The Courtyard House: Xu Damao's Aunt is the Queen of Women

Today's People's Daily has the headline on its front page: "Chinese Young Scientific Researchers Overcome a World-Class Mathematical Problem!"

Comrade Ye Xi successfully proved the Poincaré conjecture, making outstanding contributions to the scientific cause of the motherland.

Xinhua News Agency, January 24, 1964: my country's mathematics front has achieved a major breakthrough that has attracted worldwide attention! Ye Xi, a young scientific researcher who was only 1 years old, successfully solved the Poincaré conjecture, a long-standing problem in the international mathematics community, through long-term hard work and rigorous scientific proof. This achievement has reached the world's leading level and is a brilliant achievement in the history of basic scientific research in my country.

The Poincaré conjecture is a highly representative unsolved problem in the field of topology, which has attracted much attention from the international mathematical community for many years, but has yet to be fully proven.

Based on the needs of the motherland, Comrade Ye Xi, undeterred by difficulties and daring to climb to new heights, under the education and training of the Party, independently completed this major theoretical breakthrough with tenacious perseverance and a scientific attitude, fully demonstrating the spirit of young intellectuals in New China who dare to explore, innovate, and scale new heights.

In recognition of Comrade Ye Xi’s outstanding contributions, the Chinese Academy of Sciences awarded him the first prize for major scientific research achievements, the unit’s trade union awarded him the honorary title of “Five-Good Scientific Research Worker”, the Party Committee awarded him a major merit, promoted him to associate researcher in a special way, appointed him as the leader of the basic mathematics research group, and was also named an advanced worker in Beijing.

China National Radio will soon broadcast a special report to comprehensively introduce Comrade Ye Xi's advanced deeds and scientific research achievements.

This newspaper calls on all scientific researchers and young people across the country to learn from Ye Xi, to have the motherland in their hearts, to serve the people, to study diligently, to strive for excellence, and to contribute all their strength to the development of my country's socialist scientific cause and the building of a strong motherland!

"Honey, come quick! My eldest sister is on the front page of the People's Daily!"

Upon hearing this, Ye Juan released He Xiaomeng, took the newspaper, and her eyes lit up instantly. She praised with a beaming smile, "My sister is amazing! So glorious! Absolutely awesome!"

She knew that her eldest sister had been advertised in the newspaper that morning, but she hadn't seen the newspaper.

When Ye Juan saw the prominent headline on the front page of the People's Daily, clearly displaying the name Ye Xi, along with lines of news about her overcoming a world-class problem, winning a major award, becoming an associate researcher, and being recognized as an advanced worker, she felt both proud and excited, and her hands trembled slightly.

"My dear sister... twenty-two years old, associate researcher, research group leader, and she even appeared on China National Radio..."

She pointed at the newspaper, her voice trembling slightly.

"Our Ye family has produced an extraordinary figure!"

He Xiaomeng, who was tidying up her clothes, also came over, staring wide-eyed at the words on the newspaper with a look of admiration.

"Brother Hao, Sister Juan... Sister Ye Xi is amazing! She's... a nationally renowned hero!"

Ye Juan glanced towards the door and said smugly, "Of course! Let me tell you a secret, Liu Hao guided my sister to figure out the Poincaré conjecture. Pretty impressive, right?"

Hearing this, He Xiaomeng wasn't so surprised, because she had just made this guess.

"Amazing! Hao-ge, you're incredible! You can even guide Sister Ye Xi through such a difficult world problem. Can you solve other mathematical conjectures too?"

Before Liu Hao could speak, Ye Juan said smugly.

"Of course! Goldbach's Conjecture, the Riemann Hypothesis, and the Hodge Conjecture have already been solved. We're currently researching that Marcel's Theorem!"

He Xiaomeng asked, "Fermat's Last Theorem?"

"Yes, it's Fermat's Last Theorem. Xiaomeng, you even know math?"

Liu Hao looked at her with slight surprise, not expecting that He Xiaomeng would know Fermat's Last Theorem.

In a place like a steel rolling mill, there aren't many people who can recognize even a few formulas, let alone come into contact with these world-class mathematical problems.

He Xiaomeng's cheeks flushed slightly, and she looked a little timid as she said softly, "I... I really like math and science, but my parents think it's better for me to study humanities, so I listened to them."

"I usually study on my own. My grandfather's name was He Jingzhi, courtesy name Shouqian. He was among the first batch of government-sponsored students to study in Europe during the late Qing Dynasty. He studied at the École Normale Supérieure in Paris, France, and the University of Göttingen in Germany. He was fluent in French, German, English, and Latin, and majored in mathematics, theoretical physics, and celestial mechanics. He passed away in 1926. I studied on my own by reading the books, manuscripts, and notes left by my grandfather."

That's it!

It's surprising that He Xiaomeng's grandfather was among the first batch of government-sponsored students to study in Europe, but unfortunately he passed away too early.

Liu Hao became interested and casually asked, "So tell me, what have you learned on your own?"

To Liu Hao's surprise, He Xiaomeng's demeanor changed whenever these challenging problems buried at the pinnacle of world academia were mentioned.

Her tone unconsciously became clear, calm, and resolute, even carrying a sharpness and clarity that only top geniuses possess, forming a stark contrast to her soft and cute personality.

"Fermat's Last Theorem is not as simple as a three-hundred-year-old problem. It is not a single number theory problem at all, but the ultimate chain that spans three major fields: elliptic curves, modular forms, and Galois representation theory."

"To this day, none of the world's top mathematicians have found a complete and comprehensive proof path. The fact that Brother Hao and Sister Xi dared to directly tackle this direction shows that your vision and expertise are already at the forefront of the entire world's mathematics community."

She spoke at a steady pace, with meticulous logic, without the slightest pause, as if these top-level theories were already ingrained in her very being…

"The best results achieved internationally in solving Goldbach's conjecture so far are at 1+4. The biggest bottleneck is the dual barriers of the probability estimate and the trigonometric sum estimate. Traditional sieve methods have reached their limit. The fact that you can solve it directly shows that you have completely rebuilt a new framework of analytic number theory. This is not just a breakthrough, but a groundbreaking achievement."

"Not to mention the Riemann Hypothesis, the proof of the nontrivial zero critical line of the zeta function, once completed, will be equivalent to directly rewriting the entire foundation of modern mathematics. The distribution of prime numbers, cryptography, and the entire system of analytic number theory will be completely overturned."

"The Hodge conjecture is the pinnacle of algebraic geometry, involving projective algebraic varieties, Hodge chains, and the deep equivalence relations of algebraic chains. Not to mention in China, even in the whole world, the number of people who can truly grasp the core logic can be counted on one hand."

Every word He Xiaomeng uttered hit the most crucial academic points precisely.

The smile on Liu Hao's face gradually disappeared, and his eyes changed from curiosity to seriousness, and then from seriousness to astonishment.

Is this just an interest in mathematics and physics?

He felt a slight stirring in his heart and decided to give the school a test.

Liu Hao composed himself, his tone calm yet carrying the air of a professional examiner.

"Since you understand the Riemann Hypothesis, then tell me, what is the essential source of the symmetry on the critical line Re(s) = 1/2? What is the biggest deadlock in current research?"

Upon hearing this, Ye Juan, who was standing next to him, remained calm, because she couldn't understand a single word.