Awakening Elementary School System in University

Listening to Gu Ming’s barrage of requests, Chen Lin finally understood why he’d been summoned in such a hurry.

’So he thinks my writing is too brief.’

He breathed a sigh of relief. He’d been worried there was some major, fundamental flaw with the paper.

For him, this was a trivial matter.

"Okay, no problem."

Without a second thought, Chen Lin casually pulled a pen and a blank sheet of scratch paper from Gu Ming’s desk. He didn’t even sit down, simply standing by the desk and leaning over as the tip of his pen began to fly across the page.

The steps Professor Gu considered "too big of a leap" were, to him in his ’Little Mathematician’ state, completely natural conclusions.

All he had to do now was write out these self-evident processes in full.

SCRATCH, SCRATCH, SCRATCH...

The office instantly fell silent, leaving only this single sound.

Gu Ming stood to the side without a word, subconsciously even slowing his breathing.

「Five minutes later.」

"Done."

Chen Lin stopped writing and handed over the densely filled sheet of paper, his tone light.

Gu Ming practically snatched the paper from him, then plopped back down into his chair and began to read it meticulously.

The office fell silent once more.

This time, not even the scratching of a pen could be heard. It was so quiet you could hear the faint hum of the air conditioning vent.

The seconds ticked by.

「Ten minutes later.」

Gu Ming let out a long breath, as if expelling all the doubt and hesitation that had built up in his chest. At last, his mind was at ease.

He slowly lowered the paper, raising his head to stare intently at Chen Lin. His eyes were a complex mixture of surprise and excitement.

The look was so intense it made Chen Lin’s skin crawl.

"Professor Gu, I... is there a problem with what I wrote?"

"A problem?" Hearing this, Gu Ming slapped his thigh, his voice filled with irrepressible excitement. "There’s no problem at all!"

He paused, as if to calm himself, before speaking again, enunciating each word. "Your calculations and proofs are excellent! In fact, ’excellent’ doesn’t do it justice—they’re ’perfect’! Every step is crystal clear, every piece of logic is airtight! This proves that the core findings of this paper are entirely your own work!"

’So that’s it. Professor Gu suspected the core content of the paper wasn’t my own work, so he called me in to prove it.’

But Chen Lin could understand. After all, it was the result of a week’s worth of proofs and calculations he’d done in his ’Little Mathematician’ state. Even if he wasn’t sure what it was worth in the eyes of others, he knew it had to be something incredible.

But before Chen Lin could offer a few modest words, Gu Ming’s tone shifted. He pointed at the draft on the computer screen and began to criticize bluntly, "But! The writing in this paper is an absolute mess! It’s full of colloquialisms, the paragraph transitions are clumsy, and the formatting is all over the place! If you submitted this as is, forget about graduating with honors—it’s doubtful it would even pass!"

Chen Lin was a bit stunned by this one-two punch of praise and criticism. He could only scratch his head awkwardly and explain, "Uh... Professor Gu, this is my first time writing a paper, so I’m not very practiced. Plus, I have to get busy with company preparations after today, so time was a little tight. I admit it was a bit rushed..."

"Alright, alright, those are all minor issues!"

Gu Ming waved his hand dismissively. There wasn’t a trace of blame on his face; instead, he radiated a magnanimous confidence. "Just leave the first draft with me! I’ll personally fix the writing and formatting issues! I guarantee I’ll revise it into the most standard, professional version possible!"

"Ah? I couldn’t possibly ask you to do that..."

"What’s there to be embarrassed about!" Gu Ming shot him a look, then his tone turned serious again. He looked at Chen Lin, his gaze intense. "Chen Lin, my boy, the reason I called you over in such a rush wasn’t just to have you fill in some of the proofs. There’s something much more important I need to discuss with you."

He took a deep breath and said slowly,

"If this paper is only published as an undergraduate graduation thesis, it would be an absolute travesty! A total waste!"

"Here’s my suggestion," Gu Ming said, leaning forward slightly. "After I send you the revised version, don’t rush to complete the abstract, acknowledgements, and other sections required for the graduation thesis."

"Instead, take a small, core part of this draft, reorganize it, and write a concise but powerful paper for submission. Submit it to a top-tier SCI journal! Once that paper is officially published, you can expand on the original content for your official graduation thesis!"

But upon hearing Professor Gu’s suggestion, which was brimming with high hopes, Chen Lin didn’t agree with the enthusiasm he’d expected.

Quite the opposite, an obvious trace of hesitation appeared on Chen Lin’s face.

"What’s wrong?" Gu Ming keenly picked up on the change in his expression and asked, confused. "Is it because you’re busy with the new company and don’t have the energy? Don’t worry about that. I can help you with the revisions and polishing!"

But upon hearing Professor Gu’s suggestion, Chen Lin didn’t accept it with the enthusiasm Gu Ming had anticipated.

He just seemed a bit taken aback, then fell into a brief, pensive silence. Was that a hint of... hesitation in his eyes?

Seeing his reaction, Gu Ming felt it was rather odd.

’This isn’t right, is it?’

For any undergraduate, publishing a paper in a top-tier SCI journal was an absolutely wonderful opportunity.

Even if Chen Lin wasn’t interested in an academic career, a first-author paper in a top-tier SCI journal would show experts just how capable he was. It would even help his new company attract business.

’So why isn’t this kid showing any reaction?’

’Could it be...’

A thought struck Gu Ming. He instantly considered a possibility and asked tentatively, "Chen Lin, are you worried that... with your new company, you won’t have the time or energy to handle the submission process?"

He quickly waved his hands, offering a guarantee. "You don’t have to worry about that at all! If you’re willing, I can handle the entire submission process for you! From selecting a journal and reformatting the paper to communicating with the editorial office, you won’t have to lift a finger!"

"No, no, Professor Gu, you’ve misunderstood."

Chen Lin snapped out of his daze at Gu Ming’s words and quickly waved his hands to explain.

He looked into Gu Ming’s eyes, which were filled with eager expectation, and gathered his thoughts before speaking frankly. "Actually, I do plan on publishing a paper in a journal. But... not this one."

"Hm?" Gu Ming’s enthusiasm faltered, and he didn’t quite follow. "Not this one?"

"That’s right." Chen Lin nodded. His tone was perfectly calm, but his next words made Gu Ming’s heart skip another beat.

"The research in this paper is just something I put together in about a week. I picked a direction at random, mainly to familiarize myself with the research process."

"My real plan is to wait until the company is on track, then spend one or two months systematically researching the major problem of ’Manifold Boundary and Hallucination Control in Generative Models’."

Chen Lin looked at Gu Ming, his eyes glinting with confidence. "This graduation thesis I’m writing now only addresses a tiny sub-problem of that much larger topic. I’m confident that once I’ve thoroughly researched the main problem, I’ll be able to produce findings far more valuable than what’s in this current paper."

"..."

The office fell silent once again.