America: I came here to study, not to show mercy.

Chapter 212 He looks even better when he smiles
"Amelia, is something the matter?"

The hall was spacious, but it still felt crowded with the bustling crowd. Li Xiaoen quickly walked past several students before finally arriving in front of the group of people who seemed to be in a tense standoff.

"Li Xiaoen?"

The sudden appearance of a figure and the sound that rang out caught their attention. Truda exclaimed in surprise, "I didn't expect to see you here."

"do we know each other?"

With a somewhat complicated thought in mind, Li Xiaoen turned his head and asked, his body intentionally or unintentionally blocking Amelia's way.

"Or you could say, we know you, but you don't know us."

Truda smiled meaningfully, glanced at the other students around him, and laughed twice. "Sean, your performance at the party and your basketball game last semester were quite popular among college students."

"Besides, there's been a lot of popularity lately for comics that feature you as a villain, didn't you know?"

"I only learned about the comic from you now."

"Has the comic really become this popular?" Li Xiaoen wondered to himself. He nodded in response, but before he could say anything more, Haskell and Lucas caught up with him.

"Truda, it's nice to see you again. How have you been lately?"

Haskel gestured familiarly with Truda and the students around him, asking, "How's your project progressing during this conference?"

"It was a result that went according to plan."

Under the curious gazes of everyone, Truda laughed heartily twice and casually waved his hand, "At least, our professor is satisfied."

"It's rare for a project to achieve its intended results smoothly and for the professor to be satisfied, isn't it?"

A boy next to him laughed and complained indignantly, "Truda, you're not just being modest to take care of us, are you?"

"We came to this meeting to learn, but Truda came to share."

Another boy smiled helplessly and echoed, and the group exchanged glances, all looking at Truda with amusement.

"You're exaggerating."

To put it simply, these words seemed to please him. Truda took a deep breath, shook his head, picked up his coffee, and took a sip.

So who says America is devoid of human relationships? Who says that outstanding students from top universities are necessarily detached from reality?

Li Xiaoen watched silently, inwardly complaining that in this beacon of a country where even the vice president is obsequious and sycophantic, such trivial matters are not uncommon.

Ignoring the group who were singing in unison, Li Xiaoen turned to Amelia behind him and said, "Is there anything else? If not, let's go inside and take a seat."

The exhibition hall for the upcoming academic exchange is located to the side of the main hall, and quite a few people have already gone in and out.

"Sure, there's nothing wrong anyway."

Amelia nodded and was about to leave with the young man when Truda quickly called out to them.

"Hey……"

As the two looked over, Truda raised his coffee cup and smiled, "Those of you who are here for this conference are all more or less involved in artificial intelligence and machine learning. Why don't we chat and make friends? In the future, whether we continue our research or work, there's a high probability that we'll have collaborations and exchanges."

Despite the stares of the crowd, Li Xiaoen remained unfazed. He turned to look at Amelia's reaction and, seeing her determined gaze upon him, he finally understood.

"It is a lucky thing to make like-minded friends, but I think it should be based on the premise that you are relaxed and comfortable in mind and body."

Turning around, Li Xiaoen explained simply, "Amelia isn't feeling well right now, so..."

"..."

Having already laid everything out in the open, Truda frowned slightly, glancing involuntarily at Amelia. Seeing her unwavering acceptance, Truda's heart sank.

His gaze shifted back to Li Xiaoen, and seeing that this Chinese man was currently very popular online, and was now deliberately blocking his way, his expression became somewhat strange.

"So, you're so concerned about that girl, is it because you have something to do with her?"

"I'm pursuing him!"

Before Li Xiaoen could speak, Amelia behind him interrupted, her simple words suddenly resonating in everyone's hearts, causing them to turn around and stare blankly at her.

Seemingly oblivious to their gazes, Amelia smiled and said, "This is my answer. Are you satisfied?"

"Oh……"

It took Truda quite a while to react, and he nodded repeatedly, "I understand..."

He unconsciously turned his head, not looking at anyone else, but instead focusing his gaze on the other people in the distance of the hall.

