She came all the way here, so Lu Zhou didn’t want to ditch her. He took her to the bar on the second floor of the hotel.
Unlike most bars, this five-star hotel’s own bar was more like a restaurant. It mainly served business people, so it had a modern and elegant decoration. The music playing in the bar was also more sophisticated, mainly classical music.
Of course, the drinks served in normal bars were also served here, except that they weren’t written on the menu.
Lu Zhou ordered a bacon burger and a German beer. He then watched Molina order and drink one colorful cocktail after another.
He couldn’t help but say something.
“Hey, take it easy, you’re going to kill your last brain cell.”
Judging by the way she was drinking the cocktails, she was obviously a lightweight.
“My treat.”
“That’s not what I’m saying… But if you insist on treating me, you’re welcome to do so.”
Molina: “Then why are you stopping me from drinking?”
Lu Zhou: “It looks like you’re trying to get plastered.”
With a cup in her hand, Molina frowned and spoke with a headache.
“… What? Plastic?”
Sh*t, it’s too late.
She’s already wasted.
Lu Zhou sighed.
“… Nothing.”
After downing her drink, Molina had a confused look in her eyes.
She stared at the bar counter, then looked at Lu Zhou. She suddenly spoke.
“Today, I found out…”
Lu Zhou took a bite of his burger and spoke.
“Found out what?”
After hesitating for a long time, Molina suddenly sighed and put her cup down on the table.
“… Nothing.”
Lu Zhou: “…?!”
Are you teasing me?
Molina took out a handbag and placed it on the table.
“This is yours.”
Lu Zhou: “… What is this?”
“The things from my… an-ancestor Professor Abel; they’re mainly his notes. By the way, there are a few pages with some lines drawn on them with a ballpoint pen… I accidentally drew them as a child, hope you don’t mind.”
For some reason, Molina struggled to say the word “ancestor”. Lu Zhou wasn’t sure if it was because she was drunk or because of other reasons.
Lu Zhou looked at the handbag on the table and hesitated.
“… Are you sure you want to give something so important to me?”
Molina took a sip of the cocktail. She slammed the empty glass on the table and spoke.
“It’s fine, I don’t need them anymore… Anyway, they’re just messy notes.”
Lu Zhou looked at Molina’s face and went silent for a while. He sighed and spoke.
“… I’ll take this for the time being. If you want them back, feel free to just message me.”
“Don’t worry, that won’t happen, seeing these things only upset me… I have to go to the washroom.”
Molina downed the final glass of cocktail. She leaned on the table and struggled as she tried to stand up.
However, before she was able to stand up straight, her legs bent, and she fell back onto her chair.
Her head slammed onto the table. Lu Zhou looked at her unconscious body. He was dumbfounded.
She’s passed out?
Even though he knew this was going to happen, this happened too suddenly.
As Lu Zhou looked at Molina, he was speechless.
What happened to buy me drinks?
Now I’m the one paying the tab.
“… Whatever, since you gave me this gift, I’ll take care of this one.”
Lu Zhou looked at the handbag on the table and sighed. He reached out and pressed the button on the table, which called for the waiter.
Even though all of the expenses in the hotel could be added to his room tab, he was not the kind of person who liked to take advantage of the taxpayers’ money. He took out his card and took care of the bill.
The waiter looked at Molina lying on the table. He smiled and spoke.
“Sir, should I help move her into the room?”
Lu Zhou wiped his mouth with a napkin and said, “Yeah, thank you.”
“Yes, sir.”
Lu Zhou suddenly looked at the waiter’s mischievous smile. He coughed and spoke.
“What I mean is, check her into another room… Also, can you find two waitresses to carry her there?”
The waiter immediately looked apologetic.
“Sorry, and yes, sir.”
…
After flying for thousands of kilometers, Lu Zhou wanted to go to bed early. However, after eating a burger and drinking a full glass of beer, he was too full to go to sleep.
Even after lying on his bed and tossing around for a long time, he didn’t feel sleepy at all. Lu Zhou decided to take out the notes in the handbag and began reading them.
The notes were quite confusing, and it wasn’t exactly research notes. It was more like daily inspirations mixed with mathematical drafts.
Although he also had the habit of writing down his inspirations, he was still different from what Professor Abel did. He never mixed his academic writing with his diary writing.
Professor Abel seemed to be a more casual person. Not only did he like to mix his thoughts on poverty and life with mathematical content, but he also seemed to be quite concerned about the political situation in Spain.
This reminded him of an old friend, Professor Tao, who taught at the University of California. These two were really very similar in this regard. The difference was that one of them wrote in a notebook and the other wrote on their personal online blog.
When Lu Zhou opened one of the diaries, on one page, Professor Abel wrote about his wallet being stolen while riding a train. On the next page, he wrote his thoughts on the proposition that “general algebraic equations higher than fourth degree have no general algebraic solutions”.
This proposition, which was taken for granted in this day and age, was equivalent to a Millennium Prize Problem back in the day. It had a far longer history than Riemann’s conjecture, and it plagued mathematicians for two and a half centuries.
It was worth mentioning that this proposition was solved by Abel in 1824. Judging from the date at the footer of the diary, he wrote these notes at the end of 1823.
As for Riemann’s hypothesis…
Dr. Riemann, who was born in a small town in the Kingdom of Hanover, proposed his famous hypothesis two years later. It would take another twenty years before he switched from theology and philosophy to mathematics.
In fact, mathematics in the 19th century was nowhere near today’s standards.
Lu Zhou knew that, even for a genius like Abel, due to the limitations back then, he was unlikely to leave behind any amazing discoveries.
However, although it was unlikely to discover new mathematical theorems or propositions through these notes, as a great mathematician of his era, his mathematical ideas were still worth exploring.
He might even be able to find something interesting.
Lu Zhou was also curious about what this short-lived genius researched during the last years of his life.
Lu Zhou flipped through the page, and suddenly, he stopped.
“This is…”
There was a sketch; he didn’t know if it was drawn with a charcoal pencil or a lead pencil.
Stone pillars were planted on the ground…
When Lu Zhou saw this drawing, his pupils shrank.
This drawing!
I’ve seen it before!
But not in the form of a painting…
