A genius? I just love studying.

Chapter 247 He Will Come
The glass curtain wall of Qingfeng Times City reflected the fireworks in the sky. Chen Hui stood at the entrance holding a "Fu" character, while Li Tianhua stood beside him holding double-sided tape. The double-sided tape had moderate stickiness, was easy to use, and did not leave too many marks, making it very suitable for pasting "Fu" characters.

"A little to the left, a little to the left."

Li Qingrui stood further away, directing Chen Hui to paste the "Fu" character.

Li Qingshan watched intently from the side, ready to take over from Chen Hui at any time.

My aunt was busy in the kitchen. The Spring Festival Gala was about to start in a few tens of minutes, and she had to bring out a large table of food before it began.

Soon, Chen Hui and the others, having finished putting up the "Fu" character, went inside, closed the door, and went to the kitchen to help.

"Flowers bloom in our flower-growing home, and our hearts welcome the New Year. In this vibrant spring, let us sow our most beautiful wishes and hopes..."

The host's clear and resonant voice came from the television. The dining table, which had been specially moved in front of the television, was piled high with sumptuous dishes. The whole family sat neatly in front of the television, eating, chatting, and watching the Spring Festival Gala.

Looking at the magnificent stage on TV, Fan Rong felt an unprecedented sense of peace. She never imagined that she could live such a life.

"Watch it first, then wash it."

After dinner, Li Tianhua stopped Fan Rong from clearing the dishes. The family had finally managed to get together, and he wanted to prolong the time.

Fan Rong raised an eyebrow and brushed Li Tianhua's hand away. "The year is almost over. How can we leave things for next year? You two do your thing, I'll go wash myself."

Chen Hui had been helping to tidy up, and Li Qingrui and Li Qingshan were also carrying empty bowls to the kitchen.

"Then let's clean it up together; many hands make light work."

Li Tianhua also joined in the tidying up.

However, they soon encountered a problem: the kitchen was too small, and the sink was not even big enough for two adults to work at the same time.

So, Qingrui and Qingshan were assigned to do the dishes, one washing the dishes and the other cleaning the water. Chen Hui, on the other hand, helped his aunt wrap the leftover food in plastic wrap and put it in the refrigerator.

Li Tianhua stayed in the living room to tidy up the dining table.

Just over ten minutes later, the family returned to the living room, just as a skit was beginning.

"Dear viewers, please enjoy the skit next—'Earring Sister, a top student with a score of 179, eats catfish dumplings with Miss Dong at the hospital.'"

Chen Hui hadn't expected that the Spring Festival Gala would have such a satirical skit. Although the skit had too many elements and seemed a bit messy, the content was well-arranged and had enough laughs to be on par with the classic works of the past.

The two little girls, Li Qingrui and Chen Hui, naturally didn't understand. After laughing and chatting for a while, they turned to Chen Hui and said, "Brother, Happy New Year! I wish you a Happy New Year."

Chen Hui took out the red envelopes he had prepared beforehand and handed them to the two children, saying, "Study hard and make progress every day!"

It wasn't until midnight, after the Spring Festival Gala ended, that the family started getting ready to wash up and go to bed, while the occasional sound of firecrackers and fireworks could be heard outside.

At 12:30, the surroundings were quiet. Chen Hui took out his thesis and continued his deductions.

With less than five months until the International Congress of Mathematicians and less than two months until the deadline for submission, he had to speed things up.

Chen Hui could feel that he was getting closer and closer to that ultimate goal, but there was still a hazy layer of paper that he needed to break through through his efforts.

I studied all night, went to bed at 3 a.m., got up at 6 a.m., and didn't hear any movement from the bedroom until 9 a.m.

Chen Hui put away his thesis and went to the kitchen to cook a pot of glutinous rice balls with cured pork and tofu that he had prepared beforehand.

"Happy New Year, brother!"

Li Qingrui peeked in from the kitchen doorway and called out with a grin.

"Come brush your teeth."

Fan Rong's voice came from the bathroom.

After breakfast, Li Tianhua and Fan Rong prepared to take Chen Hui and the other two back to their hometown, while Chen Hui took the opportunity to visit Teacher An and Li Hai and the others to wish them a Happy New Year.

Chen Hui visited all his relatives in one day on the first day of the Lunar New Year. After staying at home for a few days, he set off for Jiangcheng University.

"Happy New Year!"

As Chen Hui got into the car, he greeted Dai Yafeng with a smile and handed over a red envelope.

"We've accepted your blessings, but you can take the red envelope back. We have rules."

Dai Yafeng was also in a good mood. If Chen Hui hadn't seen him around these past few days, and if Dai Yafeng hadn't driven him to visit Teacher An for the New Year and back to his hometown, he would have thought that the other person had just returned from celebrating the New Year.

