Scholar’s Advanced Technological System

by Stayrr

After suffering from a heat stroke while working under the scorching heat of summer, Lu Zhou, a hardworking but poor university student, somehow becomes the owner of an advanced technological system. With the cheat given by the system, his university life changes overnight. A Master’s degree? Easy. PhD? Not a problem. From a nobody, he quickly becomes a huge celebrity in the wor

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Chapter 879: Special Issue

Nothing exciting happened around Christmas. The only thing that made Lu Zhou happy, other than his new fireplace, was a reply from Annual Mathematics.

In the reply, Professor Sahn, the editor-in-chief of Annual Mathematics politely told him that, the two theses he submitted, the Quasi Riemann hypothesis proof and the hyperelliptic curve analysis method, had been published.

Just like they had originally planned, the two theses, which were 51 pages long combined, were going to be published in a special issue.

Since Professor Faltings changed his opinion and the two theses were officially published, the preprints on arXiv began to flood into analytic number theory and complex analysis journals.

Everyone wanted their theses to be reviewed as soon as possible.

They wanted to publish their theses before someone else came up with a better result.

After all, once a stronger conclusion had been reached, and had been peer-reviewed and published, the weaker conclusion would no longer be eligible for publication.

Therefore, in order to be the first to publish, many PhD students and unknown scholars submitted their theses to crappier journals. On the other hand, the journals set up a special "fast review option", which meant more thesis processing charges.

Because of this, these journals were ridiculed on Mathoverflow. Some big names in mathematics even publicly stated that these journals didn't have any integrity.

While half of the mathematics world was busy submitting their journals, Jin Ling University hung up a big red banner at their campus entrance. This was to celebrate Academician Lu's Annual Mathematics special edition publication. As well as celebrating Academician Lu for solving another world-class problem.

Now that the Quasi Riemann hypothesis was solved, the value of epsilon was slowly increasing.

People wondered, how far was the mathematics world from solving the Riemann hypothesis?

People began to speculate that it would be solved within their lifetime.

Jin Ling University, mathematics department.

The office at the end of the corridor.

After knocking three times, Dean Qin opened the door and walked into the office.

"Lu Zhou, congratulations! I've never heard of anyone being able to publish two special edition theses in Annual Mathematics! I'm afraid you're the first professor in history to receive this honor."

Lu Zhou wasn't excited at all.

What's so amazing about publishing two special editions…

Nothing to be proud of.

When Lu Zhou saw Dean Qin sit on the sofa, he put down the pen in his hand and sighed. He looked at Dean Qin and said, "Thanks… Can we talk about something? My banner is always at the school entrance. If you really don't know what else to hang on there, can I sell it as advertising space?"

Dean Qin nearly spat out his tea.

He coughed and put down the cup. He stared at Lu Zhou with his eyes wide open.

"Come on! Look at how rich you are!"

The income of all Jin Ling University professors combined wouldn't even add up to Lu Zhou's income.

Forget about everything else, just the East Asia Energy shares alone had increased by ten times since Lu Zhou bought them.

Not to mention that, when one was at Lu Zhou's level, money was just a number.

Lu Zhou made a helpless gesture and said, "I'm just saying, we should be more lowkey. An Annual Mathematics thesis… really isn't worth this much publicity."

Dean Qin shook his head and said, "Why would you say that, the Annual Mathematics is one of the big four mathematics journals. It's more rigorous than Science and Nature. Forget about the special issue, I would be bragging if our mathematics department could publish even one thesis in Annual Mathematics."

Dean Qin smiled and said, "After all, you're a role model for countless Jin Ling University students. This is very important! If you're embarrassed, just pretend like the banner doesn't exist. It doesn't hurt you anyway."

Lu Zhou shook his head and didn't say anything.

He was definitely embarrassed, and it was almost revolting.

Dean Qin probably thought that Lu Zhou wouldn't mind his face being plastered around the school, that was why Dean Qin was humble bragging so much.

Dean Qin: "Speaking of which, how's your research on Riemann's hypothesis going? If you can't tell me, just pretend like I didn't ask."

"I have nothing to hide. It's just that I can't give you an accurate estimate." Lu Zhou thought for a while and said, "I can say that it will be solved within three years."

Three years was a little too long.

Lu Zhou felt like he could solve it in a year or two.

However, that sounded too much like bragging, so he conservatively said three years.

But he didn't realize that, for most people, claiming to solve Riemann's hypothesis within three years totally counted as bragging…

"Within three years, I see. Hopefully, I won't be gone by then," Dean Qin jokingly said. He suddenly changed the topic of conversation. "Speaking of which, you received an invitation for the ICM next year, right? Do you plan on speaking there?"

"I haven't decided yet," Lu Zhou replied. "If I'm going, it'll probably be a report on Riemann's hypothesis."

The ICM 45 and 60-minute reports didn't have to be about a thesis. It could just be a presentation on what the scholar was working on for the past four years.

Regardless of whether or not the scholar had published a thesis, people could talk about anything at the report and exchange opinions with their colleagues.

The Fields Medal medalists were always invited, and some scholars who had produced outstanding results in the past four years were also invited to do a report.

Generally speaking, it was a casual and relaxed conference.

It was perfect for scholars who focused on attacking big propositions, who didn't often publish theses.

However, Lu Zhou still hadn't decided on whether or not he was going to go.

After all, he had no idea what he would be doing in half a year's time.

Dean Qin smiled and asked, "Speaking of which, at the St. Petersburg University ICM, there's going to be a vote for the next ICM venue, right?"

Lu Zhou: "Yeah… Why?"

"Nothing, just asking…" Dean Qin smiled and said, "What did you think about the report we held in Jinling last time? Did your friends give you any feedback?"

"The feedback was pretty good…" Lu Zhou closed his notebook and moved away from the draft paper on his table. He sighed and said to Dean Qin, "Just give it to me straight."

"Haha, I knew you'd notice." Dean Qin scratched his head and said, "Here's the thing, the city council and I had a discussion, and we think mathematics is very important for scientific research. Even though it is a basic science subject, it shouldn't be ignored. In order to create an academic…"

Lu Zhou: "Cough!"

Dean Qin stopped talking and got straight to the point, "Could you maybe, ask around, and see if the next ICM can be held in Jinling?"

Jin Ling University wasn't as good as Aurora University or Yan University. Even though the return of Lu Zhou and the establishment of the Jinling Institute for Advanced Study improved the situation, they had only caught up to Kai University.

Even though there were many Jin Ling University professors who had connections with the international mathematics community, the only person with enough influence to affect the ICM conference was Lu Zhou himself.

After the previous report ended, Lu Zhou had a feeling something like this would happen. But he didn't expect Dean Qin to actually go through with the plan.

"That's a little difficult, I'm not a member of the ICM board, and I'm not even friends with them…"

Dean Qin slapped his thigh and sighed as he said, "Ah, I'm going to retire in a few years. I just want to help my alma mater in these last couple of years. In a few decades, no one will remember me. But they would remember that the 2026 International Congress of Mathematicians was held in Jinling, and that's all I want. Can you help me? At least give it a shot…"

"If that's all you want…" Lu Zhou smiled and sighed at the same time. He said, "I can't promise anything, I'll… try to help."

Dean Qin was overjoyed. He stood up and shook Lu Zhou's hand.

"Thank you so much!"

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Chapter 880: Invigilate

Dean Qin helped Lu Zhou a lot in his undergraduate years. Even though Lu Zhou would have been successful even without Dean Qin's help, his journey wouldn't have gone so smoothly.

Therefore, even though Lu Zhou wasn't certain he could convince the ICM board, he was still willing to give it a try.

Speaking of which, what confused Lu Zhou the most was what gave Dean Qin the confidence to host the ICM conference. However, the conference would greatly benefit the Jin Ling University mathematics department.

…

Because Lu Zhou promised his parents that he would go back home for New Year's, he decided to finish his next month's work before the end of the month. The university also went into exam week, so he became busy again.

Usually, the exam week was arranged at the beginning of the year, some time after New Year's Day. Rarely was it arranged before New Year's Day. Students nor the teachers were happy with this arrangement.

This year was a little special. The Ministry of Education policy that was invented a while ago wanted to increase academic culture and confidence doctrine.

The person from the Ministry of Education might have misread the document from the Communist Party of China because they simply interpreted confidence doctrine as "no foreign festivals".

Therefore, forget about the Christmas decorations, even New Year's Day parties and gala were suspended.

There were very few people like Luo Wenxuan, who still celebrated Christmas.

Not just that, but this year's exams were done around Christmas day. Even though the single loners were happy, the teachers who had vacations planned now had to go back to school to invigilate and mark the exams.

Even though Lu Zhou didn't really care about the festivals, he didn't like this arrangement.

There was no reason to be so petty over a festival.

This felt wrong.

However, Lu Zhou didn't have time to care about such a trivial matter.

It wasn't like he could write a letter about it.

That would be ridiculous.

When Lu Zhou was eating at the cafeteria, Dean Lu from the mathematics department sat down across from him and asked with a smile, "Um… Lu Zhou, are you free tomorrow?"

Lu Zhou knew the dean wanted something from him, so he suspiciously looked at the dean.

"What?"

Dean Lu smiled and said, "Um… We still need someone to invigilate the exams, do you think…"

Lu Zhou shook his head.

"No, no, too tiring."

Invigilating exams was horrible.

The teachers had to sit there for hours, watching and listening in all directions. Even though Jin Ling University had a pretty good exam culture overall, that didn't separate the couple bad apples from the tree. He could just sit there and not care about anyone cheating, but morally, he wouldn't do such a thing…

In short, Lu Zhou wasn't interested in watching a bunch of undergraduate students doing brainless exam questions. He was even less interested in catching those idiot students who would try to cheat on these brainless exams.

Dean Lu quickly explained.

"No no, you're mistaken. I'm not asking you to invigilate. It's just that we don't have enough people. The school wants each office to send someone, at least one person. You have a lot of students under you, just bring two of them to the exam. Of course, it's fine if you don't want to, I'll just inform the school board."

Lu Zhou wasn't going to let Dean Lu inform the school board over such trivial matters, so he sighed and said, "Okay then, I'll send a student over, just send me the exam information."

Dean Lu smiled and said, "Okay okay, no problem, I'll send it to you later… Thanks."

Lu Zhou: "You're welcome."

The invigilation was thus settled.

After Lu Zhou finished eating dinner, he gave He Changwen a call. After telling him about the invigilation, he got up and returned to his office.

However, when he returned to his office, he saw that He Changwen was not there.

"Where is He Changwen?"

"I don't know," Lin Yuxiang said. "But I just noticed he went to the toilet a couple of times. Maybe he has food poisoning?"

Food poisoning?

Lu Zhou had a bad feeling.

Then…

It turned out his feeling was correct.

On the morning of the next day, Lu Zhou received a phone call from this guy sitting on a toilet.

"Professor… I tried my best."

Lu Zhou paused for two seconds before replying, "What do you mean… you tried your best?"

He Changwen spoke in a shameful tone, "I got food poisoning from lunch yesterday, and I was on the toilet all night, I'm still on the toilet… I might not be able to invigilate!"

Lu Zhou quickly said, "How are you how? Is it serious? I can get someone to send you to the hospital."

"No no, I'll be fine…"

The phone call disconnected, but Lu Zhou could hear the toilet flushing before then.

Lu Zhou looked at his blank phone screen and went silent for a while.

There's nothing you can do about diarrhea.

It's not like I can make him bring a toilet to the exam room.

What a show that would be…

Lu Zhou looked around his office and saw that student Han Mengqi was the only one who did not go on holiday. Mengqi looked at Lu Zhou with an innocent face.

Lu Zhou hesitated for a bit before he sighed and stood up with his notebook.

She was the only good student who came into his office during the Christmas holidays, so he wasn't going to give her a hard time.

It was just one exam.

He would do it himself.

The moment Lu Zhou entered the exam room, the quiet exam room went into chaos.

"F*ck me! Is that God Lu…"

"Nutty, academician invigilating us! F*ck, my phone is in my bag, I want to take a photo."

"Sh*t, my cheat sheet…"

Lu Zhou looked at the classroom and paused for a second. He looked at the classroom number and then looked at the muddled teacher on the podium.

"This is number theory, right?"

The teacher nodded and spoke in a respectful tone.

"Yes!"

"Oh, so I'm at the right place." Lu Zhou stepped onto the familiar podium and looked at the students. He then looked at the other invigilator teacher and said, "The exam is about to begin, start handing out papers."

"Okay!"

"…"

Lu Zhou didn't know why, but he felt like his co-invigilator seemed to be a little too excited…

The test papers were soon distributed.

After the bell rang, the number theory exam officially began.

Because Academician Lu was invigilating, the students and even the teacher were on "extra alert mode". They all sat there with perfect posture.

Lu Zhou looked at the nervous students and wanted to laugh. However, he didn't want to interrupt the exam.

The time quickly passed by as the clock on the wall ticked away.

Lu Zhou began to feel bored. He yawned and took out his notebook from his pocket. With a pen in his hand, he continued to research where he left off yesterday.

As expected, solving problems yourself was more interesting than watching other people solve problems.

Lu Zhou was in the zone, and he totally forgot that he was in an exam room.

Time passed by quickly when someone was doing something that they loved.

Without knowing it, an hour had gone by.

Lu Zhou stopped writing and was surprised to see that the exam was almost over.

Lu Zhou looked at the invigilator at the back of the classroom.

I'm the only one distracted.

If the other invigilator is also not doing their job, then it wouldn't be fair to those students who studied hard for the exam.

Lu Zhou was about to stand up and move his stiff arm when he suddenly saw something unusual.

He saw a pretty young girl, who was sitting next to the window with her head down. Her arm leaned against her head and her hair acted as a curtain, creating a blind spot.

Lu Zhou's experience as a student told him that this person was up to no good.

Even though Lu Zhou had never cheated before, he had seen plenty of cheaters.

He quietly stood up from his chair and began walking toward the girl.

Lu Zhou quietly walked behind the girl and looked at her table.

As expected…

The screen from her phone was more obvious than a lighthouse at night.

He could even see her little finger swiping through the phone.

There was nothing else to say.

Lu Zhou gently coughed.

"Ahem."

The female student was like a frightened rabbit. Her shoulders tensed up, and she nearly dropped her phone on the ground.

The moment she made eye contact with Lu Zhou, her face turned white as she stuttered, "Te, Teacher… um, it's not like that."

It's not like that?

What are you, watching SpongeBob during an exam?

"Sigh…" Lu Zhou shook his head and said, "I only gave you guys a few lectures this semester, but this is a little too excessive."

The pretty student was scared, and she almost started to cry.

The other invigilator noticed the commotion and began walking over.

The young teacher mercilessly took away her phone and spoke in a stern manner, as if he was trying to impress the academician.

"Cheating in an exam, zero marks! Punishment recorded!"

The girl replied with tears in her eyes, "Teacher, can you not record it? My mom is very strict, she will kill me over this. Sir, let's talk outside…"

She stood up and grabbed Lu Zhou's arm, trying to walk outside. However, Lu Zhou stood there, frozen.

He quickly reacted and retracted his arm.

"Student, my mom is very strict as well!"

However, for some reason, the classroom burst into laughter.

The female student turned bright red, and she tried to explain but didn't know what to say.

Lu Zhou looked at the chaotic classroom and began to think.

F*ck sake!

This year's exam is too easy, that's why these people are laughing.

Maybe…

I'll just mark it harshly.

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Chapter 881: Ruthless Man

Once someone was caught cheating, they were bound to receive a zero. There was no room for negotiation.

The students that laughed in the exam room were scolded by the other invigilator.

The final exams finished on December 30th. The Jin Ling University staff members could finally relax a little.

Even though He Changwen escaped from being the invigilator because of his food poisoning, he couldn't escape the exam marking job.

He Changwen had a pile of exam papers on his desk. Lu Zhou looked at him and laughed in his heart.

You think you can stand me up?

This is what you get!

He Changwen looked at the terrifying stack of papers, and he knew that his New Year's holiday was over. He frowned and asked.

"Professor, can you… ask someone to help me…"

"No," Lu Zhou said without any hesitation. "Reviewing basic content will help you understand the more esoteric and difficult things. This is good practice… Oh yeah, finish marking the exams before New Year's Day. This year's schedule is a little tight, and everything has to be done before the 22nd semester week."

Then why don't you get someone to help me?!

Faced with Academician Lu's orders, He Changwen nodded and spoke.

"Okay, professor."

Lu Zhou was worried that this guy was going to do a bad job, so he said, "Mark it seriously. I will be checking."

"Yes, sir…"

He totally gave up on his holiday plans…

…

The day before New Year's Eve.

Luo Wenxuan wanted to return to his hometown for the holiday. He just received his paycheck, so he decided to buy Lu Zhou food at the grilled fish shop near the school.

Speaking of which, this grilled fish restaurant had been there for a long time. Lu Zhou often came there when he was still doing his bachelor's degree, eating and drinking with his roommates.

And now, his roommates were getting married, doing Phds, and starting businesses… He was the only one who still stayed in Jinling.

The shop owner recognized Lu Zhou, so he gave them two bottles of beer for free as a show of thanks for regularly bringing him business.

Thanks to Lu Zhou's frequent visits here, the business was booming, and the owner was about to start a second shop.

After chatting with Lu Zhou for a while, the owner went into the kitchen. The owner's daughter walked into the restaurant with a backpack.

A few years ago, this kid was tiny, and she would sit on a little bench in front of the restaurant and do her homework every night. But now, she was already in high school.

She instantly recognized Lu Zhou and smiled.

"Hello, Uncle!"

Lu Zhou: "… Ah, hello."

Lu Zhou's mood was ruined by the word "uncle".

Lu Zhou put on a fake smile until the girl disappeared. He looked at Luo Wenxuan and spoke.

"Don't laugh, I'm at least a millennial. Laugh at me again, and I'll call you uncle."

Luo Wenxuan coughed and said, "Come on, that's ruthless… Wait a second, uncle doesn't sound that bad… Okay, call me uncle then."

This guy… is ridiculous.

Lu Zhou pondered for a second before asking seriously, "Do I look old?"

"Old? No…" Luo Wenxuan stared at Lu Zhou for a while and said, "Actually, I always find it funny how you've looked the same since I first saw you. You don't look like a mathematician at all… Seriously, are you getting treatments?"

Lu Zhou sighed and said, "You might not believe it, but just like my looks, my hair is all natural."

"F*ck off… Wait a second, I found it," Luo Wenxuan said as he looked down at his phone.

Lu Zhou glanced at him and curiously asked, "Found what?"

"The photos from when we first met… Look!" Luo Wenxuan looked at Lu Zhou, then at his phone. "It's true, you haven't changed at all in the past few years."

The picture on the phone was taken in the Princeton lecture hall.

Lu Zhou was standing on the lecture hall podium, giving his first-ever academic report to professors and students. The whiteboard was filled with his proof of the twin prime number theorem.

Lu Zhou could never forget this event; this was the starting journey of his academic career, one of the best moments in his life.

What surprised him the most was the photo of himself.

He wasn't bragging, but…

Like Luo Wenxuan had said, he hadn't changed at all over the past few years.

It was almost like he time traveled seven years…

When Luo Wenxuan saw that Lu Zhou was speechless, he suddenly spoke with a strange expression on his face.

"This reminds me of a story."

Lu Zhou: "… About Riemann's hypothesis?"

Luo Wenxuan looked at Lu Zhou with a surprised expression.

"You've heard of it?"

"According to legends, whoever proves Riemann's hypothesis will live forever… I've obviously heard about it, but I'm surprised that you have," Lu Zhou gave Luo Wenxuan the phone back and said, "Don't believe this urban legend, we're scientific researchers, it's a bit ridiculous."

Maybe the systems' metabolic capacity increase also delayed my aging?

Or is it because of other factors?

Regardless, Lu Zhou hadn't changed much ever since puberty. If it weren't for Luo Wenxuan's photo, he wouldn't even have noticed.

"Yeah." Luo Wenxuan smiled and looked at the fish on the table as he said, "How was the exam? I saw on my friends' news feed that something happened?"

Lu Zhou sighed and grabbed a piece of fish into his mouth. He shook his head and spoke.

"Don't mention it, I swear that was my last time invigilating an exam."

"Met a creative student?"

Lu Zhou: "You could say so."

After the exam, the girl went to find Lu Zhou again, hoping to get the cheating incident off her permanent record.

In the end, Lu Zhou caved in, and he promised that he would talk with the academic affairs office.

But, if she was caught cheating again, then she would be expelled. If she could study hard and graduate smoothly, she might be able to wipe it off her record.

"Really? But that was your first time invigilating…" Luo Wenxuan stared at Lu Zhou and said, "This is just the tip of the iceberg."

Lu Zhou paused for a second and put down his chopsticks.

"There are even more creative ones?"

Luo Wenxuan laughed.

"Of course! I caught one yesterday, and this girl wore a skirt in winter and wrote down her notes on her thigh."

Lu Zhou: "…"

Jesus!

If I were the one who noticed her, I wouldn't even expose her.

It's not like I can lift up her skirt, right?

Forget about lifting up anyone's skirt, some teacher would be too embarrassed to even look at the girl's thigh.

Luo Wenxuan took a sip of beer and ate some fish. He continued speaking, "There are also more male teachers in the physics department, and the other invigilator in the exam room was also a male. That girl was ruthless."

Lu Zhou: "So you just let her go?"

Luo Wenxuan smirked and said, "Of course not, I would not bow down to the devil."

Lu Zhou: "… So who exposed her?"

Luo Wenxuan: "Me."

Lu Zhou: "…"

Lu Zhou didn't know why, but he felt like Luo Wenxuan was proud to be the one exposing her…

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Chapter 882: 2022 New Year's Day

Even though Lu Zhou was curious about how Luo Wenxuan exposed the cheating girl, he was too embarrassed to ask.

The two continued to eat while talking, and somehow they went from talking about their New Year's Day plans to talking about Riemann's hypothesis.

"I am certain that, as long as we solve the Riemann hypothesis, we will be able to find out the hidden secrets behind the Riemann zeta function. Even just thinking about it makes me excited. These concepts are centuries apart, but somehow, they're connected!

"Do you think there's a possibility that Riemann was actually a time traveler? Otherwise, how else do you explain the pairwise correlation function of the eigenvalue for the random Hermitian matrix is consistent with the non-trivial zero points of the Riemann zeta function? Quantum mechanics didn't exist in the 18th century!"

Lu Zhou laughed at Luo Wenxuan's joke and casually spoke.

"Then how do you know that our past is actually a modified future? Changing the past doesn't change the present."

"So, if the past were changed by a time traveler, does that mean the past is actually our future?" Luo Wenxuan said. He suddenly stood up and said, "I have an idea, I'll do it after New Year's… Or should I do it now!"

Because his voice was too loud, the people around him started to give him looks.

Lu Zhou awkwardly coughed and signaled him to calm down.

"Calm your a* down."

Luo Wenxuan realized that he was in a public setting, so he awkwardly sat back down.

However, his embarrassment only lasted for half a second.

He placed his hands on the table and looked excitedly at Lu Zhou.

"Do you know what I just thought of?! I can guarantee you'll be surprised by my idea! I'm a f*cking genius!"

Lu Zhou looked at Luo Wenxuan and sighed.

"… No matter what the idea is, I hope you don't include my name in the thesis."

Luo Wenxuan had a smug smile on his face.

"You're going to regret that."

Lu Zhou chuckled.

"Haha, I bet I won't."

The time-traveling stuff was obviously a joke.

Lu Zhou was certain that plenty of people have written theses on the paradoxes of time.

That was how theoretical physics research was.

First, they would assume that string theory could work, then they would create a new theory. After that, they would assume that string theory couldn't work, and they would explain why the new theory couldn't work as well.

This type of self-affirmation and self-denial research was becoming more and more common.

This showed that Einstein was a genius.

He predicted the nature of black holes, as well as the existence of gravitational waves.

All of the achievements made by the physics community since his death hadn't deviated from his theoretical framework.

