Super God-Level Top Student

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Listening to the busy tone on the phone, Xu Dajiang was stunned.

Can the president actually be so shameless?

To dump this mess on him, and only then will the research funding freakin' double next year?

Yes, doubling it sounds like a lot, but damn, the base number for the School of Mathematics' funds is tiny!

Is it much from one and a half percent to three percent?

How many top journal papers has the School of Mathematics produced so far this year, doesn't the school have any idea?

And they still have the nerve to ask him to work on this?

He was tempted to call back, to really speak his mind, but after some thought, Xu Dajiang gave up on the idea.

There's actually not much point in arguing right now.

Everyone has their own demands and positions, not to mention that at this time, whatever is said is pointless.

It's better to wait for the crucial moment to argue.

However, he did need to get in touch with the Optoelectronics Institute.

Even without this incident, Xu Dajiang had planned to invite two fellows to dinner to have a good talk.

Keeping Qiao Ze here at Xilin is beneficial for both parties, so it's reasonable that not only he should be worrying about it, right?

So, the call did go out, but not back to the school; it was to the bigwigs at the Optoelectronics Institute instead.

Speaking of which, being able to call two fellows, he also had to thank Qiao Ze for that.

...

At this time, Qiao Ze was in the room rented by his former course group, talking with Li Jiangao.

Of course, Li Jiangao didn't know yet that Qiao Ze not only wanted to be the expert evaluating his project but had even already submitted the application.

Qiao Ze didn't plan to bring up this matter with Li Jiangao either.

Because Qiao Ze knew his Uncle Li, who's bound by convention and conservatism, would unconsciously be constrained by rule-based thinking.

Qiao Ze thought this was also the reason why Li Jiangao had stayed at the school for so long and was still just an associate professor.

In some respects, Qiao Ze actually admired Xu Dajiang.

Although that dean indeed had too much idle time, he still had true guts.

"Here is the class schedule you need to teach this semester," Li Jiangao handed a piece of paper to Qiao Ze.

Qiao Ze took it and glanced over it, pretty good. Apart from Tuesdays and Thursdays in the afternoon when he had to teach two political thought classes, the rest was blank.

The most interesting part was that Tuesday's was with first-year students, whereas Thursday's was with sophomores.

After a quick scan, Qiao Ze looked up at Li Jiangao with a confused expression.

"Ahem, this is mandatory, you should at least attend. Plus, thinking about society's structure from a broader perspective can be helpful for you. After all, we live in a society based on laws; sometimes your ideas can't be too extreme," Li Jiangao said earnestly.

"Alright," Qiao Ze nodded, though he didn't really take it to heart.

It was just attending four classes a week, no big deal, and the political thought classes for the first years wouldn't start until three weeks later.

"Also, Zhang Xiaoquan has already been transferred out of the school. Actually, he's had a pretty rough time. Initially, the school just planned to put him in a sinecure, but after the incident the day before yesterday, if he didn't resign, he would have been sent to another city in the west, so you shouldn't take it too personally," Li Jiangao continued.

"Oh," Qiao Ze responded.

Li Jiangao sighed inwardly.

Zhang Xiaoquan was truly adept at finding new ways to get himself into trouble. Explore more stories at empire

Especially after what Qiao Ze said, they had no choice but to transfer him far away.

No one was really concerned about him; the main fear was that if he stayed at the school, he might have another mental lapse, and Qiao Ze might end up doing something again, which wouldn't be worth it.

Better to send him far away, out of sight, out of mind.

Of course, being assigned to a remote place, there wasn't going to be any good position waiting for him. It wasn't a normal promotion; he was reportedly sent to a school in the west to take charge of guiding students in employment, so they say.

How should one put it...

