Dorm 404.
11:00 PM.
Liu Qiang came out after his shower, drying his hair. He plopped down in his chair and asked.
"Haozi, why isn’t Brother Dong coming back to the dorm at night?"
Chen Nan was hunched over his desk doing his linear algebra homework. Without looking up, he corrected him.
"It’s not that he isn’t coming back at night."
"He hasn’t come back at all since the first day of school."
Wang Hao was preparing for the national mathematical modeling competition. Gu Ming’s training schedule for him was spread out on the desk. Interrupted by the two, he looked up.
"He took a leave of absence."
"He got it approved by the head teacher, the counselor, and the school."
Liu Qiang frowned.
"Even if he’s on leave, he should still come back to sleep, right?"
"His empty bed is gathering dust."
Wang Hao rolled his eyes.
"How should I know what East God is up to?"
Liu Qiang and Chen Nan glanced at each other.
"...East God?"
"When did Brother Dong get upgraded to East God?"
Wang Hao himself didn’t realize what he had just said.
He paused for a moment, then muttered.
"You know, that’s what everyone in the School of Mathematics group chat has been calling him lately."
"I guess it just slipped out."
Meanwhile, in the corridor on the second basement level of Building 35.
A few people were talking in low voices outside the seminar room at the end of the hall.
Two young men who looked like students wore badges on their chests that read "On Duty."
Next to them was a teacher in his early thirties wearing glasses, who had just hung up the phone.
One of the students asked him quietly.
"Teacher Li, the person inside... are we just going to leave him be?"
"I’ve seen that he hasn’t come out for days."
"We’re the ones who’ve been bringing him his meals."
Teacher Li stuffed his phone back into his pocket and sighed.
"There’s nothing we can do."
"The university leadership gave special approval."
"The power to his seminar room can’t be shut off."
"And the door can’t be locked from the outside at night."
The two students looked at each other in astonishment.
"...Impressive."
「The next day.」
A paper was published that caught everyone in the mathematics community completely off guard.
Li Dong was listed as the first author.
In the math world, everyone had actually been keeping a close eye on Li Dong’s movements.
After all, he had made a bold declaration in Sunshine Hall: he was going to lay the foundation for the Langlands Program.
Everyone was waiting.
So, in theory, the moment Li Dong’s name appeared on any preprint website or in the express section of a top journal, the entire community would pounce on it.
And that should have been the case.
But this time...
Everyone just found it... a bit absurd.
Because the news didn’t come from the math.NT section of arXiv.
It didn’t come from top math journals like *Annals*, *Inventiones*, or *JAMS*.
It came from a biology journal.
*Nature Plants*.
In a certain WeChat group for the Shuimu Mathematics College.
"Old Zhang, did you post the wrong screenshot?"
"Nope."
"...Are you sure this is Li Dong, then?"
"I’m sure. It’s in the latest issue of *Nature Plants*. If you don’t believe me, click the link and see for yourself."
"Hold on."
Ten minutes later, that person returned.
"Since when did he just casually publish a biology paper on the side?"
"According to the notes, it was submitted for review before winter break and was only published this year."
"He collaborated with Professor Zhang Minfang’s research group at the Zhejiang University School of Life Sciences."
"The research topic is the sterility restoration pathway under the three-line system of nucleocytoplasmic interaction, focusing on a... part of the closed loop in Mendelian genetics..."
"Stop reading, stop reading."
"I don’t know anything about biology. Just tell me, is this impressive or not?"
"In the field of botany, *Nature Plants* is second only to the main *Nature* journal."
"Getting a paper published in it as the first author means it’s a top-tier publication."
"A lot of associate professors at our university are only at this level."
"...Alright, I get it."
For the next day or two, this kind of conversation played out in almost every math-related WeChat group.
Through this minor mix-up, the entire math community came to realize something.
This Li Dong fellow wasn’t just making great strides in mathematics.
He had even casually produced a paper in biology that could stand on its own in that field.
