Chapter 183: Met an Acquaintance?

Qingzhou and Keshalin didn't stay long at the café; they left separately—he returned to the hotel for dinner, while Keshalin went back to write her paper.

The buffet restaurant was crowded.

As soon as Xu Xu Qingzhou entered, a scholar approached him: "Mr. Xu, I'm from Columbia University and am currently researching the Riemann Hypothesis. Would you be interested in collaborating?"

"Sorry, I have no ideas about the Riemann Hypothesis."

Xu Xu Qingzhou politely declined.

The man persisted: "Mr. Xu, we've made considerable progress—if you join us, we can list you as co-first author once results are published."

Xu Xu Qingzhou shook his head, said another apology, and walked away.

In the next twenty minutes of eating, Xu Xu Qingzhou received five invitations—all asking if he wanted to join their research projects.

The promises were too sweet to believe. Claims of "significant progress" were all lies; 99% of them just wanted to lure him—the man with the title "Prover of Cramér's Theorem"—to secure funding from higher-ups.

Read! {

For instance, on top of requiring λ to be zero when d > r, further require λ to be zero when d has a large prime factor, and replace the Selberg parameter with a more flexible polynomial function.

Yes, he had figured it out: since he had come this far, there was no reason to discard existing results and start over using Zhang Zhang Yitang's method.

He finished his meal in a few bites and retreated to his room.

Over the next few days, Xu Xu Qingzhou immersed himself in the intense atmosphere of mathematical research.

This person used Euclid's method of proving infinitely many primes to attempt proving infinitely many twin primes.

Professor Gu thought for a moment and said: "Though this kid's talent is truly terrifying, I can only say it's extremely difficult—the Twin Prime Conjecture is far more complex than Cramér's Theorem. So many mathematicians worldwide have studied it, yet they've only produced so little."

"We've been old friends for decades—can't I care about you?"

Academician Xu recounted how Xu Xu Qingzhou had spoken with Professor Maynard on stage, paused, then asked in confusion: "Such a promising talent—why did you let him pursue physics?"

Academician Xu sighed, speaking with a touch of sentiment: "It's fine for young people to have some boldness."

Get the money, produce any result—whether it's correct is secondary. Even if no result emerges, you can always say, "Can a mathematician's work be called fraud? It's just that the outcome didn't meet expectations."

Besides attending lectures and conversing with fellow scholars, he mostly stayed in his hotel room calculating the Twin Prime Conjecture, declining invitations from Zhao Sheng and Keshalin to go to bars.

Xu Xu Qingzhou was deep in thought; over these past few days, the feeling of nearly grasping the truth had grown clearer.

"Alright, Lao Xu, you've been eyeing this all along, haven't you?"

But regrettably, there was very little Xu Xu Qingzhou could draw from.

Xu Xu Qingzhou took out all his manuscript papers—over a hundred sheets since he began working on the Twin Prime Conjecture—exhaled, and settled back in, determined to review every line of reasoning one by one.

Professor Gu Gu Zhizhong's voice came through: "Lao Xu, how's it going these days? Any good progress?"

Of course, during this time he'd also seen plenty of amusing things—besides the earlier Goldbach Conjecture, someone had announced they'd proven the Twin Prime Conjecture.

At 9 a. m., Xu Xu Qingzhou finished breakfast, picked up his prepared presentation, and headed toward the lecture hall.

"When you get back, I'll treat you to tea."

Academician Xu smiled: "Mm, several issues have been resolved—worth the trip. But… you calling me isn't just out of concern, is it?"

Academician Xu glanced at the number, answered the call, removed his reading glasses, and greeted with a smile: "Lao Gu."

At his desk. London time: 23:50.

He agreed with Professor Maynard: one's energy is limited; if you dive into physics, you can't fully commit to mathematics.

"Yeah, let him give it a try."

"Just read a bit more, then sleep." Academician Xu nodded.

Professor Gu paused, then chuckled: "I used to worry he'd be overwhelmed juggling physics and math—but this kid went and piled a mountain on his own shoulders." Academician Xu sighed too: "Yes, Lao Gu, the Twin Prime Conjecture—what do you think he might achieve?"

Professor Gu said: "Enough, Lao Xu. It's probably midnight where you are. Get some rest—you're not young anymore, don't stay up like a teenager."

Three days passed in a flash. April 2nd.

Room 802. Academician Xu Xu Shihui was still reviewing materials, occasionally jotting down data, when suddenly, the quiet room rang with his phone's ringtone.

"Oh? His presentation isn't for a few more days, is it?" Professor Gu sounded surprised on the other end.

Zhang Zhang Yitang's method optimized the GPY sieve, proving infinitely many prime pairs with gaps under seventy million. Since then, mathematicians have tried upgrading the sieve along his path, yet even Tao Tao Zhexuan said the chance of proving it was slim.

"Hmph, do you think I don't know you?" Academician Xu chuckled twice. "Enough joking—your precious student made quite the splash today."

Today, the sunlight was bright, golden-orange rays spilling over the ancient city; pedestrians strolled leisurely, and distant car sounds occasionally broke the silence before fading back into quiet.

During this time, he accepted an invitation from Professor Maynard to attend a prime number symposium and gained much insight.

On the phone, Professor Gu's voice sounded resigned: "Once the physics institute's experiments reach a pause, I'll ask him which direction in math he plans to pursue."

"It's his own choice."

!.

For example, a mathematician from Sweden planned to use high-performance computing clusters and large-capacity storage devices to attempt calculating the largest known twin prime.

Xu Xu Qingzhou stared at the pile of manuscripts, still without any clarity, so he tidied up and went to bed.

He used the Selberg sieve and had made corresponding improvements and optimizations.

Academician Xu smiled: "I heard he's currently working on the Twin Prime Conjecture."

If he produces results, great; if not, at least the young man learns that nothing can be rushed—especially research. Patience, calmness, and sitting still on a cold bench are essential.

"I'm waiting for you to say that. I'll warn you—I'm drinking only the tea from your small jar."

These were among the top scholars in the prime number field—broadly knowledgeable, widely read—and their conversations greatly expanded Xu Xu Qingzhou's horizons.

Professor Maynard and several mathematicians improved Zhang Zhang Yitang's method, refining the upper bound of prime gaps to better describe the distribution of primes.

Xu Xu Qingzhou immediately spotted a counterexample.

"Hey, handsome!"

A voice called out.

Xu Xu Qingzhou looked up, pulling his thoughts from calculation, and saw two people standing at the corner ahead—the woman looked delighted, the man stared gloomily at him, clearly annoyed.

Oh, it was those two from the plane.

(End of Chapter)