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[The Inner Eye] [EP20]

Morning. Attorney Kang.

Morning. Peilin.

Morning.

Attorney Dai. Director Kang. Morning.

Morning. Good morning.

Morning.

Attorney Tang. Good morning.

Good morning. Morning.

Morning.

Morning. Director.

Morning. Peilin.

You today...

Director.

Your dark circles

are quite heavy recently.

Let me give you a set of eye cream.

What's the matter?

No work?

Seeing her state yesterday,

I thought it would take her

at least a week to recover.

No, it's weird.

That's very unlike her.

Something must have happened last night.

What do you think

happened last night

to bring her

back to life

overnight?

Peilin.

Very obvious?

What?

Dark circles.

Well.

[Expert Seminar of Wu Lan’s Research Team]

[Nuowen Biotechnology Research Institute]

A little to the left.

Cross them flat.

Yeah.

Forty-seven seats.

No one can be missing.

Liu Yi. Liu Yi. Here.

Send these to everyone. Yeah.

Make sure that everyone

gets a meal voucher

at the tea break at ten o'clock.

I

told your boss before.

I paid the deposit.

What are you doing?

He just said

there was no seat.

I am coordinating.

The meeting will be held

in half an hour.

These things have not been done yet?

I'll be ready in a minute.

Is the meeting procedure correct?

Yeah.

It's the final version.

I printed ten more copies for spare.

Did you try the USB flash drive?

Yeah. I tried it yesterday.

Check

the pictures and videos again.

There must be

no mistakes at the meeting.

Well.

Is this

all right, professor?

This is the final intention.

This is the meeting flow.

Well.

Put one in front of every expert.

OK.

Put the information on the conference table.

OK.

It was clearly put here yesterday.

Yesterday, I...

What do you

think about every day?

I remember I put it in my bag yesterday.

How can we

hold a seminar without data?

Answer me.

I remember I put...

This seminar

will affect our subsequent

large investment.

You know

this is very important

for our institute.

I know.

Less than twenty minutes.

No matter what you do,

I must see the data

before the meeting begins.

Ok, I'll go back to the dormitory to find it now.

What are you doing?

See if the experts have arrived.

Well.

[Caller ID: An Ning]

Say it.

Do you know

where the camera charger is?

In the mezzanine of the black backpack in the lounge.

[Caller ID: Liu Yi]

What's wrong now?

Cui Jie.

There is not enough mineral water in the venue.

Call the supermarket.

I have no telephone number.

See the WeChat group.

Where is it?

[Caller ID: Wu Lan]

[Caller ID: Wu Lan]

You know the importance of

today's lecture.

You can forget to bring

such an important document.

Professor has been very anxious.

When will you come back?

As a graduate student,

you will never graduate.

I really don't understand

what you are thinking.

You know the importance of

today's lecture.

Such an important document.

I really don't understand

what you are thinking.

Such a serious accident.

Professor has been very anxious.

When will you come back?

You'll never graduate.

She's in a hurry.

Please answer the phone.

How's it going?

I knew I couldn't count on her.

Professor, what should we do now?

Get a whiteboard

from the next conference room.

When there is no technological equipment,

we have brains.

Hurry up.

Yeah.

[Cui Jie]

[Caller ID: Wu Lan]

Here is not Pansi Cave.

You are not Tang Monk either.

You have to do psychological construction

before you come into my office?

Feeling better?

Yeah. Very good.

What are you busy with?

A car sales champion

was framed and fabricated.

A case of infringement of reputation.

I have been busy with it recently.

You have something?

Cheng Feng recommended a barbecue restaurant.

It tastes fresh and tender.

Are you free this evening?

I'd like to invite you to dinner.

Eye cream.

I'm telling you very seriously that

these are not called dark circles,

but eye bags.

Eye bags.

It's also suitable for eye bags.

What do you mean?

How come you left

without saying goodbye this morning?

And

why did you put socks

on my pillow?

Are you dissatisfied with socks

or with me?

How can I answer that?

Don't ask

if you don't know the answer.

Do you want to pretend that

nothing happened again?

Don't you know it?

Anyway,

so what?

Okay, let me ask you something.

What is the relationship

between us at this moment?

Colleagues.

Superior and subordinate.

Friends.

Friends.

We are

the kind of friends who know each other thoroughly.

Director Kang. This is the office.

Your eye cream.

Wait a minute.

Let me ask you a serious question.

Shall we

still eat fresh and juicy

barbecue?

Yeah.

Must.

Yeah.

Do you know

or play dumb about

the fact that I like you?

Tell me

when you began.

Remember the day

we looked for the child on the mountain?

Do you know

what I was feeling?

I can't lose you.

