When fate plays its hand

Chapter 0788

“Speaking of this year’s competition,” Owen began, his tone a mix of exasperation and resignation, “I don’t know if it’s the students nowadays or just the overall academic atmosphere becoming so impatient and shallow.

“About 50% of the submitted projects were just flashy and superficial, 40% were complete nonsense, and barely 10% were even passable.”

He took a sip of his coffee and sighed. “It truly feels like each generation is worse than the last. I still remember the students from the first three years who won the grand prizes— they were all ‘Science‘ and ‘Nature‘ material. But now…”

He didn’t finish his sentence, letting a shake of his head and a deep sigh speak for him instead.

“That said,” Owen continued, “there was one surprising, outstanding project this year. It was from a Bedford College team, and their project was titled ‘Genetic Testing and Biomedical Applications.‘ The team leader’s name was… Yasmine, I believe?

“I remember it clearly. That project won the grand prize. Everything about it–the approach, the experimental design, and the final quality–was exceptional. The judges even unanimously agreed it was SCI publication–ready!

“Afterward, some of us judges asked around about this Yasmine. We heard she’s just a first -year graduate student and has already published several papers. People say she’s a genius girl‘ in your Faculty of Bioinformatics. So young, yet truly impressive…”

Owen kept talking, but Miranda wasn’t listening anymore. From the moment he mentioned the title, her mind froze in disbelief

It was because… that was her team’s research title.

How did it become Yasmine’s?

It felt like a heavy blow to the head, leaving her stunned. But after a moment of shock, her rational mind took over.

Miranda quickly realized the gravity of the situation.

Joli had just returned from off–campus, feeling utterly drained. His back ached, his neck was stiff, and his forehead throbbed with a persistent pulse. He recognized it as the telltale signs of exhaustion and mental strain.

This winter break had been anything but restful. After a single offhand comment from Sophie, the entire team had been forced to stay on campus, including Joli.

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Chapter 0788

But being stuck on campus didn’t mean progress. Their lab was still under rectification, making it impossible to conduct research.

For the first couple of days, Joli had tried to stay hopeful, lounging in his dorm and eagerly waiting for news that the rectifications were finished.

Yet reality, as always, proved to be less forgiving. Life didn’t deliver any turnarounds.

miraculous

After several days of unproductive idling, Joli felt himself growing restless. He could feel his motivation dwindling. It was as though he were slowly wasting away.

At that moment, one of Joli’s senior classmates introduced him to a part–time job–a position as an assistant in a cosmetic company’s biological laboratory. The pay was 400 dollars a day, paid weekly.

The senior asked if he was interested. For Joli, hesitating for even a second would have been disrespectful to that kind of daily wage.

Joli agreed on the spot. Even though the senior repeatedly warned him about the high workload and lack of rest, he didn’t feel it was a problem. Making money was never easy anyway, he thought.

But when Joli actually stepped into the lab and started working, he realized why the warnings had been so earnest. This level of pay wasn’t given without reason.

It was exhausting–truly exhausting. But at the same time, it was fulfilling.

Thus began Joli’s routine of traveling back and forth between the lab and his dorm, a rigid two–point commute that he had maintained until now.

In the meantime, Sophie had tried to reach out to him. Yet he didn’t go to her.

Yasmine also called him several times, probing indirectly and hinting that she expected him to continue producing papers.

Joli let out a cold laugh before retorting, “Without access to a lab, where exactly do you expect me to produce these papers? Should I steal the data? Or rob someone? At least give me a feasible suggestion.”

Yasmine was irritated and accused him of being passive–aggressive. Nonetheless, Joli calmly hung up, his emotions unaffected.

Back in the present, Joli entered the dormitory building, fishing his keys out of his pocket as he walked. After two sleepless nights, he wanted nothing more than to collapse into bed and sleep.

Chapter 0788

But as soon as he pushed open the door, he saw Theodore slumped on the edge of his bed. He was sobbing uncontrollably, his face streaked with tears and snot.

Hearing the door creak open, Theodore jumped up like a startled rabbit, turning his back to Joli and hurriedly wiping his face.

“You’re back…” he stammered.

Joli’s expression darkened instantly. “What happened?”

“Nothing… nothing at all…”

“Nothing? Then why are you crying like that?”

Theodore stammered, “I… I wasn’t crying… I just… just watched a really emotional movie. I couldn’t control myself…”

Joli’s face remained impassive. “Do I look that gullible to you?”

Theodore froze, unable to respond.

“Theo,” Joli’s voice softened, but his tone was firm. “We came from a remote rural village and worked hard to make it to the capital, carving out a path with our studies. It hasn’t

easy, and precisely because of that, we should support each other, don’t you think? Now, tell me the truth.”

been

Theodore’s lips quivered slightly. “It’s truly nothing.”

Joli frowned at this. “Does it have something to do with the competition?”

Theodore sniffled, and he finally broke down. “It’s Yasmine. She kicked me out of the research group. I had no idea until the award results were announced. I only realized what had happened when I didn’t see my name on the list.

“I don’t know why she’s targeting me. I participated in every part of the project. I collected data, did fieldwork, and handled all kinds of miscellaneous tasks. I gave it everything I had. I just don’t understand why she would do this to me.”