Super God-Level Top Student
Chapter 962 - 366: Rules_2

But Qiao Ze is only twenty years old this year. Everyone still has high hopes for him, and giving him the highest honor in science and technology at this point means that if he makes more achievements in the future, there won't be any awards to match his contributions.

After all, the National Highest Science and Technology Award can only be won once in a lifetime, and it's a strictly-selective award. Though it's evaluated every year, not every year sees a winner. For instance, in 2004 and 2015, the award was left vacant.

For this reason, Xu Dajiang specifically asked Li Jiangao to talk to Qiao Ze, ensuring he wouldn't develop any resentment.

When it came to such matters, Li Jiangao simply mentioned it to Qiao Ze on WeChat, to which Qiao Ze replied with a single "?". Li Jiangao then decided it wasn't worth wasting further words.

Anyone familiar with Qiao Ze knows that, in this context, a question mark fully conveys his meaning: I've never thought about it, much less cared about it, so why bother telling me all this?

Honestly, it's quite good.

Working with someone who doesn't care about awards or honors and only focuses on output significantly reduces trouble by 99%.

No matter from which angle you look, Qiao Ze is the kind of talent most suited for scientific research. He avoids unnecessary issues and simply buries his head in work.

Even though he sometimes doesn't grasp the bigger picture as well as he could, these are minor flaws. Compared to his talent, they are completely insignificant.

But regardless of perspective, the end of 2024 marked a harvest season for both Qiao Ze and Xilin University of Technology.

If inclined, Qiao Ze could sweep up awards effortlessly. The issue is that he has so many accolades he's indifferent to most of them.

After all, not all scientists are willing to let awards claim credit for their work.

Just like how Peter Schultz has won nearly every prestigious award in mathematics but refused the Science Breakthrough Prize New Horizons in Mathematics Award, nicknamed the "Scientific Oscars,"...

Some emerging awards seem to love latching onto rising top scientists.

Of course, for someone like Qiao Ze, who isn't even fazed by the Nobel Prize, lesser awards matter even less.

The evidence is in his handling of the Nobel Prize—at least he issued a statement saying he wouldn't attend the ceremony. When it comes to other, random awards, Qiao Ze simply doesn't bother responding at all; it's meaningless. Nationally-awarded prizes, however, are ones he definitely will go to receive.

After all, Chen Yiwen has prepared for a year just to make an appearance. Lately, he's been particularly lively in the Group Wisdom project's WeChat group chat, constantly saying ridiculous things.

Such as reopening the family tree and declaring his name will sit at the very top this time.

Qiao Ze glanced at these messages but made no comment. Still, from these words, Qiao Ze could deduce that Chen Yiwen has a particularly keen interest in continuing the family lineage, especially in a time when the birth rate is steadily declining. He's highly likely to aim for having at least three children or more in the future, aiming to quickly fill out the new genealogy.

From this, it's easy to conclude that whoever marries this guy is in for quite a hardship. After all, having kids has never been a simple matter.

By calculation, Su is about four months along now. However, probably because she's carrying twins, her belly has already grown visibly round, and various side effects of pregnancy have started to appear—such as sleepiness, fatigue, and a constant sense of exhaustion...

Initially, Qiao Ze planned to bring Su Mucheng along to the Capital for this trip, but the adults at home collectively vetoed the idea.

In the opinions of the elders, since Su Mucheng is with Qiao Ze, there will be plenty of opportunities to visit the Capital in the future; there's no need to endure such hardship this time. Above all, both sides of the family place overwhelming importance on the babies in Su's belly, unwilling to take any risks whatsoever.

Call them overly cautious or excessively worried if you like, but it's unavoidable; some fortunate individuals are pampered from the moment they're conceived. Even someone as determined as Qiao Ze is powerless in such circumstances.

When it comes to matters of utmost concern, science offers no solution.

All the arguments like "three months is already stable enough," "traveling is fine," "a brief trip to the Capital would be no problem"… they're all just nonsense. As soon as you step out the door, it's never as safe or convenient as being at home, and risks, no matter how small, always exist. So if going isn't an option, that decision stands, end of discussion.

Thus, the two of them chose to give up early on.

And just like that, time finally ushered in January 2025—a brand-new year. Edward Witten also experienced his first statutory New Year's Day holiday in Huaxia. But for this Princeton professor, this holiday was an eye-opener.

