I Joined a Talk Show, and from the Start They Asked Me to Recite My Elementary School Multiplication Tables

Su Chen, a former member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, won the Fields Medal, the Nobel Prize of mathematics, five times. He turned down a tenured professorship at Harvard University, personally trained a generation of top researchers, took part in nuclear weapons research, and made enormous contributions to the country's development. In the end, he kept his achievements to himself and left all his research findings to future generations without reservation.

Yet when Professor Su, now over eighty, appeared as a guest on a livestream interview, the host started from the start by asking him an elementary-school question.

"1234 = 0"

"1027 = 1"

"5678 = 3"

"What does 3698 equal?"

To everyone's surprise, Su Chen, who had devoted his life to the study of mathematics, was stumped.

But when the audience all said "4" in unison,

Su Chen's face broke into a disdainful smile.

This novel and its characters are entirely fictional. Any resemblance to real people or events is purely coincidental. Do not imitate.