Chapter 526: I find that thumb ring to be quite attractive!
The scene was bursting with excitement!
A person who didn’t know what was going on might even assume that China's football team had won the World Cup if they saw the situation here.
"Awesome!"
"Zhang Ye, you're too smart!"
"Teacher Zhang, I love you!"
"Zhang Ye, I love you too!"
Some of the younger park visitors were cheering loudly.
The mathematicians were also tickled by what they heard.
All the local and foreign reporters had already rushed up with their recording devices and cameras, sticking their equipment forward and began asking questions.
The yard area was not large and was soon overcrowded with people. Seeing this, Fellow Wan quickly said, "Wait a moment. Please don't squeeze into this area everyone. Let us have some time, don't squeeze anymore. Please back up a little."
A number of mathematicians had gone to protect whiteboards amidst this as they all carefully ensured that no one could squeeze over and accidentally damage them. They were also afraid that they would accidentally smudge the writings on the whiteboards while protecting them as they knew very well that these writings on all of these boards were worth an immeasurable amount!
Professor Qu found Zhang Ye, "You are Little Zhang, right?"
"That's me." Zhang Ye did not know who he was.
Xin Ya introduced them, "This is Professor Qu, one of the recipients of the highest awards during last year's nationwide scientific community awards. He is also a person of distinction in the mathematics world."
When Zhang Ye heard this, he suddenly realized, OH....he still did not know who he was!
Professor Qu said, "We would like to seek your permission first about those 39 whiteboards that you have written on. Would it be alright for us to keep and manage them for now? We will bring it back to the relevant mathematical organizations to do further validations. In the future, these whiteboards will become our country and our mathematics world's most important and precious items. It would even become an important artifact of the global mathematics world's history and might possibly be put up for exhibition. If it is well kept, there wouldn't even be any problem keeping it in its original form for several decades to come. As this work was completed by you, we would definitely need your permission to release it to us."
Left as a legacy forever?
Important artifact of mathematics?
Hah! This would be a rather good source of reputation as well, and it even seemed like it would not run out anytime soon!
Zhang Ye was naturally happy to agree, "Sure, just do what you want with it. I have no use for them anymore anyway." Immediately after he said that, a few foreigners had squeezed to stand in front of him.
The first one was the female mathematician from the United Kingdom, "Hi."
"Hi." Zhang Ye replied her.
The female mathematician shook his hand in the courtesy of Chinese traditions, then smiled and said, "My name is Jennifer and I am very happy to know you, Zhang of China."
Zhang Ye could understand English and so, corrected her, "It's Zhang Ye."
The woman followed his pronunciation and said, "....Zhang....Yé (Grandpa)?"
Zhang Ye laughed and said, "Don't stand on such ceremony with me, you're older than me." Of course he said that in Chinese.
The United Kingdom's team translator was left speechless at this and decided not to translate it to the female mathematician. There was also no proper way to explain this to her and the English would probably not understand it anyways.
A middle-aged German mathematician also came to greet him.
Then followed by the French, Japanese and many other mathematicians from different countries.
"Hello, how are you."
"I am Kato.”
"I am Pierre. You are welcome to visit France anytime."
"You're welcome to visit Germany for an exchange. We will definitely receive you with our highest form of welcome if you do."
Zhang Ye did not put on any airs and also shook their hands one by one, getting to know each and everyone of them. Because of the availability of translators, their exchanges were rather smooth as well.
The Chinese mathematicians did not join in on the exchange. There was no need to do so in this setting and there were still many opportunities to get to know Zhang Ye better in the future. A mathematical conjecture had been proven today and would need a rigorous validation process. Only a simple verifications had been done on the spot and the actual process would require more than just a few people. This was also the reason why they still had many chances to contact Zhang Ye from now on. After all, being fellow countrymen, they wouldn't be afraid of him running away.
At the other side.
Fellow Wan was already surrounded by a group of reporters.
"Fellow Wan!"
"I'm with Xinhua News Agency!"
"Now that Dale's Conjecture has been proven, what are you views about it?"
Fellow Wan laughed loudly and high-spiritedly. "I did not expect to see this day while I was still alive. This is a matter that makes one very excited and is also an unbelievable one." He put his hand to his chest and added jokingly, "My heart's still racing and I believe that it's the same for a lot of us here as well. It's such an honor to have witnessed this today and the pride I have due to the fact that the person who solved this conjecture is a fellow Chinese countryman and is only at 20 something years of age!" Then he looked at Elder Rong.
Elder Rong continued on from his words and said to the reporters, "When we get back, we will set up a special working group to do detailed checks on Teacher Zhang Ye's proof. We will also invite mathematicians from our local organizations, as well as foreign mathematicians, to partake in the validation to speed it up so that we can have a conclusion as soon as possible. This will all be made known to you immediately when it is completed."
In the past, whenever a mathematical conjecture had been proposed and proven, the Chinese mathematics world had always only had the responsibility of sending some of their own mathematicians to fly overseas to take part in the proof’s validation process, but this time, Zhang Ye had gained this honor for them and they had become the main leads of this matter!
The other mathematicians also accepted interviews.
Wang Yiming said, "I'm still shaking with excitement!"
Xin Ya said, "Don't ask me, hur hur. I have yet to come back to my senses. It all feels like a dream."
At this moment, the area in front of Zhang Ye had also cleared up. Noticing this, those reporters, who had not managed to squeeze over there earlier ran over as quick as lightning and surrounded Zhang Ye once more. Some of the reporters, who were still in the middle of interviewing some mathematicians, suddenly stopped, carried their equipment, and ran over to Zhang Ye as well!
"That is why mathematics...." Han Henian was just been riding the high of the event and had accepted an interview when in the blink of an eye, realized his interviewer had abandoned him. He nearly flipped, feeling extremely embarrassed. These reporters were really discriminatory as hell!!
