Li Jian Gao felt somewhat dazed.
To say the least, without the aid of a computer, just the complex calculation process alone, would take an entire day, if not more.
How long had this child been in the room?
Three minutes? Five minutes?
And he was so confidently claiming that he had already figured it out?
Moreover, what did that undisguised contempt in his eyes mean?
Well, setting aside whether Qiao Ze's calculations were correct or not.
Being able to say what he just did already meant that the kid truly could understand the paper.
After all, this was something that couldn't be faked.
Firstly, the two of them had clearly chosen the wrong person;
Secondly, the paper was something he had printed on a whim last night, and before today, he didn't know the two people in front of him at all, nor could he have anticipated that he would be reading this paper this morning;
Thirdly, even if one had come prepared, understanding this paper would still require an extremely solid foundation in mathematical knowledge.
Li Jian Gao was thirty-six years old this year.
Having studied at Xilin University's School of Mathematics from his teenage years, then pursuing a doctorate at Huaxia's Harbin Institute of Technology, and moving on to join the workforce, he had spent nearly twenty years on mathematics to just barely reach this threshold.
But how old was this kid before him really?
"Have you self-studied Group Theory?" Li Jian Gao asked suspiciously.
However, the youth, as if he hadn't heard Li Jian Gao's question, countered with, "Are there many in the university who can understand this kind of paper?"
Li Jian Gao curled his lip but still honestly replied, "Actually, not a lot. But relative to other places, you could say it's quite a few. After all, most of the people who read these papers are also concentrated in universities and various research institutes."
"Oh."
The youth nodded, then commented, "The university students and professors I've seen are all quite stupid which makes me not want to talk to them. I thought all universities were filled with idiots."
"You kid, don't call teachers stupid! Where have you seen any serious university professors? As I've told you, those you've met are recruitment teachers—you know? They are only responsible for admissions, not for teaching! Uh... except for Teacher Yu! Although Teacher Yu is also a recruitment teacher, he can understand the paper, so he's definitely not stupid."
The woman beside anxiously scolded, starting to speak without filtering her thoughts.
Really, at this moment, Lu Xiuxiu's heart was almost shattered!
She had just seen that the teacher seemed to be a bit interested in her child, and Qiao Ze had even taken the initiative to speak to the teacher—all was heading in a good direction. Who could have imagined that before they could talk a bit more, the kid started causing trouble again.
If you call teachers stupid, which teacher would like your child?!
Li Jian Gao just gave a bitter smile.
He thought he understood why this child would even be excluded from something like representing his school in a competition.
This was a child truly burdened with severe difficulty in normal communication with others.
But this kid's talent was also truly exceptional.
To have thoroughly learned Group Theory at the high school level, even Einstein would have admitted feeling inferior.
For a moment, this left Li Jian Gao in a quandary.
After all, he was just an ordinary associate professor who had recently been promoted from lecturer after passing the 3+3, and he had just gotten a firm foothold in the school, not to mention having much clout when it came to admissions.
This time in Xingcheng, he was here to attend an academic conference and, since it happened to be nearby, he checked into the hotel where the admissions staff usually stayed.
It was because Yu unexpectedly had a friend come over last night, but the seventh floor was fitted with king-size beds, which were inconvenient for two men, so they simply swapped with the double room on the fourth floor, leading to today's coincidence.
So Li Jiangao glanced at the boy who had once again focused on his paper and directly motioned for Lu Xiuxiu to sit down.
"It's fine, parent, please take a seat first. Let's do this, I'll just broadly ask about the child's situation. You said his grades in other subjects are poor, how poor are we talking?"
Seeing Li Jiangao's approach, Lu Xiuxiu, as if finding a pillar of strength, began speaking nonstop, "Report, Teacher. The child's first choice is physics, and currently in both mathematics and physics, he can consistently achieve full marks. But his highest score in Chinese is just over sixty, and in English he usually scores around thirty. For other subjects, he often feels disinterested and outright submits blank answer sheets."
