At the time, he just wanted to block him. He hadn’t given any thought to how he would explain it away.
The Chen Zhuo who wrote the algebraic matrix on the blackboard was a sophomore. Where was he supposed to conjure up a leading authority from?
Besides, Fang Shi now saw Chen Zhuo as the crown jewel of his research group.
Those guys in the Mathematics Department were fanatics when it came to pure theory. If they got a taste of what Chen Zhuo could do, wouldn’t they eat him alive?
"Old Li, let go first."
Fang Shi patted the back of Li Jianming’s hand, putting on a helpless expression.
"I’m not letting go."
Li Jianming’s grip tightened.
"Old Fang, I’m completely stuck on my graph theory proof. You’ve overcome your hurdle, so take me to see Professor Chen now. I won’t disturb his rest. I’ll just bring my derivations and ask about a few issues with the nodes."
Fang Shi gave a dry cough and tried to pull his arm back.
"Old Li, it’s really not that I’m going back on my word. Just listen to me..."
Fang Shi frowned, lowered his voice, and adopted a somber, regretful expression.
"Old Chen... he’s no longer at the university."
Li Jianming froze, his grip slackening slightly.
"Not at the university? What do you mean? Did he go to a conference?"
"Sigh."
Fang Shi sighed and gazed out the hallway window.
"You know how thorny our problem was. To derive that matrix, Old Chen spent the better part of the last month calculating day and night. At his advanced age, the mental exhaustion was too severe."
Fang Shi turned back to Li Jianming, his eyes full of sincerity.
"Last Friday afternoon, when he handed me the final line of the calculation, he could barely stand. I had a student send him back to his hometown overnight to recuperate. Before he left, he specifically said he would be refusing all visitors and that no one was to disturb him."
Li Jianming stared blankly at Fang Shi.
"Back to his hometown to recuperate?"
"Yes."
Fang Shi nodded, his face a mask of concern.
"His health comes first. That proof of yours... I know it’s urgent, but we have to be realistic, don’t we? Why don’t you try to organize your team and find another approach?"
The hallway fell silent.
Li Jianming stood his ground, watching the Vice Dean of the Physics Department with his expression of deep concern.
He wasn’t an idiot.
He’d been in academia for over thirty years; there wasn’t a type of person he hadn’t met.
If Professor Chen had really collapsed from exhaustion and been sent home, Fang Shi wouldn’t be looking so triumphant, chatting and laughing with the leadership.
Fang Shi’s somber act was far too exaggerated.
Li Jianming looked at Fang Shi’s meticulously styled hair and the blue folder clutched in his hand, and a wave of inexplicable anger surged through him.
Exhaustion? Going back to his hometown?
They were all excuses.
Li Jianming’s eyes narrowed. The fervor in them slowly cooled, replaced by the fury of being played for a fool.
He understood.
Fang Shi was hoarding him.
He’d gotten a taste and now knew the value of this mathematical heavyweight who could solve logical dead ends.
Fang Shi was planning to burn his bridges and hide the man away in the Physics Building for good.
What pained him even more was that Fang Shi was actually using a genius of pure mathematics to calculate wind tunnel parameters and work on engineering approximations!
It was an insult to mathematics, a criminal waste of talent!
He’d even cook up some bullshit about the man getting sick and going home, just to avoid sharing him.
"Old Fang."
Li Jianming released his grip completely.
His voice was so calm it was unsettling, which in turn made Fang Shi’s skin crawl.
"We’ve known each other for over twenty years. Do you take me for a three-year-old?"
Fang Shi’s heart sank, but he kept the helpless look on his face.
"Old Li, why would I lie to you? Old Chen really is..."
"Enough. Don’t say another word."
Li Jianming cut Fang Shi off.
He stepped back, took the copy of *Discrete Mathematics* from under his arm, and slapped its cover. The sound was sharp.
"We’re all scholars here. Is your work, Fang Shi, considered scholarship, but mine isn’t?"
Li Jianming glared at Fang Shi, his eyes hardening.
"Your Physics Department hits a derivation bottleneck and needs someone to save the day, but when our Mathematics Department is deadlocked on graph theory, we’re not even worthy of a consultation?"
"Old Li, you can’t put it like that..."
Fang Shi tried to explain.
"He’s a resource for the entire academic community!"
Li Jianming’s voice rose, echoing down the empty hallway.
"That Professor Chen is an asset to all of Keda, not your private property, Fang Shi! You’re taking a scholar who can pioneer entirely new methods of proof and making him calculate wind tunnel parameters! That’s a disgusting waste of talent! To monopolize him, you resort to such a low-life excuse. You’re being completely unreasonable!"
Fang Shi’s expression darkened as well.
At the other end of the hallway, a few passing faculty and students stopped to stare in their direction.
"Li Jianming, watch your tone."
Fang Shi lowered his voice, his tone hardening.
"I said he’s not here, and he’s not here. What are you doing, coming to my turf and causing a scene?"
"Me, causing a scene?"
Li Jianming sneered, no longer holding back his anger.
Since Fang Shi wasn’t going to play by the rules, it was time to flip the table.
"Fine. You won’t hand him over. No problem."
Li Jianming clutched the book in his hand and turned to leave.
"I’m going to find someone who can make you hand him over."
Fang Shi watched Li Jianming’s furious retreat, his brow deeply furrowed.
"Old Li!"
Fang Shi called out.
Li Jianming didn’t even look back. He walked away quickly, disappearing around the stairwell corner in an instant.
Fang Shi stood frozen, the review report in his hand suddenly feeling like a hot potato.
Judging by the direction Old Li was headed, he was making a beeline for the administration building.
A sense of foreboding washed over Fang Shi.
By now, Li Jianming was already out the main entrance of the Physics Building.
The sun was blinding overhead.
He had only one thought on his mind:
Get the man.
Even if he had to take this fight all the way to the university president, he was going to pry that Professor Chen out of the Physics Department.
Tucking his briefcase under his arm, he marched straight toward the office of the Vice President for Research.

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