After talking to Wei Rulan on the phone, Li Jingwei planned to work in the research laboratory.

As for the decipherment of the secret of the treasure map, the computer still has a long time to calculate, so naturally there is no need to wait by the side all the time.

As a result, when he went out, he received a call from Emily, a doctoral student he was carrying.

“Robi

Now there are several reporters waiting at the door of our research room, saying that they want to interview you. I've told them you won't be interviewed, but they still won't leave. I don't know if it's because of the Fields Medal selection. Emily said over the phone.

Li Jingwei could hear that Emily was still angry, and it was estimated that she had a fight with the reporters just now.

"Okay, Emily, thank you! I'll be in the lab in a moment. Tell others to leave these journalists alone and go about their business. ”

Before that, there were also reporters who tried to interview Li Jingwei. As a popular candidate for this year's Fields Medal, some media reporters have always wanted to interview him, but Li Jingwei refused.

To this end, Li Jingwei also issued a statement on the website of his research laboratory, not accepting any media interviews.

Therefore, after receiving Emily's call, Li Jingwei couldn't figure out what was going on with these reporters, he had already stated that he would not accept interviews, so why would he come again.

And, listening to Emily, it was not a reporter, but several reporters guarding the door of the research room together. Obviously, this has affected the normal research work.

"Okay. See you in one minute. Emily finished and hung up.

By the time Li Jingwei came to the door of the research room, there were already more than a dozen reporters gathered. I saw them holding a microphone like a long gun and a short cannon, and they were surrounding the door of Li Jingwei's research room.

It turned out that these reporters thought that Li Jingwei was hiding in the research room and refused to come out for an interview, so they gathered at the door. Even though Emily repeatedly explained that she understood that Li Jingwei was not in it, they just didn't believe it.

Later, Emily had no choice but to call the school's security guard. When the security guards arrived, the reporters refused to leave. That's why she called Li Jingwei again.

Li Jingwei saw that two school security guards came over and stood next to these reporters. However, they also do not have the right to forcibly expel these journalists. So, I could only stand and watch.

"Professor Li, we can't force these journalists to get rid of them. One of the security guards, who knew Li Jingwei, saw him coming, and hurriedly stepped forward and said, "You know, journalists are uncrowned kings, and they have such power. ”

"Okay, Robert. Thank you!" Li Jingwei responded politely.

Li Jingwei knows very well that as long as he deliberately makes trouble, the security guard really has no right to dare to leave.

"Professor Li, you also have the right not to answer them. We are right outside, and no one dares to force you to answer anything. The security guard named Robert kindly reminded Li Jingwei.

He is right, the journalist has the right to ask, but the person being asked also has the right not to answer.

When the reporters saw Li Jingwei coming, they immediately surrounded Li Jingwei and surrounded him in the middle.

A blonde female reporter first asked: "Professor Li, our newspaper has received a report that you have falsified your identity in the previous selection of the Doyle Prize for Applied Mathematics. The whistleblower said that the Doyle Prize in Applied Mathematics is only awarded to nationals born in the United States, and you simply do not meet this selection criteria. What do you think about that?"

Li Jingwei recently won the Doyle Prize in Applied Mathematics, which has been reported by many media outlets. However, no one has ever questioned Li Jingwei's qualifications for the award.

In fact, the award committee will definitely carefully verify the relevant information during the selection process, and it is unlikely that such an oolong incident will occur.

Therefore, when some reporters present heard this question, they were also a little unconvinced, thinking that it was impossible for the award committee to make such a low-level mistake.

However, the female reporter asked a question with a reasonable attitude without the slightest hesitation. I don't know if she is brain-dead, or if she was instructed by someone to ask this question on purpose.

As soon as the female reporter's words fell, and before Li Jingwei could answer, another black male reporter asked: "Mr. Li, some people have also reported to our newspaper that the reason why you were able to participate in the Fields Medal selection this time is mainly because of a paper you published in the journal "Annals of Mathematics" last year. And the whistleblower said that the process of proving the paper was flawed. Is there really a problem with this paper you published?"

Then, some other reporters, who basically asked similar questions, said that their newspapers had received similar reports.

All of these questions ultimately point to the upcoming Fields Medal. Li Jingwei finally understood why there were reporters besieging here today.

