The room was deathly silent. With almost three minutes gone, the person in charge cleared his throat and began:
"This is Yang, whom everyone has been eagerly anticipating. Today is not only the day he received his award, but also his coming-of-age birthday."
Let's give him a big round of applause to send him our best wishes.
As soon as he finished speaking, the meeting room suddenly erupted into chaos, like boiling water splashed into a pot of oil.
Many bigwigs directly used profanity.
"Shit, he's only 18 years old, is he even human?"
"No, he only turned eighteen today. He was still a minor when he made the conjecture. Good heavens."
"My God, what an extraordinary freak! Did he start studying mathematics from the womb?"
"Including the time in the womb, you're only 19. What's the difference between that and 18?"
...
There was a great deal of discussion among the audience, but the person in charge did not stop it.
The old man and the other judges exchanged glances, their eyes clearly displaying a single message.
See? It's not just us who are naive and making a fuss; anyone would be embarrassed in this situation.
An eighteen-year-old Fields Medal winner? Who would believe it?
But it really happened right before their eyes.
Moreover, according to his understanding, Yang's biological parents have treated him like a fool since he was a child and are still unaware of this to this day.
Thinking about this, the person in charge sighed with heartache, lamenting how blind they had been.
Such a brilliant mathematical genius, yet his talent remained hidden, almost causing the mathematical community to lose such a precious treasure.
The viewers in Country Z watching on television were beyond ecstatic.
"Holy crap, Yang Shen is actually Xia Zhiyang? Isn't he an idiot?"
"Heh, if he's an idiot, then what are we humans, the hind legs? He'd look at us like we look at stupid dogs, wouldn't he?"
The netizen who had once said on a university forum that he might be a genius went on a rampage online:
"Holy crap, I was just guessing, and I actually got it right! He really is a genius, a super genius..."
Other alumni: "I wonder how those two former professors from our school are feeling now?"
"Don't ask, the only answer is that I'm kicking myself to the bone. I actually treated a super genius like an idiot and kicked him out. I feel suffocated just thinking about it."
The story of the real and fake heiress was quickly brought up again, and netizens watched the live stream while digging into Xia Zhiyang's past experiences.
Xia Congwen and Lin Zhi seemed to be dead; they even forgot to breathe until they were about to suffocate, at which point they gasped for air.
The two seemed to have just learned to speak; not a single complete sentence came out, as if they were being forced out of their throats.
Lin Zhi said with difficulty, "It's...it's Yangyang, how could it be...it can't be him?"
Xia Congwen stared intently at the familiar face on the screen, his eyes almost bursting out of their sockets.
Is this the son he's called an idiot for eighteen years?
Why would he appear at such a sacred occasion?
Oh, the league director said he's a Fields Medal winner, Xia Zhiyang.
Is it Xia Zhiyang, whom he knows? Or someone with the same name who looks similar?
The live broadcast continued, and on the television, thunderous applause almost lifted the venue upside down.
The International Congress of Mathematicians, a solemn and sacred event, has never been this unserious. You'd think it was a concert if you didn't know better.
The bigwigs on and off the stage looked at Xia Zhiyang with not only shock, but also... affection.
These bigwigs are all old enough to be his father or even his grandfather. They look at him like they are looking at the most promising junior in their family.
Xia Zhiyang began his acceptance speech, and he immediately delivered a bombshell.
"To be honest, after being called a fool for eighteen years, I'm not used to being suddenly called a genius."
Everyone burst into laughter, thinking he was joking. Who the hell would be so blind as to mistake such a genius for an idiot?
The person in charge jokingly asked, "So why did Yang suddenly have a change of heart and come here to scare a bunch of old men?"
Qi An smiled slightly, looked directly at the camera and said, "I was two years old and still couldn't speak. I was diagnosed with autism before I was three."
Everyone, including my parents, thought I was an idiot.
When I was a little over three years old, I marked the correct answers in the linear algebra textbook that my father brought back and showed it to him.
