Chapter 7: Famous for Teaching

  Although Fei Chai thought Shen Xing was not a reliable person, what he said was indeed correct. The leader of the Science Committee only spoke a few words, but when Director Wei introduced Fei Chai on stage, he greatly exaggerated his achievements, making him feel somewhat embarrassed and also putting pressure on Director Wei, who had thoroughly investigated his personal history overnight, and of course, his award-winning papers internationally were also highlighted.

  Few people know that Fei Chai's paper won an international award, at least they don't know the winner is him. However, because this award-winning paper brought down several officials, as a fellow official, he knows something about it, and thus has some interest in Fei Chai. Otherwise, due to last night's hangover, it would be difficult to muster up some energy now.

  Director Wei finished introducing Fei Chai with great fanfare and invited him onto the stage, where he was met with thunderous applause. As Fei Chai stepped up to the stage, Fan Yiyen, seated in the front row, couldn't stop winking at him, thinking to herself: "Winking, winking - does she know that's punishable by law?"

  As the applause subsided, he took a deep breath and then gently placed his hands on the podium, waiting for the applause to completely stop before speaking in a calm tone: "Ladies and gentlemen, good morning. It's an honor to be here exchanging ideas with everyone." As he spoke, his gaze swept across the audience below, where dozens of people managed to maintain basic etiquette, but at least half of them had bloodshot eyes and unfocused gazes, likely due to poor sleep last night, and were probably waiting for the second half of the class to catch up on rest.

  Fei Chai has always looked down on bureaucrats, which is actually a common problem among first-rate technical personnel. As the saying goes, "first-rate talents do technology, third-rate idiots become cadres." However, since Fei Chai had already decided to start a new life, he naturally had to change some of his notions. So from the moment he stepped onto the podium, his face was always adorned with a polite smile.

  Fei Chai finished his opening remarks and began to get to the point: "I'm sure you all know that human civilization has achieved what it has today because of its effective use of the three things in nature. These three things are animals, plants, and minerals. Among them, animals and plants have been exploited by humans to a large extent, but fortunately, our civilization has already achieved a certain degree of domestication and cultivation of animals and plants, that is to say, we have largely gotten rid of the 'natural' production model for animals and plants. However, minerals are inanimate objects, so there's no question of domestication or cultivation. What we use can only be provided by nature through geological movements over billions of years. And among minerals, only a few species, such as metals, can be recycled to some extent, but some species, such as coal and petroleum, are non-renewable fossil energy..."

  Zhu Yajun and other hosts announced the end of the meeting, and they hurried back to the venue. As soon as they stepped out of the elevator, they heard laughter coming from the direction of the venue. After taking only two steps, they saw Shen Xing walking out with a smile on his face. When he saw Zhu Yajun, he didn't hide his smile and said: "Director Zhu is here, I'll go take a look at the food for lunch."

  Zhu Yajun also smiled and said, "Yes, we have to arrange for everyone to eat well and rest well, so that they can study well." As he spoke, his tone suddenly changed, and he pointed to the other side of the meeting room, asking, "What's going on inside?"

  Shen Xing took the opportunity to say: "Director Zhu, that old classmate of yours is really talented. The whole scene came alive." He said in a low voice, mysteriously: "Today I didn't sleep at all, if I didn't have some work matters, I wouldn't want to leave."

  "Of course," Zhu Yajun said with a self-satisfied smile, "I'm an old classmate, and as a first-rate person, I'm not good at dealing with people or worldly affairs. Otherwise, I would have made it big long ago."

  "Ha ha, I can tell, but you're a good person."

  Zhu Yajun said: "After that, we still need to take care of each other more."

  Shen Xing said: "Director Zhu, what are you talking about? Is this even necessary?"

  Zhu Yajun patted him on the shoulder and said with a smile: "Hehe, okay, you go ahead, I'll also go in and listen for a bit."

  Zhu Yajun entered the conference room, and before he had even sat down for five minutes, the course was over. Everyone spontaneously applauded, and Zhu Yajun also joined in from behind. After the class was dismissed, many people went up to get autographs with pens and notebooks, and the scene was like fans rushing towards a star, except that these people were mostly in their thirties or forties and still looked quite dignified.

  Fei Chai had just seen Zhu Ya Jun, and separated from the crowd to greet him. Zhu Ya Jun affectionately punched him and said: "Great, old classmate, it's a pity that the Geology School didn't invite you to be a professor."

  Fei Chai smiled and said: "What's wrong, are you driving me away?"

  Zhu Yajun felt a bit embarrassed and immediately said: "How could I bear to part with it? Even if the two professors were to exchange it, I wouldn't be willing to give it up."

  Fan Yiyen said with a smile: "It's okay, if you don't want to trouble Teacher Fei anymore, just let Teacher Fei come over to our place!"

  As soon as this was said, someone immediately shouted: "What is Teacher Fei doing at your place? Becoming a live-in son-in-law? They are already married!"

  Another person chimed in: "Hey, what's the big deal? One is a married man and the other is a married woman, perfect match!"

  Fan Yiyàn kicked that person with a foot and said bluntly: "You're full of nonsense! Are there such national cadres like you? If Teacher Fei came to our place, I, as the deputy county head, would let him take my position, and I would be his assistant."