But there was no other way it could have developed. Zhang Ye was the person in the limelight today after all!
"Teacher Zhang!"
"Teacher Zhang!"
The group of reporters had totally surrounded Zhang Ye and camera flashes were going off continuously. There were also about 20 microphones being pushed towards him and a young female reporter even had to squat behind Zhang Ye, her face almost touching his backside. She even pushed a microphone up through Zhang Ye's armpit in a very awkward manner and rested it on his chest. The reporters were all showing their individual skills and adaptability, contorting themselves to get what they needed. It was really a stunning sight!
Zhang Ye jumped up in shock at this. What a crazy day! What the heck was going on? Having been famous for some time now, he had never experienced being surrounded by so many reporters. There were even foreign reporters here this time!
A female reporter, who did not managed to squeeze into the crowd shouted from outside, "Teacher Zhang, may we know where you got your mathematics talent from?"
A young male reporter standing in the crowd asked, "Dale's Conjecture had been labeled as a 'did the egg come first or the chicken?' type of question before, citing it as impossible to solve. How did you do it?"
All the mathematicians and park visitors kept quiet when they heard this and looked over at Zhang Ye. They were all too curious about him and wanted to know how he'd answered this question.
The crowd was anticipating his reply.
Zhang Ye cleared his throat and answered, "As long as there's doubt, then it can be solved. Even the question of whether the egg or the chicken came first is solvable."
The reporters were all a little stunned, "You can explain it?"
Zhang Ye laughed and said, "Of course."
A female reporter asked, "So which came first? The chicken or the egg?"
"Of course it was the chicken that came first." Zhang Ye answered without a moment's hesitation.
A middle-aged reporter was not convinced and questioned Zhang Ye again, "Then how did the first chicken come about?"
Zhang Ye still answered without hesitation, "They had to make ends meet."
When everyone heard that, they were unable to process what he meant, but after a moment, they realized what Zhang Ye had just said, countless of Chinese reporters nearly fainted!
A male park visitor, who was just having a sip of water, spat out everything when he heard!
"Hahahaha!"
"Make ends meet?"
"Just what kind of chicken* are you talking about!"
"Pfft! Zhang Ye's mouth was really wicked!"
"Zhang Ye's truly a crosstalk actor! Even performing crosstalk during an interview!"
Many people had been tickled by this and burst out laughing, especially the Chinese mathematicians. Professor Qu, Wang Yiming, and the others were also laughing so hard that their eyes rolled backwards! The foreign reporters were still around, so you should really watch what you said. It's a good thing these foreigners didn't understand!
Zhang Ye added, "Alright then, let's be serious now."
The reporters nearly cried. Your sister! But we've been serious this entire time!
Then, another reporter asked, "Why did you decide to solve Dale's Conjecture?"
A young female reporter asked, "Yes, why did you choose this setting and at this time to solve this math problem?"
An older reporter guessed, "Were you trying to prove the ability of the Chinese mathematicians, to let the children know that our country's mathematics world is also world class and therefore chose the International Math Olympiad as the background to complete such an amazing proof of work? To cheer on the children?"
"Was it because our ranking for this year's competition was not too ideal, therefore you chose to step forward and solve this question?"
Different guesses were being raised as the reporters waited for his answer.
For the children?
For dignity?
For the good of the mathematics world?
For our country's honor?
Zhang Ye gave a slightly embarrassed look, pointed over to the American team's display booth and said, "You're all thinking too much. It's actually because.....I find that jade thumb ring quite attractive."
The reporters nearly spat blood from their mouths, "Ah??"
Xin Ya stared hard at him before quickly chiding him, "Teacher Zhang!"
Professor Qu also quickly added, "Forget that last part, everyone. Please don't record that down."
Many of the Chinese mathematicians made passes at Zhang Ye, letting him know that he shouldn't say such things. If he were to do that, then it would just show how low class the Chinese mathematics world was!
Zhang Ye quickly change his tone and smiled to the camera, saying, "I was just joking. I didn't really noticed the jade thumb ring. I don't even know what color it was. Hur hur, so why would I want that for?"
Fellow Wan heaved a sigh of relief thinking that he was lucky to have corrected his words.
Xin Ya nodded lightly as she had a fright from Zhang Ye's reaction.
The foreign reporters had also finally realized that he had been joking all this time. They had not expected this mathematician to have so much humor unlike those traditional mathematicians who appeared so rigid and boring.
Zhang Ye threw out his chest and spoke in an upright manner, "You've all guessed correctly. The reason I attempted to solve the conjecture this time was because of the children and also for the sake of our country's education system. As everyone knows, I'm a teacher of the people myself, and if I can do something, I will definitely do my best to contribute to the cause of education."
The reporters all nodded diligently thinking that this was too well said.
"Secondly, this is also for the pride of the country...." As he was saying this, Zhang Ye suddenly noticed the American team dismantling their display booth and getting ready to leave. He urgently shouted out to them, "Hey, don't go! My jade thumb ring!"
The Chinese reporters, "......."
The Chinese mathematicians, "........."
A group of foreign reporters, "..................."
What the heck!
So you were really aiming for the jade thumb ring after all!!
The park visitors were already laughing out loud at this, "HAHAHAHA!"
Translator Notes:
Thank you for your support so far! Please continue to support IRAS by submitting a vote at Gravity Tales Vote Page. The top 3 novels at the end of the month will get a free sponsored chapter! Don't forget to vote, we look to be losing some pace already!
*Chickens are also used as a reference to prostitutes in the Chinese language
A running joke in almost every Chinese speaking country when it comes to chicken speciality restaurants, see if you can get it?
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