I'm Really a Superstar

The countries taking part in this event went to their allocated spots in the yard. Every country had placed writing boards at their exhibit booths with translations and a display area to showcase the contributions of their nations to the Mathematics world. The prize and topic for this round of competition were displayed as well.

"Go for it!"

"Beat them!"

"Don't lose this time!"

“Children, don't cry anymore. Let your teachers get back at them for you!"

The Chinese park visitors were cheering them on and some of the foreign park visitors were also cheering their own country's teams on. It was a lively scene.

The prizes were announced.

The United Kingdom's team had revealed a scholarship check at their display booth worth 50,000 pounds, a very generous amount. Next, one of their team staff members revealed the topic which most of the visitors could not understand, but the other countries' teams of mathematicians or the participants of the Math Olympiad could understand what they saw. It was the same as previous years, where the United Kingdom team did not propose an extremely difficult topic, but it wasn't easy either, and the common conclusion that everyone reached was that it could be solved.

The display booth for the Chinese team was hosted by the team leader, Wang Yiming and deputy leader, Xin Ya. Han Henian and some other seniors of the Mathematics world were around as well. As they were the hosts of this year's event, their display booth was also allocated a larger area. Many people had come and several authority figures of the Mathematics world were also present. Some of them were standing around in the Chinese team's display booth, while others went around to other countries' display booths to check out their topics.

The prize put up for the Chinese team's question was an ink painting, likely drawn by a famous Qing dynasty painter. The painting was of an eagle, looking very ferocious and lifelike, and drawn with vigorous but finely detailed brush strokes. The possible value of this painting was not low, probably around the range of several millions. As for the topic, this year, the Chinese team had proposed one of greater difficulty than they had in previous years. If it were too easy, there would surely be a loss of face if someone were to answer it too quickly. A mathematics expert from China had suggested this new topic with regards to geometric drawings. After discussing with people like Xin Ya and Han Henian, they decided that it would be used as their topic for this event. They had even spent quite a bit of effort on it.

The Japanese team.....

The Korean team....

The prizes and topics were displayed out one by one.

"Wah."

"The Koreans have put up a rather good prize."

"Yea, it's quite valuable."

"Germany has a good one too."

"Japan's prize is a little miserly, it looks pretty worthless."

Even if they did not understand the topics, the park visitors would still understand the value of the prizes. They were standing around pointing and making comments of each nation’s prize. They were on higher ground than where the event was being held and could not enter the event area, as there were barricade tapes put up. Only some of the related organizers and media personnel were allowed in, but from where they were, they could still view the whole event very clearly.

Wu Zeqing was in the event area too and was chatting with several other leaders of other higher institutes of learning.

Han Henian just noticed Wu Zeqing's presence and was stunned for a little while before greeting her, "President Wu, what would you be doing here today?"

Wu Zeqing smiled and replied, "I was just coincidentally at this place."

Nanjing University Mathematics department's dean stroked his beard and laughed, "Teacher Han, you're really brave. I heard that you confessed to President Wu on Weibo?"

Around him, a few other mathematicians also laughed along in a kind manner. Han Henian might be a rookie in the mathematics world, but his background was very good. He had a lot of potential and many of the mathematics world's elders had high hopes for him.

When they brought up this subject, Han Henian felt a little embarrassed and coughed awkwardly.

That dean said, "Our President Wu is not someone you can just woo so simply. You've got to buck up. If you really manage to win her over, then you'd make all of us in the Mathematics community very proud."

Han Henian laughed dryly, "Sure, I will try my best." As he said so, he noticed Wu Zeqing's expression. She was looking especially beautiful today in her dignified qipao dress.

Wu Zeqing still maintaining her gentle smile said, "It's better to stay focused on the event activities for now, it's starting already, isn't it?"

Everyone could sense that Wu Zeqing did not want to be involved in this sort of gossip and so made no mention of it anymore. Not all jokes should cracked blindly in this way.

With the mention of the event, those mathematicians' expressions became serious, "Little Han, are you going to attempt any of the topics?"

Han Henian nodded, "I'll go ahead then. If I can't do it, there's still Professor Xin and Professor Wang."

A senior mathematician said, "You've got to crack the Americans' topic. We're the organizers this time, but our kids could only placed third. So all of you have got to work hard to gain back our honor." With a pause, he continued, "The Americans were too atrocious last year and purposely set an unsolved Math Problem*. Hopefully, they won't repeat such behavior again this year."

Han Henian replied, "I understand."

At this moment, the Americans were the last to reveal their prize.

When everyone saw it, they were stunned.

A few blond haired American mathematicians took out a small box, placed it on the display stand and opened the cover. In it was a green jade thumb ring that had engravings on it. Looking at the oxidation on it, it was definitely an old antique, an old jade ring of at least a few hundred years old. Because the quality of the jade was not too good, it was probably from the Qing Dynasty where these stone deficiencies were generally more accepted and not like the standards of modern days, where people always asked for crystal clear types or solid green jade, but in terms of value, this would not lose out to the higher grade jade stones, as it was considered as an antique!

