Zhou Cheng and his two colleagues walked leisurely through the tree-lined high school campus accompanied by the principal.
The afternoon sun filtered through the lush tree canopy, casting scattered beams of light onto the ground.
Pointing towards a small building ahead made of red bricks, Zhou Cheng enthusiastically said to his colleagues,
“This used to be our physics laboratory. It’s been over twenty years, and it still looks the same as back then.”
The principal smiled and nodded, saying, “Many top physicists like yourself have emerged from this building, making it shine!”
Zhou Cheng smiled lightly and turned his gaze toward his two colleagues.
“But let’s not forget, our esteemed Professor Zhao in astrophysics and Professor Li in linguistics are both renowned figures in their respective fields.”
The principal appeared slightly embarrassed, laughing it off.
“Yes, of course, in any case, it is a great honor for our school to have scholars of your global reputation attending tomorrow’s centennial celebration.”
The three professors exchanged smiles, and Zhou Cheng asked, “How are the students in our school? Are there any promising talents?”
The principal’s face beamed with pride.
“Professor Zhou, our school has produced another exceptional student recently. In last year’s final exams, he scored full marks in all subjects.”
Zhou Cheng and the other two professors were taken aback.
They exchanged glances, all directing their gaze toward the principal.
“Full marks in all subjects?” Zhou Cheng asked, his voice filled with surprise.
The principal nodded. “Yes, it’s quite unbelievable.”
Throughout his academic journey, Zhou Cheng was known as a prodigy, a genius since his middle school years.
However, he had never achieved full marks in all subjects in any exam since middle school.
The principal’s words not only shocked him but also sparked some doubts.
“Can I meet this child?”
Zhou Cheng’s question put the principal in an awkward position, but Professors Zhao and Li seemed to have hopeful expressions on their faces.
After a moment of contemplation, the principal regained his complimentary smile.
“Of course, no problem. I’ll arrange it right away! The lecture hall is just ahead, let’s go there and take a break. I’ll bring the child to meet you.”
As the three professors chatted and laughed in the lecture hall, a teacher appeared at the classroom door with a young boy.
Zhou Cheng raised his glasses slightly and carefully observed the ordinary-looking boy standing before him.
The boy wore a slightly outdated school uniform, clean and tidy.
His youthful face carried a hint of shyness.
The principal stepped forward and guided the boy towards them.
“This is Liu Chaowen, the student you wanted to meet,” the principal introduced.
Liu Chaowen looked at the three professors who were scrutinizing him and felt a bit nervous.
He trembled slightly and said in a soft voice, “Hello, teachers.”
Zhou Cheng fixed his gaze on the seemingly ordinary boy in front of him, and his curiosity grew even stronger.
“Chaowen, I heard from the principal that you achieved full marks in all subjects in the final exams?”
Liu Chaowen stood upright, a blush appearing on his face due to nervousness.
“Yes,” he answered quietly.
“Do you have an interest in science and technology?”
Zhou Cheng continued to ask.
Liu Chaowen lowered his head, unable to meet Zhou Cheng’s curious gaze.
After hesitating for a while, he nervously replied, “Not really, I just know how to solve the problems.”
This soft-spoken answer stirred ripples in Zhou Cheng’s heart.
Although the tone was extremely humble, there seemed to be a hint of arrogance in the answer.
Zhou Cheng looked at the ordinary student before him, from his appearance to his clothing, and thought for a moment.
“Well, in that case, can you solve an equation for me?”
When Zhou Cheng mentioned solving equations, a glimmer of brilliance flashed in Liu Chaowen’s eyes, and his voice became much stronger.
“Sure, teacher.”
Originally, Zhou Cheng wanted to give him a challenging undergraduate-level problem, but he didn’t expect this young boy to be so confident.
To Zhou Cheng, this confidence seemed more like arrogance.
He smiled slightly, wanting to show this young boy a thing or two.
“Do you have any understanding of the Schrödinger equation?”
As soon as these words were uttered, Professor Zhao, specializing in astrophysics, paused.
It was a problem that many graduate students struggled to solve.
He exchanged a glance with the female professor beside him and both shook their heads helplessly.
They knew that this top physics professor in the country was going to dampen the boy’s enthusiasm.
“May I solve it on the blackboard?”
Liu Chaowen’s answer, however, was filled with confidence.
Zhou Cheng nodded slightly, crossing his arms in front of his chest.
He turned and glanced at the professors seated below, a fleeting faint smile appearing on his face.
Both professors looked at Zhou Cheng with a hint of reproach in their eyes, as if asking him why he had to challenge this child.
Liu Chaowen walked up to the podium, picked up a chalk, and effortlessly wrote down a series of obscure and difficult-to-understand characters.
Zhou Cheng’s crossed arms dropped to his sides, and the relaxed smile on his face gradually disappeared.