As a result, he slapped me and said that mathematics was such a sacred subject that a fool like me shouldn't touch it.
Xia Congwen, sitting in front of the screen, was breathing rapidly and looked deathly pale.
"But being a fool is pretty good too. I don't have to go to school, I don't have to care about anyone or anything, I can just live in the world of mathematics that I love."
"Later, my younger sister came back. She was very outstanding and well-behaved. There was only one thing: she wouldn't allow anyone to call me stupid, not even myself."
"She won the dance competition, and I asked her what she wanted as a reward. She said she wanted to see her real, radiant brother."
The boy smiled brightly, exuding an indescribable sense of pride: "So, here I am."
Xia Pianran, sitting in front of the television, smiled broadly, but tears streamed down her face.
Fu Gui looked helpless and kept handing him tissues: "Don't cry, didn't you tell your brother to go and shine?"
"Waaaaah... He's so handsome, my brother is the most handsome man in the universe..."
Qi An received the Fields Medal from the person in charge, then held it high with one hand, showing it to the world.
Xia Zhiyang isn't stupid, he's a genius!
In the void, Xia Zhiyang, who was also watching the "live broadcast," was in tears.
What happened after the awards ceremony was neither known nor cared about by Xia Congwen and Lin Zhi.
Xia Congwen ran frantically up the stairs and rushed toward Xia Zhiyang's room, with Lin Zhi staggering behind him.
Pushing open the door, Xia Congwen looked at the familiar yet unfamiliar furnishings and hesitated to go in for a moment.
A blue cartoon single bed, along with a matching small desk and wardrobe, was arranged by Xia Zhiyang himself before he was born.
But he has never come in since his child was diagnosed with autism.
At this moment, looking at the small bed he had personally chosen eighteen years ago, a question suddenly popped into Xia Congwen's mind.
Xia Zhiyang grew so tall later, how could he possibly fit in this small bed?
Lin Zhi looked at the dilapidated furnishings in the room and burst into tears in an instant.
This villa has been renovated several times, each time more expensive and elegant than the last, and Xia Mingyue's room is constantly being furnished with new items.
In this small space, time seems to have stood still eighteen years ago, unchanged.
She raised other people's daughters like precious jewels, but made her own son live like a ghost, suffering endless grievances and neglect.
Geniuses are born different, and she never tried to understand him.
The small children's room was very messy, with books and manuscripts scattered everywhere, and the walls covered with calculations.
The small wardrobe contained very few clothes; it was filled entirely with used manuscripts.
Xia Congwen picked up a stack of manuscripts with trembling hands. Each page had a date and signature written on it.
He immediately noticed the character "Yang" in the lower right corner, which was exactly the same as the one he had seen on the "Yang Shen" problem-solving manuscript.
Xia Congwen's hands were trembling uncontrollably. Long-forgotten memories suddenly resurfaced, mocking his foolish arrogance.
No wonder he felt the way the character "阳" was written was familiar, as if he had seen it somewhere before.
Because that character "Yang" was one he personally taught Xia Zhiyang to write, and it was also the first character he taught his son.
After the child was diagnosed with autism, he never taught the child anything again.
Xia Congwen slapped himself hard across the face: "I... I didn't recognize him? How could I not recognize him?"
His tears fell in large drops onto the manuscript, blurring the writing.
Lin Zhi burst into tears while holding a huge, astronomical book.
"It's Yangyang, it really is Yangyang... Eighteen years have passed, why did we only realize it now..."
Xia Congwen thought to himself, "Yes, why did it take so long to discover this?"
If they had shown even a little more concern for that child over the years, or even just once gone into his room to check on him, they wouldn't have made such a terrible mistake.
The genius son he longed for, who inherited his mathematical talent, had always been there; he was blind to his worth.
No, it's not inheritance. Xia Zhiyang's mathematical talent is something he can only look up to; he's many times better than him.
It's ridiculous that he was clearly a peerless genius, yet he was treated like a fool and ignored for over a decade.
Haha, so it turns out he's the real idiot!
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