Awakening Elementary School System in University
Chapter 10 - 9: How Can I Help You?

Chapter 10: Chapter 9: How Can I Help You?

Chen Lin looked at his notes in the document before him and began to think.

Based on the information he had gathered over the better part of the day, the path forward was actually quite clear.

To quickly monetize the abilities of the "Little Mathematician," two paths were most likely: finance or artificial intelligence.

Specifically in finance, it would be quantitative trading: using complex mathematical models to analyze the market and achieve profits through programmed trading.

On several recruitment sites Chen Lin had searched, the starting salaries offered by top-tier securities firms and private equity funds to new graduates were between 300,000 and 500,000 yuan, with the industry’s ceiling reaching over 3 million yuan a year.

The other option, large AI models, was the hottest trend of the moment.

Over in the USA, news of top tech giants cutting checks for hundreds of millions of USD in stock options to poach an algorithm genius was not uncommon.

While things weren’t as exaggerated domestically, it was common for PhD graduates to receive offers over 500,000 yuan, and even for master’s students, a starting salary of 250,000 yuan was not rare.

This kind of salary was a distant dream for someone in Chen Lin’s Chinese Language and Literature department.

’What a pity.’

Chen Lin leaned back in his chair, hands clasped behind his head, his gaze calm.

’Unfortunately, all the scenarios I just considered are from the perspective of a wage slave.’

But for Chen Lin, working for someone else was impossible. He would never work for someone else in this lifetime!

Of course, the slow pace of waiting for a paycheck and the unwillingness to be exploited by a ruthless boss through the "996 blessing" were only secondary reasons.

The core issue was that he couldn’t control the quality of his work output.

The ability of the "Little Mathematician" title was rule-level; it ignored difficulty and would always generate the most correct answer.

This meant that if he went to work for a company, every model he submitted, every proposal he handed in, would be the perfect, optimal solution.

Once or twice could be explained away as genius.

But what if it happened every single time?

Those top financial firms and tech giants were filled with the sharpest of the sharp, crouching tigers and hidden dragons.

If someone truly skilled noticed something was off and followed the clues to check his resume... a student from Yan University’s Literature department...

That would be a huge mess.

It came back to the same thing: Chen Lin had faith in his country, but not in human nature.

"So, I can only go it alone," Chen Lin muttered to himself.

But once he chose to go solo, the two paths mentioned above became much harder to walk.

For individual investors in the country to engage in quantitative trading, there was, first of all, a minimum capital threshold of 300,000 yuan.

Secondly, for compliance, you had to submit your trading strategy to a securities firm for review.

He didn’t have the former, and he didn’t dare do the latter.

As for large AI models... that was even more out of the question.

That field was purely a capital-intensive game right now, with major domestic and international companies frantically pouring money into building computing power clusters.

The news said that training a GPT-4 level model once could cost tens of millions of USD in electricity alone.

Never mind the 30,000 yuan currently in his pocket; even with 300 million, it wouldn’t make a splash.

Chen Lin sighed, but he wasn’t discouraged.

He suddenly remembered something a now-vanished streamer once said: What’s the difference between a person without a dream and a salted fish!

From the information he’d gathered today, Chen Lin judged that in the foreseeable future, the impact of artificial intelligence on human society would be revolutionary.

More importantly, the demand in this field for algorithm optimization, for reducing the costs of model training and inference, was currently endless.

And this was precisely where the "Little Mathematician" could exert its greatest power.

’So, the AI path is my future goal. I have to get in sooner or later.’

Chen Lin sat up straight, his gaze sharpening.

’But I have to eat one bite at a time and save money step by step.’

So, what was the next step?

Chen Lin already had the answer in his heart.

What he would do was develop the math consulting he did for Shen Yan into a formal business.

Of course, the price would have to be raised. Shen Yan was his first client, so he could give her a discount for being an acquaintance.

Chen Lin’s idea was simple: split the business into two parts.

The first part was "Math Homework Help" aimed at the general student population.

The second tier was "Project-based Private Consulting," like helping Shen Yan solve difficult problems for her modeling competition.

