The first two exams can be roughly understood as a process of getting a feel for the situation and finding out what is missing. In the last two exams, fifteen people will be selected to participate in the finals and compete for the qualification to represent China in IMO in the second stage of training.

The leader of this IMO team, Professor Zhou Liang from the School of Mathematics of Yanbei University, clearly felt that something was wrong on the fourth day. Many children were in very poor condition this time, which can be seen from the previous two exams.

See it.

Many children who had done very well in the CMO before had their hips twitched during these two exams.

He specially observed everyone's energy during the self-study class. Those children whose grades had seriously declined were obviously not in the right mood and were visibly depressed.

This is not the first time that Zhou Liang has served as the team leader of IMO. It is not surprising that among the sixty students, there are occasionally one or two such students, but it is extremely abnormal for such a large-scale problem to suddenly occur. And there seems to be a certain

regional characteristics.

For example, the performance of local students in Beijing has generally declined, and even Gong Jiatao, who got full marks in CMO, is no exception.

You must know that this is not an ordinary rocket class, but a gathering of the 60 most mathematically gifted children of this age group in the entire China. Each one is selected from a million, and their psychological adjustment ability is better than that of the average child of the same age.

Children must be strong.

In the past, if these academic masters said that they did not do well in the exam, they were mostly modest and could not be believed. But this time they really did not do well in the exam, and a large number of their scores suddenly dropped. Whenever this kind of problem occurs on a large scale, there must be something wrong.

Nothing is right.

So during the evening self-study for exam (2), Zhou Liang called all the children whose scores had seriously declined in these two exams to talk to the office one by one, including Gong Jiatao and Yu Wei.

The conversation didn't go well at first, not many people were willing to talk.

But for half-grown children, as long as they have more patience, they can always find out the truth. As long as one of them speaks, the rest of the conversation will be easier. After the conversation, Professor Zhou felt numb...

No wonder the collective performance is abnormal, it turned out that they were all hit? Good guy... What a good guy, how can he play like this?

That kid Qiao Yu single-handedly defeated all the children in the IMO training camp? There are actually students who are obsessed with the idea that someone can beat him in the game if someone can solve problems while playing games?

The scope of the impact was not only the children who challenged Qiao Yu, but also the mentality of the children who watched the excitement. There were even four people in the dormitory who couldn't sleep at night. They talked about this matter until two or three in the morning before going to bed?

This was really a new trick to add intensity to his work! So before self-study the next evening, Qiao Yu was directly invited to his office.

But seeing the child's confused look, Zhou Liang didn't know where to start. Recently, Tian Yanzhen has been recommending the ArXiv paper to everyone. Yes, the mathematics professors at Yanbei University have a calculation

One, most of them have already read the paper that Qiao Yu submitted to Ann.Math.

Zhou Liang didn't know what others thought, but after reading the paper, he was really amazed.

For a sixteen-year-old student to be able to write such a paper, he didn't dare to think about where this little guy's future achievements would be. After all, he had not yet published an article in the top four journals in mathematics.

Even Schulz, who was recognized as a mathematical genius, did not achieve this kind of achievement when he was sixteen years old.

Not to mention that this guy had already started studying the Langlands Conjecture of geometry in his self-study class, and Zhou Liang saw this. Many times, he couldn't treat Qiao Yu as a student.

For example, even if he was called to his office, other students would stand there talking to him, but when Qiao Yu came, his first words were: "Qiao Yu, here you go, sit down, um, would you like some tea?"

?」

Qiao Yu shook his head and replied: "No, Professor Zhou, what did you ask me to do?"

Zhou Liang thought for a while and asked directly: "Okay, I won't delay your study time. Let's get straight to the point. Did you design a challenge game in the dormitory? The one where you play the game and solve problems at the same time?"

Qiao Yu nodded and said truthfully: "Yes, the main reason is that the three guys who slept with me were not convinced that I was the dormitory leader, so I thought of a way to shut them up. But they were still not convinced, so they asked

Their classmates came to challenge them.

But don’t worry, they have never been specially trained in this kind of multitasking ability, and they will definitely not be able to beat me. I designed this game so that it will not embarrass our Yanbei University."

After one sentence, Professor Zhou fell silent again.

He originally wanted to let Qiao Yu give everyone a break and let them win one or two games to regain some confidence. After hearing this, he might as well forget it.

"No, Qiao Yu, I'm very confident about you, really. After the two exams, you performed the most stably, with perfect scores. But have you considered a single issue? If you do this, it will seriously affect other partners.

of confidence.

To be honest, after these two exams, those who have competed with you, and those who have watched and challenged you, did not achieve satisfactory results in these two exams. By doing so, you have severely damaged their enthusiasm for mathematics.

!」

Zhou Liang continued sincerely: "As you know, IMO is a team competition. No matter how strong you are alone, you can only get a gold medal with a perfect score at most. The most important thing is to look at the team results. If the mentality of the students with the best results

It’s all broken, you won’t be able to enter the next trials, the team results will be ugly, and your face will be disgraced, right?”

This time it was Qiao Yu's turn to be surprised, and he said in surprise: "Isn't it right? Their ability to withstand pressure is so bad? Where are they?" Zhou Liang let out a sigh, good guy, his ability to withstand pressure has come out.

Not to mention the students, he felt like his whole body was going numb now.

After all, being a team leader also comes with performance pressure. Even if he can't take first place, he can't fall too far behind, right? If he leads the team to the worst performance in the team's history, he will probably be scolded to death by Tumo Xingzi when he comes back.

Anyway, if it didn't work out, he planned to go to the research center to find Academician Tian for review.

