Lu Zhou thought Luo Wenxuan was planning on breaking his wallet, but the place wasn’t fancy at all; it was just a normal small restaurant.
Most of the people here were students, professors, and researchers from nearby institutes, such as the Chinese Academy of Sciences or the Institute of High Energy Physics.
Even though it wasn’t lunchtime yet, the place was already crowded.
They sat down in a corner, and the waiter quickly came over with some tea and three menus.
While Luo Wenxuan and Lu Zhou were ordering food, Wang Peng went to the kitchen and wandered around. He then calmly sat back down.
Luo Wenxuan was already accustomed to Lu Zhou’s bodyguard, so he wasn’t fazed. He chatted with Lu Zhou while waiting for the food.
“… The owner of this place is from Hubei. My team and I eat here pretty often, and we always get the Du Chicken. One of my guys said that the Du Chicken here is the most authentic, and it pairs really well with alcohol.”
Lu Zhou drank some warm tea and said, “The boss is from Jiangling city?”
“I think so, I’m not sure… Have you been here?” Luo Wenxuan said. He was slightly surprised.
“Of course not, it’s my first time.” Lu Zhou smiled and said, “It’s because Du Chicken is a famous dish in Jiangling, so when you said authentic, I thought that the boss came from Jiangling.”
Luo Wenxuan scratched his head and said, “Oh, so the dish is from Jiangling, you must have eaten it before then.”
Lu Zhou shook his head and spoke emotionally.
“We were poor growing up, so I never had the chance to eat it. After I grew up, I never had the chance to eat it as well… Forget about it. How’s theoretical physics going? Are there any new discoveries?”
Lu Zhou had been focusing on the moon landing program, and other than paying attention to the latest mathematics news, he didn’t have time to keep up with the latest trends in academia.
“The biggest discovery last year was the general solution of the Yang-Mills existence and mass gap.” Luo Wenxuan looked at Lu Zhou and said, “It’s actually quite unlucky. A lot of professors felt like this accomplishment is worthy of a Nobel Prize in Physics. They didn’t expect the Nobel Prize Committee to award the prize to the Quantum-confined Stark effect achievement.”
Lu Zhou looked at Luo Wenxuan and smiled.
“It’s not unlucky at all. I’ve already won the Nobel Prize once, so I’m satisfied. If the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences wanted to give me the Nobel Prize again, I’m afraid people in the academic community aren’t going to be happy.”
For most scholars, the Nobel Prize was their lifelong pursuit.
Most people achieved their accomplishments in their 30s and 40s, but there were plenty of people in their 80s and 90s who were still waiting for a Nobel Prize.
Being able to receive a Nobel Prize in one’s 20s was an achievement in and of itself.
Soon after, the waiter came over with a pot full of garlic chicken and green onions. The waiter placed the pot on the rack.
Luo Wenxuan sniffed the delicious pot of food and immediately picked up his chopsticks. He then asked the waiter to bring a few beers.
He still had to work in the afternoon, but a few drinks were fine.
Wang Peng was sitting next to them, stiff as a mummy. He quietly drank his tea. He had to drive later, so he obviously couldn’t drink alcohol.
“What’s next? You landed a person on the Moon, what now?”
“Me?” Lu Zhou drank a glass of beer and said, “Landing on the Moon is only the first step.”
Luo Wenxuan sighed and said, “Wow, I really don’t understand how your genius brain works.”
Luo Wenxuan studied under Witten at Princeton, and he was quite the genius himself.
But ever since he met this “Lu Zhou” guy, his definition of genius had changed.
There were always bigger fish in the sea.
The two chatted while eating. The table next to them drank too much and started to get rowdy.
Lu Zhou didn’t pay attention to what they were talking about, but he couldn’t help but notice their loud voices.
“Do you know that Professor Lu made Skyglow?!”
“Of course I know, my friend works at the China Aerospace Corporation. We were just talking about this. Jesus, he really is insane, casually sending people to the Moon.”
Lu Zhou raised his eyebrows when he heard them say his name.
Even though he didn’t care what they were talking about, he was very much interested in other people’s opinions of him.
A man with dark-rimmed glasses poured himself another drink and said, “Pfft, he’s nothing… The Americans sent a man to the Moon in the 60s, and now that we finally sent someone there, the Americans are already preparing for Mars.”
His friend laughed and said, “Mars? Are you drunk?”
The man with glasses said, “Hey, go on Twitter yourself. NASA tweeted that they are planning to launch a 25-ton life support module to Mars. There’s going to be a press conference soon.”
The other people sitting at the table were stunned.
“25 tons? How is that possible? They must be exaggerating!”
“There’s no f*cking way, let me turn on my VPN and hop onto Twitter.”
Even though these people didn’t major in aerospace at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, they still had common sense. They knew that there was no way for NASA to send a 25-ton object to the surface of Mars.
The man in glasses knew his friends wouldn’t believe him, so he smiled and spoke.
“Apparently, Space-X is going to use their BFR rocket, which is equipped with 31 Raptor engines! Apparently, after they send the life support module to Mars, they’ll send 1 to 5 people to Mars. They’re already recruiting volunteers worldwide.”
Luo Wenxuan was super surprised, and he looked at Lu Zhou.
“… Really?”
Lu Zhou was even more surprised than Luo Wenxuan.
The f*ck…
Landing on Mars?
Are these Americans for real?!
