Principal, this is different from before!

Old Wang had barely stepped onto campus that morning when someone called out to him.

"Old Wang!"

Professor Zhou hurried over to Old Wang, his face wreathed in smiles.

Old Wang wanted nothing to do with the man and his grinning face, so he kept walking.

"That student you introduced to me last time was called Qi Hao, right?" Professor Zhou spoke quickly, clearly having come prepared. "I read his paper, and it was really good! Our mathematical modeling team is about to start training. Tell him today to come straight to me, and I'll arrange teammates for him."

Old Wang looked at him, the corners of his mouth turning up slightly. "Didn't you say you didn't want Qi Hao back then? You thought he was an inexperienced first-year student."

The smile froze on Professor Zhou's face for a moment, but it quickly returned. "Oh, how was I supposed to know Qi Hao was so capable? Judging by the quality of this paper, he's definitely a top prospect for our modeling team!"

"As long as he works with people from our college, he'll definitely win the national competition!"

"You're too late." Old Wang shook his head, his tone flat. "Now it's not a matter of whoever wants Qi Hao in the modeling competition being able to get him to join."

Professor Zhou froze for a moment, then caught on. "Has the dean of the math school already made arrangements? No problem. I'll go straight to Old Hu in a bit, and our two colleges can train him together!"

"Oh, give it a rest. Even the dean has to listen to the higher-ups on this."

Professor Zhou grew puzzled, his mind racing. Could the principal be handling it personally?

That was no small matter!

He wanted to test Old Wang's reaction, so he said, "Then I'll go see the principal."

"Let's go. I'm heading there anyway." Old Wang had no intention of stopping him.

The two of them then headed for the administration building, one following the other.

As soon as they entered the principal's office, they found several people already seated inside.

Old Hu, the dean of the math school, was holding a teacup, while the director of academic affairs, whose hair was thinning, sat to one side, looking through a document.

Before long, Qi Hao arrived too.

The principal sat behind his desk. When he saw Qi Hao enter, he immediately smiled and beckoned him over. "Come, come, Qi Hao, have a seat!"

Qi Hao sat down properly, his hands on his knees, thinking that this probably wasn't going to be a criticism session for him after all.

The principal smiled and said, "Qi Hao, a first-year student publishing a Q2 SCI mathematics paper-this is a first in our school's history! You've brought honor to our University of Electronic Science and Technology!"

Qi Hao said modestly, "You flatter me, Principal. I was just lucky."

"Lucky?" The principal shook his head. "I've worked in education for so many years. What kind of student haven't I seen? Luck is only one factor; the key is ability. But I really didn't expect a publisher's editor, a United States professor, and even Huaji's CEO to come out and speak for you. Your network is wider than mine as principal now!"

Laughter rang out in the office.

Qi Hao hurried to explain. "Principal, I really don't know what happened. I've only met Editor Lin Lan once, I don't know that United States professor at all, and I've never even met Huaji's CEO!"

So that was how it was. Qi Hao wasn't close to those people.

The principal was secretly surprised. Qi Hao had managed to win those people's support without knowing them. This boy was no ordinary fellow.

No wonder Engineer Tian took him seriously.

"That's the advantage of being a researcher," the principal said seriously. "As long as you're capable, great scholars will naturally come to debate the scriptures on your behalf."

"The voices questioning you online these past few days have actually reached the education authorities. Someone reported you for citing nonexistent references, which involves academic misconduct. Under normal procedures, the school would have to initiate an investigation."

"But our University of Electronic Science and Technology students aren't people just anyone can bully."

The director of academic affairs took over. "We actually contacted several leading experts in China and were preparing to ask them to independently review your paper. If anyone really tried to come after you, we wouldn't stand by and watch."

"It's just that," the principal said with a smile, "there's no need for that now. As soon as the United States professor and Huaji's CEO stepped forward, those voices of doubt disappeared."

Only then did Qi Hao realize that even if Lin Lan, Professor Alexei, and Huaji's CEO hadn't appeared, the school would have found a way to protect him and back him up.