Originally, he didn't plan to be the team leader this year, but Academician Tian arranged for him to lead the team again. Now that his students are doing this, who doesn't have a lot of pressure?

"No, Qiao Yu, you have to consider that everyone is sixteen or seventeen years old. It is normal to have big mood swings at this age. Not everyone has strong ability to withstand stress. In this way, there are still three days before the next stage of the exam.

Time, let's think of a way together to let the students put their mind at ease first.

Zhou Liang demanded directly.

Qiao Yu nodded simply and said, "Okay, I'll listen to you."

Zhou Liang let out a long breath and said, "Well, first of all, this game can't continue now." Qiao Yu nodded and agreed to the request. Anyway, the three guys in the dormitory are now honest.

Then Zhou Liang suddenly had an idea and said enthusiastically: "However, when we arrive in Australia in July, our teams from various countries will usually arrive the day before the opening ceremony. There will generally be no other arrangements on the day of the opening ceremony.

In other words, there will be about two days to allow students from various countries to participate in IMO to communicate freely. At that time, I will come out to help you contact me. Then I can have a few friendly matches with other national team members, and then you can perform well.

"

Qiao Yu glanced at Professor Zhou, then nodded and said, "Okay, no problem."

"Well, which games are you good at? You also know that the popular games in China may be different from the popular games abroad. I will go and ask about them from time to time."

This question made Qiao Yu feel like applying for a job at a game studio. This seemed to be his original plan for life, so the world is actually a strange circle? If you go around and around, you can always get back to your original intention?

"Um...well...actually, I heard that I am good at all competitive games. For example, foreign countries should also play CS:GO, and by the way, there are also League of Legends and the like...even if they are unfamiliar games.

, I just practiced it for two games and got familiar with the skills and it was almost there.

Zhou Liang nodded, with a smile on his face: "Okay, that's okay, I'll make arrangements then. We will also have a game league at this year's IMO. I believe everyone will like it. Westerners are here

I like the whole life more than we do.”

Qiao Yu nodded and promised: "Don't worry, Professor Zhou, I promise not to disappoint you, and I must win glory for China."...

During the training period, the self-study time was fixed at 9:30 every night. After chatting with the team leader, Professor Zhou, it was almost 10 o'clock when I returned to the dormitory. However, no one was sleeping in the dormitory, and everyone was sitting there with a sad face, chatting.

Seeing Qiao Yu come in, everyone became quiet again.

"Boss..." Yu Yongjun took the initiative to say hello as usual.

Most of the time, others can't say "boss", but Yu Yongjun doesn't feel burdened by this at all. Anyway, so far, Qiao Yu hasn't found out where the fat man's lower limit is.

But today Qiao Yu still replied: "Don't call me boss from now on, we are all classmates.

Yu Yongjun blinked, looked at Qiao Yu, and asked: "Boss, do you mean that I will definitely get the pre-admission notice from Yanbei University? Qiao Yu rolled his eyes and was too lazy to deal with this thing anymore.

Whether you can get the pre-admission notice and which school you get the pre-admission notice will ultimately depend on the interview results. Anyway, as long as you are in the top 60, you have no other plans, such as studying abroad, Huaqing, Yanbei, etc.

You can choose one.

Now Qiao Yu feels that both sides are pretty good, and he has a bright future no matter which side he chooses.

So after thinking about it, he suddenly suggested: "Okay, why don't we all go to bed early today, and then lie on the bed and chat casually?" The three friends in the dormitory, after being stunned, agreed to Qiao Yu's idea, and then started

Wash up and go to bed.

If it were changed before, no matter what choice Yu Yongjun and Gong Jiatao would make, at least Yu Wei would definitely not pay attention to this kind of suggestion, and might even say sarcastically: "You have to control when I go to bed?"

The training manual only recommends turning off the lights and going to bed at 11 p.m., but now it’s only a few minutes until 10 p.m.

Not only did he not say a word this time, but he also silently started to wash up with the other three people, and then climbed into bed. Perhaps Yu Wei hadn't realized that this was a surrender mentality, or maybe he had already realized it.

But just refuse to admit it

Anyway, this world is soft all over, but there are many people who are still tough with words. There is absolutely no shortage of Yu Wei who goes to bed early, closes the door, and turns off the lights. This night suddenly feels different.

The surroundings are filled with all kinds of noises that are typical of collective life.

If they really wanted to sleep, it would definitely cause all kinds of dissatisfaction, but fortunately, none of the four people planned to sleep.

"Brother, what are you looking at there every day?" Yu Yongjun, who was responsible for closing the door and turning off the lights today, and finally climbed into bed and got under the quilt, did not let the sleep talk Qiao Yu had planned come to an end. He had just found a comfortable place.

sleeping position, he asked.

It's not like he didn't peek at Qiao Yu's stuff.

But Qiao Yu wrote the paper according to his own progress. It had neither beginning nor end, and it was all in English. He really didn't notice it.

"There are several papers downloaded from ArXiv, about the geometric Langlands conjecture. I have been very interested in this research recently." Qiao Yu replied cheerfully.

But he knows that this topic will most likely not spark discussion. In fact, let alone high school, even as an undergraduate, you will not be exposed to the content of the Langlands Program.

There was nothing we could talk about, so he continued: "My situation is different from yours, so don't compare yourself to me. I participated in IMO mainly to complete the task. Once the IMO task is completed, you will directly recommend me to Yanbei University next year.

In the elite class, there is a high probability that we will not be classmates, so there is no point in competing with me."

This is Qiao Yu's way of comforting people. He first points out the facts and makes everyone aware of the gap, and usually they can let go of the burden. If they still can't let go, then their psychological quality is too poor, and they won't get good results even if they go to international competitions.
To be continued...