After the opening ceremony, Qiu Xi and her three friends found themselves with less time to gather.
Following communication with the school, Song Daiyao and the other two were able to move out as they had hoped.
Liang Yunfei had no particular requests and moved directly to her company. Although it was a bit of a distance, she stated she could manage with a car.
Then there was Shen Yan. Given her family's financial situation and with Ding Yibai's help, finding a place was relatively easy. Song Daiyao had the simplest arrangement; her family lived in the same city and was well-off. As soon as she explained the situation to her family, they found her an apartment closest to the school.
And so, in these uneventful days, everyone began their postgraduate lives. At the beginning of the first year of graduate school, classes still needed to be attended, and besides that, it was crucial to follow the supervisor's instructions.
If you had thick skin and plenty of ideas, you would interact with your supervisor more. Of course, this was contingent on you genuinely having thoughts about the literature and books you had read. Otherwise, you wouldn't even have a topic for discussion... Above all, diligently present yourself and strive to publish papers as soon as possible. This is the paramount task for graduate students. Naturally, as you spend more time with your supervisor, assisting with classes might even become a daily occurrence. However, this situation also depends on certain conditions... Like Qiu Xi now, she was different.
Barely a week into the semester, she had already been assigned a course by her supervisor.
"Xiao Xi, work hard!" Mo Yaya, who was in charge of notifications, said with a smile, looking at Qiu Xi.
Qiu Xi: "..."
Seeing Luo An suppressing a smile, Mo Yaya didn't hesitate to expose him. "Junior Luo An, don't laugh too hard. Knowing the teacher's personality, I reckon your good days are numbered too."
Luo An: "..."
"Senior Mo! Why are you telling me this now?" Couldn't you have just pretended not to know? Although he knew it was coming, as long as no one told him, he could pretend it hadn't happened! Then, he could slowly prepare, which would alleviate his anxiety...
Mo Yaya: "..." What was the point? When you know something, it will always linger in your mind until you accomplish it, only then will it disappear.
"Alright, stop talking and get ready quickly."
"And did you finish what Senior Brother mentioned yesterday?"
"..."
"Not yet..." Luo An said, immediately lowering his head. In the next second, before anyone could speak again, he busied himself.
They were all in the same office, so why was there such a big difference between them? Mo Yaya glanced at Qiu Xi beside her and also lowered her head. Study, study! If she didn't study, her senior sister status would likely be challenged.
The office fell silent, and Qiu Xi began looking at the textbook in her hands. It was a textbook for sophomores, used by Professor Qi. Now it had fallen into her hands, with instructions for her to prepare well and teach the class in a couple of days. Looking at the familiar courseware on the computer, it was exactly the same as when she had studied it years ago. Nothing had changed. Qiu Xi smiled faintly. She hadn't expected to have the chance to encounter the common courseware used by professors in this department. After a brief scan, Qiu Xi had a general understanding, and then she began writing in her lesson plan book.
...
A few days later-
When the sophomore English majors saw Qiu Xi in the classroom, they were all surprised.
"Isn't that Senior Qiu Xi?"
"Yes, but why is she here?"
"I don't know..."
"This class is Professor Qi's, why isn't he here?"
"I don't know..."
Professor Qi Xizhi no longer taught regular classes, only a few electives over the years, and very few at that... But this didn't diminish the students' fondness for his classes. So, when they saw Qiu Xi, apart from surprise, there was only confusion and bewilderment.
"Didn't Senior Qiu Xi get accepted into graduate school? I saw the school officially post about the graduate opening ceremony a couple of days ago, and Senior was the new student representative..."
"Yes, I found out at the graduation ceremony in June."
"Then who is her supervisor?"
"???"
"!!!"
"It seems... it's Professor Qi... right?"
"This..."
"It does seem so..."
For a moment, those discussing fell silent.
After a long while-
"Do you think, we've already encountered Professor Qi, who's known for being unreliable, right at the start of the semester?"
Someone nodded, "It seems so..." Currently, Professor Qi was nowhere to be seen.
"I'd only heard from senior students that Professor Qi actually liked to have his graduate students teach and spread knowledge, which is why his requirements for accepting students were exceptionally high..."
"I didn't expect we'd actually run into this, and such a big occasion at that..."
"..."
"Even so, isn't Professor Qi worried?"
"While I don't deny that Senior is excellent, this is teaching, Professor Qi..."
Others looked at each other with knowing glances, "..."
"Do you really think Professor Qi is like what we say on the surface?"
"He isn't?"
"..."
Of course not! If it were as the students said, Professor Qi would have been fired long ago, and he wouldn't still be here...
"Just you wait, Professor Qi will definitely appear in the classroom before the lesson starts."
"And in the future, it will probably only be when you request Professor Qi to have someone substitute for him..." Not everyone wanted to experience Professor Qi's high demands firsthand.
...
What everyone said was accurate, but this time they underestimated the reason. It wasn't that they couldn't handle Professor Qi's high demands, but rather that the other "teacher" was also quite capable.