Back at Princeton, such universally celebrated holidays often left the campus fairly quiet.

After all, everyone needs rest.

However, this wasn't the case at the Xilin Mathematics Research Institute. The most you'd see were people adding a "Happy New Year" during greetings, but mostly, everyone continued their routine.

The assistant researchers at the institute kept coming to work on time, which Edward Witten could understand. But even the graduate students under the professors gave up their holiday to come to the institute and continue working on their projects, which genuinely surprised him.

Even though Princeton's graduation requirements are extremely rigorous, most students still choose to use such holidays for travel and relaxation, since graduation concerns are future problems and tightening those nerves requires occasional breaks.

Because of that, Edward Witten specifically asked one of the students a question.

"Oh, Professor Witten, it's nothing yet. You should check out the lab next door in the engineering college—choose any lab randomly. Studying engineering, chemical engineering, or biology for a master's is the real nightmare; when projects are ongoing, they basically have no time off and need to stay in the lab daily."

"Thanks to Professor Qiao for developing material modeling, lots of materials science grad students were freed from constant lab monitoring. Otherwise, it would've been worse—washing bottles every day is enough to wear you out!"

Hearing this, Edward Witten felt a deep sense of awe.

Before coming here, he hadn't really grasped the full meaning of the term "involution." Now he has a clearer picture.

Soon afterward, Witten expressed some of his reflections in front of Qiao Ze, and he quickly realized the root causes of involution—using Qiao Ze's words, it's a direct outcome of higher education becoming accessible to the masses.

Unlike the Western elite education model, Huaxia's comprehensive elite education in public secondary schools combined with relatively affordable university tuition allows the vast majority of ordinary families to comfortably afford college fees. In this environment, standing out means competing intensely, from undergraduate studies all the way to postgraduate education.

When resources remain constant, the more individuals vying for the resources, the fiercer the competition naturally becomes.

It's a pity Witten isn't specialized in social sciences; otherwise, he could probably write a paper on this. After all, it was his first time hearing that the tuition fees for top-tier public universities in Huaxia like Huaqing, Yanbei, and Xilin University of Technology for most undergraduate programs are less than one thousand US dollars a year, not even enough to buy an Apple device—a revelation that truly shocked him.

Considering Princeton Mathematics Institute's annual tuition fee is 57,000 USD, equivalent to around 360,000 RMB—about seventy times the fees of Xilin University of Technology's School of Mathematics.

Even so, Princeton's tuition isn't considered particularly expensive among Ivy League schools in the United States. Harvard and Yale, for example, are even more pricey.

A simple New Year's Day holiday brought Edward Witten much food for thought.

"By the way, when do you leave for the award ceremony?" After his musings, Edward Witten posed a question.

"Afternoon on the 4th," Qiao Ze replied.

This schedule was arranged by Yu Chenggong. Initially, the award ceremony was on the 6th, and Qiao Ze intended to depart on the 5th.

However, someone in the Capital wanted to meet Qiao Ze, so the trip was moved up by a day.

"Alright, so when will the paper be published in 'New Discoveries in Mathematics and Physics'?"

"Before the year ends, which means by the 29th. It needs to go through the procedures."

Hearing this, Edward Witten breathed a sigh of relief.

Lately, he had been in constant email exchanges with Roth Dugan.

"Mathematics Annual" naturally hoped the paper could be published simultaneously with its Chinese edition. Yet, the peer-review system still needed to be adhered to, and as things stood, the reviewers' pace was universally lagging—a week had passed without any updates.

The fear was that Huaxia would release it first.

In Huaxia's mathematical community, Qiao Ze was already a near-revered figure. While previous papers sparked varied opinions, dissenting voices about Qiao Ze's research had basically disappeared now. What's more, Xilin Mathematics Research Institute is one of the publishing entities behind "New Discoveries in Mathematics and Physics."

Though Qiao Ze wasn't the director of the institute, his status surpassed that of the director. So, even if the journal bypassed formal procedures and published the work directly, it wouldn't really be an issue.

Edward Witten hadn't served as the editor-in-chief of a top-tier journal, but he knew well that some academic giants occasionally bypass the rules when publishing papers. Such cases are quite common, and Qiao Ze has clearly reached that level of influence.

Thus, everyone adhering to protocols was truly commendable.