Harvest Season

One day later, it was the results announcement day.

The Chinese IMO team cheered ecstatically after receiving the official score rankings.

The scores of the six team members were:

Shen Qi 42 (+1), Lü Qiujian 33, Yang Rui 33, Zhou Yu'an 32, Yu Lei 30, Lu Wenlin 28.

Chinese IMO Team Total Score: 198

Among them, except for Lu Wenlin, who received a silver medal with 28 points, the other five team members all received individual gold medals.

China's 198 was the highest team score, with Russia and the United States ranking second and third with 192 and 185 respectively.

"Wow! Champions!"

"We are the champions!"

The young men of the Chinese team high-fived each other in celebration, the atmosphere filled with joy.

"Shen Qi, amazing, highest score."

"Shen Qi, what's this 42+1 of yours?"

"Yeah, I'm also wondering, it's either 42 or 43, what the heck is this 42+1? Some kind of magic? Judging from our team's total score, it seems they gave me 42 points, and the +1 in parentheses is a note?" Shen Qi was also bewildered.

"Regardless, Shen Qi, you're definitely the number one gold medalist, congratulations!"

"If you hadn't gotten the full score, Shen Qi, we might have lost to Russia."

"Shen Qi, big shot, I kneel to you."

The team members expressed their admiration for Shen Qi one after another. It was indeed not easy to get a perfect score at the IMO competition.

"This team championship was achieved through everyone's joint efforts. It wouldn't have been possible with just me getting a perfect score. In short, I love you guys, brothers, you all performed steadily." Shen Qi smiled happily.

At noon that day, the award ceremony was held in the grand auditorium of the University of South Bank, London.

The six members of the Chinese IMO team, dressed in matching suits, received the team gold cup symbolizing the highest honor.

Click, click.

Reporters took photos from below the stage, mostly local British reporters, followed by American and Chinese reporters.

Some breaking news reports were immediately sent out by the journalists.

"Chinese IMO Team Wins International Mathematical Olympiad Team Championship with 198 Points! Congratulations to the Chinese IMO Team on Successfully Defending Their Title!" - This was the breaking news in Chinese.

"International Mathematical Olympiad, Team Champion China, Runner-up Russia, Third Place USA." --- This was the breaking news from Western media.

The breaking news reports were concise, simply and clearly stating objective facts.

In reality, both Chinese and Westerners attached great importance to mathematics.

China had many subject competitions, but among them, math competitions were the most numerous and most valued.

In Western countries, mathematics was not only an important subject but also a significant cultural force.

The IMO naturally received much attention from both Chinese and Western media. The team championship was important, but individual rankings might be even more so. Mathematics did not require sophisticated laboratory equipment; it was a field driven forward primarily by the individual talent of geniuses.

After the Chinese team received their team championship awards, they returned to the audience seats.

There was only one team championship trophy, but each team member received a team gold medal.

Shen Qi admired the team gold medal in his hand. It was round, shiny, and quite beautiful.

System Notification: "Congratulations to the host for achieving a new accomplishment, International Mathematical Olympiad Team Champion! Reward: 15,000 scholar points, multiplied by the Math Primary Talent coefficient of 2, actual reward is 30,000 scholar points. Remaining scholar points: 59,873. Please confirm, host."

"System, you've been quiet for days, and you show up with a surprise!" Shen Qi had accumulated nearly 60,000 scholar points, enough to directly upgrade his Math Level to 6. The upgrade from level 5 to 6 required 50,000 scholar points.

Next, the Russian and American teams came on stage to receive their team runner-up and third-place trophies.

Host: "Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome Mr. Malves, editor-in-chief of Annals of Mathematics, and Mr. Bell, editor-in-chief of Journal of Mathematics, to present the awards to the individual bronze medalists."

Mr. Malves and Mr. Bell might not be famous, but the mathematical journals they edited, Annals of Mathematics and Journal of Mathematics, were renowned in the mathematical world, being the most top-tier and authoritative mathematical publications globally.

After Mr. Malves and Mr. Bell presented the awards to the individual bronze medalists, the Secretary-General of the Royal Society of London and the Director of the Clay Mathematics Institute presented the awards to the individual silver medalists.