Even to this day, the experimental physics community hadn't been able to fully test his theories. These scholars had been stuck, with nowhere to go…

Wait a minute…

Lu Zhou suddenly began to contemplate.

Einstein wasn't the only person like this.

Time-traveling was obviously a joke, there wasn't enough evidence to support its existence.

But, how could Lu Zhou prove that the history he was familiar with wasn't the result of time travel?

There's no way to prove it…

Suddenly, he thought about the system.

Emmmm…

"Interesting…"

Lu Zhou rubbed his chin and began to think of all of the possibilities. He muttered to himself as he was lost in thought.

"… Hm, I heard what you're trying to say. Interesting, do you want to work together?" Luo Wenxuan said to Lu Zhou.

"You must have heard wrong." Lu Zhou tried to act unfazed as he said, "As for working together… Let's do that after we're done with the Riemann hypothesis."

"Okay," Luo Wenxuan said. "Should I celebrate then? You didn't refuse."

Lu Zhou immediately said, "Just pretend like I did then."

Luo Wenxuan: "…"

…

On the 2020 New Year's Day, the light from the Pangu fusion reactor illuminated the future of controllable fusion.

On the New Year's Day of 2021, China's first ion thruster propulsion system spacecraft "Skyglow" achieved its first successful test flight. This paved the way for China's subsequent landings on the Moon.

The New Year's Day of 2022 was rather boring. Other than the entire semiconductor industry being disrupted, as well as the Quasi Riemann hypothesis proof, nothing revolutionary happened.

On the first day of the new year.

An unexpected visitor came to Lu Zhou's house.

Because Director Li from the State Administration for National Defense had some work to do at the Jinling high-tech zone and high-tech aerospace industrial area, he came to visit Lu Zhou.

Director Li happened to come around lunchtime, so Lu Zhou ordered some food from a hotel nearby. He opened a bottle of wine with this old companion of his.

The international news was being broadcasted on TV.

Coincidentally, the content of the news broadcast was the same as what the two were talking about…

"… According to separate announcements from NASA and the White House, NASA will launch their Lunar Gateway project this year.

"The project is part of the lunar exploration plan NASA announced in 2018. According to the disclosed plans, NASA will launch propulsion and launch devices into lunar orbit in early 2022. These components will be the first components of the Lunar Orbital Platform Gateway plan.

"However, the most optimal orbiting track is occupied by the Moon Palace space station, thus NASA is considering using an elliptical orbit with a larger orbit radius.

"Reports show that the project was approved by the Congressional Budget Office in 2021 and has now entered the launch preparation. According to a statement released by a NASA spokesperson, just like the Moon Palace, the Lunar Gateway would serve as an international space station. According to analyses from international relations experts, this project is an attempt from the White House to regain their aerospace dominance…"

Due to the success of the Skyglow spacecraft, NASA had actually been preparing for this project since the middle of last year.

However, because of the Ares program, the public began to distrust NASA. Over the past six months, NASA, Space-X, and other aerospace companies had been keeping it lowkey.

Now that the new year was here, it was time for a new beginning.

Lu Zhou obviously didn't believe that one mistake should end America's aerospace ambitions; otherwise, this fight would be too boring.

The US would learn from their failures and become even stronger. This competition had only just begun.

"The Americans really don't want to be behind," Director Li said while watching the TV. He ate some braised duck and sighed.

"No one wants to fall behind, and this type of competition is healthy." Lu Zhou smiled while looking at Director Li. He said, "Speaking of which, why did you suddenly decide to visit me? Are you not busy with work?"

"I am, but I still have time to see my good friend." Director Li smiled and said, "I heard that you are planning to go back home for Chinese New Year, so I decided to visit you in advance. I hope I didn't bother Mr. Chief Designer?"

When Lu Zhou heard the words from his good friend, he felt a little weird.

They had been working closely ever since the controllable fusion project, but there was a big age gap between them.

He felt the same way when he talked with Professor Faltings. It was as if older people treated him as the same age.

I'm still a lot younger than you, okay?

I'm not even in my thirties…

Lu Zhou coughed and casually said, "Of course not. I still have time to celebrate New Year's Day."

"Good, I just didn't want to disturb your work. I hesitated for a long time before I decided to come." Director Li put down his cup and looked at Lu Zhou. He said in a solemn tone, "I'm sure you know that I came to Jinling with a purpose."

Lu Zhou nodded and said, "Someone told me about it."

Director Li nodded and continued, "The US' Lunar Gateway program has already begun, and according to NASA, that their budget is more than US$100 billion. This is far larger than the original estimate of US$21 billion.

"Experts from the Chinese Academy have analyzed that the White House's plan isn't as simple as we think. Their true intention is to reunite their allies through economic and diplomatic means, to separate the countries into two sides. This is similar to what happened in the Cold War."

As for why the US was doing this, it was obvious that the US was trying to rebalance China's rising dominance.

China finally gained its international advantage due to the controllable fusion energy and aerospace breakthroughs. This was going to be a new challenge for them. Even though the semiconductor industry clusters were going full speed ahead, Lu Zhou could sense that the focus over the next decade was definitely going to be the aerospace field.

Lu Zhou began to think as Director Li spoke solemnly.

"The United States has opened the door to us and invited Chinese aerospace companies to participate in this US$100 billion project. Do you think we should export our aerospace services to them?"

This was an interesting problem.

If they decided to export their services, this meant that Star Sky Technology, as well as the two giant state-owned aerospace companies, would participate in the construction and launch of the Lunar Gateway program.

Lu Zhou contemplated for a while and asked with a smile, "If Huawei had the opportunity to sell Apple computer chips, would you stop them?"

"Of course not." Director Li smiled and said, "As long as they're willing to buy it for the right price, we'll do anything we can to let Huawei sell to them."

Lu Zhou smiled and said, "Yeah, the only problem is if Apple doesn't pay the right price."

Director Li understood what Lu Zhou was trying to say. He nodded.

"I understand what you mean."

Lu Zhou smiled and continued, "The Lunar Gateway isn't a big threat to us. It's just a space station. The real competition isn't in their space stations or spacecraft, but rather the ability to launch these devices into space.

"If we can take over the launch missions from Space-X, Blue Origin, Boeing, etc., we can weaken their market competitiveness in the long run and further expand the gap."

Ever since the opening of the Jinling high-tech aerospace development area, as well as the successful development of the Magpie Bridge, China's aerospace transportation technology was on a whole new level. Their lunar transfer orbit launching cost was at least a magnitude lower than other countries.

This meant that, for every price Space-X was offering, Star Sky Technology could reduce that by 10 times.

Therefore, Star Sky Technology could steal a giant piece of the pie that originally belonged to American aerospace companies.

"… Maybe in the future, their colony in a distant galaxy will need our spacecraft to send supplies. Even if they send their space station to Mars and their colonists to the edge of the solar system, they will still need our help."

Director Li was a little doubtful, and he said, "What if the White House knew about this? Why do you think they're asking us to work on the Lunar Gateway project?"

"Maybe to balance their costs… Even if they wanted their local companies to fill the demands, the local companies can't fill the demand," Lu Zhou said with a smile. He then continued, "This is good, this means they're aware of how crucial we are."

We're getting closer and closer to complete space domination…

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Chapter 883: Having a Nutty Brother

Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations

What was it like to have a brother who was a big name in academia?

Or rather, a brother who was a Nobel Prize laureate as well as a Fields Medalist?

Xiao Tong was probably the only person in this world who could answer this question.

She stared at the email from the reviewer and rubbed her eyes in disbelief.

After double-checking that she read it correctly, she clicked on the email. She carefully read the reviewer's comments, trying to contain her excitement.

She was obviously surprised.

This was one of the top nine economics journals—Econometrica!

This was like the Annual Mathematics of mathematics or the Physical Review Letters of physics!

Even her mentor, Professor Forster, would have a hard time publishing in this journal. After all, it was difficult to produce research results in macroeconomics.

However, after she submitted the journal three days after Christmas, she received a reply from the reviewer not long after New Year's Day. This had never happened to her before.

For a newcomer in the world of academia, this was unbelievable!

Normally, reviewing theses was a type of volunteer work. It didn't really benefit the reviewers.

Especially for well-known scholars who had nothing to gain from reviewing theses. They would only review theses when they had a lot of free time.

Xiao Tong was prepared to wait for six weeks, but instead, she received a reply from the reviewer in the second week.

Xiao Tong looked at the review comments.

[The mathematical model used in the thesis is interesting, but there are some flaws in the theoretical economics part…

[Review comments: Modifications might be needed.]

"… My brother is too strong."

Xiao Tong's mouth was wide open, and after a while, she sighed.

This was the fastest thesis review response she had ever received…

She thanked her brother in her heart and gave herself some encouragement.

One day, she was going to be an outstanding scholar.

Just like her brother…

Having a role model was a powerful thing.

With a goal in mind, Xiao Tong didn't even take a break. She began modifying the thesis based on the reviewer's comments. She kept the mathematical model unchanged and uploaded the thesis after making some changes.

"This should be fine, right?"

Xiao Tong sighed and took out a graduation application form from her desk. She hesitated for a bit before making up her mind and walking to Professor Forster's office.

Even though having a reliable brother was a good thing, she still wanted to do some things on her own.

There was one thing she and Lu Zhou had in common.

Which was, they never wanted to bother other people.

Of course, when they encountered something they couldn't do, they wouldn't hesitate to ask for help.

However, they would often return the favor.

There was a knock at the door.

Professor Forster stopped writing and looked at the student who walked into his office. He smiled gently and asked cheerfully, "How are you? Have you thought about it?"

It seemed like Ansley didn't snitch on Xiao Tong. She gave Xiao Tong the chance to tell Professor Forster the bad news.

However, it didn't really count as snitching…

After all, Xiao Tong already made up her mind.

Xiao Tong stood in front of Professor Forster's desk and took a deep breath.

"I've already completed my graduation thesis and submitted it to Econometrica."

Professor Forster was baffled. He didn't expect Xiao Tong to complete the graduation thesis at all. Forster spoke with his eyes wide open.

"Wait a second… You finished it? Are you sure you did it using my…"

Xiao Tong nodded and looked at Professor Forster.

"I did it using your hypothesis. I used the Bewley model to analyze the macroeconomic impact of welfare policies… But I used an improved model."

Professor Forster stared at his student, and he suddenly felt a little nauseous.

When he arranged this research project for her, he was hoping that she wouldn't be able to complete it. He didn't expect her to actually finish it.

He knew she was going to ask Lu Zhou for mathematics help…

But he was surprised at her economics theory abilities.

"Did you compile the algorithm? Whether it's Econometrica or other journals, you will have to run the model on your own computer. Are you sure the data you calculated is…"

"I've done the calculations," Xiao Tong said as she interrupted Professor Forster. "I passed the academic review. It's in peer review now…"

Having to modify the thesis wasn't a big problem.

The reviewer was obviously interested in her research; otherwise, they wouldn't have replied so fast.

Professor Forster played around with a pen in his hand and calmed down. He was a little annoyed.

"The review process for Econometrica is very long. It takes at least six weeks. Unless you're a well-known scholar, you would have to wait for a long time. I'm not saying it's a bad idea to submit to Econometrica, but why didn't you ask for my opinion…"

If this were any other student, he would have started to scold them.

But this student was different.

It wasn't like he was scared of her; he just didn't want to offend her…

"You don't have to worry about that…" Xiao Tong hesitated for a bit. She had to tell him the truth sooner or later, so she said, "The corresponding author is Lu Zhou."

Lu Zhou was the corresponding author.

Lu Zhou certainly counted as a well-known scholar.

But this spot originally belonged to Forster…

The office suddenly had a tense atmosphere.

Professor Forster's smile disappeared.

"Sorry… I didn't hear you clearly, what are you saying?"

Xiao Tong: "He's the corresponding author. After all, he did the mathematical model and algorithm."

Professor Forster took a deep breath and looked at his student.

"What are you trying to do…"

"I'm not trying to do anything." Xiao Tong shook her head and said, "That was his request."

Professor Forster calmed down.

His request…

She obviously meant Professor Lu.

"The thesis is in peer review, and I received a reply from the reviewer this morning and made some minor modifications. The revised thesis should be accepted." Xiao Tong looked at Professor Forster and took a deep breath. "I'm sorry I couldn't write you down as the corresponding author, but Professor Lu did say that it's up to me who is first and second author."

Xiao Tong paused for a second and looked at Professor Forster.

"As long as you let me graduate, I'll put you down as the first author for my Econometrica thesis… What do you think?"

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Chapter 884: I Want It All

I want it all!

Professor Forster obviously wanted to say this out loud, and according to the unspoken rules of academia, both the corresponding author and first author was his. There was no negotiation to be done about this.

He would only give the first author to his best-performing students.

He didn't want to let go of such an excellent scientific research result, not to mention Lu Zhou was also involved.

However…

"… Do what you want."

After a moment of silence, Professor Forster picked up the pen and signed his name on the graduation application.

He looked up at Xiao Tong and smiled as he said, "Do you want a recommendation letter?"

"If you can, thanks."

No one would refuse a recommendation letter. Even though she had a recommendation letter from her brother, a recommendation letter from her master's supervisor would help her with her PhD.

Even though she had little to do with Forster.

Xiao Tong politely bowed and accepted the graduation application with a smile.

In any case, she learned quite a lot from this professor over the past two years.

Of course, on the other hand, she also helped the professor in return.

Professor Forster didn't assign her the project for noble reasons, it was just for her to help Forster "produce" more theses.

Now that his name was on an Econometrica thesis, he was happy.

After all, Forster himself would have to spend at least a year or two to write a thesis like that…

Professor Forster smiled in a relaxed manner and leaned back on his chair. He then said nonchalantly, "You're welcome. I wish you the best in your future endeavors.

"If you decide on which university and professor you want to do a PhD under, tell me. I'll send you the recommendation letter."

This was the best option.

Even though Forster couldn't retain Xiao Tong, he didn't want to offend her. It would be better to let her go and keep a good relationship.

After being in academia for so many years, he was well aware of who he should not offend.

The person standing in front of him was one of them.

He had a feeling that he would meet Xiao Tong again in the future.

They might even work together.

Professor Forster looked at the door and sighed.

"Damn, Lu Zhou… F*ck, how come I don't have a Nobel Prize laureate brother?

"If I did… I wouldn't have to f*cking worry about receiving some Royal Academy of Science grant."

He shook his head and put down his pen.

I guess pigs are starting to fly.

I'm actually jealous of a master's student…

…

I'm going to graduate!

Finally!

I'm so happy!

After returning to her dorm, Xiao Tong began to jump up and down in joy. She jumped on her bed and took out her phone. She then called Lu Zhou, who was on the other side of the planet.

The call was connected, and she immediately spoke with joy,

"Brother! I graduated! Hahaha, mua, I love you!"

Lu Zhou heard her excited voice and smiled.

"You got your diploma?"

"Yeah!" Xiao Tong sat on her bed and hugged a pillow. She began telling Lu Zhou what happened.

After hearing Xiao Tong's story, Lu Zhou nodded.

"Nicely handled.

"I hope you remember one thing. No matter what field of study it is, whether it's applied or theoretical, there is always a hierarchy. However, there is one thing that doesn't change; someone that produces good research will never be ignored."

Xiao Tong nodded.

"I understand."

"Good, when you encounter an unsolvable problem in the future, I'll be there for you." Lu Zhou smiled and said, "Oh yeah, one other thing, if you plan on going back for Chinese New Year, just go back to Jiangling. I'll be going back soon, so I won't be in Jinling."

Xiao Tong happily said, "Sure, I haven't been back in a long time."

"Okay then, talk to you later."

Lu Zhou was about to hang up the phone when Xiao Tong suddenly spoke.

"Wait a second."

"What?"

"If this were you, how would you have done it?"

"If I were being stopped from graduating?" Lu Zhou rubbed his chin and said, "Difficult question… I've never worried about graduating."

When he was doing a master's degree, Academician Lu was clearly fond of his talents and wanted him to stay, but he still let Lu Zhou graduate. Professor Deligne, on the other hand, gave him a lot of freedom and even allowed him to choose his own thesis project.

Most supervisors didn't want to let go of talented students.

However, if someone was truly talented, a supervisor wouldn't be able to keep them for long…

Xiao Tong: "…"

She knew she shouldn't have given Lu Zhou the chance to humblebrag.

After Lu Zhou hung up the phone, he put his phone into his pocket.

Luo Wenxuan walked next to him and casually asked, "Your sister?"

Lu Zhou nodded and said, "Yeah, studying a master's degree in economics at Oxford."

Luo Wenxuan was suddenly interested.

"Introduce me to her someday?"

"F*ck off."

Luo Wenxuan shivered and quickly tried to explain.

"Wait, what are you thinking about, I already have my target, I just want to get to know her… Wait, don't go, the idea I talked about with you last time, do you want to look at it?"

He quickly gave Lu Zhou a stack of printed thesis papers.

"Just read it, I won't write your name down!"

When Lu Zhou read the thesis title, he nearly laughed out loud.

[On Time Travel in Minkowski Space…]

"If you can publish this on PRL, I'll eat a table."

Luo Wenxuan coughed and scratched his head.

"Don't say that! What if it gets approved, what will you do then?"

Lu Zhou shook his head and ignored Luo Wenxuan. He began walking back to his office, and Luo Wenxuan followed him.

However, when Lu Zhou was walking through the corridor, he saw a stylish girl with bangs standing by his office door. She was nervously looking through the office windows.

Luo Wenxuan noticed the pretty girl, and his eyes lit up as he put on a charming smile.

"Are you looking for Professor Lu?"

"Yeah…" The girl looked at Luo Wenxuan. She then noticed Lu Zhou who was standing behind Luo Wenxuan. Her eyes lit up as she asked, "Are you Professor Lu?"

Lu Zhou nodded and answered, "Yes, what do you want?"

"Um… Can we speak in private?" the girl hesitantly said as she looked at Luo Wenxuan.

"Okay then." Luo Wenxuan gave Lu Zhou the thesis and waved goodbye.

Lu Zhou looked at the nervous lady.

"Let's talk inside then."

Because it was the holiday season, there wasn't anyone in the office.

Lu Zhou opened the office door and placed the thesis on the coffee table. He then sat down at his desk.

Lu Zhou looked at the girl who followed him into the office and spoke.

"Please sit, do you need anything?"

The girl hesitated for a bit and decided not to sit on the sofa. She bit her lip and walked toward the desk.

"Um… Professor, there's something I want to ask you."

Lu Zhou: "No problem, I would be happy to help with any math problems, just nothing exam related."

"Um… It is exam related. I was very busy this semester as I had to do my level 6 English exam and had student union obligations… so I didn't have time to study." The girl walked forward and said, "Please, professor, please don't fail me, I'll do anything."

Failing a class meant no scholarships.

It could also mean not getting into a master's program.

Therefore, the girl was willing to make some sacrifices…

When Lu Zhou stood up from his desk, the girl nervously clenched her fists.

She tried to prepare herself mentally.

This was her first time doing something like this, and she didn't expect this to progress so fast.

Is he not going to buy me dinner first?

Lu Zhou walked next to her and stared at her for a second.

"Anything?" he asked.

The girl blushed, and she nodded quietly.

When Professor Lu walked up to her, her heart was pounding out of her chest. Professor Lu then spoke again.

"Then how about studying hard and preparing for the supplementary exam."

Girl: "???"

Lu Zhou looked at the muddled girl and sighed.

He had done so much for the Jin Ling University undergraduate system. Even though the Jin Ling University mathematics department wasn't world-class, there were plenty of students.

Why did he always get the idiot students?

I guess we still have to work hard on improving the education system…

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885 Holy Land of Aerospace

The third day after New Year's Day, the festive atmosphere faded from Jinling and the workers returned to the high-tech aerospace industrial area.

The doors of various factories were open; logistics trucks of all sizes drove on the spacious highways. Some trucks were filled with raw materials, others were filled with various parts. The trucks were like blood cells, filling the industrial area with nutrition, making China's aerospace industry stronger.

Located in the center of the entire industrial park was the boxy and spacious Jinling aerospace assembly center.

Inside the factory was a spacecraft metal skeleton, which was broken up into three pieces.

This place was like a sanctuary for the aerospace industry. The metal spacecraft skeleton was like a coffin, attracting the attention of astronauts all over the world.

Companies like Boeing, Space-X, and Airbus, companies that had done well in their respective fields, were willing to pay tens of billions of dollars to cooperate with Space-X. This was just to let their engineers take a look at the assembly center.

A group of foreign experts was standing beside the Magpie Bridge skeleton as they whispered to one another and pointed at things with a surprised look on their faces.

"Jesus Christ… How do you plan on sending it to space?"

The Chinese engineer standing beside them didn't respond. He merely stood still with his hands behind his back.

The foreign expert obviously wasn't satisfied, so he deliberately spoke in a provocative and sarcastic tone.

"This type of cuboid-shaped skeleton has a bunch of fatal flaws. Have you thought about what would happen if it gets hit by a meteorite? What about the cold metal welding effect in space? The huge amount of thrust will definitely magnify all of these risks."

The engineer with a hard hat still stood there with a polite smile on his face, and the foreign experts were a little annoyed.

The foreign experts weren't able to extract any information from the Chinese engineers, and they began to look a little disappointed.

The bearded expert who previously mentioned the cold welding effect was especially annoyed. He angrily complained, "Damnit… Aren't you going to argue?"

Suddenly, the quiet engineer spoke.

"Nothing to argue about. The spacecraft speaks for itself."

"…"

Director Li, who was also touring the warehouse, looked at the group of disappointed foreign experts and asked his assistant, "Who are these people? What are they doing?"

His assistant's English was pretty good, so he explained, "Those foreign people… are trying to find mistakes?"

"Mistakes?" Director Li raised his eyebrows. He chuckled and said, "They have the audacity to try and find mistakes here?"

If this were before, he wouldn't have been so confident. After all, a couple of years ago, China's aerospace industry wasn't strong enough to ignore the opinions of foreign experts.

But now, they were the only country in the world with controllable fusion technology, as well as ion thruster propulsion spacecraft. Why should they listen to anyone else's advice?

What a joke.

"The main reason they're here is to gain information on our technology. However, their tactics aren't that clever, and provoking us is useless."

Hou Guang, the director of the Aerospace Research Institute at the Jinling Institute for Advanced Study walked over and shook Director Li's hand with a smile. He said, "Director Li, welcome to the aerospace assembly center. We look forward to your guidance. You should have told me you were coming, I would have made some preparations."

"What guidance? I'm just a layman, so I can't give you any valuable advice. I didn't want to disturb the work here, so I didn't tell you guys I was coming," Director Li said as he shook Hou Guang's hand. He was a little worried about the foreign experts, so he said, "If you know they're here to extract information, why did you let them in?"

"That was a request from our partners. They want to ensure that our safety practices are up to standard. We're not going to lock them outside just because of this." Hou Guang smiled nonchalantly as he said, "Any technology that can be reverse-engineered just by looking at it isn't worth anything. Our core technology is at the Institute for Advanced Study. Forget the fact that they're not allowed in there. Even if they're watching us doing experiments, they probably wouldn't know what is going on."

In fact, this annoyed the competitors the most.

They spent a ton of money just to come here in the name of "safety inspection". However, all they saw were piles of metal scraps.

Yes, even though these metal scraps were valuable, they weren't able to extract any technical information.

After all, they weren't able to create a miniaturized version of controllable nuclear fusion themselves.

As Director Li looked at the jealous and resentful faces of the foreign experts, he sighed and said, "I never would have expected to see other people try to steal our technology."

Hou Guang smiled and said, "Yeah, sometimes it feels like I'm in a dream."

The group of foreign experts looked like tourists, moving from one attraction to the other. Hou Guang paused for a second and spoke.

"So far, we are currently bidding for NASA's 500-ton lunar transfer orbit mission. If everything goes well, our offer should be 20% lower than Space-X's offer. After discussing with experts, this is the most suitable bidding scheme. If the bid is successful, we'll be able to receive US$10 billion in transportation revenue, but…"

Director Li: "But what? You can ask me anything outside of technology, I'll try my best to help."

