My IQ has been increasing year by year.

Chapter 274 Two Very Powerful Professors

Chen Zhuo stood less than three meters away from them, holding the bag of coffee beans.

Water was seeping down the gaps in the wooden floorboards of the café, and a few pieces of ice that hadn't completely melted were slowly sliding in the water.

Chen Zhuo took two steps forward.

As he passed the empty table next to him, he reached into the tissue box on the edge of the table and took two napkins.

Chen Zhuo squatted down as he walked to the edge of the puddle.

In the middle of the water on the ground, there is a large piece of glass.

Chen Zhuo took a tissue and picked up the largest shard of glass.

Ilya, who was sitting in the chair, stopped spinning the lighter in his hand.

He frowned slightly as he looked at the unfamiliar boy who suddenly walked over and squatted down to pick something up.

"Just let the staff handle it."

Ilya began to speak.

Chen Zhuo stood up and casually threw the glass into the trash can on the lower level of Amir's cart.

"This piece is too big; it could easily prick your foot," Chen Zhuo said.

He turned his head and looked at Amir standing to the side.

Amir was still holding the black food tray, standing still.

"The rest is a bit crumbly, could you please sweep it up with a broom?"

Chen Zhuo pointed to the ground.

"Please grab a mop while you're at it; the water's overflowing into the hallway."

Amir glanced at the ground in the direction he was pointing.

"it is good."

Amir nodded.

He carried the tray and turned to walk towards the storage room behind the bar.

Chen Zhuo looked at the water on the ground, and after confirming that there were no large obstacles on the route, he nodded slightly in the direction of Ilya, turned around and walked outside.

The wind chimes on the door jingled once as they swayed.

Chen Zhuo stepped outside, and the autumn wind outside ruffled his clothes.

In the coffee shop.

Ilya sat in the chair, his gaze fixed on the closed door.

After a while, he looked down at the two banknotes on the edge of the table.

He reached out, took the money back, folded it again, and put it back in his wallet.

The wind on Nassau Street seemed stronger than when I came out earlier.

Chen Zhuo switched the paper bag containing coffee beans to his left hand.

The bottom of the bag still retained the warmth of the roasted coffee beans, which I pressed against my palm through the paper bag.

He walked back along the sidewalk.

The yellow leaves on the ground were blown along the road by the wind, making a rustling sound.

The trees lining the street swayed in the wind, and every now and then a few withered leaves swirled down and fell onto the lawn by the roadside.

The color of the sky began to change; the original grayish-white was gradually covered by thicker clouds, and the light dimmed.

The humidity in the air is increasing, and the wind carries a noticeable dampness.

As Chen Zhuo passed by the park, he saw Mr. Miller still standing in the yard.

Inside the fence, the fallen leaves on the lawn have been cleared away.

Three large black plastic garbage bags stood side by side in the open space in front of the garage door.

The wind swept into the yard, making the openings of the plastic bags rattle loudly.

Mr. Miller had his back to the street and was carrying a rake in his hand.

The old man rested his other hand on his lower back.

He looked up at the dark clouds piled up overhead, his chest heaving as he let out a long breath.

Chen Zhuo walked across the sidewalk.

Hearing footsteps on the road, Mr. Miller, still with his hands on his hips, turned his head.

"You bought it, Chen?"

Mr. Miller asked a question through the fence.

"I've bought it." Chen Zhuo stopped in his tracks.

A gust of wind blew in from the street corner, making Mr. Miller's gray hair a little messy.

Instead of lowering his hands that were supporting his waist, he used the back of his hands to punch his lower back twice.

"I managed to pack them all in before God completely turned on me and my old bones fell apart."

Mr. Miller looked at the several huge garbage bags at his feet and took a breath.

Chen Zhuo held the bag of coffee beans, his gaze falling on Mr. Miller's hand supporting his back.

He looked at the old man and casually replied.

"It seems your back is much more accurate than the weather forecast on the morning news."

The sound was faint, and it drifted into the fence with the wind.

Mr. Miller paused for a moment, then released his hands from his lower back, grabbed the rake, and laughed.

"It's more accurate than the weather forecast, but this thing doesn't give me advance notice; it just goes on strike."

Mr. Miller smiled and shook his head, glancing at the sky again.

"There's moisture in the wind, it's about to rain, you should go back quickly."

"Okay, you should go inside and rest early too."

Chen Zhuo nodded.

After turning two street corners, Pierre's two-story house came into view.

A few more fresh oak leaves have fallen onto the path in front of the courtyard.

Chen Zhuo walked to the door, went inside, and closed the door to shut out the outside noise.

The entryway was very quiet.

He bent down, put on his slippers, and walked towards the kitchen with the bag.

"Xiao Zhuo, is that you back?"

Matilda's voice came from the kitchen, accompanied by the soft sound of running water.

"It's me?."

Chen Zhuo responded.

Entering the kitchen, Matilda was standing by the sink washing a glass. She turned off the tap and shook the water off her hands.

