A genius? I just love studying.

Chapter 188 New Directions
Hearing what the teacher said, Cao Xu calmed down and couldn't help but feel a little frustrated. He had originally thought that an outstanding person could bring about earth-shattering changes to their project.

But after calming down, he also realized that for a mega-project of this scale, it would be difficult for one person to make a significant difference.

"I hope this author will succeed soon!"

Song Yuntao put down the printed paper, took off his reading glasses, and rubbed his sore eyes and throbbing head.

Just then, an elderly man with gray hair, beaming, rushed into the office. "Old Song, double happiness!"

As he spoke, he glanced at Cao Xu and said, "Xiao Cao, pour me a glass of water."

Then he went to Song Yuntao's side and saw the paper on the table. "Huh? You've started reading a paper?"

"Tsk tsk, it's a math paper, can you even understand it?"

Song Yuntao rolled his eyes. "Why don't you go back to talking about double happiness?"

At this moment, Cao Xu poured tea and brought it over, saying, "Old Xu, have some tea."

Xu Guofu took the tea, sipped it several times, and then said with satisfaction, "The Chinese tokamak nuclear fusion device has completed a 100 million degree kilosecond operation. Isn't that something to celebrate?"

"If that's the kind of joy you feel, then don't say it."

Song Yuntao remained silent.

"What about the existence problem of the Yang-Mills equation proved by Chinese mathematicians?"

Xu Guofu said proudly that although they were not mathematicians, they could still distinguish between proving the existence problem of the Yang-Mills equation and proving the complete Yang-Mills equation.

Song Yuntao remained unmoved. "If you had said the Riemann Hypothesis, I might have believed you. After all, these days, it's quite reasonable for someone to prove the Riemann Hypothesis so easily!"

"The Yang-Mills equation? This is the first time I've ever heard of it."

Number theory is a notorious area for amateur scientists, with topics like Goldbach's conjecture, the Riemann Hypothesis, and the twin prime conjecture...

These problems all have one thing in common: they seem simple, and at least ordinary people can understand their descriptions. This gives amateur scientists an opportunity to exploit the situation, and countless people claim to have proven these conjectures every year.

But they wouldn't touch the other millennium puzzle porcelains, because they couldn't even understand the questions.

"This time it's not some amateur scientist."

Xu Guofu chuckled and said, "This is the result presented at the annual meeting of the European Mathematical Society. There are more than ten Philippine Prize laureates present, including Academician Tian Yang and Qiu Chengwu from China. They all recognize the results, so how could they be fake?"

"By the way, that little guy is the grand-disciple of Old Qiu and Old Tian."

"Oh?"

Song Yuntao looked over with some interest.

Xu Guofu stood there with a smile, saying nothing more, looking like he was asking for trouble.

Song Yuntao was already used to his old friend's personality, so he wasn't annoyed. He turned on his computer and started searching.

A post-00s Jiangnan University student proves Yang-Mills equations, earning high praise from Schultz, who may be poised to be named Fields.

"Black Round Village Newspaper?"

Upon seeing the search results, Song Yuntao frowned again.

Baidu is becoming increasingly unreliable; all the results it brings up are sensationalist news from small media outlets.

After thinking about it, he decided to check the official websites of China News or Renren Daily.

The result was naturally fruitless; these authoritative media outlets didn't even report on it.

"Could it be fake news?"

Xu Guofu noticed his old friend's confusion and said with a smile, "Think about it carefully, is there anything wrong with your experiment this time?"

Song Yuntao was a little confused by his old friend's train of thought. Wasn't he just talking about the Yang-Mills equation?

How did we end up back to our own experiments?
"How are the reporters who came to cover this experiment compared to before?" Xu Guofu prompted.

Song Yuntao suddenly realized that he had been so focused on the experiment that he hadn't noticed this. But after Xu Guofu pointed it out, he remembered that there were indeed very few reporters at the scene this time, less than one-tenth of the number last time.

"Unfortunately, some interesting things have happened recently, so only these small media outlets are still alive, or rather, still active."

Xu Guofu said gloatingly, "However, their credibility is actually higher than before, so you don't need to doubt the authenticity of this news."

"God bless China!"

Xu Guofu sighed with emotion, feeling a sense of pride.

Song Yuntao started to believe it, so he clicked on the report in the Black Round Village Newspaper.

But soon, he frowned again.

What was that Chinese man's name?
Chen Hui?

Jiangcheng University?

