Chapter 11

“Even if I practiced nonstop for a year—no sleep, no food—I’d still never match his speed and accuracy.” Josie swallowed, her mouth dry. “But if we don’t consider those two things, I think I can still graduate smoothly.” Delilah’s face darkened. “You just want to graduate?” “Of course not.” Josie shook her head. “If I can pass the postgraduate exam, I’ll continue studying this major and achieve something on this path.” Delilah’s expression softened slightly. “Your reason?” “Besides the two reasons from yesterday…” Josie pursed her lips, a rare smile playing at the corners of her mouth. She was cute when she smiled. “Do you believe me when I say I’ve fallen in love with it, Professor?”

Delilah burst out laughing. “Kid, good taste. Remember your words; if you don’t choose this major for grad school, I have ways to make sure you never graduate.” Josie was left speechless. At that moment, Claire tugged on Sean secretly. “Look at my mom; does she look like a bandit luring innocent girls?” “Poor little Josie doesn’t know how treacherous people can be and is being manipulated without even knowing it.” “No one’s manipulating her!” Sean’s face turned cold. Claire shrugged, tell-me-about-it. “Oh, please, like Mom hasn’t been playing games? “She’s had her eye on Josie, the department’s top dog, for ages. Been itching to snatch her from Professor Lawson and shove her into traditional medicine. “Now she got what she wished for.” Sean’s face darkened again as he glared at Claire. “She came knocking on our door herself.” “Yeah, yeah.” Claire nodded frantically. “But how did you know she’d choose us? “What if she came to the hospital hunting for some other professor, and Mom just damn well hijacked the deal?” “You’re overthinking it.” Sean looked at her like she was an idiot. “She’s already in her senior year and wants to switch majors; acupuncture is the best choice.” “Why would she switch majors if she’s doing well in a popular field?” Claire couldn’t understand it. “Even if she wants a double major, why pick such an unpopular one?” “She was at a dead end.” Sean threw his tablet at Claire. Claire scanned the school forum. “She accused Natalie of plagiarism and was disliked by the team? Not only did she get criticized, but she was also asked to apologize? “Even if that’s true, why would she leave her team to come here? I mean, it’s Professor Lawson’s team, a hot one.” Sean smiled coldly. “Because she’s not stupid. Would you rather be a punching bag over there or be a favored student here? What would you choose?”

“If it were me, I’d definitely pick the popular choice,” Claire said matter-of-factly. “Come on. You know I wouldn’t be doing this if acupuncture weren’t the family curse. Got roped into it, pure and simple. “From Josie’s perspective, to make job hunting easier in the future, I’d stick with Professor Lawson’s team, even as an invisible member. At least it’s a top-tier team. “Would it be worse than having no job prospects and studying something obscure?” “Huh…” Sean looked at her like she was an idiot. “So you tried hard to convince her to stay so you could run away? Want me to tell Aunt Delilah about this?” “Shut up.” Claire glared. “I worked hard to keep her around because I’m helping you vent. Don’t think I don’t know why you chose this major…” Sean’s face turned cold. “Stop talking and focus on your post!” “Josie leaving Professor Lawson’s team is all over the school forum now. She must’ve offended someone; they cut off all her options.” Claire sighed twice, a grin spreading.

“Well, well. Looks like my heavy lifting’s done. No need to sweet-talk her into staying now. She has no choice but to stay.” Sean grabbed the tablet and flipped through it briefly before sneering, “Remember when Aunt Delilah fought with Professor Lawson over students? “Do you want revenge for her?” Back then, Delilah and David had similar research directions as senior professors with rich teaching experience. That year, there was a promising new grad student whom both wanted on their teams. The student initially agreed to join Delilah. But later on, due to some secret move by David, the student changed his mind. That little spark later ignited Delilah’s jump ship from her red-hot major. She veered into research that was the polar opposite of David’s turf—killing any shot he had at making a grab for her students, for good. Afterward, Delilah taught such obscure subjects that, for quite some time, she became a laughingstock among teachers. Everyone said she lost completely to David. “What are you up to?” Claire looked nervous. “Don’t go crazy. Maybe Josie doesn’t want people to know she changed her major. You can’t just blab about it.” Sean glanced at Claire and suddenly walked over to Josie. “When did you leave David’s team?” “I wrote my resignation last night.” Josie was taken aback, wondering why Sean would ask that. “Then, do you want to make public your joining Professor Wilcourt’s team?” Sean continued. Josie’s face lit up with surprise. “Really? I can join Professor Wilcourt’s team? Don’t we still have to wait for my final exams this semester? “If I can join Professor Wilcourt’s team, I definitely want it made public.” This way, Aiden and his crew would see how serious she was. She wasn’t just playing around, she was really quitting. Sean smiled. “Then let’s make it public.”

“You brat!” Delilah laughed and scolded him, but didn’t object. Instead, she pulled Josie closer. “You got the acupoints right, but just memorizing their names isn’t enough. You need to be able to locate them on the body. “I’ll give you three days for this task. After three days, I’ll test you again. If you fail, there will be consequences.” Josie felt great now, smiling sweeter than ever before. “I’m sure I’ll pass. Don’t worry, Professor. “But is what you said about me joining the team true? You’re not tricking me, right?” “If Sean has already made it public, how could it not be true?” Claire walked over and pointed at Sean, who was operating his tablet. Josie burst into pure joy, grabbing Claire in a hug. “This is great! Couldn’t be better!” This was the happiest thing that had happened since she came back from hell. She didn’t expect changing professors to go so smoothly. She wasn’t sure if Delilah was better than David, but at least for now, she had no conflicts of interest with her. Besides, she believed that as long as she treated people sincerely, not everyone would be bad. After Sean posted about Josie joining Delilah’s team on the school forum, he handed the tablet back to Claire. And then, they all forgot about it and started focusing on consultations. To them, it was just Professor Wilcourt taking on another student—totally normal. But over at the school, Aiden and the other team members were fuming. “Who the hell leaked Josie’s resignation?” Aiden’s voice cut like ice. “Use your damn heads! She just apologized to Natalie, and Professor Lawson finally accepted her onto the team. “Now she quits? You’re practically screaming, ‘Look how we bullied her out!’ How’s that gonna play?” To him, even though she did want out, it should’ve been handled privately, not broadcast all over the school network.