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Of course, Qiao Yu couldn't openly share her thoughts with the two elders.

Back then, both Tian Yanzhen and Yuan Zhengxin regarded him as the hope for the future of Chinese mathematics, and even expected him to lead a group of people to make the Tsinghua and Peking University schools dominate the world's mathematical thought for centuries, just like the Copenhagen School...

In fact, Qiao Yu always believed that he was quite different from those serious mathematicians.

Over the years, I've had a lot of contact with a group of mathematicians. This includes Professor Yuan, Professor Tian, ​​many fellow students, and also some of the leading figures from abroad…

People like Tao Xuanzhi, Lott Dugan, and Edward Witten, who has rarely appeared in the public eye due to health reasons...

These brilliant minds truly have an almost obsessive passion for mathematics. They've even made studying the patterns between these numbers a lifelong hobby.

But Qiao Yu knew very well that although he pretended to be the same as these big shots, there was actually a fundamental difference between them.

It can only be said that he is too pragmatic!

His initial motivation for pursuing mathematics was quite simple: to make money!
Ideally, he should make a lot of money so that he and Qiao Xi can live a life free from financial worries. Most importantly, he should ensure that Qiao Xi can receive the best medical care when she is sick.

So unlike other mathematicians who embarked on this path out of interest, Qiao Yu felt that this profession could fulfill his aspirations.

If he hadn't studied math before, or if he hadn't met Lan Jie while helping people solve problems in the internet cafe, he might be a professional gamer or a game streamer now...

So for Qiao Yu, math is not a hobby, it's simply part of life!

Initially, he would be excited to solve a difficult problem because those problems would make him pay more attention to them and obtain more resources.

But now he finds it hard to get excited about solving a problem! There's a threshold to the happiness that wealth brings.

Especially for Qiao Yu, he had a clearer understanding of the nature of wealth and never thought of turning the Qiao family into a family that would last for a thousand years.

Although Qiao Yu may not be able to compare with those on the rich list in terms of wealth alone, his invisible influence has already surpassed those of the wealthy, and he even has the ability to bankrupt those top billionaires.

This also means that more wealth can no longer attract Qiao Yu. If there's anything Qiao Yu is interested in now, it's probably aerospace.

If it weren't for the fact that everyone around him was against it, he would have liked to go to the moon with the astronauts this time.

He always felt it was a real pity...

The universe is so vast, and life is so short. If given the chance, he really wants to go out and see it.

As for his research in mathematics, Qiao Yu felt that his contribution this time was significant enough.

It will likely take a long time for the global mathematical community to fully absorb these ideas. Once fully absorbed, Qiao Yu believes that, except for the P=NP problem, the other seven unsolved mathematical problems of the millennium can be solved quite well.

Of course, after solving the problems at this stage, the mathematics community will certainly raise new questions.

The so-called ultimate truths and ultimate questions about the universe in science fiction are certainly beyond our reach at this stage.

Qiao Yu only felt regret about this.

But in Qiao Yu's plan, he felt that in his lifetime, he might see Earth's civilization master the natural laws within the solar system and fully integrate and utilize the resources of all the planets in the solar system.

In fact, all current research on large scales relies on the assumption of the universal applicability of physical laws.

There are some facts that seem to prove that the vast majority of natural laws are consistent throughout the universe.

However, Qiao Yu has always been skeptical about this.

Human civilization on Earth still has far too little understanding of nature. Too many things are just hypotheses; for example, the theories that underpin the most fundamental aspects of the observable universe—dark matter and dark energy—have not even been discovered yet.

Similarly, human understanding of the microscopic level is also very superficial.

For example, the physical mechanism of quantum entanglement remains one of the most profound unsolved problems in physics.

When doing quantum simulation calculations, Qiao Yu read through a large number of related papers and could only say that the entire framework of quantum mechanics relies solely on a mathematical framework.

Previously, it was wave functions, superposition states, and entangled states, etc. Now it's Choe's algebraic geometry. But even as the founder of Choe's algebraic geometry, Choe himself could not explain the principle behind the birth of this action at a distance.

When working on quantum simulation technology, Qiao Yu also considered many possibilities.

