At 7:58 the next morning, Pan Jingyuan was already sitting upright in front of the computer and entered Zoom through the invitation link sent by Professor Dennis in the email. Because the team members were distributed in different regions, even across three continents. Even across continents, he has long been accustomed to using Zoom for meetings and communications.

As one of the official cooperation platforms with Harvard, Pan Jingyuan has been accustomed to using this conference system when he was a Ph.D. student at Harvard. He was the sixth person to enter the conference room. Through the video, it can be seen that everyone's mood is not too high.

In fact, the same is true for Pan Jingyuan.

Although he had accepted this fact, he was not happy after all. On the contrary, the convener of the meeting, his mentor Dennis, looked very calm.

About a minute later, Professor Sam took advantage of the time and entered the conference room, and everyone was already there.

"Okay, everyone should know the situation now. Pan, you had a face-to-face communication with Qiao Yu in Huaqing. Please tell me your thoughts first." As soon as everyone arrived, Dennis didn't say anything in the scene, and just said Start calling names.

Of course, in this small meeting similar to a group meeting, everyone is acquainted, and there is really no need to say anything. Pan Jingyuan quickly gave an overview of what was discussed at the meeting last night.

Most of them were the opinions of other professors. As for himself... to be honest, he didn't have much idea.

Unless he can solve this problem immediately, there is no point in talking too much. But it is obvious that he has no clue yet.

He can't tell everyone that he has been tutoring Qiao Yu and answering Qiao Yu's various questions during this period, right? Although his tutor won't blame him, others will probably want to eat his flesh.

It can be seen from the expressions of several people that not everyone can readily accept the sudden complications at this time.

"Okay, thank you Pan. I believe everyone has seen Qiao Yu's proof process. To be honest, I think it is very beautiful. Obviously we underestimated the complexity of this problem. But I hope everyone can cheer up and solve problems when they happen. The problem is solved.

Complaining about anything else right now will not help, so I hope everyone will focus on solving this problem completely. Sam, where do you think we should start to solve this problem? Of course, others can also speak up if they have ideas. .

This video conference lasted more than two hours.

Although everyone's mood was not high before, Dennis is a person who is very good at motivating people.

For example, during meetings, he never lets everyone choose whether to speak, but calls everyone by name one by one. Those who are called will say a few words regardless of whether they have ideas or not. At least Pan Jingyuan feels that this method of meeting is more efficient, and More useful.

Human thinking is inherently inert. When speaking freely, many times they place their hopes on others and are too lazy to use their own brains. But calling names one by one forces everyone to think and then say something.

In this process, you might get inspiration, or even some perfunctory speeches might bring inspiration to others. But the effect today is not very good.

Although many methods were proposed in the next hour, Pan Jingyuan knew very well that these methods would take a lot of time to verify.

Of course, when faced with a new problem, it is normal for everyone who has already planned to open the champagne to have a brief period of confusion. At least Pan Jingyuan believes that it can take as little as one or two months, or as much as one or two years. Under the leadership of Dennis, they

It will definitely solve the problem raised by Qiao Yu.

The time span is a bit long, but sometimes mathematics is just like those doing chemistry and materials science next to it. It depends on luck. In other words, scientific research also has a certain element of metaphysics in it.

Many scientific breakthroughs that have impacted the development of the world come from accidents or sudden flashes of inspiration. The former often has applications, while the latter is applicable to mathematics.

The most famous one is probably the discovery of penicillin. Alexander Fleming originally just wanted to culture some bacteria, but who knew that improper operation caused the culture dish to be contaminated by mold. Then through observation, he found that all the bacteria around the mold were killed, which led to the first culture in human history.

The first antibiotic was discovered, and the era of antibiotics began in the medical world.

You must know that when penicillin was first discovered, it was really like a panacea described in fantasy novels. Bacterial pneumonia and wound infections, which had a very high mortality rate in the past, have only been reduced in mortality since the introduction of this antibiotic.