"As for the question of identity, I think that all of you present have already started an investigation, right? I believe that you will find out the evidence yourself, and the rumors will naturally be self-defeating at that time. So, I don't think I need to explain anything here. Li Jingwei responded calmly.

Then, when the reporter asked about the flaws, Li Jingwei said:

"As for the flaws in your paper, I haven't seen any objections from experts since the paper was published. I don't know what the whistleblower said and what the paper was deficient in, so I can't comment on that. ”

"Do you mean that these reports are nonsense?" asked some reporters, nonchalantly.

"Fellow journalists, I think that instead of asking me here, you should look for evidence yourself. Li Jingwei did not answer positively, because that would prompt the reporters to ask more questions. In order to attract attention, they will dig traps for you to jump into.

The essence of journalism lies in truthfulness. However, having lived in the United States for a long time, Li Jingwei also knows that it is more common for some media reporters to confuse right and wrong in order to attract attention.

Li Jingwei continued: "This is a school, a place to carry out scientific research and teaching work, please respect yourself, do not affect the normal work of the school and teachers, as well as the normal learning of students." Thank you!"

After speaking, Li Jingwei directly squeezed out of the crowd and entered his research room.

From the questions raised by the reporters, Li Jingwei has sensitively felt that this is a purposeful conspiracy against himself. And the ultimate goal of this is to prevent himself from participating in the selection of the Fields Medal.

The academic world is supposed to be a pure land, but in the face of interests, there are still people who have lost the most basic academic ethics.

Li Jingwei realized that he must have been shortlisted for the Fields Medal and posed a challenge to someone, so he wanted to use this despicable means to try to influence the final decision of the award committee through false media reports.

This kind of technique is not very clever, but for conspirators, it can often achieve miraculous results.

Just like in a presidential election, a candidate can influence voters to vote by discrediting his opponents, so as to achieve the ultimate election.

Li Jingwei has been in the limelight in the past two years, and he has won almost all kinds of important mathematics awards, which in itself has made some people very jealous. And this time in the Fields Medal selection, Li Jingwei has a high probability of winning the award, which undoubtedly makes some people envious and jealous.

Thinking of this, Li Jingwei sighed in his heart: "This is really the so-called tree big move." ”

He had never been reported before. This time, although he was not worried about such malicious slander, such behavior would inevitably make people feel disgusting.

Not far away, around the corner of the hallway, Stephen and Kyoko Ozawa were gloating at what was happening here.

Not only did they write letters to a number of newspapers, but some of the Fields Medal judges also sent letters of report. The two believe that Li Jingwei will soon be disqualified from the awards.

The reason why the two think this way is because if Li Jingwei has a fraudulent identity in the selection of the Doyle Applied Mathematics Award, it is a very serious integrity problem. If it is true, it will inevitably disqualify the Fields Medal.

In contrast, whether the paper is flawed or not is not a real concern for them.

Moreover, the flaws in the paper they put forward did not really reveal the problems in the paper, and it was just an excuse and a reason to attract the attention of reporters. After all, this time for the selection of the Fields Medal, the mathematical community has a high demand for Li Jingwei to win the award, and the media is very interested in it.

In fact, even if there is an academic controversy, it is normal. After all, solving many mathematical problems requires the continuous efforts of different scholars, and sometimes it is impossible for one person to solve a problem perfectly.

Therefore, if it is a normal academic dispute, scholars generally do not reject it. On the contrary, we can only make progress together if we learn from each other.

However, it is very unethical to slander in bad faith, especially if it is deliberately aimed at attacking other scholars for non-academic purposes.

What Li Jingwei didn't expect was that the next day, many media in the United States reported on the incident.

Some newspapers reported the headline, "Chinese mathematicians who falsify their identities will be disqualified from the Fields Medals"; others reported, "Chinese mathematicians win awards by falsifying their identities, and the academic community needs to build integrity"; and so on.

Similar reports spread quickly on the Internet. Even in China on the other side of the ocean, it also caused an uproar in public opinion.

In fact, the news report directly pointed to Li Jingwei's Chinese identity, and its intention is self-evident. In recent years, Chinese scientists have sprung up, and there have been media outlets waiting for opportunities to smear the achievements of Chinese scientists with the help of academic fraud.

Therefore, this similar report is also very eye-catching. Judging by the headlines of these reports, it is the same hype routine.