School of Physics office area, fifth floor meeting room—when Li Zheng knocked and entered, Zhou Xiao was in the midst of a heated discussion with three other teachers.
Upon seeing Li Zheng, everyone stopped talking, and Zhou Xiao quickly pulled Li Zheng over to make introductions.
Unlike the panel that reviewed Yingpei’s topics, the lineup from the School of Physics this time could be described as much more luxurious.
The tall figure in the center was Professor Sui Miao, the vice-chair of the academic committee, a rare basketball-player physique among academic powerhouses, with a handshake that was firmer.
To his left and right, a man and a woman, were an associate professor responsible for related work, and a Ph.D. student mentored by Sui Miao.
All three, in terms of academic power and initial demeanor, gave Li Zheng a sense of "returning to his physics home," which immediately soothed some of the indignation he felt for Jie Qifen.
Those in physics, indeed, tend to be more reliable.
After everyone took their seats, Sui Miao glanced at his phone before lifting his glasses and speaking seriously.
"We’ll chat later, as time is limited now. I’ll get straight to the point for why we’ve asked you here," he said.
"Li Zheng, the seriousness of your research topic, as well as your current situation, far exceeds your imagination."
"We have not only invited Professor Lu from the Institute of Condensed Matter, but even Dean Zhong Ping has expressed his wish to meet with you personally upon hearing the news."
"Dean Zhong Ping?" Li Zheng was surprised, quickly conjuring up a memory of a very upright figure.
Back during the provincial team training for the physics competition, he had a brief encounter with Dean Zhong, whom he remembered as an open-minded person, allowing him to play around as long as he didn’t damage the experimental equipment...
On the other hand, Dean Zhong’s appearance also interrupted Jie Qifen’s enthusiastic teaching.
At that time, there seemed to be someone else in the classroom... Qi something... he couldn’t recall.
Ever since then, Jie Qifen never really taught anything substantial again.
"Yes, the head of the school, Dean Zhong Ping," Sui Miao said with a shake of his head and a wry smile. "After the speech at the school’s opening ceremony, he asked why he hadn’t seen Li Zheng. When he found out you went to Yingpei, he scolded our admissions teachers quite harshly. He said he must keep you this time once he returns from the meeting outside."
"I am flattered," Li Zheng said, feeling a bit shy. "I only accidentally published a minor paper, and for the teachers to value it so highly, I feel unworthy."
"It would be alright if it were just you," Sui Miao said, picking up the list in his hand and laughing helplessly, "Gu Jianfeng, someone even the senior professors of the math department can’t get an appointment with; Wu Shu, a guy not even esteemed by our Professor Chu Youhua; Lin Yujing, who just hums and sends professors packing... Are you forming a supergroup to debut or what?"
"Ah, they’re just classmates I study with."
"But I’m still very curious, how is it that these individuals, who even big professors disdain, do as you say?" Sui Miao pointed at the list, "Especially this Lin Yujing... I tried to communicate with her several times, and she just hummed in response. Are you two related or something?"
"Oh?" Li Zheng’s eyes widened, "Teacher Sui, you have a keen eye."
Sui Miao’s expression hardened, "Cousins... cousins?"
"Ah, let’s not dive into details..." Li Zheng covered his face and waved his hand.
"Doesn’t Teacher Sui use Zhihu?" the female Ph.D. student beside him chuckled, "I even saved their kiss photo from the aerospace center..."
"There’s such a thing???" Sui Miao turned eagerly, "Quick, quick, quick, show me."
"Ahem!" The associate professor hurriedly pulled at him, "Let’s take a look after the meeting, Teacher Sui... slowly."
"Yes... right..." Sui Miao quickly contained himself and tried to recover his composure, sitting up straight as he continued, "Anyway, your research team is not something as simple as collaboration with Yingpei. After all, it involves the best freshmen and sophomores from our School of Physics. As teachers of the School, we must provide some oversight and guidance, and I hope you understand."
"I understand completely and accept the guidance," Li Zheng returned to a serious tone. "However, considering our topic is purely theoretical, we also hope to receive Teacher Jie Qifen’s guidance."
At the mention of "Jie Qifen," the previously lively atmosphere instantly cooled down.
After the teachers exchanged looks, Sui Miao lowered his voice and began, "First, I want to know if seeking Jie Qifen’s guidance is the collective opinion of your group, or simply your own, with the members just following your decision out of trust."
Faced with this sharp question, Li Zheng did not hesitate but nodded firmly, "The latter."
"Well..." Sui Miao slowly continued, "We’ve been fully briefed by Teacher Zhou Xiao about your thoughts and the situation. We inevitably have some suggestions. Whether you accept them or not is your business, but as the responsible person for the School’s related work, we have a duty to inform you in person."