"No, you're mistaken, everything is going fine. I was just going to say that, but unfortunately, Academician Lu's attention is focused on mathematics." Hou Guang sighed and said, "Honestly, I miss the days of being on the front line with Academician Lu. We'd exchange data and ideas, and he often inspired me."

Director Li sighed and spoke.

"There's nothing we can do about that. Academician Lu has his own priorities. We can't always ask him to sacrifice for us."

"You're right, we shouldn't rely on him." Hou Guang nodded and said, "Looks like we have to try our best. Academician Lu tried his best to give us this advantage, we shouldn't let it go to waste."

Director Li smiled and nodded.

"Yeah, I'll go look around. If you see Professor Lu, make sure to say hi for me."

"Okay." Hou Guang waved his hand and put on his hard hat.

After Hou Guang walked away, Director Li looked at the nearly-complete Magpie Bridge, and he looked relieved and fascinated.

China's aerospace industry was going full force ahead, and everything was going in the right direction.

I can't believe I'm able to witness this during my lifetime.

I won't have any regrets when I die.

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886 Rejected!

Not being able to continue fighting side by side in the aerospace industry was unfortunate for Hou Guang. Hou Guang felt like his time working with Lu Zhou made him grow.

His growth wasn't only limited to his academic abilities, but also his leadership and management skills of a scientific research team.

Lu Zhou had plenty of experience in being a leader.

As the chief designer of the Chinese controllable fusion project, he was well versed in this area.

However, this skill couldn't be transferred to other people through teaching, only through experience.

Hou Guang sometimes thought that maybe the reason Lu Zhou decided to retreat from the front line was to give himself more room to grow.

Every time Hou Guang thought about this, he couldn't help but shed a tear.

People in the academic community that gave opportunities to the less fortunate was a rare sight.

However, Academician Wang Zengguang, the chief engineer of the China National Nuclear Corporation, had a totally different opinion of Lu Zhou.

Lu Zhou cared about other people?

Maybe a little bit.

But that's not the main reason!

Lu Zhou just isn't interested in power, and he's lazy!

Anyone who knew Lu Zhou knew that Lu Zhou never stayed in one field for long. Even when it came to mathematics, which was his favorite, he would often immediately jump into another field when his research came to a bottleneck.

This was obvious from his letter to the Communist Party of China, back when he was still the chief designer for the nuclear fusion project.

Lu Zhou clearly portrayed that, once controllable nuclear fusion was figured out, he would move onto something else.

Lu Zhou was too tired of being chief designer…

…

"Achoo!"

On the highway.

Lu Zhou was sitting in the backseat, admiring the view.

Wang Peng, who was driving the car, looked in the rearview mirror and spoke.

"Is it too cold?"

"No, it's fine…" Lu Zhou rubbed his nose and turned his attention back to the printed thesis on his lap.

This thesis was the one Luo Wenxuan showed him last week.

However, even though it was the same thesis, he received this thesis from someone else other than Luo Wenxuan.

In fact, Lu Zhou didn't want to read this thing; just from the abstract, he could tell that this was nothing more than a theoretical conjecture that didn't solve any real-life problems. It couldn't explain any unknown phenomenon and had close to no research value at all.

However, he didn't expect Luo Wenxuan to actually submit it to PRL; moreover, PRL actually asked him to review the thesis.

Because of the double-blind review process, Luo Wenxuan didn't know that his thesis was being reviewed by his boss.

Despite the possible conflicts of interest, Lu Zhou still accepted the review invitation from PRL. He printed out the thesis and began reading it on his drive back to his hometown.

Strictly speaking, even though there was still a week or two before Chinese New Year break, Lu Zhou planned on returning to his home town in a couple of days.

However, over the past few days, people often came to his office. Some were asking about exam marks, and some were giving him gifts. All these annoyed him.

Because this year's exam was scheduled to be before the holidays, he had more visitors than usual.

Not to mention there were some faculty members who wanted to work for him.

Lu Zhou told He Changwen to mark the rest of the exam papers and decided to go home early for Chinese New Year.

As for why he was driving?

Having a car during the holidays was more convenient.

Actually he wanted to drive his sports car, but the small car really wasn't suitable for the long journey. Per Wang Peng's suggestion, they took the black sedan instead.

The sedan was much more comfortable and Lu Zhou could even lie down in the back. It was perfect for long distances. The Electric Purple was pretty useless, other than for showing off.

"He has a good understanding of Minkowski space theory, but his mathematics skills are… Is this guy really Witten's student?"

It wasn't just the mathematical calculations, but the thesis also had logical problems.

In the field of theoretical physics, mathematics was very important, but it wasn't crucial.

Even scholars who only used basic mathematical tools could create new theories. For example, Frank Wilczek, who worked with Lu Zhou in the past, did profound research in the field of quark particles without a deep understanding of mathematics.

Physicists like Edward Witten, who created mathematical tools themselves and won the Fields Medal, were of course the minority.

Not only was the mathematics in Luo Wenxuan's thesis incorrect, but it also contained logical fallacies. It was a miracle this thesis even went into the peer review stage.

Lu Zhou smiled and shook his head. He then wrote down a line on the bottom of the paper.

[Rejected]

Do you really think I would accept this thesis?

In your dreams.

Forget about all the problems in the thesis…

I said I would eat a table if this thesis was accepted; obviously, I'm not going to do that to myself.

Lu Zhou placed the thesis aside and looked at the view outside the window. He suddenly spoke.

"Where are we?"

Wang Peng, who was holding the steering wheel, replied, "We're 10 kilometers from Jiangcheng."

Lu Zhou nodded and suddenly remembered something.

"Speaking of which, the semiconductor industry cluster is in the suburbs of Jiangcheng, right?"

Wang Peng paused for a second and didn't know why Lu Zhou was talking about this.

However, he still nodded and replied, "Yeah… I think it's in the eastern suburbs of Jiangcheng."

Eastern suburbs of Jiangcheng?

That's where the new silicon valley is…

Lu Zhou remembered that Chen Yushan told him that the Huawei carbon-based semiconductor production and research center was near here. He suddenly said, "Let's go take a look."

"Ok."

Without asking any questions, Wang Peng skillfully changed the lane and began driving toward the highway.

After driving Lu Zhou around for so many years, he was familiar with his personality.

Lu Zhou was always unpredictable.

Whether it was his research or his lifestyle.

Just like how he didn't give Wang Peng any notice before he decided to go home early for the holidays.

Wang Peng was used to it.

However, even though Wang Peng was used to this, some people weren't…

On the Jiangling highway exit, which was more than 200 kilometers away, a group of people waited in the cold while trembling in the wind…

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Jiangling highway exit.

Wu Dingrong stared hopelessly at the highway exit, and the breezing wind made his eyes hurt. Fortunately, it wasn't snowing today; otherwise, his stubble would have been covered in snowflakes.

He couldn't take it anymore and turned his stiff neck toward his assistant before asking, "Are you sure Professor Lu is coming back today?"

"The transportation department said he's coming today. Surely he's not still driving? It's only 500 kilometers… Mayor, what if you wait at the toll booth? I'll give you a call when the Highway Department notifies me."

Assistant Sun Xiaofeng, who was standing next to Wu Dingrong, was also confused.

When he saw a glimpse of irritation on the mayor's face, he started to become even more anxious.

He was the first person to hear that Lu Zhou was going back to Jiangling, and he immediately notified the major as soon as possible.

When the mayor heard that Academician Lu was coming back, the city council immediately held a conference and arranged the welcoming ceremony. They even set up a banner at the highway exit.

Normally speaking, an academician wasn't worthy of being greeted by the city council leadership team. Even though academicians received special treatment, they didn't have any political power.

But Academician Lu was different.

Not only was he involved in many national projects, but he was the winner of the Ling Yun medal award!

Forget about the local mayor, even the state department team had to bow down to him. Now that this big name was coming back home, Major Wu obviously put Lu Zhou on his highest priority.

However, there seemed to be a hiccup…

Logically speaking, after a seven-hour drive, Academician Lu should be arriving at the highway exit. But he was nowhere to be found.

"No…" Wu Dingrong shook his head and stared at the road as he said, "Academician Lu is a national hero, and he's the pride of Jiangling. We have to let him feel warm and welcome. Do you think waiting in a toll booth is being warm and welcome?"

You came all the way out here just to greet him, is that not enough?

Assistant Sun stared at the stubborn Mayor Wu and tried to persuade him.

"But… you can't just stand outside like this! It's freezing out here; what if you catch a cold?! Academician Lu would feel horrible."

In fact, Wu Dingrong wanted Lu Zhou to feel sorry.

Of course, with all the cameras and reporters surrounding him, he would never say that.

"I don't care about some cold. Academician Lu went into a coma for our country. Who cares about a cold? I'm in great health!" said Wu Dingrong as he shook his head. He continued, "This conversation is over. If you're cold, feel free to leave."

Even though Assistant Sun wanted to leave, he didn't dare to.

If he went home right now, he would be out of a job by tomorrow.

All he could do right now was to wait in the cold with the mayor and the city council leadership team.

Sun Xiaofeng looked at the mayor's fur coat, then looked at his thin blazer.

All he wanted was for Academician Lu's driver to drive faster.

The mayor might not get a cold, but he definitely would…

…

Unfortunately, Assistant Sun's wishes didn't come true.

The entire Jiangling city council didn't expect Lu Zhou to go on a field trip before returning to his hometown.

After Wang Peng got off the Jiangcheng highway, he set his navigation destination to an unmarked area on the map. They soon arrived at the edge of the Jiangcheng high-tech zone.

This was where the newly established semiconductor park was.

The medieval tall concrete walls surrounded the entire park. There were only six checkpoints at the car lanes used for importing and exporting goods.

Wang Peng slowly drove the car to a checkpoint and rolled down the windows. He showed his ID to one of the soldiers and was soon let in.

Lu Zhou looked at Wang Peng's ID and curiously asked, "Can you go anywhere with that ID?"

"Of course not," Wang Peng shook his head and said, "you have to apply for approval and write a report. You have to write what you did, who you met, how long you were there."

What a hassle.

"But I didn't see you apply for anything."

Wang Peng smiled and said, "Someone applied for me. After all, I'm not the only one in your security team."

"Oh, I see… Thanks so much."

Lu Zhou realized that his security team couldn't celebrate Chinese New Year and felt a little guilty.

However, Wang Peng didn't seem to care.

"No problem, your safety is our first priority."

Lu Zhou made a suggestion.

"Don't you want to go home for the holidays? Shouldn't you switch shifts with someone?"

Wang Peng smiled.

"As a soldier, the country is my home. Everywhere I go, I'm home."

The car slowly drove into the industrial park.

The six-lane roads were lined with rectangular white factories, and occasionally, they could see logistics trucks going in and out of the factories.

This place wasn't very lively, and the factories and research centers were like robots that quietly did their jobs.

Lu Zhou looked outside the window and felt shocked.

It's been less than two months.

The research institutes and factories are nearly done with construction…

This is a miracle.

Wang Peng stared at Lu Zhou and asked, "Where are we going?"

Lu Zhou thought for a second before replying, "Let's go to Huawei's HiSilicon."

Wang Peng nodded.

"Okay."

The black sedan drove down the six-lane street toward the building located at the center of the park.

This was the newly established HiSilicon semiconductor research and development building, as well as a semiconductor processing base.

Of course, it was too early to label this as a semiconductor processing base. They were still focused on the research and development side. After they turned the carbon-based transistors into a viable product, then they could talk about production.

Because Star Sky Technology invested in HiSilicon, the Jinling Institute for Advanced Study sent a team of carbon-based semiconductor researchers to help the engineers with industrialization problems.

The car drove into the parking lot as Lu Zhou called Chen Yushan. He told her that he was at the Jiangcheng semiconductor base. He then got out of the car and walked toward the factory.

However, when he was walking toward the entrance, a staff member wearing a hard hat walked over and stopped him.

"Stop! Which department are you from, why are you here… Oh sh*t, Lu Zhou?!"

When Lu Zhou saw the person, he was astounded.

"Guangming?!"

F*ck!

Huang Guangming?!

This was Lu Zhou's roommate in college.

Why is he here…

This…

Is such a coincidence!

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Huang Guangming took a second look.

He was sure this was Lu Zhou.

Huang Guangming was about to turn around and leave but Lu Zhou grabbed his shoulder.

"The f*ck? Why are you leaving…"

Huang Guangming stood there and sighed.

"I'm embarrassed to see myself like this, just let me go…"

Lu Zhou couldn't help but interrupt him.

"No, screw that!"

F*ck sake!

I haven't seen this a*shole for years, and he treats me like this…

Long gone was the cocky and obnoxious Guangming… Lu Zhou felt a little distant now.

When did my brother become like this?

Especially that hairline…

Lu Zhou nearly didn't recognize him.

After a moment of silence, Huang Guangming spoke.

"You look like you're surprised, in a bad way."

Lu Zhou smiled and said, "Of course not! I'm just a little emotional. I haven't seen you in six years, and you've changed… a lot."

Huang Guangming sighed and said, "… It's been six years, and you still don't know when you're being offensive."

Wait.

Am I?

Lu Zhou thought about it and didn't know how he was being offensive.

Wang Peng closed the car door and walked over.

"You know him?"

Lu Zhou was in a good mood, and he responded, "Yeah, an old friend of mine."

Huang Guangming looked at Wang Peng and said, "And you are?"

Lu Zhou was about to speak, but Wang Peng spoke first.

"Wang Peng, driver."

"Nice to meet you." Huang Guangming took off his safety hat and asked, "Why do you have a male driver?"

Faced with this weird question, Lu Zhou said, "… Have you ever seen a CEO with a female driver?"

Huang Guangming thought for a second and said, "I guess you're right."

Lu Zhou looked at the factory as he asked, "You're working at… HiSilicon?"

"Yeah…" Huang Guangming awkwardly scratched his head and said, "I switched majors. I was too embarrassed to say, but I didn't switch to finance; I switched to automation instead."

"… Why didn't you tell me?" Lu Zhou sighed and said, "I would have persuaded you otherwise."

"… Forget about it, bro." Huang Guangming sighed and said, "It's in the past."

Automation workers received little pay and had to work harder than programmers.

Huang Guangming was doing pretty well for himself, and he had a pretty good master's supervisor. Even though his academic abilities were average, and his major wasn't popular, he was still given an opportunity to work at Huawei.

However, Huang Guangming was the type of person who was average at everything he did.

This was an advantage when he was doing his master's. His supervisor didn't ignore him, nor did his supervisor pay too much attention to him.

But that blabbering mouth…

His friends might think it was funny, but his colleagues thought otherwise.

All in all, he earned a couple of grand in RMB per month, doing a highly stressful job. Even though he wasn't even in his thirties yet, his hairline was clearly receding.

"Honestly, if I knew it was going to be this stressful, I wouldn't have changed majors."

Lu Zhou wanted to say mathematics wasn't easier either, but he still couldn't help but ask, "Then why did you switch majors?"

Huang Guangming sighed and said, "My mom told me to. She said she has a cousin in a car factory. She heard that the factory workers have easy jobs, and they all majored in automation."

Huang Guangming went from an automation major to being a factory safety officer.

His mom didn't have the slightest clue what automation was, but Huang Guangming should have at least did some research himself.

"… By the way, why did you study mathematics in the first place?"

"My mom made me." Huang Guangming sighed and said, "Remember? I had a cousin in accounting, and she studied mathematics, so my mom made me major in mathematics as well…"

Lu Zhou: "…"

Okay then.

Everything makes sense now.

After all, this was Lu Zhou's roommate, so he still wanted to help him.

Lu Zhou felt bad seeing him like this.

Lu Zhou went silent for a while and asked, "Want to go back to school?"

"Forget about it, I know what you're going to say…" Huang Guangming shook his head and said, "I'm not smart enough to be in academia. I'm just happy you still remember me. If I go back to school, I'm going to do horribly, and people are going to blame you… I can't do that to you."

Lu Zhou understood what Huang Guangming was thinking, so he nodded and said, "No one will blame me. You're overthinking this, but it's your life, so I won't make your decisions for you. It's just that if you want to go back to school… Tell me."

Huang Guangming was a little hesitant, but he soon smiled and said, "Haha, thanks in advance then… Want a smoke?"

"I don't smoke… You're allowed to smoke here?" Lu Zhou looked around and tried to look for a non-smoking sign.

"Not in the factory, but you can smoke outside. I came out here for a cigarette break and happened to bump into you." Huang Guangming took out a cigarette and said, "Most people aren't allowed inside. There's even a 100,000 yuan reward for catching a corporate spy. But since you're an academician, you can probably visit. Do you want me to take you?"

Lu Zhou was about to reject his offer when the factory door slowly opened. A group of people in suits walked out of the factory.

Huang Guangming looked back and immediately threw his cigarette on the ground.

The person leading the group was the head of the HiSilicon semiconductor industrial factory, Meng Zhongbiao.

Lu Zhou: "Who is that?"

Huang Guangming gulped and spoke.

"… Factory manager."

Being caught slacking off…

I can forget about my salary bonus…

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889 I Have Half

When Huang Guangming saw the factory manager walk over, he began to mentally prepare himself. However, when the manager walked over, he completely ignored Huang Guangming and spoke to Lu Zhou instead.

"Academician Lu, what are you doing here, my friend? If you told us you were coming, we would have prepared to give you a tour!"

"No, no, it's fine," Lu Zhou looked at the factory manager and said, "I don't want to disturb your work. I mean, look at the group of people behind you, I already feel bad for intruding."

Lu Zhou obviously wasn't going to tell him that the real reason he was here was that he decided to go back to his hometown early this year, mainly because of the annoying people visiting his office.

"Don't worry about me, just let this guy give me a tour of the factory."

Lu Zhou patted Huang Guangming's shoulder, who then forced a smile on his face.

Meng Zhongbiao finally noticed the person standing next to Lu Zhou. He didn't recognize Huang Guangming but could tell that Huang Guangming was a factory staff member.

"Okay then… Then, will you please take care of Academician Lu. Give him a tour of the factory," Meng Zhongbiao said as he gave Huang Guangming a friendly smile. Meng Zhongbiao secretly looked at his assistant, who was standing next to him.

His assistant quickly knew what was going on. He took out his phone and took a photo of Huang Guangming. He then sent the photo to the factory Wechat group and sent a message.

[Who is this? I need details!]

"Okay, yes, sir!"

Huang Guangming didn't notice the assistant's movements. He nodded at the factory's "big name".

Based on Huang Guangming's years of experience in the field, he could tell that Factory Manager Meng was Lu Zhou's acquaintance. Huang Guangming was just glad his bonus was safe.

After all, when it came to the computer chip industry, other than the manager or the deputy manager, most of the staff members were doing repetitive work. The only difference was that the staff members were stuck in cubicles, while the assembly line workers were on the front-line.

His salary was enough to pay off his mortgage and car lease, but without his monthly bonus, he would have to eat sleep as his dinner this month.

After the leadership team walked away, Huang Guangming sighed a breath of relief before thanking Lu Zhou solemnly.

"Thanks, bro! Thanks to you, my bonus is still safe."

Lu Zhou smiled and said, "Stop slacking off at work. I can save you this time, but what about next time?"

"I told you, I'm not slacking off, I'm just taking a cigarette break… It's not like I can stay in the office for eight hours a day." Huang Guangming rubbed his head and said, "I'm a hard worker…"

"Forget about it, give me a tour inside." Lu Zhou looked at the large factory and grinned as he said, "I heard HiSilicon used to be supplied by TSMC. They finally have their own factory now, so I'm curious what it looks like inside."

"Actually, it's nothing special, just come with me… What about this guy?" Huang Guangming said as he pointed toward Wang Peng.

Wang Peng: "I am responsible for Academician Lu's safety. Just pretend like I don't exist."

Huang Guangming nodded and said: "… Okay then."

The three people walked into the spacious factory.

Lu Zhou followed Huang Guangming's footsteps and looked around the factory building. He visited various processing stations and learned about the production process.

Lu Zhou stared at the empty chip processing area, paused for a moment, then spoke.

"How come there's no equipment here… No workers either."

"Because the most important… Because the technology is still a secret," Huang Guangming said. He nearly spoke out loud about the carbon-based transistors, but fortunately, he stopped himself. He then said, "I can't tell you the specifics since it's a state secret… Hope you understand."

"It's fine, I get it."

Lu Zhou smiled and nodded his head.

Looks like Guangming is quite a professional; he won't even reveal secrets to me.

Too bad he doesn't know that I'm the one who set the guidelines on keeping carbon-based transistors a secret.

Huang Guangming started to speak a little more cautiously.

"I heard you worked in nuclear fusion, then aerospace. How do you have connections in semiconductors?"

"Connections?" Lu Zhou frowned and said, "Not really, I don't really know a lot of people in the semiconductor field…"

Wang Zhengfei was one of them, but Lu Zhou wasn't that close to him. Other than that, Professor Wu Tianqun, the head of the carbon-based transistor project, was the only other one.

These were the only two.

"Okay, fine, forget about it…" Huang Guangming glanced at Lu Zhou in disbelief. "If you're not friends with the factory manager, why would he let you in?"

"Oh, that's what you're talking about. I actually don't know him; I don't even know his name." Lu Zhou smiled awkwardly and said, "But I do have half of… HiSilicon's shares."

Huang Guangming: "???"

…

On the other hand, at the manager's office for the production and research center.

Meng Zhongbiao sat in front of his desk and picked up his vacuum flask. He glanced at his assistant.

His assistant knew what the manager wanted, so he looked at his phone and spoke.

"I did some research. That technician's name is Huang Guangming, and his resume is quite satisfactory. Nothing particularly amazing, but no bad records. He studied at Jin Ling University, and he was Academician Lu's… roommate."

"Room-roommate?!" Factory Manager Meng paused for a second and said, "They're in the same class?"

The assistant nodded.

"Academician Lu is in Jin Ling University's class of 2013… They didn't graduate at the same time, but they were in the same class."

Same class?!

How come one of them is an academician, and the other is…

Meng Zhongbiao contemplated for a second and said, "Um… Invite Huang Guangming to my office."

The assistant nodded.

"Yes, sir."

The fact that the manager used the word "invite" instead of "bring" was quite telling.

After the assistant found Huang Guangming, he politely brought the technician to the manager's office, then closed the office door and left.

The atmosphere in the office was quiet.

Huang Guangming stared at Manager Meng, who was sitting behind his desk. He was a little confused.

If Lu Zhou told him that he had East Asia Energy's shares, he would believe him. But Huawei's HiSilicon… He thought Huawei maintained total control over HiSilicon?

It's not about making money…

If he were the Huawei CEO, even if it meant losing billions, he would never sell HiSilicon's shares and let other people stick their hands into the pie. Not to mention, even if Huawei wouldn't lose billions, they were still competitive in the fields of security monitoring and automation.

However, Lu Zhou didn't explain anything to him. Lu Zhou just asked him to finish the tour, then they bid their farewells.

When he got back to his cubicle, he was immediately called into his boss' office…

Huang Guangming stared at Manager Meng and asked, "Manager Meng?"

No response.

The manager didn't even acknowledge him.

Huang Guangming didn't dare to speak again.

They quietly sat there as the clock on the wall slowly ticked by. After a minute, Meng Zhongbiao finally nodded.

This kid is a bit goofy, but he's a good student. But he does come in a dime a dozen, but…

He does have training value.

I guess I'll promote him to safety officer, then deputy safety director, then maybe management…

Of course, he might not be fit for the job.

I'm giving him the opportunity, but if he doesn't perform well, I'm sure Academician Lu won't want a team dragger.

While Factory Manager Meng was contemplating, Huang Guangming got the chills. Factory Manager Meng's arrogant smile gave Huang Guangming goosebumps.

The f*ck, this guy isn't interested in me, right?

I don't swing that way!

While he was hesitating on what to say, Factory Manager Meng finally said, "From now on, you'll be responsible for the safety of the research and production center."

Huang Guangming: "…?"

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890 Unexpected Things

After Lu Zhou left HiSilicon's semiconductor production and research center, he didn't immediately get in his car. Instead, he and Wang Peng walked around the industrial park.

