Super God-Level Top Student

"It's not... even if it's Professor Whitten, he can't just tarnish someone's reputation out of thin air, can he? If this gets out, how are we going to face anyone?" Wang Yu said with a somber face.

Zhang Chunlei shook his head and analyzed seriously, "It must not be Professor Whitten who's trying to slander you. I guess Professor Qiao is frustrated that you can't meet his expectations, and he might have heard from someone that as a mentor, he's too outstanding and puts too much pressure on you, so he's deliberately delaying the publication of the papers.

It just so happens that Professor Whitten was impressed by the paper and feels that not publishing it would be a great loss to the academic community. He doesn't feel it's right to persuade Professor Qiao directly. Or maybe he did, but Professor Qiao wouldn't listen, so he let the word out to have us try to change Professor Qiao's mind."

One has to admit that mathematicians have incredibly strong logical reasoning abilities.

In just a few sentences, Zhang Chunlei had gone over the recent events.

But then again, everything follows a traceable pattern.

Like Edward Whitten's praise for Qiao Ze's paper at today's conference…

The only piece of information probably unknown is that after feeling his students were difficult to teach, Qiao Ze first reached out to Roth Dugan, only to be cruelly mocked...

But this still made it hard for Wang Yu to accept.

"Is that so? Then we..."

"You? You guys are of course Professor Qiao's foolish students."

Wang Yu tugged at the corner of his mouth, looking at his former mentor with a despondent face, not wanting to go on.

Zhang Chunlei also hadn't expected the conversation to end this way; he had intended to give Wang Yu a talking-to, but now he found himself having to calm the young man down.

"Alright, put those emotions away. What did I tell you? As academics, we should learn from our shame and then be courageous. Besides, if my analysis is correct, then that means Professor Qiao values you guys highly, so just quietly enjoy that!"

Wang Yu said with a pained expression, "The truth is, Professor Qiao has actually been pretty good to us. Others ask him for meetings and he won't attend, but he's never once canceled our weekly morning meetings. Our stipends and living conditions are the best among doctoral students; it's just that Professor Qiao's expectations are indeed too high, unbearably high."

Zhang Chunlei nodded and said, "Alright, I got it. The day after tomorrow is Li's wedding, and Professor Qiao will surely attend. I'll look for an opportunity to talk to him about this then. You go back and focus on your studies. Also, don't blame Professor Qiao for being too strict with you. You should know that, at the doctoral stage, having a high-level mentor who's willing to guide you by hand is very rare."

"I understand! Don't worry, I definitely won't let up. Besides, studying for a PhD under Professor Qiao means we all encourage each other, and no one would just give up."

"That's good. Now go back and finish your assignments." Zhang Chunlei waved his hand.

"Oh, then I'll be off."

"Mm."

...

Alright, Wang Yu wasn't the only one facing the same ordeal.

Li Jian Gao's advice to Qiao Ze was to recruit students according to how close their relationship was, and since the day after tomorrow was Li Jian Gao's wedding, many old friends were coming.

Zhang Chunlei wasn't the only one who had heard the news; others were aware of it too.

Consequently, they all called their past students to ask about the situation.

By the time Wang Yu got back to the dorm, the five of them had already automatically gathered through the WeChat group.

"Damn! We really can't live with this!"

"I know, right?"

"Should we talk to Professor Qiao? There's no need for him to take us so seriously, right?"

"Yes, let Professor Qiao hurry up and publish the paper! There's no pressure in publishing, but holding onto a paper is immensely stressful!"