Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations
After checking the mailbox every night, Lu Zhou finally received a reply from Computational Materials Science. The technical editor informed him that his thesis had passed the peer review process, and would be published in the latest issue of the journal.
In the reply email, a comment by the reviewer, Moungi Bawendi, was attached. It only contained one word.
“Interesting? Is that good or not, at least give me an evaluation.”
“Why is his reply so simple?”
Lu Zhou shook his head.
He was curious, so he turned on his VPN and used Google to search “Mr. Bawendi”.
When he saw the search results, he was shocked.
The f*ck, he’s a professor from MIT! Quantum dot technology and the field of nanomaterials research! Raymond and Beverly Sackler International Prize winner!
What a guy.
Too good, too good…
Lu Zhou chatted for a bit with Xiao Ai and saw that it was getting late, so he turned off his laptop before going to sleep.
Shi Shang who was playing with his phone in bed suddenly said, “I got a girlfriend.”
The dorm went quiet for a second.
Then, Liu Rui started to snore.
Lu Zhou was wondering if he should wake up his friend. However, the quiet Huang Guangming suddenly spoke up.
“Which one in our class?”
Shi Shang, “F*ck off!”
F*ck sake!
Our class is all male!
The snoring Liu Rui suddenly laughed and nearly choked himself in the process.
He was pretty good at acting as if he was asleep. He nearly fooled Lu Zhou, but his laugh was too loud.
Huang Guangming coughed and said, “Let me ask you something… Shi Shang, what department is she?”
Shi Shang said, “Foreign languages department.”
Huang Guangming said with a surprised tone, “Oh my god, the one that gave you flowers at the Jin Autumn Singing Show? Nice!”
Shi Shang rubbed his nose and smiled smugly, “She’s pretty, right?”
“Sure sure… Remember our agreement! Group date!” laughed Huang Guangming as he slapped his legs.
Liu Rui could not pretend to be asleep anymore, and he said, “Yeah remember!”
Lu Zhou smiled but did not say anything.
Ahh, what a bunch of animals.
If I really take these animals on a group date, they’d be so embarrassing.
I know these guys too well!
“Let’s wait until next year when school starts. Exams are coming soon. I promise you, I’ll get you guys a group date within the first two weeks of next semester. I’m not lying,” said Shi Shang.
Liu Rui, “Nice!”
Huang Guangming, “Nice, Shi Shang you’re generous. Zhou got a girlfriend and didn’t even help us.”
Lu Zhou was unhappy.
Why am I getting blamed?
He argued, “What do you mean I got a girlfriend? When did I do that?”
Shi Shang, “Shut up. Are you going on the group date or not?”
Lu Zhou, “Go, of course, I’m going!”
Lu Zhou immediately regretted his reply.
Eating with a bunch of strangers?
Singing karaoke and playing board games?
Sounds so difficult…
What if…
I cancel when the time comes?
…
Computational material was an emerging field, which meant that it was unpopular.
Unlike the sensational mathematics thesis, this thesis about “CNTs material on the hydration reaction of cement in its early age” did not attract any media attention at all.
However, what the outsiders did not know was that it received widespread attention from insiders.
The reason for this was not because of the “effect of CNTs on cement” itself as not a lot of people studied cement materials. What really inspired those in the industry to rethink the thesis was the mathematical methods and the mathematical models used by Lu Zhou. It provided new methods for computational chemistry.
This was the reason why Bawendi gave his thesis an “interesting” evaluation.
As time went by, the exams were getting closer and closer. Dorm 201 stopped playing League of Legends, and even Huang Guangming picked up his textbook and started to study at the library.
Lu Zhou already knew all of the content in the textbooks, so he was not pressured by the exams at all.
Usually, he would go to the library and read some books, or download some foreign MOOC, or practice translating his thesis. He found out that this type of studying not only increased his knowledge but at the same time, it also increased his English level.
As for Sunday, Lu Zhou still tutored Han Mengqi. His brain that was filled with complex problems felt good when he switched to simpler problems once in a while. He also felt pretty accomplished by growing the dumb student into a genius.
Under Lu Zhou’s tutoring, Han Mengqi’s monthly test scores had been increasing steadily. His hourly pay went from 200 yuan per hour to 500 yuan per hour. In one afternoon, he earned 2,500 yuan.
However, it was all secondary as Lu Zhou thought about how much he changed over the past year.
As expected, knowledge was powerful.
He had not even left the university, and already had a “six-figure salary” from tutoring. Not mentioning all his scholarships and award, he was already a millionaire. Although he did not have enough to buy a house outright, it was definitely enough for a down payment.
Lu Zhou had not even received the experience points before he started to plan how he was going to spend them.
The theses he downloaded were not just mathematics, it also included physics, chemistry, materials science, etc. On the one hand, it was to expand his knowledge, on the other hand, he wanted to learn about the popular research projects.
Liu Rui was probably motivated by Lu Zhou, so he also asked for a copy of Lu Zhou’s theses.
Lu Zhou did not want to destroy Liu Rui’s motivation, so he sent Liu Rui a digital copy.
Then…
Liu Rui had a confused expression when he opened the theses.
He then quietly closed the PDF software and pretended as if nothing had happened. He took out his physics textbook and began to contemplate on his life.
Lu Zhou did not know if Liu Rui managed to finish reading the theses. He just knew that Liu Rui seemed a little unhappy these days…