Chapter 168 - 164: Feeling a Little Stupid
In Professor Zhang Minfang’s office on the fourth floor of the School of Life Sciences’ laboratory building.
Professor Zhang was flipping through a stack of academic papers when Sun Xiang knocked on the door and came in with Li Dong.
Every time Zhang Minfang saw Li Dong, he felt differently about him.
The first time, Sun Xiang had brought him to Zhejiang University to work on the Alpine Willow Chrysanthemum project.
Back then, he’d just thought the young man was full of drive. Li Dong’s declaration that he simply wanted to do the project had impressed him.
The second time they met, Li Dong clearly told him that his greatest passion was physics.
A physics enthusiast dabbling in a biology project? Zhang Minfang had his doubts back then.
And this was the third time.
Yesterday, before Cai Tianxin left, he had said something to him in the hallway.
"Old Zhang, when it comes to analytic number theory, I admit that Li Dong’s skill surpasses my own."
Zhang Minfang’s expression hadn’t changed, but inwardly, he was genuinely shocked.
He knew Cai Tianxin well.
Cai Tianxin’s contributions had been instrumental in helping the Zhejiang University School of Mathematics achieve its current standing.
The man had immense academic pride. For a scholar like him to admit he was "inferior to a student"—there were few people in all of Huaxia who could elicit such a confession.
’This kid... is the real deal.’
"Have a seat."
Zhang Minfang raised a hand, gesturing for the two of them to sit.
He skipped the pleasantries and got straight to the point.
"Regarding your Alpine Willow Chrysanthemum project, Sun Xiang sent me the experimental data and the progress report earlier. I’ve gone through it carefully."
Zhang Minfang pushed up his reading glasses.
"There are no problems."
"The localization and cloning of the HpPAR Gene, the CRISPR knockout, the heterologous expression validation... The entire experimental logic is sound, and the data is solid."
"You two can write the paper yourselves. Once you’re done, just send it to me."
At this, Zhang Minfang paused and looked at Li Dong.
"As for the journal, submit to *Molecular Plant*."
"I’ve published in *Molecular Plant* before and am quite familiar with the editorial department."
"Once your manuscript enters the review process, at least it won’t be left to gather dust on an editor’s desk."
Li Dong had no objections. Professional matters should be left to the professionals.
Although *Molecular Plant* couldn’t compare to powerhouse journals like *Nature* and *Cell*, in the niche field of plant science, it was definitely in the top tier.
Its impact factor was consistently high, and its editorial board was world-class.
More importantly, to Li Dong, this paper was more about fulfilling Mendel’s unfulfilled wish.
He knew in his heart that his original reason for taking on this project was to help that quiet, taciturn old man from the group chat find closure.
As for where it was published, he really didn’t care much.
Li Dong gave a crisp nod.
"We’ll submit to *Molecular Plant*, then."
Zhang Minfang gave him a satisfied look, then continued.
"Regarding authorship, you’ll be first author, and Xiaosun will be second author."
"I’ll just be the corresponding author."
Li Dong hurriedly replied.
"Okay, thank you, Professor Zhang!"
This "thank you" was not a mere pleasantry.
Many people thought the position of corresponding author was a freebie credit, and some even saw it as a way of stealing the glory.
But in reality, the core role of a corresponding author wasn’t to share the honor, but to endorse the work.
This was especially true for a duo like him and Sun Xiang.
A college freshman and a former high school teacher.
In the world of plant reproductive biology, they had almost no credibility.
Li Dong did have an academic reputation, but that was in mathematics.
A nineteen-year-old who published a first-author paper in *Mathematics Computing* was suddenly dabbling in molecular genetics?
Far from being a point in his favor, a reviewer seeing his name would likely not think, ’Wow, this person is brilliant,’ but rather...
"You, a mathematician, have the spare energy to do plant gene editing? Did you actually conduct this experiment, or is your name just on the paper?"
A reputation in a different field not only didn’t transfer over, but could sometimes become a target for skepticism.
But with Professor Zhang Minfang’s name as the corresponding author, the situation was completely different.
Zhang Minfang was a senior professor at the Zhejiang University School of Life Sciences, had published two papers as corresponding author in *Nature Genetics*, and had academic credibility in the field of plant genetics.
His willingness to endorse this paper as the corresponding author meant he was using the academic reputation he had built over decades to vouch for the research findings of these two young men.
After settling the matter of the paper, Zhang Minfang glanced at Sun Xiang again.
