Math professor returns to routine

Chapter 528 Innate Scientific Sacred Body

"Senior, I'm leaving now. Please say hello to Professor Xiao for me."

Zhao Bin stopped what he was doing and looked up at Lu You, who had already walked to the door.

"Leaving so soon? Stay a little longer! We can also discuss the topic for next week's group discussion."

"I have something urgent to attend to, so..."

Since Lu You had already said that, Zhao Bin felt embarrassed to force her to stay.

"Okay, let's chat in the WeChat group then."

Goodbye, Senior Zhao, Senior Yuan.

Lu You greeted everyone one by one, then placed her right hand on the doorknob, about to press it down, when Zhao Bin's voice reached her ears again.

"By the way, junior, where are you in your Assassination problem?"

"It's finished," Lu You replied truthfully.

"What!?" Zhao Bin suddenly stood up, his face showing undisguised astonishment and shock. "Finished? There were seven questions, and you finished them in less than two hours?"

"Seven questions, is that a lot?"

"you……"

Zhao Bin didn't know how to answer.

In terms of quantity alone, seven questions are indeed not many, less than one-third of the number in the National College Entrance Examination (NCEE) Mathematics Paper I.

In terms of difficulty, even the most difficult final question in the national exam paper is no match for Asai's level.

It's like the Golden Core and the Nascent Soul. A top-grade Golden Core at the ninth level is still a Golden Core, while a fake Nascent Soul at the first level after taking medicine is still a Nascent Soul. The two are not even in the same league.

"Forget it, you can go!" Zhao Bin waved his hand listlessly. "Being in the same space as you makes me feel like a low-IQ shark."

"How could that be?" Lu You smiled. "You're still very capable, there's no need to belittle yourself."

"Go away, I don't want to see you."

Lu You smiled, opened the door, and left.

Zhao Bin plopped back into his chair, leaning against the backrest, looking sullen.

From childhood to adulthood, he has always been the one who outperforms his peers by a wide margin.

Now, with their identities reversed, they've become victims who have been attacked and left behind; the bitterness of this situation is hard to describe.

"Yuan Shen, it seems we've met a really amazing junior!"

Yuan Wei turned a page of the book in his hand and said in a calm tone, "Competitions, no matter how you look at them, can't escape the essence of solving problems. And mathematics, in the end, still comes down to scientific research. No matter how fast you solve problems, if you can't produce results, it's useless."

"That's true."

Zhao Bin felt a little better.

Just then, the office door opened.

Upon seeing the visitor, Zhao Bin immediately changed his nonchalant attitude and sat up straight.

"Professor, has the senior student finished his defense?"

"Just finished, taking photos with the dean and others to commemorate the occasion."

"Did you pass, senior?"

Before Xiao Liang could answer, Yuan Wei spoke first.

"What you're saying is, he can take photos as a souvenir without passing by?"

"Haha, it seems so!" Zhao Bin scratched his head and laughed awkwardly.

Xiao Liang looked around the office and asked, "Just the two of you?"

Yuan Wei guessed that Xiao Liang wanted to know Lu You's whereabouts, so he replied, "Junior just left half a minute ago."

"That's really unfortunate." Xiao Liang returned to his desk, picked up his thermos, unscrewed the lid, and took a sip. "What time did he arrive?"

Between 12:50 and 1:00.

"So you finished the questions in about an hour and a half?" Xiao Liang raised an eyebrow, and after a moment of surprise, nodded as if it were commonplace. "Not bad!"

"Professor, don't you find it strange?" Zhao Bin couldn't help but ask.

"Strange?" Xiao Liang closed the thermos and put it back in its place. "What's strange about it? Isn't it normal for someone who is eighteen or nineteen years old to be able to independently write a paper for a top-tier journal in a Q2 journal and easily win undergraduate-level competitions?"

Zhao Bin's eyes widened in disbelief and astonishment.

Yuan Wei performed slightly better than Zhao Bin, but not by much; his expression was tense, and his pupils dilated.

How prestigious is a top score in the second tier of mathematics?

It's no exaggeration to say that one paper could get them both a PhD on the spot and get them into a top-notch research team in China. Another paper would put them on the verge of becoming outstanding young scientists.

It's incredible that such a high-quality paper was written by a freshman, and completed independently at that.

