Chapter 411: Chapter 413: A Gift from the ST Research Institute

“Happy birthday to Ian. May you be happy every day and live happily with your mommy and daddy forever. Ian, I hope you can become the person you want to be—no complaints, no compromises, with freedom and a shining light…”

The letter was a bit long; the tour guide read it for two minutes.

“Thank you, miss,” Ian said.

The guide handed over the next gift. “This one is from… an aunt? From Veridia?”

He tilted his head and thought for a moment. “Is this your aunt, Ian?”

At the same time, Ian opened the gift. Inside was an exquisitely crafted little golden lock and a pair of diamond-studded children’s sneakers.

When Ian saw the sneakers covered in diamonds, he froze for a second, his dazed expression utterly adorable.

“Such an expensive gift. It really must be from Ian’s aunt.” The guide noticed his expression and teased, “Do you like the pretty shoes, Ian?”

Ian held the shoes, hesitated for a moment, and said, “I like them. They’re not ugly.”

The guide couldn’t help but burst out laughing, and the other guests nearby chuckled as well.

“Alright, let’s read the letter.”

“Happy birthday, little nephew! Say hi to your dad and mom for me. Congrats to our little handsome guy on getting another year older! You must have seen the sneakers your auntie sent, right? Don’t be afraid to run around in them. You need to exercise diligently to get a strong body like your auntie’s…”

After reading the letter, the guide patted Ian’s shoulder. “It looks like your aunt sent you these sneakers to get you to exercise more.”

[Diamond-studded sneakers? Covered in diamonds? As expected, my imagination is limited by my poverty!]

[When are you going for a run, Ian? Remember to call me! You run ahead, and I’ll follow behind to pick up the pieces. Can’t let any shattered diamonds go to waste!]

[How much must those cost? That’s the Shaw Family for you, so filthy rich!]

[Hahaha, his aunt actually sent a gift to the show! Listening to her letter, I feel like his aunt is just as adorable as Ian!]

[Those sneakers are blinding me!!]

[So this is the world of the rich. Poverty brings me to tears. I’m feeling a bit upset, so I’m logging off for now. I’ll be back after I finish crying.]

[Ian’s expression is hilarious. He definitely thinks the diamond shoes are too ugly but is too polite to say so.]

[Ian is still just a kid. He has no idea how alluring diamond-studded sneakers are…]

…

The guide presented a few more birthday gifts. Then, he suddenly put down his megaphone and hauled over a large box, the heaviest of all the presents.

The guide crouched down, tilting his head to look at the sender’s name. “From Veridia…” His brow furrowed as he read the name aloud in disbelief, “The ST Research Institute?”

Meanwhile, Ian had already opened the box. The huge container was filled with snacks and toys, all sorted by type. It was clear that the person who prepared this gift had been very thoughtful and perfectly understood a child’s heart.

Seeing the box full of snacks, Ian couldn’t help but gasp in amazement.

The guide picked up the letter. The birthday wish was very brief, but the flamboyant, cursive script was impossible to ignore. It was clearly the work of a master calligrapher.

“Happy birthday, Ian.”

After reading it, the guide folded the letter, drew in a sharp breath, and then chuckled. “This fan has a strange name. For a second, I almost thought it was the real ST Research Institute.”

After hosting the birthday celebration, the guide had just returned to the tent set up by the production crew when he learned a piece of truly astonishing news:

The official ST Research Institute account had reposted a birthday wish for Ian on social media with the caption: “May you have much joy and lasting peace. Congratulations to Ian on getting another year older.”

[The real official account? I’m stunned! ST personally sent birthday wishes to our Ian!!]

[It’s not just ST! I just saw several academicians repost it too. Is our Ian that popular in the research community?]

[Why did the ST Research Institute suddenly show up? I didn’t expect the Shaw Family’s connections to be so extensive.]

[But why would the Shaw Family ask the ST Research Institute to send a birthday wish? I’m not saying ST is bad, it just feels so weird. ST does research… They seem completely unrelated…]

[Why is the ST Research Institute acting so weird? Don’t tell me they’re trying to ride on our Ian’s coattails?]

[Be rational. This is ST we’re talking about. If anything, our Ian is the one riding on ST’s coattails…]

…

It wasn’t just the netizens who were shocked; the guide and the director hadn’t recovered either.

“What is going on…?”

The director stroked his chin in thought.

The guide also came to a realization. “Speaking of which, among the fan letters today, I saw an envelope with ’ST Research Institute’ as the sender… I thought it was a fan joking around at the time, but I never expected… That letter might have really been from them…”

As soon as the guide said this, he and the director both shuddered.

The ST Research Institute was famous for being detached from worldly affairs. The only people who ever received official birthday wishes from it were the institute’s own core elite members—all award-winning research talents. But no one could have imagined that on this fine, sunny day, ST would send birthday greetings to a five-year-old child, even sending a letter and gift through the show’s official channel…

The two parties, who seemed to be worlds apart, were now connected, instantly sparking the curiosity of netizens. After the matter started trending, many users began digging into the relationship between ST and Ian.

They shouldn’t have started digging, because what they found was a shock.

In many of the research reports and drug development projects published by ST this year, the name Ian Shaw appeared on the list of researchers. The most famous case was the development of a miracle drug for heart disease a few months ago; the second name on the list of researchers was Ian Shaw. The first was the project lead, Zachary Grant.

Not only that, but some netizens also dug up that numerous major research awards had been given to someone named “Ian Shaw.”

Despite all the evidence they uncovered, many people online refused to believe it was the same person. After all, with so many people in the country, having the same name was normal. Most importantly, the idea of a five-year-old achieving so much was simply a fantasy. Almost no one chose to believe it, writing it off as a coincidence.

Everyone thought the matter would end there, until a scammer in his fifties tried to cash in on the “Ian Shaw” hype. He claimed to be the elite researcher “Ian Shaw” from the ST Research Institute and began aggressively marketing a “course for success” online for 998 yuan, tricking many people.

The usually unflappable ST could no longer sit back and do nothing. They specifically went online to debunk the fraud, stating that they were collecting evidence to sue the imposter and would ensure he faced legal consequences.

After this commotion, the reputation of “Ian Shaw the researcher” became even more widespread. Some people even launched a campaign to find the “elite researcher Ian Shaw.”

One curious netizen left a comment on ST’s social media account, asking if the institute’s researcher, Ian Shaw, was the same person as the son of the celebrity Naomi Kenway.

Many people replied with ridicule, thinking the original poster was an idiot for asking such an obvious question.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep