Ten in the morning, the laboratory building, the mathematics department office.
Professor Tang sat at his desk, studying his computer screen as he revised a paper.
Every time he read through its tightly reasoned calculations and proofs, he could not help feeling impressed. He had gone in with a critical eye, hoping to find flaws he could send the kid back to fix, but he could not find anywhere to begin.
The argument was complete. Not a single line of calculation was unnecessary.
All he could do was make a few corrections to the wording and English grammar.
The younger generation is formidable, Professor Tang Zhiwei thought as he leaned back in his chair.
Just then, the office door swung open.
The visitor neither knocked nor announced himself. Professor Tang frowned at the rudeness, but when he saw who it was, his expression relaxed into a smile.
It was Lu Fangping, head of the mathematics department at Jinling University. They were not just colleagues, but old friends and former classmates.
"Old Tang, why's your phone off? I've been trying to reach you for ages," Lu Fangping asked with a smile as he came in.
"Heh. You know I turn it off for a few days after exams every year." Tang Zhiwei glanced at him, took a sip of tea from his thermos, and leaned back comfortably. "Haven't you been busy lately? What brings you by today?"
Lu Fangping sat down on the office sofa and grinned. "I need a favor, so I invited myself in!"
"You've got some nerve, you old rascal. When other people ask me for favors, they at least bring a couple of cases of liquor. You've never even offered me a cigarette. Whatever it is, the answer's no!" Tang Zhiwei said with a laugh.
"Don't you hate that sort of thing? If I'd brought gifts, I probably wouldn't have made it through the door." Lu Fangping laughed.
Tang Zhiwei smiled. "All right, enough joking. Stop beating around the bush and tell me what you need."
Lu Fangping slapped his thigh. "Well, the National Mathematical Modeling Contest is coming up in September, isn't it? The school wants us to put together as many teams as we can, work hand in hand with the Software Institute, and bring home a few more national first prizes. It'll make both the school and the university look good!"
It would also give their year-end teaching and research evaluations a safety net.
If the entire School of Mathematics failed to produce a single national first-prize winner, how embarrassing would that be at the next meeting?
Naturally, Director Lu was not going to say that part aloud.
"You want me to be an advisor?" Tang Zhiwei frowned slightly. "I work in pure theoretical mathematics. I'm afraid I wouldn't be much help with mathematical modeling."
Mathematical modeling and mathematical research both involved mathematics, but they were entirely different pursuits. When it came to creative thinking or adapting to new things, an old academic like Professor Tang, who devoted himself to scholarship, struggled to keep pace with the younger generation. He could hardly advise them.
"No, the faculty advisors have already been assigned. Sorry for the trouble, but I just want to borrow a couple of your students. Are there any in the programs you teach who are especially talented at mathematics and quick on their feet?" Lu Fangping asked with a smile.
"Oh, is that all? You've come at the right time. I happen to have someone to recommend: Lu Zhou from Applied Mathematics Class One. Take him. Don't be shy," Tang Zhiwei said.
"Lu Zhou?" Lu Fangping frowned. "I feel like I've seen that name somewhere..."
Then he remembered. Wasn't that the student who had finished his advanced mathematics exam in less than half an hour yesterday—and gotten every answer right?
But...
He was only a first-year!
The National College Student Mathematical Modeling Competition was not a traditional mathematics olympiad where students were handed a paper and told to solve it. Its focus was not mastery of theory, but the ability to apply theoretical knowledge to real-world problems.
Past competitions had also shown that success in the Mathematical Modeling Competition did not perfectly correlate with mathematics grades. Students with balanced strengths across subjects often performed better.
And because the problems covered such a broad range of fields, first-year students were limited by what they had yet to learn. It was hard for them to contribute much.
Of course, there was no harm in letting Lu Zhou sign up. Participation mattered, after all. But Lu Fangping was clearly not looking for a student who was there just to participate. He wanted someone who could reliably win a national first prize.
Lu Zhou's mathematical ability was not in question, but his breadth of knowledge was!
"You think he's too young?" Tang Zhiwei asked with a smile, seeing at once what his old friend was thinking.
"Exactly." Lu Fangping nodded. "The Software Institute is taking this collaboration seriously. They're sending that second-year computer genius who won the National Computer Software Innovation Award twice in high school and took first prize in the Hua College Software Cup during his first year. I have a few candidates myself, but I wanted your opinion. My minimum is a second-year student... You know what I mean, right?"
Lu Fangping thought he had made himself perfectly clear.