"I understand fully, please go ahead."
Taking a deep breath, Sui Miao gestured earnestly as he spoke.
"I believe that with your ability, you have a full understanding of the difficulty involved in researching superconductivity theory."
"And I also trust that, at this very moment, you are confident that you won’t get trapped, and that if you hit a dead end, you’ll be able to sensibly withdraw and abandon the topic."
"But this is you now, Li Zheng."
"You’re only 19."
"Admittedly, I have no doubts that at 19, you possess the level of expertise comparable to a 30-year-old postdoctoral fellow."
"But you remain merely a 19-year-old person."
"You have never experienced failure before; whenever you have committed yourself completely to a task, you have always reaped bountiful results."
"So what if, this time with the superconductivity theory, you invest your whole heart, but for a long time you don’t see any convincing outcomes?"
"You’re rational and clear-headed now, but are you sure you could easily extricate yourself then?"
"Perhaps you’re mature enough, you could do it..."
"But what really worries us is... if Teacher Jie Qifen were to guide you..."
"I don’t know how much you understand about him, I of course respect him personally, but the more mainstream view of him is that he’s obstinately deluded."
"Think about it from a different perspective, Li Zheng, if you were in my position."
"Would you, without reservation, entrust yourself, Gu Jianfeng, Lin Yujing, and Wu Shu—so many hopes for the future—to such a Jie Qifen for guidance?"
"This time, you’re not alone, Li Zheng."
"Are you certain they also understand Jie Qifen and 100% approve of your decision?"
"Even if you’re confident you can withdraw, how can you be sure they won’t be permanently entangled in the depths of that theory?"
"Those were my most heartfelt words."
"Whether you listen or not is your business, but it’s my responsibility to speak out."
"If I’ve offended, I hope you can understand that these are harsh truths."
Sui Miao said with a long sigh of relief, finally beginning to relax, but she couldn’t help but cautiously observe any change in Li Zheng’s expression, fearing she might have upset this distinctive genius.
She noticed that Li Zheng had fallen into a lengthy daze, clearly thinking hard and struggling with his thoughts.
Sui Miao had originally thought Li Zheng was obstinate and impervious to advice; she herself could not have anticipated that he might actually take her words to heart.
As Li Zheng reflected, nobody else spoke, instead they silently gave him the time to think.
After about half a minute, Li Zheng finally shook his head slowly.
"Teacher Sui, you’re right," he said.
"I’ve gotten used to arranging everything myself, and I actually haven’t asked anyone else’s opinion on Teacher Jie, I haven’t even introduced them to him."
"There indeed is a risk of dragging our group members into a vortex of theory."
By the end, Li Zheng sincerely nodded his head in acknowledgement.
"I acted too hastily, without sufficient thoroughness in my thoughts. Thank you, teachers, for your guidance."
"I’ll reconsider this matter."
The three teachers across from him let out a sigh of relief at once.
Especially Sui Miao, who had already begun to sweat.
"Phew..." she wiped her forehead and demonstrated to Li Zheng, "I originally thought I couldn’t possibly persuade you, that’s why I told Dean Zhong..."
An associate professor nearby picked up another document.
"Well, that makes the following matters easier to discuss."
"Hearing about your ’super group’ wanting to study condensed matter, our School of Physics’ research teams also got excited."
"Up until now, six professors have expressed their intention to collaborate, some are on ongoing projects, others are about to apply for new projects. I’ll briefly tell you about the directions; you can see if you’re interested in any of them."
"[Realization and Research of Magnetic Weyl Semimetals.]"
"[Experimental Study on Charge Order in Magic Angle Graphene]"
"[Research on Nitride-based Ultraviolet Luminescent Materials]"
"..."
After listing everything, the associate professor jutted his chin at Li Zheng: "You don’t have to decide now. We’ll send the list to Zhou Xiao, and later you can discuss it with your group members."
"Thank you for the School of Physics teachers’ trust," Li Zheng only nodded, "but really, there’s no need for such arrangements, as if I’m choosing professors. First, I’m not qualified; second, it’s undignified. As for our group, we are certain to attempt superconductivity theory—we’re fine with success or failure; that’s all part of learning."
```
"Ahem... that’s how it is, Li Zheng." The associate professor hastily gestured and said, "You have to believe in our professors. When they choose a research topic, they definitely rely on their existing knowledge and go all out to select the most likely breakthrough direction. The probability of getting results is very high, which is much better than you... you stumbling upon it by mistake. I know it’s not good to say that, but you just modestly said yourself that there was an element of luck in that electron microscope paper. And the chance of you hitting the jackpot twice in a row by moving to condensed matter directly... It’s just too low."
