Chapter 26: Teacher Kong's Realm of Life

  After listening to Liu Meng say this, Vice President Chen's face showed obvious disappointment. He also knew that this was unavoidable, but in his heart, he still hoped that the student would take the initiative to give up this opportunity.

  "But I really can't bear to part with Teacher Yang, so I'll just stick with the ordinary class." Liu Meng said, changing his tone.

  "Good job, kid!" Vice President Chen let out a sigh of relief, patted Liu Meng's shoulder with a smile, and his eyes showed appreciation. "Not bad, the diamond buried in the sand pile, when the wind blows it open, it will only be more dazzling."

  "That's nothing, I'll just go back first, Dean."

  Vice President Chen was in a great mood, waved his hand to indicate that Liu Meng could leave, and as soon as Liu Meng left, he immediately called Yang Yun.

  Just out of the deputy director's office, the mobile phone rang again. Liu Meng took a look and found it was a text message, which was very long. He pulled it down and saw that the sender was surprisingly Yang Yun.

  This is really something, I just got a cell phone number and suddenly everyone knows about it, am I that famous? Shaking my head in thought.

  Yang Yun's text message reads: "Liu Meng classmate, I've learned that Vice President Chen wants to talk to you. Thank you for your understanding and being able to continue as my teacher. I'm deeply honored. I just wanted to say thank you. Yang Yun."

  Looking at this pretentious message, Liu Meng couldn't help but want to laugh, and immediately composed a response: Teacher Xiao Yang, no need to be polite, I'm not used to not hearing your loud voice. PS, you're not that much older than us, do you have to be so serious?

  Soon, Yang Yun replied with a cute expression, it seems that letting her be playful with the students is really a bit difficult for her.

  Just a few steps away, the phone rang again. I thought it was Yang Yun speaking again, but when I opened my eyes, it was Zheng Wen who sent it, saying: Little boy, we agreed to visit Kong teacher's house this afternoon, don't forget! PS, after changing the mobile number, you didn't even tell me and Meng Er, you should be beaten!

  Finally, there's also an expression of hitting one's head with a hammer.

  At around 4 pm, Liu Meng was waiting at the west gate. After about 5 minutes, he saw two women walking slowly towards him. Gu Xian's face was still a bit pale, wearing jeans that perfectly accentuated her S-curve figure, and on top she had a silk blouse with floral patterns.

  Zheng Wen was still wearing a pale blue long dress. Liu Meng found that this little girl was very good at pretending to be a gentle lady in front of her elders.

  Only two people were seen with a small bag in their hands, Gu Xian was carrying a tea set, Zheng Wen was carrying a box of good tea leaves, Liu Meng looked at his empty hands and said dissatisfied: "You guys go buy gifts, don't even tell me, how can I show up empty-handed."

  "With your thick skin, what's there to be ashamed of?" Zheng Wen laughed and said.

  "Alright, let's hurry up and go. Mr. Kong is still waiting for us to have dinner together. Liu Meng, why don't you buy a fruit basket to bring along? It suits your style." Gu Xuan continued to say.

  Liu Meng rolled his eyes and said, "Fine, you guys are all elegant and refined, but I'm just a simple wash-and-blow-dry kind of guy."

  Time was really running out, so they had to find a relatively good fruit shop, pick some seasonal fruits and pack them up, then the three of them took a taxi to Teacher Kong's home.

  Mr. Kong's home is also near the old campus.

  In the car, Zheng Wen reminded the two: "Teacher Kong lives alone, so don't talk nonsense when you go down."

  Liu Meng and Gu Dun were both shocked by what they heard. Gu Dun had seen Kong Ji Dao before, but wasn't familiar with him, and hadn't known about these secrets beforehand.

  Three people arrived at Mr. Kong's home, Kong Jidao was very happy, opened the door and said: "No need to change slippers, you all come in freely, just like you're in your own home."

  Liu Meng's eyes rolled around and took a rough estimate, this Kong teacher's own home was really big, at least over 200 square meters. The living room was extremely spacious, but there was no TV in the living room, it was decorated like a study, with bookshelves dividing the middle, very much like a small library.

  "Look at you kids, eating a simple meal and still taking things. Next time is not allowed." Kong Jidao said with a slight frown as he saw the things the children took out.

  He is very indifferent to these formalities.

  She replied softly, "They were all things we had at home, not bought separately. Yvonne and I knew you liked drinking tea, so we brought them."

  "That's it, then! That's it!" Kong Ji led the few people into the house.

  He was still wearing an apron, holding a spatula in his hand, and beckoning to the three of them: "Hurry up and sit down, dinner will be ready soon. The old man won't make anything too complicated, we'll just have some plain food."

  After the dishes were served, the two women thought that it was indeed a simple meal, and mathematicians really didn't lie.

  The rice was fried rice, curry fried rice; the dishes, except for a vegetable salad, were all ready-to-eat cooked foods, such as lung slices, pig ears, and Korean-style mixed vegetables.

