Top Student: Wasteland Technology Invasion

"Borrow someone?" Lu Zhiwei raised an eyebrow. "If you want to borrow someone from the math department, go find Director Xiang, or Tang Beichen from the Qiushi Class. What are you doing here?"

Professor Du: "Isn't this because you have a wide network of connections? I'd like to ask if you know any third- or fourth-year students who are good at algebra and analysis, and who are also quick-witted enough to help write algorithms?"

"That's easy!" Lu Zhiwei laughed. "I have a student who meets all your requirements, and coincidentally, I don't have any projects for him to work on right now. Let him work on projects with you."

"Ah?!" Professor Du was overjoyed. "Old Lu, you actually took on an undergraduate student! That's really rare! Tell me the name, class, and phone number so I can get in touch."

"Lin Chuan, a freshman in the Qiushi Class, here's his phone number. You can contact him, but I have a condition to say first."

"Conditions... wait, Lin Chuan, freshman?"

Professor Du couldn't help but frown.

Lu Zhiwei was renowned, so his students must have been exceptional.

But no matter what, he couldn't recommend a freshman.

Even if a first-year university student is an IMO gold medalist and excels in mathematics, the time they have accumulated experience is simply too short.

The School of Information Science and Technology's project is a key project led by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, which has extremely high requirements for students' comprehensive qualities; it's not something that can be achieved simply by doing a few sets of math problems.

Du Cheng inquired and found out that the School of Mathematics hadn't received any students who won IMO gold medals for several years. The best student recently seemed to be surnamed Xie and was a freshman.

But even if a student surnamed Xie came, Professor Du might not be interested.

After all, the School of Information Science program is application-oriented and not directly related to math scores. On the contrary, students who are quick-witted, well-rounded, and knowledgeable in algorithms are more suitable for him.

Professor Du contacted Lu Zhiwei hoping to leverage Professor Lu's connections to find a suitable student.

He was greatly disappointed by the final result.

Lu Zhiwei took a sip of tea, looked up at Du Cheng, and said, "What, do you think my students are not good enough for your School of Information Science program?"

"Yes." Du Cheng nodded.

He and Lu Zhiwei had been friends for many years and knew each other very well, so there was no need to beat around the bush and waste words on this matter.

"As I just mentioned, this is a project led by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, and the institute attaches great importance to it. The student we sent is a third-year computer genius who won a gold medal in the NOI (National Olympiad in Informatics in Provinces) in high school, and during his university years, he won the first prize in the 'Challenge Cup' National Undergraduate Extracurricular Academic and Scientific Works Competition, a gold medal in the National Undergraduate Programming Contest, and several other awards, including the Blue Bridge Cup."

"With this kind of ability, you'd be one of the best among university students nationwide, right? Actually, the School of Information Science could find all the participants on its own. I only asked you to help me fill in the gaps in my math knowledge, but even so, this person should at least be a third-year student, right?"

Faced with the questions, Lu Zhiwei did not explain, but simply opened an interface on his computer and showed it to Professor Du.

Du Cheng was stunned for a moment, not understanding what his old friend was up to, but he still patiently looked at the screen carefully.

The screen displayed an English website, with the title "Linear Algebra and Its Applications" written at the top.

The content below returns "Under Review".

Du Cheng quickly realized that this was a paper submitted to the journal "Linear Algebra and Its Applications," and that the paper was currently being reviewed by reviewers.

"A journal article? What journal is this? Did your doctoral student write it?"

When Du Cheng looked at Lu Zhiwei, he also glanced at Xiao Song.

The latter quickly lowered his head, as if to say, "It's none of my business, don't bother me."

Lu Zhiwei casually replied, "Second District."

Du Cheng nodded. "That's pretty good. Mathematics is different from other disciplines; it's not easy for a doctoral student to write a paper in a Q2 journal. Old Lu, you've taken on a good student."

Hearing this, Lu Zhiwei laughed. "If I told you that this article was written by Lin Chuan, and that he got inspired while doing a test paper and wrote it in just half a day, would you still think he's unworthy of your School of Information Science's key project?"

Upon hearing this, Du Cheng was completely stunned.

Mathematics is the foundation of informatics, and as a professor in the School of Information Science, Du Cheng is also quite proficient in mathematics.

He knew the value of SCI Q2 mathematics.

A freshman, half a day, inspiration, a math paper—these words are fine individually, but put together they're a bit surreal.

After a long pause, Du Cheng finally spoke: "Hey old buddy, are you making fun of me this early in the morning?!"

Lu Zhiwei raised an eyebrow. "Who wants to make fun of you? Believe it or not, I'll just say one thing: do you want the person?"

"Yes, of course I want it. Since you said so, how could I refuse? I'll just call him right away."

Du Cheng also realized that if Lu Zhiwei was vouching for a student like this, then the student must have real skills.

Regardless, let's get the School of Information Science and Technology to use it first.

Lu Zhiwei waved his hand, "Hey Lao Du, you seem to have forgotten something."

"What's wrong? What is it?"

"I said I could lend you Lin Chuan, but I have conditions."

"Tell me your conditions."

Lu Zhiwei calmly said, "Lin Chuan's family isn't that well-off. Look at him now, working on projects with your School of Information Science. It must take him a lot of time and money."

"Don't worry about that. This is a national-level project, so all the expenses will be reimbursed."

"I understand, but I need to help Lin Chuan apply for a school scholarship. The department needs to submit the materials, so could you please endorse him and say that Lin Chuan is helping the School of Information Science with a project and is a promising talent in the department? Please get the money for my student before the scholarship application deadline."

Du Cheng: "You, Lu Zhiwei, you've got to be waiting for me. I've never heard of anyone accepting a scholarship as an honor without even doing the project!"

Lu Zhiwei: "Just tell me if it's okay or not?"

Du Cheng: "Okay, of course. Where's the form? I'll sign it."

Lu Zhiwei smiled and took out an A4 sheet of paper from the drawer, pointed to the end, and said, "Then it's settled. I hope you and my student will have a pleasant collaboration!"

……

at the same time.

Lin Chuan is currently teaching "Mathematical Analysis II".

On the podium, Professor Mao, who was in charge of teaching mathematical analysis to the Qiushi class, held a stack of exam papers in his hand and said, "Students are all elites in the department, and many of you have already been working on projects with your advisors."

"Therefore, even though students in regular classes are still learning 'Mathematical Analysis I,' while you have already started learning 'Mathematical Analysis II,' some people are still not satisfied."

"In the spirit of treating everyone equally, there is something I need to tell you."

"As you can see, one student is absent from the class today."

Before he finished speaking, the students looked around.

Sure enough, of the twenty-one students who were supposed to be in the Qiushi Class, only twenty showed up today.

"It's Ruan Sheng."

"She didn't come to class!"

Professor Mao waved his hand. "That's right. Ruan Sheng believes she has mastered all the content in the 'Mathematical Analysis II' course, so she applied to only take the midterm and final exams and not attend classes. I agreed."

"So I gave her a set of test papers, which is the one I have in my hand. I figured since I'd already given them, I might as well use this to get a feel for everyone's level."

"Of course, whoever answers well can also receive the same treatment as Ruan Sheng."