Turns Out I’m the Villain They’re Supposed to Redeem? [Quick Transmigration] - Chapter 50

By one in the afternoon, Huo Yuwan had finally completed the full schematic design for the model. She stood up and stretched her shoulders, while Yang Nanjun had just finished reviewing all the data she had calculated. On the table, a pile of cut sheet metal had appeared at some point.

“Not bad.”

He picked up the final blueprint to examine it, then handed Huo Yuwan the lunch Qian Wanwan had brought for them earlier.

“Eat. I’ll handle the remaining manual work.”

Only after stopping did Huo Yuwan realize how hungry she was. She shot him an annoyed look but said nothing, eating the now slightly cold rice while watching him assemble the model.

As Yang Nanjun pieced together the materials according to the blueprint, he felt increasingly convinced that bringing Huo Yuwan to participate in this competition had been the right decision. Completing a full set of design blueprints in five hours, without a single flaw, even he wasn’t confident he could do that.

After a quick lunch, Huo Yuwan joined him in the work, and they managed to finish the entire model just before dark.

From the first light of dawn to the lingering glow of sunset, Huo Yuwan had been standing under the sun the whole time. Her back was soaked with sweat, drying only to get wet again, her arms ached with fatigue, and her fingers were sore from the friction.

Yang Nanjun wasn’t faring much better either. He hadn’t moved from his spot all afternoon, so busy that he hadn’t even taken a sip of water, and his lips were now chapped.

“Are you okay?”

Huo Yuwan took a large gulp from her own water cup and passed his over to him as well.

His gaze swept over the fighter jet model on the table with satisfaction. A faint smile touched his lips, though his expression carried a tinge of regret and melancholy.

“It’s truly beautiful. It’s a shame I never had the chance to work with a real fighter jet, otherwise, why would I have wasted time in the countryside?”

“???”

Huo Yuwan was momentarily confused. So he had such lofty ambitions?

After a moment’s thought, she tried to offer some encouragement. “Where there’s a will, there’s a way. You’re still young, maybe you’ll get the chance someday.”

Yang Nanjun glanced at her but said nothing. Back when he had applied for selection, he hadn’t met the physical requirements. Now, he was long past the age for enlistment, where would such an opportunity come from?

The final evaluation results were announced in the lobby of the Physics Department building at eight in the evening. Under the bright lights, around thirty models were displayed one by one before the professors.

When it was Huo Yuwan and Yang Nanjun’s group’s turn, Yang Nanjun let her step forward to explain, while he stood to the side with an unreadable expression, arms crossed, his mind seemingly no longer on the competition.

Their group had attracted the professors’ attention from the very beginning. Starting with Huo Yuwan’s formula derivations and design sketches in the morning, the professors had been closely monitoring their progress.

Now, after seeing the finished product and its functional demonstrations, several professors exchanged knowing glances and quietly noted down Huo Yuwan’s name.

As for Sun Chuanlu’s group, they had been eliminated as soon as their model was presented. Every person he had hired had their own unique ideas and refused to yield to anyone else. Each drew their own set of blueprints and worked on their own model, leaving Sun Chuanlu sitting idly by.

When it came time for the final model presentation, Sun Chuanlu picked what he thought was the best model, memorized a prepared explanation, and stepped up to present it to everyone, only to be publicly contradicted by Yang Nanjun, who stood in a corner.

After Sun Chuanlu finished his explanation, he posed several tricky and detailed questions from various angles. Even the man who had personally designed the model needed a moment to think before he could come up with the answers, let alone Sun Chuanlu, who hadn’t been involved in the process at all. He stood there dumbfounded, at a complete loss.

In the end, under the professors’ stern criticism, he reluctantly admitted that the model wasn’t his own design and stormed off with a dark expression.

Once all the contestants’ models had been presented one by one, the professors dismissed everyone to rest, announcing that the ranking results would be posted as usual at eight o’clock the next morning.

Huo Yuwan yawned and turned to leave, thinking about finding a restaurant outside for dinner. But before she could go, Qian Wanwan, who had been waiting nearby, stopped her and gestured for Huo Yuwan to follow her to an office on the second floor.

Yang Nanjun waved his hand, indicating that he would wait outside for her.

Inside the dean’s office, Huo Yuwan unabashedly nibbled on the pastries on the table. Dean Zhou, sitting across from her, smiled at the sight and even poured her a cup of hot tea himself.

“You don’t look very old, Miss Huo. What grade are you in this year?”

Taking a sip of tea to soothe her throat, Huo Yuwan replied politely, “I’m in my second year of high school. I’ll graduate in June.”

After a pause, Dean Zhou seemed to understand. Bright students rarely followed the conventional year-by-year progression, they often skipped grades.

“I’ve seen the fighter jet model you made. It’s quite interesting. Would you be willing to stay at Nanyu and study with me at the school for two years? I can teach you more in-depth aerospace knowledge. Once you’ve mastered it, I can help arrange a job for you.”

Huo Yuwan had remarkable design talent, but that alone wasn’t enough. Most of her models were based on reverse-engineering and imitating domestically produced aircraft. Her current environment didn’t expose her to more advanced technology, and she was still too young, not even sixteen. Dean Zhou wanted to mentor her for a year or two, guiding her toward innovation so she could meet the threshold for entering a research institute.

Huo Yuwan was momentarily stunned. Was he suggesting she didn’t even need to finish high school?

