Looking Forward to Your Understanding

The quadrennial International Congress of Mathematicians was held in Saint Petersburg.

Shen Qi met many old friends from the Mathematics Community at the hotel and the conference venue. They chatted warmly and shared their knowledge.

IMU awarded the Chern Prize to Shen Qi in recognition of Shen Qi outstanding contributions to the field of mathematics.

The Chern Prize is awarded every four years to one person each time. The mathematicians who receive this Lifetime Achievement Award are often elderly, having dedicated their lives to mathematics and achieved outstanding results.

IMU described Shen Qi's award citation as. "26-year-old Chinese mathematician Shen Qi has reached the pinnacle of mathematics over the past five years."

The Chern Prize, the highest-level Lifetime Achievement Award in the international Mathematics Community, offers a prize of $500,000.

As is customary, the winners typically donate half of the $500,000 prize money to organizations that advance mathematics.

Following this tradition, Shen Qi donated $250,000 to the Nangang City Mathematics Enthusiasts Association to contribute to the development of mathematics in his hometown.

The Chern Prize provides Shen Qi with a base reward of 1.5 million academic points. Multiplied by the primary mathematical talent coefficient of 2.0, Shen Qi gains an additional 3 million academic points.

A reporter interviewed Shen Qi: "Mr. Shen Qi, you received Lifetime Achievement Award at the age of 26. Does this mean you have no desire left in mathematics? We have noticed that since you proposed the SLW system and proved the Hodge conjecture, you have not made any significant moves in mathematics in the past year."

Shen Qi said, "I'm still taking action, but I don't need to write mathematical articles myself anymore. I have a fantastic elite mathematical team, and my responsibility is to lead my team forward. I also want to retire early, but I can't; I can't retire now. Desire? Of course, I still have desires. The day I receive the Wolf Prize and the Abel Prize will be my retirement day."

The reporter then asked, "The Fields Medal will be awarded tomorrow, Professor Shen, do you have any predictions?"

Shen Qi: "I have high hopes for Mr. Faltings."

Reporter: "Anything else?"

Shen Qi: "I'm not a prophet, how would I know?"

Shen Qi's interview was tagged by a busybody reporter who tagged the Wolf Foundation and the Norwegian government, saying, "For the future of mathematics, please never award the Wolf Prize and the Abel Prize Shen Qi."

The following day, the Fields Medal, the most prestigious award in Mathematics Community, was presented.

Shen Qi's prediction was quite accurate; the first spot was awarded to the Italy mathematician Faltings.

Faltings waited several years for the Fields Medal, but if he doesn't win Fields Medal this year, he'll be over 40 next year.

Shen Qi broadcast the event live, sharing photos and videos from the International Congress of Mathematicians to their center's WeChat group.

In the video, Faltings delivers his acceptance speech in Italy. As he speaks, his nose suddenly stings, and he lets out a soft sob.

Zhou Yu'an excitedly shouted in the group chat, "My mentor won the Fields Medal! Awesome, Lao Fei! What is Lao Fei saying? Can someone who understands Italian translate for me?"

Shen Qi translated. "Old Fei said that he loved football since he was a child, was selected for the Atlanta youth academy, and dreamed of becoming a member of the Italy national team and winning the World Cup. Football was his true love, and mathematics was just a hobby. But he never expected that he would achieve nothing in the field of football, but at nearly forty years old, he won a Math Prize. He felt sorry for himself, so he cried."

Zhou Yu'an didn't believe it. "I know Lao Fei is obsessed with football, he plays as a goalkeeper and has good footwork, but he wouldn't say that at the Fields Medal. Also, Old Shen, do you understand Italian?"

Shen Qi: "The on-site simultaneous translation machine supports dozens of languages, including Italy."

After speaking in his native language, Faltings switched to English and said it again.

This time, Zhou Yu'an understood. His Italy mentor really meant that, but not as exaggeratedly as Shen Qi had described.

"Having won the Fields Medal, I've been promoted to a big shot. Whatever the big shots say is right, because they are the big shots." Zhou Yu'an learned a lot of valuable knowledge from Faltings, but he still had a certain gap to close with his mentor when it came to showing off.