There were experts in the crowd.

"A jade thumb ring?"

"That engraving! It should be a palace treasure!"

"Was this smuggled out from the palace in the past?"

"It has to be, that oxidation shows that it’s at least a few hundred years old!"

Much of the history in this world had not changed. The days of the Siege of the International Legations also existed in this world, so it was highly possible that this jade thumb ring was seized from the houses in the capital or the royal family and smuggled out of the country. It was not known how the ring got into the hands of these American mathematicians, or why they put it up as a prize for their topic. Generally speaking, this event was also used as a platform to promote the culture of the countries. The teams would usually bring out something that was representative of their country's culture as the prize, but no one would have expected the American team to use an item that was looted from the Chinese for the prize at a event that was held in China. What's more, it was an event held at Summer Palace Park! This was the kind of situation which should only exist in a person's imagination!

A lot of the park visitors could not accept this!

"Holy sh*t!"

"The Americans are doing this on purpose!"

"This is so numbing! They're climbing on top of our heads!"

The park visitors from other countries and their mathematicians could not understand what was going on and were left confused and blinking.

Xin Ya had an adrenaline rush from this provocation, "These bunch of Americans, they're good yea?!"

The soft spoken team leader Wang Yiming said with a sunken expression, "Are they provoking us?"

A senior from the mathematics world said in anger, "This is so maddening! We have to solve the Americans topic for sure this time! That item belongs to us and we have to get it back!"

Han Henian face darkened, "Don't worry!"

At this point, the Chinese mathematicians' morale was extremely high!

The Chinese media reporters also pointed their equipment over at the jade thumb ring, snapping away as their faces showed dark expressions.

Wu Zeqing also saw that jade thumb ring, but it was unknown what she was thinking at this time.

Zhang Ye was also provoked by this action of the Americans. Anger turned to laughter, and then he noticed Old Wu's eyes and had a sudden thought.

Jade thumb ring?

Old Wu seems to like it very much?

Zhang Ye touched the love token given to him by Old Wu on his wrist and gave it some though.

Over there, under the watchful eyes of many people, the Americans finally revealed their topic for this year. When it was revealed, curses and swears were heard!

"They're doing this on purpose!"

"It's that topic again?"

"Are they finished with it yet? This is the exact same topic as last year!"

"The same topic as last year?"

The Chinese mathematicians were all looking downcast now and the other countries' mathematicians were frowning or shaking their heads. The Americans were too disrespectful!

The park visitors could not understand why there were such huge reactions at first until the student volunteers, who were now stationed around the barricades explained it to them.

This was Dale's Conjecture!

It was one of the unsolved Math Problems* of the world!

It was an unsolvable topic that had troubled the Mathematics world for several decades now!

This Problem was first suggested by the Americans several decades earlier and countless mathematicians had worked on it tirelessly for so many years without ever coming close to solving it. At first, it was a Problem that wasn't significant to the Mathematics world, but it slowly gained the attention of everyone. More and more people of the world now knew about this Math Problem. Even if those park visitors could not understand from looking at the proposed topic, when they heard the words "Dale's Conjecture', they seemed like they were suddenly enlightened. This was why it was considered to be one of the 'Top 10 Mathematical Theorems' to exist in the modern age and no one has managed to solve it yet!

The Americans brought out this topic?

They did it last year and they're doing it again this year?

They had no intention to foster good relations at all! The American Mathematics world had sent a team who did not seem to place any importance on this event and were simply doing this perfunctorily. They were just lifting their country's previous thought up theorem and using it here as a topic without any effort. They were probably just intending to finish up the event and get back home to their country, doing all of this without respect for the other countries' mathematicians. They were too arrogant!

Xin Ya said in annoyance, "If everyone were to use these sort of problems for their topics, what's the point in have this event at all?!"

A park visitor angrily shouted, "Solve it! Show those Americans what we're capable of!"

"Right, solve it! Those Americans have gone too far!" An old man also joined in the shouting.

But when they heard that, the Chinese mathematicians were at a loss whether to laugh or cry. Solve Dale's Conjecture? If we could f**king solve it! We wouldn't be standing here! We would have already won an international prize for Mathematics! Would we still need to wait for an opportunity like this event today? This was a Math Problem that baffled the World of Mathematics!

The Americans were unsportsmanlike!

Wang Yiming and Xin Ya knew this and knew that they would be unable to get the jade thumb ring back, but they could not say so. After all, Dale's Conjecture was indeed proposed by an American and for them to use it at this event, it was impossible to scrutinize!

A United Kingdom mathematician shook his head, "The Americans are too unsporting."

A French mathematician said, "To use such a question is really meaningless."

Everyone knew that this was unsolvable and thus shifted their attention over to the other countries' topics.

Except for one person, and that was Zhang Ye.

Zhang Ye stared hard at the so-called "Dale's Conjecture" for a long time. He had not heard of this "Dale's Conjecture" over in this world, but what startled him was the content of this theorem. Hmm, why did it look so familiar?