Top Student at Their Peak
Chapter 100 - 75: A Phone Call that Changed Recognition (Part 1)_2

Chapter 100: Chapter 75: A Phone Call that Changed Recognition (Part 1)_2

So today, Professor Xue Song from Yujiang University is busy with matchmaking.

At universities, most who have been professors know that once you secure a position and gain a prominent status in your research field, life during the semester isn’t much different from the winter and summer breaks. The concept of the semester opening or closing doesn’t really matter.

Some professors take teaching more seriously; they review their course materials before the semester begins, maybe even make certain updates and modifications.

Other professors might be more carefree. If their graduate students don’t remind them, they might forget that the semester is about to start. Confident in their vast knowledge, they can improvise in each class, making those naive undergraduates worship them, requiring no special preparation at all.

Of course, for some young professors, well, there isn’t really a big difference between winter and summer breaks and the regular semesters.

Under the pressure of tenure evaluation, there’s no room to slack off in both research and teaching. Even during the breaks, they’re busy working overtime, either busy securing projects or publishing papers.

Xue Song is actually somewhere in between.

Although he can’t be considered a leading figure in Yujiang University’s mathematics department, he’s definitely one of the outstanding professors in his age group.

And in the relevant research fields of Xue Song, he has quite a say.

Not only because he has published two heavyweight papers but also because various related research groups often consult him for discussions in their investigation projects, and he can indeed offer some very good suggestions.

These suggestions can’t be written into papers, but colleagues in related research fields all know that Professor Xue Song from Yujiang University has a solid theoretical foundation, lively ideas, and strong comprehensive ability.

This is one form of status in the academic world, where contributing unique ideas in high-level academic discussions also becomes a source of renown.

It’s just that this kind of fame is hard to break into the mainstream.

Xue Song is just thirty-five this year, at the age of being productive, with his energy mainly focused on his career, naturally delaying some personal life issues.

Moreover, women in the mathematics field are quite few, domestically or abroad, it’s almost the same.

So, like Lan Jie, Xue Song is still single in his thirties.

The difference is, Lan Jie’s parents are open-minded and don’t think being single for life is a big deal.

However, Professor Xue’s parents are quite traditional, holding the belief that there are three forms of unfilial acts, with having no descendants being the worst, so they worry all the time about their child being single. Naturally, they got everyone around them to help find a future partner for Xue Song.

Resistance is futile; there’s simply no overcoming it.

Yesterday, his aunt introduced a newly-employed female colleague from her workplace, and since today was Saturday, they had a meal together.

Initially, Xue Song was just going through the motions, planning to leave after the meal.

But just as they were leaving the mall, the girl thanked Xue Song for the meal and mentioned that there was a summer film called "Chicken Baby" she’d always wanted to see but hadn’t because of her busy job.

Since it was still early, she wanted to invite Professor Xue to watch the movie with her.

The girl extended an invitation, so Xue Song couldn’t refuse and agreed gladly.

When they arrived at the nearest cinema, only the 7:40 tickets were left.

The girl bought the tickets while Xue Song bought two drinks and two buckets of popcorn, and the movie began at the scheduled time.

The first half of the movie was going well, but in the second half, Xue Song’s phone started buzzing in his pocket continuously.

Taking out a phone in the cinema is obviously inappropriate, so Xue Song excused himself to the restroom to check the phone outside the screening room.

Surprisingly, in such a short time, there were three missed calls, all from different people.

Was there some urgent issue?

Xue Song called back in the order the calls were received.

"Professor Chen, is there something wrong?"

"Old Xue, I remember you’re on the review panel for the Little Alibaba Competition, right? Send me the screenshot of Qiao Yu’s answers."

"Hm? Professor Chen, you might be mistaken, Qiao Yu has just graduated from middle school, not even in..."

"Hey, I know. Oh, you haven’t been on the forum yet, have you? Check the forum, and you’ll see, that kid is the novice who solved your equation before."

"What? Qiao Yu is that novice?" Xue Song was instantly stunned.

But thinking back, it pretty much fits the novice’s profile.

The forum’s IP showed that the address was in Xingnan Province, Qiao Yu indeed lives in Star City of Xingnan Province, and attends Xingtie First Middle School, with the character Yu in the ID. Most crucially, the Little Alibaba Competition problems were handled by him with ease.

How did he not think of it at the time?

"Old Xue, old Xue... I’ve been talking to you for a while, why aren’t you responding?" the caller urged.

"Oh, I just got lost in thought. Phew... so it was him, no wonder it was hard to find out! But he’s just a middle school student..." Xue Song instinctively sighed.

It was not just a sigh, but surprise mixed with shock.

Unexpectedly, it was all just because Qiao Yu’s age misled him.

years old!

Though he could deftly solve the math problems posed by various professors, solving the equation he provided wasn’t simply about problem-solving; it involved some cutting-edge research directions.

Such as modular forms, number theory geometry, and p-adic theory of local fields.