Katerina burst out laughing, and the sheer volume of it made Xie Kefu feel a little embarrassed.
"Back to the point. So you asked whether Song He had been busy lately because you wanted to know if other work had been distracting him?" Xie Kefu asked.
"Yes." Katerina asked curiously, "How long has it been since he went to the lab?"
"Over the past month... he's barely shown his face." Xie Kefu gazed at the ceiling as he recalled.
"That explains it! The Fields Medal Sprint Class started right around then, so he stopped doing other work. He's probably been focusing entirely on studying mathematics behind closed doors!" Katerina sighed. "Song He has worked this hard, yet he still couldn't solve a single problem. That proves his mathematical ability really has declined!"
"What about you?" Xie Kefu asked seriously.
"I'm different. I still have to work most of the time, so I only have a few hours each day to solve problems. It's normal that I can't solve them." Katerina thought for a moment. "If I had plenty of time to work on the problems behind closed doors, I'm confident I'd have a chance of solving them! At the very least, I wouldn't submit blank papers for an entire month!"
Xie Kefu wore a complicated expression. He didn't know what to say; he simply didn't know the exact situation.
In his impression, Song He's mathematics was insanely powerful. How could he have submitted blank papers for an entire month?
But what Katerina said did seem to make some sense. If Song He had been busy with biological research and neglected mathematics, that was entirely possible.
"Song He and I also made a verbal agreement. I made it for your sake." Katerina spoke as she ate.
"For my sake?" Xie Kefu