Chapter 1300: The big wedding (Guess I'm a scaredy-cat)
Chapter 1300: The big wedding (Guess I'm a scaredy-cat)
Chapter 1300: The big wedding (Guess I'm a scaredy-cat)
Translator: Legge Editor: Legge
Onstage.
Dong Shanshan shouted, "Does everyone think that the songs are great?"
"They're great!"
"Great!"
"There's no problems!"
"All of them pass!"
Yu Yingyi laughed and said, "Congratulations to Zhang Ye again on passing the second test."
Zhang Ye cockily said with clasped hands, "Please don't laugh at my performance."
The reporters were all amused!
The guests were enjoying themselves to the fullest!
Old Wu's team of friends and relatives were once again left kneeling!
The three consecutive song topics that were extremely tricky to answer had all been answered by Zhang Ye without a stumble. He could even write a song about something as nonsensical as a wedding veil. Moreover, every song fit its topic, and every one of them was fantastic. This was obviously not something that a normal person could achieve. Of all the songwriters in the show business, none of them could do it to such great effect. This was Zhang Ye's skill, and there wasn't a second person you could find in the entertainment circle who could do the same!
Those who were on the bride's team finally realized it. To hope that such topics would make things difficult for Zhang Ye was clearly impossible. It was a good thing that they still had something up their sleeves.
Xin Ya had no other choice.
Fat Sis gave her a glance.
Old Wu's two nephews and one niece were getting anxious.
"It's time for the big one!"
"Auntie Xin!"
"Bring it on!"
"It's the final test!"
Xin Ya nodded. "Alright, leave it to me!"
Zhang Ye laughed and said, "What move do you have left? Come at me!"
Xin Ya sneered and harrumphed up onto the stage. She took the microphone from Yu Yingyi and turned around, then suddenly broke out into laughter. "Dear guests, friends, and relatives. Before I bring up the topic for the third test, let me say a few words first. I've known Old Wu for many years now, with our friendship dating back to childhood, and we're best friends. It's her big day today, so I'm very happy for her. Before the wedding, I asked her a question. Actually, this was to sound something out from her. I asked her what was something that would be difficult for someone like Zhang Ye? Old Wu told me that there weren't a lot of things that Zhang Ye couldn't do. He is the type who is straightforward and decisive, so most things do not pose a problem to him. But I told her that she had to give me something anyway. Old Wu gave it some thought and finally told me that it would surely be very difficult to get Zhang Ye to say 'I love you' to her."
Your sister!
Zhang Ye chuckled, "Pfft!"
The crowd jeered.
"He hasn't even said 'I love you'?"
"Hahaha, Teacher Zhang, you're so terrible!"
"This won't do!"
Xin Ya calmed the crowd down and helped put in a word for Zhang Ye. "Actually, I've also known Zhang Ye for quite some time now. I know what he and Old Wu are like. They're both people who don't really know how to put their feelings into words. If you want them to both say 'I love you' to each other, that is truly an insurmountable task."
His father nodded.
His mother chuckled.
He was their son, so of course they understood this quite well.
Xin Ya then said, "But I refuse to accept that. Old Wu warned me not to put Zhang Ye in a bind. That's fine, I'll just put it in a different way. For the topic of the third test—" She looked at Zhang Ye. "—since we're both in the field of mathematics, why don't you use the language of math to express your love for Old Wu?"
Zhang Ye responded with a helpless grin.
The guests roared!
"Come on!"
"Teacher Zhang, do it!"
"Right, express it, express your love!"
"Saying 'I love you' in the language of math does sound pretty good!"
There was no difficulty for this test at all!
The language of math?
Everyone thought, what language could math have?
It would have to be 520 1 ! That, or 521 2 !
Only these two numbers were homonyms for expressing love!
But if he were to use that, then that wouldn't actually be any different from him saying "I love you." It was as good as making him say it directly!
But Zhang Ye just smiled without saying anything.
Fat Sis said, "Zhang'er, the bride won't be coming out if you don't say it."
Old Wu's niece urged, "Heehee, hurry up, Uncle-in-law! Speak in the language of math; say it using math!"
