Translator: Legge Editor: Legge
London.
The neat streets.
An old church.
Exotic beauties.
Along the way, the scenery outside the car was completely unobstructed.
Little Wang leaned against the window and exclaimed, “How beautiful.”
Ha Qiqi narrowed her eyes and said, “It indeed does feel different here.”
Zhang Ye was also in the UK for the first time, so he was quite curious about the local customs.
Little Wang looked at Zhang Ye. “Director Zhang.”
“Hmm?” Zhang Ye said.
Little Wang pleaded, “Can Sister Ha and I go shopping tonight?”
Zhang Ye smiled and said, “Don’t you two have jet lag?”
Little Wang giggled and said, “We slept on the plane for the entire journey. We can’t sleep anymore.”
Zhang Ye said, “Go on then. It’s a rare chance for us to come out here anyway, and the award ceremony is scheduled for tomorrow as well.”
“Alright! Thanks, Director Zhang!” Little Wang said excitedly.
Ha Qiqi smiled and said, “Shall we go to Oxford Street?”
Little Wang clapped. “That will be great!”
Up ahead, they arrived at the hotel.
This was the hotel that housed this year’s Nobel Prize award ceremony’s personnel. It was over ten stories high, and the entire hotel had already been fully booked. Besides the Nobel Prize Committee members, there were also the staff for the ceremony, foreign dignitaries, and guests. The remaining people were all the nominees for this year’s Nobel Prize. They came from all walks of life and could be said to have made great contributions to the world in their relevant fields. The guest list was so prestigious that it would shock anyone who saw it.
The car stopped.
The cabbie got out and opened the door for them.
Zhang Ye and his staff came into the hotel and checked in.
Quite a few guests checked in, but some of those who had just arrived were still processing their check-ins. All of them were foreign faces that Zhang Ye could not recognize.
Ha Qiqi asked, “Which floor are we on?”
After registering them, the female English employee smiled and said, “You’re on the seventh floor. That floor is reserved for all the nominees of the Nobel Prize in Literature and their entourage.”
The Literature Prize.
The Physiology or Medicine Prize.
The Physics Prize.
The Mathematics Prize.
The Economics Prize 1 .
And so on and so forth. All except for the Nobel Peace Prize, which was a tad special as it did not have any nominees. The accommodation arrangements for the rest of the award nominees were made according to the category of awards. The organizers had purposely arranged for them to stay on the same floor so that everyone could interact with one another. This was in the spirit of the Nobel Prizes, after all.
Ha Qiqi nodded. “Alright.”
The pretty English lady pointed. “The elevators are over there.”
Little Wang smiled and said, “Thank you.”
“Um—” The pretty English lady looked at Zhang Ye.
Zhang Ye was taken aback. “Yes? What’s the matter?”
The pretty English lady looked around to check that no one was looking before reaching under the table taking out a book while smiling graciously. It was the English edition of Gone with the Wind. “Teacher Zhang, can I get your autograph?”
Zhang Ye was very happy to hear that. “Sure.”
He grabbed a pen and signed it for her.
This was the first time he met a foreign fan asking for his autograph. It was a different feeling. Zhang Ye could clearly feel his international reputation growing. However, when he signed the book, he still stubbornly signed it in Chinese. He only had this signature since he did not have an English name.
The pretty English lady was obviously very happy. “Thank you, thank you so much!”
Zhang Ye said to Ha Qiqi and Little Wang, “Let’s go.”
Little Wang whispered, “Looks like you also have foreign fans now.”
Ha Qiqi laughed and said, “Director Zhang is no longer who he was.”
The three of them walked to the elevator.
Behind them, several people suddenly caught up to them.
“Zhang!”
“Wait a moment.”
“Slow down.”
Turning around, he saw Hans, Anna, and Paige. They arrived slightly after Zhang Ye and had already cleared their check-ins.
They came up to Zhang Ye and company with their luggage behind them.
Anna stared at him in surprise. “Are you really the author of Gone with the Wind?”
Zhang Ye smiled. “Yes.”
Paige stared in surprise. “Aren’t you a physicist?”
Zhang Ye said in amusement, “I do know a little about physics.”