"Take it, it's not much. It's a local custom, just for good luck."

……

On the second day of the second lunar month, the dragon raises its head.
At the China International Steel Industry Exhibition at the National Exhibition and Convention Center in Shanghai, Zheng Yuanxiu stood in front of the Baosteel booth, looking at the 0.002% ultra-pure steel sample gleaming in the glass case. His fingertips lightly traced the label "GB/T 42273-2026"—the national standard number derived from the ISO 21457 international standard, which was led by China.

The test report that was smeared with tea by the Japanese in the conference room ten years ago is now kept in his leather document bag. The cover is frayed, but he still can't bear to throw it away.

"Director, Director Wang from Wuhan Iron and Steel Institute is here!" Assistant Xiao Yang's voice interrupted his recollection.

A man in dark blue overalls strode over, clutching a newly issued international mutual recognition certificate in his hand; the ILAC-MRA logo on the cover gleamed golden under the light.

“Old Zheng, look—” He slapped the certificate on the display stand, “Our oxygen and nitrogen analyzer calibration laboratory in Jiangcheng Institute has just passed the two-way mutual recognition between Japan’s JIS and the European Union’s EN.”

Zheng Yuanxiu recalled the scene when he accompanied the Wuhan Iron and Steel Institute team to Tokyo to attend the ISO meeting in 2018. The Japanese representative said that their testing methods "did not conform to international practice", and some people in the room even sneered, "Chinese laboratories can't even control the temperature well".

Today, the Wuhan Iron and Steel Institute's testing reports bear both "CNAS" and "JAB" logos side by side. Even JFE Steel, which used to always talk about equipment patents, has quietly shifted some of its high-end steel third-party testing orders from Europe to Wuhan.

“Not only have the testing fees dropped by 40%,” Wang Huan said, flipping through a cost accounting spreadsheet on his phone, “the steel we supply to FAW-Volkswagen used to take half a month just for testing. Now, the equipment at Wuhan Iron and Steel Institute is directly connected to our production line, transmitting data in real time.”

He pointed to the large digital screen next to the booth, where green curves resembled dancing musical notes. "From smelting to continuous casting, the oxygen content and inclusion ratings at every step are synchronized in the cloud, allowing customers to view real-time reports from home."

Wang Huan led Zheng Yuanxiu to the other side of the exhibition hall, where Baosteel's technical director was explaining a piece of steel the size of a fingernail: "The steel used for the battery pack base plate supplied to NIO ET9 has a total oxygen content of 0.0018%, which is 60% lower than our 2020 target."

Under the electron microscope behind him, the inclusions in the steel looked like scattered stars.

Wang Huan chuckled and said, "In the past, the Japanese said that our steel statues were covered in sand, but now they are asking us if we can license our inclusion control technology."

Zheng Yuanxiu simply watched all of this without saying a word, but his mind was filled with memories. He had been in this industry for almost thirty years and had seen far too much.

In 2000, the average total oxygen content of clean steel in China was 0.005%, while that of high-end steel from Japan was generally below 0.003%. Today, their ultra-pure steel has been stably controlled within 0.0005%, and some special steel grades have even reached 0.00015%.

More importantly, core technologies such as precise control of inclusions and ultra-low oxygen smelting, which were once monopolized by Japanese companies, have now become their patent pool—Baosteel has applied for 127 patents related to clean steel in just one month, of which 23 have been included in the scope of ISO standard discussions.

“Last month, people from Nippon Steel came to discuss cooperation,” Secretary Yang said with a smile. “They said they wanted to introduce our ‘double refining + electromagnetic stirring’ process.” “They were the ones who taught us how to control the purity of molten steel!”

"In the past, we traded market access for technology; now we trade technology for rules—this is true industrial confidence!"

Zheng Yuanxiu spoke confidently, saying that with the huge breakthrough in clean steel technology half a month ago, the clean steel industry in China is now no longer dependent on others for testing systems, its technical indicators have reached the top of the world, and it even has the leading role in rule-making. Those days when Japanese companies used equipment patents and standard barriers to hold us back will soon become case studies in industry training courses.

He knew, of course, that it was all because of that person.

"Xiao Yang, you should contact Professor Chen again. If he's willing to come, a multi-million dollar annual salary is not out of the question."

Zheng Yuanxiu was still somewhat unwilling.

"Director, the International Congress of Mathematicians is about to begin."

These past few days, Xiao Yang has also made a point of learning about Chen Hui. The more he learns, the more he understands that such a person cannot be confined to the small temple of Baosteel.

"That's all."

Zheng Yuanxiu also sighed softly.

