I Studied Abroad in the Modern Times

Vol 2 Chapter 86 – Motivation

The Natural Sciences Reading Room of the Library.

Zheng Fa put away his exercise book and pulled out a few borrowed books from the collection.

Jingcheng University’s freshman physics curriculum was actually quite relaxed. Aside from a few general courses, only three core courses were mandatory—General Physics, Advanced Mathematics, and Linear Algebra.

For Zheng Fa, only General Physics required any real effort, and even then, not much. As an introductory course for physics majors, the difficulty level was set quite gently. The homework wasn’t particularly challenging for him either.

Of course, at Jingcheng University, there was never a shortage of competitive overachievers.

Take his roommate, Dai Yuan, for example. When Zheng Fa first arrived, he met him—a student with a competition background. It seemed he had already mastered General Physics and had moved straight to the four major mechanics disciplines.

Zheng Fa wasn’t in that much of a hurry.

His goal wasn’t to become a physicist. The real reason he had entered the physics department was to find a way to understand talismans, or even spiritual energy itself.

Right now, he was reading The Evolution of Physics, a popular science book on the history of physics written decades ago.

For physics students, this book was actually quite basic.

But Zheng Fa was reading it very attentively—one of its authors was Einstein himself. The book inevitably carried traces of Einstein’s thought process, which Zheng Fa valued greatly.

Halfway through, he closed the book and fell into deep thought.

The Three-Sub-Talisman Theory had hit a dead end.

The biggest issue was that the functions of the other two sub-talismans remained unclear and existed only as speculation.

In the history of physics, when researchers encountered such problems, they would typically turn to experiments—to either prove or disprove their hypotheses.

"Experiments…"

Zheng Fa couldn’t help but think of Teacher Tian’s lab again, feeling a bit of a headache.

The cost ranged from millions to tens of millions. He had only recently come to understand that even those figures were on the low end.

Scientific research was a bottomless pit.

And if he wanted to conduct physics experiments on top of that…

The costs would be unpredictable.

Tang Lingwu always carried herself like a wealthy heiress.

But unless absolutely necessary, Zheng Fa didn’t want to keep relying on her money.

Mainly because—Tang Lingwu wasn’t that rich.

Taking out a few hundred thousand, or even a million, wouldn’t necessarily alarm her family.

But tens of millions?

That would definitely draw the attention of Aunt Ye and Tang Lingwu’s father.

He and Tang Lingwu didn’t need to be so particular about keeping things separate.

Whether from a sentimental perspective or the fact that he had given Tang Lingwu the opportunity to cultivate, she probably wouldn’t care about the money.

But…

Aunt Ye and Tang Lingwu’s father probably wouldn’t see it that way.

Zheng Fa believed in equivalent exchange.

What had to be given, and what could be gained—

He still needed to think it through carefully.

At a table diagonally across from him, Senior Yang, whom Zheng Fa had met while waiting in line earlier, scratched his head.

Even though it had only been a morning, he inexplicably felt that graduation had slipped another year further away.

Even more tragically—

When he scratched his head, he realized he had even less hair now!

Thinking about it, grief welled up inside him, making it impossible to focus on his thesis.

His gaze wandered around the room, eventually landing on Zheng Fa.

He still had a strong impression of this junior—not just because they had run into each other several times in the library.

But because one time, while passing by the gym, he saw this guy meditating!

Honestly, physics students usually didn’t start doing that until their PhD years.

This junior’s early onset symptoms were… concerning.

After seeing him at the library more frequently, though, he realized that while the kid seemed a bit eccentric, he was otherwise normal.

Looking at Zheng Fa now, Senior Yang couldn’t help but feel nostalgic.

He felt like he and this junior were quite similar—though the kid had more hair, longer legs, and smoother skin.

Once upon a time, he too had been utterly obsessed with studying, indifferent to everything else.

But now, he realized he had made a mistake.

If your research talent isn’t at the level of those true geniuses, obsessing over studying isn’t necessarily the best path.

For example, right now—

No girlfriend. No job. Graduation uncertain.

Seeing Zheng Fa, memories of the past resurfaced, and his enthusiasm for research dimmed even further.

Maybe he should just give up and extend his graduation…?

At the entrance of the library, Tang Lingwu walked in lightly.

She headed straight to Zheng Fa’s table. When he looked up and saw her, he packed up his books and exercise book, and the two of them left together.

As if trying not to disturb the other students, they only started talking after stepping out of the reading room.

Senior Yang had been leaning on the railing to clear his mind, but now his peripheral vision was locked onto them—mostly onto Tang Lingwu.

He had noticed her the moment she entered the library from the second floor.

And now, it turned out she had come to find this junior…

Their voices drifted into his ears.

"What were you frowning about just now?"

He heard the beautiful girl ask the junior.

"Nothing much…" the junior replied softly. "Just thinking about how I need to find a way to make money."

Senior Yang felt a pang of sympathy.

Wasn’t this kid only a freshman?

Already shouldering financial burdens?

No wonder he studied so hard.

"I have money. However much you need, I have it."

The girl’s words left him completely bewildered.

He even thought he heard a hint of… grievance in her voice?

Grievance?

He looked up and saw the girl gazing at the junior with a slightly hurt expression.

"I know, I know." The junior seemed to be comforting her. "I know you have money. But if it’s that much, you’d have to explain it to your parents…"

"I don’t have to. Even ten million—I can just tell my mom. It shouldn’t be a big deal."

"…"

Senior Yang stood there, dumbfounded, watching Zheng Fa walk away with Tang Lingwu.

His expression was complicated.

Taking a deep breath, he turned back into the reading room, determined to wrestle his thesis into submission.

At that moment, he fully grasped the difference between himself and Zheng Fa.

And—if a junior with such a stunning, wealthy girlfriend was still working so hard…

And I had nothing but research…

What right did I have to slack off?

Zheng Fa had no idea he had just inspired Senior Yang.

Instead, he was busy dealing with a still slightly unhappy Tang Lingwu.

The two of them arrived at the nursing home together.

Teacher Tian took one look at Tang Lingwu and smiled. "What’s the matter? Why’s your mouth pouting so high?"

She seemed to be in great health, even crouching in an open space, observing something.

Zheng Fa couldn’t help but ask, "Teacher Tian, what are you doing?"

"I was thinking—even though we didn’t set up the lab, we can still start planting," she said with a smile. "Just because we don’t have a lab doesn’t mean we can’t do research. The soil is ready. If we add some base fertilizer, we can still catch one round of winter wheat."

Zheng Fa was stunned.

He suddenly realized his mistake—

He had been fixated on building a fully equipped lab.

But in reality, even basic physics experiments could solve many of his doubts!