The night before the college entrance exam results were released, I redeemed my Peking University ad

At 8:00 AM Beijing time, all the lights were turned off, and the verification conference officially began.

Academician Zhou, vice president of the Chinese Mathematical Association, walked slowly onto the stage, wearing a well-fitting suit and with his hair neatly combed.

He cleared his throat and spoke in English with a heavy accent:

"Lady...my...sticky head! Wai'ercom...rabbit...Kyoto!"

As soon as he finished speaking, many people frowned.

The live chat exploded with comments.

"No, why do we start meetings in English in our country?"

"Playing in a foreign language while playing at home? I honestly didn't understand."

"Dude, can't the Great Hall of the People have a little bit of cultural confidence?"

Some people immediately came out to refute this:

"What's wrong with speaking English? Isn't it common knowledge that international conferences use English?"

"The Olympic opening ceremony was also in English, why isn't anyone complaining?"

"With so many foreign experts below, are you going to let them hear a speech in Chinese? Can they even understand it?"

"Don't try to link everything to patriotism. This is called international etiquette, don't you understand?"

The chat was in an uproar until someone spammed "Alright, alright, stop arguing and just watch the live stream," which finally calmed things down.

Ignoring the subtle commotion below the stage, Academician Zhou continued to speak eloquently in his broken English.

Fortunately, simultaneous interpretation was provided, which allowed viewers watching the live stream to understand.

"Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to our international friends who have traveled from afar!"

First of all, on behalf of the Chinese mathematics community, I would like to express my sincerest gratitude to all the top scholars for their presence.

As we all know, Ji Bai is a very young student who, with a lot of enthusiasm, has made some preliminary attempts in the field of number theory and proposed several immature proof ideas.

He is only eighteen years old and has a long way to go. There are still many shortcomings and oversights.

The purpose of inviting you all here is to leverage the wisdom of top scholars worldwide to provide guidance and corrections, helping this young researcher to refine his work, correct errors, and jointly advance the field of mathematics.

You are all senior figures and giants in the field of mathematics. Please do not hesitate to offer your guidance and be tolerant of the impetuousness of a young person.

He spoke very politely and with an extremely humble attitude.

Every word and sentence placed Ji Bai in the position of "junior, student, and someone who needs improvement".

This group of foreigners, who had come out of admiration or even "came to verify," were elevated to the status of "instructors and correctors."

It was clearly Ji Bai who single-handedly forced IMU to reschedule and attracted scholars from all over the world to flock to China, but he twisted it into "we asked our seniors to come and help us with the approval process."

Sure enough, the top international scholars sitting below the stage all had a smile on their faces.

It was indeed embarrassing to have these people listen to a high school student give a long lecture.

While it's true that there's no order of learning and those who are accomplished can be teachers, you shouldn't act too much like an old lady!

To put it another way, when Wiles proved Fermat's Last Theorem, Ji Bai's parents were probably not even married, or even knew each other.

When Terence Tao won the Fields Medal, Ji Bai was still a liquid!

The age gap is just too big!

Fortunately, Academician Zhou's words provided them with an extremely comfortable way out.

They came to help.

For the sake of mathematics, for the sake of scholarship, and for the sake of human wisdom, he did not hesitate to set aside his status and personally help this eighteen-year-old boy perfect his proof.

Of course, everyone knew in their hearts that they didn't need their help at all.

Those four documents proved that they had read them countless times, and each one was so perfectly matched that it was outrageous.

But others don't know that, do they?

Those laymen who are just watching the show don't know anything about it!

Now everyone knows they came with good intentions to help!

And these words were said by Chinese people themselves!

The person who said this was the vice president of the Chinese Mathematical Association!

Although we lost substance, at least we saved face!

Charles, the IMU Secretary General sitting in the front row, turned his head, smiled, and whispered something to William beside him:

"It seems the Chinese are still the same Chinese!"

William smiled too.

The laughter was very soft.

Or rather, it was just a soft laugh!

However, while the foreigners were satisfied, the viewers in the live stream were not.

The live chat exploded instantly.

"Holy crap! What is that old man saying?"

"What does 'helping Ji Bai complete the proof' mean?"

"Does Ji Bai's testimony really need them to perfect it?"

"They were the ones who begged to come, so why does it seem like we're the ones who begged them?"

"You've squandered all the face Ji Bai worked so hard to earn with just a few words?"

"Wait, what does he mean? Is he starting by badmouthing his own people?"

"Old Man Red-Haired Deng! His later years are fraught with misfortune!"

"This is aimed at Emperor Ji Bai!"

……

Of course, there are also rational and objective arguments:

"Stop being so sensitive, okay? What do you mean you're targeting Ji Bai?"

"Is it necessary for someone like him, the vice chairman of the board, an academician-level bigwig, to target a mere child?"

"This is called diplomatic etiquette! Don't you understand?"

"We're guests, what's wrong with saying a few polite words?"

"International conferences are supposed to be about giving each other a way out; does it have to be a head-on confrontation to save face?"

"That's utter nonsense about diplomatic etiquette; it's just foreign worship and fawning!"

"Polite words? Is it really appropriate to belittle your own genius to save face for outsiders?"

"Guests? Are they shamelessly groveling to get here? I bet they're just here to steal the credit!"

The two sides were arguing fiercely, the barrage of comments was flying, and the popularity of the live stream skyrocketed.

……

Below the podium, the expressions of the various bigwigs in China were varied.

Some smiled, some frowned, and some remained expressionless.

Ji Bai remained expressionless at this moment.

He stared at Academician Zhou and suddenly had a gut feeling.

Finally, after rambling on for a full twenty minutes, Academician Zhou finally finished speaking.

"Now, let's welcome Ji Bai to the stage to explain his proof. Please give us your feedback."

The hall erupted in enthusiastic applause.

No matter what you think, you have to applaud at this moment!

The comments section instantly became unified again:

"Stop arguing! Stop arguing!!!"

"Here it comes!!!"

"The School Uniform Warrior is about to take the stage!!"

"Quiet down, everyone!! The moment to witness history has arrived!!"

"Sit down on your little stools in the front row!! Popcorn ready!!"

"Emperor Ji Bai, please begin your performance!!"

……

Ji Bai stood up from the waiting area and walked onto the podium.

Academician Zhou added, "Xiao Ji, don't be nervous. Speak properly. If there's anything you don't understand, just ask everyone here. They are all the world's top mathematics experts. They will definitely help you."

As soon as he finished speaking, a series of very soft, intermittent chuckles filled the hall.

It's as if they're saying: Look, even your own people think you're no good.

The viewers in the live chat are furious again!

"Holy crap!"

"Does this old man even know how to talk? What does 'ask everyone if you don't understand something' mean?"

"I'm so angry!"

"This is clearly our home turf!"

"Those foreigners all laughed! They were clearly mocking us!"

"I feel so sorry for Ji Bai!"

"Stop arguing! Let's see what Ji Bai has to say!"

"Here he comes! Ji Shen is about to take the stage!"

……

Under the watchful eyes of everyone present, Ji Bai stood up and slowly walked onto the stage.

As they passed by Academician Zhou, they didn't even give him a second glance.

Academician Zhou wanted to say a few more words of advice, to put on the airs of a senior.

Ke Jibai walked straight to the center of the stage and took the microphone.

The young man raised his eyes, his gaze sweeping over the dark mass of people below the stage, over the smiling Charles, and over the domestic scholars with their various expressions.

"Enough with the chit-chat, let's get started!"

"I have proven Goldbach's Conjecture."

"Who disagrees?"