Awakening Elementary School System in University

Time ticked by, second by second.

Outside the window, the bright white daylight gradually took on a warm, dusky yellow hue.

The afterglow of the setting sun streamed through the massive floor-to-ceiling windows, coating the entire office in a layer of gold.

CLICK.

With a soft sound, the pen in the old man’s hand finally came to a stop.

He had finished the last stroke of his verification, completely reconstructing the core ten-page derivation of the entire paper in his mind and on his scratch paper.

The office was still silent.

Qiu Chengtong didn’t say anything right away.

He just sat there quietly, gazing at the stack of scratch paper covered in his own handwriting, his eyes filled with a complex, unreadable emotion.

After a long moment, he slowly put down his pen, stood up, walked back to the sofa, and silently handed the paper back to Liang Tianshi.

A while longer passed before he seemed to snap out of his daze. In a tone filled with immense feeling, he said softly,

"The younger generation is truly formidable."

Hearing this assessment, a genuine smile finally broke out on Liang Tianshi’s wrinkled face.

He took the paper and looked at his old friend, sighing with the same heartfelt sentiment,

"Indeed. The younger generation is truly formidable."

...

October 9th, the first workday after the long National Day holiday.

After dragging himself back to Jinmen from his hometown in Jiangdu, Chen Lin crashed in his rented apartment for several hours before finally feeling human again.

He lay sprawled on his bed.

He was aimlessly scrolling through his phone, debating whether or not to show his face at the Yanhai Company office on the second floor of the co-working space the next morning, when the phone by his pillow suddenly started BUZZING.

The caller ID showed Professor Gu Ming.

Chen Lin jolted, instantly becoming wide awake, and quickly pressed the answer button.

On the other end of the line, Professor Gu Ming’s voice was as calm and gentle as ever. "Chen Lin? You just got back to the university, right? If it’s convenient, come by my office in two hours."

"Okay, okay, Professor Gu! I’ll be right over!"

After hanging up, Chen Lin shot up from the bed without a moment’s hesitation.

In a flash, he rushed into the bathroom to wash his face, changed into a set of clean clothes, grabbed his keys and phone, and dashed out the door, heading straight for Yannan University.

The night air was cool on the way to the university.

Chen Lin sat in the back of the ride-share and opened his family’s WeChat group, named "Our Loving Family."

In the group, his dad, Chen Xian, and his mom, Lin Xiaoqi, were chatting excitedly, sharing guides for various road trip routes. Their messages were filled with an irrepressible excitement and anticipation for the future.

Seeing this, a warm smile unconsciously tugged at the corners of Chen Lin’s mouth.

He hadn’t done much else during his trip home for National Day, other than taking the initiative to buy his family a new car.

As expected, when he brought up the idea, his parents were immediately and strongly against it.

His mom, Lin Xiaoqi, pleaded with him earnestly, "Son, your company is just starting out. This is when you need capital the most. How can you be so reckless with money! Our old car still runs fine, we don’t need a new one!"

Even his usually quiet father, Chen Xian, lectured him with a stern face, "In business, cash flow is your lifeline. Every penny has to be spent wisely."

Seeing his parents’ anxious expressions, so worried he would squander his money, Chen Lin felt both warm and amused.

He didn’t waste any more words. He just took out his phone and, right in front of them, cleanly transferred a million yuan to his father Chen Xian’s bank card.

Seeing the long string of numbers in the text message notification, his parents were stunned on the spot.

Only then did Chen Lin calmly explain that, with the university’s help, he had landed several major technical consulting projects for publicly listed companies. Tens of millions had been deposited into the company’s account, and as the boss, he had received a large cut.

This half-true explanation finally managed to convince his parents.

After all, no matter how rigorous and sharp his father was, he wasn’t so impartial that he would audit his own son’s company accounts.

Speaking of which, the one-million-yuan transfer had gone through with unusual smoothness. It didn’t trigger any of the bank’s risk control measures, not even a confirmation call. Chen Lin could only attribute this to a hidden feature of his [Little Financial Planner] title.