To test his speed and energy consumption, Chen Lin even found a few final exam papers from Yan University’s mathematics department online, covering different subjects like "Mathematical Analysis," "Abstract Algebra," and "Ordinary Differential Equations."

He took out a stack of scratch paper and began solving the problems.

The "Little Mathematician" title activated.

In an instant, the solutions, steps, and key points for the problems floated into his mind as naturally as breathing.

He didn’t even need to think; he just had to copy down the steps and answers from his mind.

SCRATCH, SCRATCH, SCRATCH—

In the dorm room, the only sound was the tip of the pen gliding across the paper.

An hour later, Chen Lin put down his pen. He looked at the several sheets of scratch paper in front of him, filled with the perfect solutions to seven or eight major problems.

He flexed his slightly sore wrist and assessed his mental state.

Very good. Apart from a bit of boredom, there was no fatigue at all.

’It seems this level of ability usage is basically no burden for me,’ Chen Lin nodded with satisfaction. ’The only bottleneck, surprisingly, is my handwriting speed.’

The test was complete. All was ready.

Chen Lin no longer hesitated. He picked up his phone and opened the Xianyu app.

He already had an account on Xianyu, but besides buying a few second-hand books, he had barely used it.

Yaoyao’s mother, Liu, had originally found him through a "one-on-one tutoring" product description he had posted there.

Not wanting to bother with creating a new listing, he went straight to "My Listings," found the link for the completed tutoring service, and chose "Edit."

He deleted the original description for tutoring. His fingers flew across the keyboard, and a brand-new product description appeared on the screen.

[Product Description:]

[Still stressing over math homework you can’t understand? Still wrestling with complex project models?]

[Here, all your math problems will be easily solved.]

[Service 1: Homework Help]

[- Final answers only: 20 yuan/problem.]

[- Detailed solution process (handwritten photo/digital file): 100 yuan/problem.]

[(Note: Difficulty is not a factor. From graduate-level coursework to elementary school Math Olympiad, the price is fixed. Honesty is my policy.)]

[Service 2: Project Consulting]

[- For senior theses, mathematical modeling, research projects, engineering problems, etc., I provide holistic mathematical solutions or core algorithm support.]

[- Pricing: 888 yuan/hour. A discounted package of 2,000 yuan is available for a one-time purchase of three hours.]

[(Note: My time is precious. Consultations require an appointment in advance. Serious inquiries only.)]

[Contact: Please send a private message first describing your problem.]

After finishing the last line, Chen Lin reviewed it with satisfaction.

The opening was intimidating enough, and the content was clear and concise.

The prices, especially, exuded the confidence and defiance of an expert.

But when Chen Lin scrolled to the section for adding pictures, he hesitated again.

When he first posted the one-on-one tutoring ad, he had used his college entrance exam scores and university acceptance letter.

But now, compared to the services described above, those things were clearly not convincing enough.

’Wait, I might not be convincing enough, but there are people who are.’

Chen Lin switched directly to his WeChat window and opened his chat with Shen Yan.

Chen Lin: [Shen Tongxue, are you there?]

Chen Lin had originally planned to browse the Enki Love forums while waiting for Shen Yan to reply.

He had just seen a potentially amusing post titled "Neon Country Prepares to Fervently Celebrate the Black Ships Festival, Celebrating Beautiful Country Opening Neon Country’s Doors." He was about to click in to see if it had his favorite Fatty and Little Boy memes when a WeChat notification popped up.

Shen Yan: [What is it, Chen?]

Chen Lin quickly replied.

Chen Lin: [It’s like this, I need a favor. Could I borrow a photo of your acceptance letter and a screenshot of your final exam grades from last semester?]

Before Shen Yan could reply, he sent another message.

Chen Lin: [I won’t leak your personal information. Just black out your name and other personal details before you send them. The main thing is that the university and the math department are visible.]

Shen Yan: [How can my acceptance letter and grades help you?]

Chen Lin: [They’ll help me get clients.]

Shen Yan: [?]