respecting privacy.

New Year's Day, daytime, the streets of Gusu, how extraordinary!

The first day of 2026, the sun was just right.

Jiang Zhe was dragged along by Jiang Xiaoyu to experience a normal holiday.

They went to a crowded commercial street, waited in line for half an hour, and were almost recognized by fans during that time. Fortunately, the fans were very polite and didn't disturb them further, only exchanging a glance.

Later, they went to an amusement park. On the roller coaster, Jiang Xiaoyu's screams tore through the sky, and she was limp all over after getting off!

Jiang Zhe, however, remained expressionless throughout. Even when diving from the highest point, he was observing whether there was a butterfly effect that could cause the roller coaster to instantly collapse. When Jiang Xiaoyu heard this, she complained repeatedly, "Brother, that's the criminal thought of a perfect crime; you can't have that! Are you going to ditch me later and go spy on an illegal organization making a deal? And then you'll be forced to take a drug by the illegal organization, turn into a kid, and finally disguise yourself as a smart child living in Uncle Mao's house next door, vowing to investigate the source of the illegal organization?"

Jiang Zhe's mouth couldn't help but twitch upon hearing this.

In the afternoon, they rushed to the cinema and watched a science fiction movie called "Tank Zhuge Liang vs. Voldemort." The laughter in the cinema was constant, making Jiang Xiaoyu laugh until her abs hurt.

Jiang Zhe, however, was speechless. Who would film such a genius movie?

A dull yet lively day passed quickly; this was something Jiang Xiaoyu liked very much.

Although Jiang Zhe felt it was a bit noisy, seeing Jiang Xiaoyu's unbridled, happy smile, he felt it was worth it.

Time passed, and it was evening.

The two, who had played all day, returned home and began a new night of tutoring!