Chapter 53: Can You Wait a Bit?

「Ah...」

Siegel wanted to refuse, because after Fermat’s Conjecture was proven, he had already called and invited the man upon reading the proof paper in the inaugural issue of Advances in Mathematics.

Lin Ran specifically thanked Siegel in the acknowledgments of his paper:

「I thank Professor Siegel for his support and assistance during my doctoral studies; I will forever cherish my days at Göttingen University.」

To be honest, seeing this acknowledgment, Siegel was both moved and speechless—did you even stay in Göttingen? And now you’re saying you’ll forever cherish it?

Later, precisely because of this statement, his colleagues at Göttingen all believed he had let Lin Ran slip away.

But after his sincere invitation was gently yet firmly declined over the phone, Siegel did not press further.

After all, compared to the big metropolis of New York, Göttingen was simply too small.

But now, facing Doeylin’s pressure, Siegel really wanted to refuse.

Before he could think of an excuse, Doeylin pulled out a stack of colorful papers from his pocket:

「Professor, here are train tickets from Göttingen Station to Frankfurt Central Station, and here is a Lufthansa ticket from Frankfurt Airport to New York.

If all goes well, you’ll meet Randolph in three days—remember to tell him that your colleagues in Göttingen are eagerly awaiting his arrival.」

「You—this—I—」 Siegel grimaced as he took the tickets, 「No, I’m not ready yet.

Besides, what about the return ticket?」

Doeylin smiled: 「Professor, when the time comes, just call me—I’ll book your ticket and Randolph Lin’s.」

Doeylin’s implication was crystal clear: if you don’t bring Randolph back, you yourself don’t need to rush back.

Siegel sighed: 「Fine.」

At this moment, with the paper published, Lin Ran knew every number theorist in the world was probably muttering his name.

Kiyoshi Kodaira and the other Japanese mathematicians had stayed in Xiangjiang for a week.

Although his lectures lasted only three days, they came to Xiangjiang University nearly every day to exchange ideas with him—even during the brief one or two hours after Lin Ran finished his seminar, which drove him to exhaustion.

Besides academic exchanges, he also met with two shipping magnates, Xu Aizhou and Dong Haoyun, and gave them detailed explanations on how to operationalize container data structuring at ports.

These two shipping magnates chose to join forces under the container standard.

Not only did they join forces—they brought together Xiangjiang’s numerous shipping companies to form a joint venture named Xiangjiang Shipping, aiming to become the standard-setter, including Bao Yugang, who would rise in the 1960s.

The honeycomb deck system and conical guide pin positioning device were easy to understand; with structural diagrams, one could grasp the general idea by building a model.

Container data structuring was more complex, especially regarding optimal structures for large-sample data—they still needed Lin Ran to explain it.

To ensure the prototype project succeeded, they even recruited a batch of recent mathematics graduates from Xiangjiang University specifically for this task.

Lin Ran’s training was primarily aimed at these mathematics graduates.

Everyone was thrilled: attending Lin Professor’s seminar, they’d never have made it into the top fifty—but now, through this method, they were hearing his lectures.

「We’ll primarily use paper cards to record data—think of it as a card-index system similar to a library catalog...」

「When recording data with paper ledgers, always follow chronological order...」

Considering practical realities, you couldn’t realistically expect people to go straight out and buy an IBM 1401 or 1620 computer to build a database system.

Even if they bought one, there was no modern database management system at this time.

So initially, they could only use manual recording methods, combining various manual approaches.

Fortunately, at this stage, they were only constructing container data structures for a single shipping route—manual recording was manageable.

If this truly became the standard, developing a dedicated database and database management system would still be plenty timely.

Even better, starting a database service based on this could completely block Oracle’s path.

「I thought Lin Professor’s lectures weren’t hard?」 Liang Zhengyuan complained—he was a recent undergraduate graduate from Xiangjiang University’s mathematics department.

「Yeah, I thought it wasn’t hard either—it’s pretty understandable, and there are so many examples to help reduce the difficulty.

The Xiangjiang Daily is just making things up—they made Lin Professor’s lectures sound like only gods could understand them.」 His classmate and fellow math major, Liao Mingji, sitting beside him, agreed.

They couldn’t understand it at all—they found Lin Professor approachable, his lectures clear and patient, always answering their questions thoroughly, yet Xiangjiang’s newspapers portrayed him as an aloof, otherworldly mathematical deity.

They claimed Lin Professor was so gifted he saw no problem as difficult, so he taught mostly what he found easy, leaving students feeling like they were listening to celestial scripture, unable to comprehend the ordinary world of mere mortals.

Liang Zhengyuan and Liao Mingji had also believed this before receiving the company’s training notice; the night before, they’d been so nervous they couldn’t sleep—but it turned out nothing like the newspaper’s hype.

Lin Ran’s lectures were so easy to understand that even seventy-year-old Xu Aizhou listened with great interest.

「Professor Lin, thank you for your help—we will make sure this is done well, and make the Xiangjiang standard the global standard!」 After the training ended, as Lin Ran was about to get in the car, Xu Aizhou held his hand tightly.

Xu Aizhou was old, but his vision remained sharp; after Lin Ran’s clear and thorough explanation, he knew clearly that if they used this container data structuring well, it alone could add tens of millions of Hong Kong dollars in annual profit for their company.

Combined with the honeycomb hull structure’s 30% increased cargo capacity and the conical guide pin device’s prevention of cargo damage, the overall impact on shipping would be enormous.

If Xiangjiang’s shipping industry could truly gain a share in the container standard, it wouldn’t just be about money—it would open an unprecedented opportunity for Xiangjiang’s shipping sector and its entire industry.

「The container revolution will make sea power greater than land power.

Starting next year, the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) will begin establishing international container standards, defining uniform dimensions, structures, and markings. This standardization process will enable containers to be widely used globally and achieve seamless connectivity between ports under American leadership.

Traditional bulk cargo loading and unloading might take three to five days per ship, while container ships reduce this to eight to twelve hours—an efficiency gain exceeding 80%. The widespread adoption of mechanized handling equipment will further reduce labor and time costs...」