As the applause died down, Li Dong let out a soft breath.
He gave another nod to the audience, handed the microphone to Tian Gang, and prepared to walk off the stage with Fu Bao Hua.
But just as he lifted his foot to leave, a voice came from beside him.
"Kid, don’t go anywhere."
Li Dong: "???"
He turned to see Tian Gang smiling and waving at him.
"Come over here. Stand right here."
Fu Bao Hua was already halfway down the stairs. He paused when he heard the call, glanced back, then this senior brother of his let out a "tsk," turned around, and walked off the stage on his own.
Hearing Tian Gang, Li Dong wondered, ’What’s this about now?’
Tian Gang didn’t offer an explanation. He just pulled Li Dong to his side and raised the microphone again.
The scattered murmurs from the audience instantly fell silent again.
Tian Gang scanned the crowd below and smiled.
"Everyone, there’s one more thing I’d like to announce while we’re all here."
"You’re all aware of the National High-level Talent Special Support Plan that was publicly announced last week, right?"
"On that list, there were ten people named as Distinguished Talents."
"And our Chen Shengshen Prize winner here is one of them."
As his words fell,
what little murmuring there was in the banquet hall vanished completely.
Everyone looked up at the stage with a peculiar gaze.
Distinguished Talent.
Everyone present knew full well what this title meant within the country’s talent program hierarchy.
The plan had three tiers, with Distinguished Talent being the highest. Only ten people in the entire country were selected each year, and the support package they received was essentially on par with an academician’s.
What’s more, there was an unspoken rule in their field in Huaxia: you typically became an academician first, then applied for the Distinguished Talent title. It was extremely rare for it to happen the other way around.
And the person just named had only just received the Chen Shengshen Prize, hadn’t even graduated with his doctorate, and was only twenty years old.
"Distinguished Talent? He’s a Distinguished Talent already?"
"I was just nominated for the Exceptional Young Talent program, and I haven’t even submitted my application yet."
Down in the audience, the look on Luo Yu’s face was something else entirely.
His own title, Exceptional Young Talent, was the lowest tier of the plan, and it had taken him three grueling years to get in.
And today, this twenty-year-old kid had just skipped the two tiers in the middle and landed right at the very top.
’This Old Tian is just too much,’ Li Dong thought. ’Couldn’t he have said it all at once? What, does he get bonus points for harvesting my negative emotions?’
So he lowered his voice and asked.
"Aren’t people supposed to be notified about something like this?" Li Dong asked, also in a low voice.
Tian Gang shot him a look.
"We did notify you. Called you several times."
Li Dong: "..."
A wave of guilt washed over him.
He’d been cooped up in his Jinling apartment, wrestling with that early-warning paper. His phone had been on silent and face down on his desk most of the time, and he’d been ignoring all calls from unknown numbers.
Tian Gang didn’t press the issue and continued.
"We couldn’t get through to you, so we notified the university. The president signed off on it."
Li Dong: "..."
’Fair enough.’
After saying that, Tian Gang leaned in and spoke to Li Dong in an even lower voice.
"There’s one more thing I need to tell you."
"That five hundred million from Huaxuan."
Li Dong froze.
"Hm?"
"It’s being funneled through the research fund, attached to your Distinguished Talent project."
"When you need money, just submit a project proposal yourself."
Huh?
Now Li Dong was truly baffled.
’How did this money get bundled with the Distinguished Talent award?’
But a second later, he understood.
The Distinguished Talent tier came with its own independent channel for research funding. The project funds the state allocated to top-tier talent were already large, and the approval process was already fast. Moreover, every disbursement was a perfectly legitimate state allocation.
If the money went through this channel...
Publicly, it would be seen as state-sponsored research support for a Distinguished Talent who had just won the Chen Shengshen Prize.
As for Huaxuan and National Power Group, the arrangement was spotless, leaving no trace of his connection to them.
’So this is what Lin Wei meant back then when he said, "We’ll find a different way to get it to you by the end of the year."’
It’s just that...
The reality of having a net worth in the hundreds of millions suddenly landing on his shoulders still felt a bit surreal to Li Dong.
