Original Intention
During Shen Qi's convalescence in bed, Professor Muller came to visit, Jonas came to visit, and even Mary came.
"I hope you recover soon, both physically and mentally," Professor Muller said.
"You have to learn to enjoy life, Shen Qi. There are other interesting things in life besides math," Jonas said.
"In short, health is more important than anything else," Mary said.
"Thank you, thank you everyone for your blessings and concern. I will get better."
During his days of recuperation, Shen Qi finally realized that going his own way would only lead to certain death.
Unless one possesses unparalleled strength, such as the level set by the system as "I am so lonely despite being invincible" or "Invincible even in non-human realms."
As it turns out, attempting to solve the Riemann Hypothesis with only a level 10 math skill only resulted in a passive situation where one was surrounded by enemies and even caused internal damage.
The facts also prove that the Riemann Hypothesis deserves to be considered one of the Millennium Prize Problem.
If it were so easily proven, it wouldn't be called the Millennium Prize Problem.
"Let's be more down-to-earth, do some basic research, publish a few ordinary papers to get a feel for things. Forcing some things won't work; just let things take their course."
Shen Qi gradually adjusted his mindset, went to classes, took walks, and incidentally got a New Jersey driver's license.
Shen Qi bought a used Chevrolet and would drive it around whenever he had free time. The furthest he drove was to Connecticut, where he bought some souvenirs.
During this time, Shen Qi also reflected on and summarized why he had made himself so miserable.
After the age of 17, he had a smooth and successful career, achieving outstanding results. His academic excellence shone brightly. At the age of 21, he published a paper in Top Four Journals and won the Chern Prize in Mathematics.
These four years were extraordinary; Shen Qi garnered numerous honors and praises, and was hailed as a rising star in Chinese mathematics.
A young person's mindset will change when they acquire in just a few years what others can only dream of in a lifetime.
Shen Qi is trying to adjust his mindset and rediscover his original aspirations.
What is our original aspiration?
Be a quiet and calm top student, and respect the objective laws of mathematics.
It seems that Shen Qi has calmed down. Even though his highly anticipated paper, "Characterizing Symplectic Orbifold Groupoid with Orbifold Fundamental Group," was rejected by the Journal of Mathematics, he was not too upset.
If the paper isn't well-written, it needs to be revised.
If you have problems, you need to change them.
"I'm not a perfect person, I have flaws too, Professor Muller, could you please take a look at these two papers for me?" Having calmed down, Shen Qi approached Muller with two papers in hand.
One paper is about the fundamental domain of a high-dimensional Fuchsian group, and the other is about non-zero elements in a stable Homotopy Group that can converge to it.
Both papers are on Group Theory, which is basic research. They are not extremely advanced, but they still have certain research value.
Shen Qi originally intended to make it a research project, but as he wrote, it turned into two papers, discussing his views on Group Theory from two different perspectives.
"It seems you have good self-regulation skills. There are no problems with these two papers. You just need to work on the details a little. Here, and here, the method for constructing the fundamental field of the strictly parabolic and strictly hyperbolic elements needs to be refined." Professor Muller offered his pertinent advice.
"Okay, I'll revise it immediately." Shen Qi humbly accepted the opinions and suggestions.
"I must say, Shen Qi, you are a mathematical genius. Your writing speed is astonishing, even during the recovery phase," Professor Muller said.
Shen Qi said, "Professor Muller, I think it would be more reasonable for me to accumulate enough academic experience before attempting to make a breakthrough in some world-class conjectures."
"Who says otherwise? I told you so!" Professor Muller laughed.
"Professor Muller. I have decided to continue to choose you as my supervisor for my doctoral studies."
After revising the manuscripts, Shen Qi submitted the two Group Theory papers to the Pacific Journal of Mathematics and the Bulletin of the American Mathematical Society.
Both are American mathematics journals. Their influence is somewhat different from that of the four major international mathematics journals, but they are among the top 10 journals in the United States.
Life returned to normal. Shen Qi had previously planned to obtain his master's degree in the Princeton Mathematics Department in two semesters, but now he wasn't so determined. He would let things take their course. Why be in such a hurry? One must not be impatient when doing research.
When someone is very stubborn about doing something, they often fail to achieve their goal quickly enough.
When he truly settles down, his horizons broaden and his mind expands.
Shen Qi is undergoing a spiritual transformation, which has nothing to do with whether or not he has cheat codes, but is only related to the deepest string in a person's heart.
Just as his second semester of graduate school was about to end, Shen Qi received good news: he had won the Ford Prize.
This award, presented by the American Mathematical Society, recognizes scholars who have published high-level papers in the past year and requires a $20,000 selection fee.
Shen Qi had already paid the money several months ago, using funds from Professor Muller's research grant, to apply for the Ford Prize.
To save costs, the American Mathematical Society does not organize award ceremonies or other ceremonial events. The names of this year's six Ford Prize winners were published in the American Mathematical Monthly, a journal sponsored by the American Mathematical Society.
The Ford Prize certificate was mailed to the Princeton Mathematics Department, and Shen Qi is admiring the beautiful certificate.
"The Ford Prize certificate is quite beautiful." Shen Qi put the Ford Prize certificate away and placed it next to the Chern Prize in Mathematics certificate.
The $20,000 isn't something you pay out of your own pocket. The Ford Prize is an award of some caliber, but it's not something an unknown person can win just by paying money.
Shen Qi has a Princeton background, has won Chinese Math Prize, and most importantly, he has solid work to back it up; his paper on the proof of the Wash Conjecture was published in the Journal of the American Mathematical Society.
System: "New achievement! The host has won the Ford Prize from the American Mathematical Society. The base reward is 350,000 Academic Excellence Points, multiplied by the Mathematical Talent 2.0, resulting in a final reward of 700,000 Academic Excellence Points. Remaining Academic Excellence Points: 1,018,810. Please confirm."
"This... the Ford Prize, which I got by spending money, actually has a base reward of 350,000 academic points, which is 50,000 points more than the base reward of the Chern Prize in Mathematics."
Shen Qi felt this was somewhat unreasonable, but he accepted the fact nonetheless.
Regardless, the Ford Prize, which was obtained through financial means, is an international award that is given to Mathematical Research of any nationality.
The Chern Prize in Mathematics is a domestic award in China, and it is only awarded to Mathematical Research whose nationality is Chinese.
1.2 million academic points can upgrade a student's math level from level 10 to level 11, the master level.
Having won a Ford Prize, and with the 300,000+ academic points he had accumulated, Shen Qi realized he was about to level up again.
"Professor Muller, are there any other international awards like the Ford Prize that require an award fee?" After receiving the award, Shen Qi invited Professor Muller to dinner to express his gratitude.
"That's it. It's the only one of its kind in the world. The American Mathematical Society has been obsessed with money for the last twenty-odd years, which is why they set up this rule. Before 1995, the Ford Prize didn't require payment to apply, and each winner received a cash prize of around $10,000 to $20,000, which was tax-free. What an innocent era!"