Lu Zhou looked at the buildings and suddenly spoke.

"Wang Peng."

Wang Peng: "What?"

Lu Zhou smiled and said, "Nothing, we've been walking around here for a while, what do you think?"

Wang Peng went silent for a second before replying, "It's impressive."

Lu Zhou looked at him.

"That's all you have to say?"

"I don't really know how to describe it." Wang Peng looked at the large rectangular semiconductor factories and said, "It's… also a bit unexpected."

Due to the globalization of the market, every country had its own position in the global industrial chain, and they had their own areas they were competitive at. However, the ability to produce and the willingness to produce were two different things.

Intel moved its US factory to Saigon because of the expensive US labor costs. It wasn't because of the decline of the US' chip manufacturing abilities.

If Intel wanted to, they could move the production back to America at a moment's notice.

Semiconductor was China's electronics industry forte. Semiconductor was located in the upstream of the chip manufacturing field.

But now, semiconductors were set aside, giving Wang Peng a surreal feeling.

Are the carbon-based chips really that magical?

Honestly speaking, Wang Peng wasn't convinced.

However, he wasn't a scientist, so he had nothing to say.

"A ton of unexpected things are going to happen in the future, just get ready…" Lu Zhou smiled and said, "Speaking of which, I feel like I learned a lot just from walking around here."

"Like what?"

"Like production safety." Lu Zhou smiled and said, "The production process of carbon-based chips and silicon-based chips are completely different. Carbon fibers and carbon dust generated in the production process are flammable. Forget about prohibiting flames inside the plant; they have to be careful of things outside the plant as well."

Wang Peng: "Then what are they going to do?"

"Obviously ban smoking throughout the entire park… Why?"

"Nothing…" Wang Peng smiled and touched his pack of cigarettes as he said, "I just think… It'll be a pain in the a*s."

He had been smoking for many years; not so much over the past two years, but he still smoked whenever Lu Zhou was not around.

Banning smoking throughout the entire park would be torture for those nicotine addicts.

Lu Zhou shook his head and said, "I don't know what's so hard, can't they just quit?"

Wang Peng smiled and changed the subject as he asked, "Is there anywhere else you want to visit?"

"I've seen most of the places I want to visit." Lu Zhou glanced at the buildings and said, "Let's head back."

"Okay, just wait here, I'll bring the car to you." Wang Peng nodded and started to walk away.

…

Lu Zhou wasn't very familiar with the production process. Otherwise, he wouldn't have had to buy half of a semiconductor company just to solve the industrialization problem.

However, even though he wasn't familiar with the industry, he could still give out constructive opinions from a scholar's perspective.

Because of this, even though Lu Zhou was engaged in theoretical research, he still visited all of the necessary facilities.

For example, he learned a lot from this trip.

In addition to the basic safety measures, there were a lot of areas that could be improved in the HiSilicon production and research center.

If it weren't for his visit, these problems would be buried in the long production process. The technicians and workers in the factory could take years trying to find these problems. Instead, Lu Zhou was able to find the root of the problem.

Even though Lu Zhou might not be able to come up with a solution, he could at least point out the problem.

He wrote down these problems and sent it to Chen Yushan. He also sent a copy to Director Li.

He was certain his letter would be immensely useful…

Lu Zhou continued to embark on his journey back home. Dozens of kilometers away, Mayor Jia Yuanping sat at his Jiangcheng office. He meticulously read the document in his hand.

Suddenly, he heard footsteps from outside the office. His office door was pushed open as his assistant walked in.

"Mayor!"

"What?" The mayor put down his pen and said, "Why didn't you knock?"

The assistant didn't explain why he didn't knock; instead, he immediately spoke.

"We just received news from the traffic bureau that Academician Lu just got off the highway at the Jiangcheng exit."

Mayor Jia immediately stood up. He was more anxious than his assistant.

"Go!"

The assistant was a little shocked.

The mayor spoke.

"Go there right now!"

Mayor Jia didn't inform the province of the news; instead, he brought his staff members to the scene.

The group of people soon arrived at the semiconductor industrial base entrance. A soldier standing at the checkpoint was muddled.

The soldier standing at the checkpoint nervously looked around and reported the situation to his superiors.

After a while, he received a reply from his superior, telling him not to worry.

The assistant walked up to him and spoke in a friendly tone.

"Hey there, we're from the city council, did you happen to see a black sedan?"

The soldier looked at this man.

"Identification, sir."

"Here," Mayor Jia said. He took out his red ID and said, "We're from the city council, and we heard Academician Lu is here? Can you tell us where he is?"

The soldier looked at the red ID and made sure it was real. He did a salute and gave the ID back to Jia Yuanping.

"If you're here for Academician Lu, I suggest you leave."

The assistant anxiously said, "We're in a hurry…"

The soldier interrupted the assistant and said, "Academician Lu left twenty minutes ago…"

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Suddenly, the situation became awkward.

Both people from the city and the provincial council were here, and the reporters from the TV station were ready. However, in the end, they waited futilely at the semiconductor industrial base entrance.

But there was nothing they could do.

After all, they didn't make an appointment, nor did they have Academician Lu's phone number. It wasn't like they could chase him on the highway and bring him back?

That wouldn't end well.

Lu Zhou was already on the highway, back to his hometown, Jiangling.

When his car approached the Jiangling highway exit, he was shocked when he looked at the toll station.

Several large searchlights were placed on top of the toll booths, shining white laser beams into the sky. It was something out of a concert or sporting event.

Lu Zhou wasn't the only one who was shocked; Wang Peng was also surprised.

"Why are there signal lights at the toll station?"

Fortunately, the lights were aimed toward the sky instead of the highway.

Otherwise, a few car crashes were bound to happen.

"…"

Lu Zhou looked at the toll station for a while before finally realizing that the lights weren't aimed toward the sky. Instead, they were illuminating a banner above the toll station.

He looked closely and was astonished.

His name was on the banner.

"Should we go through another entrance?" Lu Zhou said; he was a little embarrassed.

Wang Peng awkwardly coughed.

"We're already here, how else are we supposed to get in?"

Even though Lu Zhou was reluctant, this was his only option.

Wang Peng drove that black sedan toward the highway exit. A group of people in suits stood next to the toll booths in the cold.

The moment they saw the black sedan, Sun Xiaofeng all sighed in relief.

Sun Xiaofeng looked at the mayor and quickly said, "Mayor! That one!"

The people around him sighed in relief as well.

They had been waiting here since noon, and it was already nighttime. Fortunately, they didn't have to wait overnight.

The group of people began to whisper quietly.

"Is that Academician Lu's car?"

A veteran government official who was about to retire spoke with an envious look in his eyes, "Black sedan with a red flag… Not bad, Beijing probably gave him the car."

"Have you watched the news?"

"No sh*t, which politician doesn't?"

"Then you probably don't pay enough attention."

"Why do you say that?"

"Just look at the car model."

The group of people quietly exclaimed.

Another young official couldn't help but ask, "I heard he has a one of a kind sports car? How come he didn't drive that?"

Another person began to explain.

"Driving a sports car is too much publicity. This sedan was given to him by the state, and it's much more lowkey. It's also more spacious, more suitable for long drives. Seems like Academician Lu isn't sloppy, and he's quite a careful person."

Mayor Wu happened to overhear the conversation, and he said, "What do you mean sloppy, of course he's not sloppy!"

"Yes, sir, my bad…"

The person lowered his head and shut his mouth.

The black sedan drove over and passed the toll booth. It then drove toward the parking space near the toll booth.

Wu Dingrong walked over with his team behind him as he enthusiastically reached out his hand.

"Academician Lu, it must have been a long journey!"

"No, no, it was fine." Lu Zhou got out of the car and looked at Mayor Wu. He shook the mayor's hand and said, "I'm just coming home for the holidays, no need for all the formalities…"

"This is our duty." Wu Dingrong shook Lu Zhou's hand and said, "There are only 17 academicians in Jiangling, and you're the youngest and most accomplished of them. You're the pride of Jiangling, the pride of the country. We're just showing our appreciation to our hometown friend."

The mayor had quite the speech prepared.

Even though Lu Zhou was a little embarrassed, he still appreciated the kind words.

However, he was still a little remorseful.

Not only did this welcoming ceremony waste his time, but it also wasted a bunch of other people's time.

After Lu Zhou let go of Mayor Wu's hand, he spoke in a serious manner.

"Mr. Mayor, please don't do this in the future. We're all Jiangling people here, so no need to waste the taxpayers' money on me. It's making me feel bad for coming back."

After some small talk, Lu Zhou euphemistically declined the mayor's offering for sending him home. Lu Zhou was finally able to get rid of the city council people and returned to his black sedan.

Lu Zhou sat in the backseat and sighed.

"Finally got rid of them."

Wang Peng started the car and said, "The low-level leadership team is quite enthusiastic."

Lu Zhou smiled and said, "The city council isn't low-level. right?"

"You might not realize it in Jinling, but after you stay in Beijing for a while, you'll realize that…" Wang Peng shook his head and said, "The mayor of a city is such a small role."

Lu Zhou thought for a second and realized Wang Peng was right.

Everyone he met in Beijing was a higher level than a city mayor…

Lu Zhou suddenly remembered something and spoke.

"Then, which level am I?"

When Wang Peng heard this, he nearly crashed the car.

"You don't know?"

"… I never thought about it."

Lu Zhou stayed in his university office most of the time, and occasionally, he handled some work for the Lunar Orbit Committee. As the chief designer, he was mainly responsible for decision making and research rather than delegating specific tasks.

Apart from attending some conferences with the Lunar Orbit Committee and the State Administration for National Defense, Lu Zhou didn't really interact with anyone from the state. He spent the majority of his time in his laboratory.

He remembered hearing a long time ago about the treatment for various government administrative levels, but he didn't really care about that stuff and forgot about it a long time ago.

Wang Peng realized that Lu Zhou wasn't joking with him, so he looked in the rearview mirror and spoke.

"The Lunar Orbit Committee is directly controlled by the Communist Party of China. There are more than a dozen military members guarding your home. The car we're in right now… What level do you think you are?"

Lu Zhou went silent and began thinking.

Emmmm…

He had never paid attention to this stuff before; he just knew that academicians received special treatment.

But now, he suddenly realized…

I guess I'm quite important?

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892 Returning to Home

When Lu Zhou arrived in Jiangling, it was already late at night. Even though he wanted to go home, he remembered that his parents were probably asleep. Thus, he decided to get a hotel room in the city and asked Wang Peng to drive him back home the next day.

The doorbell began to ring.

Lu Zhou heard the footsteps get closer, and the door was soon slammed open.

When Fang Mei looked at Lu Zhou's familiar face, her eyes were filled with tears of excitement and joy.

"Son! You're finally back!"

"Mom!" Lu Zhou gave his mother a hug and saw his father walk to the front door. Lu Zhou took a deep breath and spoke with a slightly trembling voice, "Dad, I'm back!"

When was the last time I was here?

It was either three or four years ago; Lu Zhou couldn't remember.

Lu Bangguo looked at his son and said, "Fantastic, how was the drive? Come, sit down… This is?"

Lu Zhou moved half a step to the side and said, "He's Wang Peng, my driver. You guys have met before."

"Oh, oh, yeah, I remember. Damn, my memory is getting worse day by day…" Lu Bangguo smiled and said, "Come on in, guys."

The two walked into the living room as Lu Bangguo politely brought over a cup and teapot.

If it were just his son, he wouldn't be this polite. However, he had a guest in his house. Even though Wang Peng repeatedly said to pretend like he didn't exist, Lu Bangguo just couldn't leave him alone.

"So much has changed…"

Lu Zhou took a sip of the tea and looked at the renovated house.

The TV was replaced with a 48-inch flat-screen TV, and the clock on the wall had been changed.

Lu Zhou even saw some garlic and chive plants sitting on the window ledge.

Almost everything he remembered had changed.

The only thing that didn't change was the familiar smell of home.

Fang Mei smiled and said, "You and your sister aren't around, so dad and I decided to renovate the house. Most of the pieces of furniture are new, but I didn't touch your and your sister's rooms."

"Oh, really?" Lu Zhou smiled and said, "Perfect, I was planning on seeing what my old room looked like."

Lu Bangguo looked at Wang Peng, who sat solemnly on the sofa. He smiled and said, "Wang Peng, how about you stay for dinner? I'll go buy a fish from the market."

"No, no." Wang Peng politely waved his hands and said, "I have some work to do, I won't disturb your family reunion."

Lu Zhou asked, "Work to do?"

Wang Peng coughed and said, "I have some forms to fill… and other things."

Without asking about the specifics, Lu Zhou nodded.

"Okay then, I'll send you out."

Wang Peng was walking out of the house when he rubbed his eyes.

Lu Zhou noticed his movements. He paused for a second and asked, "What's wrong?"

"Nothing…" Wang Peng shook his head and said, "Just… a little sad. You have sacrificed so much for this country, for science."

Wang Peng's voice suddenly began to choke up.

Lu Zhou didn't know what to say.

"…"

Actually he wanted to tell Wang Peng that he was happy with himself, but seeing how emotional Wang Peng was, he decided to keep quiet.

It's fine, I'll just leave him to be.

Lu Zhou changed the subject and said, "Are you looking for a place to stay? I'll reimburse the accommodation…"

Wang Peng: "No need, I'll live in a hostel nearby."

Lu Zhou shook his head and said, "No, don't do that. It's fine, it barely costs anything anyway. It's better for you to get some rest, and I'll also feel safer with you behind the wheel."

Wang Peng coughed and said, "I think you have the wrong idea… The conditions there are pretty nice, and they give us three meals a day, so don't worry about it."

Most importantly, because of his military background, he wasn't used to fancy hotels. He would much rather live in a safer, more secure place…

Lu Zhou didn't try to persuade him otherwise. They said goodbye and went their separate ways.

…

After Lu Zhou watched the black sedan disappear from his driveway, he turned around and went back into his house.

His mom already started to cook lunch, while his dad was out buying groceries. Even though he wanted to help his mom cook, his mom told him not to.

Lu Zhou was bored out of his mind, so he took his computer bag and went into his room.

Even though he told himself he wasn't going to work over the holidays, there really was nothing else to do.

He wasn't the type of person to chill out and do nothing.

Lu Zhou took out his computer and placed it on his worn-out but clean desk. He looked around and couldn't help but feel nostalgic.

Just like his mom said, nothing had changed.

Everything was exactly the same as he left it. The only difference was that the spotless surfaces were obviously frequently cleaned.

Lu Zhou picked up the photo frame on the corner of the desk.

Inside was a photo of his high school graduation.

Pictured were his best friends, his teachers, girls that he had a crush on, girls that crushed on him… And of course, himself.

He looked at his younger self in the photo and smirked.

Back then, he was clueless and naive, but that feeling of carefree happiness was rather unforgettable.

Everyone lost something in the pursuit of success.

After reminiscing for a while, Lu Zhou put the photo aside and focused his attention on his laptop.

"I'll finish this before lunch."

Lu Zhou began to type on the keyboard.

[Recommendations and Improvements on the Jiangcheng Carbon-Based Semiconductor Industrial Park (first draft)]

After typing down the title, Lu Zhou began tapping his index finger on the table. After gathering his thoughts on the carbon-based semiconductor industrial park, he began writing.

The time quickly ticked by, and five pages were soon filled with words.

After Lu Zhou double checked for any mistakes, he opened his email and sent a copy to Chen Yushan as well as the State Administration for National Defense. Finally, he leaned back on his chair and sighed in relief.

"That should do that job."

He was about to turn off his computer and leave his room when he suddenly received an email.

Lu Zhou didn't recognize the sender's email address.

Paul Robin Krugman… from Princeton's economics department?

Lu Zhou stared at this name for a while as he frowned.

Emmmm…

Who is this?

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893 Doing a Master"s

Lu Zhou occasionally communicated with some economics scholars during his time at Princeton, but he wasn't familiar with most of the economics department at Princeton.

It wasn't like he could remember everyone's name?

Not to mention, Princeton was a huge school, and since he only stayed there for a few years, it was likely that he never interacted with this person before.

Lu Zhou tried to remember if he had ever talked with this person, but he couldn't remember anything. Thus, he decided to go online and search for this person's academic background.

It turned out this guy was quite a big name.

Krugman!

2008 Nobel Prize in Economics laureate!

Expert in international trade, exchange rate, and macroeconomics!

His most glorious academic achievement was his 1994 successful prediction of the Asian financial crisis, which happened in 1997. This prediction became wildly popular in various fields of economics after the Asian financial crisis, which led to him winning the Nobel Prize in 2008.

Lu Zhou felt strange why this guy was emailing him.

The subject of the email was asking if Lu Zhou had any time to talk about some academic topics.

Even though Lu Zhou wasn't interested in economics, after pondering for a while, he wrote a reply.

[I'm available at 8 pm tonight, Beijing time. We can chat then if you like.]

After all, he had to give some respect to a Nobel Prize scholar.

It wasn't like he had anything else to do anyway…

…

8 pm at night.

Krugman's face appeared in the video call.

The professor skipped through the small talk and self-introduction. The second the call was connected, he spoke aggressively.

"You have no idea how important your research is!"

Lu Zhou was a little startled, and he said, "I'm not sure which research you're talking about… Can you be more specific?"

Krugman took a deep breath and explained.

"The Bewley model is on the cutting edge of macroeconomics… Your improved model… I'll call it the Lu-Bewley model for the time being. Not only does it reduce the cumbersome calculations, but it also reduced the random error of the model!"

Bewley model?

Oh, he's talking about Xiao Tong's thesis…

After hearing Professor Krugman's explanation, Lu Zhou had a look of realization on his face.

However, he wasn't nearly as excited as Professor Krugman.

Seeing how Lu Zhou didn't respond, Professor Krugman thought that Lu Zhou didn't know what was going on. Thus, Krugman cleared his throat and continued, "Let's put it this way, putting aside the complicated models, there are two goals of economics—one is to optimize the efficiency of resource allocation and the other is to coordinate all of the interests of society! If we have an accurate model, or even an approximation, we can maximize the efficiency of resource allocation! We can even predict future economic activities!"

Lu Zhou finally had a reaction. He leaned back on his chair and said, "Sounds quite impressive."

Lu Zhou smiled and looked at Professor Krugman through the screen as he said, "I don't know a lot about economics, but when it comes to chaotic systems… it seems like there has never been a 100% accurate mathematical model. For example, how can you predict the invention of controllable fusion technology? How can it predict its impact on the global economy?"

"I can't answer that, but it's not the main point." Krugman shook his head and said, "I can tell you that technological advancements are correlated to research and development funding, GDP ratios, etc. These parameters are included in the model. Regardless, this is a Nobel Prize level research! If you continue to perfect the Bewley model, the next Nobel Prize in economics is yours!"

"But… I already won the Fields Medal," Lu Zhou shrugged and said, "and a Nobel Prize."

The atmosphere in the video call became a little awkward.

Professor Krugman coughed and spoke.

"You don't want another? This is a Nobel Prize…"

"Nobel Prizes just aren't that attractive for me." Lu Zhou sighed and said, "You know what? Opposed to the meaningless awards, I'm more interested in the problem itself. Do you know what I'm saying, Professor Krugman?"

"…"

Krugman didn't want to say anything.

He wanted to throw his laptop out of the window.

This stupid millennial was telling him that the Nobel Prize was meaningless!

This is infuriating!

He took a deep breath and tried to persuade him.

"Is the Bewley model not interesting enough? This is an important problem! I can guarantee you that it will change the world more than any pure mathematics research—"

"Maybe not," Lu Zhou interrupted Krugman. He then said, "Plus, the improved version of the Bewley model… Or as you call it, the Lu Bewley model, only took me an hour to do. It doesn't seem difficult or interesting at all."

One hour…

Krugman froze.

His instincts told him that this was impossible, but the person on his screen didn't seem like he was joking or lying.

Why would he lie?

But spending just an hour to perfect the Bewley model…

That's unbelievable!

"Okay then," Lu Zhou said. Seeing how Professor Krugman was speechless, Lu Zhou looked at his watch and yawned. "My apologies, but I can't help you. There are many excellent mathematics professors at Princeton. Maybe you can bring my model to them and ask for help.

"Goodbye."

The video call ended.

Krugman stared at the black screen and stayed motionless for a long time. His fingers trembled as he took off his glasses.

His student, who sat beside him watching the whole thing unfold, suddenly murmured, "Professor?"

Krugman sighed and shook his head.

"I have to think of another way."

There were many excellent mathematics professors at Princeton, but most of them weren't interested in economics, especially those in theoretical research. They looked down upon those in applied disciplines and thought economics was a waste of time.

But now, a world-renowned scholar had done some research in economics, so Krugman wasn't going to give up.

Krugman began to think, and he suddenly had an idea.

He suddenly remembered that there was another author on the thesis.

Not Forster.

He had never heard of Forster before, and he thought Forster was probably some guy that stepped on sh*t.

But the second author…

Krugman's eyes lit up as he looked at his student and immediately spoke.

"Wisl!"

Wisl immediately responded, "Here… What do you need?"

"Write an email for me; I'll give you the address later. The recipient's name is Lu Xiao Tong…" Krugman paused for a second and muttered to himself, "If everything goes well, we should have enough time."

Even though Krugman spoke quietly, Wisl still heard the last sentence.

He paused for a second and spoke.

"Enough time for what?"

Krugman paused for a second and said, "Remember that paper I showed you? The groundbreaking side is the mathematics component, but the economics theory was also well done. Being able to make a mathematician do economics research is a rare quality in and of itself… If I'm correct, she hasn't decided on where to go for a PhD!"

Wisl paused for a second and proposed a scenario.

"But what if she doesn't want to continue in academia?"

Krugman replied, "Impossible!

"Having written such an excellent thesis, there's no way she isn't going into academia! There's no reason for her to write such a good paper just for her master's!

"Just write the email."

"Okay…" Wisl looked at his boss and nodded. He opened his computer and began typing.

This PhD student in his thirties couldn't help but think.

Every graduation season, people are begging for recommendation letters, digging their brains out trying to get a good PhD supervisor. But this chick, forget about recommendation letters; she has a Nobel Prize laureate begging for her…

Who is she?

This was the first time Wisl heard something like this happen.

Wisl thought back to his initial years in academia, and he felt a sense of distaste in his mouth…

Goddamn!

I'm so f*cking jealous!

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894 Lu Bewley Model

In fact, Xiao Tong did write that thesis just to graduate. She asked her brother to help with the mathematical model optimization, but the thesis ended up disrupting the entire economics field…

The improved Bewley model… or the so-called Lu-Bewley model, was far superior to the previous Bewley model, both in terms of computational efficiency and the accuracy of calculation results. This greatly benefited the macroeconomists around the world.

And it wasn't just that.

What surprised people wasn't just the superiority of the Lu Bewley model, but it was also the fact that Professor Lu was doing research on economics!

And that he had already produced such an outstanding result!

The Bewley model had always been a state of the art model for the field of macroeconomics; it was one of the classical mathematical economics concepts.

But now, there was a more powerful model presented in front of them. How could they not be excited?

Even though Lu Zhou didn't officially name this model, the academic community named it for him.

Which was the Lu Bewley model!

This was Xiao Tong's graduation thesis, but the spotlight was entirely on her brother. However, she wasn't discouraged; instead, she was almost relieved.

She knew that she could have never produced this level of research on her own.

Because of this, at the bottom of the thesis, she clearly stated that the mathematical model was mainly completed by Lu Zhou, and that she was mainly responsible for the economic theory and data collection.

Maybe because she was a second author, because after the thesis was published, she didn't receive any unnecessary harassment.

As for her mentor, Professor Forster, who was named as the first author, his email was being filled to the brim.

This middle-aged professor was overjoyed.

Allowing one student to graduate in exchange for the first author on an outstanding thesis, this was one of the best trades he had ever done!

The only unfortunate thing was that his name wasn't included in the Lu Bewley model…

…

University of Oxford campus.

An office in the department of economics.

Professor Forster spoke in an angry voice toward a poor BBC reporter.

"I think the Lu Bewley model name is totally unfair! As a first author for this paper, I think my name should be in the model! This is outrageous!"

