The only time for language exchange was during the mathematics evening self-study.
While other students were working on exercises, Mr. Wang, who taught mathematics, walked around and saw Qiao Yu seemingly analyzing a problem about the eccentricity of an elliptic curve, and couldn't help but chat with Qiao Yu about it casually.
Qiao Yu highlighted a portion of the original text of the paper to show the curious teacher, then briefly explained the content he was pondering.
After frowning in thought for a moment, the teacher puzzledly asked, "This... doesn't seem like something that would be tested in the Olympiad, right?"
Qiao Yu politely replied, "No, it's not. A teacher asked me to complete a paper which requires research on this topic. He wants me to do it well, aiming to publish it in the Journal of Number Theory."
The teacher then froze for a moment and said, "Well, keep up the good work!"
Then there was no follow-up.
