Top Student at Their Peak-Chapter 132 - 85 Pre-Determined Goals_3

"Can’t you just wish the best for others? Maybe they’ll get into Huaqing or Yanbei?"

"That’s the most vicious curse. If that happens, one of your older siblings will be ruined for life."

"..."

So the two of them kept wandering while bickering on the street until they had digested their lunch completely. Qiao Yu then took Keke to McDonald’s to munch on two burgers before sending her back to school and heading home in a cab.

As soon as he entered the house, Qiao Xi asked, "How is Keke adapting to high school?"

He had already given Qiao Xi a call in the afternoon during his walk with Keke to report on the situation.

"No, as a qualified mother, shouldn’t you first ask how my exams went today?"

Qiao Xi gave Qiao Yu a curious look and asked back, "Why should I give you a chance to show off in front of me?"

That seemed to make sense. Qiao Yu could only reply sulkily, "There’s nothing Keke isn’t adapting to. The fried rice outside the school is cheaper and tastier than the one downstairs."

"Oh, that’s good then. Don’t be too discouraged. You just took the wrong path for a moment. Actually, Railway First Middle School isn’t bad either. At least it’s close to home," Qiao Xi said lazily.

"Me, discouraged? Do you even have a clue? The principal of Changjun would cry and beg me to attend the school if I wanted, but I just couldn’t be bothered," Qiao Yu said wide-eyed.

"Ha... With scores of eighteen in both physics and chemistry, you say the principal cried his eyes out, right?" Qiao Xi retorted with disdain.

"Forget it, I’m not talking to you." Qiao Yu, uninterested in bickering with Qiao Xi who couldn’t find anything good on TV and was only focused on insulting him, returned to his room, turned on his computer.

Quarreling with women is pointless. Recently, he’s almost done with his paper study. Qiao Yu felt that he was capable of completing his first paper independently.

The title was already set as "Solution Methods for Diophantine Equations Based on Special Structures."

The abstract and keywords were pretty much ready too.

The next task was to present his solution method in a more universal manner.

Qiao Yu felt it wouldn’t be too difficult.

However, as soon as he started writing, Qiao Yu realized perhaps he had underestimated it.

For instance, the paper’s language was more particular. Qiao Yu wrote some, compared it with other papers, and always felt something was off.

He kept deleting and revising, and by the end of the evening, having worked till ten o’clock, Qiao Yu only managed to draft the abstract and introduction.

However, after reading it, Qiao Yu felt it was still quite perfect.

The only problem now seemed to be that attending school every day was a huge waste of time.

He planned to finish his first paper before participating in the national competition. After all, according to Old Xue, the competition champions and the proper academic world, though not entirely unrelated, have almost no mutual recognition.

Therefore, he couldn’t expect any special treatment.

Even if Old Xue were willing to be the corresponding author, at most, he could only talk to some domestic journal editors. It wouldn’t be of much help in deciding on submitting to top foreign journals. So Qiao Yu needed to prepare for potentially long review times.

Three to five months is the minimum, and half a year isn’t unheard of.

These aren’t even aiming for those top 1% recognized top journals, like the well-known four top mathematics journals.

Newcomers can get entangled with editors and reviewers for one or two years or even several years—it’s normal.

Of course, this is not even the most exaggerated scenario.

According to Old Xue, sometimes reviewers deliberately hold back newcomers’ manuscripts.

The review comments sometimes hint, or even explicitly state, that the manuscript must cite the reviewers’ papers to pass the review.

To minimize such risks and avoid having to discuss mentor issues with Huaqing or Yanbei without having published papers, Qiao Yu felt he must plan ahead.

Old Xue mentioned that if he could finish his paper by next New Year’s, it would be okay. frёewebnoѵēl.com

But Qiao Yu thought that if he didn’t have to attend classes, he just might finish the first draft by early October. Then, after submitting it to Old Xue for review and modification, it might be possible to submit it by November, leaving more room for error.

Particularly if he could finish the paper by early October, he could fully utilize the seven-day National Day holiday to explore mathematical paper writing techniques with Old Xue. Qiao Yu believed that writing a complete paper would mean having practical experience, allowing for more targeted discussions with Old Xue, naturally reaping greater benefits.

As someone who believes knowledge should be paid for, and with someone willing to offer him completely free and quality learning resources, he has to seize the opportunity.

The next day, while attending school as usual, Qiao Yu was pondering when to approach Principal Zhang to discuss the possibility of allowing him to study at home. Just after the morning reading session, his homeroom teacher, Teacher Tang, approached him first.

"Qiao Yu, Principal Zhang just called and wants you to go to the principal’s office."

"Oh, thank you, Teacher Tang."

"Alright, you better hurry then."

...

"Report, Principal Zhang."

"Oh, Qiao Yu, since when have you become so polite? Come in quickly. It’s been a long time since I heard anyone shout ’report.’ Don’t bother doing that when you come to see me next time."

Seeing Qiao Yu step into the office, Zhang Tiejun chuckled and teased, instinctively recalling his teaching days at Star City Sixth Middle School.

Back then, the kids there were just like Qiao Yu now, standing in front of the office and dutifully calling ’report’ when they came to find a teacher.