"Last time, didn't Dragon Rise arrange for some people to get into Japan and South Korea through cooperation?" Seeing that Luo Ziling didn't get what she meant, Ling Ruonan had to explain further: "After those people went in, they uncovered a lot of secrets we didn't know before. What the Ishihara Family and the Xu Family are doing in the darkâbesides drug trafficking and human traffickingâwhether it's normal cross-border trade or shady smuggling, they're involved in all of it, and very deeply involved."
Luo Ziling immediately understood what Ling Ruonan meant. "Mom, you want us to get involved in these things too?"
"We can use them to fight for some benefits. Anyway, we're already working with them. There's nothing wrong with taking some profit through cooperation. Also, you know Western countries have embargoes on some high-end, cutting-edge products for us. We can use them to get our hands on those high-end things." Ling Ruonan spoke very firmly.
Luo Ziling was startled. "Mom, don't tell me you're even planning to pay attention to some high-end weapons?"
"Nothing wrong with that either. Your grandfather has already instructed us to do this." Ling Ruonan said it in a casual tone: "Doing this kind of thing, we've got the country as our backing; it's very safe. As long as we don't really infuriate the Americans and a few major European powers, nothing will happen. Of course, even if we do piss them off, we still have the country behind us."
"All right then!" Luo Ziling still felt a bit uneasy, but with Ling Ruonan sounding so confident, he didn't pour cold water on her.
By the time mother and son finished chatting, it was already past eleven.
Luo Ziling didn't go back to school; he slept at home.
After taking a shower and getting ready to lie down on the bed, he habitually took out his phone to check it and saw a bunch of unread messages. For the people who weren't that important he just replied a simple line, and for people like Ouyang Feifei, Dong Xiaowan, Wang Feiyang, Luo Yuqing, and Dai Shulan, he replied with a few more words.
But he didn't see any message from Yang Qingyin.
"Senior, are you asleep?" Luo Ziling sent a message.
"Yeah, I'm asleep!"
"If you're asleep, how are you replying?"
"Yup, I sleepwalk all the time." There were a few eye-roll emojis after that.
"I was crazy busy today, didn't have a second free."
"You've got so many beauties to take care of, of course you're busy!" Yang Qingyin still added a few eye-roll emojis at the end.
"I don't even have time for a top beauty like you, let alone anyone else!" After sending that, Luo Ziling immediately followed up with another message: "Feels like I'm being pulled in a hundred directions. I really miss those laid-back days when I just came to Yanjing. You know what? Ishihara Naka went with us to the Northwest and actually did spy work there."
"No way?" Yang Qingyin was surprised. "How could that happen?"
"It's hard being a man. Not only do I have to date girls, I also have to worry about all kinds of thingsâstate affairs and national issues. Just think how many there are."
This earned him a string of eye-roll emojis from Yang Qingyin. Then she sent another message: "My grandpa said he'll be at the old residence tomorrow afternoon. If you've got time, go over and see him. He was busy today, and you were busy too, so I didn't set anything up."
"Time can always be squeezed out, unless something urgent blows up. Besides, meeting your grandpa is also very important. Let's make it tomorrow afternoon then, we'll go together. Oh right, when you went home today, did anything happen? How's your mom doing?"
"My mom's just pissed off because of my dad, she's in a bit of a gloomy mood. Otherwise she should be fine. Anyway, they're in cold war mode now. My dad's ignoring us like we don't exist."
"All right, as long as there's no more battles breaking out, that's good."
After they chatted for a while, they said goodnight and went to sleep.
Just as Luo Ziling was about to fall asleep, Wang Feiyang sent him a message.
"I thought you weren't going to reply to me."
Then another one: "Still this busy at night?"
"Of course I'm busy, I'm exhausted like a dog!"
"I don't believe you!" Wang Feiyang also added a few eye-roll emojis and immediately sent another one: "Oh, I get it. Accompanying women really is tiring!"
"If there's nothing else, I'm going to sleep." Luo Ziling didn't want to banter with Wang Feiyang.
"There is something, of course there's something."
Luo Ziling ignored her.
Very soon, Wang Feiyang sent another message: "My dad wants to invite you over for a simple meal at our house. When are you free?"
"I probably don't have time these two days. Tomorrow and the day after are already booked."
"For real?"
"For real!"
Wang Feiyang replied angrily: "You're really annoying, you don't treat me as your person at all."
"If I didn't have so many things to deal with, and if there weren't so many people trying to kill me, I'd love to loaf around all day, drinking and chasing girls."
"Fine, I'll ask you again in a couple of days."
Luo Ziling didn't respond to Wang Feiyang anymore. After sending a "goodnight," he tossed his phone aside.
The next morning, Luo Ziling didn't have class. Over in Clinical Medicine they just happened to have Diagnostics, so he went over and sat in on two periods.
Near noon, he got a call from Wu Mingyun, who asked on the phone if Luo Ziling had time, and if so, to come by his office. Luo Ziling didn't refuse and happily trotted over to Wu Mingyun's office.
"Principal Li talked to me about finding a way to let you graduate early," Wu Mingyun got straight to the point. "I also think holding both student and teacher identities at the same time really isn't a good idea. Some people might use that to attack you, and we both know there are plenty of people who want to do you harm. But I still want to hear what you think."
"I also want to get my diploma as soon as possible. But I know that 'soon' has its limits. I want to study internal medicine, surgery, gynecology, and pediatrics; I need to get the theory down, and I also need to rotate through all the hospital departments, and strive to become a qualified general practitioner. Only after I'm familiar with modern medicine can I really integrate Chinese and Western medicine and combine the two."
"Then let's do it this way: I'll give you the course schedules for all the Clinical Medicine classes, and you can freely choose which lectures to attend!" Wu Mingyun said this with a smile. "At least you don't need to worry about the examsâwe'll definitely let you pass. We also know you're very strict with yourself. If you want to learn something, you won't stop until you've fully grasped it. You've already achieved so much in medicine, there's no need to play games with these things. There are many things we might not recommend you to learn, but if you think it's necessary, you'll definitely spend a lot of time studying them, right?"
"Dean Wu, you've even prepared my justification for me, what else can I say?" Luo Ziling said with an embarrassed smile.
After chatting for a while, Luo Ziling told Wu Mingyun that Li Jinhui would most likely be leaving his post as Yan University's principal, but that it was still only an internal rumor. The candidate for the new principal might be brought in from outside or selected from among the current vice principals. He told Wu Mingyun to make all the preparations he should. Hearing this, Wu Mingyun immediately perked up. "All right, I'll definitely get everything I can ready!"
"I'm really hoping Dean Wu can take charge of Yan University. Then I'll be able to swagger around sideways on campus."
Luo Ziling's joke left Wu Mingyun half amused, half exasperated.