Oh… so that's what he meant—
It was the kind of affection an elder has for the younger generation!
Shulan Zhou quietly let out a breath of relief, her lashes trembling ever so slightly—
A little disappointed, perhaps, but also reassured.
Affection was still affection, no matter the type.
It was a good thing.
In that brief moment, she adjusted her mood and looked up at him with a bright smile. "Of course I know! If you didn't like me, you wouldn't treat me so well!"
"You know?" Mu Side looked skeptical.
Shulan Zhou nodded solemnly.
"Of course I know! It's not just you—Grandma, Teacher, and Sis too. You all like me, that's why you're all so, so good to me! Right?"
"I like you guys too. Really, really like you. You're the only family I have in this world."
All the warmth she'd missed out on in her childhood, she had found in them. She truly was grateful.
Mu Side knew she had misunderstood again, but he didn't explain further.
"I'll only treat you better in the future," he said with a soft smile. "And you'll have more and more people who care about you. Shulan Zhou, you deserve every good thing in life."
"Ah!" Her face turned crimson.
"You're embarrassing me! Don't spoil me like this, or one day I'll forget who I even am!"
Mu Side chuckled gently. "That's fine. As long as I'm here, you'll never forget who you are."
Because he would let her live happily and freely—without worries, without fear.
By now, they had arrived at the dormitory building.
Shulan Zhou waved goodbye. She was a little regretful that she hadn't gotten any real information about Second Uncle Mu, but she figured she should find a chance to visit the Mu residence—maybe she'd bump into him there.
She had just turned to go upstairs when she heard Mu Side call out from behind:
"I'll look into my second uncle's situation. Tell your friend to leave it alone."
Her heart skipped a beat. "She really didn't tell me anything!"
"I know," Mu Side said with an amused smile. "I'm not saying she did. Just giving you a heads-up. My second uncle… he's not the easiest person to deal with."
"..."
Shulan Zhou hesitated for a second. "What, if someone annoys him, he'll give them a bad intern report?"
"Pfft…" Mu Side couldn't hold in his laughter. "Mm, who knows. Better safe than sorry. He's the only person I'm afraid of in the whole Mu family!"
Back in the dorm, Shulan Zhou walked in with a worried look. When she saw Zhang He, her face drooped.
"Zhang He… maybe you should find someone else to like. Let's forget about Second Uncle Mu."
"I told you, I'm not—" Zhang He faltered. "Wait, what's going on? Did you find out something? Don't tell me he's actually weird or something?"
"I don't know if he's weird," Shulan Zhou said seriously. "But I do know that if you piss him off, your internship evaluation will probably look really bad!"
"..."
Feelings were something no outsider could interfere with. Just like how Luo Jialin never had feelings for Lin Muyao—there was nothing anyone could do to change that.
He glanced at the documents she handed him but made no move to accept them.
"I've decided to withdraw from the team," he said. "I probably won't be continuing any of this research. There's a lot of material here—most of it just needs a little polish to be published. Take it. It's all yours."
Lin Muyao stared at him in disbelief. "Jialin, what do you mean? You want me to publish these academic papers?"
Sure, when she first coaxed Guo Jialiang into stealing Luo Jialin's research, she had hoped to use it for herself.
She was already in her fifth year of undergrad and hadn't published a single meaningful paper.
Her only "achievement" was being part of Professor Han Weicheng's team and sharing in a third-place win at an internal university competition.
But in the medical field, that barely counted for anything.
Compared to Shulan Zhou, she had no accomplishments worth putting on a resume!
She needed something academic to prove herself.
Especially before applying for graduate school—otherwise, even Lin Jiayi wouldn't let her off the hook.
Luo Jialin nodded calmly. "I've reviewed your file. Compared to the rest of the team, your credentials are the weakest—worse than Shulan Zhou, even."
"Zhou may not have published solo yet, but she's been competing in national medical contests since sophomore year."
"She's got a good number of awards under her belt—grand prizes, first-place team wins. On top of that, she's already published two fairly influential papers this past year. Her capability speaks for itself."
"You're both among the few women in Professor Han's team, so people naturally compare you. With my research, at least you won't look too bad."
With every word Luo Jialin spoke, Lin Muyao's expression grew darker. But by the end, when she heard his final sentence, her face brightened slightly.
"I knew you cared about me," she said. "You're helping me because you're afraid I'll lose to her, right? But this is yourwork—how could I just take credit for it? That wouldn't be right!"
She put on a virtuous front:
"Don't worry, I'll work hard. One day, I'll surpass Shulan Zhou. I won't let her beat me!"
"I won't embarrass our professor, and I definitely won't embarrass you—as your girlfriend!"
As she spoke, she reached out to cling to his arm.
Luo Jialin instinctively pulled away. He didn't realize how forceful the motion was—he knocked the stack of documents from her other hand, sending them flying across the room.
Lin Muyao frowned, confused. "Luo Jialin?"
"Since Guo Jialiang already handed the materials to you, use them however you want. As for us—" Luo Jialin took a deep breath, struggling for patience.
"I've thought it through. We're not right for each other. Let's end this."
"You… What?" Lin Muyao staggered back in disbelief. "What did you say?"
"I said we're breaking up," Luo Jialin replied firmly. "I don't like you. I don't want to be your boyfriend anymore."
"How could you treat me like this?" Lin Muyao was furious. "You—"
"Enough!" Luo Jialin finally lost his patience.
"I don't want to rehash how we even started. But as for you and Guo Jialiang—I've already heard everything!"
"There's no way someone like you could become the Luo family's daughter-in-law. I will never marry you."
Lin Muyao went pale.
Her mind was spinning, trying to figure out how Luo Jialin had found out.
"Was it Shulan Zhou? Did she tell you something? It had to be her! How could you believe her and not me? There's nothing between me and Guo Jialiang—nothing ever happened, I swear!"
"Enough already!!" Luo Jialin shouted, shaking her off. "Why do you keep dragging Shulan Zhou into this?"
"She's never been one to gossip. She didn't tell me anything."
"I went to see Guo Jialiang myself!"
"I wanted to ask him, after everything, why he'd betray me and steal my research. I didn't expect him to give me such a big surprise."
Lin Muyao had assumed that once Guo Jialiang was locked up, he couldn't possibly be a threat anymore. Luo Jialin had never been the type to personally handle legal matters—she never thought the two men would meet again.
She hadn't counted on Luo Jialin going to see him in person.
She shook her head furiously. "No, that's not what happened! Guo Jialiang's a liar and a thief! How could you believe him?"
"He's told so many lies already—he tried to frame Shulan Zhou before, and now he's framing me. How could you fall for it?"
"Jialin, please! Don't believe him! I never liked him—I would never let a guy like that touch me!"
"Really?" Luo Jialin let out a cold laugh. "Then how come he could describe every scar on your body in perfect detail? He even said…"