Chapter 3: 3

Meng Zezhi spent the whole afternoon cleaning up the garbage in the living room, and then replaced all the household items in the house with a new set according to the habits of his predecessor, even the bowls and chopsticks were not spared.

　　

　　Early the next morning, he drove to the Capital University.

　　

　　

　　

　　As a professor, the Predecessor had his own independent office at the University. It was a small place, about forty square feet, with a desk, a set of file cabinets, a set of sofa and coffee table, and a whole wall of books and journals.

　　

　　

　　Xu Jiaqing’s accident occurred at the end of July, during the summer holidays, so although his predecessor was depressed for a month or so, it had little impact on his work.

　　

　　It was the beginning of the academic year, so according to the convention, Meng Zezhi sent a message to the students, asking them to come to him in groups with their papers.

　　

　　The predecessor was a researcher in mathematics, but unlike his mentor, Professor Wan Zhexian, who was mainly engaged in the study of model groups and geometry, the predecessor’s main research interests were in number theory.

　　

　　He had a total of six doctoral students and fifteen graduates under his name, all of whom were third year students.

　　

　　After sending the message, Meng Zezhi walked to the bookshelf and draw out two journals according to his memory.

　　The name of the journal is the Chinese Journal of Mathematics. Among the nineteen core mathematics journals in China, the influence of the Chinese Journal of Mathematics can only be ranked in the middle and lower reaches. The two papers that were exposed in the academic forgery scandal were published in these two journals.

 

　　

　　Meng Zezhi could not do the main task for the time being. Jiang Qiyang was now calling the shots in Hollywood. As for Chen Yinglong, how can he be an ordinary person if he can casually put up 50 million to invest in Jiang Qiyang’s movies and TV series – it is said that when his father coughed, the domestic sugar industry would tremble three times.

　　

　　It would not be wise for him, a scholar and without power, to go up against Jiang Qiyang.

 

　　

　　That’s why Meng Zezhi decided to start with the side task of restoring his predecessor’s reputation.

　　

　　There were three stains on his predecessor: domestic violence that caused his wife to miscarry, academic fraud and a chaotic private life.

　　

　　Meng Zezhi didn’t have much time. Five months later, the two papers were exposed as plagiarism, which became the trigger for his predecessor to jump off a building and kill himself.

　　

　　

　　

　　Meng Zezhi went through the two papers roughly and had a thought in his mind.

 

　　Those who study number theory will inevitably think of solving one or more of the world’s number theory problems – Goldbach’s conjecture, the twin prime conjecture, Riemann’s hypothesis, Fermat’s Theorem ……

　　

　　

　　The most familiar of these is Goldbach’s Conjecture.

　　

　　In the 1930s, the Chinese School of Analytic Number Theory, represented by Hua Luogeng, emerged.

　　

　　In 1956, academician Wang Yuan proved the “3+4”, “3+3”, “2+3” and “1+4 ” problems.

　　

　　In 1962, Academician Pan Cheng-dong and Barban of the Soviet Union proved the “1+5” problem.

　　

　　In 1966, Academician Chen Jingrun proved the “1+2” problem and in 1978 proved the “1+1” upper bound formula.

　

　　

　　It was because of the outstanding contribution made by Chinese mathematicians to the proof of Goldbach’s Conjecture that the conjecture was early on labelled by the state as ‘political’ beyond its academic significance, inspiring future generations of mathematicians all the time.

　

　　

　　Influenced by this, after being selected as a Changjiang Scholar, the predecessor boldly shifted his research direction to Goldbach’s Conjecture.

　　

　　Unfortunately, the predecessor failed to solve this problem in the end. But this doesn’t mean that his research was not useful at all. Thirty-five years later, his only daughter succeeded in proving this conjecture on the basis of his research.

　　It was a pity that the child was gone.

　　

　　Meng Zezhi shook his head.

　　

　　The two papers published by the predecessor at the top of the Chinese Journal of Mathematics were precisely about Goldbach’s Conjecture.

