Coffee Time

Masters are truly different; Shen Qi's appreciation for talent deepened.

The 12 boys in the tutoring class were nominally Professor Muller's students, but Shen Qi had more contact with them.

Shen Qi is currently a doctoral student at Princeton University, and he knows that one day he will become a professor.

After teaching two more Recitation Class sessions, Shen Qi got a general understanding of the basic information of the 12 students and chatted with each of the twelve boys one by one during coffee time.

The rule in the Princeton Mathematics Department is that you can skip classes, publish papers, or write academic monographs, but you absolutely cannot skip drinking coffee.

Coffee can be addictive if you drink too much of it. Shen Qi, who rarely drank coffee in China, has been drinking it almost every day since coming to the United States.

The twice-monthly academic meetings of Muller's team involve drinking coffee.

Shen Qi sought out Muller privately to discuss academic matters and asked for coffee.

Every Wednesday afternoon is dedicated to coffee time; doctoral students are required to go to the coffee shop on the third floor of the Mathematics Department building to have coffee with the professors.

The professors said that if a doctoral student misses coffee time, they won't pass their dissertation defense (sarcasm intended).

Drinking coffee is a culture in the Mathematics Department at Princeton University. The focus of this coffee culture is not on the coffee itself, but on the communication.

Princeton Mathematics Department encourages originality while also valuing teamwork and open communication.

Undergraduates weren't allowed to go to the coffee shop on the third floor of the Mathematics Department building, Shen Qi invited his tutoring students to his apartment for coffee.

The houses that Princeton University allocates to professors often come with a large study, and many professors like to invite students to their studies for coffee and to discuss academic topics.

The apartment Shen Qi rented didn't have a study; it just had a bedroom and a living room.

Shen Qi decorated the living room, setting up a round table and a blackboard. It was a bit crowded to accommodate twelve boys at the same time, but it would be fine to host five or six.

The day before yesterday, Shen Qi invited John M. Gross for coffee at his apartment.

This young man is British and received an aristocratic education from a young age. He attended all-boys schools until he was 18. Princeton was the first co-educational school John M. Gross attended.

John M. Gross was always dressed in a suit and tie; Shen Qi had never seen him wear any other type of clothing.

The young British man said he doesn't plan to pursue a master's degree; after graduating from Princeton with his bachelor's degree, he will return to the UK to take over the family business, which is in the financial services industry.

The customer from the day before yesterday was Luca. This young Italy man comes from a family that runs a clothing business. The business is quite large, with flagship stores in major Italy cities such as Milan, Turin, and Rome, as well as Magic City in Paris, New York, Tokyo, and Shanghai, China.

Shen Qi asked Luca, "Your family sells clothes, why are you studying math? Wouldn't it be more suitable for you to study fashion design, marketing, or business administration?"

Luca said math is fun, geometry is fascinating, just learn it for fun, and if you don't do well in school, you can go back to your hometown in Italy and sell clothes.

Stephen Corey said something similar yesterday.

This young American man from Colorado comes from a family that farms and also engages in animal husbandry, raising horses and sheep.

Stephen, who comes from a rural background, said that his ancestors were farmers, and he didn't want to be a farmer who toiled in the fields. After graduation, he wanted to work as a white-collar worker in big cities like New York and Los Angeles, and his ideal job was an IT Engineer.

If his grades aren't good enough to get into the Metropolitan University, Stephen will have to return to rural Colorado to farm and raise horses. His family owns 4,000 acres of land, equivalent to the combined area of seven Princeton University.

Shen Qi was about to yell at him. Stephen, after all this time, you're supposed to be the son of a big rancher, a cool, arrogant, and rich cowboy, and you want to be a miserable IT guy? Have you lost your mind?

Some Americans are just out of their minds; things that are incomprehensible to Easterners are normal for them.

Differences in Chinese and Western cultures and values certainly exist, and Shen Qi is gradually coming to understand and respect Westerners' values, lifestyles, and religious beliefs.

Princeton's tuition is very expensive, and most of Princeton University students come from middle-class or higher families, with many being wealthy.

Although Princeton has a range of scholarship, financial aid, and student loan policies, students from wealthy families still have an advantage. They only need to meet Princeton's minimum admission requirements and don't need to achieve near-perfect scores.

While studying at Princeton University, students from wealthy families don't need to worry about repaying their student loans, nor do they need to work to earn living expenses. They can devote all their energy to their studies and social life.

The United States also has a significant wealth gap, and the children of the wealthy naturally receive elite educations; sometimes, American children's success is also influenced by their parents' connections.

Children from poor families certainly have the opportunity to receive elite education, but it all depends on themselves.

Shen Qi's student today is Jack Ma.

In the three assignments that had been given, Shen Qi gave Jack Ma two A+ and one A, believing that Jack Ma was the smartest of the twelve boys.

"My family is poor, very poor." Jack Ma's specialty was complaining about being poor, and he would always complain about being poor whenever he saw Shen Qi.

"Jack, your English accent is no different from that of an American white person, so you grew up in the United States? Which city are you from?" Shen Qi asked, trying to understand Jack Ma's family background.

"I was born in San Francisco and live in one of the poorest neighborhoods in the San Francisco," Jack Ma said, repeatedly checking his phone for the time. "Look, I have to go to work later."

"What kind of part-time job did you take?" Shen Qi asked.

"Today is open to the public, and I'm going to work as a tour guide for tourists. I can earn $10 an hour." Jack Ma's eyes lit up when he talked about money.