People like Professor Forster were never satisfied.

Even though Professor Forster knew this thesis was outstanding, he didn't think it would be this magnificent. He didn't expect the entire macroeconomics community to be raving over this paper. The paper even attracted the attention of several big names!

Like Krugman…

Forster often talked about Krugman's international trade economics theory in his lectures. He never expected Krugman to comment on his paper in the Science highlights section.

Indeed, the Lu Bewley model thesis was featured in the famous Science highlights section. This was the first time the Lu Bewley model name was seen. The entire economics world decided to adopt the name.

This made him excited, but also furious.

Nothing indicated that he contributed to the mathematical model!

The BBC reporter tried and failed to calm Forster down. He had no choice but to continue the interview.

"But Mr. Forster, according to an academician from the Royal Academy of Sciences, the essence of the paper is the mathematical side, which was independently completed by Professor Lu Zhou… What specific contributions have you done to the model?"

Professor Forster was stunned.

"Um… Contributions are often not reflected in the paper itself," Professor Forster awkwardly said. "You know, when it comes to scientific research, especially the theoretical side, collecting and interpreting data are also very important. Being able to collaborate with a world-class scholar is also the job of a scientific researcher!"

He was correct.

Social skill was also part of scientific research.

There were even people who had substandard research abilities but were still able to produce good research results because of their connections.

After all, most scholars were relatively introverted. If someone could connect two scholars together, or even put two people in a room together, they might be able to create some friction.

For example, Montgomery, who studied number theory, and Dyson, who studied physics, had never interacted with each other prior to Princeton's "master socializer" Giovala connecting them together.

However…

After the BBC reporter heard Professor Forster's explanation, he had an awkward expression on his face.

"But according to our sources, the reason why Professor Lu participated in the research was that his sister Ms. Lu Xiao Tong was involved in the project."

Professor Forster furiously said, "Enough! I'm her supervisor, and I was the one who brought her into the world of academia! Who do you really think contributed more!"

The interview continued in the office.

Even though the doors were closed, Xiao Tong could still hear the anger in Professor Forster's words through the door.

If this were before, she would have been a little worried.

But now, she only felt relief and pride.

It was time for her to say goodbye to this place.

Ansley was also standing in the corridor outside, and she looked at Xiao Tong and said, "Congratulations on graduating… Sometimes I think your choice is correct, but there are things I can't say."

Xiao Tong smirked and said, "I know what you want to say."

Ansley shrugged and said, "Good, I feel like Forster argues like a little kid."

Xiao Tong brushed her hair and smiled.

"I couldn't agree more."

The two smiled at each other.

Ansley then said, "Have you decided on where you want to go?"

"Not yet, I just want to go to Princeton, but I haven't thought about which teacher to apply to." Xiao Tong paused for a second and said, "I'm not in a hurry; I still have the holidays to think about it. I'll probably read through some papers, see which research directions are interesting."

"I think you should think carefully, don't make decisions too soon," Ansley said. "Also, you should wait a while before asking him for a recommendation letter… He's not in the best mood right now, who knows what he'll do."

Xiao Tong casually said, "Actually, the recommendation letter doesn't matter, plus Professor Forster's personality… I have a better chance at winning a lottery than getting his recommendation letter."

She wasn't very worried about the recommendation letter.

Even though the letter was important, it wasn't crucial.

With an Econometrica thesis under her belt, most professors would strongly consider her PhD application, even without a recommendation letter.

Ansley smiled and said, "Looks like you have it all thought out, then I wish you… A happy Chinese New Year."

"Thank you."

Suddenly, the phone in her pocket vibrated.

"Wait a second… I think I received a notification."

Ansley: "Go ahead, open it."

Xiao Tong took out her phone and glanced at the email notification. She read the title and froze there.

Ansley noticed her expression and asked, "What?"

"I…" Xiao Tong calmed herself down and said, "received a letter from Professor Krugman."

"Krugman? Paul Krugman from Princeton?" Ansley froze for a second and said, "Oh my gosh! Krugman! I read his paper a few days ago! What did he say?"

"He said…" Xiao Tong looked up in disbelief and said, "He asked me to study a PhD with him… That is, if I haven't decided yet."

Ansley: "…???"

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895 Things Don"t Go According to Plan

Xiao Tong wasn't the only one surprised at the popularity of her Econometrica thesis; Lu Zhou was also surprised. He had just returned to his hometown, preparing to cut off connection with the outside world and focus on solving Riemann's hypothesis. However, before his holidays were even over, his mailbox was filled to the brim with emails.

Some of them were sent from his old friends in Princeton, others were sent from people he didn't know, but it seemed like they were all scholars in the fields of macroeconomics and computational economics research. Many of them were quite famous.

These emails were how Lu Zhou found out that his mathematical model was gaining attention in the economics field. Apparently, there were several economics seminars held around the world regarding his mathematical model.

The general consensus of the economists aligned with Krugman's viewpoints, which was that they all hoped that Lu Zhou could continue researching the Lu Bewley model and bring macroeconomics and computation economics to a higher place.

Unfortunately, Lu Zhou wasn't interested.

In the beginning, Lu Zhou politely replied to the emails. But later on, more and more emails were coming on, so he asked Xiao Ai to handle them.

After that, Lu Zhou finally had some time to continue researching his mathematical model, the "hyperelliptic curve analysis method".

The day before Chinese New Year, noon time in London.

Xiao Tong was packing her bags while video calling Lu Zhou on WeChat. She told him about being invited to do a PhD under Krugman.

After Lu Zhou heard Xiao Tong's exciting announcement, he paused for a second and said, "Xiao Tong."

"Yeah?"

Xiao Tong was busy stuffing her clothes into her suitcase.

Lu Zhou paused for a second then continued, "Theoretically speaking, can an economics model… accurately predict the future?"

Lu Zhou nearly forgot what Krugman told him a couple of days ago, but Xiao Tong's sudden mention of Krugman made him remember what the Nobel Prize laureate had said to him.

Predicting the future…

Predicting future social activities and even macroeconomic political patterns…

Is that possible?

Xiao Tong paused for a second, tilted her head, and answered in a serious manner, "It's not impossible… But the use of economics isn't just for predicting."

Lu Zhou: "Then what's it for?"

"For efficient allocation of social resources… Or, I guess, developing a better future?"

Xiao Tong sounded a little uncertain. After all, she only received her master's a month ago. She still had a long way to go.

"Oh, I see…"

Lu Zhou nodded thoughtfully and didn't say anything.

Xiao Tong stared at the screen. Her brother seemed to be contemplating, so she curiously asked, "Brother, aren't you researching Riemann's hypothesis? Why are you asking me this?"

Suddenly, she happily asked, "Are you… interested in economics?"

"No, of course not, someone just asked me an interesting question," Lu Zhou said. He smiled and changed the subject. "Speaking of which, when are you coming back?"

Even though this could be an interesting research project, it wasn't fascinating enough for Lu Zhou.

After all, the so-called predicting the future was nothing but a conjecture; even Professor Krugman wasn't very confident when he mentioned it to Lu Zhou.

Of course, he would gladly use his quantum computer to try and predict future economic activities.

Of course, he wouldn't use it to make money; it was purely to satisfy his curiosity…

Xiao Tong happily said, "I'm flying back tomorrow! I'll land in Shanghai first, stay for two days, then take the train back home!"

Lu Zhou nodded.

"Okay, we'll talk when you get home then… Oh yeah, do you have enough spending money?"

"Hey, I don't need your money, I get paid handsomely for my HSBC consulting work, at least a lot higher than when you were working part-time… Oh yeah, are you back home already?"

Xiao Tong was a little immature, but she didn't like to ask others for help, just like Lu Zhou.

Lu Zhou smiled and replied, "Yeah, I got here yesterday."

"Ah, I'm so jealous… I'm going to get some lunch, talk to you later."

"Okay, see you soon."

After the video call ended, Lu Zhou looked at his watch and thought that his mom was going to ask him to eat dinner soon.

But just as he was about to get up and walk into the living room, a text bubble popped up on the lower right corner of his computer screen.

Xiao Ai: [Master, Xiao Ai received a special email. Shall Xiao Ai reply? ( *)]

Lu Zhou looked at the message and paused for a second.

"What do you mean by special?"

Xiao Ai: [It came from a woman named Vera.]

Vera?

Lu Zhou paused for a second and said, "I'll reply myself."

[Okay!]

Lu Zhou was curious about how Xiao Ai was able to classify this email as special. The artificial retard seemed to have gained some amount of emotional intelligence.

Just as Lu Zhou was about to open the email, he heard a knock on his door.

"Son, someone is looking for you."

Lu Zhou remembered that he didn't have any plans, so he asked, "Looking for me?"

"Yeah! You, apparently they're from Jianghe University, all professors! One of them is an academician! They're so polite; they waited outside and told me to ask you first."

His mother's voice was full of joy.

Not only was her son a successful scholar, but her son was being visited by other "big name" scholars. How could she, as a mother, not feel ecstatic!

Not to mention, Jianghe University was a famous university in Jiangling!

However, after hearing his mother's words, Lu Zhou felt something was off.

He suddenly realized that it was unrealistic for him to avoid academia contact during the holidays.

"I guess things aren't going according to plan…"

Xiao Ai: [(ー ??)]

Fang Mei: "Son?"

"Nothing, I'm coming."

Lu Zhou stood up and walked toward the door.

Why do I feel like…

I'm not going to have a relaxing new year's at all…

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896 I Have Some Ideas

When Lu Zhou first got back, he thought that he could finally relax in his hometown for a while. However, he was too optimistic.

A small town like Jiangling rarely had any visiting celebrities.

Lu Zhou returning to his hometown, even just for the holidays, was enough to make the entire town lively.

First was the city council politicians meeting him at the highway exit, then was the Jianghe University scholars knocking at his door.

After some small talk, Principal Feng and the heads of the mathematics department eagerly asked Lu Zhou if they could put Lu Zhou's name on the mathematics building.

This was quite a reasonable request.

A lot of rich people would spend tens of millions of dollars just to hang their names on university buildings.

However, Lu Zhou didn't need to spend anything.

However, Lu Zhou was still a little perplexed after hearing Principal Feng's words.

"Principal Feng… That's not the best idea, right?" Lu Zhou looked at the old man and said, "I was born in Jiangling, but I've never… been to Jianghe University. Naming a building after me seems a little inappropriate."

"How is it inappropriate?" Principal Feng said. Even though he knew Lu Zhou would respond this way, he still anxiously said, "You're Jiangling's top scholar, a role model for Jianghe University. You're not from our school, but we're all from the same hometown. How is this inappropriate?"

Lu Zhou didn't know what to say.

But is this really the best idea?

Seeing how Lu Zhou was still hesitant, the dean of the mathematics department wanted to say something, but he didn't know what to say. In the end, Secretary Li, who was sitting next to Principal Feng, pushed down his gold-rimmed glasses and made a suggestion.

"Actually, I have a solution."

Secretary Li smiled confidently and said, "Professor Lu, you went to Jiangling High, right?"

Lu Zhou said, "Yeah… Why?"

"Well, we spoke with Jiangling High, right? We asked them to be affiliated with us…" Secretary Li looked at Principal Feng and said, "They decided to be officially affiliated with us, so Professor Lu technically counts as our alumnus."

Principal Feng was overjoyed as he said, "Perfect!"

Lu Zhou: "…?"

???

…

In the end, Lu Zhou accepted Principal Feng's proposal.

Not because they were from the same hometown.

It was only because they were associated with Lu Zhou's old highschool.

After all, it wasn't like he had to do anything himself.

The Jianghe University people were just the first wave.

Later on, Lu Zhou's high school principal also visited him, along with some of his old high school teachers. The city council committee came over as well; even his father's factory executives came to his house.

This continued on until Chinese New Year's Eve. Lu Zhou finally caught a break after Xiao Tong returned home.

Lu Zhou barely did any research during this time as he felt a little blue and worried.

I guess it's not just Jin University…

I can't even quietly study in my own hometown…

Night of Chinese New Year's Eve.

Xiao Tong lay on the sofa playing Honor of Kings. Lu Zhou sat next to his parents, who were watching the CCTV New Year's Gala. Lu Zhou, on the other hand, was going through his address book, sending New Year's wishes to his friends.

If he didn't call them, they would call him anyway, so he decided to take the initiative.

"Being able to relax in a chaotic environment is a crucial skill. There's no one in academia that can teach you that, you need to strengthen your mind on your own…"

Lu Zhou heard Old Tang's wise words and smiled.

He sighed and said, "Maybe, but I'd rather stay busy. Doing meaningful things makes me feel like I'm not wasting my time."

Tang Zhiwei: "Don't sigh! You're going to sigh your luck away!"

Lu Zhou smiled and said, "Okay, sir… Speaking of which, how's life after retirement?"

"It's amazing…" Old Tang drank some hot tea and said, "What about you, have you made any progress on Riemann's hypothesis?"

Lu Zhou: "A little bit, but not much."

Old Tang nodded and spoke.

"I mean, it is the crown jewel of mathematics, so it's not going to be easy… But I heard Dean Qin say that you plan on solving it within three years?"

Lu Zhou did mention this to Dean Qin, but he didn't expect Dean Qin to spread the news.

Lu Zhou smiled and shook his head as he said, "That is indeed my plan, but now, it seems like solving it in three years is not up to me."

Before this, Lu Zhou was very optimistic, especially after he developed the hyperelliptic curve analysis method. He was certain that he could solve this problem within a year.

However, the deeper he dove into this problem, the more he realized things were not as simple as he had imagined.

Thanks to the mathematical tool he released at his report, the current value of epsilon was at 1/127. However, it had stagnated there for a long time.

It seemed like no matter how the auxiliary complex plane curve was selected, there was no way to push this number to 1/2.

Luo Zhou continued to chat with Old Tang about the academic world. He then hung up the phone. After that, he called Academician Lu, Chen Yushan, Luo Wenxuan, and gave them all Chinese New Year's greetings.

Xiao Tong, who was still playing her mobile game, yawned and spoke.

"Brother, you have so many friends."

Lu Zhou smiled and said, "Do I?"

Xiao Tong: "Yeah, but how come you don't have a girlfriend?"

Lu Zhou: "…"

Why the hell are you asking me?

It's not like you have a boyfriend.

Seeing how Lu Zhou ignored her, Xiao Tong smiled and continued, "Brother, play Honor of Kings with me, there's a lot of pretty e-girls on here."

"No, thanks, I'm not interested."

Lu Zhou suddenly remembered that there was still an unread email in his mailbox.

"I nearly forgot."

Xiao Tong curiously looked at Lu Zhou as he got up and walked back to his room.

He sat down at his desk and opened his laptop.

That unread email was lying quietly in his mailbox.

Even though Vera's beautiful and smooth handwriting couldn't be portrayed in the email, her gentle style of writing was still present.

After a while, Lu Zhou read to the last line of the email.

The most important part…

[I have some ideas for Riemann's hypothesis.]

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Princeton campus.

It was the coldest time of the year in New Jersey, white snowflakes danced outside the frosty windows, forming a thick layer on top of the roofs. The Oxford-style campus buildings felt like a fairy tale castle.

Vera sat quietly in front of her computer in a library room. The snow outside the window was so majestic it felt like a painting.

Vera's soft blonde hair rested on her shoulders, and her sapphire-like eyes gave off a sense of peace and determination.

Lu Zhou's reply was on the screen in front of her.

His email was concise, straight to the point.

[I read your email.

[The idea of using an irreducible unitary representation of the octal Heisenberg group, as well as incorporating Fourier transformations, is an interesting idea.

[Well done, the idea you came up with indirectly answered a question I had. Remember what I said a long time ago? Riemann's hypothesis is an analytic number theory problem, but its essence is still a complex analysis problem. We should be able to solve it using complex analysis, but we shouldn't limit our methods.

[My suggestion is to start with a Plancherel formula on a class of single-connected nilpotent Lie groups G_n and find the sub-elliptic properties of the left-invariant differential operator on G_n. You should be able to find something surprising.

[Oh yeah, I suggest you tidy up the things you sent to me and write a thesis. It also makes it easier for me to reference this way.]

"Not limited to complex analysis tools? You haven't changed one bit."

After reading the email, Vera gradually smiled.

However, her smile disappeared, and the little girl pondered for a long time. She then picked up a pen and wrote down Lu Zhou's ideas.

She also implemented some of her own ideas.

Suddenly, the door was pushed open, and a woman in a big trench coat quickly walked in.

Molina brushed off the snowflakes on her body and hung her coat on the door. She walked next to Vera with two cups of coffee and sandwiches in her hand.

"Take a break, work after lunch. I brought you your favorite tuna sandwich. And a mint coffee. Also, who puts mint in coffee?"

"Thanks, Molina." Vera grabbed the warm cup of coffee and smiled sincerely at Molina. She then said, "They don't put the mint in the coffee. They dip it in mint leaves and take it out. Kind of like tea…"

"Regardless, I think it's weird… What are you reading?"

"Professor Lu's reply…" Vera blushed and said, "I was studying his hyperelliptic curve analysis method and it reminded me of the irreducible unitary Heisenberg group representation theory. Then I did some research… It seems like my research is coming in handy."

Molina stared at the email and felt a little unhappy.

"Hey, don't be a quisling! You should be on our side."

"Professor Lu isn't our enemy." Vera stared at Molina bravely and said, "Why can't we solve this problem together? Solving Riemann's hypothesis isn't something that can be done by one person alone."

Molina looked at Vera's stubborn face; she was speechless.

She knew that she was being petty and selfish, but who wouldn't?

If they proved Riemann's hypothesis together, everyone would assume that Lu Zhou did 99% of the work.

It was just like how no one remembered Hardy's co-authors or Hilbert's co-authors.

Unless Hardy and Hilbert worked on a problem together.

Whenever there was a strength gap, people would always remember the stronger one and forget about the weaker, lesser-known person.

Mathematics was Molina's passion and hobby, but she had to let the Abel name live on.

However, seeing how Vera wasn't budging, she had nothing to say.

"What do I do with you…" Molina sighed and scratched her head as she said, "If you think it's that simple, then continue doing what you're doing."

"Thanks," Vera said with a smile.

"You're welcome… Speaking of which, is your body okay?" Molina stared at the trash can, which was filled with draft paper. "You were coughing all day yesterday, and you don't look great."

Vera shook her head and said, "I'm doing fine, no need to worry about me."

Molina hesitated for a second and said, "How about… I'll do the St. Petersburg report for you, you should get some rest."

"No, I'll have to go…" Vera blushed and shook her head. "He's looking forward to my report. I won't let him down."

Molina took a deep breath and finally asked, "Can I ask, what's really going on with your health?"

Vera's hands gently trembled as she shook her head and spoke softly, "Don't worry, I'm fine."

However, Molina wasn't convinced at all.

Molina started to get more and more worried.

She suddenly snatched the draft paper out of Vera's hand and grabbed her shoulder.

"Listen, you need rest! You need to rest if you—"

"I'm fine, give it back…" Vera grabbed the draft paper back from Molina and said, "I don't need rest, trust me, I know what I need."

There's not much time left…

I have no time to waste.

Molina finally compromised and let go of Vera's shoulder.

"I'm done with you!"

She turned around, grabbed her coat, and left the room.

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"Stop giving her hope, it's unrealistic."

Molina was raging on the inside as she spoke coldly to the man in her video call.

Lu Zhou, who was sitting at his desk, put his pen down.

He looked at Molina on his screen and felt a little confused.

"Her? What are you talking about?"

Last night he received an email from her, asking to arrange a video call. But now he had no idea what she was trying to say.

Molina took a deep breath and spoke coldly.

"I'm talking about Vera Pulyuy!"

Lu Zhou frowned and began to realize this might be more serious than he had imagined.

"What's wrong with Vera?"

Molina hesitated for a second and broke her promise on not telling Lu Zhou. She clenched her jaw and spoke the truth.

"She's had a cough and a fever since last week, and it doesn't seem like a normal cold! I don't know if you two are working on a research project together or what, I don't care, I just want to tell you… She's overworking herself because of you!"

Molina stared at Lu Zhou through the screen and spoke in a serious manner.

"Please, I'm begging you, don't overwork her."

Molina reached over and grabbed the mouse before ending the video call.

"Wait a second! Did she hang up?"

Lu Zhou stared at the blank video screen with a confused look.

Molina's words lingered in his mind.

What do you mean by don't overwork her?

Lu Zhou repeated this sentence in his mind, asking himself if he had ever done such a thing.

However, he didn't remember overworking Vera at all. He never even asked her to do anything.

F*ck!

Can't you just explain what you meant!

What did I do?

Lu Zhou suddenly felt annoyed; he couldn't explain why he was irritated, but he just was.

A string of text bubbles appeared on the lower right corner of his screen.

Xiao Ai: [Master, um… Do you want Xiao Ai to call her back?]

Lu Zhou took a deep breath and shook his head.

"It's fine…"

There was no point.

Molina clearly hung up after saying everything she wanted to say. Calling her back would be meaningless.

It was unlikely Molina would clarify herself.

Lu Zhou leaned back in his chair and sighed as he muttered to himself, "If only I were in a quiet place, a place where I'm alone."

A place where nothing will disturb my research.

It would be nice if time were frozen while I'm in that place.

That place seemed like heaven to Lu Zhou.

Lu Zhou closed his eyes and tried to escape from reality, but he suddenly shook his head and stood up.

No!

I can't just leave her alone!

Regardless of whether or not it's my fault, she is still my best student…

He couldn't just stand aside and watch her destroy her body. After all, not everyone had his system enhanced metabolism pills. He hadn't been sick in seven years and could easily stay up all night with no side effects.

Lu Zhou opened his email and carefully began to type.

[I heard you're sick…

[Sorry, I'm not good at comforting people, nor am I a doctor. I just want to say…

[No matter how important your research is, I hope you can prioritize your health. You only have one body. Not to mention, you've never been in great health, so you should be even more careful.

[I'll be very sad if something happens to you.

[Make sure to drink more water…]

Lu Zhou went silent for a while and decided to delete the last line. He then clicked the send button.

After that, he quietly waited in front of his computer.

Even though he wanted to use this time to research mathematics, he couldn't concentrate at all.

Time slowly ticked by.

It had only been ten minutes since Lu Zhou sent that email, but Lu Zhou felt like it had been hours.

Lu Zhou stared at his empty mailbox and took a deep breath.

He was certain that Vera was still awake, with her computer in front of her.

"Is this my fault?

"But what did I do…"

Lu Zhou stared at his hand and anxiously shook his head, trying to remove the distracting thoughts from his head.

"Now is not the time to think about those things.

"I have to find out what happened to her!"

Lu Zhou opened his email and began typing again.

[… If you're in Princeton right now, please visit Vera Pulyuy for me. I heard from her colleague that she is ill. I am unable to reach her right now.

[If you can, please check up on her for me and ask what kind of illness she has. Thanks.]

Lu Zhou opened his list of contacts and sent it to another one of his students, Qin Yue.

Even though this guy generally stayed pretty quiet and reserved, he was actually quite a caring person. Qin Yue would definitely try his best at helping Lu Zhou.

Moreover, other than Qin Yue, Lu Zhou didn't have anyone else to ask.

After sending the email, Lu Zhou sighed and leaned back in his chair as he silently prayed in his heart.

"I hope nothing happens to her…"

If she really was sick, whether or not it was his fault, he would still feel immensely guilty.

What if she's hospitalized…

Lu Zhou didn't even want to think of the possibility.

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899 Swiping Right?

Just like Lu Zhou had expected, Qin Yue didn't take long to reply. After Lu Zhou got up and went to the bathroom, Qin Yue's reply was already sitting in his inbox.

Unfortunately, Qin Yue didn't know much about Vera's condition. He just knew that Vera was working with Molina on Riemann's hypothesis. He wasn't sure about the rest.

However, Qin Yue said he would try his best and keep an eye on the situation. He said if there was any new information, he would tell Lu Zhou immediately.

As for Vera…

For some reason, she still hadn't replied to him.