Li Jiangao scratched his head as he suddenly realized that the paper Qiao Ze was reading was in pure English.
A child who could smoothly read a pure English mathematics paper could only score in the thirties for English?
"Wait, I can understand if his grades in other subjects are low, but his English?"
When Li Jiangao said this, Lu Xiuxiu began to complain bitterly, "Oh my, don't get me started, Teacher Yu, you don't know. And it's not just English—his Chinese isn't bad either, but he just can't do reading comprehension or compose essays, and he has always submitted blank papers in exams. Even talks with the principal haven't helped. It's the same with English—he dislikes the quality of the listening tapes so much that he just refuses to do the listening portion. In fact, when he watches English movies in their original version, he never chooses ones with subtitles."
Li Jiangao realized, indeed, this was a problem that needed solving!
But then again, if this kid didn't have this problem, he probably wouldn't have ended up with the parent bringing him straight to his room today. If he had even a bit of normalcy, a bunch of top-tier college professors would have already lured him away.
However, it didn't end there. Quite suddenly, he noticed the parent across him getting fidgety again.
"Does the child have any other issues? Tell me everything in detail," Li Jiangao pressed.
He no longer cared that this parent kept incorrectly calling him Teacher Yu.
"It's that he can only score full marks in mathematics and physics if the teacher who sets the questions makes them challenging enough. If he feels there's not a single question that meets his expectations, he might intentionally submit a blank answer sheet. You see, since he was little, he lost his father and is very stubborn. I have spoken to him with all the patience in the world a million times, but he just doesn't listen," Lu Xiuxiu cautiously explained.
No sooner had she finished speaking than Li Jiangao was about to inwardly sigh when Qiao Ze, who had been reading his paper, suddenly said, "It's not intentional, it's just that working on too many stupid questions can affect one's mood and intelligence, the same way talking to a very stupid person can."
Li Jiangao instinctively turned to look at Qiao Ze and noticed the kid was still bowing his head, seemingly engrossed in the paper, without glancing their way at all.
Well, it seemed they had a multitasking genius on their hands.
What Li Jiangao didn't know was that the boy reading the paper was feeling even more aggrieved at the time.
Whenever there were exams, if the questions were too simple, the characters and symbols on the test papers would seem to him like little figures dancing around, preventing him from answering the questions.
Yet this was something Qiao Ze had never told anyone, including Lu Xiuxiu, let alone Li Jiangao.
After hesitating for a moment, Li Jiangao made a decision, "Parent, I have a rough understanding of the child's situation, but I still have to tell you that I'm not Teacher Yu and I'm not in charge of admissions. Actually, I am a professor from Xilin University of Technology Mathematics Institute, my name is Li Jiangao."
Having said this and without waiting for Lu Xiuxiu's quick response, he spoke again, "However, Qiao Ze's situation is quite unique, and I can see he is indeed very talented in mathematics and physics. But I can't give you any guarantees right now.
Look, I'm here in Xingcheng to attend an academic conference and will be staying for about three more days. If you trust me, you can let your child follow me for these days, and after I get to know him a bit deeper, we can see if there's a way to enroll him early into the school through autonomous admission or at least make some recommendations for him."
After hearing this reply, Lu Xiuxiu was stunned for a moment and then replied with some difficulty, "Professor Li, thank you so much, but could I stay by his side? It's not that I don't trust you, I'm just afraid that the child might offend people too easily with his way of speaking without thinking."
"What? Are you planning to stay by his side even when he goes to university, or pursues his doctorate? Parent, boys have to become independent eventually," Li Jiangao shook his head and said with a frown, "Actually, all universities don't really like students who can't take care of themselves, no matter how talented they are."
"Then... Maybe ask the child..."
There was no need to ask, as the young man initiated the conversation himself, "If I follow you, will I meet many intelligent people?"
Li Jiangao sniffled and responded honestly, "Well, that depends on what kind of intelligent you mean. Although there aren't many as bright as the author of the paper you're reading, there are a few. Certainly more than you've met in high school."