For the two of them, the shock was no less than when Old Mi changed his ancestral methods, removing the pity system for large and small card pools and replacing it with a system where you are guaranteed to get the featured character after 90 pulls.

"Professor, could you tell me which magazine your junior's book was published in? I'd like to read it."

Zhao Bin's words inadvertently revealed Yuan Wei's true feelings.

Eighteen or nineteen years old, a freshman in college, majoring in mathematics, completed the course independently, ranked TOP in Zone 2, with many buffs stacked together, in the world of cultivation, he would definitely be a person with an innate Dao body.

Enlightenment is like eating and drinking; spiritual advancement is like riding a rocket.

As one of the many ordinary seedlings of immortality, Yuan Wei had a strong desire to see for himself, both to broaden his horizons and to recognize the gap between himself and others.

"The paper is still in the second review process, and it's estimated that it won't be officially published until September. If you really want to see it..."

Xiao Liang pulled out a file folder from a row of densely packed folders and shook his wrist.

"I have a printed copy of the original manuscript here. You can take it if you want to see it, or I'll email you the PDF version of the original manuscript later."

"Thank you for your help, Professor."

Zhao Bin took the file folder, his heart filled with mixed emotions.

He originally thought the difference between him and Lu You was only in solving problems, but he didn't expect that there was an insurmountable gap in their scientific research abilities.

Is this the tragedy of living in the same era as monsters?

That's really tough!

Zhao Bin chuckled self-deprecatingly and casually put down the file folder.

"By the way, which journal did you submit to, junior?"

"Journal of Algebra"

Zhao Bin looked thoughtful and murmured, "If I remember correctly, the average review time for a paper submitted to the *Journal of Algebra* is more than seven months. Based on that timeline, your paper was submitted in February of this year?"

"To be precise, it's January."

Xiao Liang submitted Lu You's paper, and he knew the details very well.

"That's been more than three months now. Logically, the news should have spread by now. Why hasn't there been any news?" Zhao Bin asked, puzzled.

It's illogical that a media outlet that has won a perfect score in two consecutive IMOs is giving such extensive coverage, while the top freshmen from the second-tier region, whose achievements are even more prestigious, are receiving little attention.

At the very least, there will be rumors within the college that this year's freshmen have a naturally gifted scientific physique.

Yuan Wei turned his gaze to Xiao Liang.

No matter how talented or capable Lu You is, it cannot hide the fact that he is currently just a freshman.

He is currently pursuing an undergraduate degree, has zero past achievements, and has no academic background whatsoever.

Without these three conditions—no industry insiders to recommend you—you should rashly submit your paper to a journal, even if the content of the paper is the entire process of proving Goldbach's conjecture.

The reviewers will just think it's some amateur scientist having a fit of hysteria from some backwater, laugh at it mercilessly, and throw the paper into the trash.

The fact that Lu You's thesis passed the initial review indicates that someone recommended him to the university.

Based on the original manuscript of the paper in Xiao Liang's hands, and his analysis of his appreciation for Lu You, the recommender was most likely Xiao Liang himself.

It is not difficult to conclude from this that the only person who could block the source of the information and prevent it from spreading was Xiao Liang.

"Because we didn't tell anyone."

Xiao Liang's words confirmed Yuan Wei's suspicions.

"Aside from Lu You himself, only Lu You and a few other professors knew about this paper. Since we didn't spread it, there was no news about it."

Zhao Bin glanced at Yuan Wei and asked tentatively, "Is it to protect the junior from outside interference?"

"almost."

Xiao Liang walked to the window and pulled up the blinds.

The afternoon sun shone on me, its intense warmth announcing the approach of summer.

"You can only protect it for a while, not forever. Once the September issue of the *Algebra Journal* comes out, the news will inevitably spread, and then the hype will rise, attracting all sorts of trash. At that time..."

Yuan Wei didn't know much about journalism, but she had met people who worked in the media.

They are a group of sharks that feed on traffic. As soon as they smell the blood of traffic, they swarm in and devour it.

"We'll take it one day at a time."

Xiao Liang closed the blinds again, turned around, and looked at Yuan Wei with a gentle and regretful gaze.

"Don't worry, the academy has learned its lesson this time and will not let what happened back then repeat itself."

"I hope you'll keep your word." Yuan Wei looked away, his eyes lowered, turning a page of the book in his hand. "After all, my junior's talent is far superior to mine."

