Chapter 72.1
Editor: Casey
No matter how much those who knew Shi Qing’s true nature raged or questioned life, his name quickly spread throughout the country.
For those who didn’t pay much attention to topics like artificial nerves, they might’ve been a bit alarmed and uncertain the first time they heard about such a thing.
However, once they understood it, their uncertainty morphed into admiration and deep respect.
As the name suggested, artificial nerves were man-made nerves.
So what would such a thing be used for?
In simpler terms, humans could control their limbs thanks to signals sent by the ‘supreme commander’ in their head, the brain.
The motor nerves in between the limb and the brain act as messengers.
When a person lost a limb due to an accident, the prosthesis they were fitted with can’t communicate with the brain. At most, it could be controlled with a remote or b.u.t.tons, but it would be inferior to the original body part.
Artificial nerves were a way to bridge that gap.
They would allow the injured person to feel sensations through their prosthetic and even control it using their brain.
They would be able to feel once again the pain of being p.r.i.c.ked by a needle or the warmth of hot water.
In other words, with artificial nerves, losing a limb would no longer seem like a death sentence.
Paraplegics would be able to walk, people who have lost arms can use both hands, even deaf people would be able to hear again.
This research came as an absolute shock, not just for the scientific or medical community, but the entire country.
According to the state legislature, the patents of Inst.i.tute inventions would belong to the creator for the first twenty years if it didn’t have military or life-saving applications. Therefore, they could set their own prices and profit off their work.
As long as Shi Qing so desired, he could easily make enough money to last a lifetime. But he did no such thing.
Instead, he announced his intent to donate his artificial nerve research to the government once perfected.
How patriotic!
How admirable!
What a good person he must be!
Many people have worked on this project and even made prototypes, but no one had been able to perfect it. Besides, all the proposed production methods thus far were far too costly to ma.s.s produce.
In contrast, Shi Qing’s invention was very affordable.
Not only was it not expensive to build, he also stated his desire to donate it to the government.
When this Professor Shi mentioned at a press release how he needed volunteers with amputations or hearing impairments to test his inventions, and how said volunteers would receive surgery for free…
The application site crashed on the first day of registration because of the overwhelming amount of applicants.
As for Professor Shi, he just sat back and let his boyfriend feed him fruit.
Ever since the call for volunteers, Professor Shi returned to his previous slacker ways.
He woke up lazily in the morning, left work lazily at noon, took a nap, and came back to the office to play games in the afternoon.
Just like how he used to.
The only difference was that none of his colleagues complained about his behaviour anymore. No longer did anyone say that he got into the Inst.i.tute by shamelessly relying on his connections.
Now his colleagues were all in agreement: You’re a bigshot, so do whatever you have to!
Was Shi Qing slacking off?!
No!
He’s working in his own way!
Geniuses tended to be eccentric after all.
Tan Mingyi, a fellow genius who was also a workaholic, cautiously sidled up to Shi Qing.
“Professor Shi, are you really planning to donate this technology to the government?”
“Artificial nerves are a groundbreaking discovery; you must have many people begging you to sell the rights even if you don’t want to keep them for twenty years.”
The young Marquis leaned back comfortably in his chair, looking every bit like a pampered young master. He drawled, “Do I look like I’m short for money? My father has enough a.s.sets on hand to last me a lifetime, and that’s before accounting for all his investments.”
Oh, that’s right.
Tan Mingyi just remembered that Shi Qing was already the wealthiest second generation in the country.
Even if this technology could make a lot of money, what did it matter to Shi Qing if he was worth $10 billion or $11 billion?
It was more than he could ever spend anyway.
Tan Mingyi was solely interested in the research, so he didn’t have any intention of prying into Shi Qing’s background. After getting his answer, he obediently went back to his seat and resumed his work.
But Shi Yiyi, who overheard their conversation, had a different reaction.
Her teeth were threatening to crack from how hard she grit them.
Shi Qing was an absolute fool!
Did he even understand how much money artificial nerves could make?! Even if he didn’t know what he was doing, couldn’t he entrust it to the Duke?!?
Just think of all the money that just went flying out the window!!
Of course, Shi Yiyi knew that Shi Qing could do whatever he wanted with his money, but she had started coveting the Duke’s family fortune from when she was a child. In fact, Shi Yiyi had already come to consider it as her own.
Didn’t Shi Qing’s money count as part of the family fortune?!
Didn’t the family fortune belong to her?!?
That’s a lot of money!
If you gave such a sum to her…
Shi Yiyi’s heart ached ever since she got the news. Her only consolation was that Shi Qing would soon be harshly reprimanded by the Duke.
After all, he didn’t even discuss it with the Duke before donating everything to the government.
The Duke has been involved in all sorts of investments from a young age, making him care about building his wealth.
How could he not be angry when his own son foolishly gave away a golden goose?
Thinking about how the relationship between father and son might sour irrevocably due to this incident, Shi Yiyi felt slightly better about things.
Besides…
She glanced over at the officer who was tenderly peeling an orange for the young Marquis. A hint of malice flashed across her eyes.