For the first time, Qi Hao realized how lucky he was to have gotten into a 985 university.

Old Hu, the dean of the math school, spoke up at that point. "Qi Hao, you have no idea. Our math school has made quite a name for itself these past two days!"

"The mathematics department heads at Sichuan University, Chongqing University, and Shandong University all called me, fishing around for information about you."

As Old Hu spoke, he couldn't help laughing.

Those people had called because they wanted to poach Qi Hao and have him pursue graduate studies at their universities.

Compared with the frustration he had felt at the mathematics annual meeting last time, Old Hu's current feelings could only be described in one word.

Exhilarating!

Old Hu put away his smile and grew serious. "By the way, Qi Hao, before you publish your next paper, you can ask Old Wang to take a look first. He can give you a lot of advice. You did a good job on this paper, but if you polished a few parts a little more, you might be able to aim for Q1."

It could have made a bid for Q1?

But the system mission had had a time limit, and for him at the time, getting the system reward had been the most important thing.

Qi Hao nodded nonetheless. "Thank you, Dean Hu. I'll remember that."

Little did Qi Hao know that his calm manner struck Old Hu and the others as strange.

If an ordinary student heard there was a chance to publish in Q1, they would have started clamoring to resubmit it already.

But this kid was something else. He looked perfectly calm and accepted the result without a fuss.

For a moment, everyone present thought even more highly of Qi Hao.

The principal came back to his senses and took a document out of a drawer. "Under school regulations, there's a reward for publishing an SCI paper. For a Q2 paper, the school awards three thousand, and the math school awards another three thousand, for a total of six thousand. The money will be deposited in your bank account by tomorrow."

Qi Hao's eyes lit up, and he exclaimed in surprise, "I get money too?!"

Everyone in the office laughed at that.

"What did you expect?" Old Wang said with a smile. "The school has an Academic Rising Star Award specifically for cases like yours. And this is only the school's reward. If your paper goes on to be highly cited or wins some academic award, there will be additional rewards."

Qi Hao was delighted. Why hadn't the upperclassmen ever told him about something this good?

Could it be that they'd never received one?

But writing papers paid so well. Should he write a few more?

Professor Zhou chimed in from the side. "Qi Hao, I studied your paper carefully. Your theoretical analysis of game-tree search efficiency was extremely thorough. That kind of mathematical modeling ability and algorithm optimization mindset is practically tailor-made for mathematical modeling competitions!"

"Did you know? The China Undergraduate Mathematical Contest in Modeling is a category A competition recognized by the Ministry of Education. Winning a prize would be a tremendous help when you seek a recommendation for graduate school, go abroad, or look for a job."

"And modeling competitions don't just test your mathematical ability. They also develop your programming, writing, and teamwork skills. They're a comprehensive platform. At your current level, winning a first prize in the national competition would be no problem at all!"

Professor Zhou was doing some calculating of his own. The Experimental College for Exceptional Talents received preferential resources within the university, and whenever he asked for people or resources, the principal agreed.

Now that he had brought this up in front of the principal, the principal should understand what he meant.

When he finished, he looked at the principal.

How could the principal not know what he meant? He spoke up. "Professor Zhou, it's a good idea, but there's no need to discuss it with Qi Hao."

The lengthy speech Professor Zhou had been about to launch into was cut short at once.

"Principal, what do you mean?"

"At Qi Hao's current level of expertise, having him compete in mathematical modeling would be a waste."

Professor Zhou was completely dumbfounded. Hadn't the principal always encouraged students to take part in more modeling competitions, saying they were a good opportunity to add highlights to their résumés?

Why was he calling it a waste this time?

Principal, this is different from before!

His eyes shifted, and he asked tentatively, "Principal, do you have a better arrangement in mind for Qi Hao?"

The principal looked at Qi Hao, then at the others present, and slowly said, "Some people are destined for a stage that is anything but ordinary."

Qi Hao was confused.

What did the principal mean by that?