"What are you looking at? There's nothing interesting." Since their gazes met, Meng Fanqi waved his hand and called a few people over. "Since you're here, let's eat together."

"Is it convenient?" Tang Huang hurriedly approached and took a few steps forward to get a clearer view of the situation.

He knew Meng Fanqi's situation best in the past few months, and it shouldn't be a date.

But it's still necessary to ask, not Meng Fanqi, but to ask Han Ci.

"Come on, we haven't been eating for long." Han Ci originally planned to go find Mai Mang later, but she didn't expect the two things to merge into one.

"Waiter, we'll pull a table over here ourselves. Is that convenient?" Tang Huang and Liu Xu went to arrange the table.

As soon as she saw Han Ci, Mai Mang rubbed against her. "Han Jie, the courses in college are really tough. I've only studied for a year, and I feel like my brain is fried. I remember you told me last time that you were going to pursue a master's degree. How's it going? I think you should just go for a Ph.D. instead of wasting time on a master's!"

Mai Mang was like seeing a close relative when she saw Han Ci. She spoke non-stop like a machine gun, which was understandable. Mai Mang wasn't dumb, but middle school and high school were quite challenging for her.

If she hadn't known Han Ci very early on and had a good relationship with her all along, Mai Mang believed that she wouldn't have much connection with Yan Jing Electric Power University, which was considered a mid-level 211 university.

Most people are jealous by nature, and it's difficult to truly get along with someone who surpasses them in appearance, intelligence, and family background.

Although Han Ci was too outstanding, many people couldn't help but feel jealous.

But sometimes, it's not necessary to target such people. There are many people who choose to keep their distance.

Mai Mang was able to be friends with Han Ci in a very pure way, which was quite rare.

"Most people are easily envious when others are doing better than them, especially those around you, the people you are close to." Meng Fanqi silently thought in his heart. "Or rather, they hope you are doing well, but it's better not to be better than them."

It's quite rare to genuinely feel happy for a friend. Meng Fanqi felt that compared to Wang from Litang and Junro from Chin, people like Mai Mang were truly innocent.

When they first met, Mai Mang came to take Han Ci away, and Meng Fanqi vaguely remembered this. However, he didn't expect that Mai Mang would know his roommate so early.

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After carefully recalling the past, there was a complicated relationship between Mai Mang and Tang Huang, but in the end, they didn't end up together due to the city and work.

On the other hand, Liu Xu and Qin Hui, two ordinary people, ended up together and settled in Sichuan.

After the four of them pulled a larger table and sat down, they chatted for a while and realized that they were all old acquaintances who were neither close nor distant.

"A Ph.D. is not just about courses. You can't finish it just by doing exercises." Han Ci pinched Mai Mang's nose and then used both hands to flatten and round her face, as if kneading a dough.

"I'm pretty good at doing exercises, but when it comes to research, I actually have no confidence." Han Ci wasn't lying. In middle school, high school, and undergraduate studies, as long as she answered the questions correctly and scored high, and earned enough credits, everything went smoothly without any variables.

"The graduation requirements for a master's or Ph.D. mainly depend on the thesis and research results. In fact, many times, it's not up to you." Meng Fanqi interjected here and received a huge eye roll from Han Ci.

"Yeah, who can write as many as seven or eight papers in half a year like you?" It would be fake if she didn't envy it. Writing a thesis was a completely new field for Han Ci, and seeing peers doing better than her was something she was unfamiliar with.

That's also why she had a breakdown in the library when she saw Word crashing. Because generally, she was always the best, and she had gotten used to it.

"It's just experimental reports. We're just doing manual labor. The difficulty of this field can't be compared to the field of mathematics and physics." Meng Fanqi showed weakness, and Han Ci didn't pursue it anymore.

"It's my first time having a meal with heavyweight academic masters." Qin Hui's voice was soft and weak. "And there are two of them. My academic points this year will increase by at least 0.5."

"Wow! Huihui, you don't know. He was trending on the hot search a few days ago just because he took a break from school." Mai Mang, who usually surfs the internet intensively, knew all these pieces of information."The internet is buzzing about you. I've seen many posts saying that numerous domestic tech giants want to hire you with high salaries!" Mai Mang became excited as she spoke, "Is it true or false? I've seen several versions, all talking about Ali offering a million-dollar annual salary to the genius boy. If you really could earn a million, would you still continue studying?"

"If it were me, I definitely wouldn't." Mai Mang counted on her fingers, "I only spend tens of thousands a year. As long as I have one or two million in the bank, the annual interest would be enough for me to live comfortably."

Hearing Mai Mang suddenly asking about salary, Han Ci slapped Mai Mang's thigh under the table and gave her a stern look.

Only then did Mai Mang realize that she might have touched on a sensitive topic, and she stuck out her tongue and stopped talking.

Asking about salary is a big taboo in society or the workplace. Many companies do not allow employees to discuss salary-related information.

Those who leak information may have their job offers rescinded before they even start, and those who have already started are usually called in for a talk. In severe cases, they could even be fired directly.

However, Meng Fanqi knew that Mai Mang was just speaking without thinking, saying whatever came to her mind, without any other intentions.

He didn't want to delve into this topic, after all, education and income are the simplest and most brutal indicators to measure the identities of students and social people.

Once a number is mentioned, it inevitably creates a sense of comparison.

However, since she asked, Meng Fanqi suddenly had another idea and wanted to extend an invitation, so he prepared to reveal some information as a prelude.

"The million-dollar offer from Ali is pure fake news. Their HR director just called me and asked if I would go for 800,000 a year." Meng Fanqi found this matter somewhat amusing, not understanding why Ali's HR was so arrogant.

An HR person, who didn't understand technology, somehow got Meng Fanqi's phone number and called him directly.

After politely declining, they repeatedly emphasized, "You're rejecting Ali," "A company like Ali isn't one you can join whenever you want," "For an undergraduate like you, an annual salary of 800,000 is really not small, don't be ungrateful."

Meng Fanqi originally wanted to end the conversation gracefully, but in the end, he was so speechless from the repeated emphasis that he had to hang up the phone directly.