Lu Zhou couldn't keep waiting around like this. Even though he was still worried, he decided to put this matter aside and continue research on Riemann's hypothesis.

Vera's research inspired him a lot, especially when it came to the representation theory for the irreducible octal Heisenberg group. He couldn't help but feel impressed; this was truly a sophisticated idea.

If he could make a breakthrough using the octal Heisenberg group and apply the hyperelliptic curve analysis method, he would undoubtedly make some progress on the value of epsilon.

He already had some ideas on how to enlarge the value of epsilon, he just needed some time to verify his conjectures…

It was worth mentioning that while Lu Zhou was researching Riemann's hypothesis, Professor Krugman was still after him.

That thesis on Econometrica continued to spread around the economics community. Krugman would harass him with emails every couple of days, occasionally attaching the latest research progress on the Lu Bewley model.

These latest research developments included papers from well-known scholars, reports from academic conferences, as well as Krugman's own research.

It seemed like this old professor wanted to let Lu Zhou know how important Lu Zhou's research was and to persuade Lu Zhou to continue researching in the field of economics.

However, there was no hope for this professor's wishes.

If a similar thing happened in physics or chemistry, that might entice Lu Zhou a bit. After all, Lu Zhou liked to see other people inspired by his research.

Unfortunately, he wasn't interested in money anymore.

He didn't want to waste his time making more money.

He didn't want to brag, but he really just had too much money…

Lunchtime.

The family sat by the dining table, happily eating lunch.

Now that the two children were back home, Fang Mei was as happy as a clam. She cooked all of Xiao Tong and Lu Zhou's favorite dishes. It was almost as if she wanted them to stay here forever.

Actually, Lu Zhou didn't really care about how much he ate. After using the system's metabolic enhancing agent, he could never gain weight.

But Xiao Tong, on the other hand…

She wasn't used to the food in England, and now, she was in culinary heaven. She ate so much that she even began tracking her calories.

Lu Zhou looked at his sister trying to restrain herself from eating, and he couldn't help but laugh.

Xiao Tong noticed Lu Zhou looking at her and suddenly remembered something. She put down her chopsticks and spoke.

"Brother, do you have a prejudice against economics?"

Lu Zhou didn't know why she would ask something like this. He paused for a second and shook his head.

"Prejudice? Not at all."

"Then why are you so resistant?" Xiao Tong scratched her head and said, "Professor Krugman is so enthusiastic about working with you, and this Lu Bewley model has a real chance of winning the Nobel Prize."

Just as Lu Zhou was about to explain the reason, his father spoke first.

"Hey, don't touch your hair, you're getting oil all over it. Come on, you're a grown woman now, no one's going to marry you if you keep doing this."

Old Lu didn't know about economics or some Lu model, but that didn't stop him from disciplining his daughter.

Xiao Tong heard her dad and put on a pouty face.

"Dad! What about this old loner right here! How come you're only targeting me!"

Old Lu snorted.

"Your brother… I have no hope for him. I'm counting on you now."

Lu Zhou nearly choked on his soup. He put down his chopsticks and said, "What do you mean no hope? I'm so heartbroken. Also, how am I old? I'm in my twenties!"

Xiao Tong stuck out her tongue and didn't say anything.

Father Lu, on the other hand, just laughed and sighed.

The mom sitting on the other side had enough, and she began to say, "Forget about it, our son has his own plans; when he is ready, he'll start a family."

Lu Zhou sighed and spoke.

"Mom, you get me!"

However, his mom continued, "However, you're such a workaholic, you barely meet any girls! I'm not worried about you getting married, but you should at least have some experience. How about your father and I help you?

"The girl from Auntie Wang's house seems pretty good, how about I introduce you to her?"

Lu Zhou nearly choked on his food. "Like a blind date?"

"What do you mean blind date?" His mom awkwardly smiled and said, "It's just to introduce you to each other."

Xiao Tong frowned and suddenly asked, "Auntie Wang? The one upstairs? The one with the fat daughter?"

Old Lu put down his chopsticks and spoke.

"What do you mean fat? She's just a little chubby, and she's in her twenties. I think she's pretty good."

Xiao Tong smiled and said, "Are you swiping right?"

"F*ck off!"

Fang Mei didn't know what her children were talking about.

"Swipe? Swipe what?"

"Nothing, Mom…" Lu Zhou coughed and said, "Forget about the blind date. I wanted to relax this holiday, but people kept asking for things from me. Can you guys just let me chill out? I'm fine being alone. I'm sure not a lot of girls will put up with my personality. Don't put the poor girl through this."

"What do you mean poor girl, look at how successful you are." Old Lu coughed and said, "If this were the ancient times, an academician would be in the Hanlin Academy. You're a catch."

Xiao Tong smiled and said, "Dad, stop reading novels. Nowadays, girls don't just want money, they want romance as well."

Old Lu said, "What novel! I'm telling the truth!"

Lu Zhou shook his head and continued to eat his food.

Being grilled by his parents about his love life was the norm now. Anyway, his mom's cooking was still delicious, so the food was probably his biggest motivation for coming back home.

The succulent red braised pork belly was as tender as tofu, as soft as jelly. Biting into it didn't feel greasy at all; instead, it tasted like happiness.

Even though Lu Zhou had eaten at three-Michelin-star restaurants before, he could never forget his mother's cooking.

While he was enjoying his meal, he suddenly heard a knock at the door.

"It's probably someone here to greet us for the new year… I'll go."

Fang Mei put down her chopsticks and stood up.

She opened the front door.

A beautiful and familiar figure stood in front of her.

Fang Mei was greeted with a beautiful and blooming smile. A soothing voice traveled through the air.

"Hello, Auntie!"

Wait a second…

What is going on…

Lu Zhou looked like he just saw a ghost.

He and Xiao Tong were frozen…

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There was this saying.

Once you were single for long enough, 6's would become 9's.

Lu Zhou began to wonder maybe that was why his mom was so enthusiastic about Chen Yushan.

Her son was single for so long, every girl looked like a perfect match…

As long as they had two Y chromosomes, Fang Mei couldn't wait to abduct them as a daughter in law…

"Oh my, look at you," Fang Mei said to Chen Yushan.

Chen Yushan was unmatched in this small town when it came to appearance. Her outgoing and friendly personality made Feng Mei a little worried as she felt like her son's cold and awkward personality wasn't good enough for Chen Yushan.

"Oh auntie, don't say that," Chen Yushan blush and said.

"Oh it's fine, are you looking for Lu Zhou? Come on in! My son's a little introverted, don't take anything he says to heart. We're still eating right now; did you eat yet? How about… Old Lu, go get some chopsticks and a bowl!"

"Okay!"

Chen Yushan was a little baffled by Fang Mei's enthusiasm, and she euphemistically declined.

"No, no, it's fine, I already ate."

Lu Zhou sighed and put down his chopsticks.

Even though he still wanted to enjoy his food…

"Mom, I'm full."

"Already?"

"Yeah, and you… come with me."

With his parents and sisters watching, Lu Zhou brought Chen Yushan into his bedroom.

Lu Zhou closed the door and sat at his desk. He finally felt relieved.

He was finally away from his overly-excited family.

After Chen Yushan went into Lu Zhou's room, she curiously looked around.

"This is your room?"

"Yeah, but I only stay here during the holidays."

Chen Yushan suddenly noticed a framed photo sitting on the desk. She then said, "I see… Oh? Is this a photo of you in high school?" Her eyes lit up like she just saw a piece of treasure. However, before she could closely look at it, the "treasure" disappeared from her sight.

"I don't have time to clean up yet…" Lu Zhou said as he quickly stuffed the photo frame into a drawer. He said, "Please sit."

"Selfish!"

Chen Yushan looked around and saw that there wasn't another chair in the room, so she sat on the bed instead.

They were good friends, so there was nothing weird about this.

Lu Zhou couldn't help but ask, "Why are you here? Also, why didn't you tell me?"

"I told you, but you ignored me." Chen Yushan took out her phone and said, "Look."

Lu Zhou took her phone and looked.

Those emojis look like Xiao Ai's writing…

Lu Zhou took out his phone and secretly sent Xiao Ai a message.

[Why didn't you tell me to reply!]

Xiao Ai: [But Master, you told me to decline all visiting requests?]

This kid!

Just a few days ago, I was praising its intelligence, but now, it's gone full retard again!

Chen Yushan looked at Lu Zhou typing on his phone and tilted her head.

"Are you busy?"

"No." Lu Zhou put away his phone and said, "It's the holidays, why are you here… Don't you want to celebrate?"

Chen Yushan: "Holidays, my as*! Chinese New Year was three days ago. I flew here from Beijing."

Lu Zhou: "But it's still the holidays, aren't you going to stay with your family?"

"Can't stand them." Chen Yushan sighed and rolled her eyes, "As an unmarried woman in her mid-twenties, my family thinks everything I do is wrong. My dad arranged two dates for me the day after Chinese New Year's Eve. I had to escape."

Lu Zhou wanted to say that he was going through the same thing, but he felt a little weird sympathizing with her.

"What's wrong with a blind date? What if you like them?"

"I don't like it." Chen Yushan shook her head and said, "Having to spend the rest of your life with someone you've never met is worse than buying a lottery ticket."

Lu Zhou felt like, because of her father's background, the guys being introduced to her were all top-tier.

However, everyone had their own ideas about marriage.

After all, romance was only one part of life; there were more meaningful things to do.

For example, self-actualization.

That was far more meaningful than passing on one's genetics.

Chen Yushan smiled at Lu Zhou and said, "Whatever, I'm not here to harass you. I wanted to go back to Jinling, but I had something to do at the Jiangcheng semiconductor site. Plus I had some things I need to discuss with you in person, so I came here instead."

Lu Zhou: "What?"

"I've read your suggestion letter. I made some simple modifications. Of course, that's not why I'm here." Chen Yushan took out a document from her bag and placed it on the table as she said, "Look at this, I got this from my dad's connections. It's internal information."

"192 city group…" Lu Zhou looked at the document and frowned as he said, "Isn't this a policy from a long time ago?"

"Not the same," Chen Yushan shook her head and said, "Thanks to your shares in East Asia Energy, I heard that East Asia Energy plans on building a new fusion power plant in the Yangtze River Delta Economic Zone near Shanghai. This power station is likely going to serve the Yangtze River Delta city group!"

Lu Zhou curiously asked, "So?"

Chen Yushan smirked and said, "You do know I studied economics and management, so I have some experience in macroeconomics. The expansion of controllable fusion energy over the past three years will certainly accelerate the urbanization process of fusion power area coverage.

"After combing some information I heard from my father, I have a feeling that Beijing is actively trying to accelerate this process. They are going to start with the Yangtze River Delta city group!"

Even though Lu Zhou still had a ton of questions, he had a general idea of what Chen Yushan meant.

All in all, Chen Yushan speculated that the Yangtze River Delta could become a test pilot for building a modern city group, and this meant unlimited business opportunities.

Lu Zhou: "So, do you have any plans?"

"That's what I'm planning on discussing with you." Chen Yushan took out another document from her bag and placed it on the table. She smiled confidently and said, "Unfortunately, we're not in the real estate business; otherwise, I would definitely recommend you to buy the surrounding land in Shanghai. Fortunately, real estate isn't the only place to make money. After all, we are a high-tech company. We should focus on our own niche."

Lu Zhou curiously asked, "Like what?"

"Smart city." Chen Yushan's tender finger tapped on the document on the table as she said ambitiously, "Listen carefully, I'm about to tell you the core concept of this plan…"

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Ever since Lu Zhou's bedroom door was closed, Xiao Tong's attention had been glued to his bedroom.

Even though her mom warned her not to disturb her brother, when her parents were not watching, Xiao Tong secretly walked over there.

She gulped and pressed her ear on the door.

Hmm…

Why is it so quiet?

Isn't it supposed to be very loud?

While Xiao Tong was still pondering, that door opened…

"Ouch!"

Xiao Tong took half a step back and covered her forehead.

Lu Zhou froze for a second and looked at his sister.

"What are you doing?"

"Nothing…" Xiao Tong looked at Lu Zhou, then looked at Chen Yushan, and even though her forehead was hurting badly, she still curiously said, "Brother… You guys were in there for a while… What were you doing?"

"Discussing some stuff."

Lu Zhou reached out and gently tapped on his sister's forehead. He ignored her exaggerated reaction and looked at Chen Yushan instead.

"I'll send you out."

"Okay." Chen Yushan smiled and nodded. She followed Lu Zhou and walked out of the room.

Mother Lu saw Lu Zhou and Chen Yushan walking toward the door, and she quickly came out of the kitchen.

She desperately wanted this pretty girl to stay here for longer, so she thought that her son must have screwed things up again.

"Oh, why are you leaving? Did my son offend you again, tell me what he did, I'll punish him!"

Chen Yushan smiled and began explaining.

"Oh, nothing happened, auntie, I'm just here to talk about business with Lu Zhou. We're done talking, so I won't bother you guys."

"You're not bothering us at all! Speaking of which, you don't have a place to stay in Jiangling, right? Why don't you live in our house? After all, we have a spare bedroom."

"That… isn't the best idea."

Chen Yushan twirled her fingers around her hair and tried to avoid eye contact.

Lu Zhou looked at his mother and couldn't stand this anymore.

"Mom, stop giving her a hard time."

Lu Zhou looked at Chen Yushan.

"Let's go."

"Okay…"

After Chen Yushan left the house, Lu Zhou finally sighed in relief.

Thank god he stepped in.

He didn't know why, but he felt like Chen Yushan was a little unhappy when she left…

Did she have more things to discuss with me?

Who knows…

Lu Zhou watched Chen Yushan walk away and went back into his house. He wanted to continue his mathematics research.

However, when he walked past the sofa in the living room, Xiao Tong playfully kicked his leg.

"What? What do you want?"

"You're so dumb!"

"…?"

"That's for hitting my forehead…" Xiao Tong said. She stuck her tongue out and went back to playing her mobile game.

As Lu Zhou looked at this girl, he was baffled.

Makes no sense.

Whatever…

Who cares.

Lu Zhou ignored her and went back into his room.

…

Lu Zhou sat at his desk before he continued his research. He decided to read through Chen Yushan's document.

This document was titled "Smart City", and it contained a lot of potential research directions with good market potential.

Some of them were quite realistic, such as the holographic communication system, wireless charging technology, etc.

Some of them were completely ridiculous, like maglev cars.

The idea was that if the Yangtze River Delta city group had the power of a controllable fusion reactor, the population density in Shanghai and its surrounding suburbs would rise to a whole new level.

The resulting traffic couldn't be solved just by building more highways and overpasses; they had to go from a two-dimensional transportation grid to a three-dimensional transportation grid.

That was, let the car fly in the air instead of driving on the road.

This sounded like something out of a science fiction movie. Flying cars moving between high-rise buildings while equipped with fully automated artificial intelligence driving…

Of course, that kind of technology wasn't built in a day or two. However, it was definitely feasible. Star Sky Technology had world-leading research and development capabilities, they should preemptively begin research in these areas.

Just like how they were the first to capture the lithium-sulfur batteries market.

For every lithium-sulfur battery produced, Star Sky Technology took in a patent profit of no less than 10 USD.

If they could take the lead on inventing the technology that changed the way people lived their lives and begin registering patents, Star Sky Technology would become the most profitable company in the world…

However, what interested Lu Zhou wasn't the profitability of the plan, but rather the technologies itself.

"Smart city…"

I guess it's more like a future city.

Lu Zhou looked at the potential technologies in the plan and couldn't help but feel emotional.

This was the first time he felt this kind of sensation outside of his laboratory.

What will the future of China look like?

Twenty years ago, people said it would look like what Japan and America were right now.

But now…

We can define our own future.

…

Fifteen days after Chinese New Year, two major events took place.

The first major event was that Star Sky Technology, as well as the two aerospace companies, won a NASA bidding project for Lunar Gateway, which was valued at a total of US$7 billion.

It also included US$3 billion worth of launch missions, as well as manufacturing for countless aerospace components.

Due to trade protection policies, most of the projects fell into the hands of American companies such as Blue Origin, Space-X, Boeing, etc. Thus, China being able to steal a piece of the pie shocked the Americans.

Something like this would have never happened for the Ares program.

This reminded a lot of people of the 1970s, when the Apollo and Soyuz cooperated in low-Earth orbit.

After a series of intense competition, these two superpowers shook their hands and reached a consensus.

The Americans were surprised to see this handshake happen again, with a different country.

The second major event also happened in the aerospace field.

16 days after Chinese New Year…

Lu Zhou received a call from Beijing and immediately flew to Beijing. He was going to attend a conference that was crucial for the Chinese aerospace and international physics industry…

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902 Meeting in Beijing

"Ladies and gentlemen, we are about to arrive at Beijing Capital International Airport. For your safety and comfort, please remain seated with your seatbelt fastened…"

Lu Zhou put away his notebook and pen.

He suddenly noticed the teenage boy next to him, who was wearing a baseball cap, was staring at his notebook.

Lu Zhou raised his eyebrows and smiled.

"Wondering what I was writing?"

The boy didn't seem to recognize Lu Zhou, so he nodded and spoke.

"Uncle, I think I've seen that formula before."

Lu Zhou laughed.

This little sh*t…

Calls me an uncle, then humble brags.

Seen this before?

You don't know who I am, but you've "seen" this equation before?

My as*!

Lu Zhou wanted to call him out but decided against it.

Lu Zhou ignored him, and after the seatbelt light turned off, he unfastened his seatbelt and walked off the airstair with Wang Peng carrying his bags.

The boy didn't seem to care about Lu Zhou ignoring him. Instead, he pondered for a while and suddenly looked up.

"Oh, that's… the Riemann zeta function!

"I knew I saw it before! I think it was on last year's final IMO question…"

Wait a second…

This uncle is quite impressive!

He knows about the Riemann function?

But why is an old man like him doing IMO questions?

Suddenly, a chubby guy from behind patted his back.

"Bro, we're getting off the plane, stop daydreaming."

"Oh!" The guy quickly grabbed his luggage and said, "Okay, give me a second."

"Stop screwing around, we have to go."

"Okay, okay, coming!"

…

After Lu Zhou got off the plane, he saw someone familiar at the airport.

It was none other than Chen Yushan's father, Chen Baohua, who worked at the Organization Department of the Communist Party of China.

Even though Lu Zhou hadn't seen this man for a while, this well-groomed old man clearly recognized him.

Lu Zhou smiled and nodded.

"Uncle Chen… nice to see you."

"Hello, Academician Lu." Chen Baohua nodded and made an inviting gesture. "Get in the car."

Chen Baohua was about to get in the driver's seat.

However, Wang Peng stepped forward.

"I'll take the wheel."

Chen Baohua clearly recognized Wang Peng's role, so he nodded and stepped aside.

"Ok."

Thus, Lu Zhou and Chen Baohua sat together in the back seat.

They didn't talk during the car ride, and Lu Zhou felt a little uncomfortable sitting there.

He didn't know why, but Uncle Chen Baohua seemed to be a little reserved?

"My daughter went to your house during the holidays?"

Lu Zhou sat up straight and said, "Yeah… But she only stayed for a bit."

"Oh, I see… No wonder."

The old man sighed and stayed silent.

Lu Zhou wanted to chat with him, but Uncle Chen didn't seem to look like he wanted to talk. Therefore, Lu Zhou placed his attention back onto the notebook inside his pocket.

This was his favorite way of killing time.

When he was immersed in the world of mathematics, a few hours felt like a few minutes…

…

This International Lunar Hadron Collider was held in Beijing's city hall. More than 500 experts from the aerospace industry and physics community, as well as senior officials from participating countries, attended the meeting.

Even though this international conference was being organized by the State Administration for National Defense and China National Space Administration, the specific preparation work was done by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs department.

Four different hotels were arranged according to the participants' backgrounds.

During the duration of the conference, the entire 2nd Ring Road traffic was restricted. Lu Zhou could noticeably see that there were fewer cars on the road.

The car stopped at the entrance of the hotel. After getting out of the car, Chen Baohua spoke to Lu Zhou.

"This car is yours for now. You might have to stay in Beijing for a week or two, and it's more convenient to have a car."

Lu Zhou politely replied, "Thank you."

"You're welcome. It's not my car anyway, it's from the higher-ups."

Chen Baohua looked at his watch and said, "It's getting late, so I won't waste your precious time any longer. Feel free to come for a cup of tea at my house some time."

Chen Baohua nodded and gave Wang Peng the car key. He then turned around and walked away.

Wang Peng put the key in his pocket and spoke to Lu Zhou.

"I'll carry your luggage, you should go check-in at the hotel."

Lu Zhou nodded.

"Okay, thanks."

Even though the workers at a five-star hotel would normally take the guest's luggage upstairs, Lu Zhou's luggage was special. Even staff members that had passed background checks were not allowed to touch his luggage.

Lu Zhou was about to check-in at the hotel front desk when he suddenly noticed a familiar-looking man standing next to him.

The old man noticed Lu Zhou as well when he looked over and happened to make eye contact with Lu Zhou.

The old man smiled and spoke.

"Oh, Academician Lu, what a coincidence, we're in the same hotel."

"Academician Wang?" Lu Zhou smiled and reached out his hand. "Great to see you."

This man was Academician Wang Shicheng, the former chairman of the China Mathematics Society, one of the top leaders in the Chinese mathematics community.

However, despite the enthusiastic greetings, the two of them were just acquaintances.

They hadn't had the best interactions in the past.

One was the Shiing-Shen Chern Mathematics Award when Academician Wang was pressured by Old Qiu and had to give the prize to Lu Zhou. The second was the academician elections, where due to various political pressures, Academician Wang had to give his vote to Lu Zhou.

After all, the state wanted Lu Zhou to have the two academician titles as a show of appreciation for his work.

If somehow Lu Zhou weren't awarded with the academician title, the blame would be on Academician Wang.

Actually, Academician Wang was quite impressed with Lu Zhou.

He had been in the mathematics field for decades, but even though he produced good research in knot theory, he had done less in his lifetime than Lu Zhou had done in a year.

Lu Zhou was able to use his own image to elevate the international mathematics community's impression on Chinese mathematicians. This wasn't something that could be done by an ordinary genius.

Just like Ramanujan, there would one day be a Lu Zhou Prize, which would be established to encourage young scholars to continue pursuing the path of mathematics.

However, even then, Academician Wang wasn't happy having to bend over backward for a millennial!

Especially since Lu Zhou refused to work at Yan University, he could foresee a cohort of excellent Jin University students becoming academicians, overthrowing the Yan University empire…

What triggered him the most was that he still had to put on a polite face for this kid.

"Speaking of which, Academician Wang, you were also invited to the conference?"

"My field of research happens to be closely related to mathematical physics. I'm also an honorary director of the Chinese Physics Society, so they sent me an invitation. Speaking of which, you're going to speak on stage, right? Are you ready?"

Lu Zhou smiled and replied, "I'm ready. Hopefully, I won't embarrass the Chinese academic community…"

"Haha, you're too humble!" Wang Shicheng smiled and politely said, "The conference is happening in three days. If you have time, why don't you visit Yan University? Our mathematics department has idolized you for quite some time now. Those scholars would love for you to sit down at Yan University and teach them some things."

"Yan University is an amazing university, what could I teach them?" Lu Zhou smiled and said, "I don't mind visiting, I just don't want to disturb you guys."

Academician Wang Shicheng smiled and said, "Professor Lu, you're too humble. There isn't a university in the world that would refuse your visit."

Lu Zhou smiled and said, "Okay, I'll go tomorrow then. I'll probably be busy after that."

"No problem! Yan University's doors are always open for you." Academician Wang Shicheng smiled and said, "Okay then, you must be tired from traveling. I'll see you tomorrow?"

"See you tomorrow."

Lu Zhou took his luggage and walked toward the elevator.

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903 The Third Half

The International Lunar Hadron Collider conference was going to happen in three days. Thus, Lu Zhou had three days of spare time.

However, Lu Zhou went from Jiangling to Jiangcheng, then from Jiangcheng to Beijing. He had had a long trip and felt a little tired.

