Professor Zhu quietly took a position in the third row, his gaze casually sweeping to the child in front intently taking the exam.
Indeed, the object of Zhu Hongbing's attention was Qiao Ze.
He was the only student today who had not brought the A4 reference material distributed before the exam.
There's no helping it, everyone has curiosity.
And professors are no exception.
Since Qiao Ze arrived at the School of Mathematics, many events had occurred, more or less related to him.
For instance, professors from Yanbei University came to the institute for research.
Another instance was Xu Dajiang showing no regard for the senior professor Zhao Guangyao's face, directly pointing out his disloyalty during an internal meeting. It was said that it all started because the child here harshly criticized a paper Zhao had published last year.
This directly led Zhao Guangyao to start looking for another job.
It's said he'll move to a neighboring 211 university next year.
What Zhu Hongbing found most incomprehensible was that, reportedly, this kid had not attended a single lesson since arriving, and instead started a project with Su Mucheng and Chen Yiwen.
Well, how should I put this...
Zhu Hongbing was not the kind of research-oriented professor who used course problems for projects.
He belonged to the category of extremely experienced teaching-oriented professors, always teaching mathematical analysis.
The papers he wrote in his life mostly focused on the teaching methods of "mathematical analysis."
Nowadays, it's already very difficult for young people to take this path. Of course, those who truly aspire to do academic work don't really want to take it either.
Although the pressure is not so great, there is a clear ceiling for development; one would generally end up just lecturing for life.
But this also precisely shows that Zhu Hongbing was very aware of his own limitations. He was not particularly suited for innovative research.
For this reason, Zhu Hongbing was even more aware of the value of mathematical research talent.
He was naturally very curious about Qiao Ze, who had just turned eighteen.
And when he stood behind Qiao Ze, his curiosity peaked.
This kid, so confident!
Not only had he not brought the specialized exam materials prepared for him, but he hadn't brought any extra scratch paper either.
Of course, these didn't matter.
Because right after standing behind Qiao Ze, Zhu Hongbing noticed the terrifying speed at which the kid was answering questions.
The current mathematical analysis exam had ten multiple-choice questions, totaling thirty points.
There were two computation problems, worth ten points. One was on calculating derivatives, the other on calculating limits.
There were three discussion and judgment problems, totaling thirty points.
The last two proof problems were worth fifteen points each.
There weren't many problems, but Zhu Hongbing still gave the students two hours, considering the difficulty level.
Especially the discussion and judgment problems and the proof problems, none were easy.
He had distributed the papers for no more than seven or eight minutes, and Qiao Ze had already finished the multiple-choice and computation questions.
Zhu Hongbing glanced over the answers to the multiple-choice questions, knowing they were all correct.
On the computation questions, the one on the derivative was correct, and as for the second problem on limits, Zhu Hongbing could only see "Solution: By Stolz's theorem, we obtain lim (n-∞)..."
Well, using the theorem was also correct...
That probably meant no mistakes then.
Zhu Hongbing took a deep breath, glanced at a student sitting next to Qiao Ze—pretty good... he was only on the third multiple-choice question, and he had gotten the first one wrong.
He shook his head subconsciously, just about to walk over to check on Su Mucheng's progress, when he suddenly noticed Qiao Ze pushing the paper forward slightly.
Yeah, sure enough, the limit was correct.
What? The first discussion problem was already done?
That problem was quite tricky... kid, don't be too overconfident!
Zhu Hongbing subconsciously circled around to a different position, then glanced a few more times before not wishing to speak.
He simply left Qiao Ze's back and walked to the other side of the classroom, behind Su Mucheng.
Good, she had already started the computation questions.
So far, it seemed like the multiple-choice answers were all correct too.
Continuing forward two steps, huh, Zhang Zhou shouldn't have made a mistake—multiple-choice questions are key for easy points, yet he got one wrong?
This kid seemed to have slacked off recently.
Huh, Chen Yiwen also got a multiple-choice question wrong, that's not like him?
And is calculating limits so troublesome?
Who is this? They need to start flipping through the materials I provided for a multiple-choice question?
Zhu Hongbing felt his mind getting a bit cluttered.
After looking at Qiao Ze's paper, he had already sighed heavily in his heart.
After all, no matter how well Qiao Ze's answers were, it really had nothing to do with him.
Everyone else besides Qiao Ze was the result of his teaching.
Now it looked like his diligent year's work wasn't yielding a bountiful harvest.
Actually, Zhu Hongbing knew that the slight irritability in his heart was born from comparison, producing unwillingness; after all, who can remain completely unaffected?
As Zhu Hongbing finished his rounds, feeling various emotions inside, he suddenly saw Qiao Ze raising his hand very slightly, his gaze without much emotion looking straight at him.
Zhu Hongbing's heart skipped a beat... surely the problem wasn't with the questions he'd posed?
He quickened his pace, approached Qiao Ze, and softly asked, "Is there a problem?"
"Can I turn in my paper early?" Qiao Ze replied softly.
Zhu Hongbing glanced at the paper.
It was neatly written all over, involuntarily making him purse his lips, then silently nodding in response.
To tell you the truth, when setting the exam, he had been a bit resentful.
The last two proof problems were meant to challenge Qiao Ze.
But now, it seemed he had only achieved that objective for everyone but Qiao Ze.
"Thank you, teacher," Qiao Ze said quietly in thanks, then stood up silently, soundlessly leaving the examination room.