An office inside the Institute of Mathematics.
Lu Zhou held his breath and walked into the office. He immediately opened the windows and took a breath of fresh air. He then turned around and looked at Chen Yang, who was standing beside the blackboard with a muddled look.
“The question you gave me the other day was interesting.”
Lu Zhou coughed. He had a stack of papers in his hand.
“I did some research, and this is what I got… Oh yeah, your proposition was correct. Seems like your mathematical intuition is quite sharp. If this were any more difficult, it could become a classical conjecture.”
Chen Yang looked at the blackboard. He then looked at the stack of papers in Lu Zhou’s hand. His face was full of surprise.
“You… solved it?”
“Took quite a while, but not too long. I might have pulled an all-nighter…”
Lu Zhou placed the stack of papers on the table and said, “Speaking of which, do you have coffee? Do you mind getting me a cup.”
Chen Yang nodded.
“Ok.”
The cup of coffee was placed on the table.
Lu Zhou looked at the chalk dust on the coffee cup and frowned.
“Can’t you keep up with the times? You don’t like whiteboards, but surely writing on draft paper is the same.”
Chen Yang shook his head and said, “Writing on draft paper is soulless.”
Lu Zhou: “…”
Chen Yang quickly said, “Can I read the thesis?”
“… Of course.” Lu Zhou shrugged and took a sip from the dirty coffee cup. “Go ahead, I came here to talk about this thesis with you.”
“Thank you.”
Chen Yang placed all of his attention on the thesis and left Lu Zhou aside.
While Professor Chen was reading the thesis, Lu Zhou looked at the row of blackboards in the office.
The calculations on the blackboards were clearly his attempts to prove the proposition.
Unfortunately, Chen Yang was still stuck at the entrance of the maze.
Lu Zhou sighed.
He’s talented.
But he’s far from my level.
If I knew this proposition was this difficult for him, I wouldn’t have stayed up all night trying to solve it. I’m so sleepy…
Ah, it’s a lonely world for a genius like me…
Chen Yang suddenly looked up and spoke.
“Impressive!”
Academician Lu really is a legend!
Professor Lu wrote down proofs of things Chen Yang hadn’t even thought of.
Chen Yang had a whole new level of respect for Lu Zhou.
He’s too nutty!
Chen Yang was totally impressed.
Lu Zhou smiled and said, “You understand it?”
Chen Yang nodded and said, “Understand… most of it. There are some parts I don’t get, can you explain it to me?”
Lu Zhou put down his coffee cup and spoke.
“No problem.”
Answering Chen Yang’s questions didn’t take a lot of effort.
Even though this guy might seem a little silly, he had a sharp intuition for mathematics. Lu Zhou only had to give him some general directions and Chen Yang could easily figure out the rest on his own.
This reminded Lu Zhou of one of his Princeton students—Qin Yue. He was also a taciturn, independent scholar. However, Qin Yue was far from Chen Yang’s level.
Honestly speaking, Lu Zhou was a little curious about how Chen Yang survived for this long.
For someone with such a low emotional intelligence, how did he not get beaten up?
After answering Chen Yang’s questions, Lu Zhou was almost certain that there was nothing wrong with his thesis.
When Chen Yang looked back at the blackboard, Lu Zhou suddenly remembered something.
“Oh yeah, the problem was quite interesting. It integrated easily into the hyperelliptic curve analysis method… Like you said, this hyperelliptic curve analysis has more applications than I had thought.
“I submitted the thesis to Annual Mathematics, is that fine?”
Chen Yang was a little confused, “Why… wouldn’t it be?”
Lu Zhou coughed and spoke.
“I don’t really care about another thesis, but it should benefit you quite a lot… However, I was the one who solved it, so I wrote you down as the second author… Is that fine?”
Chen Yang nodded.
“Oh.”
Lu Zhou: “…”
How did this guy… survive in academia for so long?
The office became quiet.
Suddenly, the phone in Lu Zhou’s pocket began to ring.
“Let me take this.”
“Okay.” Chen Yang nodded and continued to stare at his blackboard.
Lu Zhou walked out of the dusty office and took a breath of fresh air. He took out his phone and answered the call.
“Hello?”
Director Li’s voice traveled through the phone.
“It’s me!”
Director Li?
Lu Zhou knew that the carbon-based chip report hadn’t been written yet, so Director Li should be asking him about something else.
“What?”
Director Li awkwardly smiled and said, “Um, Academician Lu, are you free any time?”
Lu Zhou knew that this guy wanted a favor from him.
It’s way too obvious!
Lu Zhou coughed and said, “Depends on what you’re asking…”
Director Li: “Nothing big. If you have time, take a trip to Shanghai.”
Lu Zhou said, “Why would I go there?”
What the hell is in Shanghai?
Director Li smiled and said, “It’s nearly the end of the month. The headquarters of the ILHCRC is about to be unveiled. You’re the chairman, shouldn’t you go for a visit?”
Lu Zhou: “…?!”
