Chapter 12

Jiang Yi was not someone who paid attention to others’ or his own appearance; whether someone looked good or not didn’t matter to him. If Yang Yunran hadn’t asked, he wouldn’t have looked so carefully. So, in this focused moment, Jiang Yi easily noticed that Yang Yunran’s appearance was exceptional. Whether it was his skin or his features, they were pleasing to the eye.

Just then, the door to the conference room opened, and Jiang Yi heard someone shout in Chinese, “He’s here! Yang Yunran is here!”

“He’s here!!”

Like at a press conference, people in the conference room took out their phones to take pictures, and the flashlights shone on Yang Yunran’s face. He didn’t dodge or shield his eyes from the light. Facing the strong light, he didn’t even blink, seeming accustomed to it.

Jiang Yi half-closed his eyes in the brightness, hearing Yang Yunran’s voice calmly and politely say, “Classmates, today we are at school, and this is my private schedule. If you’re taking pictures, please make sure to get permission from my teachers and classmates. I am a public figure, but they are not. Thank you for your cooperation.”

At this moment, it was 10 PM Beijing time. Due to the buildup from previous events, several live streaming rooms hosted by amateur accounts were already packed with onlookers.

(Barrage Comments):

– “Ahhh it’s starting, it’s starting! My first time watching an academic hearing, so excited!”
– “Wasn’t this guy supposed to lack social skills? Now he seems pretty good, great speaker. Host, focus only on filming Yang Yunran, don’t show irrelevant people.”
– “Oh my, is this really how Yang Yunran looks? I remember him being ugly!”
– “Are you sure upstairs isn’t mistaken? The shorter one is Yang Yunran, not the taller one, right? Isn’t the taller one a celebrity from the entertainment industry? Why haven’t I seen him before!”
– “The shorter one is Yang Yunran? He’s quite handsome, fresh, and clean. He’s definitely more handsome than that XXX.”
– “Ahhh I’m so curious, sisters! Who’s that handsome guy next to Yang Yunran? I can’t find any info on him. Is he a celebrity or just joining in randomly?”

“Wow, so many people are here to watch this crappy stuff. There are already ten million viewers in the live stream room, amazing!!”

“Did Yang Yunran go for plastic surgery?”

“Yang Yunran is so handsome!!!”

Among the crowd of onlookers, there were also a few minor fans. But they were drowned out in the live stream room with tens of millions of viewers, like a drop in the ocean.

The scene of the hearing resembled a small courtroom. The “judge” had not yet appeared, and Yang Yunran, as the “defendant,” appeared with his own laptop and documents.

Generally, academic hearings are public, allowing members of the academic community and the public to observe. This helps ensure transparency and academic independence.

He sat at his seat, with the public and Jiang Yi all blocked behind a red line.

Two minutes later, several teachers from the campus hearing group entered through the gate. Seeing so many people watching, they were all surprised and exchanged low whispers for a few moments. Security was sent over, and they all entered the conference hall and took their seats.

The hearing panel consisted of four staff members from the school: Yang Yunran’s professor, the dean of the college, the assistant to the administrative school affairs, and the college legal advisor.

The chair of the hearing was the dean of the college, a woman in her fifties with glasses, sitting on the left side of the female dean. The professor looked at Yang Yunran for a while, suddenly realized, and said somewhat puzzledly, “Are you Roy?”

Yang Yunran nodded politely, his voice clear and soft: “Yes, professor, I am Yang Yunran, Roy.”

Livestream barrage:

“Hahaha, this teacher couldn’t recognize Yang Yunran. Has he never attended class?”

“Is it this funny right from the start? Yang Yunran’s flop is really out of expectations. I knew he would mess up, but didn’t expect it so soon!”

Conference hall:

The professor looked at him for a while, suddenly enlightened, “Oh, you dyed your hair after the break, sorry, I didn’t recognize you just now.”

After a brief identification and discussion, confirming the presence of the student himself, at around ten past nine, the hearing officially began.