This was too difficult for Zhang Ye. He really couldn't say those words, not even if it was 520 or 521.
At this moment, Zhang Ye remembered a story. It was a classic story from his previous world:
The mathematician Descartes met 18-year-old Princess Christina of Sweden. Being inseparable, they soon developed feelings for each other. When the king found out, he flew into a rage and immediately ordered the execution of Descartes. After Princess Christina pleaded with her father, the king sent him back to France and placed his daughter in confinement. Not long after Descartes returned to France, he became seriously ill. He wrote letters to the princess, but because of the king's meddling, Christina never received any of them. After Descartes sent out the 13th letter, he passed away. The last letter contained only a short equation. The king could not understand it and somewhat felt that it might not always be sweet nothings between the two. So he summoned all the mathematicians in the city to the palace to study it, but no one could decipher it. The king couldn't bear to see his daughter always unhappy. Therefore, he handed the letter over to the sullen Christina. When the princess saw it, she immediately understood what her lover was saying. She knew that he still loved her as ever.
Of course, that was only a story.
But that famous equation in the story really existed.
Xin Ya stared at him. "Are you going to say it or what?"
Fat Sis said, "Zhang'er, don't feel shy about it."
The language of math?
To express his love?
Zhang Ye smiled and went onstage. He picked up a pen and a piece of paper, then wrote an on it:
r = a(1?sin?)
No one understood what it meant!
A lot of people were taken aback!
What is this?
What kind of an answer is this?
Shouldn't it be 520 or 521? Why did it become an equation instead?
Xin Ya was also confused. "Zhang Ye, what is this?"
Zhang Ye said, "That is what I want to say to Old Wu."
Xin Ya was floored. "How could there be anything to say to her!"
"That's because you don't understand it," Zhang Ye said calmly.
The bride's team was having none of it.
"You can't do it like that."
"You're just throwing random things at us."
"How can your answer be a formula?"
"There's nothing to it!"
"Is it a homonym? But it doesn't look like it!"
The reporters were puzzled.
The guests could not understand.
A few of the professors from Peking University's Math Department also came forward.
Dean Pan Yang said, "Let me have a look."
Xin Ya was leaning over to study the equation. "What the heck is this? Some kind of code?"
Pan Yang was also confused by it. "This formula doesn't mean anything, does it?" He picked up a pen and tried to work it out, then put it back down and shook his head. "It really doesn't mean a thing."
A Peking University teacher looked over. "Professor Zhang, just what kind of a formula is this?"
All of a sudden, Xin Ya looked startled. "Wait! This—where's a computer?"
Pan Yang pointed. "It's over by the stage."
Xin Ya took the equation and marched over. Then she typed a series of inputs!
Looking at the large screen display, everyone could see what Xin Ya was doing, but they could not understand why she was doing it.
However, the Peking University teachers could.
"What?"
"Polar coordinates?"
"Is she going to draw it?"
"What use is there in graphing the equation?"
But several minutes later!
When r = a(1?sin?) got represented as a graph and shown onscreen, everyone present at the ceremony burst out in a loud exclamation!
"Oh my God!"
"What am I seeing?"
"This is so beautiful!"
"Fuck, this is so amazing!"
"This, this—"
Xin Ya was dumbfounded!
Pan Yang looked shaken to his core!
Fat Sis covered her mouth in shock!
The reporters were all screaming!
All of the guests were astonished!
This equation that couldn't be any simpler was actually in the shape of a heart!
It was an astonishing heart!
"It could even be done like this?"
"Is this what the language of math can do?"
"So this is what Zhang Ye wants to say to his wife?"
"This is too romantic!"
"So it's not only 520 that can be expressed through math!"
"This is so awesome!"
For a moment, everyone's eyes were on Zhang Ye!
He didn't know how to say "I love you."
Nor was he one to whisper sweet nothings.
In some ways, Zhang Ye's character was actually closer to that of a strict mathematician.
r = a(1?sin?)
This was Zhang Ye's code word to his wife!
This was the greatest romance of a mathematician!
1. 520 sounds similar to "I love you" in Chinese
2. 521 also sounds similar to "I love you" in Chinese