To the current Chen Lin, one million yuan was truly no longer a huge sum of money.

Just at the end of September, his [Little Financial Planner] title had settled its earnings again, depositing over seven million more in cash into his personal bank account. His total personal savings had now easily surpassed twelve million.

For the next few days, the family of three happily went around to various car dealerships to pick out a car.

Much to Chen Lin’s surprise, his mother, Lin Xiaoqi—who normally held the family’s purse strings and would shop around before buying even a single scallion—took a completely hands-off approach this time. She just smiled and said, "Your dad knows cars. Let’s listen to him."

Chen Lin himself had just gotten his license before the October holiday and was a "driver-in-name-only." His knowledge of cars was limited to that of an "online owner" who just watched review videos, so he was more than happy to stay out of it.

In the end, it was his father, Chen Xian, who made the final call. After extensive comparisons and test drives, he made the final decision: a top-of-the-line luxury model of a domestic all-electric SUV.

After placing the order, the salesperson said it would take at least a month for the car to be delivered. After helping pick out the interior and various options, Chen Lin didn’t stay any longer and headed back to the university early.

His thoughts returned to the present as the ride-share vehicle pulled up smoothly to the gates of Yannan University.

After paying the fare, Chen Lin walked onto campus.

Night had long since fallen, but the office building for the School of Mathematics was still brightly lit. The light pouring from its many windows was particularly striking in the darkness.

As Chen Lin walked, he mulled over why Professor Gu Ming would summon him so late at night. He already had a pretty good idea.

He took out his phone, opened his email app, and scrolled briefly through his inbox.

Sure enough, an official email from the JAMS editorial office was sitting there quietly.

He opened the email. What greeted him was a formally and rigorously worded acceptance letter.

"Dear Mr. Chen Lin: We are pleased to inform you that your manuscript, ’On the Boundary of Differential Manifolds and Hallucination Control in Generative Models,’ has successfully passed peer review and has been officially accepted by JAMS..."

Chen Lin glanced at the email’s timestamp and realized it had actually arrived two days ago. He must have missed it, exhausted from his travels back to Jinmen.

What he found incredible, however, was that from submission to acceptance, it had been less than a week, all told!

That speed was simply absurd!

This was one of the four top journals in the field of SCI mathematics! The typical review period was at least two to three months, and it wasn’t uncommon for it to take half a year or even a full year.

His paper had received rocket-like treatment, as if the JAMS editorial office was even more eager to publish it than he, the author, was.

Chen Lin couldn’t help but feel a little overwhelmed and flattered that his paper commanded so much respect.

He put away his phone and walked quickly into the office building, expertly navigating his way to the front of Professor Gu Ming’s office.

KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK.

"Come in."

Chen Lin pushed the door open and went inside.

The office was brightly lit. Besides Professor Gu, there was a young man who looked to be about twenty-four or twenty-five sitting behind another desk against the wall.

The young man wore a pair of black-framed glasses and had a calm demeanor. He was facing a computer screen, his fingers flying across the keyboard as if he were writing code.

Seeing Chen Lin enter, Professor Gu put down his pen, a gentle smile appearing on his face. He then said to the young man beside him,

"Ni, pause for a moment and get your junior brother a glass of water."

The graduate student called Ni heard this, immediately pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose, and stood up without a word.

Seeing this, Chen Lin quickly waved his hands and said politely, "Professor Gu, there’s no need to trouble my senior. I can get it myself."

"No, no, no, it’s no trouble! No trouble at all!"

But to his surprise, the graduate student named Ni was unusually enthusiastic. He took a clean glass from the cabinet without asking, strode over to Chen Lin, and placed the cup firmly on the coffee table.

Then, he picked up the electric kettle from the table and, while pouring the water, looked at Chen Lin with an expression of near-worship and said respectfully,

"Serving tea to the master."

Chen Lin: "..."