Due to how important Professor Wang Xi was to the country, the hospital had given him full-out treatment during this period. However, this was only the conventional treatment and Professor Wang Xi showed no signs of improvement.
Half an hour later, when Chen Chen had arrived at the hospital and asked to see Professor Wang Xi in the first-class ward, he learned that Professor Wang Xi was not in the ward.
“Professor Wang Xi is trying multi-directional brain stimulation therapy under the advice of an expert group. He’ll only return to his ward in the evening. If you’re his student, you can just contact him directly.” The doctor shot Chen Chen a suspicious look while giving this suggestion.
Chen Chen softly uttered his thanks, then exited the hospital. He took out his phone and dialed a number he had never called.
“Hello? Is this Little Chen?”
In a short while, a familiar voice spoke on the other end, with a hint of a hearty smile. “And you have the time to give me a call?”
“Professor Wang, I didn’t expect you to remember me.” Chen Chen smiled.
“I’ve forgotten about you, but I still remember your paper. There aren’t many university students who can get published on Cell.” Professor Wang Xi laughed out loud.
Chen Chen heard some background noises on Professor Wang Xi’s end, so he asked, “Professor Wang, are you busy over there? If so, I’ll call back later.”
“Not at all. I’m just at a signing event to see an actor I used to like,” Professor Wang Xi replied, “is there anything I can do for you?”
“There’s something pretty important. Where are you now? I’ll head over directly.”
“I’m at No. 554, Long’ang West Road, in the Hua’an Building. I’m in the conference hall on the second floor.” Professor Wang Xi did not hesitate at all to tell Chen Chen his location.
“Alright, I’ll be right there.”
Chen Chen hung up and took another taxi, hurrying to the Hua’an Building. This time, it only took Chen Chen ten minutes to reach the ground floor of the building.
At the moment, an inflatable arch had been placed before the main entrance, flanked by several gigantic posters. There seemed to be an event of some sort.
Chen Chen looked at the poster and saw that an international movie star of the older generation was having a signing event here.
As soon as he walked into the lobby, Chen Chen could hear the faint bustle of excitement from the conference hall on the second floor. Chen Chen told the security guards at the door of his purpose and they let Chen Chen in at once.
When Chen Chen pushed open the large doors, the din inside became louder immediately. The moment he entered, he happened to hear the international movie star saying, “Historical satire isn’t a silly joke and adaptation isn’t done without purpose.”
The venue could fit about a thousand, but only a sparse one-third of it was filled up. The movie star was wearing a red coat, speaking emotionally about something on the stage.
Chen Chen did a cursory sweep and noticed Professor Wang Xi’s familiar figure sitting in the first row before the stage.
Immediately after that, Professor Wang Xi seemed to sense Chen Chen’s gaze and turned back, then waved to Chen Chen with a smile.
Chen Chen nodded. He bent down slightly and lowered his head as he made his way to the first row.
On the stage, the international star was going on. “I’ve once watched a play in which Sun Wukong addressed Baigujing as ‘Jing Jing’, and Baigujing addressed Sun Wukong as ‘Kong Kong’…”[1]
There was a peal of laughter from the audience.
“Is that funny?” the movie star on the stage said grievously, “in fact, I couldn’t bring myself to laugh. My tears were welling up inside me.”
Chen Chen reached the first row and quickly sat beside Professor Wang Xi. “Old Wang, I…”
“Shh…”
Professor Wang Xi shook his head gently. “Let’s listen first. We’ll talk later.”
Chen Chen was stunned upon hearing this, then he smiled. Right, after three months of waiting, there was no need to rush now.
With this in mind, Chen Chen gradually relaxed.
At this time, the international movie star on stage took out a long stick and called out to the audience, “I still remember a scene from some movie that went like this…”
With that, he rested the stick on his shoulders and twisted his head around. “Master, let’s go!” Then, in a well-practiced manner, he started swaggering across the stage.
There was another eruption of laughter from below the stage. The entire venue was filled with merriment.
