He smiled and nodded at Li Dong.
"Li Dong."
"Your paper on GL(n)—I’ve presented it twice at my research group’s seminars."
"I had a conflict during your public lecture last time and couldn’t make it. It’s great to finally meet you in person."
Li Dong quickly returned the pleasantry.
"You’re too kind, Teacher Zhou."
"Actually, there are still some details in that paper that weren’t fully explained."
"I’d appreciate your guidance on them."
Zhou Mingzhe laughed, not daring to accept the polite deferral.
’Are you kidding me? Everyone knows Li Dong has a habit of skipping steps.’
"This is Professor Wen Jingxing from Zhejiang University’s Institute for Advanced Study in Mathematics."
Wen Jingxing’s field was geometric analysis.
He didn’t say much, just nodded at Li Dong.
Finally, Zhang Wenping pointed to the person sitting at the very end of the table.
"This is Professor Shen Che from Jinling University’s School of Physics."
Li Dong nodded toward Shen Che.
"Hello, Teacher Shen."
Shen Che was a middle-aged man who looked to be in his forties. He was a professor at Jinling University’s School of Physics and a collaborative researcher with the space high-energy physics team at the Zijin Mountain Observatory. His long-term research focus was the indirect detection of high-energy cosmic rays and dark matter particles.
In the last two years, a few minor features he and his team had extracted from the Wukong Satellite’s data were published in *Physical Review Letters*, earning him quite a bit of fame within the community.
Shen Che gave Li Dong a meaningful smile.
The look made Li Dong’s heart skip a beat for some reason.
’What did that mean?’
Everyone in the private room sat down.
As they raised their teacups, the atmosphere in the room lightened a little more.
"Old Min," Zhou Mingzhe spoke first. "I heard your presentation at Shuimu a few days ago was a huge hit."
Min Ziqiang smiled.
"Ah, at a place like Shuimu, you could put up any random poster and still get a full house."
"My paper just happened to catch the recent wave of interest in regularization."
"If you were really looking for flaws, you could find a whole pile of them."
His mention of "regularization" was clearly a reference to Li Dong’s Comment paper.
He turned his head to glance at Li Dong.
"Li Dong, after your paper on the Li Criterion came out, a postdoc in my group immediately withdrew a manuscript he had submitted three months prior."
"He had to go over it again from start to finish."
"Kept me busy for two weeks."
It sounded like he was complaining.
But the smile in his eyes was plain for all to see.
He was genuinely pleased about it.
Li Dong hurried to be polite.
"Please don’t say that, Teacher Min. My paper just presented a counterexample."
"As for how to apply it, every research group has its own methods."
Wen Jingxing chimed in.
"A counterexample, sure."
"But your Li Criterion has now become something no one in this field can ignore."
"My group doesn’t work on this, but a while ago, some of my students were discussing it on their own initiative."
His ears grew slightly warm from the praise.
He quickly tried to change the subject.
"Professors, is Jinling University hosting the national competition this time?"
Zhang Wenping took over the conversation.
"Jinling University is one of the host sites for this year’s competition."
"The other sites are spread across several universities."
"However, the review process for the innovation achievement category primarily falls to the traditionally strong schools: Yan University, Shuimu, Fudan University, Jinling University, and Zhejiang University."
He took a sip of tea.
"Yan University and Shuimu still have the strongest foundations."
"They also submitted the most promising candidates this year."
Min Ziqiang smiled.
"Stop flattering us."
"Old Zhou, your Fudan University has quite a few entries this year as well."
"I heard the School of Mathematics main campus alone registered over thirty teams."
The men went back and forth, none of them willing to claim the top spot.
Wen Jingxing chimed in, holding his teacup.
"Hey, Sichuan University has been building up steam these past couple of years."
"I gave a presentation there last year, and a young lecturer from their School of Mathematics spoke with me for quite a while."
"They’ve been investing heavily in mathematical modeling in recent years."
"In another two years, it might not just be a competition between our few universities anymore."
After he said this, the others present all nodded in agreement.
Li Dong also hummed in acknowledgment.
He didn’t know much about Sichuan University, so he didn’t give it much thought.
Afterward, the judges’ conversation shifted from the national competition registration to several new interdisciplinary fields between applied and pure mathematics that had emerged in the last couple of years.
Li Dong spent most of the time listening.
When his name was occasionally brought up, he would add a few words.
And every time he did, the judges’ eyes would light up.
By the end, the polite atmosphere, which had initially carried a hint of ’I should look after the younger generation,’ slowly began to change.
Their forms of address didn’t change.
They still called him Li Dong, but it felt as if they were speaking to a peer.

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