All That Remained Was a Numb Me, No Longer Fired Up Like Before
Cai Qing is very interested in coding, Luo Ji goes to the music academy every day, and Zhou Yu'an keeps a close eye on Tan Lulu's WeChat Moments.
The three of them had their own personal matters, but they could not forget their mission: we are all students of the Mathematics Department of Yenching University, we are being cultivated as high-level mathematical talents, we are the pillars of the future of our country, the hope for the rise of Chinese mathematics, and the guardians of world peace.
"It's so nice that the paper was printed out separately and bound into a book." Zhou Yu'an looked through the reprint of Shen Qi's paper with great envy and longing, but also a touch of sadness. "The most glorious moment of my life was when I won the IMO team championship and individual gold medal in the UK when I was in high school. After coming to Yenching University, I've basically been a useless dog."
"The most glorious moment of my life was when I was in high school. I was the only one in the whole district to participate in the CMO national finals. The district head even met with me. After coming to Yanda University, I'm basically a useless dog." Luo Ji felt the same way. He held up a reprint of Shen Qi's paper above his head and looked at it under the fluorescent light to see what kind of paper it was made of.
"I haven't had any glorious moments; I've always been a useless dog." Cai Qing flipped through a sample copy of <Journal of Mathematical Research> and asked, "Shen Qi, it must be quite difficult to publish a paper in a core journal like this, right?"
"It wasn't difficult, it was just that the waiting time was too long." Shen Qi recalled the frantic problem-solving yesterday, pushing his limits in 48 hours, and the paper's results months later. He was surprisingly calm. "I was full of passion when I wrote the paper, but after it was published months later, the passion had long since faded, leaving only a numb me. The enthusiasm of that time was gone."
"It's 9 PM Beijing time now. It's time for the math department's King of Show Offs of showing off his skills. All departments, please leave!" Zhou Yu'an glanced at his watch and shouted at the top of his lungs.
Suddenly, the dormitory door was pushed open, and a biting cold wind rushed in.
A burly man stood at the door, wearing a thick military overcoat, and roared, "What are you howling about in the middle of the night? Don't you want the students next door to get some sleep?!"
Zhou Yu'an slammed his hand on the table and stood up. "Li Zhenqiang, you really did come! Close the door and talk, it's cold!"
Li Zhenqiang, a classmate, sniffled, entered the dormitory, and closed the door.
"Hey, can the big shots from the strongest dorm in the math department just shut up for a bit?" Li Zhenqiang asked cautiously, his eyes darting around, taking in the feng shui of the dorm room—the angle of the computers, the height of the stacks of books, the decorations hanging on the bathroom door—there must be some significance to all of that, right?
"I'm sorry to bother you, Li Zhenqiang," Shen Qi said apologetically.
"Huh, what's this?" Li Zhenqiang looked at the sample issue of the Journal of Mathematical Research and a bunch of reprints, very curious.
Shen Qi chuckled, "Heh, material possessions."
"This is a national core journal," Cai Qing explained.
"Core journals indexed by SCI," Luo Ji added.
"Professor Shen Qi has published a mathematics paper in a core journal," Zhou Yu'an pointed out.
"I'm not a country bumpkin, of course I know." Li Zhenqiang picked up a reprinted copy and asked Shen Qi, "Can I take it back to my dorm to read?"
"I've already said they're just external possessions, please make yourselves at home." Shen Qi gestured for them to proceed.
Li Zhenqiang left Shen Qi's dormitory with a copy of "A Solution for Three-Dimensional Hypercomplex Numbers".
Not long after, several more Mathematics Department students came in, all asking Shen Qi for a reprint of A Solution for Three-Dimensional Hypercomplex Numbers .
"Come on, we have everything, local specialties from our hometown." Shen Qi accepted everyone's offer, handing out a copy to each student who came.
Shen Qi is happy to spread mathematical knowledge, and he hopes that his own actions can inspire some students and even the whole class.