“You call that knowing a little?” Hans said floored. “To be able to hold a discussion and debate with us Nobel Prize nominated physicists, you call that knowing a little?”
Hans’s student was also looking at Zhang Ye in shock.
On their way here in the car, they were completely unable to accept this fact. If he only knew a little, even with a very deep understanding of physics, he would not have been able to hold a debate like they had on the plane and after they disembarked. What about was Hans’s student? He was also an expert in physics. Even though he was a student in name, he was still a full-fledged physics professor. However, in their discussions about the topic, Hans’s student was unable to say anything. This was due to his limited ability and knowledge. But Zhang Ye? Not only was he able to chat with them, some of his thoughts even gave them some inspiration. How could he be just an ordinary physicist?!
A world-leading authority on physics like you!
Yet you went into the literary field?
Are you serious!
Hans couldn’t be more disappointed. “Why did you write a novel!”
Zhang Ye was taken aback. “But I originally started out writing novels.”
Anna was stunned. “Ah?”
Paige’s eyes widened in surprise. “You used to write novels?”
“Yeah.” Zhang Ye said with a smile, “Why else would I be vying for the Nobel Prize in Literature?”
Paige couldn’t help but look up into the sky in astonishment.
Anna’s legs turned to rubber.
What the heck?
As they talked, the elevator was delayed.
All of a sudden, a group of people arrived behind them. One of the people recognized Zhang Ye immediately.
“Zhang!”
“It’s you?”
“Zhang! My Chinese friend! You’re here too?”
Zhang Ye turned around. He was very happy to see who it was that called out to him. “John, Steve, were you two nominated as well? Congratulations! I wouldn’t have known if I didn’t see you here.”
An English mathematician said with a smile, “I’m just joining in the fun, not here to vie for the prize.”
An American mathematician laughed and said, “Me neither. I’m not hopeful of winning anything even though I was nominated.”
A French mathematician said, “I have no regrets now that I’ve been nominated for a Nobel Prize. I never thought about winning, but there’s hope for you.”
Zhang Ye waved it off. “I wouldn’t be so sure of that.”
The English mathematician said, “At least you stand a greater chance than us.”
The American mathematician said, “But the competition for this year’s Nobel Prize in Mathematics is indeed quite intense. There were 28 people who were identified as the nominees of this award alone.”
Zhang Ye laughed, knowing that they had misunderstood the situation.
These few people were the best foreign mathematicians Zhang Ye had met back when he solved the global mathematical conjecture. In the global mathematics field, he still knew quite a few people.
When Anna the physicist heard that, she said in stupefaction, “Mathematics Prize? What Mathematics Prize?”
Paige was also stunned. “Mathematics?”
When these people said hello to Zhang Ye, the physicists had thought that they had known Zhang Ye from before and assumed them to be the nominees for the Nobel Prize in Literature. At the beginning, they did not pay much attention to it, but as they listened, they suddenly realized something was amiss.
Who are you all?
Hans’s student’s eyes narrowed as he hurriedly whispered to his teacher, “I know that English guy. He’s Professor John, a world-famous mathematician!”
Ah?
Paige heard it.
Anna also heard it.
This was a group of mathematicians?
The English mathematician looked at the physicists and wondered, “Eh, aren’t you all together? Don’t you know?”
Hans said in confusion, “Know about what?”
The French mathematician smiled and said, “So you all don’t know each other? Then allow me to introduce you. This is Zhang Ye, a world-class mathematician. Years ago, we took part in the verification process of the proof to Dale’s Conjecture that he proposed. That’s why we’re saying Zhang Ye has a chance of getting the Nobel Prize in Mathematics. Ugh, if not for the trouble that he got into back then that led to him disappearing from the public for three or four years, he would have been nominated and possibly won it at that time”
The American mathematician teased, “Even better, he forfeited an international mathematics prize at that time and made so many people in the world of math fuming mad.”
Zhang Ye laughed and said, “I’m not vying for the Mathematics Prize this time.”
The English mathematician was taken aback. “What do you mean?”
“I was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature,” Zhang Ye said.
All of the mathematicians’ jaws dropped!
What?
The Literature Prize?
Why are you battling in the field of literature!
The physicists were confused once again!
What?
A mathematician?
What the hell! When did you become a mathematician!