I care about you.

Because I like you.

Suddenly,

you were standing next to me.

Kang Jun.

The feeling of getting you back

makes me extremely happy.

I don't know

how to describe that feeling.

Just...

My reason tells me

I'm finished.

Because I fell for you.

You.

You knew

I had a boyfriend.

So I respect you very much.

I have always respected you.

I have never crossed the line.

You know that.

But sorry.

Now he has nothing to do with us.

Can I

ask you a question?

Yeah.

Do you have feelings for me?

From what I know about you,

I don't think

you can be with

someone

who you have no feelings for...

What if I really am that kind of person?

What if I am

such a sensitive person?

Well.

I'll take it all.

I need some time to think about it.

How long?

Are you in a hurry?

Do I have a choice?

So wait for me.

I'll tell you when I think about it.

OK.

Let's barbecue. The meat is getting old.

You often say I'm old.

So I also want to roast the meat a little older.

You are not old.

You are tender inside.

Tender inside.

How is your grandfather recently?

He's okay.

His blood pressure

is sometimes unstable.

But he is quite strong.

Our relatives are looking after him.

You work hard and live a good life,

which will reassure him.

When your living conditions are good,

you can take him to live with you.

I see. Miss.

Before I came back,

I visited my sister-in-law.

She asked me to give you a message.

She said,

it's good to be alive.

She will not live up to

the second life you gave her.

Well. Miss.

What kind of consultation is it today?

I haven't seen him yet.

I don't know.

Fang Wei'an introduced him.

His friend.

You still in touch with him?

Why not?

I welcome anyone

who introduces me to the case.

You ask today.

Me?

Yeah, you.

Attorney Tang. Your guest has arrived.

Mr. Xu, right?

Hello.

Tang Yingying. Attorney Tang.

He is Cheng Feng, Attorney Cheng.

Hello.

Hello.

I was introduced by Mr. Fang.

I want to do some legal

professional consultation.

Please sit down and take your time.

I sit here?

You can start.

My girlfriend.

No.

To be precise.

My ex-girlfriend.

She committed suicide the other day.

Thank you.

Drink some water.

Take it easy.

Her suicide

was forced by her mentor.

This is a police guess

or your personal guess?

She has been

overwhelmed.

Attorney Cheng. She's really pathetic.

Trust me.

Got it. Take it easy.

Take your time.

How long have you broken up?

Less than two months.

Her professor

is also the head of their institute.

She doesn't allow students to fall in love.

So

she chose the latter

between love and future.

I do not blame her.

You are both adults.

It is your freedom

to fall in love.

Why should she interfere?

Right?

This professor Wu Lan.

She thinks falling in love

is a waste of life.

She tried to control

every student's life and destiny.

Mr. Xu.

Tell us

more about

your girlfriend.

She is Cui Jie,

twenty-nine years old.

She is a Ph.D. student

at Nuowen Institute of Biotechnology.

She followed her mentor,

Professor Wu Lan, to do the project.

We are

like two

unrelated parallel lines.

I am just a singer

who sings in bars occasionally.

Her life

is like a train on a given track.

The direction is always clear.

She followed the prescribed order.

But I

am the accident

on the established track.

Mr. Xu, please tell us

about her suicide.

On the day of her suicide,

their institute

held an academic seminar.

Professor Wu Lan

told her that

it was her last chance

to fight for a preliminary defense.

Did something happen that day?

That day, she just couldn't find

Professor Wu Lan's

data flash drive.

Suicide

without finding the flash drive?

Mr. Xu.

Where did

your girlfriend commit suicide?

What was the scene like?

In the bathroom of the dormitory,

she broke the mirror

and cut her wrist with the debris on the ground.

Fortunately, she didn't die.

But she went into hemorrhagic shock

and hasn't woken up yet.

So what do you

want to ask us

or what kind of result

do you want?

Attorney Tang.

Can I pay you

to help me

investigate the whole thing?

I wonder if

Professor Wu Lan

has anything to do

with her suicide.

Mr. Xu.

If you want to investigate

the legal responsibility of the relevant personnel,

we can assist

the investigation

from the perspective of attorney,

and then give you some

reasonable suggestions.

But we can only sign

the entrustment agreement

with the next of kin of this party.

I see.

But after her accident,

her mother fell ill

as soon as she heard the news,

and now she is hospitalized in her hometown.

But her father is here.

I came to consult you today

with her father's consent.

Later,

Attorney Cheng will take you

through some relevant formalities.

However, let me explain in advance.

Even if Cui Jie's suicide

is really due to

the pressure of this professor,

it may be difficult

to investigate her legal responsibility

from a legal perspective.

Sure.

This is only my

preliminary judgment.

