Murim's Weakest Princess-Chapter 149: Time Extension

While giving Anji a tour of the place, Assistant Hu apologised for the unsightly miscellaneous items that piled up, such as books, notes, brushes and ink slabs. Some of the shelves had thick layers of dust collected. However, the other chores, such as sweeping the floor, throwing the trash, washing the bathroom and making the bed, were taken care of by Assistant Hu daily. There was hardly anything else for Anji to do. They had brick flooring for the front and backyard. There was nothing to weed, and unless Anji wanted to help repaint the faded walls, everything else was relatively well-maintained outside.

"Keke threw out many things when she took over this place. It used to be more cluttered, but we organised it and decided not to do more than the bare minimum. With only two people buried neck-deep in research work, we could not afford the other luxuries, such as a garden or a pond that some other researchers have."

Nodding along, Anji reassured that she had seen worse, not to mention that Researcher Yang’s place suffered. However, she gave the hardworking assistant some of her chore talismans, teaching him how to make his daily chores easier.

Impressed by the innovative use of spells, Assistant Hu wondered who Anji’s teacher was. However, Anji remained mysterious and avoided dropping the name. However, she let him know that her teacher was too busy to see her for years and that she had learned most of what she knew from the books and notes that her teacher had sent. They usually exchanged communication whenever she had a question, which was not a lie because they exchanged recording crystals.

The more Anji talked, the more Assistant Hu was convinced Anji was a student of a wandering sect member who had left the mountain and accepted her as a student on a whim. Of course, it was illegal to accept students outside of the sect. Anji’s existence must have been discovered, and thus, she was accepted into the sect without a formal interview. What a pitiful child!

When they passed by the living room, Anji noticed a lack of chairs because of the numerous models taking up the space. Curious, she stared at a suspending model from the ceiling, careful not to touch it.

"Oh, pardon these. Keke and I figured out that we would not be receiving other guests, so we repurposed this space. The models were created to help us visualise the point-to-point coordinates better."

Nodding, Anji studied the model and asked if the point-to-point teleportation was using a radius or linear calculation model. Thrilled that Anji understood their research, Assistant Hu gave her more details about the progress of their research.

"Our teacher was a senior researcher who first invented the teleportation scroll commonly used outside the sect. However, it was a failed research. For centuries, he had been trying to perfect the teleportation spell from one place to another without coordinates like those used in portals. However, he failed. They initially used the radius calculation. However, with the portal fixation, he changed that calculation to a linear method. However, he died before he could finish it. Keke offered to take over his research and is working on it using different calculation methods, including the matrix, grid and triangle methods. However, even after three years, we were still unable to create it. The judging committee has given us a time extension for this project because it is a project by our late teacher. With only two more years, I can’t blame Keke for becoming more short-tempered. We’re running out of time with no light at the end of the tunnel."

The bond between Researcher Ke and Assistant Hu was deeper than Anji initially thought. Even if they were not lovers, they were most likely soul mates who understood each other’s pain perfectly.

Moving past the models, Anji was finally shown the library that Researcher Ke allowed her to use. Assistant Hu was about to leave Anji here to do her reading while he attended to chores. However, Anji asked if she could dust the books and arrange the ones lying all over the place while she browsed through them.

"Are you sure?" the thin man asked. "You don’t really have to do any chores."

Nodding, Anji told him it would kill two birds with one stone. Assistant Hu had enough on his plate as it was. ƒгeewёbnovel.com

"Also, I figured if we worked together to complete the chores before lunch, I could consult you to teach me what the general relativity theory is. It was written in my teacher’s book. However, I still don’t understand the formula."

Hearing what Anji wanted to learn, Assistant Hu finally accepted Anji’s help in arranging and dusting the books in the library. He could still teach the girl some things if it was merely the basics of general relativity.

Splitting up to tackle their chores, Anji grabbed the feathered duster and a stool. The shelves were not very tall because Assistant Hu was not a very tall man. Most of the books were placed on the bottom shelves, reaching up to the upper mid shelves, so that Anji could reach them from on top of a stool. The upper most shelf was left empty or used as storage for other items such as candles, blankets and even brushes.

As Anji busied about, putting used books back to the right section, she browsed at the titles and even flipped through a few books to read the sections that interested her. Unlike the research, there was quite a huge variety of books here that included astrology and geography. Anji found a few books about basic anatomy but skipped those because she was already well acquainted with anatomy from studying medicine.

Without knowing it, time flew quickly, and Anji’s stomach reminded her about her promise to Aunt Wine to show up for lunch. Scrambling to put away the pile of books she picked out for reading, Anji returned the stool and duster to where she found them. Assistant Hu was still busy, so she took the chance to wash the ink slabs.

"There you are," Assistant Hu spotted Anji in the kitchen. The washed ink slabs were drying by the sink, but there was still ink on Anji’s forehead that she must have accidentally rubbed while washing them.

Helping Anji look presentable, he asked if she was ready to go for lunch. It was not a very long walk, but the sun was very strong.

Grabbing two paper umbrellas, Assistant Hu and Anji left the lab. According to the short man, Researcher Ke only ate the same thing whenever she wanted to eat something.

"It’s a special order, so I must cook it myself. However, she would only eat egg rolls with pickled vegetables and spicy marinated pork with rice. It’s the dish that our late teacher used to love eating."

Nodding in understanding, Anji wondered what Aunt Wine had prepared for the children’s menu while twirling the paper umbrella that shielded her from the harshest sun rays.