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Top Student at Their Peak-Chapter 137 - 87: No Comparison, No Hurt
Chapter 137: Chapter 87: No Comparison, No Hurt
"That’s good. Actually, I finished writing the paper the day before yesterday. I was just afraid of any oversights, so I read it over a dozen times and revised all the parts that didn’t feel smooth or clear enough."
Xue Song sighed, then asked, "Did you read the paper I sent you, the one your senior wrote?"
"Uh? I only read five pages and then stopped. Mainly because the symbols in his paper are a bit confusing. L represents the lattice point set, then after a while, it stands for the Laplace matrix. My understanding of mathematics isn’t profound enough, so I can’t really grasp what my senior wanted to express."
Xue Song calmly said, "No, even if you don’t understand, you must keep reading. Your self-learning ability is enough for you to comprehend those concepts you haven’t encountered yet. Reading excellent papers can enhance your capabilities. Reading a poor paper can serve as a warning to prevent similar errors in the future.
So this task is for you. Read through your senior’s paper, modify the parts you find problematic, and provide your review opinions, understood? This is an essential path in your future academic research. An excellent scholar must also be an excellent reviewer."
This time, it was the other side that fell silent.
After a while, Xue Song heard an uncertain voice asking, "Um... Mr. Xue, are you serious? Reviewing my senior’s paper, isn’t that inappropriate? Really, I don’t mind. I’ll certainly comply with your request, but what if my senior can’t save face?"
Hearing this, Xue Song laughed and said, "Him? Face? What face does he need? If he had even a bit of face, he wouldn’t have written this thing! Luckily, he sent it to me for review first. If he had submitted it like this and included my name, I would have had half a mind to kill it!
Almost two months and he handed me this stuff, and still talks about face? I now suspect his master’s degree is part-time! Anyway, this task is yours. As for your paper, it’s not a big problem. I will help you submit it. You don’t need to worry about anything else, just wait for the publication."
With that, Xue Song didn’t give Qiao Yu a chance to speak, directly hanging up the phone again.
Then he sat back in his chair, and when his eyes landed on the paper on the computer, the more he thought about it, the angrier he became, and he even suddenly felt a little reluctant to lose such a good seedling.
Even if he can lead a hundred more doctoral students in the future, they might not surpass having a student like Qiao Yu.
But thinking about his own matters...
He sighed deeply in his heart, intending to open his email and submit directly, when his eyes suddenly fell on the phone again.
After sitting there pondering for a moment, Xue Song picked up his phone and found a number.
The contact list number represented one of the most outstanding academic leaders in contemporary Huaxia’s mathematics community. Although some controversies accompanied him, his importance in Huaxia’s mathematics community was undeniable.
He almost perfectly met the standards Xue Song set for selecting a mentor for Qiao Yu.
He had this number because he was invited to be one of the markers for the Little Alibaba mathematics competition, and this big name was on the organizing committee. They had the opportunity to meet once, which is how he got the number.
In the contact list, Xue Song found the name of Academician Tian Yanzhen and hesitated for a long time before resolutely pressing the dial button.
Doing a good deed to the end, if he could get Qiao Yu noticed now, the future uncertainties would be fewer. After all, trying the phone call wouldn’t cost him anything, at most, it just wouldn’t be answered.
Xue Song thought, and to his surprise, the ringing had only sounded three times when the call was picked up, even faster than when Qiao Yu answered earlier.
"Hello, this is Tian Yanzhen..."
It was a sure thing, the big name hadn’t saved his number. Likely, he answered because this number was private and not publicly known.
"Professor Tian, hello, this is Xue Song from Yujiang University."
"Oh, Professor Xue, hello, what can I do for you?"
"It’s like this, do you remember Qiao Yu from this year’s Little Alibaba Mathematics Competition in the Number Theory track?"
"That junior high school student? Haha, of course, I remember. Several of my students specifically sent me the interview video of him, a very interesting kid."
Hearing laughter from the other side, Xue Song felt more hopeful.
This indicated that the big name had an impression of Qiao Yu.
Xue Song had also seen Qiao Yu’s interview video and initially thought this little guy was somewhat overconfident. He hadn’t expected that Tian Yanzhen’s students also noticed, and more than one had sent it to their mentor.
Of course, given the big name’s status in academia, the students he referred to were likely not current ones. Many were already professors at famous universities in Huaxia or researchers in institutes.
Regular communication with their teacher, sharing some interesting stories, was quite normal.
Xue Song also remembered that Tian Yanzhen had served as a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Princeton University. Qiao Yu’s interview happened to mention these two schools, which was probably why his interview video was shared among the students.
Thinking this way, Qiao Yu’s luck was indeed quite good; it was an unintended positive outcome.
So, he immediately seized the opportunity and said, "Yes, that’s him. This child is somewhat unaware of the challenges ahead. However, recently, he independently completed a paper almost entirely through his efforts without any guidance, and the quality of the paper amazed me."
"Oh? Already engaging in research during high school? Completed a paper independently? Even chose the topic by himself?"