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Chapter 166: Chapter 162: How About I Poach Viteng for You?

「The next morning.」

The advisor’s office at Yan University Yuanpei College.

Director Liu sat behind his desk, clutching a leave request form. His blood pressure was soaring.

”Look, Brother Dong.”

Director Liu’s voice was tinged with helplessness.

”From the start of the semester until now, how many days have you actually spent on campus?”

Standing before the desk, Li Dong let out a couple of hollow laughs.

”Director, I really have something important this time...”

”I really can’t approve this...”

Director Liu wasn’t trying to give Li Dong a hard time, but this was simply too absurd.

Since he’d enrolled as a freshman, this guy had shown up in Yan University classrooms less often than Wang Gang.

And who was Wang Gang? The head of security at Yan University.

Li Dong felt a bit guilty himself.

Of course, he knew it wasn’t good to request leave so often, but he had no choice. All the experimental data from Sun Xiang’s end had come in.

The HpPAR Gene knockout experiment on the Alpine Willow Chrysanthemum was a success.

But crucial matters like how to write the paper, how to list the corresponding authors, and how to present the data required him to make a trip to Zhejiang University.

’I’ve already come this far. I can’t drop the ball at the final moment, can I?’

”Director, this trip is to Zhejiang University to completely wrap up that biology project.”

Li Dong said with utmost sincerity.

Director Liu frowned.

He recalled the first time Li Dong had come to request leave.

It had only been the second day of the semester, yet this freshman had declared he was going to Zhejiang University to work on a biology project.

At the time, he had thought the kid had a great spirit for research, which was wonderful.

But...

Ever since then, Li Dong’s attendance had been spotty at best.

He’d show up, then leave. Leave, then show up. Show up, then leave again.

Director Liu sighed.

”It’s not that I don’t want to approve it for you.”

His voice was tinged with resignation.

”Brother Dong, you’ve requested leave far too often. It’s beyond my authority at this point. You’ll have to wait for Professor Zhou to come and sign off on it.”

”Also, what about your participation grades for your classes? I’m afraid you’ve lost all those points by now, haven’t you?”

Li Dong froze for a moment at his words.

’Participation grades...’

To be honest, he had never really paid attention to that sort of thing.

’After all, I’m just an ordinary freshman who has published one first-author paper in *Mathematics Computing* and is about to publish another in *Mathematical Annals*.’

’Participation grades... they can’t be that important, can they?’

Just as Li Dong was pondering this question, the office door swung open.

Zhou Qifeng walked in, his face as black as thunder.

He looked as though someone owed him three SCI papers and hadn’t paid up.

Without even glancing at Li Dong, he strode to Director Liu’s desk, snatched up the leave form, scanned it, and immediately signed his name.

”Teacher Zhou.”

Li Dong had just begun to speak.

Zhou Qifeng cut him off coldly.

”Don’t call me ’Teacher’.”

”From the start of the semester until now, I’ve only seen you in my class three times.”

There was an indescribable bitterness in Zhou Qifeng’s voice.

”I don’t deserve to be called your teacher.”

An awkward silence fell over the office.

Director Liu lowered his head, pretending to read a document, but he was thinking, ’Professor Zhou is genuinely hurt this time.’

It was no wonder. After all, Zhou Qifeng was a senior professor at the Yan University School of Physics. Every year, the line of graduate students hoping to enroll in his course could stretch from the Science Building all the way to Weiming Lake.

And yet, this kid Li Dong, who claimed that ”physics is my greatest love,” had turned around and made huge news in *Mathematics Computing*, and was now hardly ever seen on campus.

They didn’t even know that Li Dong had made an even bigger move in *Mathematical Annals*, as the whole affair was causing a major stir in the mathematics community.

Zhou Qifeng only knew that Li Dong had asked the editor of *Mathematical Annals* to reject his manuscript; he hadn’t followed what happened afterward.

Li Dong looked completely embarrassed. He knew, of course, that Old Zhou wasn’t truly angry, just throwing a fit.

Li Dong said with great earnestness.

”Teacher Zhou, rest assured.”

”I’ll focus on physics next year.”

Hearing this, Zhou Qifeng lifted his head slightly.

He looked into Li Dong’s eyes, silent for two or three seconds, then sighed.

”Whether you study physics isn’t important.”

Li Dong let out a surprised ”Huh?”

’Not important? Then what was with the thunderous expression when you came in?’

”What’s important is that you go poach a physics professor and bring him back for me.”

Zhou Qifeng said, his face expressionless.

Li Dong was stunned for a second before he realized what Zhou Qifeng meant.

Zhou Qifeng was talking about Penrose.

Professor Penrose’s formal application for a long-term visiting scholar position was currently making its way through the official channels.

Although a specific start date hadn’t been finalized, everything was moving in a positive direction.

A math professor from Princeton! What department at Yan University wouldn’t be drooling over that prospect?

