The handover went quite smoothly.
Lu Xiuxiu hesitantly expressed a desire to meet with Teacher Yu, and Li Jian Gao, seeing the mother's anxiety, took the initiative to call for Yu and, in front of Lu Xiuxiu, had Yu open a room for Qiao Ze. He decisively took out his work badge and the proof of attendance for the conference, showed them to Lu Xiuxiu, and left her his mobile number, even adding each other on WeChat.
Only then did this respectable mother feel completely at ease, and after repeatedly instructing Qiao Ze, she left the hotel satisfied.
In fact, given the choice, she wouldn't want to be with Qiao Ze every day.
After all, she still had to earn money to support the family, but what could she do with her hard luck? Saddled with a short-lived husband and burdened with such a child.
...
Li Jian Gao asked Qiao Ze to stay in the room and read papers, while he and Teacher Yu escorted Lu Xiuxiu all the way to the hotel entrance. It wasn't until after they saw the mother leave the hotel that Yu Chenggong curiously asked, "Professor Li, what's the deal with this kid? Is he worth keeping here specially?"
"You should know, right? They came specifically for you, said they were referred by their high school teacher."
"Don't get me started. I had to give face to Zhou, didn't I? Last year, he convinced several good prospects to apply to our school. But Zhou also said, this kid is mentally ill, severely so, and he was at his wit's end with the mother, so he came to me, asking me to consider the situation. I planned to just go through the motions and then send them back, but I got caught up chatting with a friend last night and forgot. They arrived without even giving me a call…"
"Yeah, it's because he's ill that I kept him. Otherwise, they wouldn't have come to us at all. You might not believe it, but I don't know much about other aspects of this child, yet his mastery in mathematics might be higher than mine. Of course, it could also be a form of mathematical intuition."
"Talent, huh... Wait, what did you say? Mastery? Not just talent?"
"Yes, mastery! At least in terms of his understanding of Group Theory." Li Jian Gao nodded confidently; he didn't mind singing Qiao Ze's praises in front of Yu Chenggong. After all, the other was a recruitment teacher and could be helpful.
Yu Chenggong swallowed, knowing full well what it meant for a student's mathematical proficiency to surpass that of an associate professor at the School of Mathematics. This kid was a treasure...
"Zhou really wasn't being fair, huh? He just mentioned over the phone that the kid is pretty good at math and physics."
Li Jian Gao thought about the child's behavior and could somewhat understand Qiao Ze's thought processes.
Probably thought their Teacher Zhou was a fool too, not deigning to showcase his talents before these idiots.
But then again, in a high school environment, indeed no one could keep up with the train of thought of such a child.
Consequently, he shook his head and explained, "It might not be that he's being unfair, it's just this kid... anyway, you'll understand after a few words with him upstairs."
...
In fact, even if Li Jian Gao hadn't mentioned it, Yu Chenggong was planning to go up and see for himself what a child who outperformed a university associate professor in mathematics was truly capable of.
Although he had been a recruitment teacher for over ten years, having traveled all over the country and seen many talented children, he had never encountered a student with such an extensive mathematical knowledge at the high school stage. Not even the winners of the world math olympiads could have commanded such an evaluation from a bona fide professor of a 985 university.
So, five minutes later, Yu Chenggong witnessed it for himself.
"Hello, Qiao Ze, right? You should recognize me by now, I'm the Teacher Yu you were originally looking for."
Qiao Ze sat there quietly, no longer reading papers, his eyes gazing straight ahead as if emitting light, yet he didn't acknowledge the enthusiastic recruitment teacher in front of him.
Awkward...
"Cough cough..."
Li Jiangao cleared his throat twice and said, "Well... Qiao Ze, if you really want to communicate with many intelligent people whom you desire to talk to, you must first learn to deal with people like Yu, who may seem less intelligent to you but are actually stronger than you in many ways."
The words were said with tact, but Yu Chenggong, who had been around for more than a decade, still felt a subconscious blush creep onto his weathered face.
The damned IQ killer.
What almost made Yu Chenggong vomit blood was that the kid did indeed react, naively asking, "Why?"
Does that mean he's really that dumb?
"For example, there are often academic conferences in the world where the brightest minds come together to exchange ideas that could change the world. But if you want to attend, you'll need someone like Yu to arrange a series of things for you. Someone to schedule your itinerary according to your time, coordinate with the organizing committee about your speaking slot, book flights, book hotels, and handle all sorts of other trivial matters, right?"
Qiao Ze retorted, "Can't Lu Xiuxiu do these things?"
Li Jiangao was taken aback for a moment before he realized that Lu Xiuxiu was the child's mother, and then patiently explained like a father, "But your mother isn't part of this circle. Does she have access to this information? Does she know even one person on the organizing committee? Can she communicate fluently in different languages with international staff?"
Qiao Ze thought for a moment, and it seemed that he accepted Li Jiangao's words. Then he turned slightly to look at Yu Chenggong, who was too embarrassed for words, and innocently said, "Hello, so you understand all of what Teacher Li just mentioned, right?"
Yu Chenggong wanted to vomit blood.
But Li Jiangao showed a satisfied smile.
See, the kid can be reasoned with after all! He's not impervious to persuasion as his mother describes.
Li Jiangao absolutely couldn't imagine that this was only because Qiao Ze had categorized him as a fool who was barely competent for communication, which was why he was somewhat willing to talk to him at all. If he knew that, he probably wouldn't feel so smug.
In Qiao Ze's extremely simple model of interpersonal communication, Li Jiangao indeed was the first person he encountered in his fledgling life with whom he could engage in some ineffective communication. Just as Li Jiangao had envisioned, Qiao Ze did indeed have a desire to communicate; he just wasn't willing to waste too much talk on those he deemed absolute fools.
Moreover, at this point, both of them didn't realize that the absence of fatherly love had rendered Qiao Ze's growth trajectory incomplete. Li Jiangao's appearance was starting to fill some of those gaps for the boy, making him subconsciously more willing to listen a bit longer.
Of course, it was just a bit longer for now, no more than that.
"Haha, Mr. Yu, don't be modest now. These are all your specialties," Li Jian Gao said with a wink to Yu Chenggong, seeing that everything was moving in a positive direction.
What to do?
The smooth admissions officer decided to swallow the blood in his throat and squeezed out a smile, saying, "That's right, we specialize in dealing with people, so we do understand some of this."
Qiao Ze nodded, then said matter-of-factly, "Good, then you help me take care of these matters when I go to communicate with normal people."
Qiao Ze then glanced at Li Jiangao, whose expression was complex, and feeling that something seemed amiss, fell silent for a moment before squeezing out another rare phrase: "Oh right, thank you."