"Is it very windy outside?" she asked.

"It's a bit big."

Chen Zhuo went to the kitchen and put down the bag of coffee beans.

It might rain soon.

"One pound of Mandheling?"

Matilda walked over and looked at the bag.

"Um."

Chen Zhuo nodded.

"Dark roast, whole beans, unground."

He took the change from his pocket and put it on the counter.

She picked up the bag and unsealed it.

She turned and opened the cabinet above, took out an old wooden hand-cranked grinder, and placed it on the table.

"I dragged Pierre to a secondhand market a few years ago to find this coffee grinder, and it's been used for many years."

Matilda took out a small spoon and scooped coffee beans into the grinder's funnel.

She slightly raised her chin, her tone carrying a hint of amusement and pride.

"I have to say, my judgment is pretty good."

Chen Zhuo stood to the side and nodded.

Matilda placed her left hand on the base and her right hand on the crank, and began to turn it clockwise.

Click... Click...

The hard coffee beans are crushed one by one by the grinding discs inside.

The sky outside had completely darkened.

The light began to dim, and the kitchen became somewhat dark.

A few raindrops hit the window, and then the rain suddenly intensified, with dense raindrops joining together and pelting against the window and roof, making a loud pattering sound.

It's raining.

Matilda stopped cranking the handle and turned to look at the autumn rain outside the window.

She watched the water continuously sliding down the window and sighed softly.

"I was planning to sunbathe and read in the backyard this afternoon; the sun was shining brightly this morning."

Matilda looked out the window at the increasingly heavy rain.

"Now it's all ruined."

Chen Zhuo walked to the pool, turned on the tap, and washed his hands.

He dried his hands with kitchen paper towels, walked to the sofa, and sat down in his previous spot.

The glass of water he had left before leaving was still on the coffee table.

"It's a real shame about the sunshine, but if you look at it another way, at least you don't have to worry about getting bitten by mosquitoes in the backyard while reading a book on a rainy day."

Matilda rested her chin on her hand, thought about it seriously, and nodded very earnestly.

"What you said makes sense."

The sound of grinding coffee beans started again, mingling with the sound of rain outside the window.

After a while, a door opened at the end of the corridor.

The study door opened.

Pierre came out of the study, holding his teacup in his hand.

Pierre went to the dining table, pulled out a chair, and sat down.

He placed the teacup on the table, picked it up, took a sip, and then put it down.

Matilda heard the noise and turned to look at him.

"What happened?"

She keenly noticed a slight change in Pierre's expression.

Pierre did not answer immediately.

He sat in the chair, staring at the table in front of him, and remained silent for a few seconds.

The sound of rain outside was loud, masking some of the subtle noises coming from the kitchen.

"I just received an email in my inbox."

Pierre finally spoke, his tone calm.

Chen Zhuo paused for a moment, holding the cup.

"Harvard."

Pierre looked up and gazed at Chen Zhuo.

The sound of grinding coffee beans in the kitchen stopped.

Matilda turned around and listened quietly.

"Professor Zhu Xiping and Professor Cao Huaidong of China."

Pierre pronounced the two names word by word.

Chen Zhuo listened quietly.

"They're going to Harvard University soon," Pierre continued, "to give a six-month series of lectures."

Matilda stood by the kitchen counter without saying a word.

"The core purpose of the speech."

Pierre's voice sounded exceptionally clear amidst the rain.

"It is to provide the international mathematics community with a detailed explanation of the complete proof of the Poincaré conjecture, also known as the geometrization conjecture."

After those words were spoken, the air seemed to fall silent for a moment.

Chen Zhuo's gaze shifted slightly.

The Poincaré Conjecture.

This is a formidable obstacle that cannot be bypassed in modern mathematics.

More than a hundred years ago, French mathematician Henri Poincaré proposed this conjecture about the topological structure of three-dimensional space.

Countless mathematicians have devoted their efforts to this, yet they have never been able to surpass it.

Until 2002 and 2003, Russian mathematician Grigory Perelman published three papers on the preprint website arXiv, claiming to have proven the Poincaré conjecture using Richard Hamilton's Ricci flow tool.

However, Perelman's paper was extremely brief, with huge logical leaps, leaving countless gaps that even top mathematicians find difficult to overcome.

For the past three years, several top teams in the international mathematics community have been working day and night to try to understand Perelman's proof and fill in the huge logical gaps.

Now, it seems like the puzzle is about to be completed.

"Those cracks that Perelman left three years ago..."

Chen Zhuo looked at Pierre, his voice calm.

"Completely filled in?"

Pierre nodded.

"Yes."

Pierre leaned back in his chair.

"Professors Zhu and Cao, building on the work of Hamilton and Perelman, have provided a completely self-consistent proof without any logical flaws."

Pierre picked up the cup of black tea.

"A long paper of over three hundred pages."

Pierre took a sip of black tea and looked at the teacup in his hand.

"They will spend six months showing everyone the details of these 300-plus pages, step by step."