They're already in university, and the primary school system is only just starting out?

Liang Tianshi slowly opened his eyes and saw two figures standing respectfully beside him.

He glanced around and recognized the man walking in front as Chang Kai, the president of Yannan University, whom he had spoken to on the phone just a few days ago.

Beside Chang Kai stood a man who looked to be under forty, wearing gold-rimmed glasses and a well-fitting shirt, exuding an air of refined scholarly elegance.

"Oh, it's Principal Chang," Liang Tianshi said with a kind smile, nodding. "You've come too."

"Yes, yes," Chang Kai quickly replied, enthusiastically introducing the man beside him, "Let me introduce you, this is Professor Gu Ming, the deputy director of the Department of Mathematics at Yannan University, and also a young talent that our school has recruited from overseas. Today, the two of us have come here specifically to cheer on our school's team and give them a boost."

Gu Ming quickly stepped forward, bowed slightly, and respectfully shook hands with Liang Tianshi, saying sincerely, "Hello, Elder Liang, I have long admired your name."

Upon hearing that Gu Ming was a returned talent, Liang Tianshi's eyes lit up, and his face was filled with obvious satisfaction.

He gently patted Gu Ming's hand and encouraged him, "Good, good! Seeing young people like you willing to come back and contribute to the country makes this old man very happy!"

As the three were exchanging pleasantries, a loud voice came from not far away.

"Teacher Liang, look who's here!"

The three looked in the direction of the sound and saw two more men walking towards them with beaming smiles.

Gu Ming looked closely, a hint of surprise on his face: "Huh? Isn't this Professor Feng Yunhai?"

"Oh? You two know each other?" Liang Tianshi looked at him with some surprise.

"I had the pleasure of exchanging a few words with Professor Feng when I attended an academic conference in Beijing before," Gu Ming replied modestly.

As they spoke, the two men approached. Liang Tianshi recognized the portly man beside Feng Yunhai, and a look of surprise and delight crossed his face: "Little Gong? What brings you here too?"

The chubby man, nicknamed "Little Gong," beamed with smiles, like a Maitreya Buddha, and cheerfully greeted Liang Tianshi: "Hello, Teacher Liang! I heard you were here, so I had to come and visit you!"

Liang Tianshi smiled and shook his head, then introduced Chang Kai and Gu Ming: "Professor Feng Yunhai, you know this one. The other is Gong Qin, who is now a mathematics professor at USTC."

He then turned to Feng Yunhai and Gong Tan and said, "This is President Chang Kai of Yannan University, and this is Professor Gu Ming."

The group shook hands and greeted each other. Chang Kai, a shrewd and perceptive man, noticed that these people seemed to want to catch up, and immediately smiled and said to Liang Tianshi, "Professor Liang, please continue your conversation with the two professors. We won't disturb you any longer."

After saying that, he took Gu Ming and turned to walk towards the audience area at the back of the venue.

After they left, Liang Tianshi looked at Gong Tan and asked, "How come you had time to come all the way from Anhui Province to here?"

Gong Qin chuckled and replied, "I was at a meeting at the Academy of Sciences. As soon as I stepped outside, I ran into Lao Feng. He said, 'You're here,' and my legs just followed me here by themselves; I couldn't stop them!"

Feng Yunhai, who was standing nearby, couldn't help but joke, "Teacher Liang, look at Gong Xiaopang. He's turned into Gong Dapang in just a few years."

"So what if I'm fat?" Gong Qin patted his rather large belly nonchalantly. "Being fat makes students think I'm kind and approachable. They're willing to come to me with any questions they have. Isn't that a good thing?"

Liang Tianshi scrutinized Gong Qin for a few moments, his smile gradually fading as a hint of worry appeared on his face. He spoke earnestly in the tone of an elder, "Little Gong, you're not young anymore. Being this overweight is definitely harmful to your health. You should really try to control your weight."

Upon hearing this, Gong Qin's face showed a hint of embarrassment. His eyes darted around, and he quickly changed the subject: "By the way, Professor Liang, I heard from Lao Feng that you asked him to find a problem to test an undergraduate student later?"

