My IQ has been increasing year by year.

Chapter 215 Time

Fang Shi and Li Jianming pushed open the door one after the other.

The room was filled with a pungent smell of smoke.

Zhou Qiping didn't sit in his boss's chair, but stood to the side of his desk.

He held the landline microphone in his left hand and a half-burnt cigarette between his right fingers, his leather shoes rubbing back and forth unconsciously on the wooden floor.

On the desk, seven or eight documents were scattered haphazardly. The top one was a contact list of several provincial and national media outlets, covered with circles drawn in red pen.

"Yes, yes, the page size can't be small."

Zhou Qiping spoke into the microphone, his voice a little hoarse, but filled with an irrepressible excitement.

"This isn't our school trying to show off; it's bringing honor to our country's basic sciences. If you put someone of Pierre's caliber, the only publicly acknowledged successor, on the second page, I wouldn't be able to explain it to my superiors."

He took a drag of his cigarette and exhaled a cloud of smoke.

"Okay, you go and make the decision with the station first, and I'll have someone coordinate with you right away."

Zhou Qiping hung up the phone.

He turned around and saw Fang Shi and Li Jianming walking in.

Zhou Qiping's eyes are very bright.

The usual composure of a vice principal was completely gone, replaced by the frenzy of a hunter finally seeing his prey fall into the net.

He casually stubbed out his cigarette in the ashtray on the table, which was already overflowing with cigarette butts, and strode towards the two of them.

"Old Li! Old Fang! You've come at the perfect time!"

Zhou Qiping's voice was two octaves higher than usual.

"Great news! Incredibly great news!"

Before the two could speak, he pulled out two chairs and gestured for them to sit down.

"I just received three phone calls: one from the Ministry of Education, one from the provincial government, and one from Guangming Daily."

Zhou Qiping slammed his hand on the edge of the table.

"13 years old! Our USTC is going to become famous all the way to the United Nations! I've already told the publicity department to stop everything they're doing and focus on liaising with CCTV. We need to do a big feature on Chen Zhuo."

He turned around, pulled a piece of paper from the pile of documents on the table, and wrote a few large characters on it.

"I've already thought of a name, listen to it."

Zhou Qiping tapped the paper with his fingers.

"How about 'A Strong Youth Makes a Strong Nation—Getting Closer to Pierre's Only Chinese Disciple'? Impressive, right? Once this program airs, who will dare to compete with us for next year's USTC student enrollment and funding for those national laboratories?"

Li Jianming stood there without moving or sitting down.

He stared at the paper in Zhou Qiping's hand, his expression as cold as ice crystals outside.

The sorcerer didn't sit down; instead, he closed the office door tightly behind him.

The room was so quiet that the only sound was the whooshing of the air conditioner vents.

Zhou Qiping's smile gradually faded a little. He looked at Li Jianming, then at the sorcerer.

"What happened? Something went wrong at home so early in the morning?"

Li Jianming took a step forward.

He threw the folder he had been clutching tightly onto the table, and it slid a short distance, landing squarely on Zhou Qiping's paper with the program's name written on it.

"Professor Zhou."

Li Jianming's voice wasn't loud, but every word he uttered carried a cold and hard tone.

"Are you running a university or a circus?"

Zhou Qiping was stunned.

"Old Li, what are you talking about? What circus?"

"Tell me, how old is Chen Zhuo this year?"

Li Jianming stared at him.

"13."

"You also know he's 13."

"6

Li Jianming sneered.

"You're asking a 13-year-old to go on TV and recite a script, to perform for a national audience how he was chosen by a Fields Medal winner. Have you considered the consequences?"

Zhou Qiping's face also darkened.

He reached out and tapped the table.

"Old Li, what kind of talk is that? This is bringing honor to the school, not performing! This is the power of role models. The documents from above have been advocating for the discovery of outstanding talents every year, and isn't this a perfect example?"

"typical?"

