Peking University.
More and more people came to congratulate her.
Old Wu's best friend, Xin Ya, had arrived.
Academician Liu and Academician Qi came to the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
In the end, even the people from the Ministry of Education and the Beijing Municipal Committee had come. They were all genuine government officials. To be able to attract so many people, it showed how important the Abel Prize was!
A small auditorium was opened up to receive the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the Mathematics Association, media reporters, and other members of society. It could be considered as a meet-and-greet meeting. This was not a press conference as the Abel Foundation had only just decided on Zhang Ye's award and had yet to hold this year's award ceremony. As such, they could not announce to the public that Zhang Ye had already won the award. As such, it was still too early to hold a press conference and would only be held after the award was received.
"Professor Zhang." Xin Ya found him.
Zhang Ye looked at her. "Oh, it's Professor Xin."
Xin Ya gave a fake smile and said, "Congratulations."
Seeing her expression, Zhang Ye did not have a good attitude, "Thank you."
When a female teacher from the Mathematics Department saw this, she could not help but laugh. "Professors, are you two still fighting?"
Some time ago, the Tsinghua University and Peking University student poaching incident had caused a huge commotion. Zhang Ye and Xin Ya had argued at the entrance of Tsinghua University, and Zhang Ye had even smashed up a Tsinghua University bus. Everyone knew about this, so when they saw the two main characters meeting at such an occasion, a lot of people turned their attention to them.
Xin Ya harrumphed, "How would I dare to go against the winner of the Abel Prize!"
When Pan Yang saw this, he chuckled and came over to smooth things over. "Eh, Professor Xin is here too?"
"Of course I have to come." Xin Ya said in an annoyed tone, "After the main character wrote down the conjecture, he quit, leaving us mathematicians to prove and prove his conjecture day and night. Now that he has won the award, shouldn't I take some of the credit as well? How could I not come? " The proof work for Dale's Conjecture was still ongoing. Other than the mathematicians from overseas, the domestic mathematicians, including Xin Ya, were also the main force. She had provided a lot of help to the proof process of Zhang Ye's conjecture.
A Peking University math teacher said, "Then it must be Professor Xin's credit. I'll get Professor Zhang to treat you to a meal later."
"Yes." Dean Pan also smiled and said, "Let Little Zhang treat us."
Xin Ya glanced at Zhang Ye. "Are you inviting me or not?"
Zhang Ye glanced at her. "Please."
"What are we eating?" Xin Ya asked.
Zhang Ye replied, "Can't I just eat some braised food?"
Xin Ya: "... I've been working hard for you for half a year now, and all you've done is treat me to a stewed meal that costs a little more than ten RMB?"
Zhang Ye said, "Even if it's a big shot, 20 RMB is fine."
Xin Ya nearly fainted. "What's the difference?"
Zhang Ye said, "Two more fires."
Xin Ya: "... (&% ¥¥#% ¥# @!!!"
Everyone hurriedly went up to smooth things over.
They thought that Zhang Ye and Xin Ya were on bad terms, but they did not know that Wu Zeqing was involved as well. Although the two of them bickered verbally, they did not hold any grudges against each other. With Old Wu around, it was impossible for them to get into a fight. They were just bickering with each other.
…
At 10 AM in the morning, the people from the Abel Foundation arrived.
He was an American with fair skin and a large nose. He was in his thirties or forties, but he did not fly over from America today and had been in China for a long time. He was also one of the more skilled mathematicians in the American mathematics world. Although he had not won any international awards before, his level was still very high. The reason why he was in China was because he had participated in the proof of Dale's Theorem proposed by Zhang Ye, so he had not left. Now that the Abel Prize had been awarded to Zhang Ye, and Johannes was also a board member of the Abel Foundation, the job of communicating and passing on the message naturally fell to Johannes. Moreover, it was said that his wife was a Chinese American, so Johannes could also speak Mandarin very well.
"Hi, Johannes." Xin Ya knew him.
Johannes nodded. "Hello, Xin."
Xin Ya said in surprise, "I didn't expect it to be you."
Johannes smiled. "My laboratory is located at the Abel Foundation, and I'm also a board member of the foundation. I'm in charge of some of the academic matters."
Although the two of them had worked together on the proof, they were not familiar with each other, so they did not exchange much words.
Finally, Zhang Ye met Johannes. The two of them went to a place where there was no one around. They probably had some matters to discuss, so they did not let anyone disturb them.
"Hello, Zhang." Johannes looked at him.
Zhang Ye smiled and said, "Hello, how should I address you?"
"My name is Johannes." Johannes started by saying, "First of all, there's something I'd like to say first. I was also involved in the selection process for this year's Abel Prize. Although I'm currently in China and also participated in your proof of Dale's Conjecture, we all know that the proof process is not over yet. There's still a lot of verification work that needs to be done, so no one can say that you've solved Dale's Conjecture right now. At the very least, we'll have to wait until the last step of verification and reexamination is completed before submitting it to the International Mathematical Society for approval before it can be confirmed. In the current international mathematics world, Dale's Conjecture is still not solved yet, so I want you to know that the Abel Foundation has made an exception to award you the prize. You were barely able to win it, and there's even a possibility that if there's a mistake in the proof and it can't be continued, your prize might even be revoked. The Abel Foundation has taken a very big risk in this. Oh, Zhang, please forgive me for being so direct, but we all know that this is the truth."