And there was something else particularly interesting about this paper.
It had a very special kind of sentimentality to it.
It filled a gap in Mendel’s work, completing an elegant little closed loop.
On the same day that this biology journal mix-up was brewing in the community,
Liu Ruochuan brought Penrose down to the second basement level of Building 35.
When the two students on duty in the corridor saw "Dean Liu" approaching from a distance, they quickly moved to the sides.
Liu Ruochuan gently pushed open the door of the seminar room, which had a sign that read "Occupied."
As soon as the door opened, the smell of instant noodles wafted out.
Penrose reflexively took half a step back, then forced himself to move forward again.
Liu Ruochuan stood at the doorway and glanced inside.
Inside, Li Dong had his back to the door and was hunched over the desk, writing something.
Liu Ruochuan didn’t say anything, just slowly walked up behind him.
He didn’t look at what Li Dong was writing.
He just glanced at Li Dong’s face.
’...He looks terrible.’
His eyes were completely bloodshot.
His lips were so pale they were almost colorless.
Liu Ruochuan sighed.
He raised his hand and gently patted Li Dong’s shoulder.
Only then did Li Dong turn around.
Seeing it was Liu Ruochuan, he opened his mouth.
"Teacher."
"You’re here."
His voice was incredibly hoarse.
Liu Ruochuan nodded.
"Yes."
"Run into a problem?"
Li Dong nodded.
"Yeah."
Liu Ruochuan didn’t ask what the problem was.
But he could roughly guess it was the paper on the local-global compatibility for automorphic representations of GL(n).
He sighed.
’This kid hasn’t stopped since he started university.’
In just half a year, he had already turned the entire Yan University School of Mathematics, and even the entire Huaxia Mathematical Community, upside down.
Now, when you said the name "Li Dong of Yan University," no one would think of any other professor or scholar.
Everyone would only think of one person: an undergraduate from Yan University Yuanpei College.
He had pushed Montgomery’s Conjecture on Association a huge step forward.
He had advanced the algorithm for non-trivial zeros to the order of 1023.
He had even taken a step forward on the Langlands Program.
And he hadn’t taken that step alone.
He had brought everyone along with him.
A host of research groups, both domestic and international, were scrambling to be the first to publish based on the ideas he had released, but everyone knew the score.
No matter who published first, the paper would have to credit Li Dong and Yang Shengguo.
This young man had even thrown down the gauntlet, vowing to lay the foundation for the Langlands Program.
Liu Ruochuan felt that he was already outstanding enough.
He deserved to relax a bit.
’He shouldn’t put so much pressure on himself.’
So, Liu Ruochuan didn’t ask any questions about the research topic.
He sat down directly in the chair opposite Li Dong.
"Li Dong."
"Let me tell you something."
"The problems in this world are endless."
"You solve one, and there are a hundred more waiting for you."
"You’re nineteen years old."
"You’re not God."
"You don’t have to pin down every problem that appears before you and force yourself to solve it."
"Even if it’s truly great enough to be written into the history of mathematics, there’s a right time to solve it."
"If you can’t solve it today, we’ll do it tomorrow."
He paused, then scooted his chair a little closer.
"You should have your own life."
"Go out, have fun, fall in love, participate in some activities that have nothing to do with research."
"Live a little, like a nineteen-year-old."
"Let me tell you something."
"When I was in university, I dated five girlfriends, one after another."
Li Dong: ...
Once Liu Ruochuan started talking, he couldn’t stop.
"The first one was from the foreign languages department next door."
"You have no idea, that girl was an amazing pianist. When she played ’Moonlight Sonata,’ the entire hallway would be filled with people."
"The second was from the history department. She was pretty and delicate, and a wonderful letter writer. She even got something published in *Poetry Monthly* later on."
"The third one, well, uh..."
"The third one is a bit complicated. She was in my class, and she was even competing with me for a scholarship..."
Li Dong just sat there in a daze, listening to him.
