CHAPTER 283: CHAPTER 118: INSPIRATION AS WONDERFUL AS A VOLCANO

After the closing ceremony of the second phase of training, Qiao Yu and Professor Zhou sat on the high-speed train back to Beijing.

Qiao Yu sat by the window, gazing nostalgically at the scenery outside. That’s the thing about hometowns, when you stay there for a long time, there are many things you might be dissatisfied with. But once you leave, the beautiful side reveals itself.

Distance always generates a unique kind of filtered beauty, much like the beauty apps on a phone. This can probably explain, from a certain perspective, that the human brain shares similarities with computers, with the added advantage that the human brain has adaptive software.

"The team still has some activities to come, but I’ve talked to your mentor, Professor Tian, so you don’t need to participate. Also, we’ve set up a group, but we didn’t include you. Don’t take it the wrong way. Mainly because you’re close by, so it’s convenient to notify you about anything..."

Zhou Liang spoke from beside Qiao Yu, but he just let it go in one ear and out the other, not paying too much attention. Participating in the IMO competition is perhaps an obsession with having a beginning and an end. Qiao Yu actually knew that winning a gold medal meant little to him.

But back then, Professor Schulz won a gold medal, and Professor Pan opposite him also had one; he felt he owed his youth a gold medal.

As for the activities before going to Australia, Qiao Yu had no interest in participating either.

They were nothing more than problem-solving sessions.

Most importantly, he didn’t feel like exposing Professor Zhou’s little schemes.

Something about being nearby, so not including him in the group? It was merely out of fear that he’d cause some disturbance, impacting the other participants. Of course, one couldn’t blame Zhou Liang for thinking too much; it was mostly that the fellow students had poor mental resilience.

Faced with a minor setback, they couldn’t remain calm; even playing a game could shatter their mindset. Anyone in charge as a leader or coach would find this difficult to handle.

Excluding someone who could potentially cause instability was indeed the simplest optimization.

However, the constant nagging did make Qiao Yu a bit headache-ridden, so he simply replied, "Don’t worry, Professor Zhou, there’s no need to explain so much to me. I understand your arrangements are for the best for everyone this time."

Professor Zhou showed a smile on his face and remarked, "Right, the main thing is that you don’t have the time. Professor Tian is also concerned about you; he knows you’re recently interested in the Geometric Langlands Conjecture. After collaborating with Huaqing, there will be a series of lectures and seminars, many of which experts are specially invited from overseas. It’s quite enviable."

Qiao Yu finally withdrew his gaze from the window and turned his head to look at Professor Zhou beside him, asking in surprise, "Is this true?"

Zhou Liang also looked at Qiao Yu in surprise and asked, "You didn’t know?"

Qiao Yu suddenly felt the warmth of spring.

Indeed, his mentor and grand-mentor still cared for him; although they didn’t explicitly tell him, they had been working silently behind the scenes.

Qiao Yu also realized profoundly the weight of the words Old Xue spoke to him back then.

Indeed, a mentor who can handle matters can be quite capricious.

If he had a mentor who couldn’t manage things, there’s no way a large-scale seminar could be arranged just like that. After all, inviting relevant professors and scholars from abroad required funding, not to mention the cost of inviting people for meals and accommodations, which all require money. Additionally, it involves personal connections.

Of course, it also needs to be said that the development of Huaxia over the years has been fairly decent, and the international publicity has kept pace; otherwise, money alone might not suffice.

In conclusion, at this moment, Qiao Yu truly understood how much help a good mentor could provide for his academic pursuits.

Old Xue, true to his word!

...

Across the ocean, in Madison City, Wisconsin, at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Pan Jingyuan was standing outside the conference room, watching his mentor, surrounded by many scholars, still discussing some detailed issues within the room.

The lecture had just ended, with his mentor Danis being the main speaker.

The lecture’s content was, of course, about the proof of the Geometric Langlands Conjecture.

He could actually participate in the discussion, but ever since he talked with Elder Yuan that day, Pan Jingyuan had felt somewhat uneasy. It was a very strange feeling.

Even though he knew that Qiao Yu was just a student who had just started to engage with the Geometric Langlands Conjecture, and the questions he raised didn’t need to be taken too seriously. But the questions Qiao Yu raised that day indeed left him feeling a bit unsettled.

After all, the project had been ongoing for over a decade, and he had been invited to participate for a full six years. He hoped that the results of these six years’ hard work would not become a joke, forcing them to spend a few more years to remedy.

This feeling of uneasiness even prompted him to reassess the five papers, to ensure that the situation Qiao Yu judged couldn’t possibly occur. But obviously, this required time, and Pan Jingyuan had already started doing this work.

This was also why his responses to Qiao Yu’s messages were becoming slower.

This uneasy feeling peaked some days ago when Elder Yuan forwarded the questions Qiao Yu had raised.

He wanted to discuss Qiao Yu’s ideas with his mentor but had never been able to make up his mind.

After all, he was already quite uneasy after just six years of involvement, and for his mentor, it was fifteen years invested. He was uncertain of how Danis would react upon hearing such comments, and whether it would have a negative effect.

The relationship between students and mentors has never been inherently perfect. There are cases where conflicts turn them into enemies, both in Huaxia and abroad.