After meeting Maksim, Lu Zhou felt a lot less nervous.
He realized that this guy was a pretty interesting person.
Even though Maksim was a professional, he often joked around.
The only problem was that neither of them was very good at English, so communication was a bit confusing at times.
“Are you married? Have a girlfriend?”
“No,” Lu Zhou said. He felt somewhat ashamed, so he said, “It’s not because I can’t find anyone, it’s just that I’m too busy with work, I have no time to date.”
“Ok ok, what about girls in your workplace? You don’t know how to flirt, right? I know how you feel.” Maksim raised his eyebrows and said, “You need to find a place with pretty girls and talk with them… Do you want a recommendation? St. Petersburg has some good places.”
Lu Zhou: “???”
It took an hour to drive from the St. Petersburg International Airport to the Corinthia Hotel. The buildings and statues looked historic and exotic.
However, the closer they drove to the city center, the more modern the scenery became.
All major cities around the world had similar looking CBDs; they were all concrete jungles, filled with steel trees.
However, when Lu Zhou arrived at the Corinthia Hotel entrance, he was amazed by the Russian palace-style design of the hotel.
This was completely different from the conference in Brazil.
This conference was sponsored by the local government and Russian authorities, thus the attendees were situated at a scenic five-star hotel directly in the city center.
Regardless of the motive behind this, the not-so-rich mathematicians were thankful at the opportunity to stay at a luxurious hotel like this.
After Lu Zhou arrived at the hotel, his welcoming team took off. However, judging from the police standing on the streets and the security guards in the hotel, the Federal Security Service clearly strengthened the security around this hotel.
But, even though the Chinese side had a community within the Federal Security Service, Lu Zhou didn’t totally trust the Russians to take care of his safety.
After Lu Zhou went into his hotel room, the first thing he did was to open his laptop and connect to the hotel’s wifi.
“Xiao Ai, you’re responsible for the cameras… If you see anyone suspicious, make sure to notify me.”
A string of bubbles popped up on the lower right corner of the screen.
Xiao Ai: [Is it Xiao Ai’s turn to help? Don’t worry, Master, Xiao Ai’s got this! ≧ω≦]
Well, you’re just an extra layer of security, it probably won’t change anything.
Due to the heavy security from the Federal Security Service and the People’s Liberation Army General Staff Department, no one would dare to cause any trouble.
I don’t think Xiao Ai will be too useful here, but it’s better to be safe…
Of course, Lu Zhou didn’t say this out loud.
After all, he still cared about Xiao Ai’s feelings.
Xiao Ai: [Master, Master, their elevator control system and door lock system is managed by the same server as the security camera, can Xiao Ai install a back door? (≖◡≖✿)]
Lu Zhou: “Do it, but don’t do anything funny without my permission.”
Xiao Ai: [Okay, Master, don’t worry!]
Even though the Federal Security Service had set up layers of security defenses, they were on foreign soil. It was better to be safe than sorry.
After all this, Lu Zhou changed his clothes and left his hotel room.
Wang Peng was in the corridor waiting for him.
He saw Lu Zhou coming out of the room and asked, “You’ve unpacked?”
“Yeah.” Lu Zhou nodded and said, “Speaking of which, is it fine to trust the Russians for security?”
Wang Peng: “We’re also involved in the security work, but we are on foreign soil. We can’t take any initiatives, and we’re mostly working behind the scene. But rest assured, your safety is our highest priority.”
Lu Zhou smiled and said, “I’m not that worried, just wondering… Oh yeah, is it fine for me to go outside and get some food?”
“It’s fine.” Wang Peng nodded and said, “Do you want me to accompany you or follow you secretly?”
Lu Zhou: “… Just stay next to me.”
It wasn’t like Lu Zhou was doing anything dangerous. He was just going out for a quick bite.
Asking Wang Peng to secretly watch him would be too much of a hassle.
…
It would be two days until the International Congress of Mathematicians.
Even though some people had already begun to arrive in St. Petersburg, the majority of people weren’t as prepared. Most of the people at the hotel were still tourists.
Lu Zhou got out of the elevator and walked through the hotel lobby. He was about to explore some local food but bumped into a familiar person at the hotel lobby.
The person had brown curly hair and a bright smile with a boy-next-door kind of vibe… Of course, that wasn’t the important part. The important part was that, this person won a Fields Medal in his thirties and was one of the three promising scholars Faltings had approved of.
Even Lu Zhou admitted that this person was more handsome than him.
They made eye contact.
They both recognized each other, and they had a surprised look on their faces.
“Lu Zhou?”
“… Schultz?” Lu Zhou said, “What a coincidence! You’re already here?”
Even though they weren’t close friends, they were definitely more than acquaintances.
Almost seven years ago, the two met at the Cole Number Theory Prize award ceremony. However, due to their different fields of research, they rarely communicated over the past few years.
After being surrounded by Russian bureaucrats all day, Lu Zhou was glad to have met a colleague of his.
Schultz shook Lu Zhou’s right hand and said, “Haha, it is a coincidence! I thought for a big famous guy like you, you would show up after the opening ceremony. I didn’t expect you to come here so early.”
Lu Zhou: “The Ministry of Energy of the Russian Federation invited me to visit the nuclear fusion power plant before the conference. Speaking of which, you’re a busy man yourself, how come you’re already here?”
“I’m here to visit a long lost friend… He doesn’t really like to be bothered. I probably won’t have the chance to talk to him during the conference, so I came in advance,” Schultz said. “Speaking of which, do you want to come with me?”
Lu Zhou hesitated and said, “It’s not like I know your friend, maybe it’s not the best idea.”
Schultz smiled and said, “It’s fine, he’s a good person, even though he’s a bit eccentric. He’s been interested in you for a long time, so I think we’ll have a good time.”
Suddenly, Wang Peng, who was standing behind Lu Zhou, spoke in a serious manner.
“Can you tell me who this person is?”
Schultz raised his eyebrows.
“Perelman!
“You might have heard of him before.”
