I’m Really a Superstar

The news first originated on Weibo.

A verified user from a certain internet company with the Weibo handle @IAmZhangTao posted: "You all would never believe what I just saw! Holy sh*t! One of the math problems which had troubled the Mathematics world for several decades now, Dale\'s Conjecture, has been solved! It was solved by Zhang Ye! It\'s not someone else with the same surname and given name, yes! It\'s that Zhang Ye that many of you know about! The whole place is in chaos now! It was too awesome!"

Following that, a few others also posted onto Weibo.

@BrotherFengIsInvincible: "What the f**k! It really has been proven!"

@AhMianAhYu09: "Teacher Zhang Ye is too awesome!"

SUHDKF: "It\'s Dale\'s Conjecture that we\'re talking about! I\'m going to faint right here in Summer Palace! If I didn\'t witness this myself, I would not have believed it! In the past, I heard that this Zhang Ye person was really smart, but I could never have expected him to be this f**king smart! Is this person even human? How does he even know math!"

When the news spread, a lot of people thought they were just spreading fake news.

"Get over it."

"Haha, don\'t come up with such ridiculous nonsense."

"You all should just go and write some novels instead. How could you all come up with such crazy news and speak as though it really happened."

"Hur hur, ever since Zhang Ye started scolding people everywhere, he has been marked by many of them. Now, he\'s getting marked so bad that a celebrity like him who dabbles in liberal arts is even being called out as someone who solved Dale\'s Conjecture? Why don\'t you say that he has built a spaceship instead!"

"Such utter rubbish! Even a fool wouldn\'t believe it!"

"Even if you all want to spread rumors, at least put some effort into the technical details. Although I did read news of Zhang Ye being at Summer Palace and even reciting an essay called \'On Horses\' or something to scold those Chinese mathematicians. Oh, just because Zhang Ye was present at the International Math Olympiad, you all can claim that he solved a math conjecture? Hur hur, I can only say that you guys are too naive!"

Many netizens began laughing at these claims.

The few posters of those claims were also enraged by this!

"It\'s true!"

"F**k, why does no one believe!"

"Your sister! Why would I lie about this! I\'ve got photo proof!"

"I\'ve even got video proof! Let me post it!"

Suddenly, when some pictures and videos of Zhang Ye writing equations on whiteboards were uploaded, including the shocked faces of many local and foreign mathematicians, it fueled the unfounded rumors that no one had paid any attention to a new high!

"What?"

"Ah!"

"Are you sure?"

"F**k! I\'m uncultured and have never been to school. Don\'t lie to me!"

As more and more people concerned themselves with this news, many of them still had deep reservations about the veracity of this news. They still did not believe it until some news media websites and evening newspapers published reports regarding the matter. Only then did they finally know….

Dale\'s Conjecture had really been solved!

It was even f**king Zhang Ye who had solved it!!

......

Beijing Television Station.

At Zhang Ye\'s old unit, the Arts Channel\'s office.

"Brother Hu! Brother Hu!" Dafei came running towards him with a newspaper in hand.

Hu Fei looked over and said, "What\'s the matter? What happened?"

Xiao Lu and Hou Ge were also in the office. They looked over not knowing what was going on and why someone was shouting so loudly in the office. Was it an earthquake or a flood?

Dafei, looking aghast, opened up the day\'s Beijing Evening Newspaper and pointed to the headlines. "Look at this! Teacher Zhang has stirred up something big again!"

"What big matter?"

"Who did Teacher Zhang offend this time?"

They made their way over while asking all kinds of questions. When they saw it, Xiao Lu nearly choked on her on breathing while Hu Fei and the others could only stand there staring with their eyes bulging!

"What?"

"Mathematical conjecture?!"

......

Peking University.

School was reopening soon, and the young teachers of Peking University were having a gathering. Teachers from all the different departments were all attending this gathering. They had assembled at a restaurant to have a meal together and were seated, chatting and waiting for their food to be served. A television which was switched on and tuned to the news channel but with it\'s volume turned down hardly received any attention from them.

"Teacher Su, will Zhang Ye still be teaching at the Chinese Department next semester?" a thirty-something-year-old male teacher asked curiously.

"Why won\'t he be teaching?" Su Na asked.

Another female teacher asked, "Isn\'t he a banned artist now? The SARFT had already banned him, surely that would affect his teaching appointment as well, right?"

Su Na wasn\'t too sure either, so she said, "The SARFT is the SARFT. Peking University is Peking University. There\'s no relation between these two institutions so it shouldn\'t affect Teacher Zhang\'s teaching appointment. Peking University couldn\'t possibly stop Teacher Zhang\'s lessons just because of something like that, right? Besides, if it were done that way, the students would surely have none of it." As she was saying that, Su Na took a sip of water and noticed something. She said loudly, "Turn the volume of the TV up!"