Li Jianming stepped forward and pointed to the photocopy that was sticking out of the bag.

"Look carefully at what Pierre wrote in his letter. He said that explaining the shape of the sun to a blind man is a waste of life. He cursed all those mathematical giants in Europe one by one. Now you have a film crew, and you put the camera in front of Chen Zhuo's face. What do you expect Pierre to think?"

Li Jianming gritted his teeth.

"He would think that our USTC is just a bunch of blind people watching a miracle."

Zhou Qiping frowned.

"Old Li, you're overthinking it. Foreigners don't understand our national conditions. We're trying to build a positive image. Publicity is publicity, and academic research is academic research. They don't conflict."

"No conflict?"

Li Jianming laughed in anger.

"Chen Zhuo still has a few manifold convergence logic problems to finish. In that stuff, a mistake of a decimal point can lead to drastically different results. You want him to stop now and memorize your interview outline? To talk to the reporter about what he usually eats and drinks?"

"Old Li."

Zhou Qiping's tone also became more forceful.

"You need to have a sense of the big picture. USTC is not your math department alone. How will the funding for the second phase next year be allocated?"

"Relying on those few insignificant papers we usually publish? Now that we have a trump card, you expect me to keep it hidden?"

Li Jianming refused to budge an inch.

"Chen Zhuo earned his trump card himself; he's not a bargaining chip for you to exchange for funding. If you dare to let reporters into the school at this critical juncture, I'll dare to stop your car at the intersection."

The two were locked in a fierce battle.

The office was practically on fire with tension.

The sorcerer remained silent.

He looked at Zhou Qiping, then at Li Jianming.

When both of them were panting heavily and silent, the sorcerer slowly took a step forward.

He didn't get angry like Li Jianming.

He walked to the desk, reached out, and pushed the ashtray on the edge of the desk further in.

"Principal Zhou, please calm down. Old Li has a bad temper, please bear with him."

The sorcerer's voice was very calm.

He even took a cigarette from the cigarette pack on the table and handed it to Zhou Qiping.

Zhou Qiping instinctively took it, and the Taoist priest picked up the lighter on the table and lit it for him with a click.

Zhou Qiping took a deep breath, and his expression softened somewhat.

"Old Fang, you're the most sensible one. You should advise Old Li that he shouldn't become a blockhead in his academic pursuits. This is also beneficial for Chen Zhuo himself; it will be a valuable asset for his future studies abroad."

The sorcerer didn't take the bait.

He lit a cigarette, took a puff, and then turned around to look at Zhou Qiping.

"Professor Zhou, let's put the interview on hold for now."

Just as Zhou Qiping was about to speak, the sorcerer raised his hand and pressed it down.

"I went to the confidential room once before and took a look at that special agreement in the safe."

The sorcerer lowered his voice, speaking in a calm tone as if he were having a casual conversation.

"According to the rules, Chen Zhuo's current situation is that he is in a non-public scientific research control phase."

Zhou Qiping's hand, holding a cigarette, froze in mid-air.

He's a veteran administrator and is extremely sensitive to this kind of vocabulary.

"What do you mean?" Zhou Qiping asked.

The Taoist priest flicked off his cigarette ash.

"Professor Zhou, you may have forgotten, but Chen Zhuo is not only Lao Li's student now. He also holds the title of research assistant in the National Major Project Basic Algorithm Group in the School of Physics."

The sorcerer's eyes pierced through the smoke, staring directly at Zhou Qiping.

"When he signed the confidentiality agreement, our Faculty of Science reported it to the Security Department and higher authorities."

Zhou Qiping's brows furrowed little by little.

"That's an internal project, what does it have to do with this letter?"

"It's a big deal."

The sorcerer pulled over a chair and sat down.

"According to the quiet period provisions of that agreement, personnel with access to classified information are strictly prohibited from accepting any non-professional interviews at key stages of a project, let alone such exclusive interviews with a personal promotional nature."

