A lot of people had been visiting Lu Zhou recently.
First was the director of the State Administration for National Defense, then was a high-ranked official from the Energy Bureau. After that, Luo Wenxuan and Chen Yang asked him to help with the “quantum mechanical system of the random Hermitian matrix corresponding to the Riemann function” and the “Hodge conjecture”. Lu Zhou just wanted to focus on his own research project, but he couldn’t just refuse to help others either.
He was supposed to be working on the significance of the Riemann zeta function with Luo Wenxuan together, so he had to contribute, at least a little.
As for Chen Yang’s research project, Chen Yang needed help with the hyperelliptic curve analysis method. Also, Lu Zhou was the one that said to ask him for help, thus making it even harder for him to refuse to help Chen Yang…
On the last Monday in March, Lu Zhou yawned as he walked out of the house. He was planning on going to the Jin University mathematics department building, but he saw a chubby man at his front gate, holding a gift bag with a smile on his face.
Lu Zhou paused for a second and spoke.
“CEO Liu? What are you…”
“It’s the holidays, I brought some gifts!”
Liu Wanshan walked through the front gate and said, “You scientists are working too hard, staying in the laboratory all day, I’m worried about your health. So I got some mountain herbs from Changbai Mountain. Add it to your soups, it’s good for cleansing toxins!”
Lu Zhou: “…”
Holidays…
Lu Zhou thought about it and realized that the only holidays coming up was Tomb-Sweeping Day and April Fool’s Day.
However, this was not the time to care about details.
Lu Zhou knew the CEO had good intentions, so he accepted CEO Liu’s gift and invited the CEO into his home.
Lu Zhou looked at the beautifully packaged ginseng, feng, and tuber fleece flower. He was a little baffled.
I’m perfectly healthy, why do I need all this stuff?
“You’re too kind.”
Lu Zhou poured Liu Wanshan a cup of tea as they sat down on the sofa. He then said, “I have to go to the university, so let’s skip the small talk. I know you like to get straight to the point.”
Liu Wanshan smiled awkwardly.
“I guess you know why I’m here, okay then.”
This normally composed and calm CEO spoke in an aggrieved tone.
“Remember how the alternative energy market was booming? I was thinking about how it’s a shame we’re only selling lithium material as it was a wasted opportunity. So I bought a small factory and also began assembling and producing lithium-sulfur batteries.”
Lu Zhou nodded and said, “What’s wrong with that?”
“The problem is your thesis.” Liu Wanshan patted his leg and sighed as he said, “When your thesis came out, especially when CTV reported it, the alternative energy industry plummeted to the floor.
“A few weeks ago, we were doing fine, and we had more orders than we could handle. We even had to hire new people. However, now, we don’t have a single order! Not just that, but people are forfeiting their deposits and refusing to buy from us! Now we have a mountain of battery stock. We don’t make cars, what are we supposed to do!”
Lu Zhou frowned and said, “It would take months before lithium-air batteries are mass-producible. Also, this should be a good thing for the alternative energy industry.”
“I’m not afraid of new technology, it’s just that everyone wants to sit around and wait for this new technology to come out.” Liu Wanshan sighed and said, “It’s obviously good for electric vehicle companies, but for us small factories, this is a disaster.”
You think you’re a small factory?!
Lu Zhou looked at Liu Wanshan and couldn’t help but think.
You’re the CEO of a public company, can you man up?
However, I guess I did forget about this side of things.
Lu Zhou just wrote the paper according to Chen Yushan’s instructions. He didn’t expect the media and industry to overinterpret his thesis.
Lithium-air batteries do exist, but I didn’t say that in my paper!
Liu Wanshan looked at Lu Zhou and asked politely, “I’m not asking for anything ridiculous, but since you do own shares in Zhongshan New Materials, you should think about the factory workers… Maybe publish something that says that lithium-air battery technology will take a long time to produce, just give us some room to breathe.”
Liu Wanshan thought that writing a paper was a piece of cake for Lu Zhou.
Lu Zhou could even ask his students to write one for him.
However, Lu Zhou didn’t think this way. He thought about the idea of writing another paper and instantly had a headache.
“I admit this is my fault; I didn’t prepare well,” Lu Zhou said. He coughed and continued, “But I won’t write a paper like that, the most important trait in academia is seeking the truth. It’s okay if I don’t tell the full truth, but I won’t speak anything but the truth!”
Not to mention that Chen Yushan told him that she was playing “4D chess”.
Lu Zhou was curious about what kind of plan she had in mind.
Seeing how Academician Lu had no intention to help at all, Liu Wanshan was full of disappointment.
Of course, he didn’t entirely blame Lu Zhou for not helping. First of all, he was in no position to blame Lu Zhou, and secondly, he understood Lu Zhou’s reasons.
After all, Lu Zhou was the representative of China’s academic community. That was more valuable than any company’s profits.
Liu Wanshan got up and was planning on saying goodbye, but Lu Zhou suddenly spoke.
“Oh yeah, I nearly forgot, send some engineers from the factory to the Jinling Institute for Advanced Study.”
Liu Wanshan paused for a second and said, “Engineer?”
Lu Zhou nodded and said, “Yeah, I plan on integrating wireless charging technology with lithium-air batteries. You guys have experience in car battery production, and we have the lithium-air battery technology. We should work together.”
Lu Zhou smiled.
“That depends on if you’re interested in producing something nuttier than lithium-sulfur batteries.”