"Sean, do you have a moment to come over...?"

Just then, a familiar voice from not far away broke the silence. Everyone turned around and saw Professor Sedgewick waving with a smile. Several middle-aged men stood beside him in the same pose, their eyes also full of smiles as they looked over.

"Why don't you go in first and grab a good spot?"

Lee Shawn turned to look at Amelia first.

"Okay, I'll wait for you inside."

Nodding quickly, Amelia turned around and strode towards the venue. Only after walking a short distance did she slowly take a deep breath, her face finally flushing with heat.

Shawn Lee didn't see the reaction of this "well-behaved student" who suddenly became bold. He nodded to Haskel and his group and walked towards Professor Sedgewick.

"Ha ha……"

Before he could even get close enough to stand still, he heard Professor Sedgewick laugh. As soon as he steadied himself, Professor Sedgewick patted him on the shoulder twice.

“This is my student, Li Xiaoen. The reasoning model and paper I sent you before were written by him.”

Professor Sedgewick introduced him to his friends with a beaming smile, adding, "He's only a freshman; he just enrolled last year."

"I know, you said that many times online back then."

A man with completely white hair and beard, sporting a uniformly messy style, chuckled and turned around, extending his hand with a smile. "I am Anthony Stella, a professor of artificial intelligence at Harvard. It's a pleasure to meet you, Sean."

"Hello, Professor Stella. It's a pleasure to meet you."

Li Xiaoen reached out and shook hands with him, responding with a smile.

"Sean, have you considered transferring schools? Or coming to Harvard for your master's degree?"

Stella then asked, "With your current grades, whether you transfer now or pursue a master's degree later, I guarantee I can help you get a full scholarship, plus a decent monthly stipend, definitely more than you'd get at Princeton..."

"You son of a bitch, what are you saying?" Professor Sedgewick couldn't help but curse as Li Xiaon's expression froze. "Say such things to my face?"

"Aren't you taking me too lightly?"

"Am I wrong? Princeton is more stingy with good students than Harvard. Let me tell you, one of my Chinese students once said an old Chinese proverb to me..."

Faced with Professor Sedgewick's accusations, Stella remained unfazed, chuckling as she uttered a strained, off-key sentence in Chinese: "A wise man submits to circumstances..."

"You can ask Sean what that means."

What exactly did Liu Zi from China say to the professor?

Li Xiaoen raised his hand to his face, feeling helpless. He waved his hand and refused to get involved in the joke between the two middle-aged men. They had both been admitted to top-ranked Ivy League universities in the world, so no one would believe that Stella's joke about poaching their students was true.

While high IQ does not necessarily mean high EQ, individuals who possess only high IQ but severely lack EQ are extremely rare, if not nonexistent. They are mostly just fictional characters used to enrich the lives of people in movies and TV series.

In particular, when these universities admit students, they consider not only exam scores and IQ, but also a comprehensive assessment of their overall qualities. When he applied to study abroad, he also listed a prominent talent.

As he pondered this, Li Xiaoen noticed the several elderly professors standing nearby and proactively extended his hand...

On the other side, right after Sean Lee left, Haskel greeted Truda and his group and left as well. Standing at the buffet table, drinking coffee, his gaze was fixed on the young man in the distance who was chatting and laughing with several old professors, but whose expression remained calm and composed.

"Haskel, aren't you going to make any friends?"

Lucas finally finished eating, took a sip of coffee, and burped. "When I left just now, Truda seemed to be in a bad mood."

"There are always trade-offs to be made."

Haskel sighed and glanced to the side. "Sean or Truda, whether as business partners or friends, who would you choose?"

"of course?"

Lucas nodded without hesitation and didn't say another word.

After chatting with a few professors for a while, it was time for the seminar to begin. Following the flow of people into the venue, Li Xiaon activated his [Eye of Insight] and spotted Amelia sitting in a corner. He squeezed through the gaps in the crowd to get to her.

"Thank you."

As soon as he sat down, Li Xiaoen took a cup of coffee from the girl. Judging from the temperature and volume, it was clear that she had just gone out to the lobby to get it.

