Super God-Level Top Student

Although the light from the street lamps was somewhat dim, after the exposure was set, the photograph still came out very clear, outlining Qiao Ze's profile quite distinctly.

Not to mention, he was quite handsome.

Especially when the youth's gaze was directed toward the profound darkness ahead, making He Danchang feel that the photo had quite an artistic conception.

...

Originally, He Danchang had planned to take the high-speed rail back to the Capital first thing the next morning.

But the school's hospitality was just too enthusiastic.

So he stayed for lunch.

And took the opportunity to express his gratitude to the School of Mathematics.

Then he left without looking back.

For Xu Dajiang, it meant he had passed another hurdle.

At least he wouldn't have to spend his retirement working in the library.

It was not entirely because he detested the library work, which was actually quite leisurely.

But for Xu Dajiang, his career was just starting, and he could not tolerate the prospect of being transferred in the middle of it.

Not to mention whether anyone else coming in could establish a good relationship with Qiao Ze was still up in the air.

After seeing off He Danchang, Xu had another talk with President Chen about He Danchang's previous statement, which indeed gave Chen Yuanzhi more confidence in advancing the reform of scholarships for international students.

Although at their level, they wouldn't put too much faith in verbal promises, Chen Yuanzhi felt the school was still in the right with these arrangements.

Moreover, it was a good opportunity to not only alleviate the resentment of other graduate students but also provoke divisions among international students.

Students who participated in the strike would be disciplined but allowed to keep their enrolment, and it was a chance to promote an overall reduction in international student scholarships, at least pushing part of the backlash and complaints onto those who caused the trouble. Psychologically speaking, happiness comes with comparison.

The majority of international students could at least retain half their benefits.

Those who participated in the strike had all their benefits cut, and some were even expelled and sent home, the sunk cost of continuing the unrest was apparent.

As for whether it would be easy to recruit international students the following year, that was no longer Chen Yuanzhi's concern.

Although he despised Xu Dajiang's various actions, Chen Yuanzhi really did not mind using the School of Mathematics to play the catfish effect.

Everyone can see for themselves. The School of Mathematics had cut all scholarships for international students, yet still managed to meet its annual goals. Other faculties at least retained half their benefits, so there was even less excuse for underperformance. As for whether the other faculties would see the School of Mathematics differently, that too was not Chen Yuanzhi's concern anymore.

Not to mention that he had left himself an escape route.

The punitive period was tentatively set at one year; if next year's recruitment was indeed affected, adjustments could be made. If there was no impact at all... there would always be a reason to save that money.

Of course, two years ago, Chen Yuanzhi would definitely not have made such a move.

But the international environment over these years, combined with the example set by another university, had emboldened him.

So, the day after the office meeting, Chen Yuanzhi indeed ignored many people's opposition and forcefully pushed through the resolution. That very day, he formally issued the resolution by faculty and directly informed all international students through the International Institute's system.

The good news was that there wasn't much of an uproar, even better than expected.

Although there were still a number of international students who went to the International Affairs Office to inquire and protest, the overall situation was within controllable limits.

In fact, during the office meeting, when promoting this resolution, Chen Yuanzhi had been prepared for five percent of the international students to drop out voluntarily, but the actual situation far exceeded the expectations of everyone who had opposed the policy.

In the end, only two international students chose to withdraw voluntarily, just one-fifteenth of those persuaded to leave by the School of Mathematics.

In hindsight, they realized that this was in part thanks to Qiao Ze, and even owed a nod to the Dean of the Princeton Mathematics Institute.

After all, still displayed on the "Mathematics Annual" official website's paper cover were not just the paper title and Qiao Ze's name, but also the institutional affiliation.

The School of Mathematics, after all, belonged to Xilin University of Technology.

This directly led to the school's reputation gradually gaining some influence internationally.

This was related to many people's way of thinking.

Seeing a not-so-famous school being taken so seriously naturally led them to look up Xilin University of Technology.

When they discovered that the School of Mathematics wasn't even the school's strongest faculty, it sparked some imagination.

If a non-dominant faculty could attract such a level of students, then the value of a diploma from other more prominent faculties surely couldn't be worse than that from the School of Mathematics, right?

This gave Chen Yuanzhi even more confidence, and in the quiet of the night, he experienced a trace of Xu Dajiang's joy.

Of course, Chen Yuanzhi wasn't as lacking in ambition as Xu Dajiang.

But this was precisely his opportunity.

If Xilin University of Technology could flourish under his guidance, then his next career move would surely be to an even better place.

Actually, it wasn't just Chen Yuanzhi who saw the chance.

After all, Qiao Ze belonged not only to the School of Mathematics but also to the school overall, right?

...

September passed amid various unexpected events at the school.

October was about to arrive. Stay updated through empire

Firstly came the eight-day long holiday that started at the end of September.

Of course, this kind of holiday was for the fortunate undergraduates.

The majority of graduate students burdened with research tasks were unable to enjoy such a benefit.

No laboratory could afford the loss of having no one around for seven days, and if they could, it would mean that the laboratory was no longer very necessary.

Not to mention thinking about taking a holiday when graduation was on the line.

Did your project have enough data yet?

How many papers had you published?

Had you met the graduation requirements?

There was no helping it; this was the agony.

As there were more and more graduate students, the competition naturally became fiercer.

Having two vacations a year was something only to be considered after achieving success and fame.

If considered in a broader context, it was only that each era carried its own responsibilities.

Having enjoyed the relatively abundant material resources of modern times, one had to bear the pressure brought about by the competitive pace.

The same was true within the laboratory building.

A vacation?

Out of the question!

It wasn't just Qiao Ze's research group.

The engineers in the entire building's photolithography machine project group also had no holidays.

Forget about the National Day; even the weekends were alternated for rest. Basically, the building was always staffed 24 hours a day.

There was no helping it; although several hundred people might sound like a lot, they had thousands of parts to design.

This also involved countless complex calculations.

At the same time, they had to coordinate with data from other laboratories to determine the final design plans.

Not to mention the massive workload, there were also time constraints.

Such systemic large-scale projects had interconnected plans.

A delay in the design of one part could potentially lead to a postponement of the entire project's progress.

Everyone had no choice but to work tirelessly, day and night.

However, on the flip side, ordinary engineers didn't truly have the qualifications to enter this building.

They not only had to pass various assessments but also meet extremely strict political review conditions.

Most crucially, if this project really succeeded, its significance would be immense.

So immense that all the engineers involved in the design could probably receive medals, which naturally motivated everyone greatly.

Specifically, for Qiao Ze's research group,

there was naturally not much rest.

Tan Jingrong didn't need to mention. As the bridge for communications, he still needed to remain on call.

There was no helping it; after all, the engineers from Youwei Group were not on holiday either, so he naturally had to be online at all times.

Moreover, with the paper having already been sent out, Tan Jingrong was planning to strike while the iron was hot and start preparing his graduation thesis, which meant he was incredibly busy.

As for Hanna, she didn't have any sense of the National Day holiday to begin with.

The only one probably feeling depressed was Liu Chenfeng.

Although he was not that eager for the National Day holiday, he still hoped to rest for a couple of days.

But since everyone else was working like perpetual motion machines, he felt too embarrassed to be the one to drop the ball.

Fortunately, there was good news this National Day.

At the end of the festival, the paper Qiao Ze had submitted to "Mathematics Annual" was finally officially published.

The editorial department even kindly sent over five sample copies.

This was a great benefit.

After all, under normal circumstances, if the authors didn't actively request them, foreign journals wouldn't specifically mail sample copies.

The moment when he saw his name among the co-authors,

everything was worth it!