Perelman’s apartment was right in front of the building stairs.
“The apartment is a bit messy.”
Perelman put down his groceries and took out his keys.
Even though Lu Zhou was mentally prepared, after the door opened, he was still surprised by the situation.
All kinds of clothes and daily necessities were thrown on the sofa, while garbage and leftover food were scattered around the apartment.
Lu Zhou also had the habit of leaving clothes around the house, but fortunately, Xiao Ai would usually take care of it.
It was obvious…
That Perelman, who devoted his life to mathematics, didn’t care about anything else.
No wonder people called him an eccentric scholar.
Albert was walking next to Lu Zhou, and he quietly muttered, “I thought mathematicians were rigorous people.”
Lu Zhou didn’t know what to respond.
Schultz awkwardly explained.
“Normally we are… but there are exceptions. Some people don’t care about their surroundings, they would rather spend time on mathematics.
“I’m jealous of those people, but that kind of lifestyle isn’t for me. Ever since I embarked on the journey of mathematics, most of my time has been wasted on meaningless chores…”
Perelman put away his groceries and said, “Do you guys want something to drink? I only have water and tea, but I can go out and buy something.”
Lu Zhou didn’t want to bother him anymore, so he quickly spoke.
“Water is good.”
Schultz nodded and said, “Same here.”
Krugman and Albert also nodded, so Perelman smiled and spoke.
“Okay then.”
Soon after, five disposable cups were placed on the table. Perelman took a bottle of mineral water and poured a cup for each person.
Everyone looked a bit weirded out, but Perelman didn’t care. After taking a sip, he looked at Schultz and spoke.
“Why are you here? I didn’t know you were coming.”
Schultz: “Can’t I visit my old friend?”
“I don’t need anyone to visit me, I’m doing well by myself…”
Schultz was a little disappointed, but Perelman immediately began staring at Lu Zhou instead.
Perelman looked at him and spoke in a “bored yet blunt” tone.
“I’ve read your paper, your understanding of group theory and the complex plane is good. Especially the hyperelliptic curve analysis method… Of course, what surprised me the most was when you defined a complex algebraic cluster X on the complex project space CP^(n+r) when you researched the Sullivan Conjecture. I have no idea how you thought about doing that.”
Topology and differential topology were both fields Perelman was interested in. On the other hand, he wasn’t as interested in the Quasi Riemann hypothesis.
Even though the area of the differentiable manifold was unpopular, the Sullivan conjecture was a famous problem.
Perelman had also done some research on the Sullivan Conjecture. However, he had not been able to crack the conjecture.
As a result, he almost forgot about the conjecture, until he finally read Lu Zhou’s thesis in Annual Mathematics, where Lu Zhou had proven the conjecture.
This made him astonished.
“… Oh, the Sullivan Conjecture?”
Lu Zhou smiled and said, “… That’s thanks to the thesis published by Professor Kreck in Annual Mathematics back in 1999. His research inspired me quite a bit. Of course, it’s also probably because I wasn’t specifically researching this problem, so I was able to look at it from a different angle.”
Back then, he was still answering Chen Yang’s questions on the Hodge conjecture. If it weren’t for the editor-in-chief of Annual Mathematics, he wouldn’t have even known that the problem he was studying was a representation of a classic differentiable manifold problem.
Perelman and Schultz both looked surprised when they heard that Lu Zhou wasn’t specifically researching differentiable manifolds.
Fortunately, they didn’t know that Lu Zhou had only spent a day solving the problem; otherwise, their jaws would be on the floor.
Perelman took a sip of water and spoke.
“That’s lucky, but I don’t think it’s entirely just luck… Okay then, did you come here to ask me any questions?”
Lu Zhou could see a flash of anticipation in his eyes, and he suddenly felt a little awkward.
Just like Schultz, he only came here because he had nothing else better to do. At least Schultz was Perelman’s friend, Lu Zhou just came here with nothing in his hand.
However, telling that to Perelman’s face would be a little rude.
After all, Perelman wasn’t a zoo animal; he obviously didn’t like people bothering him.
What do I do?
Tell him the truth?
Lu Zhou was a little worried that Perelman would be pissed off if he told Perelman the truth.
Suddenly, a light bulb went off in his mind. He thought about the problem he discussed with Chen Yang about the Hodge conjecture.
“Can I borrow some paper?”
“Sure, I have a ton.”
Perelman got up and found some pens and paper.
Lu Zhou wrote down a problem on the paper and handed it to Perelman.
“… This is it.”
“Let me see.” Perelman took the paper and glanced at the equations. He said, “You’re researching the Hodge conjecture?”
Lu Zhou said, “Sort of.”
In fact, that wasn’t a lie. Even though he wasn’t directly researching the conjecture, someone working for him was, so he was indirectly researching it.
Fortunately, Perelman believed Lu Zhou. He nodded and muttered.
“I see, the Hodge conjecture. After I read your paper, I always felt like the theorems could be applied to other problems…”
Schultz looked at Lu Zhou with an astonished look on his face.
“… When did you begin researching the Hodge conjecture?”
Lu Zhou smiled awkwardly.
“Just a side hobby.”
Schultz: “…”
Time slowly passed by, Perelman sat there still. He sat on his couch silently, immersed in his own thoughts.
Albert was getting a little anxious. He looked at the paper and saw the confusing lines of equations. He quickly gave up and sat back down.
Krugman, who was sitting next to him, didn’t even try to read the equations. He sat there quietly, drinking his water.
Lu Zhou looked at the Russian man immersed in deep thought and spoke.
“… Actually, you don’t have to give me a reply straight away, you can send me an email.”
“… Yeah, it’s not like the question can be answered within a few words,” Perelman muttered. He put away the paper and said to Albert and Krugman, “What about you guys? Do you have any questions?”
Krugman sighed and cleared his throat. He solemnly said, “We’re working on a big research project, but it involves many complex mathematical calculations that are beyond our abilities—”
However, he was interrupted by Albert.
This physicist stood up and spoke in a passionate voice.
“Gentleman, do you think the future can be accurately predicted?”
The small apartment suddenly became quiet.
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