Chapter 65: Borrowing a Person

Military training continues; the rainday benefits are over, and the next two days are completely sunny.

On Monday and Tuesday evenings, Xu Qingzhou completed one-quarter of the paper’s content.

Although this paper is deeper than the previous one, it involves a great deal of physics, and compared to the last, Xu Qingzhou found it more manageable.

Room 101 remained unchanged: Xu Zhengyang was still pursuing Dong Shan, Kong Xianbo was acting mysteriously, even busier than Xu Qingzhou, slipping away with his laptop whenever he had a moment, while Zhai Ziqiang stuck to his routine previewing.

Wednesday morning, professor’s office.

Two students had already left for lunch; Gu Zhizhong sat before his computer, intently staring at the paper on screen.

Though he reviewed it with a critical eye, hoping to find flaws to demonstrate his value,

the calculations were meticulous, the reasoning clear and logical. After checking the entire paper and making minor revisions to four word choices and a few mathematical symbols, he felt utterly at a loss for where to begin.

“So soon? I read your proposal—it said you’d start building the model in December.”

Read! {

Gu Zhizhong recalled and asked: “Your topic—the electromagnetic properties and thermal conduction analysis of superconductors?”

“Change a damn thing? Don’t you know what kind of person I am?”

Zhao Shengwen fell silent, focusing on the paper; he was quickly drawn in by its content.

“You don’t need a PhD student—just pick one from your master’s students.” Zhao Shengwen sipped his tea.

Time slipped away second by second.

“I’m here to borrow someone.” Zhao Shengwen said directly.

“Others who ask for help at least bring something; you just show up empty-handed and drink my tea,” Gu Zhizhong laughed and scolded.

“What about that Da Hong Pao from last time?” Zhao Shengwen glanced at the small box.

Zhao Shengwen stared, no longer in the mood for tea: “Freshman? Lao Gu, are you kidding me? Even seniors are barely free—freshmen haven’t even started classes yet!”

“Wait, don’t get emotional yet—it’s not me.”

Zhao Shengwen stared at the paper on screen for a long while, then sighed: “It’s very well written—concise sentences, clear logic, depth. Clearly, the author has considerable mastery in both mathematics and physics.”

Gu Zhizhong urged: “Stop wasting time—give me your evaluation.”

“This was written by Xu Qingzhou?!” Zhao Shengwen froze in utter shock.

He understood, yet helplessly said: “My students are all tied up with their own projects—they probably can’t spare time.”

"Military training?" Zhao Shengwen didn’t understand and asked tentatively: "What year is he in?"

Gu Zhizhong nodded, pleased with his old friend’s expression—when a student excels, the teacher gains face.

“A freshman named ‘Xu Qingzhou’—a math prodigy,” Gu Zhizhong introduced.

“A weasel paying respects to a chicken—what good could it be?” Gu Zhizhong chuckled twice, not believing his old friend had come just to see him; as he spoke, he took out a small box of tea from the cabinet beside him.

Gu Zhizhong immediately understood: everyone was working on this topic; now it was a race for efficiency—whomever finished first would claim the results and the funding.

Zhao Shengwen casually sat on the sofa. “What’s that tone? Can’t I visit you without a reason?”

Gu Zhizhong grew more and more amazed, leaning back in his chair, unable to help exclaiming: “Today’s youth are truly impressive.”

!.

“Freshman?” Zhao Shengwen blinked again, thought for a moment, then nodded. “Alright, undergraduate knowledge should be sufficient. ‘Application of Euler’s Formula in Wave Function Representation.’ When did you get interested in quantum mechanics, like Lao Gu?”

Gu Zhizhong calmly sipped his tea. “Military training—definitely a freshman.”

“My memory,” Gu Zhizhong slapped his forehead. “He’s probably in training right now—phone on silent.”

Gu Zhizhong grunted twice, then got to the point: “What’s so urgent you came all the way here?”

At that moment, a tall, slender figure entered the office without knocking; Gu Zhizhong frowned, looked up, recognized the person, then quickly relaxed.

“Who?”

Zhao Shengwen didn’t understand his friend’s game, but stood up, sat before the computer, glanced at the title and abstract, and asked skeptically:

He added, a touch envious: “Your graduate students’ paper?”

“Don’t drink it—leave.”

Gu Zhizhong waved his hand—he had his own mountain of work. “I can’t spare any of mine, but I can recommend someone. If he comes, it’ll be fine.”

Zhao Shengwen rolled his eyes. “Setting a trap for me? Last week I heard a student brought you something, and you scolded him into tears right here in your office.”

“I’ll call him,” Gu Zhizhong smiled, nodded, pulled up Xu Qingzhou’s number, and dialed—but the line just buzzed, no one answered.

Zhao Shengwen still found it hard to believe. He paused, then thought of an excuse: “Lao Gu, be honest—did you revise this paper a lot?”

“My topic.”

Zhao Shengwen smiled bitterly: “I’d love to take my time, but time doesn’t wait—Jinling University is working on the same topic.”

“Drink, drink—it’s good tea,” Zhao Shengwen smiled apologetically, took a sip, then slowly said: “Actually, I did come today with a favor to ask.”

“Master’s student?” Gu Zhizhong thought a moment, shook his head. “They’re all busy too—those two new ones have a lot to learn.”

“Borrow someone? For what?”

“Graduate student? Hahaha—this paper was written by Xu Qingzhou. Surprised? When I found out he was a freshman, I was stunned too. When we were freshmen, we were still playing in the mud—he’s already writing papers like this!”

Zhao Shengwen nodded, sighed: “We’re planning to first build a mathematical model of the electromagnetic field distribution and thermal conduction behavior of superconductors—the computation load is enormous, so I came to borrow someone.”

“No one?”

“A rare visitor indeed—speak up, what do you need?” Gu Zhizhong rose with a smile and brewed tea for his old friend.

Professor Zhao Shengwen from the Physics Department—colleagues and decades-long friends.

“Think they’re young?” Gu Zhizhong smiled faintly, pointed to his computer. “Take a look at this paper first.”

“Old buddy, you’ve got to help me with this!” Zhao Shengwen put down his teacup, growing anxious.

Gu Zhizhong stroked the teacup, smiling faintly: “I didn’t say I wouldn’t help.” Zhao Shengwen froze, as if realizing something, rubbed his hands together. “You’re not going to do it yourself, are you? Lao Gu—I don’t even know how to thank you!”

Gu Zhizhong’s face turned serious: “I’ll tell you straight—this paper was completed entirely by Xu Qingzhou on his own. I revised fewer than ten places, and all were minor punctuation and formatting issues!”

“This…” Zhao Shengwen turned to look at the paper, his emotions complex.

“This was the problem I gave him to test him—he finished it in fifty minutes.” Gu Zhizhong handed Zhao Shengwen the draft paper with Xu Qingzhou’s derivation of Euler’s formula.

Zhao Shengwen held the draft paper.

De Moivre’s Formula Method

(End of Chapter)