"You’re okay with this?"
Sun Xiang quickly shook his head.
"No problem! Professor, I feel better now than I ever have!"
Sun Xiang wasn’t lying.
From the moment the project was mentioned, he felt his train of thought was clearer than ever before.
Experimental design logic he could never wrap his head around before now seemed perfectly clear in his mind.
It was as if... someone had installed a lamp in his brain, illuminating all the darkness.
Li Dong looked at Sun Xiang.
His heart skipped a beat.
’Damn.’
’Don’t tell me the Inheritance of the Torch Passive Skill just activated?’
At this point, Professor Zhang had finished speaking.
He waved his hand, signaling for them to go about their business.
The office door closed.
Only then did Zhang Minfang let out a sigh.
’To think I actually lost to Sun Xiang. My student isn’t as good as his student.’
The thought struck Zhang Minfang as absurd, but it was undeniably true.
But after a moment, he shook his head again.
He only admired Li Dong; he wasn’t exactly desperate to claim him as his own protégé.
After all, the kid was already lost in the abyss of mathematics. He knew all too well how mentally taxing that field was.
’To find the energy to delve into molecular genetics on top of that? Impossible.’
So Zhang Minfang didn’t entertain any other ideas.
Helping Li Dong get this paper published was the most he could do.
...
In a graduate student study room at the Zhejiang University School of Life Sciences.
Sun Xiang opened his laptop and typed the paper’s title into Word:
[Cloning and Functional Verification of HpPAR, the Key Gene for Parthenogenesis in the Alpine Willow Chrysanthemum—The Final Answer to the Genetic Puzzle of Mendel’s Mountain Daisy]
Then came the abstract.
"In 1866, Mendel proposed the law of segregation in genetics through his pea plant cross-breeding experiments... To verify the universality of this law, Mendel spent over a decade conducting cross-breeding experiments on the Alpine Willow Chrysanthemum, but he was never able to replicate a stable 3:1 trait segregation ratio..."
His fingers flew across the keyboard, his thoughts terrifyingly clear.
How to describe the materials, how to structure the methods, the results of the three key experiments.
Cross-breeding replication, gene-editing verification, heterologous expression...
The more Sun Xiang wrote, the more excited he became. He looked up at Li Dong.
"Li Dong, why don’t you go take a walk."
"I’ll write this paper. You can just check it for me when I’m done."
"I feel incredibly sharp right now."
Li Dong looked at Sun Xiang’s excited expression and nodded nonchalantly.
To be honest, all the experimental data was already in. They had the localization and cloning of the HpPAR Gene. They’d restored sexual reproduction after the CRISPR knockout. The self-pollinated offspring of the knockout strain even showed a perfect 3:1 segregation ratio...
The entire experimental logic was coherent from start to finish. The skeleton of the paper was already there; all that was left was to add the meat.
Leaving this kind of thing to Teacher Sun wouldn’t be a big problem.
"Alright, I’ll go for a walk then."
Li Dong got up and pushed open the door of the study room.
...
Hang City in January was still quite cold.
Li Dong walked slowly along the main road of the Zhejiang University Zijingang Campus.
By this time, the army of graduate school applicants had finished their initial exams and were anxiously awaiting the next round of interviews.
However, the students here at Zhejiang University didn’t seem too anxious.
These elites, the cream of the crop, had looks of unwavering confidence.
Li Dong pulled out his phone and opened WeChat.
Only then did he see the message from Qi Yu.
"Single-molecule enzyme kinetics... renewal process theory..."
The corner of Li Dong’s mouth twitched slightly.
’Qi Yu, how am I supposed to explain this to you right now?’
’I’m not one of those savants on *Super Brain* who can instantly calculate the high-order roots of massive numbers...’
He thought for a moment and decided to put Qi Yu’s question aside for now. He’d deal with it after things here were settled.
As he continued his walk, he had a feeling... that something had changed.
...
Back in the study room.
Sun Xiang was scratching his head, staring at the paper on the screen, his expression gradually turning blank.
’Huh? What’s going on?’
’The sgRNA design for CRISPR... should I write about the target screening strategy first, or the vector construction process?’
’Wait, for the heterologous expression validation, should the Arabidopsis parthenogenesis efficiency data go in subsection 3.4, or should I pull it out into a separate table?’
Sun Xiang rubbed his temples, a little confused.
’I was on such a roll just a minute ago. Why do I feel... kinda dumb now?’