Utter Nonsense

[Dear Student Lu Zhou, this is the Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences at New York University. First, thank you for your submission to this institute's official journal, Communications in Mathematics and Applications. The conclusions you proposed in your article, "Optimal Inversion Theory of Linear Operators and Linear Functionals," have provided crucial inspiration for a bottleneck encountered in our collaborative project with the Paul Scherrer Institute in Switzerland...]

[...The project concerns spectral analysis of returned seismic waves and will be applied in geological resource exploration and earthquake research. Specific details are confidential and cannot be disclosed, but we assure you that your research findings are being used for peaceful purposes...]

[...Upon learning that you are only nineteen years old, Professor Rodwell and Professor Li of our institute were both greatly surprised and deeply impressed by your talent in mathematics. While expressing our gratitude for your research achievements, we also sincerely extend an invitation to you. If you are interested in pursuing undergraduate and master's degrees in the United States, please be sure to contact us. The gates of New York University are open to you.]

Shangjing City, inside an old apartment building beside Wudaokou Vocational College.

Spread across the table was the Jinling Daily. It quoted from a letter sent by New York University, excerpting several passages and providing a summary report on the controversy that had erupted on Weibo some time ago.

As for where the newspaper had come from, it had been sent by an old classmate of his who was the president of Jinling University.

Also enclosed was a photocopy of the original English version of that thank-you letter.

"This is utter nonsense!"

After reading the newspaper, the gray-haired old man took off his glasses and shook his head. The fingers resting on the table were trembling with anger.

At that moment, a middle-aged man entered the study. Seeing the expression on the old man's face, he could not help asking, "Dad, what's got you so angry?"

"See for yourself." The old man tapped the newspaper with his index finger.

When the middle-aged man saw the front page, a look of realization appeared on his face.

Unlike his father, who had retired and spent his days walking the dog and playing chess, he frequently used the internet and had naturally heard about this trending topic. Just yesterday, he had even discussed it with his colleagues.

Whether the paper really had problems or not, it was downright low for a self-proclaimed independent scholar and "expert" to latch onto an undergraduate student just to stir up publicity.

At best, it was spreading rumors and being willfully unreasonable.

At worst, it was persecuting intellectuals. His intentions were utterly vile!

"You know about that too?" the middle-aged man asked with a smile.

"What is it if not utter nonsense for an outsider to point fingers from the sidelines? And he thinks he can lecture everyone about the state of the world? I can hardly stand to watch it!..."

Those cloudy eyes seemed to sink into memories of the past.

The old man opened his mouth, then suddenly sighed and shook his head.

"Forget it. No more. It's all in the past."

Then he looked further down the newspaper, where part of a Weibo post by a blogger named Zhu Fangcai had been quoted.

"...This article is quite brilliantly written. It really carries the spirit of those young militants from back then, huh." The old man snorted coldly, braced both hands against the armrests, and rose from his chair.

"Dad, are you going out?" the middle-aged man asked. "Dinner's almost ready."

The old man waved his hand and headed for the door. "Not eating. Today, I'm going to visit an old classmate! If I don't get this off my chest, I'll feel damn awful!"

The thank-you letter published by the Jinling Daily steered public opinion in another direction.

Could someone recognized by New York University as a talent really be a worthless academic tumor?

The onlookers who had initially doubted Lu Zhou began reconsidering things.

New York University ranked among the world's top thirty. It might make sense to say Jin University was covering for one of its own to protect its reputation, but why would foreigners cross the Pacific just to chase clout? And that Swiss institute sounded pretty high-end too...

The moment the report came out, Zhu Fangcai was so furious his nose nearly twisted crooked.

Unable to sit still any longer, he immediately jumped out and published his third post overnight.

This time, he no longer dwelled on the academic value of the paper.

"Even if you can prove there's nothing wrong with the paper, that doesn't prove you wrote it!"

"Why should a student who hasn't even graduated from undergrad be capable of writing a paper like this?"

"Who can prove it? Can Jinling University prove it? Just because you went to the library a few times? I've been to more libraries than you've even heard of! Why can't I write ten papers in a month?"

"You say you're a genius? I don't believe it!"