"Ah?"

"What\'s the matter?"

A few people were startled by this.

Su Na said impatiently, "Turn the volume of the TV up!"

A male teacher who was currently wooing Su Na and seated closest to the TV immediately raised his hand to turn up the volume. When he heard the sound coming from Central TV\'s news, he was shocked!

"…At the International Math Olympiad held at the Summer Palace. According to sources, Zhang Ye has already made an initial proof for Dale\'s Conjecture. Fellow Wan from the Chinese Academy of Sciences has also formed a team to verify the details and sent out invitations to the top mathematicians around the world, inviting them to send their representatives to our shores."

The room suddenly turned quiet!

Then, people started exclaiming one after another!

"Ah?"

"What the heck!"

"What?"

There were even some Peking University teachers who were dumbfoundedly sitting down not knowing exactly what was happening. They could not understand how a celebrity from the entertainment circle who taught elective classes at Peking University\'s Chinese Department could possibly have anything to do with one of the most difficult math problems that this world had ever seen!

......

There was also a meal gathering for members of the crosstalk world today.

It was organized by Tang Dazhang, and many newcomers and old veterans had been invited. As he was considered one of the top people in the crosstalk world right now, many of those invited had also come for the gathering.

They were all enjoying the food and drinks.

"Come."

"Have another."

"How\'s that Zhang Ye person doing now?"

"Him? He\'s probably just sitting around at home. He created such a mess in the crosstalk world and even scolded and messed with so many people online. I guess his reputation is in tatters now. He won\'t be able to stir up any attention in the future anymore."

"Hur hur, he deserves it."

"That Zhang Ye is really despicable. Because of him, a proper crosstalk competition had to be stopped even before Old Tang could appear on the live broadcast as a judge! Just…what the heck!"

"Alright, let\'s stop mentioning that now."

"Right. Let\'s not bring it up again. Have a drink. Let\'s eat."

Tang Dazhang did not say anything and it was obvious he did not want to talk about it ever again.

Dong dong. Someone knocked on the room\'s door and came in. A young crosstalk actor had arrived late and was holding a newspaper in his hand. "Sorry about that. I was caught in a jam."

An old crosstalk actor glanced at him and said, "Little Sun, it\'s not that I want to pick on you, but how many times have you been caught in a jam already?" Looking at his hand, he said, "You even have the time to buy newspapers?"

The young crosstalk actor clearly looked embarrassed, saying, "This newspaper…sigh. I saw it on the way here and the headlines were really too shocking, so I just bought it."

The old crosstalk actor laughed and said, "Let me take a look then. What headline could it be that it is more important than our gathering?" As he said that, he took and unfurled the newspaper on the table.

The headlines stood out.

—"Zhang Ye Solved a Global Mathematical Conjecture"!

The old crosstalk actor was stunned on the spot!

Tang Dazhang and the people around were also shocked!

A mathematical conjecture? He could even solve a mathematical conjecture? Holy sh*t! This person is really too flexible with what he can do! He had just created a mess over in the crosstalk world. Tang Dazhang and company had thought that that would be the last they heard from him as he would definitely be totally banned without a chance left for him to come back. But it had only been a day since then! Just in the blink of the eye! And this grandson had already gone over to the mathematics world and gained such attention!?

He even made it onto the news?

And a headline at that?

......

The same scenes were playing out throughout the country!

Especially over at Zhang Ye\'s parents place. It was even more lively!

His mother had gone onto Weibo for a short while in the afternoon to check out her son\'s activities. By afternoon, she was already taking a nap with her husband to replenish their sleep on their day off.

They were awoken later by someone pressing their doorbell.

"Who is it?" his mother got up and asked.

His father was also awoken by this and said, "Is it Little Ye? Did he come back already?"

His mother left the bed and changed clothes. Still yawning, she said, "I\'ll go take a look."

Ding dong, ding dong. The doorbell was still echoing, each time sounding more urgent than the last.

His mother nagged as she went to answer the door, "What are you rushing for?! Wait a moment, I\'m coming." Then she opened the door and said, "Who is it?"

Outside the door, more than a dozen people had gathered. They were all reporters and had somehow gotten Zhang Ye\'s parents address and made their way here!

"Auntie!"

"Hello Auntie!"

"Is this Teacher Zhang Ye\'s house?"

His mother got a fright as more than a dozen men and women holding some items stood at her door. She did not have a close look at them and thought it was a robbery, so she hurriedly went back into the house and shouted, "Old Zhang!"

