Chapter One Hundred and One: Arrival

After roughly looking over the house, Wu Tong accepted the keys Li Yisheng handed her, but she had no intention of staying. She went back to the dormitory at Shangjing University instead; after all, it was the place she had lived for half a year, and she knew it far better.

“Get some good rest today. Tomorrow I’ll come to the school to pick you up, and we’ll go to the mathematics center together,” Li Yisheng said his goodbyes and reminded her before leaving.

He would be going as well tomorrow.

On the sixteenth, under the auspices of the Chinese Mathematical Society, a meeting would be held at the Shangjing Mathematics Society Center. Its purpose was to let everyone attending the International Congress of Mathematicians in Hydra meet one another and, incidentally, go over the important things they needed to know.

There were only about twenty participants going to the Hydra conference this time. Aside from the invited speakers and the official representatives sent by the Chinese Mathematical Society, the rest were also well-known domestic mathematicians: mostly famous professors from major universities, plus outstanding students from top schools who had been selected to participate, and university lecturers who had won the opportunity to study there.

In the conference room, one could say the leading figures of the domestic mathematical world were gathered in one place. People who had not seen one another for a long time exchanged greetings, and the atmosphere was rather warm. Everyone there was a name to be reckoned with in China’s mathematics circles; they all moved in the same orbit, and even if some of them were not especially close, they at least knew one another.

By the time Wu Tong and Li Yisheng arrived, the interns in charge of guiding the meeting did not mistake Wu Tong despite her far too young face. They knew she was Li Yisheng’s student, and if any foolish attempt to block her had happened, they would have been especially respectful and deferential as they led Wu Tong and Li Yisheng into the conference room.

After all, none of the people assigned here were fools. As future staff of the Mathematical Society, they had to be sharp-eyed and clear-minded when it came to the information of important attendees. They needed to know exactly who mattered.

Among those attending this time, that genius girl from Shangjing University was their key focus.

“Wu Tong is here. Come sit over here!” At the sight of Wu Tong entering, Professor Zhou immediately broke off his conversation with others and smiled, waving her over.

This time, for the International Congress of Mathematicians, Shangjing University was worried that Li Yisheng alone, still so young in rank, would not be enough to hold the line, so they had him stand guard for Wu Tong.

It was to make those old hands who liked to lean on their age understand clearly that no one was going to bully a child from Shangjing University. Wu Tong was not fighting alone; Shangjing University was her support. She had brought supreme glory to Shangjing University, so what if Shangjing University served as the springboard that sent her skyward.

“This is our school’s Wu Tong. She has been making quite a splash internationally lately!” Zhou Wenping introduced her with a smile.

“This is Professor Peng from Shandong University, this is Professor Xu from Haisi Zhendan University...”

The child was not ungrateful. Li Yisheng had merely shown a helping hand to her by chance when their paths crossed. Now, looking at him again, Wu Tong addressed him only as her teacher. How could anyone still treat him as an ordinary person?

Just look at it: the leadership position for China’s IMO national team, a fully funded opportunity to study at the International Congress of Mathematicians, the chance to rise to full professor... all these resources had now followed straight into Li Yisheng’s hands.

Wu Tong was not particularly skilled at socializing, but with a teacher guiding her so carefully, how could she not know how to cooperate? She politely greeted everyone one by one.

“Good day, Professor Peng. Good day, Professor Xu...”

“A young prodigy, a true young prodigy. We have long admired you. Your recent performance has truly astonished us older folk!” The speakers, led by Professor Peng, smiled kindly as they shook hands with Wu Tong, treating her as an equal.

The only difference between this child and them was age and experience, and those were things time could accumulate. But her extraordinary academic ability was not something that could be built up merely by waiting longer.

At least this exceptionally talented child, though not from their own schools, was still one of their own, one of China’s own. They too could take pride in her on the international stage, though the smug looks on the faces of the Shangjing University crowd were a bit hard to stomach.

And as for those “brightly dazzling” achievements—Zhou Wenping, if you were going to say it outright, you might as well say she had astonished the entire world. No one could deny that, because it was the truth.

Quite a few people in attendance were secretly envious, looking at Shangjing University as though it were a hen fiercely guarding her chicks.

That said, they had no right to sneer at the sour taste of grapes they could not reach; after all, their own schools simply had no genius worthy of being guarded so jealously.

Originally, for this International Congress of Mathematicians, among the Chinese invited speakers, not a single one had come from Huqing University or Shangjing University, and quite a few people had felt rather pleased about that.

Who could have imagined that in July, Wu Tong would shine so brilliantly that the international community could not ignore her, and then, just in time, she was invited at the tender age of barely a teenager, filling the gap at Shangjing University and leaving them with no choice but to feel proud.

Among the students who had come with their respective teachers, many stole glances at Wu Tong. At last, they were seeing their divine idol in person. Their goddess was in the prime of her youth, mingling with all the great names, calm and composed, speaking freely and with ease.

So their goddess really was a goddess: already a top-tier figure on equal footing with the greats, while they were still nameless students traveling at their own expense with their advisers simply to broaden their horizons.

After a brief round of introductions, the official representatives of the Chinese Mathematical Society arrived. Academician Shen Yuehua, the president, together with the accompanying council members, began to preside over the meeting.

The discussion focused on travel arrangements, meeting point, gathering time, flight schedule, arrival plans, and expenses. All costs for the invited speakers would be covered by the organizers, while everyone else had to pay their own way.

Once the meeting ended, the group could head back after exchanging a few more words with acquaintances.

In the afternoon, with assistance specially arranged by the academic affairs office of Shangjing University and Li Yisheng accompanying her, Wu Tong completed the property transfer. By now, buying a home and registering residency in Shangjing still had not yet been fully subjected to the various purchase restrictions, so the household registration requirements were not too strict.

Besides, Wu Tong’s records and household registration had long since been transferred by Shangjing University, and her residence was already registered there. With a specialist guiding the process and all her documents complete, the transfer was finished smoothly and quickly.

As for the property deed and similar documents that would take time to process, Shangjing University would later assign an office clerk to keep track of the progress, retrieve them, and hand them over to her. Wu Tong only needed to settle down and fly to Hydra for the conference with peace of mind.

Shangjing University now had a very clear standard: apart from academic matters, Wu Tong did not need to worry about anything else. Anything that could be handled for her would be handled by someone else, so as not to waste her precious time.

The next day, at five in the morning, everyone traveling to the conference in Hydra gathered at the Shangjing Mathematics Center with their luggage. Aside from the few from Shangjing, most of the others were staying in hotels near the mathematics center, so assembling was quite convenient.

Once everyone had arrived, they boarded the bus arranged by the mathematics center, went straight to the airport, completed check-in, and boarded the early Eastern Airlines flight departing at seven-thirty.

The journey required a transfer, and by the time they reached Hydra Airport, it was already nine o’clock on the eighteenth. There were reception staff from the conference waiting at the airport, who guided them onto the shuttle buses arranged by the organizing committee and took them directly to the hotel to settle in.

After the long trip, the constant movement, and the fact that Bora was not exactly a tranquil place to begin with, no one felt like taking a leisurely stroll to admire the local scenery. They simply rested at the hotel for the day.