Soon after that, the talk was over and everyone dispersed. Only then did Chen Chen and Professor Wang Xi walked out of the place.
Just then, Chen Chen noticed that two people were trailing Professor Wang Xi. From the looks of it, they must be bodyguards of some sort.
“Professor Wang…”
Chen Chen composed what he wanted to say, then spoke up as they walked on, “I know about your illness. As far as I know, for now, there are few hospitals in Mainland China that dare to claim they can treat your illness. Would you be interested in going to other continents for treatment?”
“Other continents?”
Professor Wang Xi seemed joyful when he heard this. “The school committee said that you’ve opened a research center in the African Continent. Is that what you’re talking about?”
“So, you’ve known about it.”
Chen Chen instantly explained, “That’s right, over there, I’ve developed a compound therapy to fight against Alzheimer’s. It has shown excellent results on primates. Initially, I wanted to wait for it to pass the clinical trial before letting you know, but I don’t know how long that will be. After all, your illness can’t be delayed…”
Professor Wang Xi was silent for a moment. “This sickness of mine is nothing much. I just don’t want to burden Luo’er any further…”
Chen Chen did not reply. He had read through Professor Wang Xi’s information and knew that this “Luo’er” he spoke of referred to his 45-year-old daughter.
After long consideration, Professor Wang Xi ultimately shook his head and patted Chen Chen’s shoulder. “Forget it. I’m sure you understand as well. With this disease, I don’t have many years left.”
Even so, Professor Wang Xi’s expression was full of tranquility as he said this. “Since that’s the case, there’s no need to agonize over something trivial like this. Whatever happens, happens.”
“Professor Wang Xi, how are you so sure that this disease can’t be cured?” Chen Chen grinned, then handed over the information in his hands.
“What’s this?”
As someone working in scientific research, Professor Wang Xi was particularly susceptible to technical information. Before he could even process all this, his hand had already reached out instinctively to accept the information.
Professor Wang Xi gently turned to the first page and his eyes lit up at once after reading the introduction. He could not hold back from delving into the main text.
Chen Chen helped Professor Wang Xi into the car, then nodded at the bodyguards in charge. After that, he got into the backseat too. The two bodyguards dutifully sat in the front.
The car started off for the hospital.
After reading for quite some time, Professor Wang Xi dazedly came back to his senses. He pointed at a line of data. “Little Chen, your technology for ‘inducing neural stem cells’ is slightly off. According to this data, it’ll be difficult to induce neural stem cells like this.”
“Is that so?”
Chen Chen took the papers, pretending to be puzzled, following which he broke out into a smile of unparalleled certainty. “Professor Wang, there’s no mistake here. The results have been produced. If you don’t believe me, take a look at the back.”
“There’s really no mistake?”
Professor Wang Xi shot a doubtful glance at Chen Chen. Seeing that Chen Chen’s eyes were unwavering, he did not say anything else and continued reading.
After Professor Wang Xi re-entered his state of deep pondering, Chen Chen felt a small, secret pang of shame.
In truth, most of the data in this document were authentic. Only the technology for “inducing neural stem cells” was falsified.
After all, Chen Chen had already developed “embryonic stem cell cloning” technology, which was more precise and convenient than “induced pluripotent stem cells”. How could he give up on all that and shift to developing “induced pluripotent stem cells”?
Besides, the latter technology had many hidden risks, including tumor formation and mutation. It was far less secure than embryonic stem cell cloning.
However, even though the technology of embryonic stem cell cloning was not against international law, it would still trigger a massive public debate. Therefore, Chen Chen had to use “induced neural stem cells” to fill in the gap for now.
To think that Chen Chen did not spot the problem in this information but Professor Wang Xi noticed something fishy almost immediately.
Sure enough, despite having resigned from leading roles for many years and despite suffering from “senile dementia”, Professor Wang Xi’s level of biological mastery was still among the best in the world.
[1] Sun Wukong refers to the Monkey King and Baigujing refers to the White Bone Spirit. Both are characters from Journey to the West.