Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations
It was none other than Professor Sun Hongbiao.
“Professor Sun, you must be joking, I’m only exchanging thoughts with him,” Lu Zhou said. He was a little embarrassed, so he smiled and said, “And you have no right to say I’m not nice.”
When Professor Sun heard him, he became less aggressive. He then yawned and pretended like he didn’t know anything.
“Professor Lu, what are you talking about, I don’t understand?”
Lu Zhou shook his head and smiled.
At the lithium-sulfur battery conference held by the Energy Bureau, Professor Sun’s question ignited the debate about the research direction. Because of this, Professor Sun offended many of his peers.
Of course, Lu Zhou wasn’t a narrow-minded person, so he wasn’t resentful of Professor Sun.
Otherwise, he wouldn’t have agreed to let Professor Sun publish the “Feasibility of Suppressing the Shuttle Effect on Hollow Carbon Spheres” in the journal published by Shuimu University.
However, even though Lu Zhou wasn’t resentful, he still didn’t like being poached.
Lu Zhou coughed and didn’t look at Professor Sun. Instead, he smiled at the tall guy and asked, “What do you think, bro? Offer still stands. Within two years, I’ll let you publish in a top journal. Do you prefer Science or Nature?”
Scientific researchers often didn’t care about salaries. Furthermore, a private research institute would definitely be able to provide a higher salary than a postdoc.
For someone who was interested in academia, publishing a journal was a much more valuable thing.
This was the reason why there were so many people who only cared about doing experiments and didn’t care about money.
When Lou Fan heard Lu Zhou’s offer, he started to think.
If it was anyone else that “let him publish in a top journal”, he would be doubtful.
But this was Lu Zhou…
He was not a normal person.
After all, Lu Zhou published in journals more than twice per year.
Lou Fan thought of this, and he started to feel tempted.
However, he then saw Professor Sun looking at him…
Lou Fan smiled awkwardly and said, “I… have to think about it.”
He only said this to save Professor Sun the embarrassment.
One was a well-known domestic scholar while the other was an internationally renowned scholar.
It was obvious that he had already made up his mind.
Lu Zhou could sense this, so he smiled and handed Lou Fan his business card.
Professor Sun, who was standing at a side, stared at Lu Zhou. However, he didn’t say anything.
He knew that he couldn’t match Lu Zhou’s offer. In addition, his previous actions weren’t moral.
The conference was about to begin, and by the likes of it, the national award was in Lu Zhou’s hands.
Professor Sun would rather make friends than enemies.
Although Professor Sun’s talent was poached, he suddenly felt a little more comfortable.
Lou Fan took the business card. He couldn’t stand Professor Sun looking at him, so he quietly walked away.
Professor Sun looked back at Lu Zhou and asked, “Professor Lu, did you come to Shuimu to give me a hard time?”
Lu Zhou rubbed his nose.
“You have it wrong. Actually… I’m only passing by.”
Two seconds of silence passed by.
Professor Sun coughed and said, “Professor Lu, stop joking.”
“No, no, I’m not joking.”
“You really didn’t come to find me?” Professor Sun asked as he looked at Lu Zhou. He was surprised by Lu Zhou’s answer, and he couldn’t believe that Lu Zhou wasn’t joking.
Lu Zhou looked at Professor Sun’s astonished expression. He didn’t know what else to say.
Lu Zhou was only at Shuimu University to look around.
He didn’t come for Professor Sun at all. In fact, he didn’t expect to poach anyone.
However…
Lu Zhou felt that Professor Sun wouldn’t want to hear the truth.
…
Lu Zhou basically spent the past few days hanging out at Shuimu, Yan, and Minzu University. He even received an invitation from Academician Xiang to report on his “Group Structure Method” at the Chinese Academy of Sciences. At the report session, he also shared his research on the additive number theory.
The days quickly flew by, and soon, it was already the 8th of January.
Lu Zhou woke up early in the morning.
Once he had his breakfast at the hotel restaurant, he went back into his room. He then put on the same suit that he wore to the prize ceremony in Stockholm.
Lu Zhou stared at himself in the mirror for a while as he admired his own appearance. He would have been late if it wasn’t for Wang Peng calling and reminding him.
The award ceremony was at the Beijing Conference Center.
Lu Zhou went through the entrance security check before he followed a VIP staff member inside. By then, the venue was already full of people.
When Academician Xiang noticed Lu Zhou, he quickly walked over.
“What took you so long?”
Lu Zhou said, “There was a bit of traffic… Am I late?”
Academician Xiang replied, “Not quite, but most people usually arrive an hour or two early. This conference is a good opportunity to network with peers. Your mentor told me to take care of you, and I planned on introducing you to a few people. However, we don’t have time for that anymore.”
Lu Zhou’s mentor was obviously Academician Lu.
When Lu Zhou heard that Academician Lu wasn’t here, he asked, “Academician Lu isn’t coming?”
Academician Xiang shook his head and said, “He just got back from Switzerland yesterday. He has to go to Daya Bay in a few days, so I’m afraid he doesn’t have time to come.”
Okay then, I guess theoretical physicists are really busy…
Lu Zhou recalled that old man Witten also flew between America and Switzerland often. Witten might teach at Princeton one day and fly to CERN for a report on the next day.
While Lu Zhou was talking with Academician Xiang, Wang Haifeng, who was standing nearby talking with his peers, suddenly noticed him.
There was no way for Wang Haifeng to ignore Lu Zhou’s existence. After all, Lu Zhou was the youngest person at this conference.
It would be difficult not to notice Lu Zhou!
Wang Haifeng looked at Lu Zhou walking over, and he quickly put on a fake smile.
“Professor Lu, how are you?”
Lu Zhou noticed someone greeting him, and he froze for a bit.
He didn’t recognize Wang Haifeng at all.
“Sorry, who are you?”
Wang Haifeng’s eyebrows suddenly twitched.
There was a twinge of dissatisfaction in his eye, but he quickly smiled and said, “Professor Lu, you are really forgetful. It has been less than a year since the lithium-sulfur battery meeting; how can you forget about me?”
Lu Zhou’s eyes lit up, and he smiled.
“Oh, you’re Professor Wang… You were Liu Hong’s boss?”
When Wang Haifeng heard Liu Hong’s name, he nearly exploded.
Not only did Lu Zhou poach Liu Hong, but Lu Zhou had the nerve to mention it to Wang Haifeng.
This is despicable!
When Academician Xiang saw that there was a bit of tension in the air, he coughed and tried to diffuse the situation.
“Okay okay, the conference is about to begin. Wait until after the conference to settle your beef.”
Although Wang Haifeng didn’t like Lu Zhou, he was at a grand conference hall, and he couldn’t just start an argument here.
He saw the old man standing next to Lu Zhou, and he could tell that the old man was a scholar.
However, he wasn’t sure of the status of the old man.
Wang Haifeng calmed down a bit and didn’t say anything. Instead, he turned around and left.
“Look at you…” Academician Xiang pulled Lu Zhou’s shoulder and lowered his voice as he said, “If you don’t maintain good relationships, you are bound to offend people!”
Lu Zhou was helpless.
He really didn’t think he offended Wang Haifeng at all.
The only time they had interacted before was at the lithium-sulfur battery meeting.
If Wang Haifeng didn’t introduce himself and mention that meeting, Lu Zhou really wouldn’t have remembered who he was…
The conference was about to begin.
The professors, scholars, and the higher-ups were seated. The noise at the conference hall gradually quieted down.
The solemn bright red color of the podium gave a sense of respect to the venue.
A lively song broke out and the highest honor academic award ceremony finally began!
