Chapter 192 - 187: An Announcement
The Comment that Zhou Shenzhi posted caused a much bigger stir in the community than he had anticipated.
The reason was simple.
Li Dong’s paper on Montgomery’s Conjecture on Association, though it had already been published in the *Mathematical Annals* with Tao Zhexuan and Katz as reviewers and was completely self-consistent in its logic...
But...
The leaps in reasoning within the paper were truly baffling to many readers.
There is a subtle, unspoken agreement in the world of mathematics.
When a paper is published in one of the top four journals, and the reviewers’ names carry enough weight to dwarf 99% of the people in the field...
Even if you don’t understand it, you don’t say so publicly.
It’s a matter of basic academic decorum.
The editorial board and reviewers of *Annals* have already verified it for you.
If you, an associate professor specializing in partial differential equations, were to jump out and say, "I think there are a few steps in the proof of Montgomery’s Conjecture on Association that I don’t understand," the first reaction from others in academic circles wouldn’t be that the paper has a problem, but that your own skills are lacking.
So, everyone mostly discussed it in private.
"Did you see that logical leap in Chapter Four, Section Two?"
"I did. I spent two days on it and couldn’t derive it."
"Me neither."
"But *Annals* published it..."
"Right, *Annals* published it."
And that was the end of it.
No one would ever say such things in a public forum.
But now, things were different.
Zhou Shenzhi was not some nobody.
He was a professor at the Capital University Mathematics Science College, a direct disciple of Jiang Yubai, who had published several significant papers on the Langlands Program.
By stepping forward to post a Comment, he gave everyone a convenient out.
’It’s not that my skills are insufficient to understand it; it’s that even Professor Zhou Shenzhi thinks this part needs further explanation.’
And so, overnight, the academic world suddenly came alive with discussion.
More and more Comments began to appear on arXiv.
Some were further, more detailed discussions on the three logical leaps Zhou Shenzhi had pointed out.
Others used the opening Zhou Shenzhi had created to find even more parts they couldn’t understand in other Chapters of the paper.
Some overseas scholars, who had a subtly competitive relationship with the Huaxia academic community, also took advantage of the trend to post similar reviews.
Their wording was polite enough, with phrases like "hoping the author can provide a more detailed explanation of the following steps," or "suggesting the author consider adding the intermediate derivations in a future erratum."
But the meaning was the same.
I don’t understand it. Explain it to me.
In the end, after filtering out minor questions that were easily dismissed, a total of thirteen representative leaps in logic and technical questions requiring a formal response from the author were compiled.
It wasn’t a huge number, but it wasn’t small either.
But for a paper in the *Mathematical Annals*, it was enough to trigger an academic earthquake.
Moreover, the situation continued to escalate.
New discussion threads popped up daily on MathOverflow and major mathematics forums.
Some savvy academic-focused social media accounts also started to follow up, their headlines growing more and more exaggerated:
[19-Year-Old Genius’s Paper Faces Thirteen Questions—Biggest Controversy in the History of the *Mathematical Annals*?]
[Zhou Shenzhi’s Comment Stirs Academic Storm—Can Li Dong Emerge Unscathed?]
And Li Dong, the man at the center of the storm, was currently standing in the arrivals hall of Terminal T3 at Capital International Airport.
...
"Xiaodong!"
Li Qin emerged from the crowd, pulling a small suitcase.
She seemed to have lost a little more weight since Li Dong last saw her, and the fine lines at the corners of her eyes had deepened.
"Mom."
Li Dong walked over and took the suitcase from Li Qin’s hand.
Li Qin sized him up for a few moments, then suddenly frowned.
"How did you get so skinny?"
Li Dong rolled his eyes, exasperated.
"Mom, it’s called getting taller."
"You can get taller and skinnier at the same time. The two aren’t mutually exclusive."
Li Qin reached out and squeezed his arm, tut-tutting.
"Look at this arm, it’s like a beanpole. You haven’t been eating properly at school again, have you?"
"I eat at the cafeteria every day. Two dishes and rice for every meal, sometimes with soup."
"What good is adding soup? You need to eat meat!"
Li Dong carried the suitcase for Li Qin as they walked out, still trying to defend himself.
"I do! I order braised pork belly and spicy chicken every day."
"Spicy chicken every day? Can your stomach handle that? You’ve had a sensitive stomach since you were little..."
Li Dong felt he couldn’t win an argument with his mom, so he decided to just drop it.
Once they were out of the terminal, Li Qin shrank back from the cold.
"Capital City is so cold."
"Yeah, it’s much colder than Rongcheng." Li Dong took off his own scarf and wrapped it around her.
"Let’s go, Mom. I’ll take you to the hotel to drop off your luggage first, then we can go look around my school."
Li Qin nodded, then said, as if it were nothing.
"Xiaodong, Mom’s planning to stay for about half a month this time."
Li Dong’s steps faltered slightly.
’Visit me? Does she need half a month for that?’
’And with Li Yang away from the factory, she’s the only one overseeing things. Can she really leave it for half a month?’
’Unless...’
’There’s something she has to resolve before the New Year.’
Li Dong didn’t press her about it right then.
"Half a month is great, Mom. My winter break is starting anyway, so I can show you around."
He tentatively probed.
"Mom, is something wrong at the factory?"
Li Qin immediately waved her hands dismissively.
"No, no, the factory’s fine. Even though your uncle left for training, I’ve arranged all the necessary procedures, and my assistant can hold down the fort for a while."
"Then..."
