After the divorce, my ex-husband and son lined up to pursue me.

Chapter 6: Jiang Xia Betrays Professor Yan?
Jiang Xia reached out and took the tray from her.

"I know you won't accept it, but I still want to say sorry. I can help you recut these that I accidentally broke."

"Huh?" Lou Yushi thought she had heard the biggest joke in the world.

"Alright!" Ke Hetai tugged at Lou Yushi's arm: "Aren't you done yet?"

Lou Yushi shook him off again, "Do you want to hear what you're saying? Or can you cut it for me? Do you know how difficult these slides are? You haven't done an experiment in years, your skills must be rusty by now."

"Stop pretending to be something you're not! Otherwise, you'll end up crying and running to Professor Yan to complain that I bullied or belittled you when you can't do it!"

Ke and Tai really couldn't stand it anymore. As for Jiang Xia, she had always been an unspoken yet tacitly understood example in the laboratory for the past few years. Many people were curious about her past and admired her former abilities.

Especially when he occasionally saw that they couldn't do it well, even Xu Fei couldn't handle it, Professor Yan sighed and felt secretly sad, and would unconsciously blurt out: "If Jiang Xia were still here..."

The rest was left unsaid, and that was enough.

But everyone knows that Jiang Xia is Professor Yan's most outstanding student and his pride. If Jiang Xia were still here, the problem would definitely be solved easily, and even the most difficult things could be handled with her help.

However, this also caused many people to feel resentful and frustrated, feeling that Jiang Xia had betrayed Professor Yan, betrayed the entire team, and... betrayed and let down all her past efforts.

Ke Hetai didn't know what he was thinking, but he just stopped her, saying, "Lou Yushi, don't go too far!"

Lou Yushi raised an eyebrow. "If she's really capable, she should recut all these slices! Otherwise, she should get out of the lab and stop getting in my way!"

Jiang Xia looked at Lou Yushi's provocative gaze, then at the contaminated slices on the tray, and suddenly smiled: "Okay, I promise you."

Lou Yushi was stunned, not expecting Jiang Xia to actually agree.

"Okay, then take your time cutting."

Lou Yushi sneered and was about to turn around, but in the instant she took a step, she added, "Don't forget, Professor Yan said that he wants to see the report on this batch of slides before he leaves work today."

"Oh, I see."

Jiang Xia responded calmly, watching Lou Yushi leave, but a strange fighting spirit welled up in his heart.

She rolled up her sleeves, went to the sink, washed her hands carefully, then put on gloves and picked up the razor blade.

Ke and Tai looked at her with some concern: "Um, how about I help you? These slices are really difficult to cut, you might have trouble doing it alone..."

"Thank you, but no need." Jiang Xia smiled at him. "I'd like to give it a try."

Ke Hetai frowned, also wanting to take the opportunity to see Jiang Xia's true level, otherwise why would Professor Yan be so fond of her?

"Okay," he said, then turned and went about his business.

The laboratory gradually quieted down, with only the sound of Jiang Xia's razor blade gently sliding across the glass slide.

At first, her movements were a bit clumsy, and the slices she made were either too thick or too thin, some even breaking into small pieces.

Jiang Xia bit her lip, staring at the specimen under the microscope, feeling utterly defeated.

"You can't make it, can you?"

Lou Yushi's voice broke in again, cold and accompanied by her usual mockery, "Then why are you still putting on a brave face? Just because Professor Yan didn't come back, you have nowhere to complain?"

Jiang Xia ignored her harsh words and simply looked up to ask, "What is it?"

Lou Yushi scoffed dismissively and tossed the keys to her. "It's time to go home. I have no obligation to keep you company while you work overtime. I've already spoken to Professor Yan about the slides; we can submit them tomorrow." She paused, then added irritably, "Of course, I'll do it tomorrow too. Do you really think I can rely on you? A full-time housewife who only knows how to take care of the kids and serve her husband—besides cooking and feeding the children, what else can you do?"

“Someone like you, having to come back to do scientific research…” Lou Yushi narrowed her eyes without any attempt to hide her disgust: “You really are an insult to the word ‘scientific research’.”

Jiang Xia's face darkened upon hearing this, but she refrained from saying anything and simply gripped the keys in her hand tightly: "If there's nothing else, you should go home now. I'll try my best to do it again."

Lou Yushi snorted coldly: "What a show-off!"

She turned around and left.

Jiang Xia was still busy working, and before long, the sky outside the window gradually darkened.

The lab lights came on, and she glanced at the time. It was already eight o'clock in the evening. She felt neither hungry nor tired, and continued to focus intently on repeating the steps of sectioning, staining, and observing.

After an unknown amount of time, when she finally cut out a perfect slice, the entire building was deserted, and it was already pitch black outside the window.

Jiang Xia rubbed his sore shoulders and looked at the neatly arranged slices in front of him, feeling a long-lost sense of accomplishment.

She carefully organized the data, added her own optimization suggestions, and then carefully placed the slices into the freezer.

Before leaving the lab, she habitually hid the key in a flowerpot next to the porch, a habit she had maintained for seven years, and surprisingly, it hadn't changed.

The next morning, Lou Yushi arrived at the laboratory humming a song, only to find the door locked.

She frowned and turned to look at Ke Hetai, who had just arrived: "Hey, do you have a key? Did Jiang Xia lock the door and run away?"

Before Ke Hetai could answer, Xu Fei's voice came from behind: "What's wrong?"

"Senior Brother Xu, the door is locked, and I don't know where Jiang Xia is. I can't get in!" Lou Yushi immediately put on a wronged expression.

Xu Fei smiled, walked to the flowerpot, and dug out the key: "It seems some people's habits haven't changed."

The moment the door opened, Lou Yushi rushed inside and headed straight for the freezer.

She was curious to see what kind of trouble Jiang Xia had gotten into last night...

The moment she opened the freezer, she froze.

The neatly arranged slices inside were extremely detailed, even mimicking her preferences by being arranged in numerical sequences. Each handwritten note also contained detailed analysis data for the slices.

Lou Yushi's expression immediately fell when she came to her senses.

"Isn't it done?" Ke Hetai walked over and smiled. "Let me see."

As he spoke, he casually picked up a slide, turned around, and placed it under the microscope to observe it. "This..."

"This data slicing is absolutely perfect! The data is so detailed, and there are even optimization suggestions..."

Before he could finish his exclamation, Ke and Tai's eyes were already gleaming with shock and joy.

It seems that Professor Yan's appreciation was not without reason.

Lou Yushi stared at the slices, gritting her teeth but unable to utter a single word.

(End of this chapter)