After he put down his luggage at the hotel, he didn't have anything to do. After he took a bath, he began to quietly read his notebook, comparing it with Vera's thesis from time to time.

It was time for dinner, and he called the hotel and ordered room service. After he finished eating, he read the conference documents, took a shower, then quickly went to bed.

Lu Zhou woke up early the next day and called Wang Peng and asked to go to Yuanmingyuan Park.

Lu Zhou was about to go to Yanjing University, but he changed his mind at the last second and walked toward Shuimu University instead.

The security guard looked at his ID and politely let him in.

Lu Zhou walked along the tree-lined paths of Shuimu University and enjoyed the scenery. He experienced the rich academic atmosphere as he walked toward the west gate.

While walking next to a lake, he happened to run into two of his acquaintances.

These two were pretty big names.

They were leaders in the Chinese physics and mathematics community.

These two were none other than Mr. Qiu, the founder of geometric analysis, as well as Mr. Yang.

Lu Zhou wanted to say hello, but he overheard the two people discussing something. Therefore, he followed them and tried to listen in on the conversation.

"Mr. Yang, I don't agree with that. What do you mean a waste of money? How would you spend the money? In my opinion, this is the right place to spend money on."

"Pfft, what do you mean by the right place? Did you ask everyone's opinion?"

Mr. Yang suddenly noticed Lu Zhou walking nearby. He frowned and squinted at Lu Zhou.

"Academician Lu?"

Qiu Chengtong immediately turned his head around and saw Lu Zhou. He greeted him with a smile.

"Oh, Academician Lu! What a coincidence, what brings you here to Shuimu?"

Lu Zhou smiled and said, "I'm here for a conference, so I just came here for a visit."

"The International Lunar Hadron Collider Conference?" Old Qiu's eyes lit up as he smiled and said, "What a coincidence, I was just talking with Mr. Yang about this. He won't admit he's wrong, how about you be the judge?"

I be the judge?

Why?

Lu Zhou wasn't sure what to do.

Mr. Yang Chen Ning glanced at Qiu Chengtong.

"What do you mean to admit I'm wrong? I'm just talking facts and logic, how am I wrong?"

"Our country is still in the primary stage, barely going into the intermediate stage. Now is not the time for blind optimism."

Qiu Chengtong unhappily said, "Old Yang, I don't agree with that. The times have changed now. US$20 billion is quite a big expense. But we don't have to bear the entire cost of the project. Also, we'll be able to attract thousands of outstanding international scientific researchers to work with us. We'll be able to export our culture to the international academic community, and this is something money can't buy!

"I recommend you to go to the conference. Don't you want to see the day, where we can become the Switzerland of the physics world?"

"Oh, please, you're a mathematician, why are you worrying about physicists," Yang Chen Ning groaned and looked at Lu Zhou.

"Chief Designer Lu, what do you think?"

"Chief designer is just a role, and it sounds too serious. Please just call me Professor Lu." Lu Zhou coughed and said, "As for my opinion… Mr. Qiu already said it, now is not the time to save money. After all, if you want to make money, you have to spend it first."

Mr. Yang stared at Lu Zhou, then turned toward the lake. After a while, he spoke.

"I wrote an article more than a decade ago. I still remember the title—China Should Not Build a Hadron Collider. Even though it's been more than a decade, my opinion hasn't changed. However, the steering wheel is in your hands. I don't have anything else to say."

Lu Zhou wanted to say something, but Mr. Yang continued, "I don't want to criticize your opinion. Finding the solution to the Yang-Mills equations, linking the strong interaction and electromagnetic force… all these prove that you're at the top of the theoretical physics field. Unless someone else can reveal the mystery behind the gravitational force… Which I don't think is possible within this century."

Mr. Yang looked away from the lake and stared at Lu Zhou.

"I'm almost 100 years old. I'm not as wise as I once was. I was rejected by PRL a while ago, which made me realize that I'm really getting old. Maybe it's not a bad thing."

"It seems like you know what you're doing."

Mr. Yang nodded at the woman in her forties, who was standing next to him. With the woman supporting his fragile body, he slowly walked away.

"This old guy… " Old Qiu shook his head and said, "Normally, he would argue with me for at least an hour or two."

Even though the media constantly portrayed these two as being on opposite sides of the Hadron Collider construction, these two had a pretty good personal relationship. In fact, Old Qiu's research on the Calabi–Yau manifold was a very important tool in mathematical physics. These two often communicated on academic matters.

That was one of the reasons the Qiu Chengtong mathematics research institute was built on the Shuimu University campus.

Lu Zhou: "Mr. Yang just cares about our nation's future, and his concerns are not unreasonable."

"Yeah, otherwise, I wouldn't have debated with him for so long." Qiu Chengtong nodded and smiled at Lu Zhou. "Speaking of which, US$20 billion is not a small number. Can you handle this much pressure?"

Lu Zhou smiled and spoke.

"Mr. Qiu, you're mistaken.

"It's only US$20 billion.

"It's my third time managing a project of this size."

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Suddenly, the atmosphere went silent.

The air remained quiet for a few seconds.

Old Qiu forcefully smiled, breaking the awkward atmosphere. He rubbed his nose and spoke.

"Oh, I nearly forgot… You're not a kid anymore."

Lu Zhou smiled and said, "I'm glad you're able to notice that. It means I haven't wasted the past five years."

"My brain can't keep up with your speed of growth anymore…" Old Qiu sighed and began to reminisce about the past.

After a couple of seconds, he smiled and said, "Speaking of which, why are you at Shuimu University?"

"You might not believe me, but I happened to be walking nearby."

Lu Zhou told Old Qiu about Academician Wang Shicheng's invitation. The old man pushed his glasses and spoke with an unpleasant expression.

"Wang Shicheng… Don't be fooled by his smile, who knows what's behind that face. Don't believe everything he says, this old man is up to no good! You should stay careful!"

Lu Zhou was a little confused.

"I'm just visiting the Yan University campus, what's so bad about it…"

Qiu Chengtong said, "He's just up to no good! Visiting the Yan University campus is fine, but just stay careful!"

"Okay, okay."

Lu Zhou didn't have any grudges toward Academician Wang Shicheng, so he took the conversation elsewhere.

After some small talk, he bid farewell to Old Qiu and walked toward the west gate of Shuimu University, which was also toward the east gate of Yan University.

…

Yan University east gate.

A young teacher in a suit stood there.

When he noticed Lu Zhou, he instantly walked up and greeted him with a smile.

"You must be Academician Lu, right? Hello! Academician Wang told me you were coming."

Lu Zhou smiled at the enthusiastic teacher.

"I visited Shuimu University on the way, sorry to keep you waiting."

"Oh, no worries, you're a world-class scholar, I'm happy to wait here all night." The young professor reached out his hand and said, "Yang Yongan, mathematics professor. I'm in my thirties already, so I'm probably a bit older than you. Standing next to you makes me feel humbled."

"Oh, don't feel humbled, becoming a professor at Yan University is no small feat." Lu Zhou let go of Professor Yang's hand and said, "Where is Academician Wang?"

"Academician Wang is at the Yan University mathematics center. He has to train the national IMO team, so he's currently not available right now. My apologies."

IMO?

I totally forgot about that.

"It's fine, I understand…" Lu Zhou smiled and said, "I want to go to the mathematics center, how about you take me there?"

Yang Yongan made an inviting gesture.

"This way."

Beijing had changed quite a bit over the past few years. There were more and more Alternative Energy Vehicles on the road, more high-rise buildings, and more foreign residents. However, its historic architecture hadn't changed.

This kind of architecture could be found in artifacts and universities across Beijing.

Yan University was a world-class institute; the tree-lined paths connecting the teaching buildings gave off a rich academic atmosphere. This was one of the top academic research places in China.

Actually, Lu Zhou was familiar with Shuimu and Yan University's campuses.

When he used to live near Yuanmingyuan Park, he would often come here for a walk. However, due to various reasons, he was never able to visit the Yan University International Mathematical Research Center.

Apparently, the mathematics center was located inside a Siheyuan. It was only three stories tall and was filled with blackboards.

The rustic look of the facility was intentional. Apparently, being in a simple and pure environment activated the most primitive part of the human brain, thus enhancing their abilities to conduct scientific research.

Of course, being able to research in such a spacious Siheyuan that was located in the middle of Beijing was something most mathematicians dreamed of.

When Lu Zhou walked into the compound, he saw a young man sitting in front of a blackboard next to a big tree. The young man had a piece of chalk in his hand as he thought about the equations on the blackboard.

His gray clothes looked a little faded, and his hair looked a little unkempt.

This young man had a depressed-artist vibe. Lu Zhou looked at him and curiously asked, "Who is that?"

For some reason, Yang Yongan had an awkward look on his face.

It was almost as if Yang Yongan didn't want Lu Zhou to notice this man.

"Oh, don't worry about him… He's not normal."

Not normal?

Lu Zhou was even more curious.

From his experience in Princeton, people that excelled in mathematics often had weird personality traits. For example, a former editor in chief of a mathematics journal never allowed people to sit in his office. Or for example, one of his students liked to drink mint coffee…

In fact, it was rare for a mathematics scholar to behave like a normal person.

"Why do you say that?"

"Oh, you know, at a place like this, we have various performance metrics. Like how many theses one publishes in a year, etc… However, some people like to be independent and some people don't care about the performance metrics." Yang Yongan shrugged and said, "Most people stay away from people like him."

Lu Zhou asked, "Then, has he produced any research?"

Yang Yongan stared at the young man and said coldly, "If he did, he wouldn't be so miserable."

Lu Zhou was still curious. He ignored Professor Yang's words and walked up to the man.

Suddenly, he raised his eyebrows.

"Hyperelliptic curve analysis?"

The young "artist" finally noticed Lu Zhou.

He turned around and pushed his glasses.

"You understand?"

Before Lu Zhou could say anything, Yang Yongan spoke first.

"Bro, are you kidding, look at who this guy is."

The young man stared at Lu Zhou for a while with a blank expression on his face.

"Who is it?"

Professor Yang was about to scold the young man, but Lu Zhou stopped him.

Lu Zhou didn't really care about being recognized. He merely stared at the blackboard and said, "The way you used the hyperelliptic curve analysis method is very interesting as most people don't use it this way."

The young man adjusted his glasses and looked at the blackboard.

"It's because I'm not researching Riemann's hypothesis… This method was originally invented to be used for Riemann's hypothesis."

"I agree…" Lu Zhou nodded and said, "Looking at your definition of a non-singular complex algebraic cluster… I'm guessing you're researching the Hodge conjecture?"

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Yang Yongan was stunned.

The young man with glasses was also stunned.

Everyone went silent for a few seconds.

"… Hodge conjecture?"

Yang Yongan stared at the blackboard, then at the young man like he was a lunatic.

He always thought this guy was crazy.

He heard that ever since this guy joined the mathematics center, he had been working on some esoteric stuff and hadn't been able to produce any research results. The young man was even kicked out of his office.

Anyone else would have quit, but this guy was different. After being kicked out of his office, he brought his chair and blackboard into the courtyard and did his work here instead.

This young man didn't feel mistreated at all. When people asked him why he didn't leave, he just said that he liked the quietness here.

When Yang Yongan first joined the mathematics center, he thought that this guy was a secret genius. However, after some time went by, he stopped giving this guy the benefit of the doubt.

After all, this guy had been here for five years without producing any research results.

A mathematician only had ten or twenty years of golden research time. And this guy hadn't produced any research in five years. His time was running out.

But now that he heard this guy was researching one of the Millennium Prize Problems, he was certain that this guy was crazy.

The young man wasn't fazed as he looked at Lu Zhou and asked, "You… know what I'm researching?"

If this were a professor from the mathematics center, the young man wouldn't be surprised.

But this was the first time Lu Zhou saw what was on the blackboard. The young man was a little surprised.

After all, branches of mathematics were wildly different from one another. If a person in the partial differential equation field wanted to research complex topology, it would be no different than letting a physicist research organic chemistry.

Not to mention, even people doing research on the Hodge conjecture wouldn't be able to instantly recognize what was on the blackboard, because they would often have different research paths.

Furthermore, this was just an initial draft; it was barely related to the Hodge conjecture.

I guess this guy… is in the same research field as me!

The young man looked a little intrigued.

Lu Zhou smiled and said, "It's not that difficult to see. Other than the Hodge conjecture, there are few algebraic topologies of non-singular complex algebraic clusters that produce these polynomial equations as subclusters. People outside of this field might not notice; after all, the more complex a question, the more esoteric it is."

"Yeah…" The young man looked a little emotional as he sighed and said, "I've been here for five years, no one has even talked with me about my research before."

"Maybe people know what you're researching, but they just don't want to talk with you." Lu Zhou smiled and said, "Can I borrow your chalk?"

The young man handed out his chalk.

"Sure… but there's not much space on the blackboard."

"That's fine…" Lu Zhou looked at Yang Yongan and said, "Professor Yang, could you please give me a blackboard…"

Yang Yongan instantly responded, "Okay! Just wait here, we have plenty of blackboards."

He quickly found two noob researchers and dragged a blackboard next to the tree.

Lu Zhou smiled as a show of thanks and turned his attention to the empty blackboard. He went silent for a while and began writing.

[By the Lefschetz-Hyperplane theorem, i: X n (d) CP (n r) is n equivalent, thus X n (d) and CP n have the same n…]

…

Actually, the Hodge conjecture wasn't Lu Zhou's research field.

However, because of its connection with the Cauchy–Riemann equations, Lu Zhou was still familiar with the problem. Also, the young scholar's novel application of the hyperelliptic curve analysis method gave Lu Zhou some inspiration.

Just like how Riemann's hypothesis could form a bridge between algebra and geometry, the Hodge conjecture could bridge the gaps between topology and algebraic geometry.

Of course, he wasn't trying to prove the Hodge conjecture.

After all, even Lu Zhou couldn't prove a Millenium Prize Problem in such a short amount of time.

However, just like Riemann's hypothesis, the Hodge conjecture had a lot of weak forms.

For example, for the case of H2, the Hodge conjecture would hold!

Lu Zhou was totally focused on his calculations. In the side building nearby, sixty people who were selected for the national IMO training had just finished listening to Academician Wang Shicheng's speech, and they were currently on a short break.

A man in a baseball cap sitting by the window was reading through his book. Suddenly, a chubby kid sitting in front of him turned around and spoke.

"Brother Li, someone is showing off in the courtyard!"

"Not interested."

The chubby kid then said, "But he seems to be pretty nutty! I looked at the blackboard when I went to the toilet, but I couldn't even understand the things he wrote!"

The guy in the baseball cap was a little intrigued. He put down his book and glanced outside the window.

"Let's check it out then!"

…

More and more equations filled the blackboard.

More and more spectators stood in the courtyard.

Most of them were professors of the mathematics center that recognized Lu Zhou. Even though it was difficult for them to keep up with Lu Zhou's calculations, they still sat there, eagerly listening and taking notes.

There were also kids who were clearly high school students. They were all members of the IMO national training team—"mathematics geniuses"—from all over the country.

These kids stood there with a fascinated look on their faces as they watched the equations appear on the blackboard.

They wanted to do the same.

Sitting under a tree and writing equations about the universe; that was going to be their future!

The man in the baseball cap was stunned, and his shoulders began trembling.

The chubby kid standing next to him spoke.

"Brother Li, are you having a seizure?"

"Jesus! He's a god! I've seen him somewhere before…"

"Sure not, this is his first time at Yan University."

"No, no, I remember him, let me think…"

After giving his speech, Academician Wang Shicheng went to his office to drink some tea. He then slowly walked to the courtyard with the intention to greet Academician Lu at the entrance. Little did he know, Academician Lu was already here, writing equations on the blackboard.

Wang Shicheng frowned; he walked up and tried to look at the blackboard.

His pupils dilated the second he saw the blackboard.

The Hodge conjecture.

Even though this wasn't his research area, for a veteran mathematics scholar like him, he could easily recognize what he was looking at.

He also noticed the "weirdo" standing next to Lu Zhou; the man who had been researching the Hodge conjecture for more than ten years—Chen Yang!

An hour went by.

The shadow of the tree slowly moved as the sun traveled across the sky.

Everyone remained perfectly silent.

That was until someone sighed and exclaimed.

"Hodge conjecture holds true for H2… Amazing."

Yang Yongan was spooked by the voice. When he turned around, he saw that Academician Wang Shicheng was standing right behind him.

"Oh, academician!"

"Shh, be quiet, don't disturb him." Wang Shicheng pointed toward the blackboard and said, "He's almost finished."

Yang Yongan quietly spoke.

"So you're saying he proved a weak form?"

"No, he's not the one that proved it." Wang Shicheng shook his head and said, "If I recall correctly, this was proven by Lefschetz in the 1920s."

He paused for a second and spoke.

"However, even though this isn't a completely new result, he used a completely different method than Lefschetz!

"No one has ever solved the weak form Hodge conjecture like this."

Yang Yongan was shocked.

An entirely different method!

He proved a weak form of a world-class problem just like this?!

In just an hour or two?!

So this is…

Academician Lu's true strength?

He was becoming more and more surprised.

"No wonder he's the top scholar of his generation…" Wang Shicheng sighed and said, "His strength in differential equations, complex analysis, and topology is unparalleled."

But he's not working in our mathematics center…

What a shame…

"Amazing… Classifying all manifolds for a given homotopy by using the hyperelliptic curve analysis…"

The young man's voice was trembling as Lu Zhou finished writing.

He wasn't just shocked.

He was also ecstatic!

"I'm Chen Yang, mathematics… associate professor.

"Who are you?"

He actually introduced himself to me?

For a "crazy" person, he's quite polite.

Lu Zhou smiled and put down the half-used chalk.

"Jinling mathematics department.

"Lu Zhou."

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The atmosphere went silent for a few seconds.

Most of the spectators knew who Lu Zhou was; otherwise, they wouldn't have watched so carefully.

However, when Chen Yang heard the words "Lu Zhou", he was totally astonished.

Over the past few weeks, the hyperelliptic curve analysis method he studied, as well as all of its applications, even the source of his inspiration, was all from Lu Zhou's Annual Mathematics thesis.

He couldn't believe the author was standing in front of him.

"Lu Zhou?"

Chen Yang wasn't the only person who was astounded, the boy in the baseball cap reached out his right hand with his eyes wide open.

"Y-you are Lu Zhou? Academician Lu from Jinling?"

His chubby friend standing next to him tried to pull him back.

Lu Zhou felt like the guy in the baseball cap looked familiar.

Lu Zhou looked at him and smiled.

"Hey, have we met before?"

The guy in the baseball cap couldn't believe Lu Zhou recognized him. He spoke excitedly.

"Yeah! On the plane!"

Plane?

Lu Zhou had a look of realization on his face.

Oh, that kid.

The guy's face was bright red as he spoke with a stutter.

"M-my name is Li Mo. I'm your biggest fan!"

Lu Zhou: "…"

Fan?

Bullsh*t!

You didn't even know what I looked like, how are you a fan?

Do you think I'm dumb?

The guy in the baseball cap continued to blabber, "I've read about your group structure method in a number theory textbook. It also talked about you proving Goldbach's conjecture in the Princeton lecture hall… You're amazing!"

"Bro, bro, let's leave," the chubby guy said as he awkwardly tried to pull his friend away.

Unfortunately, Academician Lu already turned away, completely ignoring the enthusiastic guy in the cap.

The guy in the baseball cap felt embarrassed.

Wang Shicheng finally finished reading the equations on the blackboard. He calmed down and clapped his hands with a smile.

"Wow, sensational."

In fact, he didn't know which part was sensational. Even though he was also in the algebraic geometry field, knot theory and the Hodge conjecture were two different areas of research.

If this was a couple of decades ago, he might have been able to keep up with Lu Zhou's pace. But now, being able to comprehend Lu Zhou's calculations at all was already difficult.

"Academician Wang, you're too kind. It's nothing sensational, just a simple application of a mathematical tool."

Lu Zhou smiled and looked at Chen Yang as he said, "Your research is interesting. I've seen plenty of applications of the hyperelliptic curve analysis method on arXiv, but this is the first time I've seen someone improve it and use it to research nonsingular complex algebraic clusters and the polynomial equations that define the subclusters."

"Oh, you're too kind." Chen Yang lowered his head and said, "I'm ashamed to say I've done less in six weeks than you did in an hour."

Professor Yang Yongan couldn't help but say, "Of course, do you really think you can compare with Academician Lu?"

"Hey, don't say that. I've done a lot of research on the hyperelliptic curve analysis method, and after seeing Mr. Chen's calculations, I was inspired."

Lu Zhou looked at Chen Yang and continued, "The best way to polish a mathematical tool is to try and apply it to a problem through trial and error.

"This research pathway can prove that Hodge's conjecture holds true for H2; this at least shows that your idea has potential."

Chen Yang pushed his glasses and pondered for a moment before saying in a serious tone, "Do you have any good suggestions?"

"Read more, think more, try more…" Lu Zhou smiled and said, "Mathematics requires talent. The deeper into research you go, you'll realize that there aren't any shortcuts. This is very similar to other disciplines; anything that looks spectacular is nothing but the result of countless trials and errors."

Professor Yang Yongan had a thoughtful expression on his face.

The guy in the baseball cap looked at the ground and repeated the words to himself, "Read more, think more, try more… countless trials and errors… Is that how mathematics is?"

Academician Wang Shicheng stood in the crowd as he nodded with satisfaction.

Even though Lu Zhou's advice was simple, very few people actually understood and applied it. It took Wang Shicheng ten years to realize this, and he spent the next ten years producing outstanding research in knot theory.

But today, when Lu Zhou took the words of wisdom right out of his mouth, Wang Shicheng couldn't help but feel admiration.

He really is the best…

Even though he felt like Lu Zhou's success was filled with luck, it seemed like luck didn't play as big of a role as he had thought.

Lu Zhou looked around and spoke.

"No one here seems to understand your research."

Chen Yang looked a little resentful as he nodded and replied, "I did choose an almost impossible research project."

"Not necessarily…" Lu Zhou shook his head and said, "It's too early to make that conclusion. In my opinion, you're far from being stuck at a bottleneck. Just judging from the things you wrote on the blackboard, it's obvious that your research ideas have potential. Even if you can't solve it in the end, you might be able to produce amazing in-progress results."

Although this guy's personality was a bit weird, his mathematical ability was strong. What he lacked was experience.

If this guy stays at the mathematics center, forever being ignored, he would never achieve anything.

Lu Zhou didn't care that Academician Wang Shicheng was standing right next to him, he reached out his hand and asked, "Have you thought about coming to Jinling?

"I can guarantee that you'll find people to discuss your research with."

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Coming to Jinling?

When Academician Wang Shicheng heard this, he almost spat out blood.

The person Lu Zhou was trying to poach used to be a nobody, so even if Chen Yang left the mathematics center, Wang Shicheng wouldn't care…

However, anyone that was being poached by Academician Lu wasn't just a "nobody".

Wang Shicheng knew that Academician Lu had an eye for talent.

After all, Wang Shicheng trusted Lu Zhou's judgment more than his own.

"Academician Lu," Wang Shicheng coughed and said, "that's… not the best idea, right? Professor Chen is the backbone of our young researchers at the Yan University International Mathematical Research Center. Poaching him directly in front of us is a bit inappropriate…"

"Is it?"

What's so inappropriate?

You guys don't want him anyway…

Lu Zhou frowned and said, "But I heard that… Professor Chen doesn't even have an office here? Since the mathematics center is clearly overcrowded, isn't it better for him to leave?"

Wang Shicheng had an awkward expression on his face.

"That's misconstrued! Mr. Chen is a respected associate professor, and we removed him from his office as a way to sharpen his mind."

Wang Shicheng looked at Chen Yang and said, "Chen Yang, I was planning on giving you a full professor role this year; I just didn't tell you yet. A full professor title from Yanjing University, think carefully."

However, Associate Professor Chen's answer shocked Academician Wang.

Either Chen Yang was sick of this place, or he just didn't care about his academic ranking title, but he pushed his glasses and spoke without hesitation.

"Sorry, Academician Wang, I've already made my decision.

"Thank you for the past five years, at least you didn't fire me.