The dean took the lead in questioning, “Roy Yang? We will now conduct a hearing lasting one to two hours with you. The school has received reports of academic misconduct against you, and Professor Smith believes that based on your academic level, you could not have written such a paper. There are also testimonies from some classmates. Here are the relevant documents and testimonies for your review.”

The assistant handed over the evidence, and Yang Yunran glanced at it, then countered in fluent English, “Firstly, this report letter does not provide direct evidence of my academic misconduct. It only indicates my involvement in related online discussions, not facts.”

After saying this, he looked up and saw the dean nodding, and continued, “As for the testimony that classmates said I didn’t understand the class due to poor English, I think that doesn’t need much explanation?”

The school panel nodded again. Yang Yunran’s English expression was very natural and fluent, not at a native speaker level, but already quite proficient.

Yang Yunran looked at his professor and said, “As for Professor Smith’s testimony… I would like to point out that I am an East Asian student. My education since childhood has made me unaccustomed to speaking and expressing myself in class, which may have led to some misunderstandings by professors. I will correct this in my future studies. Also, during my time at school, although my attendance rate was lacking, it met the minimum standard.”

The school panel glanced at Yang Yunran’s academic records. Indeed, his attendance rate barely passed, on the verge of being expelled.

This was also one of the reasons for holding a hearing against him despite insufficient evidence.

Yang Yunran said sincerely, “I apologize for my imperfect attendance, but I love Professor Smith’s courses and I love this school. So, to prove my sincerity, Dean, Professor, please feel free to ask any questions, and I will answer to the best of my knowledge.”

In just a few minutes, the comments in the livestream barrage started to change.

“This doesn’t seem right. Did Yang Yunran send someone who looks like him to attend the hearing?”

“AI face swap, it must be AI face swap!!”

“His English is so good??”

“And he’s so logical, totally different from the rumors!”

“I’m so confused, is this really Yang Yunran??”

“Help, I can’t understand anything he’s saying!”

“Can someone kindly translate? What’s going on, I’m so anxious!”

The talent manager Xiao Tang, who was watching the live stream, was so shocked that his jaw dropped to the floor. He quickly called his boss, “General Manager Zhang, have you been watching the livestream?”

Zhang replied, “What’s the result? Has he been expelled?”

Xiao Tang stuttered, “No… no, General Manager Zhang, it seems… things are not as we expected.”

Professor Smith questioned whether the paper Yang Yunran wrote was actually his own, because the level of the paper didn’t match his usual performance in the group. Additionally, the original owner really couldn’t speak a few sentences of English, but he had translation glasses, so he could directly read Chinese through the glasses and understand what the professor said in class.

The original owner felt that he didn’t need to learn language at all, there is such a high-tech existence, the barrier to human communication will only become narrower and will eventually disappear.

As for the paper, Yang Yunran searched the computer records and found that the original owner operated like this. He first wrote the opening and main text of the paper in Chinese, then used Google Translate, and then sent it to Zhao Youmo, giving money to him for typesetting, polishing, and citing references.

Is this academic misconduct? Of course it is.

But this has nothing to do with Yang Yunran who came through the book, as long as he can prove himself now, he deserves this degree.

So in the livestream room, everyone saw Professor and Yang Yunran engage in a series of rapid English exchanges that were completely incomprehensible.

The professor posed questions, and Yang Yunran took one or two seconds to think before responding. Because it involved a large amount of specialized academic vocabulary, most non-professionals in the field couldn’t understand, let alone the netizens.

“I don’t know what they’re talking about, but it feels impressive…”

“English major student here! I can understand the vocabulary but not the meaning. It seems to be content for Marketing graduate students, quite complex.”

“An undergraduate and master’s student majoring in business from the US is here! The questions the professor is asking are quite practical in Marketing and require a lot of critical thinking!!”

“I’m shocked, my whole family is shocked. Yang Yunran is actually a real academic genius. He looks so smart and charming now…”

“I came in as a layperson to watch the joke, but ended up becoming a fan. Who can understand this!!”

