When Academician Wang Shicheng heard this, he almost spat out blood.
The person Lu Zhou was trying to poach used to be a nobody, so even if Chen Yang left the mathematics center, Wang Shicheng wouldn’t care…
However, anyone that was being poached by Academician Lu wasn’t just a “nobody”.
Wang Shicheng knew that Academician Lu had an eye for talent.
After all, Wang Shicheng trusted Lu Zhou’s judgment more than his own.
“Academician Lu,” Wang Shicheng coughed and said, “that’s… not the best idea, right? Professor Chen is the backbone of our young researchers at the Yan University International Mathematical Research Center. Poaching him directly in front of us is a bit inappropriate…”
“Is it?”
What’s so inappropriate?
You guys don’t want him anyway…
Lu Zhou frowned and said, “But I heard that… Professor Chen doesn’t even have an office here? Since the mathematics center is clearly overcrowded, isn’t it better for him to leave?”
Wang Shicheng had an awkward expression on his face.
“That’s misconstrued! Mr. Chen is a respected associate professor, and we removed him from his office as a way to sharpen his mind.”
Wang Shicheng looked at Chen Yang and said, “Chen Yang, I was planning on giving you a full professor role this year; I just didn’t tell you yet. A full professor title from Yanjing University, think carefully.”
However, Associate Professor Chen’s answer shocked Academician Wang.
Either Chen Yang was sick of this place, or he just didn’t care about his academic ranking title, but he pushed his glasses and spoke without hesitation.
“Sorry, Academician Wang, I’ve already made my decision.
“Thank you for the past five years, at least you didn’t fire me.
“As for the title you mentioned, you should give it to someone else. I don’t really care for it.”
“You… !” Wang Shicheng’s face turned bright red. He then sighed and said, “Okay then, since you’ve decided, do what you want.”
Professor Yang Yongan stared at Academician Wang in disbelief; he didn’t expect Academician Wang to compromise this easily.
The other scholars standing nearby also looked baffled. They didn’t expect Academician Wang Shicheng to admit defeat this quickly.
Even though he’s facing Academician Lu…
He should at least put up a fight, right?
Chen Yang looked at Lu Zhou and spoke.
“I want to go to Jinling.”
Lu Zhou smiled and nodded.
“You’ll be welcomed there.”
…
Even though Academician Wang didn’t want his man to get poached, he didn’t want to offend Academician Lu either. Not to mention that Chen Yang himself wanted to leave.
Academician Wang Shicheng knew there was nothing else he could say. In the end, he said some fake words such as “best of luck in your future endeavors”.
As for Chen Yang, he didn’t really care about leaving the Yan University International Mathematical Research Center at all. After all, he hadn’t been treated fairly; he was even kicked out of his office.
He had lived in Beijing for his entire life, so he was hesitant about moving into a brand new city.
However, that was a small sacrifice.
Not to mention, if he wanted to visit his family, he could easily take the high-speed rail back to Beijing anytime.
After poaching a talented man in front of so many people, Lu Zhou didn’t want to stay in the Yan University International Mathematical Research Center any longer. He could feel that Academician Wang Shicheng no longer welcomed him.
After some small talk, Lu Zhou and Chen Yang quietly left the Siheyuan.
They walked on the tree-lined Yan University path while Lu Zhou briefly explained to him about the situation at the Jinling Institute for Advanced Study.
“The Jinling Institute for Advanced Study doesn’t have any end of year performance metrics. You can concentrate on whatever research project you’d like, as long as you can prove that your project is meaningful. If there are any necessary expenses, you can apply for funding.
“Also, I might not be able to help you with the Hodge conjecture. After all, I have my own stuff to do. But when I’m not busy, you can come talk to me. I do have some experience in algebraic geometry.”
Chen Yang was walking with a large stack of draft paper and documents in his hand when he nodded and said, “Thank you, you’re doing me a huge favor.”
“You’re welcome.” Lu Zhou smiled and said, “Speaking of which, you really don’t recognize me?”
“Recognize?” Chen Yang thought for a second and said, “I do know of you, I saw your name in that Annual Mathematics thesis and some other theses. But I didn’t know what you looked like…”
Lu Zhou coughed and asked, “When was the last time you went on the Internet?”
Chen Yang thought for a second and replied, “Five years ago. Ever since I went to the mathematics center, I barely went online… I didn’t really need to. There’s a lot of resources at the mathematics center, and I was able to find any resource I wanted.”
Lu Zhou said, “You don’t watch TV either?”
Chen Yang: “… There’s a TV in the cafeteria, but I don’t really watch it.”
I see…
It’s like this guy is living in the 19th century!
This type of person was common in Princeton, where a lot of the older professors didn’t like to use the Internet. They would even ask their PhD students to help them book flights and academic conference tickets.
However, a Chinese scholar in his thirties that didn’t go online was quite rare.