As he listened,
he suddenly smiled.
Liu Ruochuan was taken aback.
"What are you smiling about?"
Li Dong shook his head.
He wasn’t smiling at the juicy details of Liu Ruochuan’s love life.
He was smiling at himself.
After listening to Liu Ruochuan’s speech, he suddenly understood.
’Teacher Liu is right.’
’The problems in this world are endless.’
’If I can’t solve it today, I’ll deal with it tomorrow. If I can’t solve it tomorrow, I’ll wait until inspiration strikes again.’
’The one thing I shouldn’t have in my life is a "sense of urgency." ’
’Why did I start doing research in the first place?’
’It was so that Newton, Joule, Mendel... all those people in the group, would give me some red packets every now and then.’
’But I don’t know when it started... ’
’I feel like I’ve really been pushed along by something.’
"Dammit."
"I’m the Group Leader."
"I’ll only do it if I want to."
"If I don’t want to do it, not a single one of you can force me."
At that moment, his mindset truly relaxed.
’Alright, I’ll put the functor business aside for now.’
’If it pops into my head one day, great.’
’If it doesn’t, to hell with it.’
He looked up, gazing at Liu Ruochuan with extreme earnestness.
"Teacher."
Liu Ruochuan nodded.
"Mm, how about it? Figured it out?"
Li Dong nodded as well.
"Figured it out."
"But I don’t believe you had five girlfriends."
Liu Ruochuan: ???
Liu Ruochuan almost choked.
He pointed at Li Dong, speechless for a long moment.
"You little rascal..."
In the end, he couldn’t find the right word and could only say huffily,
"It doesn’t matter whether you believe it or not."
"The point is, I did!"
But though he was annoyed, he laughed after a moment.
’The fact that this kid can joke back means he’s really figured things out.’
That intensity, like he was pushing himself to the brink, was gone.
’That’s good enough.’
Li Dong also stood up from his chair, grinning.
"Let’s go, Teacher."
"How about you treat me to a meal?"
Seeing Li Dong’s "I’m alive again" expression, Liu Ruochuan also felt a sense of relief.
’So what if he couldn’t generalize the special case of GL(1) to a universal result for GL(n)? It’s not a big deal if he can’t figure it out.’
’If anyone on the outside dares to laugh at Li Dong, Yan University isn’t just going to sit back and take it.’
So he waved his hand grandly.
"What do you want to eat?"
"Spicy chicken," Li Dong said without hesitation.
"Haha." Liu Ruochuan waved his hand magnanimously. "Let’s go. Your teacher will order you two servings!"
Li Dong’s face instantly fell.
"Teacher... are you treating me to the cafeteria?"
Liu Ruochuan glanced at him, full of righteous conviction.
"What else?"
"I have to hand over my salary every month."
Li Dong: ...
"Never mind."
He sighed.
"The cafeteria it is, then."
"It’s better than instant noodles, at least."
The three of them locked the seminar room door.
Seeing this, the two students on duty at the end of the corridor finally breathed a sigh of relief.
"...He’s out?"
"Should we tear off that ’Occupied’ sign?"
"Don’t tear it off yet," the other one quickly stopped him.
"What if he comes back after he’s done eating?"
"...Good point."
On the way to the cafeteria,
Liu Ruochuan was still a little worried that failing to make progress on this topic would affect Li Dong’s morale, so he kindly asked,
"That last twenty percent of the project..."
"Do you need your teacher’s help?"
Hearing this, Li Dong, who had been smiling, suddenly froze.
"Huh?"
"I don’t need help, Teacher."
"I already finished it."
Liu Ruochuan stopped in his tracks.
His hand, which had been resting on Li Dong’s shoulder, froze in mid-air.
"...What did you say?"
Li Dong repeated himself.
"I said I finished it."
"I wrote the last line at four in the morning the day before yesterday."
"I wasn’t working on that just now."
"I was working on the next thing."
Liu Ruochuan: ???

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