I know.

I looked it up online.

But I need to know

the real reason for her suicide.

I can't leave her in a hospital bed.

No explanation, no truth.

Just… hanging there.

Alright.

I'll leave you two to it.

Okay?

Thank you, Attorney Tang.

Try to stay calm and objective.

Do your best.

Keep me updated.

Okay.

Mr. Xu.

You're saying you're sure

your girlfriend's suicide

was tied to her advisor?

I'm telling you, Attorney Cheng—

Professor Wu Lan

is not clean.

After what happened to my senior,

I moved out.

This place has been empty since.

[Certificate of Honor]

Did Cui Jie ever keep a diary?

Or a spot she always used

for anything important.

Do you have any idea?

That notebook—

Jie kept it on her

pretty much 24/7.

Our advisor gave one

to every student when we joined.

Just for something like,

day-to-day stuff,

and lab notes, data, that kind of thing.

Nothing personal.

What is this?

We call it "Ten Rules of the Wu School".

This notebook

is my welcome gift

to every new student.

If you're sitting here right now,

in my research group,

it means you earned it.

You outperformed

a lot of people to get here.

Don't forget that.

But if you want to

last in academia,

talent isn't the whole story.

It's willpower.

As your advisor,

I'm responsible

for rigor and order.

I'm also responsible

for you finishing your studies,

and staying safe.

So I have a few rules.

Small ones.

They're written

right on the inside cover.

Open it.

This isn't new.

Your seniors lived by it,

and so will you.

Cui Jie, right?

Read them out.

Okay.

Rule one: We chase truth.

That's the mission.

No one puts personal gain

above the work.

Rule two—

Louder.

Rule two: While you're in the institute,

dating is not allowed if you're single.

If you're married,

you need to report any plans for kids.

Rule three: Work 12-hour days

with clock in and out on weekdays.

No late arrivals, no early exits.

You get half a day off a week.

Rule four: No personal electronic devices,

including mobile phones

allowed during work.

Rule five: Personal leave?

Not approved.

Medical leave requires

a top-tier hospital diagnosis.

Rule six: After hours,

any group messages

should be responded within 15 minutes.

Rule seven: If there's any

equipment failure or a safety issue,

I expect a written report

on my desk within an hour.

Rule eight: no one

touches the data, no withholding,

no altering, and no deleting.

Rule nine:

if one person crosses the line,

everyone pays the price.

Rule ten: thesis topics,

authorship on experiments,

and patent filing priority

all require my approval.

Wait—

with all these rules,

didn't anyone ever push back?

We never thought they were unreasonable.

Professor Wu wanted us

to focus completely

on our research,

just like she does.

Total dedication to academia.

She—

she's our role model.

Here. Thanks.

Attorney Cheng,

if there's nothing else,

I should get back,

I've got work to do.

One more thing—

about Cui Jie,

the restroom where it happened,

could I take a look?

Are you sure you want to?

Every time she went to see you,

I had to cover for her.

Before entering the lab,

she'd wipe off her lipstick.

Your rules never said

makeup was forbidden,

or lipstick.

The professor made it clear—

no chemicals allowed

before entering the lab.

And even outside the lab,

she didn't want us

to waste time

on things like makeup,

things she saw as meaningless.

I want to meet Professor Wu.

Is that possible?

[Certificate of Honor]

[Project Completion Certificate]

Xu Fei.

Was Cui Jie always this busy?

No lunch breaks?

Sometimes I'd text her,

and hear nothing for days.

She told me

overtime here was normal.

Everything here

comes after the project and experiments.

Attorney Cheng,

I'll step outside for a bit.

Being here

feels suffocating.

Attorney Cheng.

I'm really sorry,

the professor has

a meeting this afternoon

with biotech executives.

She won't be seeing you today.

What?

We've been waiting two hours.

She can't spare even a minute?

Please tell her

five minutes is enough.

I'm really sorry.

The professor's schedule

is not ours to interfere with.

You should head back.

I knew it.

This was how it'd end.

Since the incident,

the institute's been like this.

As if what happened

to Jie

had nothing to do with them.

Everything just goes on.

Aside from the lab and dorm,

where else did Cui Jie go?

When she was with me,

we'd go together

to the bar where I work.

On weekends,

she'd come over to my place.

I still have

a lot of her things there.

You graduated from Berkeley?

The one in the U.S.?

You must be talented

musically, then.

So why graduate from such a good school

and sing in a bar?

Are you doing this to make money?

I never said

I'm singing at a bar

was how I made a living.

It's just something I love.

And it helps that

I own a small share there.

After I met Jie,

she really rubbed off on me,

and I decided to go back to school,

focus on music psychology,

and music therapy.