His expression became stiff as the characters on the blackboard spread and covered his reddening face, filled with astonishment and disbelief.
The white-haired old professor behind Zhou Cheng was also astonished, and his trembling voice said, “Professor Zhou, this child is truly amazing!”
Ignoring him, Zhou Cheng strode up to the podium.
He grabbed a chalk, and with a heavy stroke, he wrote another unfamiliar formula beside the previous one.
“Try this one!”
Liu Chaowen replied in the same clear and confident tone as before, “Okay, teacher!”
Liu Chaowen’s mind was boiling like water in a test tube, and his thoughts rushed out like a high-pressure water jet.
At this moment, his brain seemed beyond his control, only able to watch the chalk draw a series of exquisite characters on the blackboard.
After completing the final symbol, the splattering consciousness seemed to disappear suddenly, like a valve being shut off. His body regained control, and he felt slight dizziness and difficulty breathing.
After a few rounds of challenges, Zhou Cheng seemed like a deflated boxer in the ring.
He stared at the symbols covering the blackboard with empty eyes, and hesitantly said, “This… This solution is completely correct! Some of the steps are even better than my graduate students. He is a genius. I can’t find any other explanation.”
He threw the chalk towards the chalk tray on the podium, walked down from the stage, grabbed a glass of water, took a big sip, and said to the people around him,
“From the weak interaction in beta decay to the partial differential derivation of the mass-energy equation to the calculation of quantum mechanics using SU(3) group theory, and even the analytical solution to the Schrödinger equation from the beginning. To achieve this level… I can hardly imagine that a sophomore student could accomplish it.”
The elegantly poised female professor, despite being in her middle age, pushed a strand of messy hair behind her ear and said softly,
“Professor Zhou, you may have forgotten one thing. When discussing the formulas and analysis just now, Chaowen used German!”
Liu Chaowen couldn’t be too sure whether these professors’ strange praises were directed at him.
He wasn’t entirely clear about what he had written on the blackboard just now.
He dared only to cast a shallow glance at the blackboard before lowering his head.
Zhou Cheng stood by the side of the podium, panting heavily.
He looked at the blackboard in confusion, and a suppressed atmosphere filled the lecture hall.
“The level of Liu Chaowen’s abilities probably doesn’t require him to continue studying in high school.”
The gentle voice of the female professor behind him brought Zhou Cheng back from his bewildered thoughts.
Zhou Cheng furrowed his brows, raised his eyebrows, and looked at the two colleagues beside him.
“In history, Rutherford became the head of the Cavendish Laboratory at the University of Cambridge at the age of 24. Einstein proposed relativity at 26, and Bohr became a professor at the University of Manchester at 28. This is the power of genius. I think we should consider making an exception and letting Chaowen go to university for further studies. But passing exams alone won’t be enough.”
The principal immediately understood Zhou Cheng’s meaning.
“We have a spare set of last year’s college entrance exam papers. Should we let Liu Chaowen try it and see his performance?”
The three professors all agreed.
Soon, a teacher came in holding a sealed bag.
The principal took the bag with a smile on his face and looked at Liu Chaowen.
“Chaowen, I have an unreleased set of college entrance exam papers here. No one knows the content of this paper. I want you to go to the adjacent office and do this paper alone. What do you think?”
Liu Chaowen immediately stood up, as if he were the student chosen to answer a question in class. He responded crisply,
“Okay, teacher!”
As Liu Chaowen walked out of the classroom, Zhou Cheng leaned in beside the principal and lowered his voice, “What’s the family background of this child? Which university did his parents graduate from? Where did he study physics outside of school?”
A hint of embarrassment flashed across the principal’s face, and he paused for a moment.
“As far as I know, Chaowen comes from a relatively difficult family. He probably doesn’t have the conditions to attend extracurricular physics classes. His father is a technician in CNC machining, and his mother left when he was very young. I’ve heard his father mention that he had a serious illness when he was a child.”
The three professors exchanged glances, and Zhou Cheng suddenly stood up, his eyes wide open as he looked at the others.
“I have seen geniuses before, but I can’t explain a genius like this. Geniuses like Pauli and Dirac, all came from scholarly families. They developed a strong interest in their future careers at a young age. They showed the world their genius side through systematic learning and their efforts.”
Zhou Cheng paused for a moment, his eyes filled with doubt.
“But Chaowen… I don’t know how to put it. From an academic perspective, his abilities are beyond doubt, but from the process… I don’t understand.”
The female professor specializing in linguistics added, “It doesn’t make sense. Without extensive reading and conversations, he can’t have such a proficient level in a foreign language! Especially when he discussed astrophysics with you, he even used a German proverbial story. His German proficiency…”
Everyone started discussing the extraordinary young prodigy, and it seemed like a long time had passed.
A teacher hurriedly walked in from outside the classroom, holding a stack of exam papers, with Liu Chaowen quietly following behind, head lowered.
