A genius? I just love studying.

Chapter 120 An Chengzhang: I don't know.
Zhihua Building, 3rd Floor, Room 316

Hearty laughter occasionally echoed from the office. Tang Xin was nearing retirement age. As a professor at Yanbei University, he had already enjoyed fame and fortune, and now he wanted to enjoy pure happiness.

When he met his former students and chatted about some interesting things that happened back then, he had a feeling of returning to those days. It was a really nice feeling!

"What? Seventeen minutes?"

As the conversation got more interesting, An Chengzhang brought up the old story again, mentioning how Chen Hui completed the first three CMO questions in seventeen minutes yesterday.

Tang Xin looked at An Chengzhang with suspicion.

He understands CMO; he participated in CMO training himself and knows the difficulty involved.

It's understandable for someone to hand in their paper early, and it's also understandable for someone to get a perfect score, but handing in the paper after seventeen minutes?

Did they submit a blank exam paper?
However, he had also heard that the little guy had just won the Asai Gold Award two days ago, so his level must be quite high. Logically, he shouldn't have submitted a blank paper.

He also knew his student well; he was unlikely to lie, and lying about this kind of thing would be too easy to be exposed. Any normal person wouldn't lie about something like this.

If that's the case.

Tang Xin suddenly felt a little tempted.

Many people lie down not because they truly want to, but because their abilities prevent them from doing so, leaving them with no choice but to lie down.

Although he is at this age and it is indeed difficult for him to achieve anything significant, and he is too lazy to waste energy cultivating any disciples, if he were to encounter an unparalleled genius, he would be startled awake even if he were already bedridden.

"Let's wait for the CMO results."

Tang Xin was already tempted, but seventeen minutes was still a bit outrageous, so he decided to see the final result first.

If it were just a matter of losing some points for certain steps, he would naturally take the little guy under his wing without hesitation.

But if he gets one or two questions wrong, he'll have to think about it carefully.

This isn't a matter of ability, but rather a matter of mindset and character. Submitting the paper in seventeen minutes and getting a perfect score is confidence, a stepping stone to becoming a genius mathematician. But submitting the paper in seventeen minutes and getting one question wrong is arrogance and ignorance, a slide down to becoming a clown. Such a person can never become a mathematician.

Although Chen Hui won the Asai Gold Award, some teachers must be keeping an eye on this young man. However, there probably aren't many professors who know that he finished his paper in seventeen minutes. With his qualifications, he should be quite competitive among these professors.

Well, I need to talk to the admissions office first.

Despite this thought, Tang Xin still felt somewhat uneasy and decided to strike first.

Although they hadn't seen each other for many years, An Chengzhang still understood his teacher. He knew that his teacher was already moved, and that was enough.

He really liked Chen Hui, not just because of Chen Hui's diligence or his good grades. He didn't know why, but he just genuinely liked this child and hoped he could do even better. He felt like he could see many of the best qualities of a person in this little guy.

His teacher was considered a top-tier teacher at Yanbei University. Although he was just one step away from publishing in the Big Four journals, these were journals with a high level of influence in the mathematics community. Tang Xin had published quite a few papers in these journals, some of which were even well-known in the international mathematics community.

He also knew this teacher well, and if he were to mentor Chen Hui, it would be a good thing for Chen Hui.

This is one of the reasons why he came back to catch up with his teacher.

The two had been chatting for over an hour. Tang Xin had something on his mind, and An Chengzhang had achieved his goal, so the conversation finally came to an end.

After An Chengzhang left, Tang Xin dialed the admissions office.

An Chengzhang walked out of the teacher's office, checked the time, and instead of waiting downstairs at Zhihua Building, he went to the Weiming Lake to revisit the place and then go to eat early, because at this time, Chen Hui would probably have already handed in his paper and found a place to study.

Before we even reached Weiming Lake, the phone rang. It was Zhao Defeng calling.

"Hey Lao An, how come you didn't even tell me about something this big?"

On the phone, Zhao Defeng's voice came through with some complaints. He had just finished dinner with Wang Qiming and Li Tianhua's family. After leaving, he made an excuse to leave first and then dialed An Chengzhang's number.

"?"

An Chengzhang was a little confused, his face full of bewilderment. "What's wrong?"

"What else could it be? Of course, it's Chen Hui's business!"

Zhao Defeng didn't know how An Chengzhang could be so confused. "Of course it's about him signing with Jiangcheng University!"

"The dean of the School of Mathematics at Jiangcheng University came to the school in person today!"

"?"

Standing under the weeping willows by Weiming Lake, letting the willows ruffle his hair, An Chengzhang was as disheveled as the willows in the wind. "He signed with Jiangcheng University?"

"When did it happen?"

"I do not know how?"

"You do not know?"

