My IQ has been increasing year by year.

Chapter 181 Can I choose both?

The air conditioning in the vice principal's office was turned up high.

I can't hear the cicadas chirping outside, nor can I smell the plastic on the playground.

The spacious office contained only a huge mahogany desk and a set of genuine leather sofas for entertaining guests.

On the coffee table next to the sofa, there is a set of purple clay teaware.

The water has boiled and is steaming.

The Taoist priest sat on the left side of the sofa.

His hair was still neatly combed, but the bloodshot eyes betrayed his exhaustion from staying up late in the lab recently.

Li Jianming sat on the right side of the sofa.

He held two old walnuts in his hands, his face showing a confident and composed demeanor.

Vice Principal Zhou Qiping did not sit behind his desk, but instead sat at the tea-making station.

He picked up the teacup with wooden tweezers, rinsed it with boiling water, and then poured it out.

The movements were slow and methodical.

The office was quiet, with only the sound of running water.

"Old Li."

The sorcerer spoke first, breaking the silence.

He picked up the small teacup in front of him, blew on it to cool it down, but didn't drink it.

"Your math department has become quite famous these past few days."

The sorcerer's tone was devoid of emotion, as if he were simply stating a fact.

"If you submit a paper to the Annals of Mathematics and are listed as the first author, once it passes the review at Princeton, the math departments of the top universities in China will probably have to buy plane tickets and fly over to poach you."

Li Jianming paused for a moment while holding the walnuts.

He glanced at the sorcerer, a smile playing on his lips.

"Dean Fang is joking."

Li Jianming said slowly.

"Take him away? Can they take him away? Chen Zhuo's student status is at our USTC, his roots are here."

Li Jianming picked up his teacup and took a small sip.

"Besides, mathematics relies on inspiration and absolute logic. Chen Zhuo's intuition about homology group mappings is a gift from God. If he doesn't stay in the Department of Mathematics to properly explore this path, is he going to follow you in the Department of Physics and spend his days in wind tunnels calculating those error-ridden engineering data?"

Li Jianming's words directly revealed his intentions.

The Taoist priest put down his teacup with a soft sound.

"error?"

The sorcerer's expression turned serious.

"Old Li, you make it sound so easy."

"Without our calculations of those error-prone engineering data, your perfect mathematical models would forever remain just on paper."

The Taoist priest stared at Li Jianming, refusing to budge an inch.

"The aerodynamic model of high-speed rail is a national-level project. Chen Zhuo's ability to reduce the dimensionality of discrete matrices in this project proves that he not only has a mathematical foundation, but also an extremely rare intuition that can directly transform abstract mathematics into physical engineering."

The sorcerer took a deep breath.

"Mathematics is a tool, but physics is the knife to explore the essence of the world. If Chen Zhuo, this fine knife, is only used for writing and drawing on paper, it would be a waste. He must come to the Department of Physics."

The walnut in Li Jianming's hand started spinning again, making a clicking sound.

"Fang Shi, stop trying to pressure me with national projects."

Li Jianming's temper flared up as well.

"You want him to do wind tunnel calculations, airflow calculations, and those parameters that change today and become obsolete tomorrow? You're ruining him!"

"The realm of pure numbers has no limits. He was able to write those three lines of challenge when he was twelve. Can you imagine what kind of scenery he would see when he was twenty?"

It looked like the two luminaries of professors were about to start arguing on the sofa.

"Alright."

Zhou Qiping, who had been silent, put down the teapot in his hand.

The vice principal's voice wasn't loud, but it carried an undeniable weight.

Fang Shi and Li Jianming both stopped and looked at Zhou Qiping.

Zhou Qiping pulled out a tissue and wiped his hands.

"They're all so old, arguing over a student like this, what kind of behavior is that?"

Zhou Qiping looked at the sorcerer on the left, then at Li Jianming on the right.

"I know what you two are thinking."

"The Department of Mathematical Sciences wants to retain him, and the Department of Physics also wants him. You all feel that your discipline is the most suitable for him."

Zhou Qiping threw the tissue into the wastepaper basket.