After seeing Zhu Fangcai's post attacking him, Lu Zhou really wanted to say to his face, "Because you're stupid..."

Unfortunately, the other party gave him no such opportunity.

By this point, the debate had taken on the flavor of street-level squabbling.

But just when Lu Zhou thought the argument would continue dragging on, a report published by the Hua Nation Youth Daily suddenly shattered the deadlocked farce.

The article's headline was grand and imposing.

Heroes need not come from famous origins; ambition need not wait for age!

The article did not mention the online controversy from some time ago. It simply reported on an ordinary college student: his eleven SCI papers published that year, the objective evaluations of those papers by two professors from Wudaokou University, and the thank-you letter from across the ocean.

And that student's name was Lu Zhou.

The report was not only published in print, but also posted simultaneously on the official Weibo account of the Hua Nation Youth Daily.

It was also reposted by the official accounts of multiple media outlets, including the Renren Daily.

This time, Lu Zhou was pushed onto the trending searches once again.

But the nature of it was completely different...

Staring at his phone screen, Zhu Fangcai's widened eyes burned with rage, yet cold sweat kept streaming down his face.

He suddenly realized that he might have taken things too far.

Before, no one paid him any attention. He could jump around however he liked, and the only people who engaged with him were insignificant figures like himself, or people only slightly more influential than him—still far from being able to crush him with one slap.

But now...

The state media clearly intended to promote Lu Zhou as an outstanding college student of the new era and establish him as a role model for contemporary students. And Zhu's rhetoric happened to stand directly against that official message.

That was serious...

What should he do?

Back down?

But his followers would never accept that. The followers he had worked so hard to gain might all disappear.

But if he did not back down...

Zhu Fangcai was genuinely afraid that he would be the next one publicly singled out.

Before the official narrative, no matter how many followers he had, he was no different from a grasshopper—at most, a slightly bigger one. If they really wanted to crush him, it would take only one slap.

Just then, his phone rang.

The caller was also an education commentator named Zhong Bowen.

The guy occasionally wrote articles too, but he had a somewhat gentler temperament, and his views were not as radical as Zhu Bigmouth's. People in their circle called him Old Zhong. He was friendly and easy to get along with.

"Zhu, enough is enough... I think you should quit while you're ahead. If you keep pushing this, I'm afraid you'll run into trouble," Old Zhong said earnestly.

"Old Zhong, it's not that I don't want to stop. I'm stuck riding the tiger now," Zhu Fangcai sighed.

"You think those Project 985 universities are easy to mess with?" Old Zhong said in exasperation. "You thought you could bully them because they had fewer followers? Is this about follower counts? Tell me, who could you have targeted, but you just had to target a university? Who doesn't have a few alumni up there?"

"I never meant to target Jinling University. I just said a few things about that brat's paper. Anyone who sees someone publish ten papers in one month would think it's abnormal, right? Who knew they'd react so strongly? I still think there must be something wrong with it!" Zhu Fangcai argued.

"I think your brain is what's abnormal," Old Zhong snapped, unable to hold back any longer. "Use your head. Can an undergraduate who publishes ten papers in a month possibly be normal?"

Thinking about it that way...

It did seem to make sense.

But it was already too late for regret.

"...Then tell me, what should I do?" Zhu Fangcai sighed.

"This is easy to resolve. They only want you to apologize. Just apologize and admit your mistake. Maybe this will all blow over," Old Zhong said over the phone.

"Impossible. I'd rather go to court. A lawsuit would only cost me so much... If I back down, my losses will be even greater." His expression twisted with conflict, but Zhu Fangcai ultimately shook his head. "At most, I'll talk less from now on."

Apologizing was impossible. He would never apologize in this lifetime.

At most, he would let things cool down. If that failed, then he would just go to court!

What kind of storms had he not seen before?

When he wrote that drinking Longjing tea caused cancer, he had even been sued by a local government. In the end, he had only paid six hundred thousand yuan. What could they do to him in the end? The court could force him to pay compensation, but could it force him to apologize?

Old Zhong sighed and shook his head. "Then I won't try to persuade you anymore. Take care of yourself."

With that, he hung up.