Top Student at Their Peak

The only thing he couldn't understand was that he had never interacted with this vice dean before, and today was their first meeting, yet the other seemed to have taken an instant dislike to him.

But thinking it over carefully, he didn't see any need to bow and scrape to someone who looked down on him. Now that he had been admitted, however impressive this person might be, they couldn't just send him back.

Moreover, no matter what, his mentor was a top-level Academician; if it really came to breaking ties, Chen Zhuoyang didn't believe the other party would have the upper hand.

As for him, at worst, he'd just stick with his fellow junior disciples in the sect!

"As a new lecturer, Mr. Chen has some ideas, but how to implement them into the curriculum, such as the practical effect of interactive teaching and the executability and result quality of challenging activities, still needs to be explored.

Also, Mr. Chen, I must criticize you; as a new lecturer, you should adopt a more serious attitude during important teaching meetings.

Just because you've been appointed doesn't mean you can lower your standards for yourself. In future meetings, please pay attention and don't focus on your phone."

Having said this, without giving Chen Zhuoyang a chance to retort, Dean Zhang continued with roll call: "Ji Taining, Mr. Ji, please speak."

"Okay, Dean Zhang..."

The meeting lasted two full hours, and as soon as it was announced over, Chen Zhuoyang stood up and walked out of the conference room without acknowledging anyone.

Chen Zhuoyang didn't care to deal with these people anymore, nor did he care to keep up appearances; anyway, his lesson plans were ready, and he would just proceed with teaching as scheduled.

If there were any problems, adjustments would be made according to student feedback after lessons. During this time, he planned to focus his main energy on Qiao Yu's project.

Now Chen Zhuoyang really felt that Qiao Yu was right; ultimately, having personal achievements is what allows one to have a stable foothold in academia.

However, in the eyes of some, Chen Zhuoyang's actions were evidently somewhat out of line.

"These post-90s really have a personality, huh."

"Dean Zhang, after all, Xiao Chen is Academician Tian's student, and still quite excellent."

"All the newly recruited lecturers are good, but none have as much attitude as he does. What's so special about Tian Yanzhen's student? They haven't figured out their stuff, and they want to meddle with us? Last time..."

"Alright, Old Zhang, some words should stay behind closed doors; do you really intend to let others hear and make a fuss and become the laughingstock?"

"I am just worried that our School of Mathematics is too small a temple to accommodate such a great Buddha."

"..."

The discussion didn't continue because, although everyone was on the same side, someone thought such remarks were stupid and didn't want to continue the exchange.

But what could be done? If everyone could remain rational, the world wouldn't have so many conflicts.

...

"Chen Zhuoyang, Mr. Chen."

Just after exiting the administrative building, Chen Zhuoyang suddenly heard someone calling him from behind. He stopped, turned around, and forced a smile as he asked, "Teacher Zhou, what's up?"

The teacher who stopped him was surnamed Zhou, called Zhou Yang. He joined Jinzhou University three years earlier than him. Also graduated from Yanbei University, but with a doctorate from the School of Mathematics.

Though the Yanbei International Mathematics Research Center is built with Yanbei University as its base, and the teaching resources on both sides are often shared and even complement each other to some extent,

the training methods for Ph.D. students in the Math Research Center and the School of Mathematics do differ.

For example, the Math Research Center focuses more on cutting-edge theoretical research in pure mathematics and often offers Ph.D. students some international collaborative theoretical research projects, but rarely touches on applications.

On the other hand, the Yanbei Mathematics College covers a broader range. It involves more comprehensive fields of mathematics, including pure mathematics, applied mathematics, statistics, computational mathematics... all within its training scope.

This is also the reason why Chen Zhuoyang often regrets having come to the Math Research Center.

If he didn't focus on pure mathematics research and switched to applications earlier, it might not have been that difficult for him to graduate with relatively good grades.

After all, the latter leans towards computational methods, numerical analysis, and modeling techniques. It requires less mathematical intuition talent. At least he wouldn't need to engage in so much original thinking.

"It's about dinner time, care to join me for a meal? I know a place that does pretty good beef," Zhou Yang offered.

Chen Zhuoyang hesitated for two seconds; he initially planned to go back to his dorm first and organize these past few days' validation work to send to Qiao Yu.

But ultimately, he nodded and, with a smile, replied: "Alright, thank you, Teacher Zhou."

The junior disciple's project just started anyway, and it wouldn't hurt to take this time for a meal.

After all, it was evident that some leadership in the college didn't like him, but a teacher still willingly inviting him for dinner seemed worth befriending.

On their way to the restaurant, they chatted casually, and soon the topic turned to today's events.

"Dean Zhang's mood wasn't right today, but you don't need to take it to heart, as long as you do your work well."

"Teacher Zhou, did I offend Dean Zhang?"

"How could you have offended him when you just arrived? It's just misplaced annoyance." Zhou Yang laughed.

"Misplaced annoyance?" Chen Zhuoyang was a bit surprised; this answer was unexpected to him.

Zhou Yang explained: "I heard that a student Dean Zhang was very hopeful about got a CSC scholarship and went to Leuven University for a Ph.D. That student had been trying to apply for the Qianqing project through our school, and this was his third time. The result just came out a couple of days ago, and he got rejected again."