Peking University.
From yesterday onwards, Peking University had specially set up a team to liaise with the media and reporters. As the Abel Prize recipient, Zhang Ye, was an associate professor of the Math Department and was also an achievement in the field of mathematics, the person in charge of the team was Dean Pan Yang of Peking University's School of Mathematical Sciences. He was also given the title of deputy team leader, while the title of team leader was given to him by a vice president of Peking University.
Today, they received many reporters again.
In the past two days, the television stations, newspaper agencies, and people from the Chinese mathematics world had come to visit Peking University one after another. There were even some foreign mathematics organizations and research institutes who had sent people to contact Peking University. Some of them wished to meet with Zhang Ye and called to make an appointment. There was also a foreign research institute that directly stated that they wanted to collaborate with Peking University on a project, but in fact, they wanted to collaborate with Zhang Ye.
Pan Yang and the others were extremely busy.
"Dean Pan, the reporters from Liaodong TV Station are here."
"Let them wait. I'll take care of things here first."
"Sigh, there are dozens of people coming today. I have to receive all of them."
"Our Peking University has really become famous this time!"
"Should we hold a press conference, Dean Pan? Since when did all these people become the leader? There are too many people, I can't entertain them all. "
"We'll have to wait until after we receive the award. I heard that Professor Zhang's visa has not been processed yet. There were some omissions in the invitation documents sent by the Abel Foundation. How are things on Professor Zhang's side?"
"I don't know yet. Let me ask."
"Hmm, that's the important thing. Ask him clearly."
However, before they could call to ask about the latest developments, the Peking University staff who had gone with Zhang Ye to the embassy to apply for the visa called back. The first sentence they said made everyone's heart skip a beat!
"Dean Pan! Something big has happened! "The people from the school administration's expression changed.
Dean Pan was stunned. "What happened?"
What kind of institution was Peking University? That was the number one school in the country and one of the top 50 schools in the world. The relevant staff members were all experienced. Generally, what was considered a "major event" to others was just a small storm to them. It was not a big deal, so there was no need to make such a big fuss about it. Since the school administrative staff could shout "major event" now, it was obvious that it was definitely not a small matter!
As soon as he said that, everyone turned to look at him in astonishment.
"What happened?"
"Something big happened?"
"What's the situation?"
The Peking University people immediately surrounded Pan Yang.
Then, they heard the school administrative staff say something shocking on the other end of the line, "The visa application still hasn't been approved. Johannes said that he's not in Beijing and will only be back tomorrow or the day after. It's obvious that he's trying to shirk his responsibilities. We could tell that there was something fishy going on here, but who could have expected Professor Zhang to flip out!"
Dean Pan asked in surprise, "What happened to him?"
The school administrative staff didn't know whether to laugh or cry. "Professor Zhang … has turned down the award!"
With a buzz, everyone from Peking University was stunned!
Dean Pan almost fell to the ground. "What? Give up on the prize? "
"Yes!" The person from the school administration said, "What should we do?"
Dean Pan said angrily, "Where's Little Zhang?"
"He's already gone!" someone from the school administration said.
"Then what are you doing? Why didn't you stop him? Why didn't you stop him? "Dean Pan was furious.
However, the school administrative staff felt wronged. "We tried to persuade him, but we couldn't. Professor Zhang's temper … it's not like you don't know about it. When he gets angry, how … how could we stop him!"
Others might have only heard of Zhang Ye's bad temper from the Internet or from their friends, but they had never seen it for themselves. But as people from Peking University, they had not only heard of it, but had also witnessed it for themselves. Professor Zhang's ruthless personality was something that everyone in Peking University would turn pale at. Even the leaders of Peking University could not do anything about him! He was someone who dared to point at a foreign guest and scold them as "idiots"! How could they possibly persuade such a fierce person!
After hanging up, Dean Pan stood there in a daze for a long time without making a sound. He was clearly fuming!
The people from Peking University were also in a mess!
"I'm gonna faint!"
"Professor Zhang, this …"
"Something big has happened!"
"He's not going to receive the Abel Prize anymore??"
No one in Peking University wanted to believe this. If it were anyone else who said this, they would definitely think that the other party was joking. At most, they would think that they were just trying to scare the Abel Foundation out of frustration over the visa application. They definitely wouldn't be serious about it. After all, this was not some random award given out for nothing. This was the famous Abel Prize. But the person who said this just had to be Zhang Ye. Reality told them that others might not be able to do such a thing, but Zhang Ye … could really fucking do it!
This is bad!
This is going to be a huge mess!
Could Professor Zhang be serious about this!?
… …
Second Ring Road. On the main road.
Zhang Ye had not even reached home when Dean Pan called him anxiously.
"Little Zhang! What are you doing! "Dean Pan said.
Zhang Ye laughed and said, "I'm not doing anything. I'm just driving."
Dean Pan said angrily, "Are you really going to turn down the award?"
Zhang Ye nodded. "I've already decided. It's just a lousy award that can't even be considered as one of the top three prizes in the international mathematics world. Do they think that this bro is begging them to accept it?"
"Stop messing around!" Dean Pan said forcefully, "I'll pretend that I didn't hear anything about you turning down the award. I'll handle the visa application for you, so you don't have to worry about it. We'll definitely get it done for you!"
Zhang Ye said, "There's no need, Dean Pan. I won't be going to America anymore. Let them award it to whoever they want."
"Little Zhang!"
"You know my temper, so don't try to persuade me anymore. It's settled then."
"Little Zhang, you …"
"I see the traffic police up ahead. I can't speak any further. I'm hanging up, Dean Pan!"
After hanging up, Zhang Ye put away his cell phone and continued driving. Although he said that he did not think highly of this award, that was not the case at all. It was still a form of popularity, so Zhang Ye would definitely not miss out on it if he could. At the beginning, he did not have any prejudice against the Abel Math Prize. Since they had chosen him, it meant that they recognized him. This was also the reason why Zhang Ye was so happy at that time. When he first met Johannes, he was also very polite and spoke very well to him. But the problem now was that the Abel Foundation did not respect him at all. It was such a good award, yet they had made it so ridiculous. They had beaten Zhang Ye up for no reason at all, and now they were holding up his visa application to make things difficult for him. This was something that Zhang Ye could not accept, so naturally, his impression of the Abel Math Prize had fallen to rock bottom. He no longer had any hope of winning it!
If I don't accept a lousy award from you, I'll have to die?
Bullsh * t! I'm not going to fucking accept it!
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