At times, he even suspected that the universe was a giant quantum computer. Quantum entanglement is like an electrical circuit connection…

This is where action at a distance comes in; it's simply direct logical operation between circuit nodes, allowing this massive computer to run normally without physical wires...

Only a quantum computer of this magnitude could perfectly control the movement and energy fluctuations of trillions upon trillions of planets...

Otherwise, many things simply cannot be explained at this stage.

The same goes for mathematics...

Of course, he never said these things to the two elderly people. Otherwise, they would criticize him for neglecting his duties.

The situation is similar at this time.

When Qiao Yu righteously told the two elderly people that he was doing research and didn't want to waste time, he was only met with a cold laugh.

Tian Yanzhen put down her teacup and stared at Qiao Yu, saying, "Well said! But Qiao Yu, I remember when you first arrived in Yanbei, you told me that our goal in solving problems is not the problems themselves, but rather to find the ways and methods to solve them, right?"

Qiao Yu thought for a moment, then nodded.

There's no way around it, his memory is excellent. He did say that back then to please Tian Yanzhen.

What surprised him was that Director Tian, ​​who was over seventy years old, had such a good memory and remembered things from more than ten years ago so clearly.

"Ha, you understand a principle you grasped more than ten years ago but don't understand it now? When Yuan Lao asked you to solve the Navier-Stokes equations problem, was it simply to solve the problem? The important thing is your problem-solving approach and methods!"
Now that your ideas have gained recognition from many people, shouldn't you be encouraging more people with mathematical talent to understand and learn them, instead of continuing to work in isolation?

Tian Yanzhen's tone wasn't actually very harsh, but she spoke very bluntly.

But Qiao Yu still wore a pained expression and said firmly, "There are too many miscellaneous tasks, and it really takes up too much time. Director Tian, ​​you don't know, I'm working myself to the bone every day. I'm really becoming more and more interested in turbulence."

I just wanted to solve this problem as soon as possible! You should understand that once you delve into a problem, it's really hard to get out of it in the short term.

I'm even thinking about how to relate the viscosity term to the curvature tensor of the modal space while eating and drinking. The mathematical representation of this part is really too brain-teasing.

"I really don't have the mind to care about anything else! By the way, Professor Yuan, you also told me that you used to work day and night when you were doing problems. You can definitely understand how I feel right now, right?" Yuan Zhengxin nodded subconsciously.

Clearly, both elderly people had good memories; he did indeed tell Qiao Yu about his arduous life struggles back then.

So when he spoke again, his tone softened a bit. After all, it was indeed the question he had given to Qiao Yu.

Although the elderly man didn't care much about what others thought, Yuan Zhengxin was very self-critical when interacting with Qiao Yu.

"Well, Qiao Yu actually makes a good point. We can't expect him to have it all, right, Yan Zhen?"

Yuan Zhengxin nodded slightly and then looked at Tian Yanzhen with a gentle inquiry.

Tian Yan was speechless; this betrayal happened a little too quickly.

Last night, Wu Changgeng, the current president of the Chinese Mathematical Society, specially invited the two to dinner. Although they did not drink alcohol, his former mentor agreed with their ideas at the time.

I promised to persuade Qiao Yu to take on this task, for the sake of China's standing in the world of mathematics.

So they changed course so quickly?
But seeing Yuan Zhengxin's gaze, Tian Yanzhen remained silent.

Don't be fooled by the old man's gentle and kind expression, as if he were being asked for his opinion.

But if he dares to voice any dissenting opinions, there's no need to discuss it with Qiao Yu; Elder Yuan will likely give him a good scolding right away...

This is nothing new. An old person's good temper is always selective, depending on the person.

Of course, he didn't agree; his silence was his last act of defiance.

"However, Qiao Yu, Xiao Wu came to me yesterday and we talked about the difficulties faced by the Chinese Mathematical Society."

Think about it, China now has things that can influence the world in many fields, including mathematics.

For example, there are journals, including our two major mathematics research centers, Huaqing and Yanbei. But the Chinese mathematics community really doesn't have any conferences that are worth mentioning right now.

The fact that the International Mathematical Union approached us this time was indeed an opportunity. And coincidentally, they now only recognize your work.