He switched to another webpage and checked the contact information of the authors of the paper he had just read on the website of the Annals of Mathematics.

That can't be such a coincidence!

If that's the case...

Song Yuntao suddenly had some other ideas.

Without further hesitation, I found Chen Hui's email address on the official website of the Journal of Mathematics and immediately sent him an invitation.

Not satisfied with just that, he then used his connections to contact Tian Yang and Wang Qiming, the vice dean of the School of Mathematics at Jiangcheng University…

……

In the capital city, a quiet courtyard house offers a peaceful retreat amidst the hustle and bustle. Inside the study, the mahogany furniture gleams with a rich luster, and an elderly man sits behind his desk, intently flipping through documents.

Suddenly, the old man's hand, which was turning the pages, stopped in mid-air, and he frowned.

After a while, he raised his hand and slapped a button on the side of the table.

Soon, a middle-aged man in a suit and tie walked into the room.

"How much time has passed, and it's still not fixed?"

"The media is the mouthpiece of the country. If we don't speak for so many days, the people can't hear our voices anymore. Tell them, if you can rectify it, then rectify it; if you can't, then get out!"

Before the middle-aged man could ask any questions, the old man launched into a tirade of abuse.

The middle-aged man subconsciously glanced at the old man's desk and roughly saw the information about the proof of Yang-Mills equations, and he already had a general idea of ​​what was going on.

"clear."

He agreed and turned to leave the office.

The government's crackdown has shaken up the media industry, but the rectification does not mean a shutdown or a complete halt to reporting. Otherwise, those who hold positions without performing their duties would have no reason to exist.

It's no wonder the old man was so angry that the major media outlets remained silent about such exciting news.

……

Renren Daily Editorial Department
Editor-in-Chief's Office
"Secretary Feng, could you please tell me what this is about?"

"Chinese scientists have made a huge breakthrough in basic science. This is a great event that benefits the country and its people. Everyone should be happy about it. The government asked you to make reforms, not to slack off..."

"understand!"

Chen Jianwen, editor-in-chief of Renren Daily, suddenly realized that the other party's reminder was indeed quite obvious, which also showed the seriousness of the matter. He was now on high alert.

The person on the other end didn't waste any time; after hearing the word "I understand," they hung up. "Xiaoqing, come to my office."

After hanging up the phone, Chen Jianwen walked to the office door and shouted at the work area, attracting everyone's attention.

The next moment, a woman in a suit and skirt rushed into the office.

"European Mathematical Society meeting, Yang-Mills equations, report this immediately!"

Chen Jianwen tossed a piece of paper to the woman and gave the order.

"It's probably too late for us to go now."

After reading the key information, the woman naturally understood what was going on. They were simply making rectifications, not that they were no longer reporting any news. It was just that due to a large number of personnel changes, they didn't have time to pay attention to many things.

Yuan Xinyi's achievements in the Philippine Prize are certainly worth reporting, but they have already reported on them many times before, so they did not send anyone to the site this time.

They never expected that such big news would emerge from this meeting.

"Then repost it!"

Chen Jianwen shouted angrily, "Speak up first, make your stance clear, and then think of a solution."

"I don't care what methods you use, just make a sound and let everyone know about this, understand?"

"understand!"

The woman nodded emphatically, turned and jogged out of the office.

"Wait, you know what attitude I mean, right?"

Thinking about the content of this rectification, Chen Jianwen suddenly asked with some unease. Although it is self-evident what kind of attitude they should show, sometimes reality is often astonishing.

This kind of thing happened repeatedly, which made him somewhat insecure.

"understand!"

Xiaoqing was taken aback, then quickly nodded again.

……

The Palace Hotel, New York
Your math level has improved from 4 (0%) to 1%.

Your physics rating has increased from level 3 (88%) to 89%.

As soon as Chen Hui returned to his room, several comments popped up on the screen.

Explaining problems to classmates is indeed a very efficient learning method; giving a presentation can improve one's proficiency.

A 1% increase in proficiency at level 4 is quite significant.

[Congratulations, host! You have successfully participated in a meeting and delivered an excellent presentation. Your score is S, evaluation coefficient * 2, and you have gained 2 free attribute points.]

Just as Chen Hui was about to return to his desk to continue reading, another comment popped up in front of him.

Two free attribute points!

Chen Hui's eyes lit up.

He had almost forgotten about it, focusing all his attention on the Yang-Mills equations, and unexpectedly, he achieved an S score.