Li Qin cut him off, annoyed.
"I said nothing’s wrong, so nothing’s wrong! I came to see you, and you’re already tired of me? Fine, I’ll buy a ticket and go right back."
"No, no, of course not!" Li Dong quickly put on a placating smile.
"Let’s go, let’s go. I’ll take you to see my school. The Yan University campus is beautiful."
Only then did Li Qin huff and follow him forward.
But Li Dong was already certain.
’Mom definitely has something on her mind.’
’And... it’s probably not a small matter.’
...
The two had just reached the subway station when Li Dong’s phone suddenly rang.
He pulled it out and looked.
Tian Gang.
"Hello, Teacher Tian."
On the other end of the line, Tian Gang’s cheerful voice came through.
"Li Dong, there’s something I need to tell you."
"Okay, go ahead."
"Zhou Shenzhi posted a Comment on arXiv regarding your Montgomery paper. You know about that, right?"
Li Dong paused for a second.
"A Comment? What Comment?"
The other end of the line went silent for two seconds.
Tian Gang sighed.
"...You haven’t checked your email again, have you?"
"Heh heh."
Tian Gang didn’t dwell on the issue and simply explained the situation.
As Li Dong listened, his expression gradually changed.
First, he was taken aback, then his expression turned peculiar.
Tian Gang continued.
"Kid, are you feeling confident? Want to go big and let me organize a special seminar for you?"
Li Dong thought for a few seconds. *Annals* had mentioned organizing an event for him before but hadn’t specified a time. Besides, he couldn’t be bothered to go abroad, so he smiled pleasantly.
"Alright, Teacher Tian. I’ll leave it to you to set the time."
"Good, good, that works."
He hung up.
Li Qin had been watching him the whole time.
She didn’t know what was said on the phone, but she saw Li Dong’s face change several times in just a few minutes, like watching a face-changing opera.
"What’s wrong, Xiaodong?"
Li Dong turned his head and smiled at Li Qin.
"Mom, want to see your son give a speech on stage?"
Li Qin smiled back.
"Of course I do."
...
「One hour later.」
An announcement appeared simultaneously on the Yan University homepage, the Beijing University School of Mathematical Sciences website, the Beijing International Center for Mathematical Research (BICMR) website, the Huaxia Mathematical Society’s official social media account, the Huaxia Industrial and Applied Mathematics Society’s (CSIAM) official social media account, and the global academic push channels of arXiv and MathOverflow.
[Special Seminar on the Complete Systematic Analysis of the "Proof of Montgomery’s Conjecture on Association for the Interval |α|∈[0,4]"]
[Organizers: Yan University School of Mathematical Sciences, Beijing International Center for Mathematical Research (BICMR)]
[Supporting Organizations: Huaxia Mathematical Society, Huaxia Industrial and Applied Mathematics Society (CSIAM)]
[Seminar Theme: This workshop will completely reproduce the entire core derivation process of the paper, supplement all technical details, and publicly respond to all academic comments and questions from the community regarding this achievement.]
[Keynote Speaker: Li Dong, Undergraduate Student, Yan University Yuanpei College]
[Academic Committee Chairman: Tian Gang, Academician of the Huaxia Academy of Sciences, Director of the Beijing International Center for Mathematical Research (BICMR)]
[Academic Committee Member: Liu Ruochuan, Dean of the Beijing University School of Mathematical Sciences]
[Distinguished Guests: Arthur Penrose, Professor at the Department of Mathematics, Princeton University (Attendance Confirmed)]
[Tao Zhexuan, Professor at the Department of Mathematics, University of California, Los Angeles, Fields Medalist (Attendance Confirmed)]
[Zhang Yitang, Professor at the Department of Mathematics, University of California, Santa Barbara (Attendance Confirmed)]
[Yuan Yaxiang, Academician of the Huaxia Academy of Sciences, former President of the Huaxia Mathematical Society (Attendance Confirmed)]
[Zhang Wenping, Academician of the Huaxia Engineering Academy, President of the Huaxia Industrial and Applied Mathematics Society (Attendance Confirmed)]
[Target Audience: Scholars, faculty, and students worldwide in fields related to Analytic Number Theory, Algebraic Number Theory, and the Langlands Program.]
[In-person attendance is limited (pre-registration required). The event will be broadcast live globally with simultaneous interpretation in both Chinese and English.]
The moment this announcement was released,
the entire mathematics community was in an uproar.
A seminar of this scale? People hadn’t just never seen one; they’d never even heard of such a thing.
But before everyone could recover from their shock,
the BICMR website updated with a supplementary announcement:
"The Academic Committee has confirmed that Fields Medalist Mr. Qiu Chengtong has accepted the invitation and will attend this special seminar as a distinguished guest."
Qiu Chengtong.
The moment this name appeared,
everyone was stunned.
It wasn’t just because of Qiu Chengtong’s academic standing.
It was because of...
the relationship between Qiu Chengtong and Tian Gang.
This was no secret in the mathematics world.
The conflict between the two went back a long way—from academic disagreements to personnel disputes, from open letters to debates in the media, it had escalated to a nearly irreconcilable point.
Everyone in the mathematics world knew that Qiu Chengtong and Tian Gang hadn’t appeared at the same academic event for many years.
But now...
Tian Gang was the chairman of the academic committee.
Qiu Chengtong had accepted the invitation.
Two men who had had such a public falling out were willing to appear at the same seminar.
What on earth could make these two set aside a grudge that had lasted for years?
There was only one answer.
Li Dong.