At that moment, Li Dong felt that Old Zhou was acting like a scorned lover.
"No, no!"
Li Dong waved his hands repeatedly.
"Professor Zhou, how could I possibly look down on physics?"
"I’ve told you before, physics is what I love most! I swear, I absolutely don’t look down on it!"
"I just really don’t have enough time. You know how it is, I have so many projects going on that I really can’t be in two places at once..."
After listening, Zhou Qifeng didn’t respond.
He just said, his voice dripping with gloom.
"Right... busy. It’s good to be busy."
Li Dong felt that something was off about Old Zhou today.
’Sure, I’m pretty outstanding, I guess.’
’But I’ve never shown my true talent for physics to anyone.’
’At most, I’ve just paid lip service to it, saying ’physics is my favorite’.’
’So why is Old Zhou acting like this?’
In reality, Li Dong had forgotten someone.
Gao Yuanlin.
Dean of the Yan University School of Physics, an academician of the Huaxia Academy of Sciences, and a leading authority in high-energy physics.
Back then, from the judges’ panel at the global finals of the Qiu Chengtong Middle School Science Award, Gao Yuanlin had already taken notice of Li Dong.
At that Qiu Prize competition, in the physics division, Li Dong’s project was titled "Phase Transitions in Mechanical Systems: Spontaneous Symmetry Breaking and Hysteresis Loops Induced by Rotation."
The theoretical depth of the paper, to be honest, wasn’t particularly advanced for judges of that caliber.
It was a high school student’s project, but if assigned at the undergraduate level, some outstanding juniors could have completed it as well.
But Gao Yuanlin saw something different.
When it comes to physics projects, the work presented by someone with talent and someone without is completely different.
A student without talent, no matter how polished their work, you can tell they’re just "building by the blueprint." They first learn the theoretical framework, then fill in the content according to that framework, deriving things step-by-step. While their Logic is sound, every step is predictable.
But a talented person does physics the other way around.
They see the result first—or rather, they first "feel" what the result should be—and only then do they go back to construct the path leading to it.
What Li Dong demonstrated in that paper was precisely this ability.
This kind of intuition, which goes straight from phenomenon to essence, can’t be taught.
It is a gift.
Gao Yuanlin had been in physics his whole life; he knew all too well how rare such a gift was.
So, from then on, he had been keeping a close eye on Li Dong in secret.
Of course, he also knew that Li Dong’s current focus was entirely on mathematics, and that he was making quite a stir.
Publishing in a top journal, shaking up the entire number theory community at a seminar in Sunshine Hall, and even damn well poaching a top professor from Princeton to come back with him...
Gao Yuanlin saw all of this.
He wasn’t in a hurry to approach Li Dong about physics.
’It’s fine,’ he thought, ’let the kid establish himself in mathematics first.’
’The more solid his mathematical foundation, the more stable his footing will be when he eventually pivots to mathematical physics.’
That’s right, that was his plan. He was going to lure Li Dong over to the School of Physics...
After all, mathematical physics fell under the purview of the School of Physics...
However...
At the end of the semester, when Gao Yuanlin looked up the course selections and exam results for the first-year students of Yuanpei College in the academic affairs system...
He discovered that Li Dong had taken almost every available science course.
Except he hadn’t chosen a single physics course.
Gao Yuanlin’s expression immediately darkened.
He made a special trip to find Zhou Qifeng.
"Old Zhou."
Gao Yuanlin did his best to keep his tone calm.
"That kid, Li Dong... is he not interested in physics?"
Zhou Qifeng was taken aback by the question.
He replied subconsciously.
"Not at all. Physics is his favorite subject."
The moment Gao Yuanlin heard that, he shot Zhou Qifeng a resentful glare.
"Physics is his favorite?"
"Then why did he take courses in every other subject, but not a single one in physics?"
Zhou Qifeng was at a loss for words.
Finally, Gao Yuanlin handed Zhou Qifeng a piece of paper.
A problem was printed on it.
"Old Zhou, do me a favor."
"Give this problem to Li Dong. Don’t tell him it’s from me."
"I don’t need him to solve it."
"I just want to see his thought process."
"I want to see what his initial reaction is when faced with a truly deep problem in mathematical physics, to see just how far his physical intuition has developed."
Zhou Qifeng took the paper and looked down at it.
Then, his expression froze.
"Dean Gao... isn’t this problem a bit much?"
A faint smile finally appeared on Gao Yuanlin’s face.
The smile held a hint of smugness, a bit of anticipation, and a touch of... mischievousness.
"Not at all."
"If he truly loves physics as much as you say..."
"...then he should thoroughly enjoy this problem."
And that was what led to the scene in the office today.
Now, looking at Li Dong standing before him, Zhou Qifeng sighed again.
"There’s one more thing."
"Dean Liu from the School of Mathematics requested a leave of absence for you."
Li Dong immediately nodded.
He already knew about this.
The GL(n) project required a great deal of time and energy, so he definitely wouldn’t be able to attend classes normally for the foreseeable future.
Liu Ruochuan arranging the leave for him was something they had discussed long ago.
And with the Dean of the School of Mathematics himself making the request, there certainly wouldn’t be any issues.
However...
"I didn’t approve it."
Li Dong froze.
’The Dean of the School of Mathematics requests a leave, and you don’t approve it?’
Li Dong suddenly felt that Old Zhou had some serious guts.
But he couldn’t very well say that out loud.
Zhou Qifeng seemed to have read his mind and spoke unhurriedly.
"For your other classes, you’ve already proven your proficiency with your exam scores."
"A perfect score in Mathematical Analysis, perfect score in Chemistry, perfect score in Biology, perfect score in Introduction to Computing."
"You can indeed skip those classes; I have no objection."
"But my class..."
Zhou Qifeng paused.
The course he taught at Yuanpei was "Introduction to Quantum Field Theory."
Although this course was for upperclassmen and graduate students, and Li Dong hadn’t taken it yet, as his class advisor, he had the authority to make demands regarding his students’ academic plans.
"You can either properly make up for your lack of physics and take at least one core course from the School of Physics next semester."
"Or..."
He took an A4-sized piece of paper from his drawer.
"Solve this."
Zhou Qifeng pushed the paper in front of Li Dong.
Li Dong picked up the A4 paper.
The moment his eyes fell upon the problem, the corner of his eye couldn’t help but twitch.
[Consider a massless Dirac spinor field ψ on a four-dimensional compact Euclidean manifold M, coupled to an SU(N) gauge field A_μ.
(1) Using the functional integral method (path integral quantization framework), prove that the chiral transformation ψ→ e^(iαγ5)ψ leads to a non-trivial Jacobi determinant in the fermionic path integral measure dψ̄dψ. From this, derive the precise form of the chiral anomaly (axial anomaly):
∂_μ j5^μ = [g2 / (16π2)] tr(F_μν F̃^μν)
(2) Prove that the integral of the above topological charge density over the entire manifold gives the second Chern number (instanton number), and relate this result to the Atiyah-Singer index theorem:
ind(D̸) = n+ - n− = [1 / (32π2)] ∫_M tr(F ∧ F)
where n+ and n− are the numbers of positive and negative chirality zero modes of the Dirac operator, respectively.
(3) Argue why this anomaly coefficient is exact to all orders in perturbation theory (the Adler-Bardeen theorem), and explain its observable physical consequences.]
After reading the problem, Li Dong fell silent.
He looked up again at Zhou Qifeng.
His gaze was hard to read.
It held a hint of surprise, a bit of curiosity, and a touch of... excitement.

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