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Chapter 89 No comparison, no harm

Xiaozhou, Yujiang University.

Xue Song really closed his eyes, sat in his seat, took three deep breaths in succession, and after calming down his emotions, he downloaded Qiao Yu's paper from his mailbox.

If Qiao Yu saw this scene, he would probably know how angry Old Xue was just now.

But what can we do? The selection process between supervisors and students is a two-way process. Even if the students we recruit have a messy paper, we still have to read it and even help them revise it.

Qiao Yu was right about one thing. Xue Song didn't have high expectations for the paper Qiao Yu submitted to him for the first time. He had already lowered his expectations unconsciously. As long as the logic was coherent and there were not too many obvious mistakes, it would be fine.

Only after he calmed down completely did Xue Song open Qiao Yu's paper.

……

He had already decided on the title for Qiao Yu, so there was nothing much to say. The abstract and introduction were well written, and there was nothing wrong with them. This also made Xue Song unconsciously relax his frown.

Considering that Qiao Yu was only in the first year of high school, he even gave an excellent grade to the abstract and introduction.

Although the abstract and introduction do not account for a large proportion of the paper, in fact, for many students, this part is actually a more difficult part.

After all, these two parts need to use highly refined language to summarize the core content and main conclusions of the entire paper, while also showing the difference between this paper and other similar papers to attract other researchers to read.

So it is also very particular. In Xue Song's opinion, being able to write in a standard way is at least at the doctoral level.

For example, the abstract and introduction written by his master's student are completely irrelevant. The structure and method of the paper are really not outstanding at all. Qiao Yu has already made a highly concise summary of the structure of the entire paper in the introduction.

This is actually very important because it allows readers to have a general impression and expectation of the following content.

After feeling that Qiao Yu's paper was okay, Xue Song did not continue to read it in one breath. Instead, he stood up, stretched his body casually, and refilled the empty teacup with water. Then he sat back in front of the computer and continued to read Qiao Yu's paper.

Qiao Yu sent him the document directly, and he could comment on any problems he encountered. This was more efficient than manually circling the printed document.

Some professors are still used to and insist on reading paper versions of papers, and all papers will be printed before reading. In fact, Xue Song often does this, but that is usually when he does not need to make special processing or give reading opinions.

Obviously he did not think that the paper that Qiao Yu submitted to him for the first time did not require any comments from him.

Then he began to read the paper quietly.

He subconsciously moved the mouse with one hand, occasionally pausing on a certain interface for a moment, thinking seriously, and then slowly sliding the mouse, unconsciously immersed in it. In this way, Xue Song sat in the office from 2 pm to 5 pm, until the paper gave the conclusion and outlook, as well as the list of cited literature.

Yes, it took Xue Song more than three hours to read through the paper that Qiao Yu sent him in one breath, without even touching the keyboard with his hands.

Then he just sat there in a daze.

As far as I can remember, he didn't even notice the grammatical errors? Well, maybe he was still picking out problems as a tutor in the first half of the article, but in the second half he was reading a paper normally, so he didn't notice it?
But after reading through a paper written by a high school student, he couldn't find any comments he could make? He even felt that he benefited a lot from it? Maybe he would even cite some of the content in his next paper?

Did you really learn this sophisticated essay writing technique by yourself?

Xue Song still remembers that when he was an undergraduate at Princeton, he started writing his first paper in his sophomore year and his teacher pointed out a lot of mistakes.

After letting out a long sigh, Xue Song stood up, stretched his body, then picked up his phone and called Qiao Yu again.

After ringing about a dozen times, the call was finally connected.

"Hoo... Professor Xue, hoo... hello."

"What are you doing?"

"I was tired from reading papers this afternoon. Phew... I just ran to the playground and caught up with my classmates playing basketball during the physical education break."

Physical education break? Playing basketball? Such an unfamiliar term.

The nostalgic high school life! No... that's not the point.

"Let me ask you, did you ask someone else to revise and polish your paper?"

"No ah!"

"You didn't ask your thesis tutor for help either?"

"Really? Professor Xue, the summary document you sent me is already clear enough. How could I waste that money? Besides, can't you just help me revise it? Do you think my paper is good?"

Xue Song didn't know what to say.

More than good!
If he wasn't afraid that the young man on the other end of the phone would be too proud, he would have just praised this paper to bits!
Being able to write a textbook-like paper in the first try is incredible.

Some people are already graduate students, and the papers they write make him want to kill someone! Some people are still high school students, but they can already write very beautiful papers that can be submitted directly without any revision by the tutor.

The gap between them is so big that it’s like comparing the IQ of humans and dogs, right?

Three seconds later, Xue Song finally said, "Yes, the paper is very well written! At least 10,000 times better than some of your seniors! But you can't compare with him."

"That's good. Actually, I finished writing the paper the day before yesterday. I was just afraid that there would be omissions, so I read it more than ten times and revised all the parts that didn't flow smoothly or were not clearly explained."

