From child prodigy to chief scientist

In the following days, Xu Xiao strictly kept his promise, always reporting to Fei Ran in advance before going to the computer room, and there were no more instances of being late.

To prevent herself from getting so absorbed in the flow state that she lost track of time, Xu Xiao set an alarm on her phone. As long as she could feel the phone vibrating in her pocket, she could break out of the flow state.

It took Xu Xiao another three days to complete the first draft of the paper and send it to Yuan Jiyang's email address.

Upon seeing the paper sent by Xu Xiao, Yuan Jiyang was both surprised and delighted, and immediately began to examine it carefully.

"On the upper bound estimation of the mixture of eigenvalues ​​with rational function variables".

Abstract: This paper studies a class of mixed eigensums over finite fields. Let p be an odd prime number…

"1. Introduction: Exponential sums and eigensumes are core research objects in analytic number theory and arithmetic sets..."

Originally, Yuan Jiyang did not have high expectations for Xu Xiao's paper. After all, Xu Xiao was still young and it was his first time writing a paper, so it was inevitable that he would be a little awkward.

However, as Yuan Jiyang gradually read through Xu Xiao's thesis, he realized that things were not as he had initially thought.

Xu Xiao doesn't seem like a novice writing a paper for the first time at all. Not only does she pay attention to all the basic paper writing guidelines, but the logical framework of the entire paper is also very rigorous, and the paper structure is clear and complete.

Of course, the most crucial element is Xu Xiao's choice of topic and research findings.

If the research itself is not excellent enough, no matter how eloquently the paper is written, it will be meaningless.

After reading the entire paper, Yuan Jiyang was completely impressed by Xu Xiao.

Even by strict standards, Yuan Jiyang couldn't find too many faults.

Such a paper would be considered above average even among graduate students in the Mathematics Department of Yenching University.

"Xu Xiao...you've truly surprised me time and time again!"

Even though Xu Xiao has already demonstrated world-class mathematical talent, he is still able to continuously break through his own limits.

Such a paper is of a standard that has fully reached the level of being published in SCI journals.

Subsequently, Yuan Jiyang replied to Xu Xiao's email, expressing his high regard for the paper.

In addition to offering some suggestions for revisions to Xu Xiao in certain places, Yuan Jiyang also specifically recommended several journals suitable for publishing this paper.

However, since these journals are all in English, it is necessary to translate the paper into English before submission.

Given that there are still many details to discuss, Yuan Jiyang hopes they can talk about it in person if the opportunity arises.

The next time Xu Xiao went to the computer room, he saw Yuan Jiyang's email.

"So, my paper should be considered pretty good, right?"

Even Yuan Jiyang didn't find many faults, which is enough to show that the quality of the paper is definitely up to standard.

Xu Xiao was naturally very enthusiastic about Yuan Jiyang's suggestion to have a face-to-face talk.

Thinking that email communication was relatively inefficient, Xu Xiao took out his newly bought Nokia 3120 and sent a text message to Yuan Jiyang.

"Professor Yuan, this is Xu Xiao. This is my mobile number. When is it convenient for you to call me?"

After sending the message, Xu Xiao waited expectantly for Yuan Jiyang's reply.

To his delight, Yuan Jiyang replied to the message in just a minute or two.

"No problem, it's convenient for me right now."

Xu Xiao then returned his machine and went outside to call Yuan Jiyang.

"Hello Professor Yuan, I am Xu Xiao."

"Hi Xu Xiao, you already have a cell phone? That will make it much easier for us to contact each other in the future."

Afterwards, Xu Xiao told Yuan Jiyang that he was participating in the national math competition team training camp at Tsinghua University.

"You must be quite busy every day now. There's no rush to talk about your thesis after you finish your training."

"It's alright, Professor Yuan. The training camp really didn't put any pressure on me. I always got full marks in the simulations, and I just handed in my paper early..."

Hearing Xu Xiao say this, Yuan Jiyang couldn't help but smile with some relief.

"Okay, I'm relieved to hear that. You probably won't be able to leave the school during the training camp, so I'll come find you. We live pretty close by anyway."

The closest distance between Tsinghua University and Yenching University is only a few hundred meters, so it's quite convenient to walk there.

"Professor Yuan, I really can't leave the campus, so I'll trouble you to come over."

Since Yuan Jiyang had other things to do later, the two agreed to meet at noon the next day.

The following morning, after finishing his work, Yuan Jiyang went to Tsinghua University alone.

Because Yuan Jiyang arrived a bit early, the morning training session for the training team had not yet ended.

Yuan Jiyang wasn't in a hurry, so he waited patiently outside the door.

After finishing the morning training session, the students gradually came out of the classroom.

Everyone was somewhat surprised to see Yuan Jiyang standing outside the door, but they all greeted him.

"Hello, Professor Yuan!"

"Hello."

Fei Ran also saw Yuan Jiyang and took the initiative to go up and start a conversation.

"Professor Yuan, what brings you here?"

"Professor Fei, Xu Xiao recently wrote a paper, and I've come to discuss it with him."

"So that's how it is. No wonder I've been seeing him going to the computer lab to write his thesis these past few days."

Upon learning the purpose of Yuan Jiyang's visit, Fei Ran realized that the connection between Xu Xiao and Yuan Jiyang was actually closer than he had imagined.

Therefore, it seems even less likely that Xu Xiao will choose to go to Tsinghua University.

Although Fei Ran felt a little regretful, he still wouldn't stop Xu Xiao and Yuan Jiyang from getting to know each other, because forced relationships are never sweet.

Seeing Xu Xiao come out of the classroom, Fei Ran called him over.

"Xu Xiao, Professor Yuan is here to see you."

"Then Professor Fei, please go ahead with your work. I promise to bring Xu Xiao back safely in a little while."

"With Professor Yuan here, I can rest assured."

After the others left, Xu Xiao said to Yuan Jiyang:

"Professor Yuan, have you been waiting outside for a long time?"

"It's okay, I just arrived a little while ago."

"You haven't eaten either, have you? How about we go to the cafeteria and chat while we eat?"

"Sure, then I'll mooch a meal from you."

The two went to a nearby cafeteria, got their food, and then talked face-to-face about their papers.

"For this paper, I suggest prioritizing submission to the journal *Acta Arithmetica*..."

The journal that Yuan Jiyang mentioned is a highly authoritative international mathematics journal that focuses on number theory research.