The same is true for mathematics. Maybe just a flash of inspiration after getting up from a nap can solve a difficult problem. Of course, there may not be any examples of this, because this kind of thing is very idealistic, and most of it comes from the dictation of those genius mathematicians themselves.

It is difficult for outsiders to tell whether someone is bragging or not.

For example, Pan Jingyuan has never enjoyed sudden inspiration and enlightenment, because every time he makes a breakthrough, he has learned down-to-earth and then discovered it naturally. But he believes this because he has seen it with his own eyes.

And right next to him, a certain boy suddenly shouted "Yes" and was invited to the podium to criticize Fang Dao. He was convinced that this kind of mathematical epiphany must exist.

··

When the meeting was about to end, Pan Jingyuan suddenly received a private message.

Yes, Zoom also supports the private chat function in video conferences. Of course, this also depends on the chat permissions set by the meeting host. However, as the meeting convener, Dennis never restricts the team's private chat function to facilitate everyone's private communication.

The message was from Frank.

To be honest, Pan Jingyuan's personal relationship with Professor Frank was very ordinary. They didn't have much communication on weekdays. This was the first time in my memory that the other party specifically talked to him in private during the meeting.

Although they are the only two people in the team who are from China, in the eyes of the rest of the team, the relationship between the two should be very good. But the relationship between the two is obviously not as good as everyone imagined. Sometimes Pan Jingyuan feels strange, why does he

I don't like Professor Frank very much.

In the end, it probably just boils down to the fact that the friendship between gentlemen is as light as water.

"Professor Pan, I sent you an email this morning. You might have been asleep by then. I mainly wanted to ask you about Qiao Yu. "Oh, what do you want to know?"

"How about Professor Pan, please check your email first, and I will call you after the meeting. Is it convenient for you?" "Okay."

Pan Jingyuan didn't think much about it.

A video conference is also a meeting. If you chat privately during the meeting, you may indeed miss other people's speeches. But now it is basically garbage time. Everyone has basically finished what they need to say, and now it is Dennis who is cheering everyone up.

To be honest, Pan Jingyuan has always felt that his tutor is good in every aspect, but he is a little wordy, talks too much, and has a lot of loudspeaker attributes.

Therefore, the last ten minutes of every meeting are garbage time, but due to Dennis's authority in this field, no one pointed out this minor flaw. After all, no one is perfect.

But in the last few days, probably no one listened seriously to the instructor's words of encouragement. To be honest, they are all adults, so they naturally know what to do next. And mathematical research has its own particularities.

Pan Jingyuan opened his mailbox, found Professor Frank's email among the unread emails, and clicked on it to read it.

There was nothing special worth paying attention to. The main thing was to ask some questions about Qiao Yu. What made Pan Jingyuan speechless the most was that this guy actually asked Qiao Yu if he had heard of him and if he was willing to study abroad at Berkeley. It was too much.

Fortunately, I just sent him a private email. If Mr. Yuan knew about this, he would probably sneeze at him.

Who wouldn't want a student like Qiao Yu? There's no need to worry too much. If you leave him alone, he will grow naturally and his future achievements will be limitless.

When Tian Yanzhen was CMO, he directly tricked Qiao Yu into going to Yanbei University, which made Mr. Yuan depressed for a long time. This guy wanted Qiao Yu to go to Berkeley to be his student. It was just a dream.

Of course, these words were just what I was thinking. I closed the email and Dennis’s speech was almost over.

"By the way, I talked to Professor Schultz on the phone. He said that he has made suggestions to the organizing committee of the International Conference on Algebraic Geometry to be held next month. He will invite Qiao Yu to attend the conference and give a thirty-minute report.

So if you have time, I suggest you attend this meeting.

Maybe we can communicate with Qiao Yu. As a person who found loopholes, maybe he will have some special ideas that can inspire us. Of course, Pan, you have the most contact with Qiao Yu. If you have the opportunity, you can talk to him more

Discussion."

"Okay, Professor Dennis." Pan Jingyuan took a deep breath and answered.

Good guy, can Qiao Yu give a thirty-minute report at the International Algebraic Geometry Conference? Sure enough, the mathematics world is always so kind to geniuses!

