Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations
On Chinese New Year’s eve, Lu Zhou sat on the living room sofa. He went through his contacts list and gave everyone his Chinese New Year blessings.
If he were close to the person, he would call them; if not, he would just send a text. He didn’t care if people looked at it or not; there was no such thing as too many connections. Besides, sending a text wasn’t anything cumbersome.
After a while, he heard Xiao Tong’s voice.
“Bro, will you call Sister Chen?”
Lu Zhou pressed the button for dialing and said, “… Even I don’t even call her that, so why are you calling her sister…”
“Because she’s also in the business school. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with calling her sister…” Xiao Tong said as she lay on the sofa like a dead fish. She then tilted her head and looked at Lu Zhou before she continued, “Whereas you graduated from the mathematics department, right?”
Emm…
I think she makes sense…
Lu Zhou: “…”
When Lu Zhou didn’t say anything, Xiao Tong hugged the couch pillow and sat up. Her face looked like she was looking forward to listening to a story.
“Brother, speaking of which, how did you guys meet each other?”
Lu Zhou sighed and said, “It’s not as complicated as what you are thinking. We just met at the library. After that, we became normal friends.”
While hugging the pillow, Xiao Tong said, “Normal? But why do I think you guys click together? Also, she has big br*asts! Even as a girl, I’m attracted to her.”
Lu Zhou: “…”
How did we start talking about br*asts?
Also… what does this have to do with br*asts?
Lu Zhou didn’t say anything. However, Xiao Tong suddenly looked like she figured something out, and she immediately squinted her eyes and looked at Lu Zhou. With a curious tone, she asked, “Wait… Do you like small ones?”
Lu Zhou: “F*ck off!”
Lu Zhou sent out a text message. He was about to start typing another text when he saw Chen Yushan’s name in his contact list.
He hesitated for a bit before he decided to call her.
Merely sending a text message would be too perfunctory.
The phone only rang once before connecting.
Lu Zhou didn’t even realize the phone had connected until he heard her familiar voice coming through the phone.
“Little Brother! I’m so happy! You’re actually calling me.”
Lu Zhou gently coughed and said, “You don’t have to exaggerate! I’m only sending my New Year’s blessings… Uh… Happy New Year!”
Chen Yushan had a joyful smile on her face, and she replied, “Happy New Year! I was about to call you.”
Lu Zhou could hear her father’s voice coming through the telephone.
“Shan Shan, who are you calling?”
“Lu Zhou!”
Chen Baohua merely said, “Oh.”
When Lu Zhou heard Chen Baohua’s voice, he asked, “How is your father’s health?”
Chen Yushan then replied in a happy tone, “Him? His health is great. Oh yeah, I heard from Meng Qi that you’re back at Jinling? Are you planning on working here?”
Lu Zhou: “Yeah, I plan on coming back this year. I might have to go back to Princeton for a bit since I still have some unfinished matters there. After that, I’ll probably focus on my work in Jinling. Speaking of which, you’re about to graduate soon, right?”
Chen Yushan smiled and said, “Yeah, I already handed in my graduation thesis. I’ll finally have my freedom soon.”
Lu Zhou couldn’t help but smile as he sincerely felt happy for her.
Apparently, her supervisor wasn’t a nice person. For her, being able to graduate smoothly was a godsend gift.
“What do you plan on doing after graduation? PhD?”
“No more studying… I’ll become a female nerd if I do that,” Chen Yushan joked. She then said, “Not to mention, my field cares more about work experience rather than academic qualifications. I plan on getting a business internship after I graduate and work for two years or so.”
Lu Zhou: “Have you decided where you want to intern?”
Chen Yushan sighed and said, “Not yet, but I have some offers from a few companies. But I haven’t thought about where to go.”
Lu Zhou suddenly had an idea.
“Are you interested in patent management companies?”
“Patent management companies? I think I did a patent case before, but I wasn’t very interested… It’s alright. Why, Little Brother? Do you have a good place to recommend to me?”
“Actually, I started a patent management company. If you don’t mind, can you come work for me?”
“Not bad, Little Brother, starting companies now I see.” Chen Yushan was a little surprised by his revelation. She then said in a joking tone, “Can you tell me the name of your company? I’ll search it up.”
Lu Zhou smiled and said, “Go search for it. It’s called Star Sky Technology, and it’s registered in the Cayman Islands.”
Chen Yushan froze.
It wasn’t because the company was registered in the Cayman Islands.
But because…
“You founded Star Sky Technology?”
Lu Zhou hesitated for a bit before he asked, “… Is there a problem?”
If he recalled correctly, Star Sky Technology wasn’t a particularly well-known company.
After all, companies that specialized in intellectual property management didn’t need to promote their public image. Normal people wouldn’t try to investigate the origin of the lithium batteries in their phone or electric cars.
However, this name was deeply engraved in Chen Yushan’s heart.
Because of an unforgettable night.
No. Actually, not just one night but countless nights.
In order to complete the company’s organizational planning scheme and personnel training plan by a specific date, her supervisor used her as free labor. After she pulled all-nighters for two weeks, she finally completed the task…
She even developed an automatic reflex. Whenever she heard the name “Star Sky”, she couldn’t help but clench her teeth.
Chen Yushan didn’t speak for a long time, so Lu Zhou thought she looked down at his company. He hesitated before asking, “So… Are you going to join?”
It was fine if she didn’t come, his little company wasn’t that busy anyway.
Chen Yushan then replied without further hesitation, “I’m coming!”
…
Chinese New Year was the time to visit relatives.
However, Lu Zhou’s family didn’t have many relatives in Jinling, not even distant relatives. Therefore, their Chinese New Year was relatively lonely.
Other than Lu Zhou’s Chinese friends, he also received many blessings from his international friends.
There were Professor Fefferman; his mentor, Deligne; and several of his students.
Other than Vera’s Chinese New Year card, the most inventive blessing was probably the email from Pablo Jarillo Herrero at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
After Professor Herrero sent his Chinese New Year blessings, he spent a couple of paragraphs describing something interesting he encountered in research.
Lu Zhou even suspected that the latter part of the email was his real intention for writing this email.
[… We found a very interesting thing when we studied the forbidden bandwidth of the superlattice near the SG-1 angle. The existing BCS theory doesn’t seem to apply to carbon-based superconducting materials.
[I tried to explain this phenomenon by using the electro-acoustic wave function method. However, the troubles I encountered while attempting to solve the function was beyond my abilities.
[I am certain that if this problem is solved, it will reveal the underlying physical mechanism behind superconductivity.
[I have attached the relevant experimental data. I might temporarily put this research project on hold, but it might be of interest to you.]
When Lu Zhou read this email, he raised his eyebrows, showing his interest.
It had been more than 30 years since the discovery of high-temperature superconductors in 1986. Despite the tremendous efforts by outstanding theoretical physicists around the world, the underlying physical mechanism behind high-temperature superconductivity was still unresolved.
The problem had always been related to the multi-body wave function model, which had yet to be solved.
This was a very interesting phenomenon as almost all of the “deep” physics and chemistry theoretical problems were related to calculations and mathematics.
Lu Zhou’s fingers rest gently on the keyboard as he thought for a while. After that, he replied with an email.
[I will seriously consider your proposal.]
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