……

Jiangcheng University

In his small office, Chen Hui was engrossed in calculations on a draft paper. Beside him lay a bound volume of the "Complex Geometry Regularization of Navier-Stokes Singularities" series of papers. The existence and uniqueness of smooth solutions to the three-dimensional Navier-Stokes equations were like an abyss that had swallowed countless mathematicians.

The cherry blossoms outside the window have already sprouted new buds, and March has arrived in the blink of an eye.

Yuan Xinyi walked quickly toward Chen Hui's office. He had only just learned from the organizing committee that Chen Hui had not submitted his presentation for the International Congress of Mathematicians. The organizing committee had only found him because they couldn't contact him.

There are only three days left until the conference submission deadline.

"What is he doing?"

Yuan Xinyi was getting anxious.

The Fields Medal holds extraordinary significance for Chinese mathematicians, and he did not want Chen Hui to miss out on this honor for such a reason.

Not to mention that Yang-Mills' theory is equally significant for the Chinese people.

The story of Chinese people proving Yang-Mills' theory, proposed by Chinese people, deserves a perfect ending.

[Currently in seclusion, please do not disturb]

As soon as Yuan Xinyi arrived at Chen Hui's office, he saw the note written on an A4 sheet of paper. It was written by Chloe last year, and the ink on the paper had already faded a bit.

But this thing has been hanging on Chen Hui's door for more than two months!
What exactly is he researching?
Yuan Xinyi was puzzled. Even if they were researching something new, they should at least upload the content of the report from the International Congress of Mathematicians first. The proof of the Yang-Mills equation had already been published in a paper, and Chen Hui had given many lectures on it. This would not waste any time.

Does he not plan to present the proof of the Yang-Mills equation at the International Congress of Mathematicians?

What else could it be?

This content must be at least as good as the proof of the Yang-Mills equation; therefore, the only thing that can reach this level of quality is another Millennium Problem.

Considering Chen Hui's recent research direction, it can only be the Navier-Stokes equations, which is not hard to guess.

"It's just nonsense!"

Yuan Xinyi gave a hurried shout, "The Millennium Problem is not so easy to solve."

However, he ultimately did not knock on Chen Hui's door. He was unsure if this would disturb Chen Hui. While the Fields Medal was important, inspiration was even more crucial. Moreover, Chen Hui was still young, and even if he missed this opportunity, he would still be the top favorite for the next one.

With this in mind, Yuan Xinyi turned and left, dialing the phone number of the chairman of the organizing committee of the International Congress of Mathematicians, hoping to buy Chen Hui some more time.

……

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA

As the president of the International Mathematical Union, Kei Nakajima looked at the information on the official website, bubbles appeared on his lips. This was already the umpteenth time in the past month that he had opened the website to check the information.

He had extended an invitation to Chen Hui as early as last October, and Chen Hui accepted the invitation.

However, they never received the report submitted by Chen Hui. Last year, he could comfort himself by thinking that Chen Hui was not in a hurry. After all, Chen Hui's paper had already spread throughout the mathematics community and gained recognition. Chen Hui himself had even given several presentations.

If Chen Hui wants to upload it, it will only take a few minutes, so there's really no need to rush.

But now, with only three days left until the deadline for submission, Chen Hui hasn't made a single move, which makes him anxious.

He was genuinely worried that Chen Hui would refuse to attend this International Congress of Mathematicians, just like Perelman.

If the solver of the Millennium Prize Problem doesn't attend, how much of this mathematicians' conference can truly live up to its name?

As the second Asian mathematician to serve as the president of IMU after Shigefumi Mori, Kei Nakajima has always worked diligently and hoped to achieve outstanding results. However, if Hui Chen does not go, it would be a slap in the face for him as president.

"Mr. Nakajima, the meeting is about to start. Are you still going?"

The secretary knocked lightly on the office door and asked in a low voice.

"Go right away."

Nakajima closed the webpage, locked the screen, and quickly walked out of the office.

Today is the Fields Medal judging meeting, the final meeting for the competition to determine the winners, so of course he has to go.

Every Fields Medal is like this: there are always one or two people who are undisputed, but there are also a few whose opinions cannot be completely agreed upon.

However, the review committee already had a well-established plan, and the meeting ended in just over two hours, with the final spots already decided.

"Dennis, you've worked with Chen Hui before. Can you get in touch with him now?"

After the meeting, Nakajima Kei immediately went to Dennis. Although he had already contacted Yuan Xinyi, he still felt uneasy. Now that the Fields Medal nominees were confirmed, it would be a laughing stock if Chen Hui didn't come.

"Nakajima-san, don't worry, he'll come."

Dennis spoke in Chinese, then realized that Nakajima Kei wasn't Chinese, so he switched back to English, "I think he probably wanted to give everyone another surprise."

(End of this chapter)