Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations !
Lu Zhou did not expect that only one day had passed.
On the second night, he received an email from Mr. Francis.
[… The PDF text record file of the presentation is attached in this email. But you probably won’t need it? Anyway, good luck.]
Lu Zhou: ? ? ?
Why won’t I need it?
Maybe the Annual Mathematics journal was published?
Lu Zhou quickly went to the Annual Mathematics website, but nothing popped up.
It made sense. The Annual Mathematics journal was released every two months.
Calculating from the last publication date, his thesis would be published at the end of the month. So why did Francis say he would not need this?
Lu Zhou was muddled when his phone suddenly rang.
When he saw that it was from Professor Tang, he picked up and placed his phone to his ear.
Professor Tang spoke first.
“What did you do again?”
Lu Zhou was surprised by the sudden question and he asked, “You know?”
He had not wanted this to be a huge deal, so he did not talk about it with anyone from the university. He had not expected Professor Tang to find out.
Professor Tang replied with a smile, “Of course I know, do you think I’m dumb? I go on the internet as well!”
What?
It seems that Professor Tang isn’t too angry?
Before Lu Zhou could respond, Professor Tang spoke again.
“Honestly speaking, this TV thing is getting big. Wang Yuping is unreliable. He spread your news around town, saying that the Cole prize was yours. Guess what happens next?”
Professor Tang smiled and continued.
“I don’t know how the press got the news. The Cole prize is substantial! Everyone Daily already wrote up an article, and they were going to release the article when your thesis comes out. How unlucky.”
It was not Lu Zhou that was unlucky, it was Everyone Daily’s editorial department.
A TV show ruined their plans.
What if Everyone Daily reported the wrong twin prime conjecture solver?
Someone was going to be responsible for the mistake!
In any case, there were people that were going to get screwed.
Professor Tang could not help but say, “When something like this happens, tell me or Dean Qin! Don’t try to solve it yourself! If it wasn’t for Luo Wenxuan telling me, god knows when I would hear about it!”
Lu Zhou said, “Luo Wenxuan?”
Professor Tang, “Luo Wenxuan heard about this and immediately went to get the records from the Federal Mathematical Society. He then contacted a few Chinese media outlets and emailed me about this. Go call him later and thank him!”
Lu Zhou immediately said, “For sure! I’ll call him later!”
He finally knew why Mr. Francis said he would not need the conference recordings. It turned out that someone had already sent the recordings to the Chinese media.
He owed Luo Wenxuan one.
Lu Zhou planned to buy him dinner the next time he was in Princeton.
Lu Zhou hung up the phone and opened up Weibo. He suddenly laughed out loud.
Shi Shang was on his bed playing the guitar and he was shocked by the sounds of laughter.
“Zhou, what now?”
Lu Zhou shook his head and said, “Nothing, it’s good to have connections. I don’t have to do anything.”
Liu Rui was studying when he asked, “What? Did someone solves a problem for you?”
Lu Zhou plugged his phone in to charge and said, “You could say so.”
…
TV station, meeting room…
Wu Ping had an awkward expression on his face.
Actually, everyone in the meeting room had an awkward expression.
They had not expected the matter to escalate. Their “perfect marketing” plans were ruined.
Especially Wu Ping. He looked like he was about to puke.
When they looked at the video, they did not understand what the guy on the stage was doing, but they downloaded the thesis from the academic conference website.
Even though they could not understand the thesis, they understood the abstract. The conference presentation was clearly about Mersenne prime. They had even consulted an expert.
Therefore, Wu Yan’s manager told Wu Yan not to worry about it, as there were no published twin prime conjectures online.
Now? The integrity of the show was lost.
Wu Yan sat at the meeting table. He coughed softly and spoke awkwardly.
“… Isn’t this exaggerating? It’s just a show, not a thesis submission. This doesn’t count as academic fraud, right?”
Director Zhang was furious when he asked, “Why didn’t you tell us that the proof process was copied?”
Yang Feng tried to appease him, “Director Zhang, we’re on the same team. This is no time for arguing. I asked Wu Yan. He was inspired by the conference but he also added his own details. We can claim that they both solved the world-class problem.”
Director Zhang’s secretary said, “Saying that is useless. The key right now is how to solve this problem. My suggestion is to start repairing the damage immediately. Maybe we can find the mathematics journal and give them some money so that they would post our proof first?”
Director Zhang thought for a bit then nodded.
“Makes sense.”
It was a pity to give up such a popular star on his show. Also, the other thesis had not even been published yet. What could a low-quality video prove?
Your thesis hasn’t even been published yet!
I’ll buy my way out of this!
Suddenly, the conference room door was pushed open. A man in a suit walked in.
Director Zhang Yuanjie raised his eyebrows and asked, “Which department are you from? Did I say you can come in?”
The guy ignored Director Zhang as he placed a document on the table.
“Notice from higher-ups. From today, your show is canceled.”
The air in the conference solidified for a moment.
It was so quiet that they could hear a needle drop.
Director Zhang Yuanjie’s eyes widened. He could not believe it and angered, he stood up.
“What happened? This is unreasonable! I’m going to talk to them!”
It was almost the finals, and they even did the rehearsal. Stopping the show now would cause great damage.
Director Zhang Yuanjie’s face went white. He could not believe it.
The guy looked at Director Zhang Yuanjie with a blank face.
“Don’t bother, no one can help you. This document is from the higher-ups.”