Super God-Level Top Student

Let's put it this way, when this year's Crafoord Prize in Mathematics was not awarded to Qiao Ze, the entire Xilin University of Technology, and even the whole Huaxia Mathematical Community, found it inconceivable. The only person who didn't care was Qiao Ze himself, including those scholars who usually kept quiet but actually looked down on Qiao Ze in their hearts.

Impossible, right?

Not to mention the stir caused in the mathematical world by solving the existence and mass gap problem of the Yang-Mills equations, just the impact of superspiral algebra and transcendental geometry alone, how could the members of the committee from the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in charge of the Crafoord Prize not be aware?

That indeed was a bit outrageous.

Actually, there had been some omens beforehand.

Last month, there were rumors that the Crafoord Prize committee had changed several of its members multiple times, and quite a few senior mathematicians had stepped down from their current positions as judges for the prize.

But at the time, nobody thought too much of it.

After all, in the minds of the vast majority, Qiao Ze's contributions were already enough to earn him the "grand slam" of major awards in the mathematical world: the Fields Medal, the Wolff Prize, the Abel Prize, and the Crafoord Prize in Mathematics.

Clearly, this legend should have begun with the first to arrive, the Crafoord Prize.

The outcome sparked many people to sense something unusual.

Especially for those scholars who had always believed that the Western academic world upheld the principle of fairness, the blow was rather heavy.

So, motivated by various mindsets, many began to inquire into the reason why Qiao Ze was not the final recipient of this year's Crafoord Prize.

It couldn't possibly be because no one had nominated Qiao Ze, causing him to miss out, could it?

Although the Crafoord Prize does not have the same level of attention as the Nobel Prize, and it has not reached the extent of nationwide concern, its influence within the academic circle is still undeniable.

Who was recommended by which institutions, is actually known to all, and one could guess without too much discrepancy, those who recommended Qiao Ze were surely not in short supply.

After all, the academic circle is only so large.

Soon enough, many pieces of information began to come together, but they sounded somewhat ludicrous.

For example, some rumors suggested that Qiao Ze was indeed the hot candidate this year, but it had been decided beforehand that this year's Crafoord Prize in Mathematics would be awarded to a female mathematician to make up for the historical regret that there had never been a female recipient of the Crafoord Prize in Mathematics.

Moreover, considering that Qiao Ze was still young, only 20 years old, by the time the next Crafoord Prize in Mathematics was awarded, he would only be 24 and could afford to wait.

How should we put it...

This might seem somewhat reasonable at first, but the more you think about it, the more preposterous it feels.

As everybody knows, Qiao Ze is not only a mathematician but also a theoretical physicist.

If in the following four years, Qiao Ze were to focus his efforts primarily on theoretical physics, and the results were all related to physics, what then? Would they issue another award later?

Isn't this kind of explanation self-contradictory?

Some, more irate individuals, began writing letters to express their dissatisfaction.

There were also former Crafoord Prize winners publicly asking questions.

Regrettably, the authorities did not respond.

The idea seemed to be to let everyone make noise; anyway, it would settle down after a while.

Playing dead has always been one of the best ways to handle aggrieved emotions.

Leaking rumors to test the waters was fine, but to officially announce unsavory reasons outright would be to joke about the credibility of the awards.

Science is rigorous, and so, of course, must be its awards.

If playing dead didn't work, then it might be necessary to sacrifice someone to divert everyone's attention.

Unfortunately, the Crafoord Prize did not have a high level of attention among the general public.

The main issue was the skepticism from within the scientific community, and this made it much harder to divert attention.

For most genuine scholars, there is no time for chasing celebrities. They wouldn't care less who had broken up with whom or who was getting together, those trivial matters. It's rather hard to find shocking affairs within this group.

A minor figure wouldn't do; without the notoriety, everyone would just be puzzled, thinking who the hell is this? Who deserves to steal the spotlight?

But a high-profile figure would also be a problem; in this field, anyone who can get famous is bound to be a big shot with real talent and substantial influence.

This is a difficult situation for everyone involved.

...

Huaxia, Xilin Institute of Mathematics.

The "bang, bang, bang" sounds shattered the usual tranquility.

In Qiao Ze's office, Xu Dajiang pounded the table three times while discussing the matter, with his anger not needing any pretense.

There was no acting this time, only genuine emotion.

Of course, Xu had every reason to be angry.

He had already prepared banners and streamers to congratulate Qiao Ze on his award, just waiting for the official announcement to hang them up at the school. And then this happened?

"Qiao Ze, let me tell you, you don't have to be angry, their failure to award you that damned prize is their loss. They are done for this time. I want to see if the winner this year has the guts to go to Stockholm to receive the award in September. Isn't it interesting? Judging awards based on gender? Have the judges for this year's Crafoord Prize collectively lost their minds?" Xu Dajiang ranted angrily, while Qiao Ze looked up silently at the infuriated old man.

Well...

He didn't really understand from where Xu Dajiang had deduced that he was angry.

Truth be told, the only thing that had slightly irritated him during his time at Xilin University of Technology was that incident when Principal Zhang, who he had never dealt with before, inexplicably came to his house looking for Lu Xiuxiu to complain.

Yes, just that.

Even when Jiang barged into his office without warning, he hadn't been all that angry. He had simply evaluated the pros and cons of going to the Capital versus staying in Xilin and then chose the most direct and simplest way to handle it.