Xue Song was somewhat emotional, and then asked, "Have you read the paper written by your senior brother that I sent you?"

"Eh? I only read five pages and then stopped. The main reason is that the symbols in his paper are a bit confusing. L represents the grid point set, and then it represents the Laplace matrix. My understanding of mathematics is not that deep, so I can't really understand what the senior brother wants to express."

Xue Song said calmly: "No, you have to keep reading even if you don't understand it. Your self-study ability is enough for you to understand those concepts that you haven't touched yet. Reading excellent papers can improve your ability. Reading a bad paper can alert you and prevent you from making similar mistakes in the future.

So this task is given to you. Read through your senior's paper, revise the parts you think have problems, and give your review opinions. Do you understand? This is the only way for your future academic research. An excellent scholar must also be an excellent reviewer. "

This time it was the other party's turn to be silent.

After a while, Xue Song heard the voice on the other side ask in an uncertain tone: "Um... Teacher Xue, are you serious? It's not right for me to review my senior's paper, right? Really, I don't care, I will definitely listen to your request, but what if my senior loses face?"

After hearing this, Xue Song laughed and said, "Him? Face? What face does he want? If he wanted a little face, he wouldn't have written this article! Fortunately, he let me review it first. If he submitted it like this and put my name on it, I would have shot him!

It's been almost two months, and you've only handed me this. You're still talking about face? I now suspect that he's a part-time master! Anyway, I'll leave this to you. As for your paper, it's not a big problem. I'll help you submit it. Don't worry about anything else, just wait for the paper to be published."

After saying that, Xue Song didn't even give Qiao Yu a chance to speak and hung up the phone again.

Then he sat back in his seat, and when he looked at the paper on the computer, he became angrier and angrier, and suddenly he even felt reluctant to give up such a good seedling.

Even if he could produce a hundred doctoral students in the future, it might not be as good as a student like Qiao Yu.

But he couldn't bear to think about his own affairs...

So I sighed in my heart, and was about to open my email to submit my article directly, but suddenly my eyes returned to my phone.

After sitting there and thinking carefully for a moment, Xue Song picked up his mobile phone and found a call.

This address book number represents one of the most outstanding academic leaders in the contemporary Chinese mathematics community. Although there are some controversies surrounding him, his importance in the Chinese mathematics community is obvious.

It almost perfectly met Xue Song's requirements for helping Qiao Yu choose a mentor.

He got this number because he was invited to be one of the examiners of the Xiaolibaba Mathematics Competition, and this big guy was listed on the organizing committee of the competition. The two of them had the honor of meeting once, and then they left their numbers.

Xue Song found the name of Academician Tian Yanzhen on the address book interface. He hesitated for a long time before resolutely clicking the dial button.

Good people should do their best. If Qiao Yu can be taken seriously now, there will be fewer variables in the future. And it won't hurt to try calling. At most, he will just refuse to answer.

Xue Song was thinking to himself, but what he didn't expect was that the call was connected after the prompt tone on his side rang three times, which was faster than when Qiao Yu answered the phone just now.

"Hello, this is Tian Yanzhen..." It's confirmed that the boss didn't save his number. He answered his call probably because this number is very private and not open to the public.

"Hello, Professor Tian, ​​I am Xue Song from Yujiang University."

"Oh, Professor Xue, hello, what's up?"

"It's like this. Do you still remember Qiao Yu, the one who played in the number theory track of this year's Xiaolibaba Mathematics Competition?"

"That junior high school student? Haha, of course I remember him. Several of my students sent me the video of their interview with him. He's a very interesting kid."

Hearing laughter coming from the other side, Xue Song felt that the situation was even more interesting.

This shows that the boss has an impression of Qiao Yu.

Xue Song had also watched Qiao Yu's interview video. At the time, he just thought that this little guy was really too proud of himself. He really didn't expect that Tian Yanzhen's students also paid attention to it, and more than one sent it to their tutor.

Of course, given this big man's status in the academic world, the students he mentioned are most likely not current students. Many of them are already professors at major well-known universities in China, or researchers at research institutes.

It is quite normal to communicate with teachers and share some interesting stories.

Xue Song remembered that Tian Yanzhen had also served as a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Princeton University. Coincidentally, both schools were mentioned in Qiao Yu's interview, which was probably the reason why Qiao Yu's interview video was shared by students.

Thinking about it this way, Qiao Yu's luck is really good, it was an unexpected success.

So he immediately struck while the iron was hot and said, "Yes, that's him. This kid is a little ignorant, but he recently completed a paper almost entirely on his own without any guidance, and the quality of the paper shocked me."

"Oh? You were already involved in scientific research in high school? You completed a paper independently? Or did you choose the topic yourself?"

Sure enough, big guys are also curious, but the questions they raise do get to the heart of the matter.

Xue Song immediately said, "Speaking of the topic selection, there is actually a story behind it. I don't know if you are busy, so it will take up some time to talk about it."

"Come and listen."

