CHAPTER 394: CHAPTER 137: TRIUMPHANT RETURN

In response to Qiao Yu’s question, the meeting room fell into a brief silence.

Eventually, everyone’s eyes, including Secretary Kristen, turned to Melvin Smith.

After all, this professor had previously spoken with Qiao Yu and was relatively familiar with him.

Actually, in the view of the current IMO chair and steering committee, whether Qiao Yu can participate is ambiguous.

Some believe that allowing Qiao Yu to participate is obviously unfair to other contestants.

Others think that as long as he doesn’t violate the rules, Qiao Yu’s participation could add a legendary touch to this IMO.

But regardless of the thoughts, no one wants to offend Qiao Yu or the Huaxia behind him.

The reason is simple: Qiao Yu is now the brightest new star in academia, and Huaxia is indeed very wealthy.

Even if Qiao Yu is nominally still a student, he already has quite good relations with many famous mathematicians.

Even if someone in academia disdains money, the fact is that organizing any event in academia can’t proceed without the support of sponsors.

As for those unknown scientists, the humility they endure to secure funding for their projects is beyond what many can imagine.

...

"Haha, Qiao Yu, theoretically your registration has passed the review, and you indeed qualify to participate in this competition. But many believe you’ve already received college education.

According to IMO regulations, students who have registered in college are not allowed to participate in IMO. And to be honest, Qiao Yu, you really don’t need IMO to prove yourself."

Melvin Smith said with a smile.

Both his tone and the content of his speech were well controlled.

For a math genius famous for pointing out errors in papers, there’s no need to offend, right?

Qiao Yu nodded and said sincerely: "Thank you, Professor Smith, but before officially discussing this issue, I hope everyone will listen to a story I have to tell, okay?"

Zhou Liang glanced at Qiao Yu and then sat upright.

This is pretty good. He thought he might need to say something, but now it seems unnecessary.

Zhou Liang was at Yanbei University and naturally heard many rumors, like how Qiao Yu had both Tian Yanzhen and Elder Yuan eating out of his hand...

Now this kid was about to tell a story again, and he thought it should work quite well?

"Of course, Qiao Yu, this meeting was specifically set up to hear your views on the matter."

Secretary Kristen immediately looked at Qiao Yu, nodded, and responded with pleasure.

The chair didn’t come this time, also considering that in case of any unpleasant situations during the meeting, there’s a way out.

Pierre Derini considered that if Qiao Yu participated, there would definitely be controversy, but he hadn’t accounted for Qiao Yu now being a mathematician with considerable international reputation.

"Thank you, Secretary." Qiao Yu nodded slightly to Kristen with a smile, then his expression became serious.

"I believe everyone doesn’t know that I come from an unknown city and an unknown school in Huaxia. Truly, my junior high alma mater doesn’t rank in that city at all.

Can you believe that a middle school with a nearly century-long history, longer even than IMO, has never produced an IMO gold medalist?

Regrettably, my middle school alma mater is like that. In Huaxia, funds, educational hardware, faculty, and all things that can drive a school forward are determined based on achievements.

With achievements, faster development can be obtained. I was once a poor student, even considered a bad student through my teachers’ eyes, and you can’t imagine how much effort my math teacher put in to set me on the right path.

It was him who suggested achieving something in IMO. This was always his wish, and this is my primary reason for participating in IMO.

So no matter what, I must participate in this IMO because I promised that after winning a medal, I would personally deliver it to my alma mater!"

Qiao Yu spoke resolutely, because he realized that the attendees in this meeting had noticeably less resolve.

It can be understood as a version of ’the brave wins when paths cross.’

Although many people’s eyes turned to the team leader Professor Zhou, Zhou Liang merely shifted his position without speaking.

However, before others could speak, Qiao Yu continued: "In addition, Secretary Kristen, could I ask who raised the doubts to the steering committee?

Of course, I have no other intention. I’m mainly puzzled because I don’t believe the contestants who have passed multiple rounds of selection would have such doubts.

Because the essence of organizing IMO is to promote competition! Just like our Huaxia Team, internal members hope I can attend this competition because they think defeating me is more meaningful!

No young person would fear a challenge! Young people qualified to participate in IMO, I believe, are even less likely to be cowards! Not to mention IMO’s problems can fundamentally be solved without any college knowledge.

Therefore, I hope the steering committee can listen more to the voices of young people and ask for their opinions! After all, this is a middle school knowledge competition!

Finally, I hope everyone will consider seriously that next year’s IMO will be hosted in Huaxia. I’ve finished my speech, thank you all. I will not bother the leaders here any further!"

Having made his stance clear, Qiao Yu stood up, then glanced at the Professor Zhou next to him, winked, and whispered: "I’ll head back to the hotel room first."