Chapter 33: The Door To A New World Crashes Down
Chen Jingrun had always felt that his days in Hong Kong were very happy, as he could access the most cutting-edge mathematical knowledge.
He had previously worked in number theory and always thought that number theory was just number theory, with different subfields of mathematics being like different paths produced while walking in the mountains.
These branches, although all extending from the big tree of mathematics, had no significant relationship after extending in different directions.
After reading Lin Ran’s proof of Fermat’s Conjecture, he realized there was a deep connection between mathematics and analysis, and then from the Randolph Program, he wondered whether similar deep connections existed between other subfields.
Would the branches extending from the big tree of mathematics converge again in the future?
It is not a big tree, but a great river, with different tributaries converging and flowing into the sea.
During the learning process in Lin Ran’s seminar, although the other party was lecturing on harmonic analysis rather than his specialty of number theory, the content contained within and the organic combination between analysis and number theory it vaguely pointed to were like a divine stroke that intoxicated those who could understand it.
For Chen Jingrun, who had always received mathematics learning and training on the mainland and could not access the most cutting-edge mathematical content in real time, this was simply timely rain after a long drought; he felt that his soul had been replenished during this time and he had never been so driven.
Therefore, he could not understand why classmates in the class were dropping out one after another; such a rare opportunity, a lecture by one of the world’s top mathematics masters, and they still didn’t come.
Accessing cutting-edge mathematical knowledge is happiness, but there is also frustration, which is that those problems handed to him before coming out—he simply could not find a suitable opportunity to ask Professor Lin.
Before coming, he already knew how renowned Professor Lin was, and the people who trained him had repeatedly emphasized that Professor Lin would have countless eyes on him in Hong Kong, and he needed to know how to find opportunities.
After arriving, he realized he had underestimated the degree of adoration for Professor Lin; not to mention the Hong Kong newspapers competing to report, even their group of students were chased for interviews and photos, being called future stars in the field of mathematics.
Even because the number of people persisting was decreasing, the remaining people were particularly eye-catching.
Even though Chen Jingrun was extremely careful and did not want to be photographed, he was still captured in photos by a tabloid, which also called him one of the most talented students in Professor Lin’s mathematics seminar.
In such a situation, it became even harder for him to find an opportunity to ask Professor Lin the questions he wanted to ask.
While recording today’s lecture content in his notebook and conveying Professor Lin’s content, he felt that everything the other party had lectured on in the past was surfacing one by one in his mind, connecting into a line, and the door to a new world collapsed with a bang at this moment.
At this moment, he was still sitting in a seat in the Hong Kong University Lecture Hall, with an unusually fair index finger appearing on the oak desk in front of him; Chen Jingrun stared at Professor Lin’s index finger:
“These are actually all related to intercontinental missile optimization.”
This sentence kept echoing in his mind, and the whole person felt as if struck by lightning; the lecture content during this time had never been so clear.
In just five minutes, it felt as long as five centuries.
“Actually, the content just mentioned can all be connected to the Randolph Program, because it includes the connection between symmetry and functional, which is consistent with the abstraction of the Randolph Program.”
At this time, Chen Jingrun only knew to mechanically record what Lin Ran said in his notebook, with his mind full of hurrying back to properly organize all the past content Lin Ran had lectured on.
His beloved number theory, the cutting-edge direction of mathematics, new paths to proving the Goldbach Conjecture—in the face of missile trajectory optimization in China, these had all become less important.
“Alright, today’s courses end here; still tomorrow at nine in the morning, we continue here. One, twenty-four, pretty good, even a bit more than I imagined.” Lin Ran, standing at the podium, smiled while drinking water.
He even thought that given the lecture content and difficulty, there should be single digits now.
In order to drive away as many students as possible, Lin Ran did not even leave time for after-class Q&A.
His explanation for this was that after finishing the basic content, he would specially leave time for Q&A for everyone.
But the problem is, without Q&A, most people could not understand the basic content at all, and attending class was like reading a book from heaven.
And precisely because of this, students left one after another; not understanding and sitting here was still like reading a book from heaven.
Chen Jingrun, who originally would persist until Lin Ran left the classroom, rushed out directly after hearing Lin Ran dismiss the class.
He needed to verify Lin Ran’s lecture content in the shortest time possible, then find a way to pass the news to truly reliable people.
During the training before coming, Section Chief Zhang had already repeatedly emphasized to him that there were three channels in Hong Kong in total.
Regular information is transmitted back through channel 1, urgent information through channel 2, and highly secretive ones through channel 3.
In his view, if the content Lin Ran taught him was really related to missile trajectory optimization, it undoubtedly belonged to highly secretive content.
Compared to urgency, secrecy is much more important.
But it is also very urgent; Professor Lin’s stay in Hong Kong is only two months, and being one day late could miss a lot of valuable content.
The reason he was so anxious was that he had to catch the 5:30 tram to Moon Palace Building in Causeway Bay, the location agreed for handing over information tomorrow.
Correct, channel 3 is divided into two steps: first go to Moon Palace Building, not in Yuen Long or Sheung Shui in the New Territories, nor in Yau Ma Tei or Sham Shui Po in Kowloon, but in bustling Causeway Bay.
Moon Palace Building is also the first stratified sales residence in all of Hong Kong, one of the landmark projects after Ho Hing Yip Tong Real Estate Co., Ltd. entered the real estate field.
On the way to catch the tram, Chen Jingrun also bought a copy of that day’s The Daily News and a portion of buns in a Doucai Blue and White Chicken Cup.
This Doucai Blue and White Chicken Cup is of course a replica.
Sitting in the lobby of Moon Palace Building, pretending to read the newspaper, he also finished eating the buns and placed the Doucai Blue and White Chicken Cup on the tea table.
He glanced at the watch on his hand; half an hour later, the cleaning old man finally walked up to him, “Is there still a North Point boat at 7:30 tonight?”
“Take route 6 tram to Shau Kei Wan, keep one more seat on the last bus.”
The whole process was incredibly natural; people who knew Chen Jingrun in the past would never imagine that the bookworm in their impression could play a Hong Kong local so naturally and fluently.
After speaking, Chen Jingrun sat for a while longer, his heart pounding extremely hard.
Finally, pretending to casually return to his residence, but he had no intention of resting at all; he hurriedly pulled out all of Lin Ran’s lecture content from this period, carefully searched through it, and finally found the key information he needed to verify:
“Sure enough, the constant here is not a meaningless constant, but stands for Earth’s Gravity.”