The Taoist priest, with a cigarette between his fingers, pointed to the list of media outlets on the table.

"When CCTV staff come in, turn on the equipment, and scan the screen, they might accidentally capture backgrounds that shouldn't be there, or ask some sensitive questions in pursuit of program effects."

The Taoist priest looked at Zhou Qiping, his tone still nonchalant.

"Chen Zhuo is only 13 years old. Under the spotlight, a reporter might ask him a question. What if he accidentally misses a matrix parameter? That parameter is the core variant that Siemens absolutely refuses to sell to us."

The cigarette ash in Zhou Qiping's hand fell onto the table.

He didn't dust it off.

The sorcerer pressed the cigarette butt into the ashtray.

"If there are any audit discrepancies, and the higher-ups hold us accountable for administrative interference with research discipline...Professor Zhou, who's going to write that self-criticism?"

The room fell silent.

Li Jianming stood aside without saying a word, just watching Zhou Qiping.

Zhou Qiping's expression changed visibly.

The fervor I felt just now, the eagerness to hold a press conference immediately, vanished instantly, as if doused with a bucket of ice water.

He is an extremely shrewd person.

Li Jianming could talk to him about pure mathematics and Pierre's temperament, but he could ignore it because those were all within the realm of academia.

However, the Taoist priest's move directly brought the issue to the forefront of confidentiality regulations and political red lines.

Within the system of this era, anyone associated with these two words has to think twice.

Zhou Qiping forcefully stubbed out the remaining half of his cigarette.

He paced back and forth behind the table a couple of times.

"Old Fang, don't try to intimidate me with your big accusations."

Zhou Qiping turned his head, his voice much lower.

"I know about that project. Chen Zhuo was only responsible for a small part of the algorithm. It's not as weird as you think."

"It's not that weird."

The Taoist priest nodded and went along with what he said.

"But once Pierre's letter was published, the eyes of the whole world were on Huizhou. Do you think that only ordinary domestic viewers were watching behind the scenes?"

The sorcerer stood up.

"Foreign laboratories, and even intelligence agencies, are now worried about not having the opportunity to observe this child's thought process and daily routine up close."

He walked to the table and placed his hands on the surface.

"By conducting this special interview, we're blatantly pushing people into the limelight. If there's any talent drain or technology leaks later, who will take responsibility for this initial interview?"

Zhou Qiping fell completely silent.

He stared at the sorcerer, speechless for a long time.

That's the logic of administration: better safe than sorry.

If there is even a one in ten thousand chance of audit risk or security hazard, all KPIs must take a back seat.

Zhou Qiping slowly sat back down in his chair.

He reached up and scratched his hair, his previous high spirits completely gone, replaced by a deep sense of irritation.

"So what do you suggest we do?"

Zhou Qiping looked at the list on the table, which was already covered with red circles.

"Pierre's actions have caused such a big stir that the higher-ups already know about it. The deputy editor-in-chief of Guangming Daily just made a phone call. I can do nothing, but if I don't make a sound, the higher-ups will think that our USTC is ungrateful and can't even do a good job of putting on a show."

He sighed.

"Next year we'll be competing for several key laboratory designations. Lao Li, Lao Fang, this is tough on me."

Seeing that the time was right, Li Jianming softened his tone.

"Professor Zhou, we didn't say we couldn't do interviews."

Zhou Qiping suddenly raised his head.

"But not now."

Li Jianming continued.

"When was that? By the time the hype died down, it'd be too late!"

Zhou Qiping became anxious.

"The hype is over? As long as Chen Zhuo is around, the hype will never die down."

Li Jianming put his hands in his pockets.

"Three months. After Chen Zhuo has finished dealing with his current matters, we can discuss the interview again."

"Three months?"

Zhou Qiping jumped up from his chair.

"No! Absolutely not! Three months from now is the second semester. Forget CCTV, even the provincial newspaper will be reporting on other exemplary cases. It will be next week at the latest."