The academic dialogue lasted less than forty minutes. Professor Smith paused, unable to fathom how this student transformed so drastically over a winter break of more than forty days, suddenly becoming adept at everything.

Professor Smith, capable of both raising and putting down, smiled at Yang Yunran, “I’m done with my questions. Roy, we need to discuss the outcome of the hearing.”

The outcome is naturally transparent and public. After discussing for about a minute, the female dean stood up and declared in a court-like fashion, “Roy Yang, your hearing has concluded successfully. The results are in your favor!”

The professor came over very amiably to hug Yang Yunran, treating him like family. Those around them started applauding as if witnessing him and the professor entering a wedding hall—

In this cultural context, Yang Yunran and the professor exchanged a light hug and then turned to look down at Jiang Yi.

Jiang Yi nodded towards him, mouthing something. Yang Yunran tried to decipher it, thinking he might be saying, “You did great.”

Yang Yunran instinctively smiled.

His efforts had not been in vain.

Meanwhile, Yang Yunran noticed someone excitedly waving and whistling at him, as if they knew him. After a quick recognition, seeing the person had earrings and tattoos, resembling an acquaintance of the original, Yang Yunran smiled back at them.

Though the bloggers snapping photos with their phones hadn’t seen the outcome they wanted, the number of viewers in the livestream provided enough traffic.

Expressing their astonishment in the barrage:

“From a scene of disaster to a fan circle??”

“Wow, Yang Yunran’s smile is so sweet and handsome now, why did I never notice him like this before!!”

“This is a real academic genius, the high-quality idol that our entertainment should have!! 208 should all head in this direction!”

“Studying abroad is really the right choice, he used to be so oily but now he’s so refreshing, what’s the principle behind this?!”

“Help! Where did the handsome guy who opened the door behind Yang Yunran just go? Can the anchor help me find him? I forgot to take a screenshot, and the kid wants to see it again QAQ”

The hearing concluded.

Yang Yunran walked out with Jiang Yi. After they stepped out, there were still people taking pictures, but it was abroad, so not many knew or recognized him.

Just those few Chinese.

Yang Yunran was experienced in shaking off paparazzi, walking quickly. He whispered to Jiang Yi, “Stay with me, they’re too persistent, there might be cars following us later.”

Jiang Yi didn’t say anything about it, bowing his head to see Yang Yunran holding his wrist.

His hand was white, with delicate skin and a warm palm.

Just now in the hearing, Yang Yunran was confident and composed, turning the small meeting room into his shining stage. Academic hearings like this weren’t particularly glorious events, but there was nothing dodgy or unsavory about Yang Yunran.

He was dazzling, like a radiant gem.

Yang Yunran led Jiang Yi away, swiftly entering an academic building and quickly darting into a storage room.

The storage room was extremely cramped.

Yang Yunran closed the door, and squeezed between the water bucket and cleaning tools on the floor. He leaned against Jiang Yi, who frowned and uncomfortably pushed him away, palms on his shoulders.

Yang Yunran whispered in his ear, “There are people outside.” Through the small glass window in the door, he had seen someone livestreaming with their phone, apparently looking for him.

Jiang Yi’s breath felt stiff, glancing sideways at Yang Yunran.

Dim and without light, the storage room wasn’t lit. A beam of light from the small window on the door shone brightly on his face, with fine fuzz on his nose and cheeks, eyelashes flickering, partially covering the focused black pupils.

Yang Yunran gently pressed his hands on Jiang Yi’s chest, lightly leaning against him. Jiang Yi’s back was against the door panel, close to Yang Yunran’s entire body. Both were wearing winter clothes, but this proximity and intimacy were too close and too intimate, making Jiang Yi feel subtly strange and uncomfortable.

He turned his head away from Yang Yunran, no longer looking at him, softly and somewhat coldly saying, “Are they gone?”

“It seems like they’re gone… but paparazzi are always tricky.” Yang Yunran looked at him, stretching his arm around his waist, burying his head on Jiang Yi’s shoulder, also speaking softly, “Let’s wait another ten minutes. I don’t like being followed.”