Super God-Level Top Student

The next day, many a bigwig at Xilin University of Technology was woken by a phone call.

Before seven-thirty, Chen Yuanzhi had received a call from a headmaster of a university with a similar status to Xilin University of Technology.

As soon as the call connected, the voice on the other end was without preamble.

"Old Chen, congratulations, you guys at Xilin University of Technology have really made a splash this year. I must bring a team to see for myself this year."

Chen Yuanzhi's brain, forcefully booted up, relied on instinct in his befuddled reply: "Then I must prepare to welcome you, President Liu, you're welcome anytime."

"Haha, it's settled then! When the time comes, you have to join me for a good drink, I'll hang up now." And then, the person on the other end hung up.

Listening to the busy tone on the other line, Chen Yuanzhi thought hard but couldn't figure out the reason for the felicity.

After hanging up the phone, he saw an unread text message and suddenly remembered today was the day Apple was supposed to make a donation.

Could that be what got out?

That shouldn't be the case...

Though indeed the school had invited some media with the intention to publicize it.

As a matter of courtesy.

But the contract hadn't even been officially signed yet.

And, even if the news had gotten out, a mere twenty million wouldn't be enough to prompt a call of congratulations from the headmaster of another Double First Class University, right?

Indeed, as his brain became a bit more clear, Chen Yuanzhi even wanted to call back and ask what exactly he was being congratulated for.
Your adventure continues at empire

But he held back.

It would be quite embarrassing for something worth celebrating to occur at the school, and he was less aware of it than a headmaster from another school.

After thinking, he simply called Zheng Luhua.

"Hello, Old Zheng, what's happened at the school today?"

"Nothing much, did the faculties schedule an extra class division test this afternoon?"

"Yeah, President Liu from Dong Zheng just called to congratulate us on making a splash again. Wait, a class division test?"

"That's what I was planning to report to you today. But that has nothing to do with us making a splash, does it?"

"Oh, no other news then. We'll talk about it when I'm at work." Chen Yuanzhi promptly hung up.

He didn't bother thinking further.

If there really was some great news, someone would inform him.

As expected, after Chen Yuanzhi had washed up and was about to leave for breakfast, another call came in, this time from Xu Dajiang.

Chen Yuanzhi couldn't help but wonder, could it be more good news from the School of Mathematics?

As soon as he answered the call, he hadn't even had time to respond when an indignant voice bombarded his ears.

"President, did you get the news? Princeton lacks integrity!"

"What?" Chen Yuanzhi frowned, as it seemed a bit different from what he had expected, and asked in surprise, "What happened now?"

"You don't know yet? Yesterday, Princeton directly posted Qiao Ze's paper on their official website's front page and tagged it as a major piece. The last time a paper was treated this way, it claimed to have solved a major mathematical problem!"

Chen Yuanzhi blinked, instantly making the connection between the other person's good news and the bad news that had angered Xu Dajiang.

Sure enough, it had to be the School of Mathematics, it had to be Qiao Ze.

Even when news was solidly confirmed, it could still get played around with.

For a moment, he didn't know whether to laugh or cry.

"Old Xu, what's there to get worked up about? Let them publicize if they want to, what can you do about it? Mail them to take it down?"

"No, Chen Yuanzhi, don't you get it? Do you not understand why they're promoting Qiao Ze at this moment? This is a blatant courtship! You're not aware of what Qiao has been wanting to do recently? If we don't visibly support him, wouldn't we be outdone by foreign universities?"

Hearing that, Chen Yuanzhi felt completely overwhelmed.

Show support?

How were they supposed to show support?

Send one of their students to compete with a bunch of academicians, second-tier, and third-tier professors?

Win or lose, did he want to face people again in the future?

"Fine, fine, fine, Old Xu, it's like this, you can't expect me to call and question why Qiao can't be published, right? Look, the school making a statement is not realistic. But as for how you, the School of Mathematics, want to support him, that's up to you to decide; the school knows nothing."

"That's exactly what I needed to hear from you, I promise it will only be in the name of the School of Mathematics expressing support."

"Easy does it, Old Xu." Chen Yuanzhi cautioned.

"Don't worry, President, I've got it under control."

After hanging up, Chen Yuanzhi walked out of his house, expressionless.

...

Li Jiangao was also roused by a phone call.

And compared to President Chen, his situation was even worse.

Starting at six o'clock, calls came in one after another, and there was no end to them.

When he took the first call, Li Jiangao was still puzzled as to who had leaked the information; he was certain he hadn't revealed to anyone that Qiao Ze's new paper had been selected by "Mathematics Annual," and Qiao Ze was not the kind to show off.

The faculty and the university couldn't be so impatient as to not wait even this short amount of time, could they?

It wasn't until he took the second, the third call and then checked the WeChat group chat and its screenshots that he understood what was happening.

Indeed, seeing the screenshot of the "Mathematics Annual" official website at that moment, Li Jiangao was also stunned.

The number of papers published annually in "Mathematics Annual" might not be many, only seventy or eighty, but not every paper received the privilege of prior announcement. No, in fact, such treatment was even rare for many years.

Still unaware of the recent sequence of events, Li Jiangao seriously wondered if "Mathematics Annual" was intending to lift Qiao Ze up only to bring him down.