Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations
Lu Zhou closed his characteristic panel and quickly began the lucky draw.
This time, Lu Zhou did not want to say anything.
He found out that the system did not care about his rituals.
I’ll just stay calm.
I probably won’t get the blueprint or unlock the technology branch.
I haven’t drunk the sprite yet, maybe I’ll get a Fanta this time?
Lu Zhou quietly began the lucky draw.
The prize wheel started to spin rapidly.
“Stop!”
The wheel gradually slowed down and came to a stop.
[Congratulations, User, you received a sample!]
Lu Zhou, “?”
The fuck?
What a surprise!
I didn’t get the garbage?
Wait… Let’s see what it is first!
Lu Zhou stared at the semi-transparent information screen nervously.
[Received sample: Focus capsules (30)]
When Lu Zhou saw the text, he relaxed. It felt like a weight has been lifted from his heart.
The focus capsules were a lot better than Coke or Sprite.
Coincidentally, he planned to take physics as a minor next semester.
But I would have to do more grinding this way…
Lu Zhou closed the prize interface and looked at the mission panel. He was about to click on it but he hesitated at the last second.
Wait for a second, I’m about to go back to China soon. What if the mission is related to Princeton?
Normally speaking, the missions from the system took a long time to complete.
Lu Zhou hesitated for a moment before he finally decided that he would select the missions after he got back to China.
After all, he deserved a break.
With that, he exited the system space.
Lu Zhou pulled out his laptop from his suitcase and placed it on the desk before he began to edit his thesis.
Number theory was an interesting field. It was like layers of paper, difficult to see through, but easy to break through.
Lu Zhou had already broken through the paper.
Right now, the cards were in his hands.
His fingers trembled slightly when the screen flashed with mathematical symbols. It was like he returned to the moment of his presentation… Like he was back to the whiteboards again.
He could never forget the glory of that moment.
Lu Zhou took a deep breath and he stopped typing. He got up and made himself a cup of coffee before he walked to the window and quietly, he looked outside.
At night, Palmer Square was full of lights and liveliness. It formed a sharp contrast with Princeton which was dead quiet.
The cold breeze blew through the window and cooled down his overheated brain.
It felt comfortable.
It was like a different kind of pleasure.
Suddenly, his phone started to vibrate.
When Lu Zhou took out his phone and looked at the screen, he saw that it was Professor Tang who called.
Lu Zhou picked up the call. He did not even get the chance to speak before Professor Tang started to yell.
“You solved the twin prime number conjecture?!”
Lu Zhou moved the phone away from his ear and said, “Yeah.”
The news has already reached China?
He had not even published the thesis yet.
Professor Tang asked, “Where are you right now?”
“Where else? I’m at the hotel arranged by the conference… Why?”
Professor Tang promptly asked, “Are you coming back?”
Confused, Lu Zhou asked, “I’m coming back. Why wouldn’t I?”
Professor Tang coughed awkwardly before asking, “Oh, I meant, when are you coming back?”
Lu Zhou thought and said, “Probably in two days. I’m still sorting out the proof process. Professor Deligne asked me to hand him a copy of my thesis. He said I can publish it on Annual Mathematics.”
The other end of the phone went silent.
Professor Tang said casually, “Not bad. I remember when I first published in Annual Mathematics, I was already in my mid-thirties.”
Lu Zhou smiled and replied humbly, “It’s all thanks to your mentoring!”
To be able to publish in Annual Mathematics in his mid-thirties was impressive, not to mention that Professor Tang had published it in a time where technology was inconvenient.
“I really didn’t mentor you much.”
“No, no, no. You’re the one that took me through the door of mathematical analysis. Your lessons on mathematical analysis helped me…”
Professor Tang interrupted Lu Zhou and said, “Fine, fine, stop talking. Tell me about your plans.”
Lu Zhou replied, “Plans?”
“Yeah,” said Professor Tang. He paused for a second before he said, “My old friend just called me. He wanted to recommend you to participate in the Ten Thousand People Initiative Plan by the Chinese Ministry.”
Lu Zhou did not know what the Ten Thousand People Initiative was.
He was also curious…
Lu Zhou suddenly blurted out, “Is there money involved?”
Professor Tang was suddenly pissed off.
“All you do is think about money!”
Professor Tang began to explain to him what the Ten Thousand People Initiative was.
The Ten Thousand People Initiative was established in 2008 by the central government of China to increase domestic levels of scientific research, innovation, and entrepreneurship.
The program consisted of three levels; outstanding talents, leading talents, and young talents. The goal was to select 10,000 outstanding talents in STEM, within 10 years.
The first echelon consisted of 100 outstanding talents, and those people had the chance of winning the Nobel prize. The second echelon had a total of 8,000 talents and mainly consisted of older people. The third echelon consisted of two thousand talents, and mainly for people under thirty-five years old.
Similar to this was the “Hundred Talents Program” from the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and the “Thousand Talents Program” initiated by the Chinese Ministry of Education. However, these two were mainly talent introduction programs for overseas born Chinese people, and not for domestic Chinese.
The Ten Thousand People Initiative would provide financial support to many research projects.
This funding was guaranteed by the Chinese government.
Professor Tang said, “The prize money for the mathematics part isn’t much, but I’m sure that it’ll definitely be of great help to your future research activities in China.”
Lu Zhou smiled and asked, “How do I participate in this? What materials do I need to prepare?”
Professor Tang smiled as he replied, “The materials aren’t the important part. I’ll tell you what to prepare later. The problem is that you’re too young, but I have some friends that can write recommendation letters, so it should be fine.”
Lu Zhou said, “Thank you, professor!”
“Don’t thank me. It was Professor Wang Yuping that told me about this, so you should thank him. I’m just signing a piece of paper,” said Professor Tang. He smiled and added, “I’m just a professor, I can’t help you much with research. I can’t teach you much either, so you have to be on your own.”
Lu Zhou replied, “You will be my professor forever.”
“Haha, that sounds nice,” said Professor Tang. He smiled and said, “Okay, I can’t keep talking with you. Go and edit your thesis. I’m sure that you will dominate the overseas mathematics field!”