Translator:Henyee TranslationsEditor:Henyee Translations

Jinling Institute for Advanced Study.

An office inside the Institute of Mathematics.

Lu Zhou held his breath and walked into the office. He immediately opened the windows and took a breath of fresh air. He then turned around and looked at Chen Yang, who was standing beside the blackboard with a muddled look.

The question you gave me the other day was interesting.

Lu Zhou coughed. He had a stack of papers in his hand.

I did some research, and this is what I got Oh yeah, your proposition was correct. Seems like your mathematical intuition is quite sharp. If this were any more difficult, it could become a classical conjecture.

Chen Yang looked at the blackboard. He then looked at the stack of papers in Lu Zhous hand. His face was full of surprise.

You solved it?

Took quite a while, but not too long. I might have pulled an all-nighter

Lu Zhou placed the stack of papers on the table and said, Speaking of which, do you have coffee? Do you mind getting me a cup.

Chen Yang nodded.

Ok.

The cup of coffee was placed on the table.

Lu Zhou looked at the chalk dust on the coffee cup and frowned.

Cant you keep up with the times? You dont like whiteboards, but surely writing on draft paper is the same.

Chen Yang shook his head and said, Writing on draft paper is soulless.

Lu Zhou:

Chen Yang quickly said, Can I read the thesis?

Of course. Lu Zhou shrugged and took a sip from the dirty coffee cup. Go ahead, I came here to talk about this thesis with you.

Thank you.

Chen Yang placed all of his attention on the thesis and left Lu Zhou aside.

While Professor Chen was reading the thesis, Lu Zhou looked at the row of blackboards in the office.

The calculations on the blackboards were clearly his attempts to prove the proposition.

Unfortunately, Chen Yang was still stuck at the entrance of the maze.

Lu Zhou sighed.

Hes talented.

But hes far from my level.

If I knew this proposition was this difficult for him, I wouldnt have stayed up all night trying to solve it. Im so sleepy

Ah, its a lonely world for a genius like me

Chen Yang suddenly looked up and spoke.

Impressive!

Academician Lu really is a legend!

Professor Lu wrote down proofs of things Chen Yang hadnt even thought of.

Chen Yang had a whole new level of respect for Lu Zhou.

Hes too nutty!

Chen Yang was totally impressed.

Lu Zhou smiled and said, You understand it?

Chen Yang nodded and said, Understand most of it. There are some parts I dont get, can you explain it to me?

Lu Zhou put down his coffee cup and spoke.

No problem.

Answering Chen Yangs questions didnt take a lot of effort.

Even though this guy might seem a little silly, he had a sharp intuition for mathematics. Lu Zhou only had to give him some general directions and Chen Yang could easily figure out the rest on his own.

This reminded Lu Zhou of one of his Princeton studentsQin Yue. He was also a taciturn, independent scholar. However, Qin Yue was far from Chen Yangs level.

Honestly speaking, Lu Zhou was a little curious about how Chen Yang survived for this long.

For someone with such a low emotional intelligence, how did he not get beaten up?

After answering Chen Yangs questions, Lu Zhou was almost certain that there was nothing wrong with his thesis.

When Chen Yang looked back at the blackboard, Lu Zhou suddenly remembered something.

Oh yeah, the problem was quite interesting. It integrated easily into the hyperelliptic curve analysis method Like you said, this hyperelliptic curve analysis has more applications than I had thought.

I submitted the thesis to Annual Mathematics, is that fine?

Chen Yang was a little confused, Why wouldnt it be?

Lu Zhou coughed and spoke.

I dont really care about another thesis, but it should benefit you quite a lot However, I was the one who solved it, so I wrote you down as the second author Is that fine?

Chen Yang nodded.

Oh.

Lu Zhou:

How did this guy survive in academia for so long?

The office became quiet.

Suddenly, the phone in Lu Zhous pocket began to ring.

Let me take this.

Okay. Chen Yang nodded and continued to stare at his blackboard.

Lu Zhou walked out of the dusty office and took a breath of fresh air. He took out his phone and answered the call.

Hello?

Director Lis voice traveled through the phone.

Its me!

Director Li?

Lu Zhou knew that the carbon-based chip report hadnt been written yet, so Director Li should be asking him about something else.

What?

Director Li awkwardly smiled and said, Um, Academician Lu, are you free any time?

Lu Zhou knew that this guy wanted a favor from him.

Its way too obvious!

Lu Zhou coughed and said, Depends on what youre asking

Director Li: Nothing big. If you have time, take a trip to Shanghai.

Lu Zhou said, Why would I go there?

What the hell is in Shanghai?

Director Li smiled and said, Its nearly the end of the month. The headquarters of the ILHCRC is about to be unveiled. Youre the chairman, shouldnt you go for a visit?

Lu Zhou: ?!