The Eve of the International Mathematical Olympiad

Because of a dispute over £5.68, Shen Qi and Zhou Yu'an were in a standoff with the British cashier.

This caused the British crowd queuing behind them to start discussing amongst themselves.

"They're from the East."

"Chinese?"

"Chinese people are the best at math."

"The Chinese multiplication table is amazing."

The surrounding British crowd wasn't annoyed by Shen Qi and Zhou Yu'an holding up the line without paying. Instead, they watched the spectacle with interest. In their minds, people good at math were awesome.

"Shen Qi, what should we do? Are we going to get into trouble? Forget it, let's just pay her £33.50 and leave. Better to spend money to avoid trouble." Zhou Yu'an, being timid, started to back down.

"Don't rush, don't panic. Didn't you see all these British people praising us?" Shen Qi was calmer. He held his dual-currency credit card, ready to pay £33.50 if he couldn't stand it anymore. It wasn't worth getting into a fight over a few pounds.

"She means no harm. Please don't misunderstand, two young gentlemen." Suddenly, a voice with an authentic South London accent sounded from behind Shen Qi and Zhou Yu'an.

The two turned around and saw a white elderly man with glasses smiling as he looked them over.

This British old man had rather peculiar features. His face was thin and long, with hollowed cheeks, as if carved by a knife. The sharpness of his aquiline nose was astonishing. His large ears stuck out at almost a 90-degree angle, almost perpendicular to his cheeks. If not for the pair of gold-rimmed glasses he wore, he would have looked a bit scary.

"No, no," Shen Qi waved his hand, indicating they were law-abiding citizens and not here to cause trouble in the United Kingdom.

"Tesco is a world-renowned chain supermarket. They wouldn't intentionally deceive consumers. While there might have been a calculation error with some discount prices, I believe it was an oversight by their finance manager and has nothing to do with this lovely lady."

"The mathematical ability of British people is clearly inferior to that of Chinese people. Without calculators, most of us cannot perform basic arithmetic within twenty. We lose about £800 million annually because of this. Our Prime Minister has decided to import math textbooks from China to improve the overall mathematical proficiency of the entire British population." The old British man glanced at the cashier and then at Shen Qi and Zhou Yu'an as he explained. He was also a customer, carrying a shopping basket.

Shen Qi, with his Level 1 English, understood only half of what was said. The old man's meaning was roughly that British people were bad at math and often made mistakes when calculating bills, and he asked the Chinese friends for understanding.

If you explain it like that, then I'm not angry anymore. Shen Qi stopped dwelling on the £5.68 loss and swiped his card, paying £33.50.

The cashier, still a bit confused, packed Shen Qi's purchases into a shopping bag. Shen Qi took the bag and prepared to leave.

"Perhaps I can compensate you for your loss of £5.68 in other ways," the old British man said again.

"Holy crap!" Shen Qi was startled.

"What holy crap?" Zhou Yu'an didn't understand.

"This strange old man can mentally calculate addition and subtraction within forty. He's a local folk expert! A dragon from afar can't compete with a local snake. Zhou Yu'an, hurry, run!" Shen Qi grabbed the shopping bag and bolted.

Zhou Yu'an followed Shen Qi as they sprinted out of the supermarket. Both were panting heavily. They then slowly walked along Waterloo Road, admiring the British scenery.

While walking, Shen Qi, unable to contain his curiosity, stopped at a roadside stall, attracted by the traditional British snack, fish and chips.

"Hey, Zhou Yu'an, let's buy some local London snacks to try." Shen Qi took out a £10 note, his mouth watering.

"Shen Qi, you're a foodie, aren't you? You bought a bunch of stuff at the supermarket, and now you're buying more! Fish and chips are disgusting, I don't want any. Let's go." Zhou Yu'an tugged at Shen Qi, trying to pull him away.

"This is your first time in the UK, how do you know fish and chips are disgusting?"

"My New Oriental teacher told me."

"Do you understand the unity of knowledge and action? Practice is the sole criterion for testing truth. Zhou Yu'an, you stingy guy, you don't want to spend money, but I'll treat you. Boss... oh no, hey man, fish-and-chips, two." Shen Qi handed the £10 note to the young man at the roadside stall.

The British young man selling fish and chips quickly wrapped two portions and handed them to Shen Qi and Zhou Yu'an, then gave them change: a £5 note and a pile of coins.

Shen Qi glanced at the change the British young man gave him. One portion of fish and chips was £2.30, so two portions were £4.60. He gave me £8.60 in change. What kind of operation was this?

Were British people's math skills really that terrible?

What is 10 minus 4.6? Even a Chinese elementary school student could give the correct answer immediately.

Shen Qi returned £3.20 to the British young man, but the stubborn Englishman became displeased, insisting he hadn't made a mistake.

"Zhou Yu'an, bear witness for me. I am an honest person and did not intentionally defraud the British people of their money."

"Let's go, let's go. If you keep arguing with this British guy, he might hit you."

With £8.60 in change, Shen Qi and Zhou Yu'an left the fish and chips stall. They walked to the River Thames, found a bench, and sat down to eat their fish and chips.

"Newton was British. He invented integral calculus," Shen Qi said.

Zhou Yu'an chimed in, "Green and Taylor were brilliant British mathematicians. They invented Green's function and Taylor series, which almost drove me crazy."

"And Maclaurin and Cramer. Maclaurin series and Cramer's rule troubled me for a long time."

"Turing was also British. He was a mathematical genius."

"So many outstanding mathematicians came from Britain throughout history, why are contemporary British people so bad at math?"