Yeah… I get it now.

I know why Cui Jie

was drawn to you.

From that institute to your place,

it felt like

I came back to life.

I could finally breathe.

I'm sure the first time she came,

she felt it too.

That's because you didn't really know her—

the real her.

She's nothing like

what she seemed on the surface.

This is Cui Jie?

The real her

was actually

funny,

kind of extraordinary.

[One Year Earlier]

The first time we met

was at a bar.

She was a mess—shattered and embarrassed.

Hey, miss—

what can I get you?

I'll take the "Lost Lamb."

Sure.

This one's an original,

hope you like it.

♪Nights inside the Arctic Circle,♪

♪they stretch on and on,♪

Your drink.

Thank you.

♪The aurora shows up,♪

♪tearing through the dark,♪

♪it points us toward♪

♪a way to be free,♪

♪and no soul has to wander anymore.♪

♪Maybe you stay put only after♪

♪you've had enough disappointment,♪

♪turning your back on the horizon,♪

♪maybe you've just never seen♪

It was the first time that I had seen

someone cry like that

while hearing my song.

Later I found out

it was because her first

thesis draft got shot down,

and she lost her pre-defense slot.

And it was also

her first time ever in a bar.

Was my song really that bad?

You reacted like I killed somebody.

You're butchering it.

"Aurora tearing through the dark"

Do you even know what an aurora is?

An aurora happens when

charged particles

collide with atoms and molecules

in the atmosphere,

mostly oxygen and carbon,

then those atoms and molecules

drop back down,

release light.

That's the aurora.

I don't wanna drink.

It's not alcohol.

It's water… with goji berries.

Girls should be careful

when we are out at night.

I can't just

take drinks from strangers.

Who told you that?

My advisor.

She said that.

She's incredible.

Everything she says is right.

You know that?

Do you get it?

Yeah, I get it.

Hey.

Miss?

Wake up.

Where do you live?

Who are you?

Why am I in your car?

What's so important

on your phone?

Don't you think you should

check on yourself first?

Miss.

We're right outside the police station.

Over there, there

and right behind you, too,

cameras are on us

from every angle.

If you don't feel safe,

I'll go in with you,

we can pull the footage.

Okay?

No need.

Do a quick check,

did you lose anything?

Any injuries?

You moving okay?

Good. Then please,

step out of the car.

So that's how

I met her.

I honestly thought

we were from two different worlds,

and that would be it.

But a week later,

she showed up at the bar looking for me.

You're…

I'm sorry.

I… that night I

had way too much to drink,

and

the next morning I woke up

still kind of out of it.

I was rude to you.

I came today

to say thank you.

If it weren't for you that night,

I really don't know

what could've happened.

So you came all this way

just to thank me?

Not just that.

I…

I want to hear you sing again.

Sorry.

I'm off the clock today.

That's okay.

I can just sit here,

listen to the music.

You remember what you said, right?

That I was "butchering it,"

and you went on about

particles dropping to ground state—

so, that "terrible song"…

you still want to hear it?

Science and art

aren't the same thing.

But I kept thinking about your song,

and somehow

it gave me a little strength.

Someday,

I want to actually see

the brightest aurora in that dark sky.

Music really can

help people in pain

find a little comfort… and hope.

What do you study?

Bioengineering,

mostly gene editing.

Sounds impressive—

like one of those

"change-the-world"

scientists.

Honestly, most days

we're just stuck in the lab,

staring at data,

working with cells—

it's brutal.

Changing humanity's fate?

I can't even change

my own.

Graduation

matters to everyone.

I get that.

You know…

music and science

aren't that different.

We just

change the world in different ways,

but the goal is the same—

it's always

to help people live better.

Still…

the way you do it

is more direct, more romantic.

Thanks.

That night, I could tell

Jie was really

someone who loved to laugh,

loved romance, loved freedom.

Her advisor

wouldn't let her be herself.

She wasn't drawn to me

because

I "helped her relax,"

it was because, with me,

she could finally be herself.

You're awake.

What's wrong?

Nothing.

I just…

are we moving too fast?

Funny—

I think I met you too late.

Take a picture of me?

Right here.

I really love

this window in your place.

You can see

the sun come up every morning.

It feels like

a brand-new day starts right there.

Okay?

Come on.

When she was with me,

she wasn't that

stressed-out researcher,

drowning in reports,

pushing herself down just to survive.

She laughed.

She loved being pretty.

She loved everything beautiful in the world.

She told me once

she wanted to go to Iceland with me.

We promised we'd see the aurora together.

Attorney Cheng…

a girl like that—

I just don't believe

she'd hurt herself for no reason.

Unless…

she was sick.

Not physically—emotionally.