"Professor Zhou, Chen Zhuo will be running two more sets of data next week."

The sorcerer interjected quietly from the side.

"Then half a month!" Zhou Qiping gritted his teeth.

"Half a month isn't enough," Li Jianming shook his head.

"Two months."

The three of them were in the office, arguing like they were buying vegetables at a market, desperately trying to reach a certain deadline.

Zhou Qiping's bottom line is that it cannot be delayed until next year.

Ji Jianming's bottom line is that Chen Zhuo's current logical coherence cannot be affected.

The sorcerer stood in the middle, occasionally throwing out a mention of a confidentiality agreement or experimental progress to smooth things over, but in reality, he was helping Li Jianming lower the price.

They talked for a full ten minutes.

The tea on Zhou Qiping's table had gone completely cold.

He picked it up and took a big gulp, swallowing all the tea leaves.

"Stop arguing."

Zhou Qiping slammed the teacup down on the table.

Before the holiday.

He stared at Li Jianming and the Taoist priest, speaking slowly and deliberately.

"This is my bottom line. There's about a month left before the holiday. By then, the first wave of academic aftershocks will have subsided, and Chen Zhuo will have finished his research. Let's just treat this as an official presentation to summarize the semester for him."

Zhou Qiping took a deep breath of the smoke-filled air.

"This way, we can both satisfy our superiors and disrupt his schedule."

Li Jianming did not agree immediately.

He considered it in his mind.

A month was enough time for Chen Zhuo to sort out the remaining singularities. Moreover, at that time, students were preparing for their final exams, so the atmosphere on campus would be relatively quiet and there wouldn't be much noise.

Li Jianming turned his head and glanced at the sorcerer.

The sorcerer nodded almost imperceptibly.

"OK."

Li Jianming spoke up.

"It's possible before the holiday, but there are conditions."

Zhou Qiping breathed a sigh of relief and opened the drawer to find new cigarettes.

"You said that as long as I can get people in front of the camera, I will try my best to meet any conditions."

Li Jianming held up one finger.

"First, the outline. No matter how big a star a reporter from CCTV is, all the interview questions must be submitted to us in advance, and Lao Fang and I will review them word by word."

Anything involving gossip, family privacy, or any other messy personal reflections will be deleted.

"no problem."

Zhou Qiping readily agreed.

"Let's follow the path of an academic interview."

Li Jianming raised his second finger.

"Secondly, apart from CCTV and our provincial official media, we will reject all harassment from street literature and gossip reporters. The school office will issue a formal notice that anyone who dares to go to the dormitory or library to block people will be arrested directly by the school security department."

"Of course, I already said it involves classified information, how could I let those people do whatever they want?"

Zhou Qiping nodded.

"The third condition."

Li Jianming moved forward a little.

"Place."

Zhou Qiping raised his head.

"Location? Wouldn't a studio be better? The lighting is better, and it looks more impressive."

"Not going to the studio."

Li Jianming flatly refused.

"We won't go to the administration building, we'll stay in the old library."

"The old library?"

Zhou Qiping was stunned.

"The place is dark and smells musty everywhere, how can the photos turn out well?"

"That's the kind of darkness I want."

Li Jianming stared at Zhou Qiping.

"Professor Zhou, we need to show the whole country that the geniuses at our USTC are cultivated through years of hard work and perseverance, not through conversations in a fancy photo studio."

The image was already in Li Jianming's mind.

"The background is those yellowed foreign journals. Chen Zhuo doesn't need to wear a suit or tie; he just wears his usual clothes. We want to create a solemn atmosphere of sitting on a cold bench for ten years."

Li Jianming was using a more sophisticated method to forcefully suppress Zhou Qiping's frivolous celebration.

Zhou Qiping went through it in his mind.

Suddenly, he slapped his thigh.

"Old Li, you bunch of intellectuals are really smart."