However, the grading is quite strict. He had completed almost half of the proof of the Yang-Mills equation, but he only received an S grade. He wondered if there was an S+ grade. Otherwise, wouldn't one have to complete a full proof of the Millennium Problem to get an S+ grade? Chen Hui dared not think about it.

But now that I've got two free attribute points, how should I allocate them?
Chen Hui was caught in a dilemma.

Today, his insight and creativity are far ahead of others, his memory is passable, but his judgment is somewhat lacking.

So, should we pursue balanced development or focus on a single breakthrough?

Chen Hui was a little undecided. After solving the Yang-Mills equation, he hadn't figured out his next research plan, which also concerned how he should use his two free attribute points.

He hasn't yet discovered any amazing effects from judgment, but since it's ranked alongside other attributes, it must have some remarkable effects, that's beyond doubt.

"Perhaps I really should improve my judgment!"

After hesitating for a while, Chen Hui suddenly had an idea.

Isn't being so conflicted a sign of poor judgment?
Where the mind goes, the heart follows.

"Give me some credit for my judgment!"

Chen Hui chose to listen to his heart.

There were still no unique changes; it was like water flowing into a channel. Adding a little something was just to help him break through the thin paper that was blocking the flow of water. Because the water had been dripping on the stone for so long, the barrier had been worn down to the point of being barely visible. So breaking through this thin paper wouldn't have been a very profound experience.

But even after adding the points, Chen Hui still felt a difference.

He already had a plan for what to do with the remaining free attribute point.

"Boost my insight!"

Chen Hui is well aware that his memory is sufficient for now and does not require much investment in improving it. However, he is still unsure about the balance between insight and creativity.

But now, he understands.

Creativity is very important to his research at this stage, but creation is not about making things out of thin air, but about moving from the known to the unknown based on one's own accumulation.

Therefore, the true path lies in using insight to discover the patterns and hidden truths of known things, transforming them into one's own accumulation, and then creating new tools!

Chen Hui smiled, feeling a sense of clarity and enlightenment as he could see the future. This feeling always made him very happy.

In a cheerful mood, I went to my desk and began to study the mass gap problem in the Yang-Mills equation.

The so-called mass gap problem is that in the Yang-Mills equations, some solutions may correspond to particles with zero mass, but in reality, both protons and neutrons have a significant mass, which has been precisely measured in physics.

Therefore, it is necessary to rigorously prove mathematically that when Yang-Mills theory describes certain interactions, the lightest particle must have a non-zero minimum mass, i.e., there must be a mass gap.

Providing this rigorous mathematical proof is what Chen Hui is currently working on!

This time, instead of studying new papers, he reviewed his proof of the existence of the Yang-Mills equation and went through the process of creating several new tools, especially the canonical topology weaving technique.

He had a gut feeling that the key to solving the quality gap problem lay in this new tool.

In other words, tools that can prove existence should be useful for quality gap problems.

dong dong dong...

A knock on the door startled Chen Hui, who had just finished his initial grooming.

When the door opened, Schultz and Terence Tao were standing outside.

It's hard to imagine that two brilliant mathematicians were like conjoined twins.

"Hey, Hui, you're not still doing research, are you?"

Terence Tao asked enthusiastically, "There's an old Chinese saying that the way to learn is to combine work and rest. You've just solved a problem that has puzzled mathematicians for decades. Come on, let's go for a walk. This is Budapest!"

Chen Hui didn't refuse. It just so happened that the meeting had come to a successful end for him, and he planned to buy some local specialties to send back to his uncles, aunts, brothers, and sisters.

Over the next few days, Chen Hui would occasionally attend lectures that interested him and have face-to-face conversations with the speakers. Sometimes Schulz and Terence Tao would come over and take him for a stroll around Budapest and let him try some local specialties, such as langos and guarashi soup.

Langos is a fried tortilla served with sour cream, which has a unique flavor but is a bit too rich and not to Chen Hui's liking. However, he found the gulash soup, a type of beef stew, to be very appetizing.

However, having been in Budapest for some time now, and having had beef soup every day, Chen Hui was starting to miss the food in Jiangcheng and Chengdu. Compared to those, this so-called specialty was simply inferior.

On the last night of the conference, Chen Hui was studying the quality gap problem when Schultz and Toutheringh came over again. Despite Chen Hui's refusal, the two still dragged him to the closing ceremony of the conference.

(End of this chapter)