Shen Qi took out a $10 bill and placed it on the table. "Here's $10 for you to chat with me for an hour. I think this is much easier than being a tour guide. Just consider it a tip, don't feel guilty."

"Wow, the boss is so rich!" Jack Ma's eyes lit up, and he couldn't help but say a few words in Chinese. His pronunciation wasn't perfect, but it was fluent.

Tipping is perfectly normal in the United States, so Jack Ma had no qualms about it and naturally pocketed the $10.

"So Jack, you're of Chinese descent. Where are your ancestral homes?" Shen Qi switched to Chinese mode. He wasn't surprised that Jack Ma could speak Chinese; he had already guessed that Jack Ma was of Chinese descent. Of course, there are also some Chinese Americans who don't speak Chinese or know Chinese characters.

"My mom is from the South, and I don't even know where my biological dad is from," Jack Ma said, a hint of sadness in his voice.

"Oh?"

"My mom came to the US when she was two months pregnant, but my biological dad hasn't come to the US either. How the hell do I know who my biological dad is? My mom told me that my biological dad is dead."

"Your surname is Ma, is it your mother's surname?"

"No, my stepfather's surname is Ma."

"You speak Chinese so fluently, so you must have a Chinese name, right?" Shen Qi, acting like an older brother, tried to gradually enter the inner world of little Jack -Ma.

"My English name is Jack-Ma, my Chinese name is Mark Jie, and my mom calls me A-Jie." After receiving the money, Jack -Ma demonstrated extremely high professionalism. He answered all his questions without reservation, basically just making sure Boss Shen was comfortable.

"What does your family do in San Francisco, A-Jie?" Shen Qi asked again.

Mark Jie: "He sells fruit, he runs a very small fruit stall, basically a roadside stand. These are the kinds of things unskilled Chinese immigrants in the US can do: run supermarkets, restaurants, sell fruit, their main activity is limited to Chinatown. But if you have money, it's a different story. In the US, if you have money, you can do whatever you want. The US dollar is the fairest thing; it treats people of all races equally."

"Ah Jie, you love money so much, you shouldn't have chosen mathematics as your major, unless you switch to applied mathematics later, then you'll have a chance to make a fortune." Shen Qi's assessment of Mark Jie was that he was smart, quick-witted, and had a strong desire to pursue wealth.

"Yeah, of course I want to make a fortune, hehehe." Mark Jie didn't hide his desire for wealth.

"Ah Jie, you're actually very talented. You come from an ordinary Chinese family and got into Princeton on your own merits, which isn't easy. Come on, you have half an hour left. Do a problem. If you solve it, I'll give you another ten dollars. If you don't, you'll only get ten dollars at most today." Shen Qi drew a geometric pattern on the blackboard.

"This... Boss, earning those ten dollars is so hard! It's much harder than being a tour guide!" Mark Jie realized he'd been ripped off. Boss Shen is so cunning.

After going through countless hardships and burning through countless brain cells, Mark Jie left Shen Qi's apartment exhausted, clutching the hard-earned twenty dollars tightly in his hand.

Shen Qi smiled as he looked at the answers on the blackboard. Talented people, truly rare. Someone like A-Jie should be doing something more meaningful. Keep an eye on him.

Shen Qi switches between the roles of teacher and student; in the morning he is a tutor, and in the afternoon he is a doctoral student.

As on any Wednesday, the coffee shop on the third floor of the Mathematics Department building was packed with customers.

The doctoral students engaged in lively discussions with their professors, ranging from the NFL to the US Open, from healthcare reform to whose dog had been spayed/neutered.

Mathematics is, of course, the most important topic.

Today's math topic is: Please name three Princeton mathematicians, representing the most intelligent, the most famous, and the ones with the highest academic value. You can nominate yourself.

The geniuses with the brightest minds are not necessarily the most famous, and the most famous people are not necessarily the ones who have produced the most valuable research results.

These are the rules of the game that Director Feierman temporarily set up.

"My three choices are: Gödel is the smartest, Nash the most famous, and Professor Milnor has made the most valuable academic contributions," Director Feierman began, stating three names.

Gödel and Nash are no longer alive, but Professor John Milnor is sitting in the coffee shop.

Mr. Milnor is over eighty years old, with completely white hair and beard, as white as Santa Claus.

The opinion that Gödel was the most intelligent person was met with a split between the professors and doctoral students present.

Muller and Shen Qi were in the other half who agreed; they were Gödel's students, and his students' students.

If you say John Nash is the most famous, 90% of the people in the audience would agree. "A Beautiful Mind" even won the Academy Award for Best Picture; how could Nash not be famous?

Everyone present, including Shen Qi, voted in favor of saying that Professor John Milnor's academic achievements were the greatest.

Milnor completed his undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral studies in the Mathematics Department at Princeton University. After graduating, he taught at Princeton University, spent a few years at the Princeton Institute for Advanced Study, and then returned to Princeton University to continue his research.

It is said that Milno never completed a single proof in the classroom in his entire life; he didn't care about details, his brilliance lay in building systems.

For his significant contributions to differential topological systems, K-theory, and Dynamical Systems, Milnor received the Fields Medal, the Wolf Prize, and the Abel Prize.

Professor Milnor, a super-genius who has achieved the F+W+A Grand Slam, who dares to say that his academic achievements are not the highest?

You don't want to stay at Princeton anymore, do you?