Qiao Ze gave Su Mucheng a glance, his eyes as calm as ever, which also happened to whisk away all the grievances Su Mucheng had been harboring.
Indeed, it was her Qiao Ze who saw things clearly.
Whatever the issue, he could analyze it in just a few words, providing a full sense of security.
"Fine, I won't bother with it! But if I find out who's messing around behind the scenes, wait until I mess with them in the future!" Su Mucheng clenched her little fist and made a fierce gesture.
Qiao Ze had no reaction to this stance, but it was enough to make Chen Yiwen's heart skip a beat.
Indeed, a woman with unstable emotions should absolutely not be provoked.
Fortunately, they had arrived at the cafeteria. The aroma of food, coupled with the rumbling of hungry stomachs, was enough to neutralize the negative emotions brought about by the rumors and gossip online.
It also brought Su Mucheng's spirits back up: "Qiao Ze, what would you like to eat? Let Chen Yiwen go queue up and buy it for you."
...
"Bang!"
"How is the publicity department guiding the propaganda work below? How could you take the initiative on such a controversial matter without even notifying the school? Do you want to become independent or what? Huh!"
As soon as Xu Dajiang arrived outside the principal's office meeting room, he heard the sound of table-banging and the suppressed angry questioning from inside.
Clearly, someone was truly furious.
But that was fine.
After all, this was the effect Xu Dajiang was hoping for.
If the sound of flipping a table had been heard at this moment, it would have been even better.
Alas, the rage was still not as intense as it could be.
Of course, Xu Dajiang was calm and collected, but Li Chengze, the president's secretary next to him, was feeling a huge headache.
He even hesitated over whether or not to push the door at this moment and send the dean in.
"It's fine, Secretary Li, you go ahead with your work, I can go in by myself," said Xu Dajiang, cheerfully discerning Li Chengze's hesitation.
"Ah?"
As Secretary Li was about to utter a monosyllable, Xu Dajiang didn't hesitate to push the door and enter.
Xu Dajiang stiffened his neck and shot Chen Yuanzhi's words right back, while also subtly praising the cooperative partners.
"You..."
Just as the word left his mouth, seeing Xu Dajiang's stiff neck and uncompromising eyes, Chen Yuanzhi suddenly reacted, and the anger he'd felt instantly dissipated.
Looking at Xu Dajiang doubtfully, he asked, "So the School of Mathematics handled this cleanly, right? That paper was truly completed by a newly recruited prospective freshman all by himself? Is that the student whom the professors from Yanbei University visited specially to assess?"
Xu Dajiang was getting annoyed.
That reaction came too fast; he hadn't even had the chance to slam his hand on the desk...
Speaking of which, he never slammed on the desk in the principal's office. He didn't even know what that would feel like.
He felt somewhat regretful.
He was just too bad at acting.
Authentic performances were evidently a mistake.
"Yes, that's Qiao Ze. He completed the paper independently, and to publish the paper, he even produced the results. Oh, there's something else the university probably doesn't know... His results have already caught the attention of the Youwei Group. Just yesterday, Mr. Yu of the Youwei Group came to the school, wanting to discuss a collaboration with them."
Xu Dajiang spread his hands, adopting an indifferent tone as he spoke.
"What do you mean? What project? Did the School of Mathematics apply for any projects recently?" Chen Yuanzhi frowned.
"No, no, you've got it wrong, Principal. It's not a project from our School of Mathematics. It's something the kid did himself. He even pulled together his own funding. When Qiao Ze came to the school with Professor Li Jiangao, they did indeed apply for project funding from me. Yes, I even discussed this matter specifically with President Zheng, right?
President Zheng?"
Zheng Luhua gave a helpless nod.
He really hadn't expected to be dragged into this mess.
Xu Dajiang slightly twisted his mouth, then complained, "But what could I do? The School of Mathematics' research funds are tight; most of it was already allocated for the first half of the year. I tried to apply for some transitional research funds from President Zhang in good faith, and it got denied. The formal applications we sent got blocked. But guess what?
When he found out the school didn't support him, he found his own backer and got the project off the ground. Now that the paper has been published and results have been achieved, our School just wanted to promote it a bit, and even that gets criticized! What? Is our School of Mathematics a stepchild?"
"None of that weird talk now. Tell me, what project are they working on exactly?"
"It's a framework similar to ChatGPT-4.0. This framework uses a new algorithm designed by Qiao Ze. Youwei mentioned that the new algorithm is way more advanced than ChatGPT-4.0, but I didn't dare to ask for details. After all, we weren't paid, so our words hold no weight."
"What did you say? ChatGPT? Xu Dajiang, are you sure?"
"Mhm, seems Mr. Yu Hongwei from Youwei Group hasn't left yet. Maybe you, Principal, would like to ask him in person?"