Xue Song immediately recounted the equation he had posted on the algebraic number theory forum and how Qiao Yu had solved it. He spoke very concisely. After all, just because the big guy was willing to listen didn't mean he was willing to spend a long time listening.

After finishing his speech, Xue Songcai added: “Many professors at the forum knew about this matter at the time, and many professors were eyeing Qiao Yu. I simply thought that his solution could be completed as a paper. By the way, that was in August.

He just sent me the paper this afternoon. I just finished reading it and felt that there was nothing I could do to help him revise it. I planned to just list my name as the corresponding author and directly help him submit it to the Journal of Number Theory.

At this point, it's almost made clear.

If the boss is still not interested, Xue Song won't say anything more.

But I think after the paper is published, if Tian Yan really remembers today's phone call, he will probably still take a look at it.

Then his call was not in vain.

The other party did not disappoint him. After a second of silence, he said in a gentle tone: "Is that so? If you and that little guy don't mind, can you send me the paper? However, my research in number theory is very shallow, so I don't think I can offer any useful suggestions."

"Professor Tian, ​​you are too modest. If Qiao Yu knew that you were willing to give him some advice, he would be so happy that he would go crazy. Well, then I will forward it to you now?"

"Okay, by the way, do you know my private email address?"

“I only know the school email address you made public.”

"Oh, that email address is mainly managed by the secretary of the research center. I'll send it to you via text message later."

"Okay, thank you, Professor Tian."

"Professor Xue, you're welcome."

……

After hanging up the phone, Xue Song received a text message from Tian Yanzhen shortly after, giving him a private email account.

Xue Song directly forwarded the email sent by Qiao Yu.

This is also the reason why Xue Song asked Qiao Yu to send his paper by email. Papers sent by regular emails have clear time and traces, which can protect the interests of the authors to the greatest extent.

Of course, the most important thing is that, given this big shot’s status in the world, he would not covet Qiao Yu’s paper.

After forwarding the paper to Tian Yanzhen, Xue Song called up a tool on his computer and converted Qiao Yu's paper into PDF format, but did not submit it.

Although both of them knew the real purpose of his sending the paper, since he had already asked for advice, it would be better not to send the paper until the big guy on the other side replied.

A question of basic courtesy.

The main thing is that there is no need to rush for one or two days.

National Day is coming soon. Fortunately, except for the overseas units stationed in China, the foreign journal editors do not celebrate China's National Day.

……

Huaxia, Xingcheng, Xingtie No. 1 Middle School.

Going back to about ten minutes ago, Qiao Yu was stunned for a long time listening to the busy tone on the phone.

Helping a senior brother revise his paper? And also giving review comments? Why was the title of senior brother forced on him?

Well, although Qiao Yu has never been a teacher, according to common sense, isn’t this the job of a mentor?
And is it necessary to revise the paper? It should be rewritten directly, right?
Qiao Yu wanted to argue with him, but Lao Xue just hung up the phone, not giving him any chance to speak.

This is very unreasonable.

You know, he has very good reasons.

As we all know, legally minors are not allowed to engage in child labor, and those game studios are very strict about this.

In theory, reviewing papers is also a job, so doesn't this count as employing child labor? Did Lao Xue forget that he is not yet an adult?
Besides, garbage should be thrown into the trash can. What's the point of throwing it to him?
Doesn’t he run a recycling center?
Chilling!
In short, there were so many things to complain about this matter that Qiao Yu lost his mood to play basketball. He casually said hello to his teammates, ran to the toilet in the teaching building to wash his face, and then ran back to his study room.

He had deleted the paper before, but fortunately the original manuscript in the email attachment was not deleted, and Qiao Yu downloaded it again to his computer.

This time he was no longer on a pilgrimage, but began to re-examine his senior's paper with a critical eye.

That's it? He's still a so-called senior brother? I used to feel a little grateful towards this senior brother Qin, but now it's gone in an instant.

A bunch of extremely sharp questions suddenly popped up in my mind.

How come he wrote a paper worse than a high school student when he was already a graduate student? He was so old, right? What did he learn in college? How did he pass the national line for the graduate entrance examination? How did he pass the reexamination? Is Lao Xue hungry? He accepts all kinds of students?
It's over. I can't read it anymore. Even the abstract and introduction are a mess. How can I ask him to revise it? I should ask him to rewrite it!
Really, after just watching for a short while, Qiao Yu felt hungry.

I can only say that reviewing this kind of paper requires a lot of energy.

Forget it, let’s eat first!
When Qiao Yu picked up his meal card and rushed to the cafeteria, he had already made up his mind.

It is impossible to revise it seriously, otherwise it would be no different from rewriting it. The most he can do is point out all the places where he feels there are problems, give some random comments, and then throw it back the same way.

Are you kidding? He's just a kid!

Yes, as long as he is under 18 years old, even if the whole world doesn't treat him as a child, Qiao Yu feels that he needs to treat himself as a child! There is a saying: When you go out, your identity is given by yourself!
　Thanks to Xuelu Fengqing for the reward and encouragement!

　　
　
(End of this chapter)