Night Fire Lingering

That night.

Wen Yan received a notification from the college that Mingzhu was recommended to directly pursue a doctoral degree, and that a public meeting for direct doctoral studies would be held in the small lecture hall to publicly present Mingzhu's resume.

She was stunned for several seconds.

The matter hasn't been resolved yet, so how could the college make such a decision on its own?

They quickly realized that they were afraid she would disagree, so they planned to strike first and let everyone see that Mingzhu's overall performance was good enough for direct admission to the doctoral program, so as not to give her any chance to object!

Wen Yan's face darkened.

These people really think she's easy to bully!

-

The next day.

The lecture hall was packed with people; most of those who came to watch the open meeting for direct doctoral programs were junior students who were considering applying for postgraduate studies.

"Wen Yan, what are you doing here?" Wen Yan was stopped by a college teacher at the conference room door.

"Isn't this a public meeting? Can't I attend?" Wen Yan retorted.

The teacher sighed and advised, "Mingzhu has powerful connections. Look, no one else in our grade is making a fuss. With your grades, you could easily get a direct PhD spot at another university, or at the very least, a guaranteed master's degree from our university. Why bother? After today, everyone will know that Mingzhu is excellent and deserves a direct PhD spot. There will be no controversy!"

This is the school's strategy.

"Teacher, am I not qualified to enter?" Wen Yan asked calmly, as if she hadn't heard him.

"you!"

In front of everyone, the teacher couldn't stop her and left her with the words "Take care of yourself" before letting Wen Yan enter.

Wen Yan chose a corner seat and sat down.

ten minutes later.

A girl with long, curly hair, wearing a Chanel suit, walked onto the stage. Her face was covered in exquisite makeup, making her baby face extremely deceptive; she looked like an innocent and good student.

"Hello everyone, my name is Mingzhu, and I come from the Law School..."

While giving her speech, Mingzhu also presented a PowerPoint presentation, showcasing her academic achievements, photos of her participation in various competitions, charity events, and awards, as well as her published papers.

Her stage presence was excellent, her speech flowed smoothly, and she even incorporated English into it, which made the speech seem more sophisticated.

"Wow, this senior is amazing! She has so many international awards!"

"I'll be a junior this semester, and I haven't published a single paper yet. How can there be such a huge difference between people!"

"She's beautiful and so amazing, I'm speechless!"

……

Hearing the whispers of admiration and sighs from her classmates, Wen Yan felt that Mingzhu on the stage was extremely ironic.

Let her be smug for a little longer!

Finally, there was a Q&A session.

The younger students eagerly sought Mingzhu's advice on her experience of pursuing a direct PhD, how to allocate study and competition time, how to improve her research capabilities, and what areas she should focus on in order to secure a place in a master's program.

Mingzhu was well-prepared and could answer these routine questions with ease, but experienced people would find that her answers were like standard answers found online, general and without specificity.

“Classmate, I have a few questions.” Wen Yan suddenly raised her hand and stood up.

Wen Yan is beautiful and has an excellent temperament, making her stand out in the audience.

The classmate next to her handed the microphone to Wen Yan.

"That looks like Wen Yan from the law school? I heard she's really good." Someone recognized Wen Yan.

"Is it as powerful as Mingzhu?" someone nearby asked, puzzled.

"That's right! I've never heard of this 'Pearl' in the list of top students before, I only heard of Wen Yan!"

……

Whispers gradually began to emanate from the surroundings.

Mingzhu guessed that Wen Yan was going to cause trouble, but she didn't panic when she saw her. She smiled and said, "Isn't Wen Yan a top student? You have problems too?"

On the surface, this sounds like banter between acquaintances, but if you listen carefully, you can detect a hint of smugness.

Mingzhu slightly raised her chin, stood on the podium, and looked at Wenyan with the air of a victor.

Things have come to this point, and her excellence is obvious to all. How could Wen Yan possibly question her?

"My first question. The topic of your first paper is solutions to the differences between Chinese law and international legal systems. What is the core reason for these differences?"

The second question is about your third paper, which combines sociology and law and uses Monte Carlo simulations. What are the flaws in using this model for sociological and legal research?

The third question is about your published papers, which cover international law disputes, judicial fairness, cybercrime, and criminal procedure reform. How do you manage to balance your research in these different areas of law?

Wen Yan's questions weren't spoken quickly, but her words were concise and to the point, with no wasted words, conveying a wealth of information that kept everyone's minds racing. For students not majoring in law, it was even difficult to remember what she had just mentioned.

Mingzhu stood on the podium, her gaze somewhat blank, clearly not understanding what Wen Yan was saying.

Wen Yan smiled slightly, silently urging, "Mingzhu, you should be very clear about the content of your own paper. These questions should be very simple for you."

In just a few minutes, Wen Yan turned Mingzhu's lecture into a thesis defense.

“Our country’s laws are different from international law…” Mingzhu stammered, unable to answer. “We have all learned this in class, so I don’t think I need to go into it here! The experiment in the second question is not the focus of my paper.”

In Mingzhu's opinion, the third question was the easiest to answer.

She was noticeably more confident, saying, "The reason I can study different academic directions is mainly because I am very interested in different laws and have devoted a lot of time and energy to them. Wen Yan, the fact that you can accurately identify the academic direction of my different papers shows that your knowledge is very solid. As long as you put more effort into academic research like I do, you can do it too."

She praised herself while also lecturing others.

The subtext of the statement, "As long as you put more effort into academic research like I do," is that Wen Yan's heart is not in academic research!

Wen Yan burst out laughing.

Her smile was beautiful, and her laughter was melodious, so it never became tiresome; one was simply curious about what she was laughing about.

The law school professors had already sensed something was wrong and kept giving Mingzhu meaningful glances, trying to get her to end the speech.

Unfortunately, Mingzhu didn't see it and was even annoyed by Wen Yan's laughter: "Wen Yan, what are you laughing at?"

Wen Yan just can't stand to see her doing well!

"I'm laughing at your ignorance, yet your overconfidence!"

Wen Yan's smile faded: "The first question is about the core issue of different legal systems, which has always been controversial. How dare you use the word 'redundant'?"

The second problem is that your paper doesn't contain any Monte Carlo simulation experiments, yet you didn't notice the flaw in my statement and instead said that this wasn't the point.

The third question is that the topics I discussed don't match your paper, yet you claimed I could accurately pinpoint its academic direction.