"What's wrong?" Xiang Xiaotong asked.
"I've solved the model to this point, and next is... the Song He Manifold!" Song He sounded incredulous.
"The Song He Manifold? What nonsense are you talking about!" Xiang Xiaotong was startled too and hurriedly examined the model.
After studying it for a moment, she saw it as well. She shuddered on the spot. "That's terrifying! How could it be the Song He Manifold? Are you sure your habitual way of thinking didn't unconsciously distort it?"
"Then you solve it." Song He handed her the marker.
Xiang Xiaotong began solving it with difficulty. She was very slow. A step Song He could easily finish in two minutes took her more than ten minutes of staring at the wall and racking her brains.
A full hour later, Xiang Xiaotong turned around and swallowed. Her expression was one of extreme shock. "It really is the Song He Manifold!"
"What a coincidence. What a coincidence." Song He murmured, "I'd only heard of things like this happening in physics—someone works on a problem, only to discover that the mathematical world already had a theory for it. I never thought someone working in biology like me would run into it too!"
"And what you ran into was your own theory. Good heavens, this is the kind of thing that could go into your biography someday!" Xiang Xiaotong exclaimed. "Then isn't this over? The Song He Manifold hasn't been proven yet. There's no way to continue this research!"
"I'll try proving it." Song He said it anyway.
Xiang Xiaotong stared at him for a moment. "Don't joke around. The Song He Manifold is Fields Medal level..."
She suddenly stopped halfway through.
She herself had won the Shiing-Shen Chern Prize and was only one step away from a Fields Medal, while Song