Marrying My Bestie's Ferocious Brother - He Calls Me His Baby!

Chapter 330 - 328: You Can’t Stump Me—I’m a Walking Textbook!

Lin Wan Yi stopped the chalk, and the blackboard was filled with complex lines.

The chalk made a soft "click" sound.

Lin Wan Yi gently placed the chalk stub in the tray, producing a crisp sound.

The lecture hall fell silent.

On the blackboard, it was no longer the textbook-like, flat, indicative lines. Instead, it was a complex work of art full of spatial and logical beauty. From the basic double helix structure, coiling and folding into nucleosome, compressing into chromatin fibers, and finally forming the compact higher-order structure of the chromosome... every twist, every turn was as precise as if it came from the most sophisticated instruments.

It wasn’t a drawing; it was a storm.

Zhao Lei turned pale. His proud "rigor" seemed like a joke in front of this depiction.

"This... this is impossible..." a student from the Agricultural University next to him whispered, "The books have never illustrated it this way..."

Dean Li on the podium adjusted his glasses with slightly trembling hands. The understanding of spatial conformation contained in this image had already exceeded this era.

Zhao Lei calmed himself, forcing himself to break free from the impact of the image. He couldn’t lose; he represented the face of the Agricultural University.

"No matter how fancy the drawing is, it’s just paper talk!" he stood up, his voice strained, "The foundation of theory lies in solving problems! Here are three questions; if you can answer them, I’ll admit defeat right here!"

He threw out the first question:

"Why does maize kernel trait manifest mottling without obvious physical or chemical mutagens?"

This was an extremely tricky question, far beyond the scope of final exams, and even controversial in academia.

Beijing University students held their breath.

Lin Wan Yi remained calm. She turned around and picked up another piece of chalk.

"The traditional explanation for this issue is the unstable mutation of genes," her voice was cold, echoing in the silent classroom, "But this explanation fails to account for why its mutation frequency is much higher than the natural mutation rate, nor does it explain its regularity."

Without pause, she wrote a word in the blank space on the blackboard:

[Transposable Element]

"I personally believe the deeper reason lies in the existence of a mobile genetic element in the genome, which I call ’transposable element’, or ’jumping gene’. It can jump from one location on the chromosome to another, like an unruly line-cutter. When it inserts into or near the gene controlling grain color, it affects the gene’s normal expression, causing trait changes."

The room erupted.

"Transposable element"? What on earth is that? Unheard of!

The professors in the audience, including the one leading the Agricultural University team, all changed their expressions, scribbling frantically in their notebooks.

Zhao Lei wiped his forehead. His prepared trump card was not only caught by the opponent but also countered with a deeper theory he couldn’t comprehend at all.

"Second question!" he shouted, "The diagram in your notes simplifies complex genetic linkage and exchange to such an extent, how do you prove that this ’simplification’ isn’t misleading but actually effective?"

Lin Wan Yi glanced at the "building block rotation" diagram she drew on the screen, then smiled slightly.

"Because truth is often straightforward."

She walked to the screen, picked up a long pointer, and pointed at the diagram Zhao Lei derided as "a child’s sketch."

"Look, we can think of the genes A, B, and C as three blocks. Normal inheritance is simply copying these three blocks entirely. Linkage exchange is merely swapping B with b in two sets of blocks during pairing." Her pointer lightly tapped the diagram, "My diagram strips away all irrelevant interfering information, directly targeting the core. Isn’t it clearer and less error-prone to calculate exchange rates using it compared to the mess of lines in textbooks?"

She looked at Zhao Lei directly.

"The value of science lies in revealing laws and applying them in the most optimized way, not complicating simple things to showcase profundity. What do you think?"

Zhao Lei’s lips moved, but he couldn’t utter a word. He lowered his head, as if he had been slapped hard.

"Third question..." he said softly, his voice shaking, "What is the molecular essence of plant drought and cold resistance mechanisms?"

The question was one even he only had a vague idea about.

Lin Wan Yi put down the pointer.

"The essence of this question is how cells maintain the correct spatial structure of proteins under stress."

She proposed another forward-thinking concept.

"Inside plant cells, there are special proteins called ’molecular chaperones’. Under normal circumstances, they act like nannies, helping nascent protein chains fold correctly. When facing drought or low temperatures, the intracellular environment changes, putting many proteins at risk of misfolding or denaturing. At this point, ’molecular chaperones’ are massively activated to recognize and bind those structurally unstable proteins, preventing them from aggregating into harmful clumps and assisting in recovering their proper conformation. This is the core of stress resistance."

The room erupted again.

The professors in the audience could no longer sit still.

"Protein folding..."

"Molecular chaperones... my God, this perspective..."

Dean Li excitedly patted the table, looking at the slender yet powerful figure on the podium, as if seeing the future hope of Chinese agriculture.

Zhao Lei stood there like a statue.

Every word from Lin Wan Yi was like a heavy hammer, shattering his pitiful pride and stubbornness into pieces.

This was not a gap in level, but a crushing of dimension.

He was utterly defeated.

Completely and unquestionably.

Under the watchful eyes of thousands, Zhao Lei slowly pushed away the chair in front of him.

He walked to the aisle, adjusted his collar, then bowed deeply to Lin Wan Yi on the podium.

He bent down ninety degrees.

"I lost."

His voice wasn’t loud, but it carried clearly to every corner, with a hint of gruffness and trembling.

"One may be born late or may specialize in different fields. Classmate Lin, I’ve learned."

At this moment, a loud voice broke the silence.

The old professor leading the Agricultural University team suddenly stood up, waving his arms excitedly, disregarding academic etiquette, and shouted directly at Dean Li on the podium:

"Old Li! I want this student! After she graduates, she’ll come to our Agricultural University to pursue a Ph.D. with me! Name your terms!!"

Upon hearing this, Dean Li, like a cat whose tail was stepped on, jumped up too.

He stood with his hands on his hips, shaking his head like a rattle, retorting, "Dream on, Wang! This is a treasure of Beijing University, nobody can take her away!"

A serious academic exchange instantly turned into a tug-of-war between two old professors over a student.

The students of Beijing University first froze, then burst into thunderous applause and cheers.

The exchange ended.