The office fell silent, and no one spoke for a long time.

……

Leaving the office, Lu You continued walking out of the building without stopping.

After turning a corner, we stopped at an intersection where roads intersected.

This is the only way to get to the Mathematics Building, and also the best spot to wait for someone.

Lu You glanced in the direction she had come from.

People were coming and going on both sides of the road, but I didn't recognize any of them.

Okay, no one came.

Lu You withdrew her gaze and began to think about her own things.

Today is mid-April, and the next big holiday, May Day, is not far away. I need to think carefully about what kind of program to put on.

University is different from high school, where there are middlemen who make a profit during high school holidays.

The holiday notice issued by the higher authorities stated that there would be five days off, but when the students received the notice, there were only three days left, and the beginning and end were cut off.

Universities, on the other hand, have the opposite effect: if there are no classes around the time of the holiday, the actual holiday experience will be longer than the announced holiday.

Therefore, in order to make the most of the long holiday, I must find something to do.

We can't stay home all day long, with you touching my bolts and me picking at your nuts; it'll get boring.

After filtering through various options in her mind, such as travel, going home, foot bath, and hot springs, Lu You suddenly felt her right hand being penetrated by a smooth, soft substance.

When he came to his senses, he saw that Tang Wan was already standing beside him, holding his hand.

Bright eyes, a lively spirit, and a slightly pursed yet upturned mouth—joy was overflowing.

"Honey, what are you thinking about?"

Lu You looked Tang Wan up and down, examining her attire.

A white shirt paired with a dark denim jacket, with the collar unbuttoned at the top, and a dark gray midi skirt.

The lower half of the leg that should have been exposed was wrapped in smooth black silk fabric, extending all the way down to below the ankle and into black leather shoes.

Lu You narrowed her eyes slightly.

The nature of the silk fabric is not hard to guess.

Tonight is a lucky night.

"I'm thinking about... the arrangements for the May Day holiday."

That was close, I almost went astray!

"May Day!" Perhaps Lu You changed her mind too quickly, because Tang Wan didn't delve into the details of the sentence. Instead, she sighed, looking sad, "I'm afraid I'm going to be incredibly busy!"

"Is the student union really that cruel? They're assigning work even during the May Day holiday?" Lu You frowned, expressing her dissatisfaction.

Tang Wan kicked her shoe and sighed again, saying, "Guess what day May Fourth is?"

Youth Day?

What is the origin of Youth Day?

"The New Culture Movement?"

Where was the center of the New Culture Movement?

Lu You instantly understood: the Capital University's anniversary celebration was coming.

"That doesn't mean you have to work the entire May Day holiday, does it?"

Tang Wan tilted her head and thought for a moment, then said, "I'm still free on the 1st, but I have to get back to work after the 2nd."

"Can't we stay one more day?"

“Back when I was still nobody, it didn’t make much difference whether I was there or not; people would just touch me. Now, I’m the event planner and organizer, and if I’m away for even a minute, I get a call immediately.”

Lu You regretted it a little. She shouldn't have let Tang Wan join that damn student council in the first place, and even if she did, she shouldn't have been given an important position.

No pay, and it takes time and effort—it's more charitable than some other charity.

But it's too late for regrets now. The past won't change because of the present; the key is to make the most of the present and the future.

Lu You tightened her grip on Tang Wan's hand and asked, "Is there anything you particularly want to do for the May Day holiday?"

"Get pregnant?"

"It's too early, let's talk about it in three years,"

"To hear JJ sing in person?"

"Next year is possible, but it's too late this year."

"You actually managed to get him to come?"

Tang Wan was surprised; she had only said it casually, but she hadn't expected Lu You to actually do it.

"Privately, it won't work; I don't have his connections. But organizing a public concert and inviting them as guests is no problem. Years ago, my mother had a few favorite singers, and my father spent a lot of money to organize a concert and invited them all."

"Truly...like father, like son." Tang Wan clasped her hands in a fist and bow to Lu You. "I admire you, I admire you."

Lu You smiled, reached out and pinched Tang Wan's cheek, and asked, "Is there anything else you want to do?"

"Hmm... I can't think of anything right now."

"How about we go shopping and think about it as we go?"

Tang Wan smiled and took Lu You's arm. "What are we waiting for? Let's go!" (End of Chapter)