So you'll have to work hard this time. I'll talk to Lao Wu and tell him that he doesn't need to take the chairman's position; he can just hold the title of honorary chairman and doesn't need to worry about anything.

"But for the first conference, I think you could give an opening presentation and exchange ideas with mathematicians from all over the world. That shouldn't be a problem, right?"

Yuan Zhengxin immediately retreated and settled for the next best thing.

Qiao Yu thought for a moment, then nodded.

There's no way to refuse now. It's just a report to give; refusing would be ungrateful.

In fact, Qiao Yu knew very well that although he looked down on the position of chairman of the organizing committee of a mathematics conference, there were still many people who wanted to sit in that position.

It's simply a matter of whether the International Mathematical Union and Tsinghua and Peking Universities recognize it or not.

Although Qiao Yu wasn't interested in the position, she certainly didn't want the opportunity to go to someone else. So she suggested, "Why don't we have Professor Xue serve as the first chairman of this conference?"

Professor Xue is qualified enough, and it also facilitates direct communication between Yanbei and Huaqing with the International Mathematical Union. Since we are the organizers, some things certainly can't be done entirely according to those foreigners' rules.”

Yuan Zhengxin raised his hand and said magnanimously, "You mean Xue Song, right? Fine, since you're not going to be the chairman, it doesn't matter who is. I'll talk to Xiao Wu about it later."

However, I think the first conference should still be held at Huaqing University. Huaqing has just built a large academic conference center, and it hasn't hosted any major conferences yet.

"No problem, no problem, I'll do whatever you say!" Qiao Yu replied with a smile.

Tian Yanzhen remained silent.

It doesn't matter anymore; once the old man and the child have made their decision, he can't argue with them anyway.

At least Xiao Xue works for the International Center for Mathematical Research, so it can be considered a win-win situation...

All I can say is that Qiao Yu understands how to maintain balance.

After resigning from the chairmanship, Qiao Yu was finally able to relax completely.

As for when the specific meeting will be held, its scale, and what support the International Mathematical Union will receive, that's all up to the presidium of the first organizing committee.

As everyone knows, the honorary chairman is just a figurehead; they don't do any work. At most, they just look at the outstanding papers selected by the review committee and give some feedback.

Having made the important decision, the two elderly people discussed the new mathematics proposed by Qiao Yu with him for another two hours before leaving satisfied.

Most of the time, Qiao Yu did the talking, and it was mostly about the most basic concepts.

There's no way around it; age catches up with everyone. At their age, it's indeed very difficult for these two elderly people to grasp these complex, cutting-edge mathematical concepts.

Having extensive experience is an unparalleled advantage in many industries, but in the realm of mathematical theory, it's hard to say that experience plays a significant role.

It's clear that the two elderly people have a genuine love for mathematics. Although many of the new concepts are extremely difficult to understand, they still listen with great interest and occasionally ask questions.

Qiao Yu could only rack his brains to come up with a more detailed explanation. So much so that he clearly didn't dare use the word he liked.

After finally seeing the two elderly people off, Qiao Yu, feeling parched, picked up the long-cold tea in his cup and gulped down two large mouthfuls. Then he called Zheng Xiwen to his office.

"Uncle Zheng, how did things go with the previous matters? Um... by the way, did Richard John take the bait?"

Zheng Xiwen couldn't help but roll his eyes.

What the hell do you mean by "took the bait"? That's such poor word choice!
From his perspective, what Qiao Yu considered a playful plan was an extremely rare opportunity for Richard John's family, perhaps even a chance for upward social mobility!
"Yes, he has already submitted his application. Not only him, but 90% of the people on our initial shortlist have submitted their applications."

"But he's still a good fit, I think highly of him. Let's give him the opportunity. By the way, once he's selected, we need to start getting exposure. We can start by filming a few episodes about his daily work at Xida University."

We'll use the name of the event organizers to hire a professional documentary director to film entirely in English, so that the whole Western world knows that Philadelphia has produced such a lucky person.

It's crucial to interweave the contrast between past hardships and present happiness. The documentary should be broadcast on all media outlets throughout the university.

Our goal is to get at least 80 percent of the students at Western University into the life of Richard John! (End of Chapter)