As the class monitor, Shen Qi hoped that his Mathematics Department could become the strongest Mathematics Department in the history of Yenching University, even surpassing the class of God Yun and God Wei.
Mathematics is a small circle. This year's Mathematics Department has only 36 people, and that's all. It's truly good when everyone is doing well.
In the end, all 30 copies of Shen Qi's reprint were distributed, and he himself was not able to keep a single one.
"Actually, the academic atmosphere in our department is quite good, which makes me very gratified," Shen Qi said as he lay in bed before turning off the lights and going to sleep.
"It's a pity that even with good grades, no one loves me." Zhou Yu'an sighed in the darkness.
"Zhou Yu'an, is that all you've got?" Shen Qi was furious, exasperated. "Look at Cai Qing, and then look at yourself. Men in the Mathematics Department have dignity. We never wallow in self-pity, especially when it comes to women."
"It's just Tan Lulu, an ordinary goddess, yet she makes you so distracted? Zhou Yu'an, you barely got a perfect score in Advanced Algebra, and only 90 in Analytic Geometry. Is this the level of a genuine member of the Olympic Math national team?"
"Do you deserve the IMO gold medal around your neck? Do you deserve the nurturing your country has given you? Do you deserve the century-old reputation of Yenching University's Mathematics Department?"
"The School of Government and Public Affairs has only been around for a few years. Don't let women distract you from your mission!" Shen Qi's series of questions were a wake-up call.
"I... you... Shen Qi, you're a People's Congress representative, right?" Zhou Yu'an pulled the blanket over her head and went to sleep.
This year's New Year's Eve was no different from any other year.
Singles gather to drink, while couples pair off.
With the New Year's Day holiday over and January approaching, journal staff and industry experts may be looking forward to an early New Year celebration, leading to a significant increase in their productivity recently.
The Sun Yat-sen University Mathematical Innovation Herald sent Shen Qi a sample copy and 30 reprints of his paper, "A Type of Solution to Vector Calculus".
This paper was completed independently by Shen Qi a few months ago. The content is simple and straightforward, so it was submitted to the general journal <Mathematical Innovation Herald>.
System notification: "New achievement! The host has published a Chinese paper in a domestic general mathematics journal. The basic reward is 5,000 Academic Excellence Points, multiplied by the main mathematical talent coefficient of 2.0, the final reward is 10,000 Academic Excellence Points."
Publishing a paper in a core mathematics journal earns 10,000 academic points. Publishing a paper in a general mathematics journal earns 5,000 academic points.
Then multiply by a coefficient of 2.0 to get the final reward value for Shen Qi.
Two days later, the journal * New Journal of Mathematics *, sponsored by Tongji University, sent Shen Qi a copy of the latest issue and 30 reprints of the paper "Two Types of Analysis in Linear Combination Algebra".
<New Journal of Mathematics> is a national core journal with an impact factor of 0.289. Shen Qi has added another core journal paper, earning 10,000 × 2 = 20,000 academic points.
The paper, "An Algorithm for Characteristic Equations of a Class of Determinants," was co-authored by Shen Qi and Ou Ye, with Ou Ye submitting it to another core journal, "Journal of Algebra."
On the same day, Ou Ye received a sample copy and a reprint of the Journal of Algebra.
Shen Qi received another system notification, rewarding him with 20,000 academic excellence points.
In the week surrounding New Year's Day, Shen Qi received sample copies of four different mathematics journals, as well as 120 reprints. His academic points balance reached over 160,000.
The only point of contention is that Shen Qi submitted the last of his five papers, "Analysis of Generalized Nonlinear Complementarity Problems with Linear Inequality Constraints," to the core journal * Mathematical Herald *, sponsored by Yenching University. To this day, the editors of * Mathematical Herald * have not replied to Shen Qi's email. Whether it was rejected or entered the peer review stage, Shen Qi remains completely baffled.