　　

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　　At that time, the predecessor had already been poisoned, and the decline in his IQ caused his research work to be in a predicament. The university had a mandatory requirement that an academic supervisor must publish at least two papers in core journals every year, and the quantity and quality of papers were directly linked to research projects and funding.

　

　　

　　When he couldn’t get the research results, his emotions got out of control and he became explosive and irritable. Because of this, his predecessor didn’t think much of it and just blamed it on the pressure of work.

　　

　　No one would like to deal with someone who gets angry at the drop of a hat. As time went on, the colleagues in the department gradually distanced themselves from him. The predecessor’s students were scared of his scolding and would not come to him until they had to.

　　

　　Except for one person.

　　

　　That person was Zhang Fangxu, the predecessor’s doctoral student.

　　

　　Zhang Fangxu resisted Predecessor’s violent attitude and reported to the lab on time every day. With his help, the predecessor struggled to write the two papers.

　　

　　To think about it, the level of these two papers was not much higher, but it was good that they can still be submitted to the Chinese Journal of Mathematics.

　　

　　Considering that Zhang Fangxu had helped him a lot, the predecessor had also thought of adding his name to the paper as the second author.

　　

　　But Zhang Fangxu refused. He asked the predecessor for 30,000 yuan, on the grounds that his father was ill in hospital with kidney failure. His condition was very serious, and the family did not have enough medical expenses.

　

　　

　　The predecessor listened and agreed. After all, the level of the two papers was not high in the first place, and adding a second author would make the gold content even lower.

　　

　　The predecessor was very quick to give Zhang Fangxu 60,000 yuan.

　　

　　How could things be so simple –

 

　　

　　Zhang Fangxu’s father was indeed hospitalized, with kidney failure, and his condition was serious.

　　

　　Then Chen Yinglong approached him, promising that he would cover his father’s medical expenses until his father had a kidney replacement operation, but he needed Zhang Fangxu to help him with a few things.

　　

　　Zhang Fangxu agreed.

　

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　　The predecessor never expected that every time he went into the lab, Zhang Fangxu would take a picture of the predecessor’s manuscript, rearrange it and put it away after he returned. Every once in a while he would pretend to mention his research progress to his classmates or online friends without thinking about it. When the results came out, the predecessor wrote the paper, he also followed suit, and after writing it, he specially asked his classmates to help him check for formatting errors, and then pretended to take the finished draft of the paper to the predecessor ……

　　

　　When the paper was published, the predecessor’s name was written in the author column.

　　

　　A group of students of the predecessor did not know about it at all. When they saw this result, they were in an uproar.

　　

　　At this time, Zhang Fangxu’s acting skills were close to a film emperor, angry when he should be angry, aggrieved when he should be aggrieved, and when asked by his classmates, he implied with a reluctant face that the predecessor had given him compensation.

　　

　　Zhang Fangxu did not investigate and the students of the predecessor did not dare to take the initiative. After all, it is not a matter of concern to them, not to mention that a fire at the city gate will affect the fish in the pond. If the predecessor fell, it would definitely not be a good thing for them.

　　

　　But what they were thinking behind the scenes was unknown.

　　

　　Five months later, at the instigation of Chen Yinglong, Zhang Fangxu accused the Predecessor of stealing his research results. Once the evidence was laid out, the Predecessor was unable to defend himself and was directly pushed into the abyss.

　　

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　　It was actually not difficult to break the game.

　　

　　To put it bluntly, the predecessor did not carry enough weight and no one was willing to protect him.

　

　　

　　Meng Zezhi stopped tapping his left index finger on the table. His gaze fell on the words Goldbach’s Conjecture in the abstract of the paper.

　　He was a researcher in physics, majoring in biophysics, and inevitably dabbled in every branch of science. Although the world he originally lived in was also a small one, the level of technology was a great deal higher than this one. At least in his world, Goldbach’s Conjecture was already a foregone conclusion.

