Beginning

They came with high spirits and returned with full satisfaction.

It was nearly ten-thirty when Huang Tian and Zong Wenjun finally returned to their apartment.

Lying on the bed, Zong Wenjun felt a bit weary. "I'm not going out tomorrow. I just want to stay curled up in my blanket."

Huang Tian pinched her smooth, soft cheek and chuckled, "Little Zong, who can study all day without feeling tired, is actually exhausted after a bit of sightseeing."

Zong Wenjun let him pinch her face and said earnestly, "Studying doesn't involve much emotional fluctuation, but traveling and playing are different. The emotional ups and downs consume a lot of mental energy, so it's only natural to be tired."

"Alright, then we'll stay in the room tomorrow and go nowhere," Huang Tian said.

Zong Wenjun hugged his arm and nuzzled her face against him. Huang Tian leaned against the headboard, opened his phone with his left hand, and skillfully logged into the Chang University online library to search through its resource database for various books and documents.

Probability Theory and Mathematical Statistics Tutorial, Topology, Groups and Representations, Second-Order Elliptic Partial Differential Equations, Proof of Global Well-posedness and Exponential Decay for Low-Regularity Solutions to the 3D Density-Dependent Magnetohydrodynamic Equations...

He memorized the contents of the books and papers, then instantly shifted his consciousness back to the Late Han Dynasty World, utilizing the 1:30 time dilation to rapidly digest and comprehend the knowledge.

The next day, which was Zong Wenjun's third day in Chang City, the two did not go out except to head downstairs for meals. They stayed in the apartment, each busy with their own affairs. Zong Wenjun put on her headphones to practice VOA, listening to music whenever she felt tired, while Huang Tian remained deeply immersed in the ocean of mathematics, unable to pull himself away.

By the morning of the fourth day, the two rose early, and Huang Tian saw Zong Wenjun off at the high-speed railway station.

At the entrance to the boarding area, Zong Wenjun hugged Huang Tian and whispered, "I'll miss you."

"Me too."

After a brief embrace, Zong Wenjun shouldered her backpack and entered the station, waving at Huang Tian from a distance. Huang Tian watched until she vanished from sight, then returned to the apartment.

For the next five days, Huang Tian spent his time "grinding" through literature. Converted to the time in the Late Han Dynasty World, that was a full five months. However, he still maintained his unwavering daily cultivation routine during those five months, only looking at the materials during his spare time. Even so, it was a significant amount of time, especially for Huang Tian, whose comprehension had already evolved.

Five days later.

Huang Tian opened the computer he had bought with his own part-time earnings during his undergraduate years. Inspiration flooded his brain. After a moment of contemplation, he thought, I'll start with a small appetizer for the mathematical community to test the waters.

He opened LaTeX, his fingers clattering across the keyboard.

Paper Title: Research on the Blow-up Phenomenon of Supercritical Defocusing Nonlinear Wave Equations

Abstract: ...

For Huang Tian, conducting research was actually easier than writing the paper itself, because writing a paper was too time-consuming. The PDE (Partial Differential Equation) paper he was currently writing had taken him two full days and spanned fifty-five pages. This was only possible because he didn't need to deliberate or ponder; he could just write continuously at full speed.

After finishing the paper, Huang Tian uploaded it to arXiv. arXiv was not a journal, but a repository for preprints where researchers could upload unpublished papers, effectively staking a claim and declaring "sovereignty" over their work.

After staking his claim, Huang Tian copied the paper onto a USB drive. After a moment's thought, he went to a printing shop downstairs to print a copy, then hailed a taxi to Chang University to find his undergraduate partial differential equations professor, Feng Zechun, a professor in the Department of Mathematics at Chang University.

The reason he sought him out was that as a newcomer to the academic world, if Huang Tian submitted his paper to a major journal, it would likely be ignored by editors, left to gather dust in an inbox filled with thousands of emails. To get an editor's attention, he needed someone to vouch for him. Only after his first paper was published and he had gained some reputation could he rely on his own name to make editors take him seriously.

Moreover, besides getting a recommendation from Feng Zechun, it was even more important to secure funding from him; otherwise, the publication fees for journals, which could easily exceed ten thousand yuan, were quite a headache.

Feng Zechun was sixty-three years old. He had been teaching at Chang University ever since he earned his master's degree in his youth. In middle age, he had obtained a doctorate in mathematics. After decades of work, he had authored numerous books and finally achieved the rank of full professor. However, as he aged and his energy waned, he had done less scientific research in recent years, focusing primarily on teaching and mentoring students.

He mentored a few doctoral students and taught undergraduate courses, a pure integration of teaching and research where teaching outweighed research.

Although Feng Zechun was a bit "laid back," he was a kind man. Having had a smooth career path with very few conflicts, he had spent most of his life in an ivory tower and carried a certain stubborn, scholarly air about him. This was the reason Huang Tian had sought him out.

Were there scoundrels in universities? Yes, but ordinary, normal people were still the majority, and Feng Zechun was one of them. In his decades of teaching and research, there had never been any rumors of misconduct.

Getting off the taxi at the main gate of Chang University, Huang Tian looked at the familiar, massive school gate, which stretched over three hundred meters, and felt a wave of nostalgia.

Just over a year ago, he was still a "carefree" student on campus, full of vigor and boundless, beautiful aspirations for the future.

However, the cruelty of reality had quickly taught him his place, telling him that he was an extremely mediocre person who had just happened to study for a few years and had been praised by parents, teachers, and classmates for a while. Once he entered society, he immediately reverted to his true colors.

Standing there in reflection for a short while, Huang Tian walked to the pedestrian entrance next to the security booth and entered the campus by scanning his face. He walked through the empty campus, passing the shimmering Runxi Lake and the naturally charming Beilian Fountain Square, and arrived at the Science and Life Building at a steady pace.

Inside the building, many students carrying books or backpacks walked and chatted in the stairwells and hallways. Outside, young men and women parked shared bikes and hurried along with their bags. Huang Tian followed the crowd into the stairwell.

He went up to the fifth floor and arrived at a door marked "Faculty Lounge." The door was ajar, and he could see an elderly man with thinning, graying hair and a slightly portly build sitting on a sofa, reading documents.

Professor Feng really is still in the habit of staying in the lounge after class...

Knock, knock.

A crisp knocking sound echoed. Feng Zechun looked up and saw a handsome young student.

"Huang Tian?"

Feng Zechun spoke with some surprise. He had a deep impression of Huang Tian because Huang Tian had a clean appearance and a good temperament, looking like a proper scholar. Coupled with Huang Tian's good grades, he naturally remembered him well.

"Professor Feng, it's me." Huang Tian smiled and walked into the faculty lounge.

Seeing his former student, Feng Zechun was in high spirits. He stood up and gestured, "Come, come, sit down and let's chat."

As he spoke, he went to the water dispenser, picked up a disposable cup, and poured a glass of water for Huang Tian.

"I can do it myself, thank you, Professor."

Huang Tian took the cup and sat down next to Feng Zechun.

"It's been over a year since you graduated, right? How have you been?" Feng Zechun asked with a kind smile, clearly interested.

"Just getting by, neither good nor bad."

"Being able to just get by is already quite good." Feng Zechun looked at the thick document envelope in Huang Tian's hand and asked, "Are you here to handle some paperwork or get a certificate..."

Huang Tian opened the envelope and took out a stack of densely written manuscripts. "Actually, I wrote something in my spare time and wanted to ask you to take a look and offer some advice..."