From child prodigy to chief scientist

Although this journal is only classified as a mathematics journal in the third quartile of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Acta Arithmetica, as one of the oldest journals in the field of number theory, still has considerable influence in the field.

If you can publish a paper here, you can surpass many master's or even doctoral students.

After listening to Yuan Jiyang's introduction, Xu Xiao was honestly a little unprepared.

This high-level journal clearly exceeded Xu Xiaoyuan's expectations; he never imagined that Yuan Jiyang would be so confident in his paper.

"Professor Yuan, isn't it a bit risky to submit directly to a journal like *Acta Arithmetica*?"

"In my personal opinion, it's definitely worth a try. Of course, even if the journal rejects it, it's not a big deal. You're not in a hurry to publish a paper anyway, so you can just submit it to another journal later."

Xu Xiao hasn't gone to university yet, so she doesn't have the same pressure to graduate as graduate students.

Given this, Xu Xiao was very willing to try it out, following Yuan Jiyang's suggestion.

Then, Yuan Jiyang talked about some things to note when submitting articles.

"If we want to submit to an international journal like this, it definitely needs to be in English. I can help you find someone to handle the translation, and of course, this won't affect your ownership of the paper."

Although Xu Xiao has shown exceptional talent in mathematics, Yuan Jiyang does not have high expectations for his abilities in other subjects.

Asking such young children to write papers directly in English is indeed asking too much.

Yuan Jiyang certainly didn't have time to help Xu Xiao with the translation, but their school had people who specialized in thesis translation, so they could easily hand over this task to them.

However, upon hearing Yuan Jiyang's suggestion, Xu Xiao immediately offered a different perspective.

"Professor Yuan, my English is actually not bad. Why don't I try translating it myself first, and then ask someone for help if it really doesn't work?"

In preparation for the college entrance examination, Xu Xiao had put in a lot of effort in English, and basically reached the level of 130+ in the college entrance examination English test.

While this level may not be enough to meet the standard of writing papers in English, with his strong memory, he should be able to improve his English skills quickly.

Xu Xiao knew that she would definitely need to write papers in English frequently in the future, so instead of always leaving this task to others, she might as well master this skill as soon as possible.

Since Xu Xiao was able to make such a request to him, Yuan Jiyang naturally supported her.

"It's great that you think that way. Then send it to me after you finish translating the paper."

After discussing the thesis, Yuan Jiyang brought up the topic of university life.

"Xu Xiao, I've been communicating with the admissions office of Peking University again recently. Let me tell you about the latest conditions we can offer you..."

This was exactly what Xu Xiao was very concerned about, so he listened attentively.

Compared to the conditions that Yenching University's admissions officers had given Xu Xiao before, the conditions that Yuan Jiyang mentioned this time were clearly more generous.

In addition to the previously promised bachelor's and doctoral program and an annual living allowance of 50,000 yuan, Yenching University is also willing to provide a one-time scholarship of 100,000 yuan, as well as special research subsidies for postgraduate studies.

Yenching University also took into account Xu Xiao's young age and offered to provide him with an on-campus apartment, as well as provide his parents with a Yenching household registration and arrange suitable jobs on campus.

As for special privileges in attending classes, opportunities for international exchange, and other such conditions, these are naturally not a problem.

After hearing the conditions Yuan Jiyang mentioned, Xu Xiao was quite satisfied.

The fact that Yenching University was able to offer such exclusive benefits back in 2005 is enough to demonstrate its sincerity towards me.

"Professor Yuan, after the national math competition team training and selection process is over, I'll go back and discuss it with my family. If they don't have any problems, then this matter should be settled."

"That's great. You can focus on the training camp during this time. Just contact me if you need anything."

At this moment, Xu Xiao suddenly remembered something else and asked about it on the spot.

"Professor Yuan, after the national math competition team selection is over, I'd like to audit some classes at Yenching University for a while. Would that be convenient?"

After the national team for mathematical competitions completes its selection process, a unified training camp will be held in two or three months to prepare for the IMO starting in July.

During this period, apart from completing the high school entrance exams, Xu Xiao basically had nothing else to do.

Thinking about her future classmates at Yenching University, who would all be the most outstanding geniuses in the country, Xu Xiao still hoped that she could start her university studies as soon as possible.

Upon hearing Xu Xiao's request, Yuan Jiyang was slightly taken aback, but quickly nodded in agreement.

"Okay, I'll go back and talk to Yenching University about it, but I don't think there should be any problem."

"Well, then I'll have to trouble Professor Yuan."

By this time, Xu Xiao's roommates had finished eating and returned to their dorm room one after another.

However, instead of taking a lunch break immediately, they chatted privately about Yuan Jiyang's visit.

"Professor Yuan actually came all the way to see Xu Xiao. I wonder what it's about."

"Could it be that they're here on behalf of Peking University to recruit Xu Xiao? Xu Xiao hasn't signed his letter of intent yet, and both Tsinghua University and Peking University must really want to recruit him."

Just as they were talking about this, a team member from the next dormitory walked in and said somewhat mysteriously:

"I just finished eating in the cafeteria and happened to pass by Professor Yuan and Xu Xiao's table. Guess what I heard?"

"What? Tell me quickly!"

"If I heard correctly, they seemed to be discussing which journal Xu Xiao should submit her paper to, but I didn't quite catch the specifics..."

Upon hearing this, the others all looked puzzled.

"Papers...journals...what is all this about?"

"Yeah, you must have misheard. Xu Xiao has been training with us these past few days, how could she suddenly publish a paper?"

At first, Ge Xijie also thought that the student must have misheard.

However, after carefully recalling the recent events, he suddenly realized that things were indeed not as simple as they had previously thought.

To be honest, if Xu Xiao really did sneak into the computer lab to play games, even if the team didn't publicly criticize him, they certainly wouldn't allow him to continue doing so.

In reality, even after that, Xu Xiao would still leave after submitting her paper early each time, indicating that the team tacitly approved of this.

It seems that Xu Xiao went to the computer room not to play games, but to do something else important.