"You are... Teacher Li, right?" Li Zheng spread his hands with some incomprehension, "There’s one thing I don’t understand... I am only a freshman, should my learning direction really be solely focused on results? Do you have a sort of ingrained thinking here—that everything done in the university is for the sake of producing a paper as high level as possible?"
"..." The associate professor’s expression froze, momentarily at a loss for words.
Li Zheng further explained.
"I fully understand the current predicament of research teachers, that is, trying by all means to gamble on a direction that would yield a paper, and getting published in CNS is like winning the jackpot. I’m not being sarcastic or critical; these are all objective phenomena determined by our scientific research evaluation system."
"But, could the teachers also try to understand me?"
"I just want to learn."
"Since there are many mysteries in superconductivity theory."
"I’ve learned up to here, and just happen not to understand."
"So why can’t I try to do some calculations and give it some thought?"
"This naive and childish view of learning may have become so mature that you can’t understand it anymore."
"But this is the motivation that has brought me to where I am today."
"In the end, if I really want to be successful, I would not turn to success studies or read biographies of famous people."
"I would simply do one thing honestly, something I am confident I can do better than others."
"And right now, the thing I most want to do is to study the superconductivity phenomena that countless teams around the world have been working on day and night, and try to propose even just one hypothesis that is mathematically and logically consistent."
"Teacher Jie Qifen is exactly the person I believe is most suitable to guide me."
"It’s great if there are results, but it’s okay if there aren’t, no problem."
"Who says my love for learning isn’t already better than the results themselves?"
After Li Zheng finished speaking, several teachers entered a rigid state simultaneously.
A moment later, the associate professor helplessly put down the file: "Li Zheng... I thought you just took it in."
"Of course I took it in, and I acknowledge that I’ve been somewhat irresponsible, representing team members in making academic choices," Li Zheng shook his head and said, "If necessary, I will go back and dissolve this research team, and then continue on my own with Teacher Jie."
"Wait, wait..." Sui Miao’s expression changed with shock, "That’s not what I meant, Li Zheng... Your super team is very, very good, it’s just that Jie Qifen... apart from whether you might get stuck in... do you understand what it means to work with him? Do you... also want to become an enemy of the quantum science world?"
The associate professor beside him quickly tugged at his arm.
"Yes, I shouldn’t have said those things, but I can’t help it." Sui Miao ignored his colleague’s caution, and enunciated every word, "Li Zheng, the scientific community has long ceased to be as holy as described in books; many disputes are no longer the rational deliberations of great scientists, but barefaced struggles for interests. No one would doubt their own field for a second, because if this field is negated, their whole life would also be negated."
"Teacher Sui, calm down, calm down..." The female doctoral student beside him also hurriedly pulled at him, "You think too highly of Teacher Jie’s influence, I’ve never found him to be an enemy of the quantum realm... Instead of an enemy, he’s more like..."
"A clown, I know you want to say that," Sui Miao nodded seriously, "Of course that’s how it is now, but back then... Jie Qifen really was using every trick in the book to try to overthrow all quantum theories after Bohr... You think his current situation is just because he took the wrong path? Would a person of his caliber not be an associate professor if it weren’t for being ganged up on by so many people?"
"..." The female doctoral student shuddered and dared not say more, "Is... is this true... I thought it was just a secret legend of the School of Physics... Every time the name Jie Qifen is mentioned, it’s like referring to Lord Voldemort..."
"Ahem, ahem..." Sui Miao coughed a few times, shook his head with a smile and a sigh, "That’s all I can say, let’s wait for Dean Zhong to come and talk about it..."
As they were speaking, the door to the conference room was pushed open.
Everyone stood up and looked, expecting Dean Zhong, but it was not him. Instead, a slightly plump professor with the typical middle-aged scholar’s hairstyle entered.
"How’s it going, have you detained the person?" The old professor asked hastily.
"Professor Lu..." Sui Miao quickly went over, "Come on, you talk about superconductivity theory."
As he spoke, Sui Miao introduced him to Li Zheng: "This is Professor Lu Dongsheng, the deputy director of our Institute of Condensed Matter and Material Physics."
Li Zheng also quickly stood up to greet and shake hands.
However, Lu Dongsheng shook his head while shaking hands, pointing at Li Zheng and couldn’t help but reprimand him, mumbling nonstop: "I understand, I understand, you’re young, and it’s when your mind is the most active. Compared to fiddling with equipment in the lab, Jie Qifen’s groundbreaking stuff is too tempting, and his brain is just a ’genius’s swamp,’ how can anyone not get sucked into it..."
Li Zheng was just listening, not quite following: "Strictly speaking, Teacher Jie has only taught me fluid mechanics, is that interesting?"
