Chapter 260 - 153: Arrangement 4

Chapter 260: Chapter 153: Arrangement 4

And the result?

The kid hadn’t even batted an eye. It all went in one ear and out the other.

He’d shown a cold indifference toward the historical prestige they offered, an apathy that was hard for ordinary people to comprehend.

But now...

Zhou Qiping had just casually mentioned a cash bonus.

And the kid was actually smiling so happily! So brightly! So... down-to-earth!

Li Jianming looked down at the scratch paper in his hand, covered in homological mappings, and suddenly felt a bit deflated.

After all that...

For Xiaochen, his whole speech about the beauty of mathematics had been less compelling than a cash payout from the finance department.

"This kid..."

Watching Chen Zhuo’s happy expression, Fang Shi couldn’t help but curse with a low chuckle.

But the fondness in his eyes didn’t diminish in the slightest. ’No hypocrisy, no pretense. He knows what he wants. A good kid.’

Li Jianming also shook his head, a rare smile tugging at the corner of his mouth.

"Alright."

Seeing that the atmosphere had completely relaxed, Zhou Qiping picked up the ceramic lid from his desk and placed it on his teacup, making a soft clink.

"Since everything is settled, you two shouldn’t just linger here. Go back and derive your formulas, or go work on the wind tunnel model."

Zhou Qiping started shooing them out.

He glanced at the old-fashioned wall clock.

"It’s almost twelve-thirty."

Zhou Qiping walked out from behind his desk and casually clapped Fang Shi on the shoulder.

"Let’s break it up. Don’t keep Xiaochen from getting lunch at the cafeteria."

Hearing this, the smile on Chen Zhuo’s face faded slightly, and he reverted to his usual gentle and well-behaved demeanor.

He held his softcover notebook and the repaired mechanical pencil.

"Principal Zhou, Dean Fang, Teacher Li."

Chen Zhuo politely said his goodbyes again.

"If there’s nothing else, I’ll go get lunch now."

With that, he turned, walked to the heavy mahogany door, pushed it open gently, and left.

The door closed behind Chen Zhuo.

In the vice principal’s office.

As Chen Zhuo left, the peculiar atmosphere his presence had created—a strange mixture of extreme rationality and a hint of absurdity—also dissipated.

The office fell silent.

Only the three old men were left, looking at each other.

Li Jianming stood in place, replaying everything that had just happened.

He clutched the stack of scratch paper, his mind endlessly replaying the moment Chen Zhuo had drawn the homological mapping.

Suddenly,

Li Jianming whipped his head around and stared fixedly at Fang Shi, as if guarding against a thief.

Unsettled by his glare, Fang Shi took half a step back.

"What are you doing?"

Fang Shi asked warily.

"Let’s get one thing straight."

Li Jianming’s voice was still hoarse, but it now carried the ferocity of an animal guarding its food.

He clutched the stack of scratch paper tighter to his chest.

"The Principal set the rules today. I won’t force him to pick a side. But Fang Shi, you listen to me."

Li Jianming pointed at Fang Shi.

"When it’s time to declare a major in his third year, that kid is mine! Li Jianming is claiming him! If your Physics Department dares to pull any tricks before then, I’ll never let you hear the end of it!"

With that,

Li Jianming didn’t give Fang Shi a chance to reply. He turned, clutching the stack of scratch paper that was more precious to him than his own life, and stormed out the door.

He couldn’t stay a second longer. He had to get back to the School of Mathematics’ office, round up all his students, and set them to work on the pure computational problems, following the line of thought from Chen Zhuo’s homological mapping.

SLAM!

Li Jianming slammed the office door shut.

Fang Shi watched the slightly trembling mahogany door and rolled his eyes in annoyance.

"That old lunatic,"

Fang Shi muttered.

But in his heart, he saw the situation with perfect clarity.

’The Physics Department absolutely cannot let a mind of Chen Zhuo’s caliber go. Since we can’t grab him openly, the only option is to sweeten the pot on the upcoming wind tunnel project. I’ll approve a generous stipend for Xiaochen and give him more access to the core data.’

’Proximity is a huge advantage, after all.’

Just as Fang Shi was secretly plotting how to lure Chen Zhuo away,

Zhou Qiping, who had been standing silently to the side, let the smile completely fade from his face.

He walked back behind his desk, picked up the dark blue copy of the *Discrete Mathematics* journal, and gently caressed its cover with his finger.

"Old Fang."

Zhou Qiping spoke, his voice low and laced with an extreme, solemn gravity.

Fang Shi turned to look at Zhou Qiping.

"This business with the kid."

Zhou Qiping stared into Fang Shi’s eyes, his tone conveying an indisputable command.

"Every word spoken in this room just now, Chen Zhuo’s approach to solving the deadlock, and the matter of his solo paper on graph theory."

Zhou Qiping tapped the journal lightly on the desk.

"Aside from the few people in your core group, this information dies within the Science Department. Take it to your graves."

The expression on Fang Shi’s face immediately turned serious. He dropped the casual air he’d had while bickering with Li Jianming and nodded.

Zhou Qiping took a deep breath, his gaze drifting out the window.

"You two are only thinking about fighting over him between your departments. Have you ever considered what a twelve-year-old brain that can switch freely between pure mathematics and applied physics, and can crack a national-level conjecture on the side, means to the people out there?"

Zhou Qiping turned back, his eyes becoming extremely sharp.

"If word of this gets out and those old monsters from Shuimu, Kyodai, or even Princeton on the other side of the ocean get a whiff of it..."

Zhou Qiping gritted his teeth.

"The offers they can make are on a completely different level than the stipend for a Special Assistant at our Keda."

Fang Shi understood Zhou Qiping’s unspoken meaning.

"I understand,"

Fang Shi replied solemnly.

"For the wind tunnel model, I’ll personally take non-disclosure agreements to the core team for them to sign. Chen Zhuo’s name will only appear on the final internal report submitted to the ministry; it won’t be published externally. As for the School of Mathematics, even though Old Li has a foul temper, he knows the rules. He definitely won’t go running his mouth all over the world."

"Good."

Zhou Qiping nodded, his tense shoulders relaxing slightly.

He looked around the empty office, his mind once again picturing the clean-cut youth who had beamed so brightly upon hearing about the bonus.

"This kid..."

Zhou Qiping murmured to himself, his voice filled with an indescribable sense of anticipation.