Zhou Qiping was convinced.

"Okay, let's set it for the special collections room in the old library."

The deal has been reached.

The atmosphere in the room immediately relaxed.

Zhou Qiping lit another cigarette and leaned back in his chair.

Although the timing was delayed and the format was restricted, at least the situation was stabilized.

"Old Li, Old Fang."

Zhou Qiping exhaled a smoke ring, his eyes becoming somewhat complicated.

"I accept that you two came here today to put on a show; I know you're just trying to protect your own."

He pointed outside the door.

"Chen Zhuo is a treasure to you, and he is to me too. You'd better keep a close eye on him for the next month."

Zhou Qiping sat up straight.

"We cannot allow him to have any emotional fluctuations, and we cannot let the rumors outside affect him. He is not only your student, but also the living advertisement of our USTC for the next ten years."

The sorcerer smiled.

"Don't worry, Principal Zhou. He's been staying home and going between his dorm and the library lately, and he's very focused."

Upon hearing the word "dormitory," Zhou Qiping seemed to suddenly remember something.

He grabbed the landline receiver from the table and dialed an internal number.

The phone rang twice before being answered.

"Hello, is this Lao Ma from the logistics department?"

Zhou Qiping's voice regained its former authority as a vice principal.

"Send someone to Dormitory Building No. 2 immediately and replace all the broadband on floor 215 with a 100Mbps dedicated line. Yes, this afternoon."

Old Ma on the other end of the phone seemed a little dazed.

Zhou Qiping tapped the table impatiently.

"Also, the wiring on that floor needs to be redone, and a high-power voltage regulator needs to be installed. Don't worry about whether it exceeds the standard or not; that's a special case."

"Oh, right."

Zhou Qiping glanced at the sorcerer.

"While you're at it, go and replace the door to dormitory 215 with the thickest one, the one with the best sound insulation."

After hearing something said on the other end of the phone, Zhou Qiping's eyes widened.

"Stop talking nonsense! Let me tell you, Old Ma, if the internet in Dorm 215 goes down for even a minute, or if the power goes out, affecting that kid's communication with Princeton, I'll hold you responsible! Bye!"

Snapped.

Zhou Qiping hung up the phone.

He looked up at Li Jianming and Fang Shi, who were both in a daze, and rubbed his hands together.

"Is this okay? You guys protect his brain, I'll protect his body, let's divide the work."

Li Jianming and the Taoist priest exchanged a glance.

Li Jianming's lips twitched slightly, as if he wanted to laugh, but in the end he just shook his head helplessly.

He took the bag back into his hands.

"Professor Zhou, then we won't disturb you any longer while you're processing the documents."

Li Jianming turned and walked out.

The sorcerer also stood up, nodded to Zhou Qiping, and followed him out.

I pushed open the door and walked into the hallway.

The cold air from outside seeped in through the crack in the door, dissipating much of the smell of smoke from the two of them.

"That old fox."

The sorcerer muttered a curse under his breath, but there was little malice in his tone.

"He was forced into it."

Li Jianming hugged the folder tighter.

The two walked side by side down the corridor toward the stairwell.

"However, the matter of replacing the security door..."

'

The sorcerer suddenly chuckled.

Li Jianming didn't laugh.

He walked to the top of the stairs and stopped.

He looked out the window at the tree branches that were faintly visible in the cold mist.

"Old Fang."

Li Jianming's voice was somewhat soft.

"Although we have blocked this door today, it is only a temporary measure. Once that program airs, Chen Zhuo will no longer be the Chen Zhuo of our USTC."

The sorcerer walked to his side and looked out the window in the direction of his gaze.

"That's only a matter of time."

The sorcerer said.

"Now that Pierre has started the fire, he can't be kept out of the light."

The Taoist priest turned his head and looked at Li Jianming.

"What we can do is to pave the last leg of his journey at HKUST a little smoother before he actually takes off."