It was about time for the Duke to find out about his son’s proclivities.
Shi Qing munched on his potato chips as he got the attention of his boyfriend. “See that look in Shi Yiyi’s eyes? She’s up to no good again.”
Qin Yunsheng shot her a glance from afar. His brows furrowed slightly.
Before when he wasn’t Shi Qing’s boyfriend, he had no interest in the dispute between the cousins, nor did he interfere.
But now…
The officer’s voice warmly asked in his deep voice, “Should I try and have her transferred to another inst.i.tution?”
Qin Yunsheng wasn’t about to ruin her life just because she was at odds with Shi Qing, but he could do his best to keep Shi Yiyi away.
“That wouldn’t work.”
The young marquis quickly shot down his suggestion, his pretty eyes glittering like stars. Although there was a malicious smile on his face, Qin Yunsheng thought Shi Qing was rather cute right now.
Because the officer recalled that the last time Shi Qing had this expression was when he forced Qin Yunsheng to take the initiative to kiss him in the lounge, the tips of his ears became tinged with pink.
Shi Qing smirked like a little fox that just stole a chicken. “Shi Yiyi’s always liked putting me down to make herself look better since we were children, so I’m going to let her stay here and bask in my brilliance.”
“Alright.”
Qin Yunsheng appeared too captivated by the beauty in his arms to argue further.
He gently ma.s.saged the young professor’s shoulders. “As long as it makes you feel better.”
Of course Professor Shi felt better.
In his own words, he and Shi Yiyi had been fighting since childhood. He knew what this woman was going to say before she had even opened her mouth.
Shi Qing: “I bet Shi Yiyi’s going to tell Father that I have a boyfriend.”
The officer’s faint smile stiffened.
He was actually a little nervous.
Qin Yunsheng came from a side branch of the royal family. Although his parents were both gone, he knew about the unspoken rules of the royals.
To be precise, the rules for the side branches.
For example, that women were inferior and that being with a man was just asking for a scandal.
Of course, no one other than the very old took these rules seriously.
That made sense since a queen was currently on the throne.
She would definitely remember whoever dared to say that women were inferior.
Qin Yunsheng didn’t care what others thought about him, but what about Shi Qing?
Even if he had a strained relationship with his father, that was still his father.
The young Marquis pulled down Qin Yunsheng’s hand that had paused from ma.s.saging him.
As if playing with something fun, Shi Qing’s tender fingers ran over the thin calluses of the officer’s hand.
“She’s the only one who would hold such a thing against me. Father wouldn’t say anything about what I do as long as it’s not illegal.”
“The first thing on his mind is his country, the second is defending the Queen, and the third is me, his son. He can’t be bothered to break us up.”
The officer’s body relaxed at a rate visible to the naked eye.
But at the same time, wild hopes rose within him because of his little boyfriend’s words.
So when it was time for the noon break after lunch, Qin Yunsheng carefully coaxed the little Marquis to take a nap before quietly getting up from the bed. After carefully tucking him in, he left the room without making a sound.
Colleagues returning from the cafeteria saw the officer running laps in the yard with a serious expression.
Dude, why are you running laps in the middle of the day?
Some curious people went up to ask him.
Qin Yunsheng answered very quickly.
“Shi Qing is such a good-natured and talented individual… He’s still working so hard even now. As his boyfriend, I have to work harder to be worthy of such a good person.”
The people: “……”
They could accept that he was talented.
But good-tempered and hardworking…?
Was Qin Yunsheng talking about Professor Shi, who dumped all his work to others after developing artificial nerves?? The guy who got up at ten every day, took a nap at twelve, went into the office at three in the afternoon, and played games before going home at five???
The officer looked at the people in front of him whose faces seemed to be saying “you’re f.u.c.king with me right”. He could roughly guess what they were thinking.
He understood. In fact, it wasn’t their fault they were misled.
After all, not everyone could see through the facade.
But people had the potential to change.
Although Shi Qing didn’t care what others thought of him, Qin Yunsheng felt his heart ache every time others misunderstood the little Marquis.
The reason why the little marquis was now indifferent to others’ misunderstandings and even deliberately played into their expectations must be because he had been hurt in the past.
Although Shi Qing didn’t talk about his childhood very often, Qin Yunsheng could infer some things based on the way Shi Yiyi treated her cousin and how he had never seen his father contact his son the entire time he had been a.s.signed to the little Marquis.
The young Marquis lost his mother at an early age, his father was busy, and his cousin was intent on using him as a stepping stone.
He must have had a very, very hard life and developed this eccentric temperament to protect himself as he grew up.
The officer sighed heavily after making up the story of “Young Master Cinderella” in his mind.
He could hold Shi Qing in his heart and love him dearly, but such a good little Marquis deserved to be loved by thousands of people.
Qin Yunsheng decided that he would be the one to educate those who misunderstood Shi Qing moving forward.
Even if they spoke the truth, he would have to find a reasonable reason to exonerate Shi Qing, so that everyone would know that Shi Qing was actually different from what they saw.
The officer’s gaze settled on the group of people in front of him.
Let’s start with these people then.