Top Student at Their Peak-Chapter 386 - 135 This Reporter is Too Nasty..._5

Although Tian Yanzhen wouldn’t really take credit for himself verbally, he was undoubtedly very happy inside.

After all, if enough people talk about this kind of thing, it might really end up in textbooks a century later. When people discuss the Geometric Langlands Conjecture, they might also mention that Qiao Yu’s mentor once said, "Seek constancy within change, find simplicity within complexity."

Once a person reaches a certain age and status, what they seek is nothing but fame in life and after death.

With a disciple like this, what more could one ask for? The old heart is greatly comforted!

"Hehe." Qiao Yu laughed awkwardly twice.

Having already flattered enough earlier, there was no need to emphasize it again now.

Of course, Qiao Yu didn’t even think he was flattering his mentor; strictly speaking, he was just stating a fact. He just slightly edited it by omitting his Senior Brother Chen, who acted as a bridge, from the story.

"Alright, you go back to your room and read for a while. I’ll call you when Journalist Zhang arrives."

...

Qiao Yu obediently returned to his room, but he received Tian Yanzhen’s call in less than fifteen minutes.

When he arrived at Tian Yanzhen’s room, his mentor had already changed clothes. The faint scent of alcohol had dissipated.

There was also a young man in his thirties in the room.

"Come, let me introduce you. This is Zhang Nuoke, the resident journalist of Huaxia News Agency in Paris. This child is Qiao Yu, the future star of Huaxia’s mathematics community!"

"Hello, Journalist Zhang. Director Tian gives too much credit." Qiao Yu politely greeted.

He felt a bit critical inside, thinking about how before the interview, he was told to be low-key, yet during the introduction, he was described as the future star of Huaxia’s mathematics community. Hmm, not very self-disciplined.

"Hello, Qiao Yu. I’m very glad you agreed to today’s interview. I saw your presentation earlier today, and although I couldn’t understand it, I could feel it had great momentum," Zhang Nuoke said with a smile.

Qiao Yu shyly smiled.

The description of momentum seemed too mystical; he did not believe he had any momentum.

After some more pleasantries, the three of them finally sat down.

Zhang Nuoke also began to speak, "Shall we start then? Qiao Yu, do you need a warm-up?"

Qiao Yu shook his head and replied, "No, it’s fine. I actually have had an interview before, so I’m used to it."

Hearing this, Zhang Nuoke smiled and said, "I know, before I came, I specifically watched the video of your previous interview with the Star City Morning News, and you did very well. But your evaluation of MIT was quite interesting."

There was no good way to respond to that, so Qiao Yu just smiled again.

Since he learned that the man left MIT right after earning his master’s, he had forgiven MIT. After all, MIT’s attitude was far better than Berkeley Branch, not only letting the man pursue a PhD but also allowing him to remain as a professor.

After getting Qiao Yu and Tian Yanzhen’s consent, Zhang Nuoke took out a voice recorder from his pocket, and the interview officially began.

Before formally starting, Zhang Nuoke specifically mentioned, "If at any point you feel my questions are inappropriate or you don’t want to answer, you can choose not to. Just think of it as a casual chat between friends."

"Alright, Journalist Zhang."

"No need to be so formal, just call me Brother Zhang."

"Alright, Brother Zhang, go ahead with your questions."

"Well, I saw that in your previous interview, you mentioned that Teacher Lan Jie from Star City Railway First Middle School was your math mentor, right? From your current standpoint, how do you view your mentor?"

Zhang Nuoke’s first question made Qiao Yu feel the goodwill.

After all, this kind of question has a standard answer, is easy to answer, and can help him quickly get into the state.

"I’ve always been very grateful to Teacher Lan, just as I said last time..."

After lavishly praising the good guy and his alma mater, and chatting about a few random topics, Zhang Nuoke’s questions gradually became deeper.

"First of all, I want to congratulate you on another paper that will be published in the world-renowned mathematics journal, Annals of Mathematics. Coupled with the report you gave today on the Langlands Conjecture, these topics all require very profound mathematical knowledge.

As a recognized math prodigy, how do you choose your research direction? And when solving these problems, what do you feel has been your greatest challenge, and how did you overcome it?"

"Uh..."

Qiao Yu instinctively glanced at Tian Yanzhen, who was smiling beside him. After rapidly organizing his thoughts, he finally replied, "Regarding selecting topics, it’s really just about interest. For this, I must thank my teacher Tian Yanzhen and Grandmaster Yuan Zhengxin.

Since I came to Beijing, they gave me great freedom in learning. They didn’t make me learn something specific but instead provided me with self-learning materials once they discovered my interests.

For example, when they found out I was interested in the Geometric Langlands Conjecture, Elder Yuan specifically introduced me to Professor Pan, who studies the Geometric Langlands Conjecture. As I mentioned in my report, Professor Pan has provided me with a lot of help.

As for challenges in research... I didn’t really feel any challenges. Because the mentors didn’t particularly impose requirements, and I did this research purely out of interest, finding problems day by day, thinking about them, and solving them as I went."

The way he answered this question left Zhang Nuoke a bit stumped...

Not feeling any challenge, is that possible?