  Two girls picked up their chopsticks but hesitated to move them.

  Liu Meng looked very appetizing, eating a lot of dishes and eating a lot of rice.

  "You two girls, aren't you dissatisfied with the food I made? Or are you thinking of losing weight? Let me tell you, nowadays young girls are too thin and not beautiful." Kong Jidao said with a smile.

  It didn't quite suit their taste, but they couldn't refuse the generous offer. Suddenly, Gu Pan had an idea and picked up a piece of pork belly with her chopsticks and put it in Liu Meng's bowl, saying: "Liu Meng loves to eat this kind of thing, he's growing his body now, should eat more."

  His mouth was still full of rice and he hadn't even had time to explain, when Zheng Wen's chopsticks came over again. Alright, Liu Meng had been eating for a long time, but his bowl was still full.

  Only then can we bring out the momentum of Lian Po's old age and eliminate them one by one.

  After eating, the two girls were quite diligent and went to clean up the bowls and chopsticks.

  Mr. Kong took out a set of exquisite tea sets, brewed them very professionally, poured a cup for Liu Meng, made a please gesture, and Liu Meng raised the cup to taste it, only to feel a refreshing and natural flavor coming to his nose, and couldn't help but praise it.

  "This is a new green tea that just came out this year, most suitable for clearing the intestines and stomach after meals." Kong Jidao introduced.

  "Teacher Kong is not only fond of studying mathematics, but also has a deep understanding of the art of tea. As someone who doesn't understand tea, I found it refreshing and fragrant, with a pure and elegant taste that lingers on." Liu Meng praised.

  "I was just studying for fun, but since you're here, I'll tell you something. The completion situation of your professional homework this year is very unusual, and I guess it has something to do with you." Kong Jidao said, staring at Liu Meng.

  He has already made up his mind about seven or eight out of ten.

  It's also impossible to hide it, Liu Meng could only nod his head.

  Kong Jidao was very satisfied, and poured him another cup of clear tea, saying: "With your talent, just doing exercises is a waste. There's a saying that goes well, the better one's ability, the greater the responsibility, heaven has given you such a gift, you should use this gift to do something matching."

  Liu Meng said with a flushed face, "Please teach me, teacher."

  "If one uses some extraordinary talent for personal gain, that is a great mistake. At a certain stage, more consideration should be given to the collective, the school, the country and even humanity as a whole. Just like those great sages, the results of their research and the products they developed have all had an impact on the development history of humanity."

  Liu Meng had never met such a good teacher and friend, standing at such a height to point out the confusion, his mind suddenly broadened a lot.

  Kong Jidao handed over a piece of paper and continued: "Of course, these are still too far-fetched. Rome wasn't built in a day either. This is an international mathematical conjecture. You might as well put more thought into it, maybe you'll gain something from it. Young people are the most likely to produce results. People like us old folks have our thinking constrained by too many experiences and can't break through."

  Liu took a look and it was Sitapati's conjecture: A reverse mathematics conjecture about the proof strength of Ramsey's theorem for pairs.

  This is a classic conjecture in mathematical logic, and so far no one has solved it in the international mathematics community.

  Took over the topic, pondered for a moment, and immediately felt very interested. In the past, math was only used as a tool, and I really didn't spend my mind studying formal math domain problems.

  Just looked at it for a while, and there are actually several ideas popping up.

  Kong Jidao looked at Liu Meng, who was deep in thought. He saw him stroking his chin and furrowing his brow, looking very interesting. Kong felt a sense of relief in his heart, thinking that he had only seen an unpolished jade and led him onto the right path.

  There are many people in this world who possess incredible talents, but they don't know what to do with these incredible talents and waste their gifts.

  "Little Liu, studying mathematics, follow your interest, don't rush, stop when it's suitable. When you get back, think about it carefully again. If there are any questions, feel free to come find me at home or in the office. Do you play Go? Accompany this old man for two games."

  Liu Meng nodded and stopped thinking. Although he had a lead, it was still far from being truly solved. For now, he started playing Go with Kong Jidao.

  Two little girls also cleaned up the kitchen, watching from the side for a while, feeling really bored, and then went to play with fruit together.

  Kong Jidao made a clever move and said with some pride: The philosophical principles in this game of chess are indeed profound. Just like this little pawn, once it crosses the river, it doesn't look back, bravely advancing forward, killing gods and Buddhas as it encounters them. However, if they're not right in front of you, it's no good. This is just like a kind of love that views death as homecoming - two people together day and night, very intense, inseparable. As soon as there's a slight deviation, it's all over.

  Liu Meng listened, and Mr. Kong actually brought Go into romantic thoughts, sweating profusely.

  Thanks for the rewards: Mo Xuan, Ye Yi Ye Luo, Shao Shuai. New week, new ranking, thanks!