"But have you forgotten that Chen Zhuo is not a tool for allocation, nor is he a bargaining chip?"

Zhou Qiping leaned back on the sofa, his hands clasped in front of him.

"He is the most exceptionally gifted student since the founding of HKUST."

"For students like this, what we, as elders, should do is not choose a path for them, but rather see what path they really want to take."

The voice just fell.

There was a light knock on the office door twice.

Not too light, not too heavy.

"Come in," Zhou Qiping said.

The door was pushed open.

Chen Zhuo walked in wearing an ordinary white T-shirt.

The cool air from the office made him squint comfortably.

He saw the three big shots sitting on the sofa.

Chen Zhuo showed none of the awkwardness that an ordinary student would have when meeting school leaders and luminaries.

He walked over and sat down in the empty chair opposite the sofa, his movements extremely natural.

"Principal Zhou, Teacher Fang, Teacher Li."

Chen Zhuo nodded gently, as if to say hello.

Zhou Qiping looked at Chen Zhuo with a gentle smile on his face.

He personally poured Chen Zhuo a cup of tea and pushed it in front of him.

"Chen Zhuo, have some tea."

Chen Zhuo said thank you, picked up his teacup, and took a sip.

He doesn't know much about tea, he just thinks it's a bit bitter. Maybe the vice principal has been under a lot of pressure lately?

Chen Zhuo was idly chirping to himself.

After putting down his teacup, Chen Zhuo took out the folded "Professional Assignment Intention Form for the Junior Class" from his pocket and placed it on the coffee table.

The white form stood out starkly against the dark wood coffee table.

The table is still blank.

The Taoist priest and Li Jianming's gazes both fell on the blank sheet of paper.

Neither of them spoke, waiting for Chen Zhuo to speak first.

Chen Zhuo placed his hands on his knees and looked at the three elders in front of him.

"I can roughly guess what the two teachers mean."

Chen Zhuo's voice was calm, without a trace of the anxiety and uncertainty that often comes with youth.

"I came here today to finalize this matter in person, so as to avoid having to go through all those troublesome approval processes after submitting the forms."

Li Jianming looked at Chen Zhuo with a hint of expectation in his eyes.

"Chen Zhuo, have you thought this through?"

Li Jianming pointed to the white paper on the table.

"Fill out this form, and it will define your main focus for the next few years. The doors of the School of Mathematical Sciences will always be open for you."

The sorcerer was not to be outdone.

"The key laboratories in the Physics Department will have a dedicated workstation reserved for you as soon as you come, and you can access any data you want."

Chen Zhuo listened to the promises made by the two titans.

He showed no sign of being flattered.

He simply smiled gently, his gaze sweeping back and forth between the Taoist priest and Li Jianming.

"Teacher Fang, Teacher Li."

Chen Zhuo spoke up.

His tone lacked the heaviness of a grand narrative, possessing only pure honesty.

"I find the wind tunnel data from fluid mechanics very interesting. Those tangible physical variables allow me to feel the reality of this world."

Chen Zhuo paused for a moment and looked at Li Jianming.

"But I can't let go of the topological structure of pure numbers and the mapping of homology groups. The logical framework provided by mathematics is too perfect."

Chen Zhuo leaned back in his chair.

"Mathematics gives me logic, physics lets me see reality."

Chen Zhuo shrugged, his smile a mixture of helplessness and self-righteousness.

"I've tried making choices, but I feel regretful no matter which side I lose."

The office was quiet.

Zhou Qiping's hand, holding the teacup, froze in mid-air.

Fang Shi and Li Jianming exchanged a glance.

Chen Zhuo looked at the two teachers and then voiced his final request.

It was an extremely arrogant request in the eyes of ordinary students, but when he said it, it sounded perfectly natural.

"so...

,

Chen Zhuo looked at them.

Can I choose both?

The air seemed to freeze for a second after those words were spoken.

Choose both.

This isn't like buying a drink at a supermarket; these are the two most prestigious disciplines at USTC, a deep abyss that requires an ordinary person's entire life to master just one of them.

