Chapter 560 Decline the Opportunity
Catherine glanced at Sophia and calmly uttered two words.
“Not interested.”
After saying that, she walked past Sophia and left the classroom directly.
Seeing Catherine leave, Amelia blinked at Sophia and said, “Class monitor, you should go find others. We’re not interested. Oh, gotta go. Bye.”
After saying that, Amelia quickened her pace to catch up with Catherine.
“Catherine, it’s still early for dinner. Shall we go back to the dormitory or take a stroll around campus?”
“Go back to the dormitory,” Catherine replied. She had no interest in wandering around the campus of Styre University. Before coming to school, she had studied the map and memorized the locations of all the academic buildings.
Having woken up early for class, Amelia was tired. She nodded in agreement with Catherine’s suggestion.
“Alright, let’s take a shortcut back. We can save some time by walking through the middle corridor.”
After listening to her suggestion, Catherine turned to the side and took a turn onto a small path.
This area was the botanical garden of Styre University located in the northwest corner of the university. Cutting through there could indeed shorten the distance.
Catherine walked quickly, taking large strides. Amelia had to almost jog to keep up with her.
In her haste to catch up with Catherine’s pace, Amelia didn’t pay attention to the ground beneath her feet. As a result, she accidentally stepped on a tree branch on the ground and suddenly bumped forward.
Amelia bumped into Catherine’s back, pushing her forcefully.
The sudden movement caught Catherine off guard. She reflexively stumbled forward, coincidentally colliding with the person in front of her.
The other person seemed to be just like Amelia, not paying attention to the path while walking.
In the next moment, pieces of paper flew up in the air, falling down like snowflakes.
After Amelia steadied herself, she saw the consequences of her actions and silently shrunk her neck. She immediately helped Catherine up and asked, “Catherine, are you okay?”
Catherine shook her head and turned to look at the person she had bumped into.
Ignoring what had happened, the person lowered his head and quickly picked up the scattered documents on the ground.
Catherine and Amelia stepped forward, trying to help. They gathered the documents from the ground and handed them back to the person.
When the person looked up and saw Catherine, he froze for a moment.
After recognizing the person, Amelia was also shocked. Her voice became a bit stammered as she said, “Professor Hartley…”
Catherine remained calm and politely called out, “Professor Hartley!”
Marshall was walking with his documents, deep in thought about the experimental data, when he was suddenly interrupted by these two female students. His mood became particularly sour.
He was a typical old scholar. Research was more important to him than his life. Amelia’s heart skipped a beat when she saw Marshall’s dark expression.
“Why did you walk so recklessly? Be careful next time,” Marshall scolded.
Amelia caused this trouble, so it was her responsibility to apologize. She hurriedly approached Marshall, bowed, and apologized, “I’m sorry, Professor Hartley. It was my fault. I wasn’t watching where I was going and bumped into you. I promise it won’t happen again.”
Marshall was focused on organizing his messy documents and didn’t even glance at Amelia. He waved his hand, gesturing for them to leave. He didn’t want to blame the students. He just didn’t have the time to deal with them.
Catherine noticed the dense calculation data in Marshall’s hands and immediately spotted a problem. She reached out and pointed at the documents Marshall was holding, saying in a calm tone, “Professor Hartley, look here. There’s an extra datum.”
Marshall’s hand paused, and his gaze focused on the spot Catherine was pointing at. He furrowed his brow and carefully examined it for a few seconds. He then gestured toward Catherine.
“Wait… wait a second…” he said urgently, as if afraid that Catherine would leave.
After speaking, he took out a pen from his chest pocket and began calculating on the spot.
Catherine wasn’t in a hurry, so she stood still and waited for him.
Amelia stood there, completely confused. She had no idea what was happening. But since the two big shots didn’t move, she didn’t dare to move either.
Half an hour later, Marshall roughly went through the data on three large sheets of paper. He looked up with a face full of joy.
If any students familiar with Marshall saw this scene, they would be extremely surprised. Marshall was always serious and never smiled, but now he looked very happy.
Marshall approached Catherine with the three pieces of paper full of data, looking at her with excitement.
“Your name is Catherine, right? I remember you.”
Catherine nodded.
Marshall’s eyes, hidden behind his black-framed glasses, stared intensely at her. “How did you know that this was an extra datum and that there was an error in the calculation result?”
He had been working in the laboratory for three whole days without any clue. With this data error, nothing else could be done. He was even too distracted to attend classes, tirelessly calculating day and night. If it weren’t for a student suggesting that he go outside and breathe in some fresh air to improve his thinking, he would never have stepped out of the laboratory.
But unexpectedly, he had indeed found a new approach.
If one listened carefully to Marshall, they could sense the excitement in his words.
Catherine glanced at the data that Marshall was calculating. The reason she could come to a conclusion so quickly was that she had conducted the same experiment a year ago and successfully calculated the results. She had encountered the same problem that Marshall faced. Therefore, she could pinpoint the key issue.
Catherine looked calmly at Marshall. ” Professor Hartley, when I was helping you gather these materials earlier, I took a look at your calculations and noticed the problem.”
This response shocked Marshall, and he involuntarily widened his eyes. “Just like that? In such a short time?”
Not only could Catherine understand his calculations, but she could also point out the error that he had been looking for for a long time.
Marshall’s heart was filled with excitement. Alongside the overwhelming shock, it felt as if there was a beam of light in front of him, showing him hope.
“Come with me to the laboratory. Let’s conduct research together and solve this problem.”
Many students chose the electronic information engineering department at Styre University because of Marshall. Some even made it their lifelong goal to enter Marshall’s laboratory and conduct research with him.
Amelia, who was standing beside them, couldn’t contain her excitement, even though it wasn’t about herself. She was almost about to faint.
On the other hand, Catherine remained calm and indifferent, maintaining her usual demeanor. She even declined this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that would be considered extraordinary for an ordinary person.
“Let’s talk about it another time. I need to go back to the dormitory now.”
