At first, the students only made text posts on the university forums. With a "pics or it didn't happen" mentality, they were met with a great deal of skepticism.
"A freshman wows a renowned professor? Holy shit, what kind of shameless clickbait title is that?"
"A student proposed a different way to punctuate and translate the *Treasure of Life and Form Theory*, earning praise from all the Medical Ancient Texts professors, and was even called 'teacher for a lesson' by Elder Qiu and the others? Do you think you're writing some wish-fulfillment novel?"
"That's some next-level bullshit!"
"No kidding. A freshman with that kind of skill? Who are you trying to fool? I'm a graduate student specializing in Medical Ancient Texts, and I can tell you with certainty that the *Treasure of Life and Form Theory* has already been studied to death by countless generations of medical scholars! That being the case, any new punctuation or translation is guaranteed to be wrong! And it earned praise from all the Medical Ancient Texts professors? What a joke! He'd be lucky not to get ripped to shreds!"
"The OP is a total fucking idiot! No explanation needed!"
"If any of this is real, I'll livestream myself eating shit!"
Aside from these cynical and mocking replies, some people grew curious about the name of the story's protagonist.
"Huh, that name, Zhao Yuan... why does it seem so familiar?"
"Now that you mention it, I think it sounds familiar too. I feel like I've seen it somewhere."
"Thanks to the reminders from the two posters above, I remember now! That super-popular 'Muscle God' and 'Aura God' guy, isn't that his name?"
"That's him, that's the name, and he just so happens to be in Class 3 of the Integrated Chinese and Western Medicine program! Holy shit, does that mean these posts are just a big publicity stunt? But using such an obvious lie that'll be exposed in a second... that's just stupid!"
"Seriously! I was a fan, but now I'm a hater!"
"Same here. Fan to hater!"
Nobody on the forums believed the posts from the students of Class 3, Integrated Chinese and Western Medicine. They were convinced it was a clumsy publicity stunt, and all sorts of condemnations and insults started flooding in.
Seeing these replies, the students of Class 3 were absolutely furious.
'A publicity stunt? Lies?'
'Screw you!'
'You don't believe us? You want proof? Fine!'
The students who had taken photos earlier immediately found the relevant pictures in their albums and uploaded them to the university forums.
The clearest of these photos was taken from an excellent angle. It not only captured Zhao Yuan lecturing at the podium but also showed the group of Medical Ancient Texts professors below, led by Elder Qiu, listening with rapt attention.
Unsurprisingly, the photo instantly went viral, garnering a mountain of replies in moments.
"Holy shit, no way! The guy is actually lecturing the professors!"
"I see Elder Qiu! And Professor Ma... Damn it, what the hell is going on? Where are the experts? Someone get in here and analyze this! Is this photo Photoshopped?"
"I still can't believe it."
"Can't believe it +1"
Although the people on the forums were still skeptical, their attitudes were beginning to shift. They went from absolute disbelief to hesitation. And just then, another post appeared that completely obliterated everyone's doubts and caused them to do a complete one-eighty.
It was a video post containing two short clips.
The first video showed Qiu Haogu praising Zhao Yuan's punctuation and translation, stating that he wanted to compile the content into a paper for publication in the *Chinese Medicine* journal. The second video showed the moment after Zhao Yuan finished his lecture, when Qiu Haogu led a group of Medical Ancient Texts professors to their feet to bow, calling him "teacher for a lesson."
A photo could be Photoshopped, but a video was undeniable proof.
After everyone watched the two clips, a brief silence fell over the forums. For several full minutes, not a single person posted or replied. But following that silence was an explosion of noise more violent than a volcanic eruption.
In just a minute or two, the video post was bumped to the "Hottest" section and had already amassed seven or eight pages of replies.
Most people were shouting in disbelief.
"HOLY SHIT, HOLY SHIT, HOLY SHIT! It's actually real! A freshman came up with a new way to punctuate and translate the *Treasure of Life and Form Theory*! That's insane! Who the hell is this Zhao Yuan? No, wait, you can't even call him human anymore. He's a straight-up Demon!"
"I'm a third-year grad student, and the papers I kill myself to write only get published in second- or third-rate medical journals. But he's just a freshman, and he's about to publish in a top-tier journal like *Chinese Medicine*! Not to mention he has Elder Qiu and the others co-authoring and backing him up. I'm so damn jealous!"
"When I saw Elder Qiu and the other professors bow to Zhao Yuan and call him 'teacher for a lesson,' I got goosebumps all over! That is so fucking badass! I hereby declare that from this day forward, Zhao Yuan is my idol!"
"Waaaah, I was wrong! I should never have doubted my dreamboat!"
"I was wrong, too! I just... I really didn't think that on top of his amazing body, our dreamboat was also this talented!"
"He could clearly get by on his looks alone, but he just had to go and be a genius too. And such an amazing one at that! As expected of my hubby!"
"You shameless hussy upstairs, who are you calling hubby? My dreamboat is *my* hubby!"
"All of you, get lost! Don't you dare try to steal my man!"
"Where's that guy who was yelling about livestreaming himself eating shit? Get out here! We're waiting for your broadcast!"
In an instant, all the people who had turned from fans to haters came crawling out, crying and begging for forgiveness. At the same time, countless onlookers were won over by Zhao Yuan's monstrously impressive feats and became his new fans.
Meanwhile, Cao Han was on the phone, making inquiries about transferring to a different program. After a few calls, he breathed a sigh of relief. According to the rules at West Hua Medical University, first-year students had one opportunity to change their major. As long as it wasn't an especially popular program, they could switch just by submitting a written application.
'How am I supposed to write this transfer application?' Cao Han's head ached. He thought for a moment and decided to look for a template to copy from the university forums. Just then, he felt the urge to pee, so he strode into the bathroom, opening the browser on his phone as he went. But when he opened the forums, he was greeted by a screen full of posts sucking up to Zhao Yuan.
"Fuck, fuck, FUCK! Are all these people at school fucking blind? Fawning over some poor hick from the boonies and calling him a dreamboat... They're dragging down the whole reputation of West Hua Medical University!" Cao Han ground his teeth in hatred. Just then, he suddenly spotted his own name in the title of a post. Without reading it closely, he clicked on it.
The post opened, displaying a photo on the screen. In the picture, Cao Han was glaring menacingly at several female students, while Zhao Yuan stood like a guardian angel, shielding them behind him as he faced off against him. It was only then that Cao Han noticed the post's title: "Shameless Scumbag Bullies Female Students, Handsome Dreamboat Comes to the Rescue."
'Shameless scumbag? I'm the shameless scumbag?' Cao Han trembled with rage. Suddenly, his vision went black, and he fainted dead away. His head, by a stroke of terrible luck, landed right in the urinal. Fortunately, there wasn't much urine in it, or he would have choked to death.