... I am actually agog that none of my wips feature that very ordinary word.

So instead, you're getting a substitution of 'hard', and indeed a sentence from the learning fic (timely reminder also that I keep meaning to edit that draft):

“Oh, he was exceedingly hard-working, utterly polite at all times and soaked in everything I taught him like a sponge,” Professor Zhou answers with an uncalled-for amount of relish, entirely ignoring Shen Wei’s narrow-eyed stare.