The Royal Society of London was the world's oldest scientific society. The Clay Mathematics Institute established seven Millennium Prize Problems in 2000, offering one million US dollars for the solution to each. Both institutions were well-known.

Finally, Sir Wiles, Sir Gowers, and Sir Bocherds presented the awards to the individual gold medalists.

Given that this year's IMO was held in the United Kingdom, all three knights were Fields Medal laureates, making it most fitting for them to present the individual gold medals.

Although the overall mathematical proficiency of the British populace was not particularly high, the country possessed three living Fields Medal laureates, and Britain's standing in mathematics internationally was not low; in fact, it was quite high.

Shen Qi went on stage again to receive his individual gold medal, and Wiles hung the medal around his neck.

"Child, we meet again. You made a deep impression on me," Wiles said to Shen Qi with a smile.

Shen Qi was too excited to speak and remained silent.

The IMO individual gold medal was the highest individual award officially presented. There were naturally more than one gold medalist; the gold medal threshold for this year was 30 points, and five members of the Chinese team alone received individual gold medals.

Competitors with 42 points or 30 points could both receive individual gold medals. The highest honor officially awarded was the gold medal, but unofficially, the scores of the gold medalists were ranked, and the highest-ranked one was commonly known as the number one gold medalist.

As the gold medalists posed for a photo, the clicking of cameras from the reporters below increased exponentially.

"Our national IMO contestants Shen Qi, Lü Qiujian, Yang Rui, Zhou Yu'an, and Yu Lei have won individual gold medals. Congratulations to these five young men! They are from Nangang Second High School, Huazhong Normal University High School, Hengshui High School, Renmin University High School, and Yanjing University High School respectively. Among them, student Shen Qi ranked first with an individual score of 42+1!" - QQ News.

"Our city's Shen Qi from Second Middle School bravely won the International Mathematical Olympiad gold medal, a true academic genius shining on the international stage!" --- Nangang News.

The local Nangang News website didn't send reporters to the United Kingdom; they reposted QQ News' report about the IMO.

"Warmly congratulate our school's Shen Qi for bravely winning the International Mathematical Olympiad gold medal, Nangang Second High School, the strongest Olympic Math school, creates glory again!" --- This was a Weibo post by the account "Nangang Second High School," which was Shen Qi's high school's official Weibo.

"Shen Qi is strong. Nangang Second High School, the strongest Olympic Math school? Questionable." --- "Huazhong Normal University High School" @ed "Nangang Second High School."

Hengshui High School: "Questionable."

Renmin University High School: "Questionable."

Yanjing University High School: "Questionable."

Capital No. 4 High School: "Questionable." They, Capital No. 4 High School, were a truly prestigious school, but this time no one from Capital No. 4 was selected for the Olympic Math national team, so they could at least join in the fun.

With this back-and-forth and bickering, Nangang Second High School's official Weibo follower count instantly doubled, then doubled again, and then doubled again. Originally, the official Weibo had just over 200 followers, basically school staff and student parents. Within minutes, their follower count surpassed a thousand, and the onlookers gathered in increasing numbers, showing a continuous upward trend. At noon Greenwich Mean Time, which was around 8 or 9 PM China time, it was prime time for people to spectate.

Nangang Second High School's official Weibo was under heavy fire from several big names in the high school circles. It dared not continue to provoke them and remained silent, trembling.

At this critical moment, a blogger named PKU stepped forward, silently liked Nangang Second High School's official Weibo, and posted an encouraging and supportive emoji.

Immediately after, THU came charging in, leaving three thumbs-up emojis.

The big names in the high school circles fell silent, and the situation was brought under control.

At the award ceremony in the United Kingdom, Shen Qi went on stage for the third time to receive an award, accompanied by Russian contestant Peter Polstradlavsky.

Shen Qi received a special award – the IMO Innovation Award. Of his total score of 42+1, the 42 was a perfect score, and the 1 was for innovation.

Peter Polstradlavsky received the "IMO Best Player Award in History," equaling the record set by Romanian contestant Manolescu, who achieved perfect scores in all three of his IMO participations. This award had been given out twice in total; this was the second time.

Shen Qi and Peter Polstradlavsky tied for first place in this year's IMO gold medals, both achieving perfect scores.

The two shook hands and took a photo, with the eyes of all the reporters focused on the two brilliant young talents from China and Russia.