It was only then that he noticed Freya Rosa sitting across the office desk and asked in surprise, "Why haven't you left yet?"
Freya Rosa explained, "Ah... I thought after you briefly looked over the paper, you would arrange some tasks for me."
"Oh, no need, I'll have to go myself this time. I want to see their faces with my own eyes. But you've done very well, Freya, that's always been a reason why I admire you. You always know what's more important. Unlike Ronnie, this kid..."
Roth Dugan commented while putting on his clothes.
The secretary standing by the door rolled her eyes helplessly.
Well, this old man had become increasingly difficult to serve.
However, Roth Dugan wasn't paying attention to any of this; after putting on his coat, he had already picked up the printed paper from his desk and then said, "Did you only print one copy?"
"No, I printed three copies, I was originally going to..."
"That's enough, give it to me."
Roth Dugan cut off Freya Rosa, taking a thick file bag from her hands and nodded satisfactorily, "What did I just say? You're a considerate and smart person, Freya. Ronnie, you should learn from Freya. Okay, I'm off. My two friends, goodbye."
Saying this, Roth Dugan, carrying the file bag, walked out of the office with a spry step that didn't match his age, leaving the two of them exchanging glances.
"Freya, don't you think the dean was acting very strange today? What on earth happened?" The secretary asked, looking bewildered.
"Maybe he hasn't been this excited for a long time, so he doesn't know how to express his excitement normally anymore," Freya Rosa shrugged and offered a playful answer.
At any other time, she wouldn't dare to tease her editor .
But she thought she could afford a little teasing today; Roth Dugan probably wouldn't mind too much.
"Uh... okay, but even so, there must be a reason. So... what happened?" Ronnie gestured helplessly and said, "You have to understand, there was a public class by the dean today, arranged a week in advance, and now it's suddenly canceled... My God, I have to give everyone a reason."
Freya Rosa suddenly felt some compassion for this secretary of the dean.
Dealing with a capricious leader was indeed a troublesome matter.
Fortunately, she didn't have to consider these problems.
"Well, if I were you, I'd find another professor to substitute for the dean right now, just for a public class. I'm sure you wouldn't want to experience the wrath of mathematicians, right?"
"A reason, please, Freya, give me a reason!" Ronnie said helplessly.
Freya took a deep breath and said, "The proof of existence for the Yang-Mills Equations. How about that reason? The respected dean needs to personally find some trustworthy peer reviewers for this paper, and even intervene in the review process firsthand. I think that reason is sufficient, isn't it?"
Ronnie was stunned, then widened his eyes and asked, "You... you're not joking? Was the paper submitted by legitimate authors?"
"Do I look like I'm joking with you? As for whether the authors are legitimate... well... do you think Editor Dugan would go straight to finding peer reviewers without having looked at the content?"
"Okay, dear Freya, Daken Kuka, Braulio Bruno, Amrita Steven... Hmm, which one of them is the author?"
"Heh... other than telling you that you guessed wrong, I have nothing else to tell. You know the rules... Oh, by the way, there are only twenty-eight minutes left for the dean's public class. If you don't want to give the lecture, you'd better find a reliable professor quickly. I'm going back now."
After saying that, Freya Rosa also stepped out of Roth Dugan's office with a light stride.
She was starting to look forward, yet upon reflection, she realized she didn't quite know what to look forward to anymore.