"As for the title you mentioned, you should give it to someone else. I don't really care for it."

"You… !" Wang Shicheng's face turned bright red. He then sighed and said, "Okay then, since you've decided, do what you want."

Professor Yang Yongan stared at Academician Wang in disbelief; he didn't expect Academician Wang to compromise this easily.

The other scholars standing nearby also looked baffled. They didn't expect Academician Wang Shicheng to admit defeat this quickly.

Even though he's facing Academician Lu…

He should at least put up a fight, right?

Chen Yang looked at Lu Zhou and spoke.

"I want to go to Jinling."

Lu Zhou smiled and nodded.

"You'll be welcomed there."

…

Even though Academician Wang didn't want his man to get poached, he didn't want to offend Academician Lu either. Not to mention that Chen Yang himself wanted to leave.

Academician Wang Shicheng knew there was nothing else he could say. In the end, he said some fake words such as "best of luck in your future endeavors".

As for Chen Yang, he didn't really care about leaving the Yan University International Mathematical Research Center at all. After all, he hadn't been treated fairly; he was even kicked out of his office.

He had lived in Beijing for his entire life, so he was hesitant about moving into a brand new city.

However, that was a small sacrifice.

Not to mention, if he wanted to visit his family, he could easily take the high-speed rail back to Beijing anytime.

After poaching a talented man in front of so many people, Lu Zhou didn't want to stay in the Yan University International Mathematical Research Center any longer. He could feel that Academician Wang Shicheng no longer welcomed him.

After some small talk, Lu Zhou and Chen Yang quietly left the Siheyuan.

They walked on the tree-lined Yan University path while Lu Zhou briefly explained to him about the situation at the Jinling Institute for Advanced Study.

"The Jinling Institute for Advanced Study doesn't have any end of year performance metrics. You can concentrate on whatever research project you'd like, as long as you can prove that your project is meaningful. If there are any necessary expenses, you can apply for funding.

"Also, I might not be able to help you with the Hodge conjecture. After all, I have my own stuff to do. But when I'm not busy, you can come talk to me. I do have some experience in algebraic geometry."

Chen Yang was walking with a large stack of draft paper and documents in his hand when he nodded and said, "Thank you, you're doing me a huge favor."

"You're welcome." Lu Zhou smiled and said, "Speaking of which, you really don't recognize me?"

"Recognize?" Chen Yang thought for a second and said, "I do know of you, I saw your name in that Annual Mathematics thesis and some other theses. But I didn't know what you looked like…"

Lu Zhou coughed and asked, "When was the last time you went on the Internet?"

Chen Yang thought for a second and replied, "Five years ago. Ever since I went to the mathematics center, I barely went online… I didn't really need to. There's a lot of resources at the mathematics center, and I was able to find any resource I wanted."

Lu Zhou said, "You don't watch TV either?"

Chen Yang: "… There's a TV in the cafeteria, but I don't really watch it."

I see…

It's like this guy is living in the 19th century!

This type of person was common in Princeton, where a lot of the older professors didn't like to use the Internet. They would even ask their PhD students to help them book flights and academic conference tickets.

However, a Chinese scholar in his thirties that didn't go online was quite rare.

Lu Zhou coughed and said, "… I don't want to criticize your research habits, but the times have changed. The Internet simplified a lot of things. For example, arXiv is a goldmine. Even though the preprints are not peer-reviewed, there are a lot of sophisticated ideas on there."

"ArXiv?"

"No way, you don't even know what arXiv is?"

Chen Yang began to reflect on his research habits. He then said thoughtfully, "I'll check it out."

Even though this guy was a bit old-fashioned, he was still open to advice.

Lu Zhou nodded and didn't continue speaking on this topic.

He finally understood how a mathematician like Chen Yang didn't recognize him.

Five years ago, Lu Zhou was still in Princeton.

If Chen Yang never went online or followed the mathematical world's gossip, it made sense for him to not recognize Lu Zhou.

Just like that kid in the baseball cap, he was probably one of those genius students that never went online or watched TV, thus he wasn't able to recognize Lu Zhou either.

After all, the academic community was a relatively introverted circle; it wasn't like the entertainment industry at all, where everyone knew everyone.

"Speaking of which, I haven't talked about comp yet."

"Comp?" Chen Yang paused for a second and said, "I don't really care, just cover the cost of living… and the cost of the journal subscriptions."

Lu Zhou shook his head and smiled.

"I can't do that, that's not how we do things… You have a PhD, right?"

Chen Yang nodded.

"Yeah…"

Lu Zhou thought for a second and said, "Since you were an associate professor in Beijing, your monthly salary will start from 10k RMB a month. Your accommodation and insurance will be covered. After you arrive in Jinling, you'll receive all of the specifics. I don't have any performance requirements for you, but the compensation is result-oriented. We're working on a total meritocracy basis. All I'm providing you is an environment for research."

After hearing Lu Zhou's words, Chen Yang nodded. He didn't focus on his compensation at all.

Instead, he said, "You're not going to Jinling with me?"

Lu Zhou smiled and said, "I didn't come all the way to Beijing to poach you; I still have a meeting here. Just go to Jinling with my recommendation letter. You know how to take a taxi, right?"

Chen Yang nodded.

"I do know that."

The two nearly arrived at the school gate.

Lu Zhou saw his black sedan parked nearby.

Suddenly, he heard someone shout from behind him.

"Academician Lu! Wait a second, Academician Lu!"

Lu Zhou turned around and saw the guy in the baseball cap running toward him.

As the guy stopped and began panting, Lu Zhou raised his eyebrows and calmly asked, "Hey, what do you want?"

The guy panted while patting his chest. He barely stood up straight as he replied, "Um, my name is Li Mo, a member of the national IMO training team. I'm sorry I didn't recognize you. I've never seen your photo before, I'm really sorry… Um, can you be my mentor?"

Lu Zhou wanted to refuse, but seeing how eager the teenager was, he didn't want to immediately reject him.

"Okay then, tell me, what are you good at?"

"Um," the guy scratched his head and said, "my achievements aren't even worthy of mentioning."

Oh, so you're aware of that?

Then why do you think I'll be your mentor?

Lu Zhou smiled and was about to tease the kid.

However, the teenage boy spoke first.

"B-but, the training team coach told me what I was the only student who finished the hardest question on the winter training camp exam. He told me that if I wanted to continue in mathematics, I should go into the field of number theory or complex analysis. As far as I'm concerned, you're the strongest scholar in number theory!"

Lu Zhou paused for a second before asking, "Wait a second, you were the only one that solved that question?"

"Yeah!" the guy said with a proud look on his face. He then smiled and added, "The teacher talked crap about the person that came up with such a hard question for high school students. Apparently, the teachers who marked the question complained about how the Riemann zeta function was outside of the curriculum! Of course, a competition has no curriculum…"

This Li Mo was clearly a rambler.

Lu Zhou didn't fully listen to his words at all. Instead, he had an awkward look on his face.

Wasn't I the one… who came up with this question…

But is it really that hard?

Only one person solved it?

Really?

Lu Zhou thought that he clearly chose an easy question and that it could be solved with high school mathematics knowledge. It was just that the steps would be a little cumbersome.

Lu Zhou stared at Li Mo and coughed.

"Don't get cocky, that question isn't difficult."

Lu Zhou paused for a second then continued, "I admit you're talented in mathematics, but you can't be too proud.

"Since you know who I am, you know my background. Being my student isn't that easy."

"I know! You're super amazing!" the guy said with a twinkle in his eyes. "Tell me, what do I have to do, to have you teach me mathematics?"

Lu Zhou could tell that the guy wasn't thirsty for fame or fortune, and he was doing this purely for the love of mathematics. Lu Zhou contemplated for a second and spoke.

"Easy, win an IMO gold medal and then we'll talk."

After that, he and Chen Yang walked out of the school gate.

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When Li Mo returned to the mathematics center, the sun was beginning to set.

He was about to pack his things and go back to his apartment.

"Brother Li, how come you disappeared? I tried looking for you. We already finished dinner."

Li Mo shook his head.

"It's fine, I'll go get some food later. There are a lot of restaurants nearby."

He grabbed his backpack and was about to leave, but the chubby guy grabbed his shoulder.

"Wait a second, where did you go?"

Li Mo paused for a second and spoke.

"Oh, I went to find Academician Lu."

"Find Academician Lu? What happened?"

"I asked him to be my mentor, I want him to teach me mathematics!"

Meng Fei was a little confused.

"… And he agreed?"

Li Mo shook his head.

"Nope."

"I told you." Meng Fei shook his head and said, "He's an academician, a rocket scientist, why would he teach a high school student?"

Li Mo nodded and said, "But…"

Meng Fei paused for a second and asked, "But what?"

The guy in the baseball cap clenched his fist and said, "But he promised me that, if I won an IMO gold medal, he would accept me as his student."

An IMO gold medal.

Sounded challenging.

However, it was possible.

After all, he was the only person who solved the last question of the national IMO training exam!

Meng Fei wasn't excited at all; he looked at Li Mo like he was a dumb*ss.

Li Mo didn't know why his friend looked dissatisfied.

"Why are you looking at me like that? You don't think I can do it?"

"No," Meng Fei shook his head and said, "Brother Li, if you do win a gold medal, instead of going to Shuimu University or Yan University, you decide to go to Jin Ling University… Wouldn't your father kill you?"

Even though Academician Lu was a top scholar, Jin Ling University was no match compared to Shuimu University or Yan University. Even though the Jinling Institute for Advanced Study had made great scientific research achievements in recent years, the reputation and academic prestige were nowhere near that of Shuimu University or Yan Universities'.

Anyone getting into Shuimu University or Yan University would be envied by all of their neighbors, but getting into Jin Ling University wasn't the same…

However, after hearing the chubby guy's words, Li Mo confidently shook his head.

"Not afraid at all, what is there to be afraid of? I have already decided! Academician Lu wouldn't lie to me. If I get the gold medal, he's going to be my teacher!"

"Then get ready for an as* beating from your dad! Okay, I won't persuade you…" Meng Fei shook his head and patted his buddy on the shoulder. "I'll support you wherever you go."

Li Mo looked at his chubby friend and spoke.

"Good!"

"Hey, but then again, if I were the one to win a gold medal and decide to go to Jin Ling University instead… I would be scared sh*tless of my dad…"

Li Mo looked at his friend and sighed.

"Don't worry, you won't win a medal."

Meng Fei: "Why do you have to do that…"

Li Mo smiled and patted him on the shoulder.

"Just kidding, come, let's get food."

"I just ate… Whatever, I'll come anyway."

…

Lu Zhou didn't know that he had already planted a seed inside a certain teenager.

After Lu Zhou left Yan University's campus, he got in his car and called his office. He asked his assistant Zhao Huan to buy a plane ticket for his newly poached "talent".

He didn't come all the way to Beijing to poach a talent; he had more important things to do.

After Lu Zhou got in the car, he called the Jinling Institute for Advanced Study and told them about the new hire.

After returning to the hotel, Lu Zhou received the conference summary from the Lunar Orbit Committee and briefly looked at his obligations.

As a chief designer, in addition to giving a speech at the opening ceremony, he was also the face of the entire project.

As for the other troublesome matters, such as negotiating with diplomats from other countries, those were handled by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. They had been preparing for the past two months for this event.

While Lu Zhou was on his New Year's holiday, these people were working around the clock.

Lu Zhou glanced at the meeting summary and tossed it aside. Lu Zhou took out his notebook and wrote down the things written on the blackboard this afternoon.

Even though his research wasn't on the Hodge conjecture, he still learned a lot from Chen Yang's calculations.

For example, the method Chen Yang used when defining the topological invariants of the cohomology class described the basic features of a complex manifold. This gave Lu Zhou a new idea for the application of the Étale cohomology group.

Even though this idea wasn't particularly clever, it was novel enough that Lu Zhou was surprised to see this being invented by a guy closed off to the rest of the world.

Maybe after five years of intensive research, Chen Yang has a deep understanding of algebraic geometry.

He's just lacking in mathematical tools and experience.

This was one of the main reasons Lu Zhou wanted to poach him. Lu Zhou believed he had the resources to make Chen Yang flourish.

With a pen in his hand, Lu Zhou stared at the lines of calculations in the notebook. He muttered to himself, "Bridging the gap between complex manifolds and topology, finding answers in higher dimensions… This guy is a genius."

The problem in its high-dimensional case was easier than the low-dimensional case. This sounded a little weird, but there was a reason behind it. Similarly, in the 1960s, Professor Smale came up with a genius idea, which was that the Poincaré conjecture in its high-dimensional case was easier than its three-dimensional case.

Smale used his genius idea to finally prove the Poincaré conjecture in its five-dimensional space and above, thus winning a Fields Medal.

"I didn't expect the hyperelliptic curve analysis method to be applied like this. I guess my mathematical tool is more powerful than I had thought.

"It seems like I have stepped on a treasure."

The more Lu Zhou dived into these formulas, the more his eyes began to shine.

For some reason, Lu Zhou felt like he just took another big step forward toward solving Riemann's hypothesis.

"I wonder if Vera has finished writing her thesis yet."

Lu Zhou had this urge to publish a thesis. He opened his computer and searched in the literature database. He then checked whether or not his students had recently published any papers.

After all, the things that Vera sent him were unpublished work. He couldn't use them without referencing Vera.

It was common for scholars to wait for their colleagues to publish before publishing their own theses.

Of course, there were also scholars who were not as nice as Lu Zhou.

Unfortunately, after searching the database, Lu Zhou didn't find any theses published by Vera.

I guess she either hasn't submitted it, or it's still in peer review.

"Why hasn't she published yet?"

Lu Zhou closed the literature database software and opened Xiao Ai's custom thesis writing software.

He still had to write a thesis; however, he couldn't publish in a journal yet.

"I guess… I'll upload a preprint first."

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Three days later, Beijing had a cloudless, sunny day.

It was rare for this city to have such good weather.

Thousands of people gathered at the Beijing Conference Center.

Two security guards stood at the conference hall entrance with a formal smile on their faces.

Their faces became sore after a while. They spoke to each other in hopes of relaxing their facial muscles.

The guard with a buzz cut said, "I realized that no matter what the conference is, if it has an 'international' in its name, it becomes totally different."

The other slightly older guard asked, "What do you mean?"

The younger guard continued, "Think about it, if they changed it to just the China Lunar Hadron Collider Conference, wouldn't it feel less important?"

The older guard smiled and said, "Why does it matter? The word international only means that we're open to cooperation from other countries. What does this have to do with importance?"

"I guess you're right."

"Okay, enough, stop messing around, be quiet."

On the other side of the conference center, a young PhD student with neatly combed hair looked at the foreign faces walking through the entrance.

"Hey, if we can build this Hadron Collider ourselves, why are we letting the Americans participate? Can't we just do it ourselves?"

The older man standing next to him was probably his supervisor.

After hearing his student's words, the older man in a suit shook his head and spoke.

"That's not how it works. We're going through globalization; cooperating with other countries is a win-win situation. We're still the world-leaders in the aerospace industry, and the best way to maintain our advantage isn't to close our borders. Rather, we should join forces; even the Americans know this."

The younger scholar scratched his head.

"So what's the advantage of joining forces?"

The older man coughed and said, "Actually, I'm not sure, I heard this from someone at the hotel buffet yesterday."

Student: "…"

The older man coughed and continued, "All in all, your plan won't work. Hosting this international event strengthens our diplomatic relationships with other countries. Back in the day, we used to work for western laboratories, helping them do research. Now, these foreigners will work for us.

"This meeting is very important. Don't sit there on your phone, try to network with people. The person sitting next to you could be a laboratory director or some big-name physicist."

The young student had a serious look on his face as he nodded and turned off his phone.

"Understood!"

The older man smirked at his student.

Not a bad student.

Even though the older man was a leader in physics among top Chinese universities, he was still humbled at a place like this.

Being able to network at an international physics event like this was beneficial for everyone, even him.

Speaking of which, he had to thank Academician Lu for creating this opportunity for the Chinese physics community to host an event like this.

If only he had this kind of opportunity when he was younger. Back in his day, not only did he not have foreigners coming to China for an academic conference, he could barely go to a conference himself…

The old man couldn't help but look at his student with envy in his eyes.

Kid, you don't know how lucky you are.

You're in the perfect era for physics…

…

The first International Lunar Hadron Collider Conference was held in the Beijing Conference Center.

Professor Keriber stood at the entrance of the conference hall with a large trench coat over his shoulders as he welcomed Lu Zhou with his arms wide open.

"Hi, my friend, long time no see!"

"Long time no see." Lu Zhou hugged the tall and thin German professor and smiled. He said, "If I recall correctly, this is the Lunar Hadron Collider Conference, so what are you doing here?"

Professor Keriber, director of the Wendelstein 7-X Stellarator Institute, was one of the main engineers working on controllable fusion research in Europe.

When China was leaving ITER, these two were competitors, but they had always maintained a good personal relationship. They even did some academic exchanges on behalf of their respective countries.

For example, the STAR Stellarator, predecessor of the Pangu fusion reactor, was modified from the Wega Stellarator bought from Germany.

Looking at it from the long term perspective, the deal certainly worked out for Germany. Without the success of the Pangu fusion reactor, Europe would have had to wait another fifty years to use clean and nearly unlimited energy. Now that the fusion negotiations had ended, it was likely for East Asia Energy to build fusion reactor plants in France or Germany sometime in the next year…

"You probably forgot that I'm an engineer doing research on plasma physics, and I'm one of the world's leading experts on superconducting magnets. I take credit in CERN's underground superconducting magnets. That's why I received an invite." Keriber patted Lu Zhou's shoulder and said, "You have another friend here as well."

"Professor Klitzing?" Lu Zhou looked at the old man nearby and smiled. "I didn't expect to see you here."

"How could I miss such an important event? You guys will be the deciding factor on whether there will be new physics discoveries in the next fifty years." Professor Klitzing smiled and shook Lu Zhou's hand as he said, "Congratulations on being able to host such an important meeting, this will be a highlight in your academic career… But I guess you don't care about those kinds of things anymore."

"Oh no, of course I care, but I'm not the one hosting this conference; I'm just one of the hosts…" Lu Zhou smiled and made an inviting gesture. "Let's go inside."

Professor Keriber suddenly raised his right hand.

"Wait a second, I forgot something."

Lu Zhou smiled and said, "What thing? Don't tell me you left your invitation letter back at the hotel?"

"An old friend of mine from Princeton asked me to give you a letter. I knew that I would probably run into you, so I agreed." Keriber took out a letter from his briefcase and said, "This is it."

Lu Zhou was about to take this letter, but Wang Peng stepped forward and grabbed it.

"Sorry, can I take a look at it first?"

Keriber shrugged and awkwardly looked at Wang Peng. "Uh, sure, no problem, my job is just to deliver it. You can throw it in the trash for all I care… But I did go through airport security with it, so it should be fine, right? Just don't blame me."

"Yeah, we're in a special time right now, and it's kind of affecting my life…" Lu Zhou looked at Wang Peng and said, "Is it fine?"

After checking the envelope with professional tools, Wang Peng cautiously nodded.

"It's fine."

Wang Peng then walked to the side and opened the envelope.

There was a letter inside, as well as an invitation card.

Lu Zhou looked at Wang Peng and asked, "Can you tell me who sent the letter? I'm curious."

"The sender is Krugman… That's what it says." Wang Peng noticed Lu Zhou's face and asked, "What?"

Lu Zhou: "… Nothing."

F*ck sake!

He's still not giving up!

Even asked his friend to send me the letter…

Really can't get rid of him.

——

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[Dear Professor Lu, I apologize for interrupting your busy schedule!

[I know that before you've finished reading this letter, you're already planning on rejecting me. I beg you not to make a decision yet.

[Solving the problem of social resource allocation has always been one of the most important propositions in economics. The 21st century of computers and mathematics opened a new door for our research. However, it is rare for scholars from other disciplines to take an interest in economics. It's very rare to see great scholars like John Nash who were willing to venture into economics!

[I've tried to study these equations in the past, but unfortunately, due to my age, things aren't the same as before anymore.

[I know you're not interested in helping, probably tired of hearing from me. However, I'm still grateful that you're reading my letter.

[In two weeks, there will be an international macroeconomics conference in Shanghai. If you have time, it'd be great for you to come.

[I want to talk to you in person, and for you to see the impact your research has made.

[I look forward to meeting you!]

Is this guy stalking me?

He really never gives up, he should just be a salesman.

Lu Zhou was sitting in the conference hall lounge. He was in his suit, sitting in his chair with his makeup being done as he read the letter.

"Um… can you hurry up?"

For a guy like him, putting on makeup was torture.

Sitting in front of the mirror with someone else fiddling his face…

The young lady knew Lu Zhou would say this, so she put on a professional smile and spoke softly.

"Please be patient, Academician Lu, we're almost done."

F*ck, almost?

Lu Zhou wasn't happy to wait any longer.

"I think I'm handsome enough, this will do."

The young lady snorted and nearly dropped her eyebrow pencil.

"Y-you're kidding…? Of course, you're handsome, but for a formal occasion like this, you have to follow proper grooming and makeup standards."

Lu Zhou didn't want to argue with the lady, so he quietly muttered, "I never put on makeup for conferences."

"This isn't an academic conference," Director Li from the State Administration for National Defense said. He smiled and walked over. "Academician Lu, you're the face of our country, so we have to make you look presentable."

Lu Zhou looked at the old man walking through the door and spoke.

"You put on makeup as well?"

Director Li smiled.

"A little bit."

Lu Zhou frowned and stared for a while.

"How come I can't see it?"

"Just covered up some wrinkles… I'm getting old, it's not the same anymore." Director Li cleared his throat and put on a more serious expression. "Are you ready? You're the first to speak."

Lu Zhou adjusted his tie and smiled.

"I'll be fine, I'm used to it by now, and it's not like this is the United Nations."

"You want to attend their conference? I can try."

"It's fine… I was just kidding."

Lu Zhou wasn't interested in the United Nations' conferences.

He wasn't a politician anyway.

What was the point of going there just to show his face?

"Okay." The makeup lady put down her pencil and took a step back as she smiled and said, "Academician Lu, you look great; do you want me to take a photo?"

"No, it's fine." Lu Zhou looked at his watch and said, "I think I look better without makeup."

Makeup lady: "…"

…

There was a huge crowd in the conference center.

Physicists, aerospace engineers, and high-level politicians from all over the world were sitting in this hall.

There were also young students that were abandoned by their supervisors and were trying to fit in.

There was still ten minutes before the opening ceremony, so people took this opportunity to gossip with one another.

"Guess who I saw when I walked in?"

"Who?"

"NASA Director Carson!"

"No way, Director Carson is here?"

"I'm 100% certain it's him!"

"I can't believe it… Looks like it's not just the physics community, the aerospace industry will also be affected."

"Are you living in the 18th century?"

"… What do you mean?"

"How do you not know the aerospace industry is going to be affected?"

Suddenly, the stage lights turned on.

People stopped talking and looked toward the stage.

The chattering gradually subsided.

Lu Zhou walked on stage in a suit.

He adjusted the microphone and spoke in a clear voice.

"Hello, everyone, I'm glad to see you here."

A lot of people looked curiously at Lu Zhou.

Lu Zhou raised his voice and continued, "Seeing you all here means we have reached somewhat a consensus on many issues, so that's a great thing.

"This is one of the rare conferences that doesn't contain any academic content.

"I believe that politics, economics, culture, and scientific research are all connected. We're all from different fields, different professions, different countries, but we're here for one reason…"

Lu Zhou looked around the quiet venue and slowly spoke.

"That is to tackle the future issues together."

His speech was almost over.

The opening ceremony was only two and a half minutes long.

Now that the opening words were over, it was time for Lu Zhou to deliver the real content of his speech.

Lu Zhou cleared his throat and looked at the notes in his hand. He then said in a steady and calm voice, "On behalf of the Chinese academic community, we would like to present to the world the Lunar Hadron Collider project vision.

"I hope we will all prosper together."

The venue erupted in thunderous applause.

Lu Zhou gave a slight bow and walked off the stage.

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