"I do not know!"

There was silence on both ends of the phone for a while.

Finally, An Chengzhang spoke first, "How could he sign with Jiangcheng University? With his abilities, he could easily get into Yanbei University. Jiangcheng University must have used some tricks to lure him in. No, we have to stop this!"

"Old Zhao, you can't let Jiangcheng University transfer his student status."

Zhao Defeng understood that An Chengzhang probably genuinely didn't know what had happened, but he disagreed with An Chengzhang's statement, "The people from Jiangcheng University didn't come to transfer student records."

"They've come to visit Chen Hui's guardian!"

An Chengzhang was stunned.

He understood Zhao Defeng's unspoken meaning—Jiangcheng University had not tricked Chen Hui, because the choice had always been in Chen Hui's hands. Otherwise, they would have been eager to transfer Chen Hui's student status instead of making a long trip just to curry favor with Chen Hui and show that they valued him.

In other words, Jiangcheng University really valued Chen Hui.

The Asahi Gold Medal is indeed a very prestigious award, but he had never heard of anyone being sought after by universities because of winning the Asahi Gold Medal, nor did he believe that such a thing would happen.

As everyone knows, the Asseu award is just a commercial award, and there are many uncertainties involved.

Therefore, there must be something he doesn't know.

But none of that matters. The most important thing now is to stop Chen Hui from going to Jiangcheng University!
"If Jiangcheng University can go to this lengths for Chen Hui, can Yanbei University do the same?"

Zhao Defeng could roughly guess what An Chengzhang was thinking. He didn't know what had happened to make An Chengzhang think that Chen Hui was a sure thing to get into Yanbei University, but he felt that it made sense to be a big fish in a small pond rather than a small fish in a big pond.

An Chengzhang, who was about to take a step, stopped in his tracks, his brows furrowed, and he fell into deep thought.

……

Chengdu University, Admissions Office, Director's Office,

Chang Zebin stared at the computer screen, lost in thought.

That guy actually won the Asai Gold Award!

He initially believed Zhang Wei's claim that the eighth-place finish in the preliminaries was likely achieved through cheating, as it would be highly improbable for a high school student to achieve eighth place in the preliminaries of such a high-level competition.

But the final is different.

The final exam was a closed-book test, monitored throughout, making cheating extremely difficult. As for Chen Hui's collusion with the event organizers, someone who knew about Chen Hui's family background felt it was even more absurd than the claim that Chen Hui was truly a genius.

So, that kid really is a genius?!
After a brief moment of thought, he dialed the office phone of the vice principal of Rongcheng No. 2 Middle School. He hadn't been idle these past few days; he had thoroughly investigated Chen Hui's family background. Since Chen Hui had already won the Asai Gold Award, the scholarship was naturally something that could be considered.

"Hello?"

The call was quickly connected, and Zhao Defeng's voice came through the receiver.

"I am Zhang Zebin, the director of the admissions office of Rongcheng University. Are you Principal Zhao Defeng of Rongcheng No. 2 Middle School?"

Chang Zebin introduced himself, indicating his intention to act quickly.

"I am Zhao Defeng, the vice principal of Rongcheng No. 2 Middle School."

Zhao Defeng glanced at the caller ID with a strange look in his eyes, but unfortunately Chang Zebin couldn't see it.

"Hello Principal Zhao, one of our senior professors from Rongcheng No. 2 High School is very interested in Chen Hui from your school and hopes to enroll him through a special admission program. Could you please help us schedule a time for us to discuss this further?"

"I don't think it's necessary." Zhao Defeng was somewhat disheartened. The last time the people from the Rongcheng Admissions Office came, they left him with a very bad impression, which also negatively affected his impression of Rongcheng University.

Although that person doesn't represent Rongcheng University, the fact that Rongcheng University was able to admit such a person does say something.

Both Rongcheng University and Jiangcheng University are 985 universities, but Jiangcheng University ranks slightly higher. Neither university is known for its mathematics programs. Rongcheng University has a top-notch stomatology program, while Jiangcheng University has strong programs in law and surveying.

However, Jiangcheng University has recently recruited many mathematics talents, and its mathematics program ranking has widened the gap with Rongcheng University. If you want to study mathematics, you will definitely not consider Rongcheng University if you can go to Jiangcheng University.

Moreover, the dean of the School of Mathematics at Jiangcheng University personally came to recruit people, while Rongcheng University only has a director of the admissions office calling to ask for people. How are we supposed to choose? Even considering it for half a second would be disrespectful to Wang Qiming.

"Principal Zhao, please don't be so quick to refuse. I think there must be some misunderstanding."

Chang Zebin's heart skipped a beat, and he suddenly had a bad feeling. He quickly said, "My colleague was in charge of this matter before. He is also a young man who just joined the company. I thought the matter was settled, but he only reported to me today."