Li Dong said with a grin.

”Teacher Zhou, how about I poach Witten for you instead?”

Edward Witten.

A tenured professor at the Princeton Institute for Advanced Study.

He was the only scholar to have won the Fields Medal as a physicist.

A physicist winning the highest award in the world of mathematics—that fact alone was enough to prove how absurdly brilliant the man was.

That wasn’t to mention his contributions to fields like String Theory, M-theory, and Topological Quantum Field Theory—work significant enough to rewrite physics textbooks.

Hearing this name, Zhou Qifeng’s face instantly darkened.

He clearly didn’t believe a word of it.

”Heh...”

Zhou Qifeng waved his hand dismissively.

”Get out of here.”

”You got it!”

Li Dong snatched the signed leave form and bolted out of there like a shot.

...

「Noon, at the Nongyuan Cafeteria.」

Wang Hao picked up a piece of braised pork rib and popped it into his mouth.

”In our dorm room, I’m now invincible when it comes to math.”

”Yesterday, I single-handedly finished deriving the long exact sequence in sheaf cohomology. It took seventeen whole pages of derivation, and I didn’t use a single reference book.”

”And for the final construction of the connecting homomorphism, I used a completely new natural transformation method that’s at least a third more concise than the classic construction in the textbook.”

He spoke with immense confidence.

Liu Qiang scoffed.

”No matter how invincible you are, can you be more invincible than Brother Dong?”

Chen Nan chimed in as well.

”Yeah, if you’re so capable, why don’t you go publish a paper in *Mathematical Annals*?”

The roommates naturally knew about Li Dong getting a paper into *Mathematical Annals*.

Wang Hao chuckled and put down his chopsticks.

”Li Dong? He’s already avoiding a showdown with me. That’s why he ran off to Zhejiang University.”

After his bout of bragging, Wang Hao added, looking a bit puzzled.

”I just don’t get it. Isn’t he a math guy? Why’s he suddenly off doing biology?”

”I suspect his next excuse for taking leave will be to give a special report at the United Nations.”

His remark made Liu Qiang and Chen Nan laugh.

”You know, knowing Brother Dong, that’s actually a real possibility.”

The three of them chatted and laughed, their voices at a moderate volume.

Meanwhile, two tables diagonally behind them, a girl was quietly eating her meal.

An open, all-English journal lay on the table in front of her.

The *Journal of the American Chemical Society*.

She had been focused on reading a paper, but Wang Hao’s words still drifted into her ears.

’He went to Zhejiang University? And he’s dabbling in biology now?’

Qi Yu gathered her tray, stood up, and walked over to the tray return station to drop it off.

Once outside the cafeteria, she pulled her phone out of her pocket.

In her WeChat contacts, Li Dong’s profile picture was a candid shot taken by one of his roommates. He was by the shore of Weiming Lake, staring blankly at the water. He looked as though he were pondering some profound mathematical problem, but Qi Yu suspected he was most likely just zoning out.

She thought for a moment before finally typing out a message.

[Qi Yu]: Hey, are you busy? There’s a question I’d like to ask your opinion on.

[Qi Yu]: I’ve been reading literature on single-molecule enzyme kinetics recently. The classic Michaelis-Menten equation is derived based on an ensemble average, but recent experiments have found that the catalytic rate of a single enzyme molecule fluctuates over time, exhibiting a phenomenon known as ’dynamic disorder’.

[Qi Yu]: If one were to re-derive the distribution of enzymatic catalytic waiting times at the single-molecule level using the framework of stochastic processes, would it be necessary to introduce renewal process theory? And how should the specific mathematical model be constructed?

After sending the messages, Qi Yu locked her screen.

’It’s a math problem. He should be able to handle it, right?’

...

「A little after four in the afternoon, Hang City.」

The sky was already growing dim by the time Li Dong walked out of the high-speed rail station.

He immediately spotted Sun Xiang waiting outside the exit.

’But something feels... off.’

’Sun Xiang’s expression... Why does he look so strange?’

He couldn’t quite put his finger on it.

Li Dong quickened his pace and walked over.

”Teacher Sun!”

He called out with a smile.

When Sun Xiang saw Li Dong, the corners of his mouth twitched.

He let out a strange little laugh but didn’t reply.

It was only then that Li Dong noticed another person standing behind Sun Xiang.

The man was in his fifties, with a slender build and salt-and-pepper hair.

He had been standing beside Sun Xiang the whole time without saying a word.

Only when he saw Li Dong’s gaze fall upon him did he offer a faint smile and speak up.

”Hello, Student Li Dong.”

”I am Cai Tianxin, from the Zhejiang University School of Mathematical Sciences.”

Li Dong was visibly stunned.

Cai Tianxin.

Although he wasn’t an academician, his position within the math department at Zhejiang University was incredibly important.

’Why is he here?’

’And by the looks of it, he’s here for me.’