Chapter 169 - 125: No Small Ambition
Imperial Capital. Inside the office building of the Mathematical Sciences Center at Huaqing University.
Every corner of the building was permeated with an air of rigor and solemnity.
The corridors were so quiet you could only hear your own footsteps. Portraits of giants from the history of mathematics hung on the walls, their black-and-white photos seemingly watching in silence as their successors walked by.
An elderly man with glasses, eyes slightly narrowed, and hair already gray, walked with a steady gait into the office on the top floor—the one with the best view and the largest space.
However, when he pushed open the heavy, solid wood door, he was surprised to find a figure already sitting quietly in the guest area. The person was holding a cup of clear tea and seemed to have been waiting for quite some time.
"Liang!"
The solemn expression on the old man’s face was instantly replaced by surprise and warmth. He strode forward, his voice tinged with apology. "You came to see me, why didn’t you call ahead?
I was just teaching a class for the kids at the Seeking Truth Academy. I’m so sorry to have kept you waiting this long. My apologies, my apologies!"
If anyone familiar with Qiu Chengtong were present at this moment, they would probably be so shocked to see his warm, familiar, and even somewhat humble demeanor that their jaws would drop to the floor.
Was this still the same Qiu Chengtong—the one known for his academic arrogance, whose standards for his graduate and doctoral students were so strict as to be nearly cruel, hailed as the greatest living Chinese mathematician?
Academician Liang Tianshi smiled and waved his hand, signaling that he shouldn’t worry about it.
"Nonsense," Liang Tianshi said, putting down his teacup with a look of genuine admiration on his face. "For a mathematician of your stature to still be willing to personally teach undergraduates... Forget waiting an hour, I’d be happy to wait an entire day!"
Hearing this, a sense of lament for the rarity of a true confidant flickered in Qiu Chengtong’s eyes.
A few years ago, he had resolutely given up his tenured position at Harvard University to return to Huaxia full-time and take up a post at Huaqing University. At the time, he had made an important proposal to the domestic education community. He hoped that accomplished mathematicians, in addition to mentoring graduate and doctoral students, would take on more responsibility for teaching basic undergraduate courses.
He led by example. After the establishment of this Mathematical Sciences Center named after him, despite being over seventy years old, he would unfailingly teach at least one undergraduate math course every semester.
Unfortunately, his proposal received very few takers in the country.
Aside from a few old professors and academicians like Liang Tianshi who had long since retired from the front lines of research and publicly voiced their support, the vast majority remained silent on the matter or paid lip service while doing the opposite.
Eventually, the matter was simply dropped and forgotten.
It was for this reason that Qiu Chengtong felt an even deeper, heartfelt respect and gratitude for his old friend, Liang Tianshi.
He knew that after Liang Tianshi retired, he had also been finding and nurturing outstanding young talents for Huaxia’s mathematics community in his own way. This shared dedication was something they had in common.
After exchanging a few pleasantries, Qiu Chengtong sat down on the main sofa and asked curiously, "Liang, what brings you all the way over to my place today?"
Liang Tianshi didn’t beat around the bush. He took a printed paper out of the briefcase he carried and placed it gently on the coffee table between them.
"Brother Qiu, I’d like to ask you to take a look at a paper."
"Oh?" Qiu Chengtong’s interest was piqued. He picked up the paper, his gaze first falling on the title and abstract.
[On the Boundary of Differential Manifolds in Generative Models and the Control of Hallucinations]
On the Boundary of Differential Manifolds in Generative Models and the Control of Hallucinations
Just from a glance at the title and abstract, a clear flicker of surprise flashed in Qiu Chengtong’s narrowed eyes.
He looked up, an amused smile on his face, and said to Liang Tianshi, "This author, Chen Lin, is quite ambitious. Using the framework of Differential Geometry to solve the hallucination problem in large models... that’s not an easy path to take. But... if he can actually produce some results, the value would be absolutely immeasurable."
Hearing this, a smile also appeared on Liang Tianshi’s face.
"I knew I brought this paper to the right person."
This statement was both a compliment and a fact.
In Liang Tianshi’s mind, he truly believed, ’If there is one person in the world today most qualified to evaluate this paper, it has to be Qiu Chengtong.’
Let alone Qiu Chengtong’s long and dazzling string of titles: Foreign Academician of the Huaxia National Academy of Sciences, Academician of the Great Beautiful Country Academy of Sciences, Professor Emeritus of the Mathematics and Physics Departments at Harvard University, Chair Professor at Huaqing University, Director of the Mathematical Sciences Center, and Dean of the Seeking Truth Academy.
On academic merit and achievements alone, Qiu Chengtong single-handedly developed systematic methods using partial differential equations within Differential Geometry, with an impact that spread across numerous fields of mathematics and physics, such as topology, algebraic geometry, general relativity, and representation theory.
It was no exaggeration to say that in the field of Differential Geometry, Qiu Chengtong was an undisputed grandmaster!
Liang Tianshi didn’t keep him in suspense. He took out his phone, played a short video, and handed it to Qiu Chengtong.
The video was a clip from an interview with Chen Lin that had recently gone viral.
Next, he vividly recounted the whole story of how, at the modeling competition, he had given Chen Lin a difficult problem on the spot, only for Chen Lin to solve it instantly.
Qiu Chengtong listened with great interest, the initial amusement in his eyes gradually being replaced by a feeling of curiosity.
"Oh? Such a thing happened?" After hearing Liang Tianshi’s story, the smile on his face widened. "From what you’re saying, this young man, Chen Lin, is indeed a rare and promising talent!"
As he spoke, he turned his gaze back to the paper in his hands. This time, his expression was clearly much more serious.
He began to read carefully, word by word, starting from the introduction.
As he read on, the smile on Qiu Chengtong’s face gradually faded.
In its place was an expression of growing seriousness.
Suddenly, as if a switch had been flipped, he shot up from the soft sofa, paper in hand, and strode over to sit behind his large mahogany desk.
"RATTLE—"
He quickly pulled open a drawer, taking out a stack of fresh scratch paper and his usual pen.
Without the slightest hesitation, he turned to the main body of the paper and, following the proof steps for the first key lemma, began to work through the calculations by hand on the scratch paper.
The tip of the pen met the paper, producing a crisp, rhythmic SCRITCH-SCRATCH sound.
Time seemed to stand still in that moment.
Liang Tianshi sat quietly on the sofa, raising his teacup for small sips. He made no sound, simply watching his old friend with a smile in his eyes.
Behind the desk, Qiu Chengtong’s brow furrowed deeper and deeper.
The speed of his pen grew faster and faster.
𝐟𝕣𝗲𝕖𝕨𝗲𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝗲𝚕.𝗰𝚘𝐦
Complex and exquisite mathematical symbols flowed from his pen, rigorously verifying the derivation process in the paper.
In his eyes, seriousness gradually turned into gravity.
’Correct...’
’The proof for this lemma is sound.’
He read on, beginning to verify the next core theorem.
’Correct...’
’The line of reasoning for this proof is unconventional, but the logic is impeccable. It’s also correct!’
When he saw how the author, in order to handle a boundary singularity in a high-dimensional space, cleverly introduced a non-linear partial differential equation as a supplementary solution method, even with his composure, a flash of utter shock couldn’t help but flicker in the depths of his narrowed eyes.
’Completely correct!!!’
’So... it can be done like this?!’
’This line of thinking is an absolute stroke of genius!’
The further he read, the more astounded Qiu Chengtong became.
The exquisitely brilliant proofs and the flashes of effortless, untraceable genius made him want to give a standing ovation in his mind!