Chapter 355 - 293: I’m Just Saying It For Him

Chapter 355: Chapter 293: I’m Just Saying It For Him

"The more detailed work should be left for posterity."

E Weinan sighed softly.

He could picture the scene.

Gikhmanov, sitting at his desk, had sketched out the framework for M_{α,c}.

He probably figured that any colleague with a bit of experience could take it a couple of steps further and complete it.

His treatment of it was so brief, so casual.

He assumed everyone would get it, but later generations fumbled.

Everyone in the entire field dove headfirst into the main text, treating the "Ghost Wall" as some kind of arcane mystery.

Some managed to get published in top journals because they were lucky enough to avoid the pseudo-convergence anchor in that section.

Others scrapped half their papers, blaming it on having an off day.

No one ever thought to go back and check the appendix.

On his end of the line, Li Dong continued speaking, his voice unhurried.

"So, Teacher E."

"The so-called ’Gikhmanov’s Ghost Wall’ is fundamentally a misunderstanding by later generations."

"It’s not that Gikhmanov didn’t explain it clearly."

"It’s that he assumed everyone would already know!"

"I just..."

Li Dong paused for a moment.

"I simply said for him what he left unsaid all those years ago."

E Weinan was silent for a long time.

He had told the story of the "Ghost Wall" to his own research group no less than twenty times.

And he sighed every single time.

He had always felt it was a lingering regret, a debt the entire field owed to the old master Gikhmanov.

That 1963 paper was a monument, and this regret was the forgotten cornerstone at its base.

’He never imagined.’

’That cornerstone wasn’t lost at all.’

’It was right there in the appendix, behind the monument.’

’Buried for sixty years.’

And this cornerstone had been unearthed by a twenty-year-old Huaxia youth.

A youth who wasn’t even in applied mathematics.

Li Dong’s voice came through the phone again.

"So you understand, Teacher E?"

"I never planned on submitting this paper to any journal."

Just as Li Dong finished saying this, the phone in his hand vibrated.

Another new message had popped up in the group chat.

He didn’t look at it.

On the other end, E Weinan sighed.

"Ah, Li Dong."

Li Dong: "Hmm?"

"Sometimes, I really don’t know how that head of yours works."

Li Dong chuckled on his end of the line.

"Oh, come on, Teacher E."

"I just pay closer attention, that’s all."

E Weinan was silent for a moment before letting out a soft "Mm," not responding to that statement.

Li Dong said he "just pays closer attention."

It wasn’t exactly a lie.

He had only been able to dig the framework of M_{α,c} out of that appendix thanks to all the applied mathematics books he had devoured over the past few months.

He had taken down and painstakingly studied every single related reference material from the Inverse Problems shelf in the library.

All of it had been stuffed into his Memory Palace.

Then, he had organized it neatly, shelf by shelf, by date, by author, and by keyword.

And the Memory Palace had another function.

Whenever two distantly related clues appeared in Li Dong’s mind at the same time, the Palace itself would pull every connected file from the deepest shelves and present them to him.

Associative retrieval. So, it wasn’t wrong for him to say he was just being detail-oriented.

E Weinan didn’t press the matter further.

He cleared his throat.

"Alright, then."

"Those two journals, I’ll help you reject them both."

Li Dong: "Okay, thank you, Teacher E."

E Weinan paused.

He recalled the awkward scene of the public invitation from *Inverse Problems* getting publicly rejected.

He added, half-jokingly,

"So, these two..."

"Are you rejecting them publicly?"

Li Dong cracked up on his end of the line.

The words came out almost instantly.

"Heh heh."

"Teacher E."

"They made their offer in private, so of course, we’ll reject it in private."

"If someone makes a public offer, then we give a public rejection."

"We can’t have them knocking on the wrong door."

E Weinan: "..."