The people who were everyday irked by a certain admissions office director, ended up working in a system job at another school, not even close to Xilin University of Technology in standing—in some ways, this could also be seen as karma, couldn't it?

```

Li Jiangao listened as Xu Dajiang said that Zhuo, the newly appointed head of the admissions and employment office, had sought out Zhang Xiaoquan yesterday. He had wanted to invite the old leader out for a farewell drink, to let bygones be bygones; it almost made Zhang Xiaoquan sick with anger.

Oh, now whenever Li Jiangao hears about these things, he gets a headache.

Because he feels he may need to get used to them in advance.

Qiao Ze will definitely encounter more of these annoying issues in the future, and it is not proper to leave Qiao to deal with them alone, so Li has to take these burdens upon himself.

Unable to help Qiao much academically, it is only in these matters that he can demonstrate his value.

Li Jiangao also realized that since he can't change others' thoughts, he should change his own.

After all, all he wishes for in this life is a clear conscience.

Since Qiao insists on pushing him forward, he will use his position to create as peaceful and harmonious a learning and research environment as possible for Qiao, keeping all the messy issues at bay, and thus making the most of his role.

"By the way, there's something else. I've submitted my doctoral supervisor application, and I am pretty sure it will get approved. Xu told me in advance that next year he will try to allocate six slots for me, three for PhD and three for master's students. You'll help me keep an eye on it then.

You'll be the senior-brother, and you'll need to look after when those junior brothers or sisters arrive," said Li Jiangao in a relaxed tone.

He didn't feel shy about it; Li Jiangao planned to focus more energy on undergraduate education in the future.

Anyway, by the time he recruits graduate students next year, those talented mathematics students who choose him will most likely be drawn by Qiao Ze's influence. It really would be better to let Qiao Ze manage those older and younger students; the outcome would certainly be better than if he were to teach them himself.

"Sure." This time, Qiao Ze nodded earnestly.

Even if Li didn't mention it, Qiao felt that he should help filter candidates for his mentor, to prevent idiots from tarnishing Li's reputation.

For instance, doctoral students like Wang Ke were definitely not to be admitted.

"By the way, is your mother getting used to it here?" Li asked with concern.

"It's pretty good," Qiao Ze nodded.

"Oh, that's good," Li smiled.

Every time he chats with Qiao, it's like this.

Before the conversation, he would mentally prepare himself, feeling that there were many things he needed to make clear to the kid. But once they actually started talking, he would realize that this kid understands everything; he really doesn't need to waste his words.

It's better to stop nagging and give Qiao some time to figure things out on his own.

If Qiao never understands, maybe the mistake isn't with the kid but with him and others, right?

"Alright, nothing else to discuss. As I always say, if you encounter any difficulties, let me know as soon as possible. It's always good to have more people thinking of solutions," said Li.

"Got it, Uncle Li."

"By the way, are you going home tonight or...?"

"Staying in the dorm tonight," Qiao Ze replied.

There was no help for it; Zhang Zhou and Gu Zhengliang were just too enthusiastic.

Those two ran back to the dorm at noon and spent the entire afternoon bustling about. They not only aired Qiao's bedding but also wiped down his bed, and washed the sheets and covers thoroughly. Worried that they wouldn't dry by evening, they even used a hairdryer.

Their only hope was for Qiao to spend the evening in the dormitory and catch up with them.

After going this far and even sharing photos in a WeChat group, even Qiao, with his cool demeanor, found it hard to refuse this small request.

"Then let's go. I need to head over to the laboratory building to have a chat with Tan Jingrong. He should start preparing his graduation thesis too," said Li.

"Okay."

...

At the same time, Chen Yiwen was feeling anxious in his dormitory room.

Because on the school's BBS, a quarrel had broken out between the School of Mathematics and the Materials Science College.

And he was to blame.

It had happened on the day he went with Deng Tingting to get the student cards, and Deng's other two dormitory roommates had followed along.

With three girls, including the type he fancied, trailing him—plus Deng's father being occupied elsewhere and not by their side—Chen Yiwen's uncontrollable show-off spirit naturally erupted.

He exaggerated and retold a story he had heard from Zhang Zhou.

"...So when our student from the School of Mathematics, Qiao Ze, heard two freshmen praising someone without any scientific spirit, how could he tolerate it? Right there and then, he suggested separating those without any scientific literacy, and that's why the School of Mathematics added another class division exam this year. Ah... I'm telling you, just keep this between us, okay?

It's top-secret, don't spread it around!"