Initially, Zhang Ye was still very cheerful and had a good impression of Johannes when he heard that his wife was an American Chinese. But when he heard what Johannes said, his expression darkened. He glanced at Johannes and said, "Hur, then why did you still want me to receive the prize?"
Johannes said, "In recent years, there haven't been many people who have made outstanding contributions to the mathematics world. Due to the reputation of Dale's Conjecture, the proof you provided naturally attracted the attention of mathematicians all over the world. It was because of this attention that the Abel Prize was made an exception to award you. Otherwise, with your qualifications and age, it would have been impossible to award this prize to someone in his twenties, especially when you're a Chinese citizen."
Zhang Ye laughed and said, "Do you have anything against China?"
Johannes shook his head and said, "Not at all. What I'm referring to is the Chinese mathematics world's contribution to the international mathematics world. It has never been much. My wife is Chinese, so I don't have any prejudice against China."
"It's a pity that she's an American citizen." Good and bad impressions could sometimes change so quickly. Zhang Ye laughed and said, "Usually, when a Chinese citizen becomes an American citizen, I would never think that they are still Chinese."
Johannes said, "I don't have any other meaning in saying all this. I'm just conveying a fact to you. I don't want you to misunderstand and think that the threshold for the Abel Prize is very low."
Zhang Ye retorted, "Which ear of yours heard me say that the threshold for the Abel Prize is low? Ever since I came in, I've been listening to you mumbling to yourself, fantasizing that you guys have no threshold, fantasizing that I think this and that. Why are you so funny, bro? "
He spoke a little too quickly and even had a Beijing accent to it. Johannes did not really understand what he was saying, but he couldn't be bothered to argue with him. So he went straight to business and briefed him on the various things to take note of during the award ceremony.
First of all, he had to receive the prize in English.
Second of all, he had to do a rough derivation of Dale's Conjecture before receiving the prize. There was no need to go through the entire process of the derivation and he only had to briefly introduce a few of the important steps to the guests from the mathematics world.
To put it bluntly, Zhang Ye's contributions to the mathematics world, other than the unconfirmed proof of Dale's Conjecture, were basically nothing else. In addition to his young age, Johannes, a 40-year-old veteran mathematician, was also one of the judges for the Abel Prize. Since he was representing the Abel Foundation to inform Zhang Ye to receive the prize this time, he naturally had to "use" his status appropriately. He felt that it was only right for him to knock down a junior like Zhang Ye. Actually, if it wasn't for the fact that they had no other choice and had no other suitable candidates, they would not have chosen a young Chinese like Zhang Ye to be one of the three winners of the Abel Prize this year. If Dale's Conjecture had really been proven and even received international recognition, then the situation would naturally be an exception. But that had not happened yet.
What's wrong with the judges "picking" the winners?
Unfortunately, Zhang Ye did not fall for his trick. Towards this so-called Abel Prize, he did not have the slightest bit of respect for it. To put it bluntly, it wasn't like it was the most prestigious award in the international mathematics world. There are several international mathematics awards that are higher than yours, so who do you think you are? To Zhang Ye, all he needed was the popularity of the Abel Prize. He had never considered himself as an academic worker, so how could he show any respect to an academic award organized by a foreigner? That's bullshit! You, a judge, dare to knock me down? Do I even have to listen to what you're saying? Do you think that you have something on me? Whoa! Why are you so amusing! Who do you think you are? Coming here to flaunt your prowess and act all high and mighty?
Johannes was just explaining the points to take note of.
Zhang Ye interrupted, "Are you done talking?"
Johannes was taken aback. "I'm still talking!"
"I've only listened to you, so let me say something as well." Zhang Ye stared at him and said, "I did not beg you to give me the award, so don't think that you're doing me a big favor. No one is forcing you. If you want to award it, then do it. If not, then just withdraw it!" After saying that, this fellow walked away without even turning his head back.
Johannes was left dumbfounded. Then he flew into a rage!
What sort of person is this!
How can you speak to me like that?
...
Outside.
Everyone still did not know what was going on inside.
Seeing Zhang Ye come out, Pan Yang smiled and said, "Are you done talking?"
Zhang Ye also smiled. "Yeah."
Dean Pan said, "It's almost noon, so don't leave. Let's go together —"
"Don't mind." Zhang Ye quickly said, "I still have some matters to attend to at home. I said that I would go back for lunch, so I'll arrange it another day. I'll treat everyone another day, but I really can't do it today."
Dean Pan thought about it and agreed. "Your family will definitely want to celebrate for you. Alright then, another day."
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