Awakening Elementary School System in University

Professor Gongtan leaned back slowly in his chair and let out a long sigh. He didn’t answer right away. Instead, he raised a hand and rubbed his throbbing temples.

After a good ten seconds, he finally looked up at the expectant Zhu Jianqing, a wry, helpless expression on his face.

"Old Zhu, you’re really putting me on the spot!" he said, his tone a mix of complaint and awe. "An algorithmic framework of this caliber, and you want me to evaluate it on the spot? I’d need to take it back, lock myself away, and study it meticulously for a few days before I could give you a responsible answer!"

As he spoke, he actually pulled his phone out of his pocket, unlocked it, opened the camera, and aimed it at the whiteboard, which was covered in formulas and derivations, preparing to take a photo.

However, what he didn’t expect was that Zhu Jianqing’s reaction to his words was even faster than his own!

"No!"

Almost instinctively, Zhu Jianqing darted forward and slapped his palm firmly over Professor Gongtan’s phone camera!

The move stunned everyone present.

But Zhu Jianqing knew exactly what he was doing!

’Based on my understanding of Gongtan, when he says something like "I’d need to take it back and study it for a few days," it isn’t a brush-off at all. It means he already has a pretty good idea of its worth!’

’This plan isn’t just feasible—its value is so immense that even a top expert of his caliber wants to get his hands on it immediately to go back and savor, to study it slowly and meticulously!’

’This isn’t just some technical proposal anymore!’

’This is clearly a crucial future core technology asset for Huanrun Pharmaceutical!’

’How can I let you just casually take a picture and walk away with it?!’

"Gong, it’s not that I don’t want to give you face!" Zhu Jianqing said resolutely, still blocking the camera. "If you want to study it, fine. Study it here! You can use my lounge on the top floor for as long as you want. A few days? No problem! For these next few days, your food, lodging, and transportation are all on me, Zhu Jianqing!"

Nearby, You Lie and Lv Yi were completely dumbfounded listening to the conversation between the two senior figures.

They just stood there, minds blank, feeling as if their entire worldview had been utterly shattered in that single moment.

They had been clinging to a final shred of hope, thinking that what Chen Lin had written might be like the work of some amateur scientist—just a jumble of basic concepts and theorems thrown together into a useless mess.

But what was the result?

Their own incredibly proud and discerning mentor was reacting like *this*!

’This whole whiteboard of stuff... was it actually... was it actually a top-tier breakthrough worthy of him locking himself away to study for several days?!’

In that moment, the two of them felt the academic confidence they had built up over more than twenty years get smashed to pieces by this formula-covered whiteboard.

However, no one present knew that Professor Gongtan was, at that moment, far more shocked than any of them could imagine.

In truth, from the moment Chen Lin was just over halfway through, when he constructed the "Primal-Dual Safe Reinforcement Learning" framework, Gongtan had already been one hundred percent certain—the proposal was correct! It was viable!

But he didn’t interrupt Chen Lin.

He was too captivated by the simplicity and elegance revealed in the proposal.

It was the beauty of a logic that cut straight to the heart of the problem!

He couldn’t bring himself to interrupt; he wanted to witness this proposal being fully created with his own eyes.

That was why he let Chen Lin finish writing everything.

As for why he said he needed to take it back and study it for a few days—on one hand, it was true that the theoretical depth of the proposal was indeed worthy of an expert like him sequestering himself to delve into it. On the other hand, he also had a slightly selfish motive.

His knowledge of Chen Lin wasn’t just from witnessing him instantly solve his own teacher Academician Liang Tianshi’s problem at the modeling competition.

Just last week, his senior, Director Feng Yunhai of the Yanbei University School of Mathematics, had mentioned something to him in a WeChat chat, his tone a mix of admiration and pride.

He’d said that for the major world mathematics conference being held in Yanbei this winter—spearheaded by the Huaxia government and jointly organized by the two top institutions, Huaqing and Yanbei—Yanbei University had received the nomination for academic presenter submitted by Yannan University.

And guess who it was?

It wasn’t any of the professors from the Yannan School of Mathematics that he knew, not even an associate professor. It was Chen Lin!

When Gongtan heard this news, he had nearly dropped the teacup in his hand.

That conference wasn’t just some ordinary academic forum!

It was a top-tier summit meant to showcase the nation’s growing influence in the fundamental sciences, an event attended by some of the most famous mathematicians in the world!

Anyone who got to present their research on that stage, without exception, had to be a leading figure handpicked from one of the nation’s universities!

Gongtan knew a little about Director Guo Qizhi of the Yannan University School of Mathematics.

The old man looked like a friendly neighborhood grandpa, always smiling cheerfully, but in reality, he was shrewder than anyone.

For him to withstand the pressure and give such a precious spot to an undergraduate could only mean one thing: this kid, Chen Lin, had absolutely demonstrated a terrifying level of mathematical skill, far surpassing his age group and even the vast majority of professors!

So, when Gongtan saw Zhu Jianqing acting like a mother hen protecting her chick, not letting him take a photo, he didn’t argue with his old friend.

He simply put down his phone, looked at Zhu Jianqing, and said in a tone filled with awe, "Old Zhu, oh, Old Zhu. You’ve really found a priceless treasure this time!"

He pointed a finger at the formula-covered whiteboard and declared emphatically, "I’ll say it right here! For this problem today, without President Chen, even if you had invited me or any other applied mathematics expert in the country, we would have had to lock ourselves away with our teams for at least one or two weeks just to come up with a decent framework!"

"And," Professor Gongtan’s tone shifted, now filled with unshakable certainty, "the framework we came up with still might not be as good as President Chen’s!"

BOOM—!

Professor Gongtan’s words were like a bombshell, detonating in the silent conference room!

Everyone was thunderstruck!

Especially Zhu Jianqing!

In the space of just a few seconds, the expression on his face underwent a dramatic transformation from pleasant surprise to shock, and then to pure ecstasy!

Before, he had merely been pleasantly surprised that Chen Lin could design a complete and seemingly impressive framework for his company’s problem in such a short amount of time.

But he never would have imagined that his old, incredibly discerning friend would give such a high evaluation!

’What does this mean?’

’It means that the framework Chen Lin provided isn’t just a "feasible" solution—it’s very likely the "optimal" solution he could have possibly found!’

At this thought, Zhu Jianqing felt a massive wave of joy rush to his head, making him feel a bit dizzy.

The way he looked at Chen Lin had completely changed. He was no longer looking at a young business partner, but at a walking gold mine!

Meanwhile, You Lie and Lv Yi just stared at each other, speechless.

They would never dare to question their own mentor’s words.

Thinking about how Chen Lin was only a sophomore, yet had already reached a terrifying height that even their mentor admitted was beyond him, the two of them felt a sense of what could only be called "despair."

The gap was so vast, it could no longer be bridged by hard work alone!

And then they thought about how they had previously tried to show off their own pathetic bit of knowledge in front of Shen Yan, and had even harbored improper thoughts about her...

Their faces burned with shame, so embarrassed they could have dug a three-bedroom apartment out of the floor with their toes.

’Look at them,’ they thought. ’A talented man and a beautiful woman—a match made in heaven.’

’What were two roadside NPCs like us even doing, trying to object?’