"The scholarship is no problem. As long as Chen Hui is willing to come to Rongcheng University, we can provide a scholarship of 50,000 yuan, which will be paid in full after enrollment!"

Chang Zebin finished speaking in one breath, feeling a sense of pride in his own courage.

A prize of 50,000 yuan is not much, but for him, the director of the admissions office, to use 50,000 yuan of the prize money to specially recruit a student still requires some decision-making and involves considerable risk.

fifty thousand?

Why did you go early?
He still remembers the attitude of the admissions office staff member from Rongcheng University at that time.

Zhao Defeng's expression became even stranger. People really do want to laugh when they're speechless. "This isn't about scholarships or not."

"One hundred thousand!"

"A scholarship of 100,000 is the maximum I can decide!"

Chang Zebin suddenly felt a little regretful. If it were a few months ago, Chen Hui and the others would probably be begging to get into Rongcheng University. If he had given them a scholarship of 50,000 yuan, the contract would have been signed long ago.

But now, circumstances are against him, and he has absolutely no say in this negotiation.

Simply put, he has no cards.
Therefore, he had no choice but to reveal all his cards and hand over the initiative to others.

"Excuse me, I have something urgent to attend to, I'll hang up now."

Zhao Defeng didn't even bother to pretend anymore and hung up the phone directly.

"?"

Chang Zebin was stunned when he saw the phone call that had been disconnected.

After a brief moment of shock, a surge of anger rose from my chest to my cheeks and finally to my brain.

He was already beyond furious.

As an adult, hanging up on someone's phone like that is very impolite. Even before he was the director of the admissions office at Rongcheng University, he had never encountered such a situation.

He had already offered a scholarship of 100,000, but the other party was still not satisfied; they were simply too greedy.

"hateful!"

He slammed his fist on the table.

The excruciating pain in his hand finally brought Chang Zebin back to his senses.

The other party's fearlessness further confirmed his suspicions: that kid was truly capable!
Perhaps they've already found another job, and the offer might even be better, or the other school might be far superior to Rongcheng University.

It's a much better school than Chengdu University.

Could it be Yanbei or Tsinghua University?
How can it be?

Chang Zebin's mind raced, but when he thought about the CMO competition being held these two days, he couldn't help but gasp. Could that kid really make it into the top sixty for CMO?
Zhang Wei has ruined me!
These journalism students!

Chang Zebin gritted his teeth and started to get angry again.

He had heard many rumors about the journalism department before, such as having opinions first and then selecting interview materials, completely distorting the interviewee's original intention. But he didn't expect to be tricked even after coming to the admissions office.

But upon closer reflection, it seems to make sense. Zhang Wei was prejudiced from the start, believing that Chen Hui was incompetent. Therefore, he only used this "Chen Hui is incompetent" viewpoint to select material for everything that happened afterward.

Chen Hui won first place in the provincial competition, but Zhang Wei thought it lacked merit. He won eighth place in the preliminary round of the A-Sai competition, but Zhang Wei thought it was cheating. Isn't this all because of the preconceived notion that "Chen Hui is not good enough"?

After a period of agitation, Chang Zebin finally regained his composure.

It's true that messing up this matter will have some impact on him, but the school shouldn't punish him so severely just because he didn't recruit a good student. Over the years, he has recruited a lot of good students for Rongcheng University, so he has certainly worked hard.

He was somewhat frustrated that things had turned out this way. What was supposed to be a great achievement had now become a minor transgression, and no one could accept that.

Ding Dong!

Just then, a message popped up on Chang Zebin's WeChat account, which he had logged into on his computer.

It was sent by the dean of the School of Mathematics.

"Thank you so much, Lao Chang, for your strong support of the School of Mathematics. You have made a great contribution to Chengdu University this time!"

"Our Chengdu University has snatched up promising students from Tsinghua and Peking Universities! Haha, just thinking about the ugly looks those old guys will have makes me happy!"

The two seemingly unrelated sentences sent chills down Chang Zebin's spine, and his heart grew colder and colder.

He guessed what the other person was talking about, because the only thing the School of Mathematics had been dealing with recently was that one thing.

So, what exactly happened?
Did that kid really make it into the top 60 CMOs?

Even if you're in the top 60 CMOs, it's not worth the dean personally sending you a thank-you letter, is it?

Chang Zebin felt an urge to go crazy. He wasn't really part of the academic circle, and his information network wasn't that extensive.

"No, I have to save myself!"

Chang Zebin realized the seriousness of the problem.

If it weren't for the Dean of the School of Mathematics' words, he might have been able to get away with it, but now he had to do something, otherwise, the Dean of the School of Mathematics was not like Ran Peng.

(End of this chapter)