175: Chapter 175 Report Meeting

Zhao Yang followed behind him.

Until the two figures disappeared around the corner of the corridor, the entire lecture hall remained very quiet.

"Everyone, please copy down the content on the blackboard."

The professor nearby looked at the quiet students with a smile and spoke to everyone.

Soon, the rustling sound of pens frantically copying the formulas from the blackboard onto paper filled the entire classroom.

Walking out of the First Teaching Building.

Professor Wang Wenyuan looked sideways at Zhao Yang walking beside him, his eyes full of admiration.

"Little Zhao, your reaction speed just now, as well as your on-the-spot application of the Weil bound, really opened this old man's eyes."

Professor Wang Wenyuan sighed with emotion.

"That student named Zhou Yu has the quickest mind in this year's Elite Class. Usually in class, even I have been stumped by his tricky questions. Today, he was completely won over by you."

"The questions he asked had a certain depth, and his foundation is very solid; he just lacks the intuition to jump out of the box when encountering a mental dead end."

Zhao Yang smiled and looked at Professor Wang Wenyuan.

At the same time, he added in his heart that he was also very impolite; in class, even if he was in a hurry to ask a question, he should at least have asked for the professor's permission on the podium first.

He didn't wait for the professor to speak at all and directly asked a question to someone like himself who wasn't even on the podium. It was truly impolite. Perhaps as a genius, arrogance had already become the norm?

"Intuition—that's the most precious and mysterious thing for a mathematician."

Professor Wang Wenyuan smiled.

"Indeed."

Zhao Yang nodded.

The two continued walking forward along the shore of Weiming Lake.

Professor Wang Wenyuan stopped smiling, and his tone became formal: "Little Zhao, the IMU (International Mathematical Union) sent me an invitation email yesterday. You should have received it too, right?"

"I received it. The email was sent yesterday afternoon."

Zhao Yang nodded.

"Did you accept?"

"I did."

"Good!"

Professor Wang Wenyuan nodded with a smile, and he continued to ask Zhao Yang with a look of anticipation in his eyes.

"What level of report was specified in the email?"

"A 60-minute plenary report for the congress."

Zhao Yang's tone was calm, as if this were just a trivial matter.

Hearing this definitive answer, Professor Wang Wenyuan stopped in his tracks.

Although he had anticipated it in his heart, when he heard with his own ears that this eighteen-year-old young man had secured the highest-spec reporting slot in the global mathematics community, this big shot who called the shots in the domestic mathematics circle still felt a surge of excitement.

"60 minutes... Good! That's wonderful!"

Professor Wang Wenyuan's tone was full of excitement as he looked at Zhao Yang beside him with fervent eyes and spoke excitedly.

"Little Zhao, do you know what this means? This is the first time a mathematician trained locally in our country has obtained a one-hour plenary report slot at the ICM! Even Chen Jingrun back then didn't receive such high treatment!"

Zhao Yang looked at the excited Professor Wang Wenyuan and was slightly stunned; he really hadn't thought about that.

Professor Wang Wenyuan calmed his emotions and continued walking forward.

"I also received an invitation for a 45-minute invited sectional report for this congress."

Professor Wang Wenyuan looked at Zhao Yang and said.

"The congress will be held in Hyderabad, India, next August. When the time comes, you don't need to worry about the itinerary yourself. The National Natural Science Foundation of China and the Ministry of Education have already coordinated; they will organize a delegation of Dragon Nation mathematicians.

We will charter a private plane to go there. All your travel expenses, accommodation, and security will be fully reimbursed by the state. You just need to focus on preparing your report."

"Alright, then I'll leave the arrangements to Academician Wang." Zhao Yang naturally wouldn't refuse such an arrangement, which involved traveling on public funds and could save many tedious procedures.

The two chatted as they walked, and soon it was noon.

Professor Wang Wenyuan took Zhao Yang to the small restaurant on the second floor of the Yanjing University Faculty Canteen.

Although it was a canteen, the food standards on the second floor were very high, with an à la carte system. Professor Wang Wenyuan ordered a few authentic Yanjing dishes, and the two chatted about some topics regarding the subsequent development of number theory while eating.

During the meal, Professor Wang Wenyuan put down his chopsticks and looked at Zhao Yang.

"Little Zhao, this afternoon at the Yanjing University Grand Auditorium, the School of Mathematics is organizing an academic report meeting." Professor Wang Wenyuan got to the point. "The theme is a discussion about your proof of the twin prime conjecture. Originally, it was just an internal exchange between a few number theory professors in our School of Mathematics and the students of the Elite Class."

He paused, a hint of anticipation in his eyes: "But since you, the author himself, are here today, I'd like to invite you to attend this afternoon. You don't need to prepare a formal manuscript; just go on stage and tell everyone about a few core ideas in your derivation process and answer the questions everyone has accumulated while reading your paper lately. How about it?"

Zhao Yang put down the water cup in his hand.

He didn't like this kind of public academic socializing. But considering that he currently held the title of a joint-training doctoral student at Peking University and enjoyed the single apartment and top-tier resource support provided by Peking University, appropriate academic feedback was naturally a reasonable exchange of interests.

"Sure." Zhao Yang nodded and agreed.

2:30 PM.

Peking University, Grand Auditorium.

The scale of this auditorium was much larger than the one at Yanlin University, capable of accommodating three thousand people.

Originally, it was just an internal academic seminar for the School of Mathematics, but the news that Zhao Yang had appeared on the Peking University campus at noon and had answered and derived formulas on-site in the First Teaching Building had spread throughout Peking University in a single afternoon via the campus BBS and text group messages.

What was more, the news had even reached neighboring Tsinghua University and the Academy of Mathematics and Systems Science of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

When Zhao Yang, accompanied by Professor Wang Wenyuan, walked into the Grand Auditorium from backstage.

The scene in the entire auditorium took even Professor Wang Wenyuan by surprise.

Not a single seat was empty.

Not only were the seats full of people, but even the aisles and the open space at the very back of the auditorium were packed with standing students and young scholars.

The first three rows were filled with all the professors and associate professors of the School of Mathematical Sciences, Peking University. The dean of the neighboring Tsinghua University Department of Mathematics had also brought several old acquaintances and was sitting in the VIP seats in the first row.

Several researchers from the Institute of Mathematics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences had also come.

The moment Zhao Yang's figure appeared on the podium.

The originally noisy auditorium fell silent within a second. More than three thousand pairs of eyes, filled with various complex emotions such as inquiry, awe, and doubt, stared intently at this eighteen-year-old young man.

Zhao Yang paid no mind to these gazes.

He walked straight to the center of the podium and adjusted the height of the microphone.

Behind the podium was a huge blackboard that could slide up and down. Beside it were several boxes of brand-new chalk.

No opening remarks, no self-introduction, not even a single polite greeting.

Zhao Yang picked up a piece of chalk and turned to face the blackboard.

"I believe that those sitting here right now all have a certain understanding of my paper and sufficient mathematical foundation. Therefore, regarding the proof of the boundedness of prime gaps, the first and second chapters of the paper are a review of the basic GPY Sieve Method, so I will not repeat them here."

"To save time, we will start directly from page 42 of the paper, which is the core construction of the weight function."

"After I finish speaking, if there is still anything you don't understand, I will give you a chance to ask questions freely then."

As he spoke, Zhao Yang began to quickly write down lines of formulas on the blackboard with the chalk.