Damn...so envious!

"Okay, that's it for today. If you have any ideas, please feel free to email us." After saying that, Dennis pressed the button to end the meeting.

As soon as Pan Jingyuan logged out of Zoom, he received a direct call from the overseas phone number. "Hello, Professor Frank, hello."

"Hello, Professor Pan, have you read my email?

"I just watched it. But I also asked, and it seems that Qiao Yu has no plans to study abroad. In fact, he has not even started his undergraduate studies. As far as I know, the current training method at Yanbei University is mainly to let him

Self-study.

"Self-taught?"

"Yes. No specific study tasks were assigned to him. He has a high degree of freedom in learning and the courses are matched as he pleases. As for whether he will choose to study abroad in the future, that is a matter for the future. But I estimate that at least before he reaches adulthood, Yan

Peking University will not recommend him to go abroad.

"Oh, that's such a pity. But since he was not assigned a specific task, why did he suddenly become interested in our research topic?"

When Pan Jingyuan heard this question, he also felt a headache. After thinking about it, he said: "I guess Mr. Yuan mentioned it to him once before. I think you have also read his paper on the estimation of the upper bound of the rational point of the curve.

Mr. Yuan may have thought that Qiao Yu had suspicions about Langlands, and I happened to be in the team, so he mentioned to him whether he was interested in joining our research group. He refused, but maybe because of Mr. Yuan’s recommendation, he was interested in us.

The results are interesting.

"That's it. Mr. Yuan really did... a good thing. Otherwise, the paper would be published and proven to be wrong, which would be even more troublesome.

Pan Jingyuan could hear the insincerity in these words, so he decisively changed the topic: "Will you go to the algebraic geometry conference next month?" "I'm not sure yet, it depends on the schedule. By the way, that Qiao

Yu is still going to participate in this year’s IMO?”

"Yes, in fact, he also knows that participating in IMO is meaningless, but he still wants to get a ranking to repay his alma mater." "That's it. He has a grateful heart and is a good boy."

"Who says it's not the case? Professor Frank, if there's nothing else, I'll hang up first." "Okay."

Pan Jingyuan hung up the phone and shook his head. He always felt that the Berkeley professor was a little distracted when chatting. Forget it, he was too lazy to think about it.

The afternoon was Qiao Yu's special show, and he wanted to go and hear how this guy planned to whip the corpse.

For Pan Jingyuan, these two days have been really painful. It's just that the achievements of six years have been exposed. The most annoying thing is that he was the one who led this guy to get started. It's quite frustrating just thinking about it.

At 1:50 pm on Tuesday, April 8, 2025, Qiao Yu was answering the phone in his dormitory at the International Mathematics Center of Yanbei University.

"I'm in the room, yes, I'm about to go there. Ah? You want to come over... Wait, are you going in the afternoon too?... No, of course... Then I'll wait for you." I hung up the phone.

Qiao Yu didn't come back to his senses for a long time.

If he heard correctly, Director Tian said that he wanted to accompany him to Huaqing to attend his lecture today? To be honest, this really surprised Qiao Yu.

After Chen Zhuoyang knew that Qiao Yu had contacted the opposite party, he once told him that although the tutor had a good relationship with some professors at Huaqing School of Mathematics, he had not taken the initiative to go to Huaqing School for more than ten years, let alone with the senior teacher opposite him.

Attended the report meeting.

It was probably the attitude that I knew you were right across the street, so I chose to stay away from you. This actually made Qiao Yu a little worried.

He was afraid that Director Tian and Grandpa Shi would really get into a fight during the afternoon report meeting.

To be fair, no matter what conflicts there are between Tian Yanzhen and Yuan Zhengxin, at least they are both very good to him. If they really get into a fight, he won't even be able to watch the fun...

In fact, Qiao Yu still prefers that the relationship between the two of them maintain the warm and ambiguous relationship with an occasional phone call, and it is better not to meet each other. But the mentor's free will naturally cannot be interfered with by him.
To be continued...