Lu Zhou coughed and said, “… I don’t want to criticize your research habits, but the times have changed. The Internet simplified a lot of things. For example, arXiv is a goldmine. Even though the preprints are not peer-reviewed, there are a lot of sophisticated ideas on there.”
“ArXiv?”
“No way, you don’t even know what arXiv is?”
Chen Yang began to reflect on his research habits. He then said thoughtfully, “I’ll check it out.”
Even though this guy was a bit old-fashioned, he was still open to advice.
Lu Zhou nodded and didn’t continue speaking on this topic.
He finally understood how a mathematician like Chen Yang didn’t recognize him.
Five years ago, Lu Zhou was still in Princeton.
If Chen Yang never went online or followed the mathematical world’s gossip, it made sense for him to not recognize Lu Zhou.
Just like that kid in the baseball cap, he was probably one of those genius students that never went online or watched TV, thus he wasn’t able to recognize Lu Zhou either.
After all, the academic community was a relatively introverted circle; it wasn’t like the entertainment industry at all, where everyone knew everyone.
“Speaking of which, I haven’t talked about comp yet.”
“Comp?” Chen Yang paused for a second and said, “I don’t really care, just cover the cost of living… and the cost of the journal subscriptions.”
Lu Zhou shook his head and smiled.
“I can’t do that, that’s not how we do things… You have a PhD, right?”
Chen Yang nodded.
“Yeah…”
Lu Zhou thought for a second and said, “Since you were an associate professor in Beijing, your monthly salary will start from 10k RMB a month. Your accommodation and insurance will be covered. After you arrive in Jinling, you’ll receive all of the specifics. I don’t have any performance requirements for you, but the compensation is result-oriented. We’re working on a total meritocracy basis. All I’m providing you is an environment for research.”
After hearing Lu Zhou’s words, Chen Yang nodded. He didn’t focus on his compensation at all.
Instead, he said, “You’re not going to Jinling with me?”
Lu Zhou smiled and said, “I didn’t come all the way to Beijing to poach you; I still have a meeting here. Just go to Jinling with my recommendation letter. You know how to take a taxi, right?”
Chen Yang nodded.
“I do know that.”
The two nearly arrived at the school gate.
Lu Zhou saw his black sedan parked nearby.
Suddenly, he heard someone shout from behind him.
“Academician Lu! Wait a second, Academician Lu!”
Lu Zhou turned around and saw the guy in the baseball cap running toward him.
As the guy stopped and began panting, Lu Zhou raised his eyebrows and calmly asked, “Hey, what do you want?”
The guy panted while patting his chest. He barely stood up straight as he replied, “Um, my name is Li Mo, a member of the national IMO training team. I’m sorry I didn’t recognize you. I’ve never seen your photo before, I’m really sorry… Um, can you be my mentor?”
Lu Zhou wanted to refuse, but seeing how eager the teenager was, he didn’t want to immediately reject him.
“Okay then, tell me, what are you good at?”
“Um,” the guy scratched his head and said, “my achievements aren’t even worthy of mentioning.”
Oh, so you’re aware of that?
Then why do you think I’ll be your mentor?
Lu Zhou smiled and was about to tease the kid.
However, the teenage boy spoke first.
“B-but, the training team coach told me what I was the only student who finished the hardest question on the winter training camp exam. He told me that if I wanted to continue in mathematics, I should go into the field of number theory or complex analysis. As far as I’m concerned, you’re the strongest scholar in number theory!”
Lu Zhou paused for a second before asking, “Wait a second, you were the only one that solved that question?”
“Yeah!” the guy said with a proud look on his face. He then smiled and added, “The teacher talked crap about the person that came up with such a hard question for high school students. Apparently, the teachers who marked the question complained about how the Riemann zeta function was outside of the curriculum! Of course, a competition has no curriculum…”
This Li Mo was clearly a rambler.
Lu Zhou didn’t fully listen to his words at all. Instead, he had an awkward look on his face.
Wasn’t I the one… who came up with this question…
But is it really that hard?
Only one person solved it?
Really?
Lu Zhou thought that he clearly chose an easy question and that it could be solved with high school mathematics knowledge. It was just that the steps would be a little cumbersome.
Lu Zhou stared at Li Mo and coughed.
“Don’t get cocky, that question isn’t difficult.”
Lu Zhou paused for a second then continued, “I admit you’re talented in mathematics, but you can’t be too proud.
“Since you know who I am, you know my background. Being my student isn’t that easy.”
“I know! You’re super amazing!” the guy said with a twinkle in his eyes. “Tell me, what do I have to do, to have you teach me mathematics?”
Lu Zhou could tell that the guy wasn’t thirsty for fame or fortune, and he was doing this purely for the love of mathematics. Lu Zhou contemplated for a second and spoke.
“Easy, win an IMO gold medal and then we’ll talk.”
After that, he and Chen Yang walked out of the school gate.