His father also thought that their house had been broken into and headed straight for the kitchen to get the cleaver!

The first person to come in hurriedly explained, "Uncle, Auntie, we are from Beijing Television Station. We\'re ex-colleagues of Zhang Ye. I even met him once before in a meeting!"

"I\'m from Huadong Daily News!"

"We\'re from Weekly News Net!"

"Auntie, will you accept an interview from us?"

His mother and father could finally see clearly that the items they had in their hands were just recording pens and video cameras. They heaved sighs of relief but wondered what was going on. "What interview? Hasn\'t my son already been listed as a banned artist? They\'ve already banned him!"

A female reporter quickly spoke, "Don\'t you know about it?"

His mother blinked and said, "Know about what?"

A middle-aged male reporter said excitedly, "Teacher Zhang Ye solved a global mathematical conjecture two hours ago. We even reported it on Central TV Department 1\'s News Simulcast!"

His father who was confused by this asked, "What conjecture? What are you talking about?"

That reporter said, "A global mathematical conjecture!"

His mother also did not understand this, "Say that again?"

"It\'s a ma…the...ma…ti…cal… con…jec…ture." That person repeated it syllable by syllable. "It\'s call Dale\'s Conjecture and when it has been fully validated, it will be renamed to Dale\'s Theorem!"

His father was so shocked that he could not react. A father knows best, and knowing his son\'s character, even if others did not know, how could the two of them not know? He continuously waved his hands and said, "Did you all get it wrong? My son majored in the liberal arts. Since junior high, he had never passed in mathematics. Even if you gave him an addition-subtraction-multiplication math question, he wouldn\'t be able to solve it, let alone a global mathematical conjecture!"

"But he really did solve it!"

"Why would we lie to you!"

"Teacher Zhang Ye really managed to do something that no other mathematician from anywhere in the world could manage to achieve in several decades! He really won honor for our country!"

"Right! If you don\'t believe it, switch on the TV or check the news online. The whole country is heatedly discussing this topic right now, yet you claim that Teacher Zhang Ye had never done well in math when he was still in school? Could you let us know in detail about this matter? We are extremely interested to know more and would line up several weeks of airtime for this special report!"

"Zhang Ye was not good at math when young?"

"Does he really not have any talent in math?"

"Then how did he manage to solve a global mathematical conjecture?"

The reporters were clearly intrigued by this declaration from his parents and were already starting to recording the interview either with their recording pens or the video cameras.

The neighbors around were also attracted by the goings-on over here and had all come out of their houses to gather outside Zhang Ye\'s parents\' house. What happened? Did Old Zhang\'s son get into some sort of big trouble again?

His father just stated matter-of-factly, "I\'m wondering about this myself. That\'s why I\'m asking if you all got it wrong."

But his mother quickly stopped him and cleared her throat. "Let me do it instead."

"Yes, you explain it to the reporters," said his father who was still scratching his head. "Hasn\'t our son always performed poorly in math in school?"

His mother nodded and looked at the reporters, then at the neighbors who had gathered around, and finally said, "Little Ye\'s math results had always been bad in school."

His father said, "See, you all must have gotten it wrong."

In the end, his mother added a twist by saying, "But why was his result bad? Hur hur, that was because…he was keeping a low profile!"

His father was confused by this explanation.

But his mother kept making up stuff and even boasted, "Ever since he was young, I\'ve always taught my son to keep a low profile and not appear too smart as it would attract unwanted attention. As my son is a very filial boy, he always listened to my teachings. This was the reason why he didn\'t do well in exams, sometimes even failing on purpose. He was afraid that if his math talent was discovered, he would no longer be able to live in peace and get along well with his classmates. He just wanted to live like a normal person. Actually, Little Ye\'s math talent already started showing when he was just a few months old. He takes after me in regards to this and I feel that it\'s because he inherited my brains that he was able to solve that Dal…Dal something conjecture. Everything that is happening now, I\'m not really surprised by it. If I didn\'t tell my son to keep a low profile, he would probably have solved that Dal something conjecture during his secondary school days!"

Dad: "..."

The neighbors: ".........."

Many of the neighbors had watched Zhang Ye grow up. They all knew very well the children of the neighborhood and had never known Old Zhang\'s son to have such talents. They were all very amazed at what was happening now.

The reporters were also skeptical of this and were at a loss of whether to laugh or cry. They were all dumbfounded by Zhang Ye\'s mother\'s explanation!

Translator\'s Notes: Thank you for your support so far! Please continue to support IRAS by submitting a vote at Gravity Tales Vote Page. The top 3 novels at the end of the month will get a free sponsored chapter! Don\'t forget to vote, we look to be losing some pace already!