"If our junior high school students came to the UK, they could probably dominate, at least in the field of mathematics."

"In that case, Britain is truly a great place."

"But seriously, Shen Qi, your English needs improvement."

"Indeed it does. Fortunately, the IMO exam questions are translated into various languages. Otherwise, I might not be able to understand the questions."

After wandering around the streets of London, Shen Qi and Zhou Yu'an returned to their hotel to prepare for the upcoming IMO finals.

China has been the most dominant force in the International Mathematical Olympiad for the past 30 years, bar none.

Since first participating in the IMO in 1985, the Chinese IMO team has won 18 team championships, making other countries bow down.

The Chinese IMO team, with Shen Qi among them, came to the UK with only one objective: the championship.

"Shen Qi, our Chinese people's overall math level is so high; even elementary school students can do addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division within 100. Meanwhile, most adults in the UK can't even do simple calculations within 20. You could say we've built a very solid mathematical foundation from a young age, yet why has no Chinese person ever won a Fields Medal? While the British, whose math is so terrible, have had six recipients."

Zhou Yu'an, lying on the single bed in the hotel room, added, "I'm referring to Chinese people by nationality. Okay, even if you include Shing-Tung Yau and Terence Tao, there have only been two ethnic Chinese people who have won a Fields Medal so far."

"I feel like our country's math is like cycling; we're both major powers in terms of population and have an extremely deep mass base. However, there are only a handful of top-tier world-class athletes. On the other hand, the UK, although most of them are weak chickens, once a few strong chickens emerge, they are world-class super strong chickens. I can't quite explain the real reason, perhaps it's due to different national conditions." After saying this, Shen Qi went to the shower room to wash up. He knew, of course, that the Fields Medal, awarded once every four years, was the highest achievement in the math world. Yeah, why had no Chinese person ever won a Fields Medal? It wasn't scientific.

Local time in the UK, July 25th. The Chinese Mathematical Olympiad team gathered for a meeting at the hotel.

The leader of the Chinese Mathematical Olympiad team had been taken control of by the British organizers. Currently, the team was under the command of the deputy leader.

In fact, all the national team leaders were under the control of the organizers. They were arranged in a secret location and couldn't contact the outside world.

For the sake of fair competition, this rule had been implemented since the first IMO was held in 1959 and continued to this day.

The team leaders from various countries gathered together. Each person submitted one to three problems, forming a question bank of nearly 300 problems. After several rounds of selection and voting, the six problems with the highest number of votes were chosen as the six official competition problems for this IMO. They were then translated into their respective national languages and submitted to the organizers for record-keeping. The competition papers received by the contestants from each country would be in their native language, so there were no language barriers when it came to solving the problems.

Only after the competition ended were the team leaders released. This mechanism ensured fairness.

The team leader was locked up. The deputy leader of the Chinese Mathematical Olympiad team gave a pre-competition speech: "In the last 30 International Mathematical Olympiads, our China has won 18 team championships, making us the undisputed overlord in this event."

"However, team members and coaches, you must be clear that although our Chinese Mathematical Olympiad team has strong overall strength, we are not invincible."

"We can also lose, we have made mistakes, we have lost to the United States, Russia, and even South Korea. These are all painful lessons."

"In this IMO, the aforementioned three teams will still be our most formidable opponents on the road to the championship, especially some developed countries led by the United States. They advocate for taking what others have, they don't cultivate talent, they are talent harvesters."

"In conclusion, we must go all out. Young men, do you have the courage!" The deputy leader became suddenly impassioned as he spoke.

"Yes!"

"Do you have the determination!"

"Yes!"

"What is our goal?"

"Championship! Championship! Championship!"

"Good, I am very satisfied with everyone's fearless and determined belief in forging ahead. Victory will surely belong to us! Shen Qi, Zhou Yu'an, and Yu Lei, the three team members will accompany me to the pre-competition briefing. The rest of the team members and coaches will stay at the hotel to prepare for tomorrow's main IMO competition." The deputy leader left the hotel with the three team members, walking towards the University of South Bank, London.

The auditorium of the University of South Bank, London, was packed. Representative contestants from the Mathematical Olympiad teams of 102 countries around the world gathered.

A group of distinguished figures were seated on the rostrum, of various skin colors. They were renowned experts in the international mathematics community.

"Next, we invite the head of the judging committee, a Fields Medalist, a Fellow of the Royal Society of London, and a professor at Oxford University, Sir Andrew Wiles, to announce the competition rules." The host invited the head of the judging committee to read the competition rules. This was a routine matter, and representatives from each country's team had to be present.

The head of the judging committee was an elderly white man. He stood up to acknowledge the introduction, and thunderous applause erupted from the entire audience.

A Fields Medalist, a Fellow of the Royal Society of London, a professor at Oxford University, and a knighted Sir by the Queen of England – having so many titles held by one person was incredibly impressive. Damn, that's amazing! Clap your hands quickly! The applause from the audience was incessant.

Professor Wiles began to read the competition rules. He once had another highly renowned position in the industry – the head of the Mathematics Department at Princeton. He had shocked the world with his most famous achievement: successfully proving "Fermat's Last Theorem" in 1995.

After his tenure at Princeton ended, Wiles returned to his hometown, the UK, and took up a professorship at his alma mater, Merton College, Oxford.

"Holy crap..." Shen Qi and Zhou Yu'an, sitting below, were dumbfounded. They had met this judging committee head, the terrifyingly titled Sir Wiles, just two days ago in the supermarket.