After taking a small bite, noticing that the girl's expression was normal and there was a faint smile on her lips, Li Xiaoen couldn't help but lean closer.

"Are you thinking about something? You seem so happy."

"Can't I be happy?"

The smile on Amelia's lips vanished instantly, and she glanced at him sideways.

"Naturally."

Li Xiaoen shrugged, carefully examining the girl's fair and pretty face, and a meaningful smile appeared on his face. "You really need to smile more. I just realized that you look even more beautiful when you smile. No wonder people are so shameless in trying to chat you up."

After saying that, his gaze unconsciously lowered, but unfortunately, the exquisite figure he had imagined was hidden in the thick cotton coat and denim skirt and he could not see it. Immediately, a slap covered his face.

"What are you looking at?"

Seeing the young man sit up straight, Amelia withdrew her hand and glared at him. "If you look at me like that again, I'll report you to Professor Sedgewick!"

"Go report it."

Li Xiaoen shrugged nonchalantly, "I was just saying that you looked like a big fat guy when you were all wrapped up."

Speaking of this, he recalled that every time he saw Amelia, she was always dressed in loose-fitting clothes that covered her completely, which was very different from the yoga pants and short tank tops that showed cleavage that other mainstream young American girls wore.

Indeed, even stereotypes cannot be uniformly summarized by a single style when there are so many people, especially Americans, with different ethnicities, educational backgrounds, and even living communities.

"what are you thinking about?"

Seeing that the young man immediately fell into reminiscence after speaking, Amelia gritted her teeth and couldn't help but raise her hand and punch him.

"Hey……"

Bringing him back to reality, Li Xiaon couldn't help but speak up. He narrowed his eyes as he looked at the girl and extended a hand. "In order to help you get rid of those people's harassment and to act as your shield, I think you need to pay me some compensation."

"The coffee in your hand is it."

Amelia's heart sank. She silently looked at the young man, noticing the coffee in his hand, before smiling and saying, "It doesn't include the tip, because I think the service was terrible."

"According to your American custom, because you didn't tip, you won't be able to enjoy my service in the future."

Without dwelling on the cost—just a free cup of hand-drip coffee, so inexpensive—Lee Shawn shrugged, giving Amelia a meaningful smile.

"Besides, if you don't tip, many people will cut corners on the service or food. If we're here, I've decided to talk to Truda and the others about you and me later, and say..."

"..."

Amelia's heart tightened, and after waiting for the young man to continue, she paused, then glared at him. "What are you going to say about me? Be careful, or I'll sue you for defamation."

"You're always suing and filing lawsuits; people who don't know you would think you're a law student."

Li Xiaoen shrugged, smiling and remaining silent in the face of the girl's probing gaze, when he immediately received another punch on his shoulder, and his face darkened.

"I am a supporter of gender equality, and I will respond to any attack from anyone without question."

With his hands rubbing together in anticipation, Li Xiaoen's eyes were searching for a good spot to strike the girl when he suddenly heard a low shout from not far away.

Turning his head, he saw Lucas waving his hand vigorously at the podium not far away. Only then did Li Xiaoen notice the gazes of all the classmates around him and was momentarily stunned.

Yes, it's his turn to go on stage and present the research results of their laboratory.

Li Xiaoen realized what was happening and quickly stood up, taking the place next to Amelia. He looked down at the girl, who had returned to her quiet and obedient appearance, and couldn't help but raise an eyebrow.

"Amelia, didn't you want to know what I was going to say to them?"

The girl paused for a moment upon hearing this, then looked up blankly, meeting the gray-brown eyes behind the other person's frameless glasses. Li Xiaoen chuckled, "You can wait a moment, I'll go up on stage and speak."

"..."

A light, casual remark reached Amelia's ears, and her mind went completely blank. By the time she came to her senses, the young man had already passed her seat and was walking towards the stage in front of her.

She instinctively gripped her cotton coat tightly with both hands, her heart pounding with panic.

(End of this chapter)