　　

 

　　Although Meng Zezhi did not know exactly how this conjecture was proved, it did not prevent him from believing in his own abilities, especially if he had the memories of his predecessor.

　　

　　Most of all, at the moment, it seemed that he had no other choice but to follow this path.

　　

　　Just then, there was a knock on the door.

　　

　　”Come in.” Meng Zezhi put away the two journals.

　　

　　The office door was pushed open and six students walked in, standing a metre away from the desk, including Zhang Fangxu.

　　

　　”Professor!”

　　

　　”En.” Meng Zezhi had no intention of chatting with them to get closer. He reached out and knocked on the desk. Zhang Fangxu hurriedly put the paper in his hand over.

　　

　　Meng Zezhi looked up at him. Zhang Fangxu was average looking, thin and tall, with a pair of black-rimmed glasses on the bridge of his nose. His face was as normal as ever. He did not look like he had done anything wrong.

　　

　　

　　Suddenly he met Meng Zezhi’s deep eyes, and for a moment he felt as if all his secrets were exposed under this gaze.

　　

　　His heart stopped beating, and when he fixed his eyes to look again, Meng Zezhi had already withdrawn his gaze.

　　He was shocked,was it an illusion?!

　　

　　A sudden feeling of unease rose in his heart.

 

　　

　　Meng Zezhi spent more than ten minutes going through the papers in detail. He had to say that Zhang Fangxu was indeed somewhat capable. His predecessor had not bothered with these students at all for more than a year apart from the normal classes. It was already very good that he could still write a thesis of this standard.

　　

　　It’s just a pity!

　

　　

　　Meng Zezhi circled two mistakes in the paper, and then handed it back to Zhang Fangxu: “Go back and correct these areas properly. You can send it out when you’re done.”

　　

　　”Thank you, Professor!” Zhang Fangxu was overjoyed and instantly threw what had just happened to the back of his head.

　

　　

　　Then a girl with short hair handed the paper to Meng Zezhi.

　　

　　Meng Zezhi flipped through a few pages and directly threw the paper back: “What a mess to write, rewrite it.”

　　

　　Seeing this scene, the short-haired girl almost gritted her teeth, but she dared not speak out in anger.

　　

 

　　”**Incongruous, change!”

(T/N: the idiom used here is “a donkey’s lips do not match a horse’s mouth”)

　　

　　”You’ve got so little of your own, it’s unlikely you’ll get past the draft.”

　　

　　”You made that data up yourself?!”

　　

　　After dismissing three students in a row, Meng Zezhi loosened his tie around his neck and took the paper from the last female student. After flipping through two pages, he froze for a moment, then picked himself up and continued to read.

　　

　　Zhou Jia subconsciously twisted her fingers, not daring to take a breath.

　

　　

　　It was only after half an hour that Meng Zezhi finished reading the entire thesis. He looked up at Zhou Jia: “Did you do this independently?”

　　

　　It wasn’t that Zhou Jia had a conspiracy theory, but Meng Zezhi had a bad reputation. She subconsciously thought, “Did Meng Zezhi also want to steal her thesis?

　　

　　She subconsciously tried to ask the others for help, but there was no one around. She then remembered that she was the last one, and everyone else had already gone. Her heart was in turmoil, she bit her lip and nodded.

 

　　

　　”Not bad.” Meng Zezhi praised from the bottom of his heart. He had a love for talent: “Are you interested in following me for a PhD after you graduate with your master’s degree?”

　　

　　

　　Zhou Jia was confused for a moment, what did this mean?

　　

　　She subconsciously wanted to refuse, but she was afraid of offending Meng Zezhi, so she could only say cautiously, “I …… haven’t considered whether I want to study for a PhD yet, I’m also too old ……”

　　

 

　　”Oh.” Meng Zezhi was somewhat disappointed.

　　

　　The reasoning behind not saying yes immediately is to say no. He still understands this.

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