  Everyone heard and started booing, Zhu Yajun said: "Okay okay, today at noon is our bureau treating everyone to lunch, those who can drink can also have a few drinks, this afternoon there are no classes arranged, everyone can communicate with each other, if there's anything still not quite clear, you can also privately find Teacher Fei to ask." When he said the last part of his sentence, he especially gave Fan Yiy an ambiguous glance, and did it very obviously, so that everyone saw it, and then another round of laughter erupted, after which they surrounded Fei Chai and left the meeting room.

  They should have gone straight to the restaurant, but Fei Chai couldn't leave his wife in the guest room upstairs, and he was also held back by the crowd. Fan Yiyen volunteered to go shout for "Shifu's wife", which led to another round of teasing from the crowd.

  At noon, the wine party was naturally a must-see, and Fei Chai became the focus of attention, always being toasted. Originally, he had a strong physique and often drank some wine to keep warm in the wild, thinking that his drinking capacity was not bad. But this time, it was a real eye-opener - this wasn't drinking at all, it was like fighting! Zhu Ya Jun was cunning, always running away quickly, while Wei Ju was an old slicker, holding a wine cup and shaking while pouring wine, half a cup of wine spilled out without being seen to drink. Only Fei Chai had no experience with wine scenes, and having been used to being bold outside, he became the target of attack. At first, Shen Xing came over to help, but couldn't hold on for long, and fortunately, his wife You Qian and Fan Yiyan came to rescue him, barely preventing him from collapsing on the spot. From then on, Fei Chai learned a lesson - whenever he found himself in an unsuitable situation, he would first eat two bowls of dry rice, then take advantage of the opportunity to toast and slip away, avoiding getting drunk and hurting himself.

  Anyway, Fei Chai has become famous overnight, and the deputy heads of various counties and districts, as well as the directors of economic development offices, can be considered his students. This also made him understand why many top leaders are keen to take on a part-time professorship at universities - among other things, it's a great way to build connections.

  That day, Fei Chai was lucky to escape, but he was still heavily drunk. The whole afternoon passed in a daze, and he didn't even go for dinner. By the time he fully sobered up, it was almost 10 pm. Yu Qian saw that he had woken up and smiled as she scolded him: "Awake? Or should I pour you another two cups?"

  "Never mind, wife, just spare me."

  Youqian said: "It's all you, drunk and unconscious, Yanzi originally invited me to have fun."

  "Why don't you go then?"

  "You look like this, how can I go... If I go, others will say that I, as a wife, don't understand things..."

  Fei Chai could tell she wanted to go out and play, so he comforted her for a while. Then he got up, washed his face, felt that his stomach was not very comfortable, and thought about going downstairs to find something to eat. Yu Qian accompanied him.

  After leaving the hotel, they found a small noodle shop. Fei Chai ordered a bowl of chicken soup noodles and felt much better after eating it. When he looked up, he saw Fan Yiyen and a group of men and women laughing and chatting, seemingly returning from somewhere. He quickly lowered his head to pretend not to see them. However, Yu Qian enthusiastically greeted him with a "hi", which stirred up trouble, and the group of people insisted on dragging them out to have fun. Fei Chai repeatedly apologized and said, "Aren't you guys just back from playing? I'm done for."

  Fan Yiyen said: "No way, the sound effect of that house was bad just now. Let's change to another one to play, you have to go too."

  Fei Chai had no choice but to continue apologizing.

  He still refused to go, and someone next to him advised "not drinking". But how could Fei Chai dare to believe it? In this kind of situation, it's always like this. They say they won't drink, but if you really go, you can't help yourself.

  Several persuasions did not go, and someone else came up with the idea of saying: "Teacher Fei, you don't go, and the master's wife wants to go, it's embarrassing."

  Fei Chai turned his head to look, and indeed, although Yu Qian's mouth was also echoing him, saying "not going, not going", her eyes were clearly in a wanting-to-go state. Thinking that the opportunity was rare and didn't require spending his own money, he said to Yu Qian: "I really can't make it, why don't you go have some fun?"

  You Qian's eyes lit up, but she still hesitated. At this moment, Fan Yiyen pulled him over and said with a smile: "Then it can only be like this, don't worry, I will take good care of Shifu."

  Yu Qian looked at Fei Chai and said: "Husband..."

  "Go on, go on, I still need to get some sleep."

  Then everyone parted ways, Fan Yiyen and others took You Qian out to play, Fei Chai returned to the hotel to take a bath and continued sleeping.

  From the second day on, at the request of the 'broad university members', the training class adjusted its curriculum to give Fei Chai more class hours and opportunities for discussion. He was eloquent, elegant and humorous, with both theory and practice, and became increasingly popular among everyone. Every time he taught a class, it was always full, and no matter how late people had slept or how much wine they had drunk the night before, there wasn't a single person sleeping in class the next day, let alone chatting or holding small meetings. After class, many people came to talk with him, including Fan Yiyen who visited him every day, calling herself his chief senior disciple and master sister.

  However, You Qian was bored every day at the hotel and initially looked forward to going out with Fan Yiyen in the evening. But she is a mother after all, and soon missed her son, so she went back to live for another one or two days. As a result, she couldn't put down her husband, it's complicated. The training didn't have weekends off, which makes sense - it was short-term training anyway, just that month of time, and having weekends off would only shorten the actual learning time.