Chapter 164 - 122: Son, Is That You?
He opened the chat window, attached the final draft of his paper, and then carefully composed a message.
[Hello, Academician Liang. This is Chen Lin from Yannan University. I promised I would conduct some academic research, and this is a preliminary result of my recent work. I would be grateful for your critique and guidance.]
After finishing these two tasks, Chen Lin felt himself relax completely.
However, before he could collapse onto his bed to enjoy a moment of peace, his phone, which he had casually placed on the desk, suddenly began to buzz insistently. WeChat notifications popped up on the screen one after another.
Chen Lin picked up his phone, unlocked the screen, and saw that several different people had messaged him at the same time.
He first opened the three-person family group chat named "Our Loving Family."
His dad, Chen Xian, had shared a short video link in the group, followed by a message.
Chen Xian: [Son, is this you?]
Chen Lin clicked the link. It was a montage video created by a social media influencer with millions of followers.
The video cleverly interwove footage of him instantly solving a difficult problem at the modeling competition with clips from his school interview two days ago.
The creator used highly sensational narration to portray him as a once-in-a-century young genius, and the bullet comments on the video were filled with exclamations like "Holy shit," "Awesome," and "Study God."
Before Chen Lin could reply, his dad’s second message popped up.
Chen Xian: [What’s this about starting a company? Why didn’t you tell us?]
Immediately after, his mom, Lin Xiaoqi, chimed in.
Lin Xiaoqi: [Yeah, yeah, son, don’t you get scammed by some company! The news is always talking about college students who start businesses and get cheated out of everything!]
Seeing his parents’ familiar, concerned tones, Chen Lin couldn’t help but chuckle. His fingers flew across the screen as he quickly replied.
Chen Lin: [Don’t worry, I won’t let anyone cheat me. Didn’t you see in the video? Principal Chang Kai said it himself.]
[The university is also involved, precisely to protect my legal rights and interests. With the university watching over things, nothing can go wrong.]
Chen Xian: [As long as you know what you’re doing. Remember to tell us if anything comes up. Don’t carry it all by yourself.]
Lin Xiaoqi: [Do you have enough money, son? If not, Mom can transfer you some more.]
Chen Lin: [It’s enough, it’s enough. Don’t worry, Mom.]
After chatting a few more lines with his parents and calming them down, the group went silent.
Chen Lin could almost imagine his mom right now, having just gotten the firsthand information from him, excitedly running off to her sisters’ group chat to report and discuss it.
He smiled and shook his head, returning from the group chat to his chat list and tapping on Yunqing’s profile picture.
Yunqing had also sent him a short video link, the content of which was more or less the same as the one his dad shared.
Before Chen Lin could even finish watching it, a barrage of messages from Yunqing came through.
Yunqing: [Not bad, Boss Chen! I only heard you were switching majors, but you went and graduated without a peep? You’re incredible! [Admiration]]
Chen Lin was in a good mood, so he casually sent back a smug Shiba Inu sticker.
Yunqing: [So when that reporter asked what your relationship with Yanyan was, why didn’t you answer? [Grabbing popcorn]]
Chen Lin’s heart skipped a beat. It seemed that part had been cut from the short video his dad shared.
The version Yunqing watched was obviously a more complete recording of the interview.
Chen Lin: [Didn’t Principal Chang say? It’s a private matter, so it’s not convenient to answer. [Doge]]
After sending that, he ignored the string of follow-up questions from Yunqing and decisively exited the chat window.
Next was the Yanhai Startup Squad WeChat group.
Sun Yu was the first to post a screenshot of a Weibo trending topic in the group: the glaring hashtag #YannanUniversityMathGeniusChenLin.
Sun Yu: [Boss is awesome!!! [Voice crack]]
Huang Yiyi: [President Chen is really famous now. Congratulations! [Rose]]
Yunqing: [@Boss Chen Lin! You’re famous! Isn’t it time to treat us?! [Bonk]]
The group was in a heated discussion, but Shen Yan, as always, remained silent.
Chen Lin looked at the lively group chat, in a great mood. Without a second thought, he sent a large 188-yuan red envelope into the group.
"The boss is so generous!"
"Thanks, Boss!"
"President Chen is mighty!"
The three who had been chatting all sent "thank you" stickers.
And just then, Shen Yan, who had been lurking, finally surfaced.
Shen Yan: [Thanks, Boss.]
Chen Lin smiled with satisfaction and casually opened his Weibo.
As expected, on the trending topics page, discussions about him had completely exploded. The comment section was a lively, chaotic mix of all sorts.
[Starting today, I’m going to study math! I’m turning off my phone and starting on math problems right now, and nobody can stop me! Not even Jesus if he showed up! I said it!]
[To the guy above, maybe turn off your phone first...]
[Yannan University is so rich... giving an undergrad a three-million startup fund right off the bat. I’m so jealous, I’m really so jealous!]
[Dream man!!! So handsome and talented! Starting today, you’re my new husband! (Heart) (Heart) (Heart)]
[Can a class rep give us a summary? So what field is the great god Chen Lin researching? Please leak the paper’s topic, I’m begging it doesn’t overlap with the one I’m planning to publish at the end of the year! Please! [Kneeling]]
[Your absolute best might not even be as good as someone else just messing around. (Doge) (Doge)]
Besides these typical exclamations and memes, some "insider" revelations also appeared in the comments section.
[This Chen Lin is the real deal. Back then, our School of Mathematics at Yanbei University tried to get him to transfer over, but he didn’t agree. Thinking about it now, him not coming to Yanbei was a huge loss!]
[For real? The person above is from Yanbei University?]
[Absolutely true! My advisor was just grumbling to me about it a few days ago. Said that even Academician Liang Tianshi personally stepped in to persuade Chen Lin to come to Yanbei for advanced studies.]
[Holy shit! A big shot of Academician Liang’s caliber thinks that highly of Chen Lin? So what happened?]
[Don’t know. Looks like they didn’t succeed. I originally thought that for a powerhouse of his level, only world-class math schools like Princeton or MIT would be his ultimate goal! But who would’ve thought, the guy just up and graduated on the spot!]
[What the person above said is actually pretty normal for a real genius! Things that mortals treasure beyond measure might really be things they can casually toss aside as insignificant!]
Of course, where there was praise, there was also no shortage of criticism and doubt.
Some said that Yannan University’s level of support for Chen Lin was too great, violating the principle of educational fairness. Others expressed that the media’s near-frenzied hype was a way of setting him up for a fall with praise, which would be detrimental to his future growth.
There were even some opportunists who popped out of nowhere, trying to use this moment to clean up the reputation of Yang Han, who had made a fool of himself at the modeling competition. But as soon as they appeared, they were drowned in the angry spit of netizens, treated like stray dogs on the street, and after a sound verbal thrashing, were completely ignored.
Chen Lin scrolled through these comments, finding them somewhat interesting, but not worthy of his particular attention.