While Li Dong was still lost in thought, Tian Gang spoke again.
"Kid, you need to start getting serious."
"Start preparing for your doctoral dissertation."
"You can’t just coast by as a student anymore."
Li Dong: "..."
As he spoke, Tian Gang gave him a long, meaningful look.
’This student of his... In the past two years, he’d called him "kid" more times than he could count, probably more often than he called his own son.’
’He should say it a few more times while he still can.’
’Once this kid graduated with his doctorate and took on a formal title, academic etiquette meant he wouldn’t be able to call him that anymore.’
’He’d have to call him "Professor Li."’
’And in a few more years...’
’It might very well become "Academician Li."’
’Professor Li, Academician Li.’
’They sounded nice enough, but they didn’t roll off the tongue quite like "kid" did.’
Li Dong, for his part, accepted this quickly.
Once he accepted the Chen Shengshen Prize, his status was completely different than it had been before he walked on stage.
’What were the obligations of a Chen Shengshen Prize winner? To foster the next generation for the Huaxia Mathematical Community.’
’I’ll have to start recruiting students, leading a research group, and supervising PhDs.’
’As for that joint-training agreement between Shuimu and Yan University, that was a matter for the two schools to figure out on their own.’
Li Dong took a deep breath and gave Tian Gang a slight nod.
"Understood, Teacher Tian."
Tian Gang chuckled, raised the microphone back to its proper position, and addressed the audience with a few more pleasantries before formally announcing the end of the Chen Shengshen Prize award ceremony.
Another round of thunderous applause rose from the audience.
Only then did Li Dong walk off the stage and return to his seat.
There were several more presentations to follow, but though he sat in his seat, his mind couldn’t quite keep up.
「That night, after the award ceremony.」
「Shangri-La, Room 809.」
Li Dong lay on the bed, tore off his tie, and tossed it aside. He stared at the ceiling in a daze for a long while.
Then he went to the bathroom to splash some water on his face. As much as the day’s events warranted an entire evening of dazed reflection, he had a one-hour invited talk to give the day after tomorrow.
And he was completely unprepared.
Li Dong sighed, dug his laptop out of his suitcase, and set it on the desk.
’What should the report be about?’
’The Langlands Program... if I go too deep, not many people in the audience will be able to follow. But if I keep it too shallow, it would be a disservice to a conference of this caliber.’
Just as Li Dong was wrestling with this headache, the phone on his desk suddenly buzzed. BUZZ.
It was a call from Fu Chen.
The moment the call connected, Fu Chen’s excited voice burst through the receiver.
"East God!"
"It’s in! It’s in!"
Li Dong: "..."
’What’s in?’
Li Dong’s first reaction was to wonder if his senior brother was trying to show off his wealth.
’Rich? Are you richer than me?’
’I have five hundred million, you know.’
’Hmph.’
But as soon as the thought popped into his head, he realized what Fu Chen was actually talking about.
"Is it *Compositio*?"
"Yes! Yes, it is!"
"The editorial department just sent me an email!"
"An acceptance letter! It’s going up in the next online issue!"
At that, Li Dong broke into a smile as well.
*Compositio Mathematica*.
It was one of the most established top journals in international Algebraic Geometry and number theory, founded nearly a hundred years ago.
For a graduate student to be listed as the first author in such a journal was something countless PhD candidates could only dream of achieving before graduation.
With this paper published, offers from places like Princeton, Harvard, and MIT would likely start flying in.
If he chose to stay at Yan University, an associate professorship would be practically guaranteed upon his graduation.
From this paper onward, his senior brother had truly made his mark on the path of mathematics.
Li Dong felt happy for him at the thought.
’He was part of my group, after all.’
Just then, Fu Chen asked.
"East God, when are you coming back to Yan University? Everyone has a ton of questions saved up for you."
"In a few days."
After saying that, Li Dong’s eyes suddenly lit up as an idea struck him.
"Oh, right! Senior brother, grab Gu Ming and come over to Bin City right now."
"I’ll show you two the big leagues!"

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