Most importantly, Zhou Yu'an realized that showing off requires a stage. Once you're on that stage, you can show off however you want, and the whole world will cheer for you.

The second winner of this year's Fields Medal is German mathematician Schultz. He is very young, and if he doesn't win the Fields Medal this year, he can try again next year.

Colleagues at the Shen Qi Mathematical and Physical Research Center exclaimed, "Schultz, he finally won the award!"

Schultz delivered his acceptance speech in English, saying that his father was a physicist, his mother a Computer Science scientist, and his sister a chemist; his family lacked a mathematician, so he became a mathematician.

Xiao Junlong: "Physics, Computation, Chemistry, Mathematics—the Schultz family could rule the world."

Zhou Yu'an: "They're all such show-offs! The Fields Medal Awards have turned into a pretentious show."

Cui Xiaoyi, who doesn't understand math but knows English, praised Schultz: "Blonde hair and long legs, this German guy is so handsome, and his whole family are academic geniuses!"

Zhou Yu'an: "So what if he's handsome? So what if his whole family are top students? His wife ran away."

Cui Xiaoyi: "Huh? I want the truth!"

Zhou Yu'an: "Ask Director Shen, he knows the truth."

Shen Qi said in the group chat, "Don't discuss other people's privacy, it's impolite. Okay, that's all for today's live stream. If you want me to send you gifts, send me a private message."

With honors in both mathematics and physics, Shen Qi returned to China.

Shen Qi handed the two medals to Ou Ye for safekeeping, keeping the prize money for his own spending.

Shen Qi brought back $250,100 from Europe and treated everyone to a meal that cost tens of thousands of RMB, paying for it all out of his own pocket to share his joy with colleagues and friends.

As the first Chinese mathematician to receive both the Chern Prize and the Castler Prize, Shen Qi brought back two major international scientific awards, and was recognized by the state and Yenching University.

There were verbal commendations as well as material rewards.

Not far from the west gate of Yenching University, there is a quiet open space in the middle of the city. It belongs to Yenching University and is not very big, just enough to build a house and do some landscaping around it.

Today, officials from relevant national departments and the dean of the School of Architecture at Yenching University invited Shen Qi to come to the west gate of Yenching University to conduct an on-site inspection of this plot of land.

"Professor Shen, is this location alright?" the relevant department leader asked Shen Qi for his opinion.

Shen Qi observed for a while and said, "It's alright."

The leader said to the dean of the School of Architecture at Yanda University, "Dean Han, then we'll have to trouble your School of Architecture to produce the drawings as soon as possible."

Dean Han looked at Shen Qi and said with emotion, "Professor Shen, not many people can enjoy this kind of treatment, you are one of them. Don't worry, Principal Lu has instructed me that our School of Architecture will definitely design this house to be of a high standard and unique, so that Professor Shen can live here with peace of mind and comfort."

"Wait a minute!" Shen Qi, still puzzled, asked, "Could you two be more specific?"

"That's right," the relevant department leader explained in detail. "Professor Shen, in view of your achievements over the years and your great contributions to the country's scientific research, the state has decided to build you a brand new scholar's villa. The construction costs will be covered by the state, and the design will be handled by the School of Architecture at Yenching University."

"This... I can't afford it." Shen Qi waved his hands repeatedly. Living in a villa is a privilege reserved for academicians, and not every academician can enjoy the privilege of having a villa designed specifically for them.

The School of Architecture at Shuimu University designed a unique, beautiful, and comfortable villa for Mr. Yang Zhenning as Mr. Yang residence after returning to China. This can be considered the highest level of housing treatment provided by the country.

The leader held Shen Qi's hand and said frankly, "China has produced several Nobel Prize, but you, Professor Shen, are the only Fields Medal. You have reached the pinnacle of Mathematics Community today. This is not my opinion, but what the IMU says, and it is the unanimous recognition of the international Mathematics Community."

"We're sorry to make you live in an apartment building with an elevator, but you must enjoy the same benefits as an academician. As far as I know, several academicians nominated Professor Shen for the election last year. Regardless of whether you are elected this year, you can live in the villa for now; this is a national decision. Of course, building a house takes time, and until it's finished, Professor Shen will have to live in an apartment building with an elevator temporarily. We hope you understand."