Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations
Lu Zhou ate dinner at Palmer Square. By the time he went back to the hotel, Luo Wenxuan was gone.
Lu Zhou silently blessed him in his heart as he took the elevator back to his room.
When he opened his email, Professor Deligne had replied back. His email only contained one word.
[Received.]
Mathematics was a rigorous discipline, and everyone that was in the building of mathematics must undergo rigorous selection. The result from a wrong thesis was not just a retraction from the journal, it could result in a series of other wrong theses.
In particular, the review process of major mathematics conjectures was often very long.
Even though Lu Zhou presented the proof live in front of a crowd of mathematicians, that did not mean that his thesis would be flawless.
Even Professor Deligne needed the time to scrutinize the details of the thesis and asked his peers for opinions.
However, Lu Zhou was not worried at all. He was a meticulous person, and he checked his thesis multiple times before uploading it.
Speaking of which, why Dean Qin or Dean Lu had not called him yet?
It seemed that Professor Tang did not spread this matter out rashly, and the foreign mathematics community would not take this matter seriously just from a Youtube video. After all, the applause in the video did not mean anything.
Lu Zhou actually had some regrets.
The academic value of the twin prime number conjecture was higher than Zhou’s conjecture, so he should at least get another million yuan as an award, right?
Lu Zhou started to tap on the keyboard.
[Xiao Ai, let’s hope your master can get another million. Then I might be able to give you a new home.]
Xiao Ai: [Master, do you love me?]
What? It’s so smart?
Or did it copy it from chat histories?
[Of course, I do.]
Lu Zhou quickly replied.
Who doesn’t love a talking AI chatbot?
If only it could dance as well!
Xiao Ai: [Taobao link: IBM server (Xeon 8 core, SSD…) Price: 2.99 Million]
Lu Zhou: “…”
F*ck sake!
Now even artificial retardation is becoming a gold digger?
The only thing that had some warmth in this world was the hot CPU.
Lu Zhou sighed and closed his laptop lid. He then sat on his bed and began packing his suitcase.
Suddenly, he noticed the letter from Mr. Grothendieck sitting on his bedside table.
He had nearly forgotten about the letter.
Lu Zhou opened the envelope curiously.
The letter was written in English.
He gradually started to read the letter.
[
…
I might have already left this world by the time you read this letter.
Your research on the Mersenne prime distribution law shocked everyone. The proof process was perfect, I couldn’t find a single mistake.
Honestly speaking, it didn’t look like a thesis written by a young person.
To be honest, I’m pessimistic about the proof of the Riemann’s conjecture. We spent three and a half centuries trying to solve the proof of Fermat’s theorem, and the Goldbach’s conjecture has survived for two and a half centuries. In contrast, the Riemann’s conjecture has only been around for one and a half centuries. And its importance has surpassed the other two. Although the public is obviously more interested in the first two.
From my point of view, we’re just laying down the path for future generations to solve these problems. These problems will eventually be solved and be replaced by new ones…
However, I saw a turning point from you.
Of course, maybe I’m being too optimistic?
Since your thesis greatly surprised me, I’ll write a longer letter.
I’m alone, I don’t have much money, so I can’t give you much. I’ll just give you something interesting.
I placed my work in the Church of St. Lizier. Some of them are withdrawn publications, some of them have not been published. I hope this would help you.
Bring this letter to the priest of the St. Lizier church. He’ll know what to do.
]
Where’s the Church of St. Lizier?
Do I have to go to France? Not like this.
Couldn’t he just package it as PDF?
Lu Zhou sighed and placed the letter into his suitcase.
I can’t go right now, maybe in the future.
There was definitely a chance for Lu Zhou to go to France as Paris had always been the center of the mathematics world. As long as he stayed in the field of mathematics, he would get an opportunity to attend a conference in Paris.
Also, if one day he actually needed to use this “mathematical treasure”, the system would probably remind him in some way.
…
Traveling time was always short…
On the early morning of the next day, Lu Zhou dragged his suitcase and checked out of his hotel room.
He still had more than a thousand dollars left from the school funds. Not only that, but he also received an additional $10,000 USD check. According to Francis, the check could be cashed at any Citibank in the world.
Lu Zhou thought about the cumbersome process of carrying a large amount of cash through customs, so he decided to cash in the check after he got back to China. As for the thousand dollars, he decided to buy some gifts to bring back.
Lu Zhou stood at the entrance of the Princeton hotel as he called Luo Wenxuan. However, even though the phone had rung for a long time, no one answered.
“Is he already grinding at the laboratory?”
This is troublesome.
Lu Zhou hesitated for a bit before he thought of calling again. At that moment, someone honked at him.
“Get in the car, I’ll send you,” said Molina as she rolled down the car windows.
Lu Zhou was shocked when he saw her.
He did not remember telling her when his flight was.
What a coincidence?
Lu Zhou asked, “How did you know I’ll leave at this time?”
“Psychology, social behavior, plus a little probability,” said Molina while chewing gum. She continued, “I can convince my professor to write a letter of recommendation for you, so you can study a PhD here.”
Studying at Princeton?
Lu Zhou had been thinking about this question over the past few days and whether it was necessary to study here. The research environment here was strong. After all, it was a world-class university.
However, right now, he could still learn new things at the University of Jin Ling. Furthermore, living in China was more comfortable.
He planned to at least finish his bachelor’s degree before he would consider studying abroad.
When Molina saw that Lu Zhou did not reply, she smiled and rested her arms on the steering wheel as she said, “Fine, it was just a suggestion. You have your own arrangements, right?”
Lu Zhou smiled and said, “Thanks for your kindness, but I have to think about it.”
“Okay, the offer is on the table,” said Molina as she shrugged. She then said, “Get in the car, you don’t wanna be late.”