Capital City.
In a conference room with a sign that read, "Sensitive Meeting, No Photography."
A leader with a commanding presence sat at the center of the head table.
On both sides of the table sat the current principals and vice-principals of Huaxia’s top universities.
Gong Qi, the Principal of Yan University, was seated third on the left side of the table.
The leader at the head table began to speak.
"Principals."
"We have two main items on the agenda for today’s meeting."
"The first is regarding our pilot program, the Joint Center for Life Sciences."
"It has been exactly twelve years since it was jointly established by Shuimu and Yan University in 2011."
"Over these twelve years, we have all witnessed the outstanding and innovative talent cultivated by the CLS program."
"Their publication output in top-tier journals like *Nature*, *Science*, and *Cell* is three times the average."
"Their project approval rate for the National Natural Science Foundation’s Young Scholars Program is twice the average."
"But most importantly..."
The leader paused, his gaze sweeping over the face of every principal present.
"It’s the model itself."
"A joint program between two universities, with no institutional barriers, mutual rotation, and integrated resources."
"Practice has proven that this model works. It can produce exceptional talent."
"Therefore..."
"The higher-ups have an idea."
"Can we try to expand this model to other academic disciplines?"
The sound of note-taking began to fill the conference room.
Gong Qi also lowered his head and started writing in the notebook in front of him.
Just then, Principal Li Ming of Shuimu University, who was sitting beside him, suddenly spoke up.
"Sir."
"I agree with what you’ve said."
"It’s an excellent idea to expand the joint cultivation model—which our two universities have already proven successful in the life sciences—to other disciplines."
"In fact, we at Shuimu have been discussing this matter repeatedly recently."
"I would like to take this meeting as an opportunity to make this official."
Li Ming spoke at a measured pace, neither too fast nor too slow.
Beside him, Gong Qi was still jotting down notes.
Halfway through, he had the subconscious feeling that something was off.
He was still trying to put his finger on it.
But Li Ming had already continued speaking.
"Sir."
"I have a specific proposal."
"For this new pilot program, why don’t we start with mathematics?"
"Mathematics is the language of the other natural sciences."
"If we can take the lead in integrating the resources of our two universities in the field of mathematics..."
"Then it will pave the way for future expansions into physics, chemistry, and information sciences."
The leader at the head table looked up.
"Hmm?"
"How specifically would we expand it?"
Li Ming smiled.
"Both of our universities have very strong foundations in mathematics."
"By integrating these resources, we can support a new cohort of outstanding young scholars."
"I’ll throw out a name myself to get us started."
"Let’s..."
"Let’s use the student Li Dong as the pilot case for this joint program."
Gong Qi: ???
Having said his piece, Li Ming smiled and looked toward the leader at the head table.
The leader at the head table smiled back.
"That’s a good proposal."
"Using the student Li Dong as the pilot case for the joint program."
"It would both highlight the high standard of the pilot and allow our two universities’ resources to have the maximum effect on him."
"Principal Gong?"
"What are your thoughts?"
Gong Qi’s mouth opened and closed.
He glanced at the leader at the head table.
Then he turned his head to look at Li Ming beside him.
Li Ming wore a faint smile as he picked up the cup of tea in front of him and took a slow sip.
It all clicked into place for him in an instant.
’These two old foxes.’
’They planned this, didn’t they?’
’This is a goddamn ambush!’
’Aren’t you just bullying an honest man? If you had just discussed this with me properly, would I have disagreed? Why pull a stunt like this?’
’Fine! But you’re going to have to bleed for it!’
He put down his pen and smiled at the leader on the stage.
"Sir."
"Principal Li’s proposal is correct in its direction."
"Integrating the resources of both universities, using exceptional talent as the focal point—it’s an excellent concept."
He first gave them enough face before changing his tune.
"However..."
"When it comes to the student Li Dong specifically..."
"I must add one more thing."
"Lately, Li Dong has been focusing his main efforts on pure mathematics."
He glanced at Li Ming.
"Principal Li, our Yan University is top-tier in the country when it comes to pure mathematics."
"Academician Tian has been leading this field for years."
"If the goal of this joint program is to cater to Li Dong’s current direction, then Shuimu University..."
His meaning was obvious. If you wanted a joint program, you had to offer something superior to what he had. Right now, his university was stronger, so what was the point of joining forces?
Principal Gong continued.
"Can Mr. Qiu personally guide Li Dong at any time?"
He had made up his mind. If Li Ming said yes, he would agree. Otherwise, on what grounds could he demand this?
After listening, Li Ming smiled.
"Principal Gong, Mr. Qiu is getting on in years. Naturally, he can’t provide guidance at all times."
Hearing this, Principal Gong was just about to ask what the point was of Li Dong going to Shuimu, but Li Ming continued before he could.
"Principal Gong."
"Let me ask you something."
"Are you unaware of the waves Li Dong has been making in applied mathematics recently?"
Gong Qi: "..."
’What waves?’
’Applied mathematics?’
A look of confusion was clearly visible in Gong Qi’s eyes.
Seeing his confused expression, Li Ming smiled again.
"Principal Gong."
"That ’Comment’ paper Li Dong posted on arXiv a couple of days ago."
"You haven’t heard about it?"
"What tools did that ’Comment’ use? Which specific field of application did it point to? You don’t know that either?"
Gong Qi: "..."
"I’m not entirely clear..."
Li Ming’s smile became even more affable.
"That ’Comment’ used tools from inverse problem regularization."
"And it points toward single-atom X-ray characterization."

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