1573 Just Die
Qiao En was implying that Lu Xia simply had a stroke of bad luck.
Lu Xia did not look at the first article in the journal. After speaking to the assistant, she felt annoyed and indignant, so she was in no mood to read the article.
Qiao En had explained the situation to her, but Lu Xia felt even worse.
He might have claimed the article was special, but Lu Xia knew it was just an excuse.
Qiao En could tell Lu Xia still felt indignant. He put down the journal and asked. “Have you read the first article yet?”
Lu Xia was upset, so she was naturally in no mood to read it. Since she did not dare to throw a temper in front of Qiao En, she replied patronizingly. “I flipped through it briefly, but didn’t read it in detail.”
“Why don’t you have a read? After you read it, you will know why your article was published second.” Qiao En pointed to the table.
Lu Xia looked at Qiao En and picked up the journal.
Before she started reading the paper, she was stunned to see the author’s name on the article.
It was Huo Yao.
It might be someone else with the same name. Perhaps it was the same Huo Yao she knew.
Lu Xia automatically felt it was impossible to be the same Huo Yao but then she thought about Huo Yao’s past glory when they were in middle school and suddenly felt it might be her. Lu Xia felt flustered thinking about this.
She had no interest in reading the first article of the issue. Instead, she raised her head and looked at Qiao En. “Prof Qiao, can you help me with something?”
“Yes?” Qiao En leaned into the seat.
“Can you help check with the journal and find out who wrote the paper?” Lu Xia had to know the answer.
Qiao En glanced at her quizzically.
Lu Xia’s eyes glinted briefly before she said, “I have seen this paper before. I just want to know if the same person wrote it.”
Qiao En frowned slightly before he took out his phone and called his SCI contact.
The call got through before long.
“Yes. I would like to find out more about the author of the first paper.” Qiao En hung up the phone and waited for his friend to check their records.
Before two minutes were through, he received a text message on his phone.
His journal contact had responded.
Qiao En tapped on the message and showed it to Lu Xia. “The contributor is from your country and Tsing University’s Biology department.”
Complicated emotions flooded Lu Xia’s heart.
It was really Huo Yao!
When they were in the same middle school, Huo Yao kept competing and outperforming Lu Xia. Even after they had graduated and gone to different universities, their articles were published in the same journal issue.
This was as dramatic as a television program.
The fury in Lu Xia’s heart shot straight up.
Qiao En asked. “Do you know the author?”
Lu Xia bit her lip and nodded. “Uh huh.”
“That’s quite the coincidence,” said Qiao En.
Lu Xia lowered her eyes so that Qiao En could not see the resentment in her eyes. She paused before she gritted her teeth and said, “She’s the unusual person that I mentioned to you previously.”
The moment Qiao En heard what she said, his face froze promptly. “Do you mean she’s…”
“That’s right. Just check her background. I’m sure you’ll find that she’s very unusual,” replied Lu Xia candidly.
Since Huo Yao kept annoying her left and right, Huo Yao was better off dead.
Lu Xia laughed coldly inside.
Qiao En knew Lu Xia did not dare to lie. He glanced at a folder by the side.
His research had reached a bottleneck recently. If he changed the subject, perhaps something might change.