"Just fluid mechanics?" Lu Dongsheng opened his eyes wide and said, "Then on what grounds do you need him and nobody else?"
Li Zheng replied honestly: "I’m after his mathematical ability and physical thinking, he is practically combining the two into one."
"Then weren’t you still fooled?" Lu Dongsheng slapped his palms together, anxiously saying, "How about this, you cool down for a moment, and tomorrow you guys come to our condensed matter lab for a tour, I will personally lead you and explain, okay? Not even Du Zicheng, who went to the IPHO, had this treatment."
```
"This is naturally good, thank you, Teacher Lu." Li Zheng nodded repeatedly, a free tour of the professor’s laboratory was something he couldn’t miss.
"Just promise me one thing." Lu Dongsheng nodded emphatically, "Never, ever, ever follow Jie Qifen. That’s something even Einstein couldn’t figure out in 40 years. If Jie Qifen could figure it out, we would all kneel in front of him. But as he is right now, don’t let him harm anyone else, especially you guys, who should be protected as a priority."
Although Lu Dongsheng’s words were very intense, Li Zheng could feel that he meant well; he just spoke out of desperation.
Considering that he indeed had the academic power of a 3000-level expert, Li Zheng had no intention of clashing head-on and could only respond noncommittally, "Well, I’ll think about it when I get back..."
"I know you have your own thoughts," said Lu Dongsheng, gripping Li Zheng’s shoulder, before glancing around the classroom, "but look, everyone in the School of Physics is getting involved because of you. At least have some confidence in our judgment. If you think our condensed matter lab is boring, later I can introduce you to other areas like heavy ion, high energy physics, or quantum materials. You could look around and listen more. That’s alright, isn’t it?"
The old professor’s display truly startled Li Zheng.
"Thank you, Teacher Lu, I’ll take it seriously."
In a daze, another person entered the meeting room.
"It’s already so lively here." Dean Zhong Ping said with a smile as he knocked on the door, "Do you even need me here?"
"Not at all, not at all," Lu Dongsheng hastily let go of Li Zheng, gesturing with his hand, "I’m just anxious beyond measure. It’s better that Dean Zhong speaks to him."
"Then we’ll go take care of other things," said Sui Miao as she stood up, giving a signal to the others around with her eyes.
Every teacher, including Zhou Xiao, got up to leave.
Not to mention Li Zheng, even Zhou Xiao had been intimidated by the relentless attention from the School of Physics, having not said a word throughout the process and only muttering that they should contact him later before he absently left.
After the other teachers left and closed the door behind them, Dean Zhong Ping hurriedly invited Li Zheng to take a seat and wiped the sweat from his brow, turning to Li Zheng.
"Tired, huh?"
"A bit."
"It was too fast; none of us expected it," Dean Zhong Ping gestured, "When we saw you during the physics competition, who would have thought you would progress this fast? Precisely because of this, when we saw this topic and Jie Qifen’s name, our side’s reaction was so strong. All this, actually, is because you are too outstanding."
"Thank you..." Li Zheng still felt somewhat overwhelmed.
"Here, have some water," Dean Zhong Ping said, pushing a bottle of mineral water towards him.
Updat𝒆d fr𝒐m freewebnσvel.cøm.
Li Zheng opened the bottle and took several big gulps before he felt a bit recovered.
Dean Zhong Ping smiled and said, "I really want to let you go back; I almost feel too sorry to continue."
"No problem," Li Zheng replied with a dry smile as he wiped his mouth, "I’ve somewhat experienced the warmth of our School of Physics."
It was only then that Li Zheng took the leisure to observe Dean Zhong Ping.
It seemed that top scholars did not favor dying their hair.
They allowed their hair to be a mix of black and white, not pursuing meticulous neatness, but matched with a transcendent smile, they exuded the imposing aura of a true big shot.
[Zhong Ping]
[Academic Power: 4287]
[Scholastic Wealth: 158382]
Seeing such a series of top-tier coherent data, Li Zheng could only admire and revere.
Dean Zhong Ping had long become accustomed to children giving him such looks, merely sighing deeply.
"For someone as intelligent as you, it shouldn’t be my place to lecture," he said.
"Let’s talk about Jie Qifen."
"I thought it wouldn’t be necessary to mention it, at least not so soon..." Dean Zhong Ping continued, shaking his head with a smile.
"Who knew you would progress so rapidly? Perhaps even faster than Jie Qifen back in his day..."
"..." Li Zheng swallowed.
It was coming—what was meant to come, always did.
"The Physics Prince and the Quantum Holy Grail of the School of Physics’ Earth Demon".
It had arrived.