A small town like Jiangling rarely had any visiting celebrities.
Lu Zhou returning to his hometown, even just for the holidays, was enough to make the entire town lively.
First was the city council politicians meeting him at the highway exit, then was the Jianghe University scholars knocking at his door.
After some small talk, Principal Feng and the heads of the mathematics department eagerly asked Lu Zhou if they could put Lu Zhou’s name on the mathematics building.
This was quite a reasonable request.
A lot of rich people would spend tens of millions of dollars just to hang their names on university buildings.
However, Lu Zhou didn’t need to spend anything.
However, Lu Zhou was still a little perplexed after hearing Principal Feng’s words.
“Principal Feng… That’s not the best idea, right?” Lu Zhou looked at the old man and said, “I was born in Jiangling, but I’ve never… been to Jianghe University. Naming a building after me seems a little inappropriate.”
“How is it inappropriate?” Principal Feng said. Even though he knew Lu Zhou would respond this way, he still anxiously said, “You’re Jiangling’s top scholar, a role model for Jianghe University. You’re not from our school, but we’re all from the same hometown. How is this inappropriate?”
Lu Zhou didn’t know what to say.
But is this really the best idea?
Seeing how Lu Zhou was still hesitant, the dean of the mathematics department wanted to say something, but he didn’t know what to say. In the end, Secretary Li, who was sitting next to Principal Feng, pushed down his gold-rimmed glasses and made a suggestion.
“Actually, I have a solution.”
Secretary Li smiled confidently and said, “Professor Lu, you went to Jiangling High, right?”
Lu Zhou said, “Yeah… Why?”
“Well, we spoke with Jiangling High, right? We asked them to be affiliated with us…” Secretary Li looked at Principal Feng and said, “They decided to be officially affiliated with us, so Professor Lu technically counts as our alumnus.”
Principal Feng was overjoyed as he said, “Perfect!”
Lu Zhou: “…?”
???
…
In the end, Lu Zhou accepted Principal Feng’s proposal.
Not because they were from the same hometown.
It was only because they were associated with Lu Zhou’s old highschool.
After all, it wasn’t like he had to do anything himself.
The Jianghe University people were just the first wave.
Later on, Lu Zhou’s high school principal also visited him, along with some of his old high school teachers. The city council committee came over as well; even his father’s factory executives came to his house.
This continued on until Chinese New Year’s Eve. Lu Zhou finally caught a break after Xiao Tong returned home.
Lu Zhou barely did any research during this time as he felt a little blue and worried.
I guess it’s not just Jin University…
I can’t even quietly study in my own hometown…
Night of Chinese New Year’s Eve.
Xiao Tong lay on the sofa playing Honor of Kings. Lu Zhou sat next to his parents, who were watching the CCTV New Year’s Gala. Lu Zhou, on the other hand, was going through his address book, sending New Year’s wishes to his friends.
If he didn’t call them, they would call him anyway, so he decided to take the initiative.
“Being able to relax in a chaotic environment is a crucial skill. There’s no one in academia that can teach you that, you need to strengthen your mind on your own…”
Lu Zhou heard Old Tang’s wise words and smiled.
He sighed and said, “Maybe, but I’d rather stay busy. Doing meaningful things makes me feel like I’m not wasting my time.”
Tang Zhiwei: “Don’t sigh! You’re going to sigh your luck away!”
Lu Zhou smiled and said, “Okay, sir… Speaking of which, how’s life after retirement?”
“It’s amazing…” Old Tang drank some hot tea and said, “What about you, have you made any progress on Riemann’s hypothesis?”
Lu Zhou: “A little bit, but not much.”
Old Tang nodded and spoke.
“I mean, it is the crown jewel of mathematics, so it’s not going to be easy… But I heard Dean Qin say that you plan on solving it within three years?”
Lu Zhou did mention this to Dean Qin, but he didn’t expect Dean Qin to spread the news.
Lu Zhou smiled and shook his head as he said, “That is indeed my plan, but now, it seems like solving it in three years is not up to me.”
Before this, Lu Zhou was very optimistic, especially after he developed the hyperelliptic curve analysis method. He was certain that he could solve this problem within a year.
However, the deeper he dove into this problem, the more he realized things were not as simple as he had imagined.
Thanks to the mathematical tool he released at his report, the current value of epsilon was at 1/127. However, it had stagnated there for a long time.
It seemed like no matter how the auxiliary complex plane curve was selected, there was no way to push this number to 1/2.
Luo Zhou continued to chat with Old Tang about the academic world. He then hung up the phone. After that, he called Academician Lu, Chen Yushan, Luo Wenxuan, and gave them all Chinese New Year’s greetings.
Xiao Tong, who was still playing her mobile game, yawned and spoke.
“Brother, you have so many friends.”
Lu Zhou smiled and said, “Do I?”
Xiao Tong: “Yeah, but how come you don’t have a girlfriend?”
Lu Zhou: “…”
Why the hell are you asking me?
It’s not like you have a boyfriend.
Seeing how Lu Zhou ignored her, Xiao Tong smiled and continued, “Brother, play Honor of Kings with me, there’s a lot of pretty e-girls on here.”
“No, thanks, I’m not interested.”
Lu Zhou suddenly remembered that there was still an unread email in his mailbox.
“I nearly forgot.”
Xiao Tong curiously looked at Lu Zhou as he got up and walked back to his room.
He sat down at his desk and opened his laptop.
That unread email was lying quietly in his mailbox.
Even though Vera’s beautiful and smooth handwriting couldn’t be portrayed in the email, her gentle style of writing was still present.
After a while, Lu Zhou read to the last line of the email.
The most important part…
[I have some ideas for Riemann’s hypothesis.]