In principle, the university encouraged students to form their own teams. But it had no objection to departments assembling an official team, either. More national awards meant an achievement for the leadership and an honor for the university.
The Software Institute was sending talent like that. Whether or not his own department took the contest just as seriously, they could not let their teammates down. How humiliating would it be if the school's handpicked "official team" could not even qualify for the national contest?
Tang Zhiwei smiled. Rather than answer directly, he glanced at the computer on his desk. "I happen to have a paper here. Come take a look."
Lu Fangping paused, unsure what his old classmate was getting at. Still, he got up and walked over, half curious and half skeptical.
"Optimal Inversion Theory for Linear Operators and Linear Functionals... Since when did you start researching this?" Lu Fangping asked with interest as he read the title and abstract.
Tang Zhiwei did not answer. "Less talking. Read the paper and tell me what you think."
Full of questions, Lu Fangping kept reading. The farther he got, the more intrigued he looked.
After reading the final line of the proof, he stood there thinking for a long while. Then he sighed softly. "Old Tang, to be honest, I envy you."
"I asked what you thought of the paper. What do you envy me for?" Tang Zhiwei asked, laughing.
"How is it that every promising student in our department ends up with you? Having one undergraduate like that is one thing, but even your graduate students are like this." The more Lu Fangping thought about it, the more frustrated he felt. Why couldn't he teach a graduate student of this caliber?
Tang Zhiwei burst out laughing. Lu Fangping stared at his old friend, baffled by what was so funny.
"Graduate student? Hahaha! Lu Zhou wrote this paper! And guess what happened yesterday? I asked where he planned to submit it, and he told me AMC! Good thing I stopped him. Otherwise, when he looks back at this paper during his doctorate, he'll regret it so much he'll want to bang his head against a wall," Tang Zhiwei said, still laughing.
Lu Fangping was dumbstruck. He looked at the paper on the laptop, then at his old friend. After a long pause, he cleared his throat. "Come on, Old Tang. You don't need to mess with me like this."
"I'm not joking." Tang Zhiwei's smile faded as he met his old friend's eyes. "He completed the entire proof independently. My guidance was limited to explaining a few difficult concepts. In fact, the questions he asked me were what convinced me the work was his. The only changes I made were to the wording. As for the core argument and the final conclusion, all I could do was admire them. I couldn't find a fault. The kid may be a little too focused on personal gain and a little hasty, but those flaws don't diminish his talent. He's a rare find. If you ask whom I'd recommend for our school's official team, it's him. In both academic writing and mathematics, no student in Jinling University's class of 2013 can match him!"
No student can match him?
Do you even know how many students Jinling University has in the class of 2013? Even I don't, and I'm the department head!
Yet Lu Fangping could not argue.
After seeing the paper, every doubt he had about Lu Zhou's ability had vanished in an instant.
If Tang Zhiwei had not told him who wrote it, he would have assumed it was the work of a graduate student, perhaps even a doctoral student...
At least in Functional Analysis, Lu Zhou had reached a level no undergraduate should have been able to attain.
Lu Fangping cleared his throat. "I... have nothing to say. I'll leave it to you to convince him to sign up."
"Don't worry. That kid listens to me. And don't rush off. I'll call him now and get this settled," Tang Zhiwei promised, reaching for the phone on his desk.
Competing in a national contest as part of the school's "official team" was a rare opportunity. Win an award, and the school's leaders would know your name. Scholarships for the next four years would be all but guaranteed.
Tang Zhiwei wanted to secure the opportunity for his own student as soon as possible, so he called Lu Zhou with the department head standing right there.
"The user you are calling is outside the service area. Please try again later... Beep, beep, beep."
His phone was off?
Tang Zhiwei paused, then frowned and hung up.
"What's that kid doing? He's not answering. I'll talk to him later."
Lu Fangping was in no hurry. He was determined to recruit this talent!
Whatever Lu Zhou's breadth of knowledge, the quality of his paper alone qualified him to compete. A standard three-person mathematical modeling team needed programming, modeling, and academic writing skills. Lu Zhou could handle both the modeling and the writing. This contest was looking promising!
As for whether Lu Zhou might refuse, Lu Fangping was even less worried about that.
No university student would turn down an opportunity like this.
With that thought, Lu Fangping smiled. "All right, I'll leave it to you. I have a few things to take care of, so I won't keep bothering you."
"Don't worry. I'll have an answer for you by tomorrow," Tang Zhiwei said with a wave.
Before you continue