Scholar Xiao

Xiao Yi finally understood why the other examinees in the group chat said this exam was so abstract.

Because after finishing those three street-answer questions in the morning, they still had another exam in the afternoon. This one actually took excerpts from famous mathematical papers and asked them to analyze the mathematical methods used in those excerpts. The academicians would then set a question based on that, requiring them to solve it using the methods they had identified.

There would be two excerpts in total, and the exam would last three hours.

Xiao Yi finally understood just how difficult this examination was.

The afternoon exam was entirely a test of their ability to abstract mathematical concepts—whether they could extract and abstract the essential mathematical methods from specific mathematical cases.

This was an important ability that a mathematical scholar ought to possess!

It was also the purpose behind the academicians' questions this time!

To select, from among so many mathematical geniuses, students who possessed this crucial ability!

For a moment, Xiao Yi felt his blood begin to boil.

He was fired up!

Excellent! This was difficult!

He liked problems with this kind of challenge: discovering the essence within a pile of mathematics he might never have encountered before, all within a limited amount of time.

He could not help looking forward to it.

After closing the exam outline and returning to the group chat, he suddenly noticed that someone had tagged him.

He scrolled up and discovered that it was actually that Peking University student named Chen Muhua who had tagged him. From the previous chat history, it seemed this guy had entered this year's National Training Team for the Math Olympiad.

Being able to enter the National Training Team meant that he had not only won a gold medal in the CMO, but had also ranked fairly high.

But Xiao Yi did not know this guy. Why was he tagging him?

He looked at the message.

Peking University - Chen Muhua: @USTC - Xiao Yi, you're the famous Xiao Yi, right? The top scorer from Anhui Province?

Well, it seemed this guy knew him.

Below that message, the other students also became lively when they saw what Chen Muhua had said.

Damn, is that the top scorer who's only in his second year of high school? Nice, we've got so many big shots here?

He's not just a big shot. He's an absolute legend!

Xiao Yi shook his head with a helpless laugh at the messages, then replied: @Peking University - Chen Muhua, hello, that's me.

Peking University - Chen Muhua: I didn't expect to meet Scholar Xiao himself. I'm from Anhui Province too. Although I got recommended admission to Peking University through the Math Olympiad, I still took this year's college entrance exam. Scholar Xiao, getting 741 points on an exam that difficult is seriously incredible!

It's a shame. I thought we might become classmates at Peking University, but I didn't expect you to go to USTC instead.

USTC - Xiao Yi: Haha, we're both studying mathematics. Maybe we'll still have a chance to meet someday.

Peking University - Chen Muhua: That's true. I'm looking forward to that day, and I wish Scholar Xiao success in this exam too.

USTC - Xiao Yi: I wish you success on your exam too.

As the other students watched the two of them chat, they also began discussing this year's college entrance examination. For a while, even more people marveled at Xiao Yi's score of 741.

Xiao Yi, meanwhile, put down his phone. He had thought he would encounter one of those legendary "classic villains" who wanted to compete with him over this exam's scores, but in reality, the other person had merely wanted to get to know him.

After taking another look, he saw that Chen Muhua had also sent him a friend request.

He happily accepted it, then casually chatted with the others in the group for a few more lines.

Although he had to grind through his studies every day, he would not reject necessary social interactions like this.

Once the group's attention shifted away from him, he put down his phone, lowered his head, and continued reading the paper—still Zhang Yitang's paper on the Twin Prime Conjecture.

He had been reading it for many days now, even longer than he had spent on that paper about Fermat's Last Theorem.

And as he read more and more, some new ideas gradually began lingering in his mind.

Perhaps one day, those ideas would become completely unified.

Forming a "spear of conjecture"!

Eight days passed quickly.

Xiao Yi's boiling blood finally awaited the arrival of the joint examination for university mathematics programs.

USTC's examination venue was naturally located in a USTC teaching building.

The exam was scheduled for nine o'clock.

He walked onto USTC's campus and looked at the scene before him.

As a university named after "science and technology," USTC did not have any particularly famous scenery. It was like a rigorous engineering man who did not care much about his own appearance.

However, its pleasant greenery also added a touch of gentleness to this "engineering man."

This was not Xiao Yi's first visit to USTC. As someone born in Fei City, the odds of never having visited USTC were very low.

Not to mention that he had previously attended USTC High School, and his school had naturally organized visits to USTC for study and exploration.

Without lingering over the scenery, he headed straight for the School of Mathematical Sciences.

The examination venue was in the School of Mathematical Sciences building. After all, only forty-five people were taking this written test, which was not a particularly large number, so all forty-five of them had been assigned to a large lecture hall.

He soon arrived at the examination room, where quite a few students were already seated. There were even several "kids" who looked a full generation younger than the rest of them.

Clearly, those kids were geniuses from the Gifted Class. They might only be fourteen or fifteen years old.

Xiao Yi could not help sighing. Only after coming to a place like this could one realize that there were actually many geniuses in the world.

Of course, he was also confident that he would not lose to any genius.

Could a genius be more formidable than someone with cheats?

At this moment, the young students present were also chatting with one another. They likely considered that two-thirds of the people in this examination room would become their future classmates, so they were getting acquainted in advance.

Even if they did not become classmates, they would still be schoolmates in the future. After all, even those who were eliminated would merely return to the Gifted Class or the School of Mathematical Sciences. The difference was not that great.

Xiao Yi quickly found his seat. After sitting down, he quietly waited for the exam to begin.

But at that moment, a "kid" who was probably from the Gifted Class and was seated one row beside him leaned over and said, "Scholar Xiao?"

Hearing that form of address, Xiao Yi immediately felt a wave of embarrassment.

Someone had called him that in the group chat before. It had been fine online, and he could accept it, but now that they were meeting in person and someone was still calling him that, his embarrassment instantly surged.

He turned his head, looked at the "kid," and said, "Just... don't call me Scholar Xiao or anything. Just call me by my name."

The kid said bluntly, "What's wrong with that? I heard the upperclassmen in the Gifted Class say they all call each other this scholar or that scholar. So you can call me Scholar Ye too. My name is Ye Cheng."

Xiao Yi held his forehead. "All right, Scholar Ye."

Everyone here had become a scholar, apparently.

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