Liang Tiantian glanced at Feng Yunhai with some surprise: "Didn't I discuss this with you in the office that day? How did Xiao Gong find out too?"

Gong Qin laughed heartily and mercilessly exposed Feng Yunhai's shortcomings: "He didn't come up with it on his own. This kid was lazy and just sent your requirements to our fellow apprentices' WeChat group, asking everyone to brainstorm. In the end, it was Xiong Jia who came up with the idea."

"Xiong Jia?"

Upon hearing this name, Liang Tianshi's eyes lit up, and he pressed, "You still have contact with Xiong Jia? How... how has he been lately?"

Feng Yunhai sighed and continued, "A few years ago he was doing very well. He got tenure at Berkeley, and a couple of years ago when artificial intelligence was all the rage, he was even hired by a Silicon Valley tech giant as a consultant for large-scale mathematical ability assessment. He was riding high."

At this point, his tone turned serious: "However, in the past two years, the United States has started to tighten its grip on people from our side in various ways. Tech giants couldn't withstand the pressure and terminated their cooperation with him recently. Universities are also using the excuse of tight funding to cut research funding for his lab, so things aren't going well for him."

After listening, Liang Tianshi fell silent for a few seconds. The quiet air in the hall seemed to become heavier as a result.

After a long pause, he slowly spoke, his voice tinged with a barely perceptible hoarseness: "Did he say whether he wanted to come back?"

Feng Yunhai and Gong Qin exchanged a glance, and finally, they both shook their heads slightly in unison.

Liang Tianshi took a deep breath and said nothing more. But in his weathered eyes, an indescribable mix of emotions was revealed—memories, helplessness, and a deep-seated longing.

"By the way, Teacher Liang," Feng Yunhai said, as if to break the awkward silence, quickly taking out his phone, opening a picture and handing it to Liang Tianshi, "this is a problem Xiong Jia gave me. Take a look. He also explained the solution process to me. I think it's quite interesting..."

……

At 8:00 AM sharp, it was almost time. Under the guidance of the staff, the contestants from each team lined up at the entrance and began to file in.

Chen Lin was in line and could clearly hear the two boys in front of him talking quietly.

"Holy crap, did you hear? This year's judging panel is something else! Academician Liang Tianshi is even here!"

"Really? I heard that the organizing committee tried to get him to come out of retirement the past two years but couldn't. How come this year..."

Chen Lin's heart stirred. After sitting down in the designated spot, he took out his phone and typed "Liang Tianshi" into the search bar.

The moment the search results popped up, even though he was somewhat prepared, he was still stunned by the long string of dazzling titles.

[Academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, former Vice President of Tsinghua University, former Director of the Institute of Mathematics and Systems Science of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, recipient of the State Supreme Science and Technology Award...]

Good guy!

Chen Lin clicked his tongue. This was a true academic giant!

However, he was just making a comment. Someone of that caliber probably wouldn't have any dealings with him. He casually closed the search page.

Just then, rousing background music filled the hall. After the music ended, a poised and capable female host walked onto the stage, smiling as she announced, "Good morning, teachers and students! The final offline exchange activity of the National Undergraduate Mathematical Modeling Contest is now officially beginning!"

The exchange meeting officially commenced.

The process is actually quite simple; it's less of an exchange and more of a final defense. Each participating team sends a representative to the stage in the order determined by a draw. The representative uses a PowerPoint presentation to explain their team's paper, and then the expert judges ask one or two questions, which concludes the presentation.

According to Shen Yan, the process is not much different from the previous regional defenses. The only difference is that there is an additional "Q&A" session. If other participating teams in the audience have any questions about the papers or presentations of the teams on stage, they can raise their hands and ask them on the spot.

However, this segment was more of a formality. Everyone was there to win awards, and no one wanted to make things difficult for others in this setting. So far, several teams had gone up, and the atmosphere in the audience remained harmonious; no one raised their hand.

"Next, please welcome the representative from Yannan University!"

As the host announced the program, Shen Yan took a deep breath, took the USB drive, and calmly walked onto the stage.