Academician's Requirements

Class 3 of Science Stream classroom.

Chinese class had just ended, and it was recess. Xiao Yi walked out of the office and returned to the classroom.

Before long, a group of classmates crowded around him and began chattering in his ear.

"Damn, Brother Xiao, what did the homeroom teacher call you away for just now?"

"This was Chinese class! Brother Xiao, you didn't see how... resentful Old Zhang looked after you left."

Old Zhang was their Chinese teacher.

Last time, Xiao Yi had scored 124 in Chinese, ranking third in the entire grade. Teacher Zhang had been overjoyed and later praised Xiao Yi's strong reading comprehension several times in class, suggesting that everyone learn from him.

What no one had expected was that Chinese was actually this kid's worst subject!

Xiao Yi said there was nothing he could do about it. Chinese language was just like that. English was comparatively much easier. After all, aside from essays, every English question had a definite answer, so naturally it was easier to solve.

Had they not seen those top students who scored over 700 on the college entrance exam? Chinese was basically where they lost the most points.

Seeing the curious looks from his many classmates, Xiao Yi shrugged and said casually, "It was nothing. An Academician from USTC wanted to see me, so they called me over for a few words on a video call."

The moment he said that, the entire room fell silent.

An Academician wanted to see you, and that was "nothing"?

And "it was nothing"?

Looking at Xiao Yi's expression, the classmates could not help twitching their lips.

What a masterful flex!

It had to be you, sir!

Still, even as they complained inwardly, they could not help feeling envious.

What level was an Academician?

They all knew perfectly well that such people were among the very top figures in the entire Chinese Scientific Community—absolute super big shots.

And yet, a big shot like that had actually been willing to seek out a student their own age.

"When you get rich and powerful, don't forget us, Brother Xiao."

The classmates immediately began pawing at Xiao Yi.

"Damn, where are you touching? You can't touch there!"

Xiao Yi cried out in horror.

The class bell suddenly rang, and everyone hurried back to their seats. Xiao Yi finally got some peace and quiet.

"There are gays among the masses."

Xiao Yi grumbled indignantly.

After calming himself down, he began thinking again about what had happened in the office.

After reading that paper, pointing out its problems, and receiving Academician Hu's praise, Academician Hu had given him another task.

That was, before entering university in the second half of this year, he was to complete a paper.

As for that paper, it had to be of at least sufficient quality to be published in a domestic Core Journal.

He was rather interested in this requirement. Whether writing a paper or publishing in a Core Journal, both were new things to him. It would not hurt to give them a try.

However, after Academician Hu stated this requirement, both Professor Liu Bin on the other side of the video call and his homeroom teacher Luo Penghua beside him seemed to wear extremely surprised expressions.

It looked like this requirement might be rather difficult?

Well, difficult was fine. If it were not difficult, he would not even be interested. High difficulty was exactly what he did!

"Hmm... I should spend the next few days reading more papers first."

After all, he needed to see how other people wrote papers before he could start writing his own!

"Academician Hu, isn't the requirement you gave Xiao Yi a little too difficult? There are less than six months left before Xiao Yi enrolls."

Elsewhere, at the banquet venue of the mathematics conference.

Liu Bin spoke helplessly to Hu Guangde.

Asking a second-year high school student to write a paper for a core mathematics journal?

Although domestic journals were fairly lackluster and did not rank internationally, Core Journals were still roughly at the level of SCI Q3 or Q4 journals.

Xiao Yi was not the author of My Academician Father.

He was not even the author of My Professor Father.

Liu Bin truly could not imagine how a student like Xiao Yi, who had only just begun studying professional mathematics, could write a paper fit for a core mathematics journal in less than six months.

But Hu Guangde smiled and said, "Little Liu, what are you so anxious about?"

"It's not six months. Isn't there still more than five months left?"

"Besides, even if he fails to write it, it's not as though we won't let him enter our school."

"But..." Liu Bin wanted to say that if Xiao Yi ultimately failed to complete it, would it not damage his confidence?

But Hu Guangde immediately saw through his thoughts and said, "Are you worried that it will affect Xiao Yi's confidence?"

When Liu Bin nodded, Hu Guangde waved his hand and said, "A student like Xiao Yi will not have his confidence hurt by something this simple. You underestimate a genius too much."

"For a genius like him, the most important thing is to have a reasonable goal that is challenging enough. With such a goal, he will use every bit of his ability to move toward it."

"I saw quite a few geniuses like that at Paris Normal School and Princeton."

"Perhaps, in the end, Xiao Yi might bring us a surprise beyond anything we can imagine?"

"Wouldn't you agree?"

Hu Guangde smiled.

Liu Bin fell silent for a moment, then said, "I just..."

"Alright, don't worry. You hope to cultivate a genius for our Mathematics Department, and how could I not feel the same?" Hu Guangde patted Liu Bin on the shoulder. "Trust Xiao Yi. After all, he is someone who can finish eight books in four days."

Liu Bin was instantly stunned.

That was true.

Xiao Yi could finish so many books in four days. Maybe he really could create a miracle?

He had to admit that he was beginning to look forward to it.

Time passed quickly.

Xiao Yi became even busier than before.

He read the books Professor Liu Bin had brought him, while also looking through papers from those domestic core mathematics journals.

To his delight, he often came across papers he could not understand!

That meant those papers contained quite a bit of knowledge he still did not know, knowledge that was not found in his books.

So, in order to understand those papers, he began studying that knowledge as well, further broadening the channels through which he acquired knowledge.

In addition, he began intensifying his English studies. He had heard from his teacher that there were more English SCI papers than domestic Core Journal papers, so if he wanted to read those papers smoothly in the future, he naturally had to study English properly.

And just like that, a month passed in the blink of an eye.

There is another chapter to be posted later.