Unbeknownst to her, if she were just two years older, Dean Zhou would have been willing to take her directly to the research institute for hands-on training. But at sixteen, she was still too young, likely lacking a full understanding of society. Dean Zhou didn’t want to hinder her growth.

Once someone entered the research institute, leaving became difficult. Unless a research project was successfully completed and made public, leaving on one’s own could raise suspicions of leaking secrets.

Huo Yuwan understood this, but now wasn’t the time to consider such matters.

Scratching her head, she tentatively asked, “I’m certainly fine with it, but could you do me a small favor?”

Seeing her willingness, Dean Zhou felt relieved and took a sip of tea, signaling for her to speak freely.

“Do you have a way to help an educated youth return to the city from the countryside?”

As her words fell, the office fell into silence. Dean Zhou set his teacdown on the table and gave her a deep, thoughtful look.

“What is your relationship with this educated youth?”

As the dean, he did have some influence, and given Huo Yuwan’s talent, if he formally reported her case to higher authorities, helping her wouldn’t be too difficult, especially if it was framed as recruiting talent for the nation.

But that wasn’t what Dean Zhou was worried about. A young girl with little worldly experience was asking to help an educated youth sent to the countryside, he couldn’t help but suspect the nature of their relationship.

Huo Yuwan came from a rural background, and in the countryside, certain problematic customs were common, such as underage girls getting married. Dean Zhou feared Huo Yuwan might be one of them.

After a moment of silence, Huo Yuwan answered truthfully.

“She’s both a friend and a student.”

“She’s Professor Jiang’s student, surnamed Li. You might also know her father, Professor Li Cong.”

Dean Zhou was taken aback. He hadn’t expected Huo Yuwan to be referring to Li Xuzhi. The Li family’s affairs had caused quite a stir back then, and he was well aware of them.

In the past, if Huo Yuwan had made such a request, he might have found it difficult to accommodate. But now that Li Cong had been politically rehabilitated and was no longer alive, helping his daughter return to the city wouldn’t be too troublesome.

“I can help with this, but it must follow the proper procedures. According to policy, her household registration is currently in the countryside. To transfer it to the city, she needs a legitimate reason.”

“What kind of reason?” Huo Yuwan’s eyes lit up at the possibility.

“She needs to own property in the city. Only with property can she register her household,” Dean Zhou reminded her.

Huo Yuwan frowned in thought. Li Xuzhi’s family home had already been sold, and even if it hadn’t, Li Xuzhi’s mother wouldn’t agree to put the property under her name. That path was clearly a dead end. Huo Yuwan immediately began calculating her own assets.

After the incident where she was falsely accused by Sun Chuanlu, Huo Yuwan had learned her lesson. She took her modified airplane and car models to a toy factory and, after negotiations, sold her design blueprints to them, earning a considerable sum of money.

Feeling more confident, Huo Yuwan looked up at Dean Zhou.

“May I ask, do you know the current housing prices in Nanyu City?”

Nanyu was, after all, the capital, and housing prices were surely much higher than in their small county. Huo Yuwan worried that her funds might not be enough.

Dean Zhou fell silent for a moment before quoting a figure, then watched as Huo Yuwan visibly relaxed.

“I can still afford it,” she said with a smile, taking a sip of tea from the cup on the table.

Dean Zhou shook his head helplessly but didn’t ask where a young girl like her had gotten so much money. After all, talented people would never starve. He then brought up another necessary condition.

“For her to transfer her household registration, you’ll need to act as her guarantor. In other words, you must sign an agreement with the research institute stating that you will achieve academic success within two years and commit to serving the country.”

Allowing an educated youth to return to the city ahead of schedule was technically against the rules. But since it was Huo Yuwan making the request, they were willing to accommodate her in exchange for her unwavering dedication to the country.

“Alright, but may I make a phone call first?”

Huo Yuwan’s thoughts drifted for a moment. She wanted to call home first and ask for Li Xuzhi’s opinion.

She had noticed that Li Xuzhi’s state of mind had changed since her father’s passing. Huo Yuwan wasn’t entirely sure if Li Xuzhi still wanted to return to the city.

If Li Xuzhi didn’t want to come back, Huo Yuwan was willing to stay with her in the countryside for the rest of her life.

After all, her purpose in coming to this world wasn’t to achieve some grand ambition. From beginning to end, it had always been for Li Xuzhi.

As long as she could be happy, where she lived didn’t really matter.

A telephone sat on the office desk. Hearing this, Dean Zhou stood up with his teacup in hand and smiled. “You’re calling Xiao Li, aren’t you? No problem, I’ll wait for you outside.”

The office door closed softly. Huo Yuwan walked over to the desk and dialed her home number.

The dial tone repeated three times before the call was answered.

Through the receiver, Li Xuzhi’s cool voice sounded slightly distorted.

“Yuwan?”

Before Huo Yuwan could even utter an instinctive “hello,” she heard Li Xuzhi’s voice.

Her heart stirred, and she unconsciously curved her lips into a smile, replying softly, “It’s me.”

“Did the competition just end?”

Li Xuzhi glanced at the clock hanging on the wall, it was already ten o’clock at night.

“Yes, it just ended. Sister, there’s something I want to talk to you about.”

“If there’s a chance to return to Nanyu City now, would you be willing to come back?”

As the words fell, Huo Yuwan sensed silence on the other end of the line.