After a brief silence.

"puff."

Li Jianming couldn't help himself.

The old professor put down the walnuts in his hand, pointed at Chen Zhuo, and was so angry that he laughed.

"You little rascal."

Ji Jianming tapped Chen Zhuo's head from a distance, his tone full of the helplessness and doting affection of an elder towards his prized student.

"You've got quite the nerve! What, a first-author paper in the *Annals of Mathematics* makes you think you're all that, huh?"

Li Jianming shook his head.

"Trying to have your cake and eat it too? Don't you realize how terrifying the workload is when you combine the physics and math departments? Aren't you afraid it'll overheat your little brain?"

The sorcerer also picked up a teacup.

Although he had a stern face, he couldn't suppress the smile on his lips.

"What a greedy little brat."

The sorcerer laughed and cursed.

He blew on the tea leaves in his cup and took a sip of water.

"OK."

The Taoist priest put down his teacup and looked at Chen Zhuo.

"Since you dare to ask, we two old guys are willing to cover for you."

The sorcerer's smile faded, and his tone became more serious.

"But let me make this clear from the start: you can run between the two sides, but if your research groups have meetings that clash or you can't finish processing the data, don't come crying to me saying you're too busy."

Chen Zhuo looked at the two elders.

He knew it was a done deal.

There were no tedious debates, nor any haggling over treatment.

All he needed to do was show a pure love for these two disciplines, and these two titans were willing to break all the rules for him.

Chen Zhuo smiled.

Warm and clean.

"Don't worry, Professor Fang," Chen Zhuo said.

"I won't cry. At worst, I'll just ask my friend to write a few more sets of code to automatically process the data."

"You..."

'

Li Jianming smiled and shook his head.

Zhou Qiping, who had been observing from the sidelines, finally put down his teacup.

The vice principal looked at Fang Shi, then at Li Jianming.

"Since you two deans have reached a consensus, then I'll make the decision."

Zhou Qiping reached out and picked up the blank expression form from the coffee table.

He took a pen out of his jacket pocket and removed the cap.

Without any hesitation.

Zhou Qiping wrote a line in the blank space of the form.

[Interdisciplinary Experimental Class in Science (Dual Major in Mathematics/Physics) - Special Approval]

After writing it down, Zhou Qiping signed his name below.

Then he handed the form to the sorcerer.

The Taoist priest didn't even look at it, quickly signed his name in two strokes, and handed it to Li Jianming.

Li Jianming did the same; after signing, he threw the pen away.

A distribution form that originally required multiple levels of approval, stamping, and meetings.

Right there in this office, filled with the aroma of tea, a special approval was made in less than a minute as the three bigwigs passed the document around.

Zhou Qiping pushed the form, covered in signatures, back to Chen Zhuo.

"Keep it safe."

Zhou Qiping looked at Chen Zhuo with a meaningful gaze.

"Starting tomorrow, you will be at USTC, no longer restricted by any single college. The resources of the School of Mathematics and the School of Physics will be fully available to you."

Zhou Qiping paused for a moment.

"Chen Zhuo, we've paved the way for you."

"As for how far you can go and what kind of scenery you can see, that depends on yourself."

Chen Zhuo stood up.

He didn't make any grand pronouncements.

He reached out and picked up the light piece of paper, carefully folded it, and put it back in his pocket.

Chen Zhuo looked at the three elders in front of him and bowed slightly.

"Thank you, Principal Zhou, thank you, Teacher Fang, and Teacher Li."

Chen Zhuo straightened up, a relaxed smile on his lips.

"I'll go back and pack my bags now. I'll be going back to Zeyang in a couple of days when I have my holiday."

"Summer vacation is coming again?"

The sorcerer frowned.

"There's still a ton of data in the wind tunnel—"

"Teacher Fang."

Chen Zhuo interrupted the alchemist.

"It's important to balance work and rest. I need to go back and tutor my childhood friend for the high school entrance exam. It will be a real problem if he doesn't get into high school next year."

The sorcerer was speechless.

Li Jianming laughed heartily beside him.