Chapter 252: Night Scenes

Translator: Henyee Translations  Editor: Henyee Translations

Lu Zhou felt like he was weaker in terms of bullsh*ting.

Especially after the old man added another sentence.

“Of course, all you guys have is hope.”

Lu Zhou: “…”

Faltings took the initiative to talk to him just to say these two sentences.

After that, the old man carefully held the knife and fork down to eat his steak, and completely ignored everything around him.

As if he was thinking of a mathematics problem right now.

Lu Zhou who was sitting next to him was dumbfounded.

It was obvious that this big name mathematician gave him a lot of pressure.

After dinner in the blue hall, there was a dance party in the gold hall.

The swaying candlelight sparkled from the copper candlesticks that were on either side of the hall. It shined brightly on the clear floor tiles. Goddess Lake Malaren sat on the mural in the middle of the hall while the crowd watched her dance elegantly.

As for Lu Zhou, he stood on the edge of the dance floor with a glass of champagne in his hand. He started to talk to Wang Yuping.

He did not get a chance to say hello back at the dinner, but he had the opportunity now.

Wang Yuping stood next to Lu Zhou and said with an emotional voice, “I can’t believe that your growth this year is so fast! You even won the Crafoord Prize. You’re really giving us Yan University a hard time.”

Lu Zhou smiled and said, “Yan University has some talents. Zhang Hao, Yun Zhijun, Xu Chenyang, and etc. I often heard about their research.”

“You don’t have to act humble. You’re still young, and you still have a long road of achievements to accomplish,” said Wang Yuping as he shook his head. He then asked, “Oh yeah, how long are you staying in Princeton? Are you coming back?”

“A year or two at least, five at most,” said Lu Zhou. With a smile, he added, “I’m definitely coming back.”

Wang Yuping smiled and said, “It’s good to come back. Are you interested in becoming a professor at Yan University?”

Lu Zhou smiled and said, “I’ve already discussed this matter with Academician Wang Shicheng. I think University of Jin Ling’s environment is more suitable for me.”

“Okay then, I guess you have your own ideas,” sighed Professor Wang Yuping. He then joked, “Yan University can’t get you to become a professor there, but occasionally, you can still give a report there, right?”

Lu Zhou smiled and said, “I’d be honored.”

The dance party was almost halfway finished, but Lu Zhou did not have plans to join in.

It was not because he was not interested, but it was purely because he was alone. The two other winners brought their relatives, but Lu Zhou did not even have a date.

Fortunately, he was not the only one that did not know how to dance. It was not awkward for him to chat with his peers while drinking champagne by the side.

If only no one invited him to dance…

Which was impossible.

While Lu Zhou and Wang Yuping were chatting about the dinner party, a lady in a long dress came over and smiled at him.

“Hello, Mr. Lu Zhou, can I borrow some of your time?”

Lu Zhou glanced at her and said, “Of course… You are?”

“Maria Viazovska,” said Maria with a smile. She reached out her right hand and said, “If you think my last name is too long, you can call me Maria.”

Lu Zhou heard her name and had a moment of realization.

Maria Viazovska was the winner of the 2016 Salem Prize. Like Molina’s supervisor, she was also a popular candidate for the 2018 Fields Medal.

This year, she solved a well-known mathematics problem that was nearly 200 years old. It was the high dimensional sphere filling in the 8D and 24D problem.

This problem was closely related to theoretical physics and string theory. It was not well known, but it had a large applicable range.

“Thanks for your invitation, but I don’t know how to dance.”

Lu Zhou shook hands with this legendary female mathematician. He tried to let go, but Maria held on.

“But you can learn, right?” said Maria. She smiled and said, “I can teach you. It shouldn’t be hard for someone who just won a Crafoord Prize.”

Since Lu Zhou did not expect her to respond like this, he was stunned.

Are all Slavs so enthusiastic?

I really don’t know how to dance…

Lu Zhou could not help but look toward Professor Wang for help.

In the end, the old man misinterpreted and thought that Lu Zhou wanted him to leave. He smiled and said, “Then I won’t third wheel you two. I’ll go say hi to my old friends.”

The old man left with his hands behind his back.

…

Dancing was a normal form of communication. It had no special meaning. Legend said that a Nobel Prize winner once danced his shoe off, and everyone just laughed.

In fact, Maria Viazovska did not do anything to him. The two only danced and talked about mathematics problems while dancing.

As for why they suddenly brought up mathematics, it was because Lu Zhou tried to conceal his horrible dance skills, so he gave Maria a mathematics problem to distract her.

After all, he was new to dancing. He only learned from watching TV.

Maybe, he should take the time to learn these things.

Lu Zhou felt like maybe one day he would come back to this place.

Maybe for another reason…

After the dance party ended, the guest started to leave.

The scholars had to present their reports tomorrow, so they did not want to waste too much time on the dance floor.

Lu Zhou dragged his tired body back to the hotel. He threw his suit on the chair and laid in bed.

Today was the most tiring day of the year.

Even solving Goldbach’s conjecture was not as tired as today.

However, he also felt a sense of happiness.

It was not just because of the honor of winning a Crafoord Prize, but also because of the $500,000 USD prize money…

Lu Zhou was about to put the medal aside when he suddenly remembered something important.

He had not shared his joy with his fans.

How could he forget…

Lu Zhou smiled and got up from his bed. He walked to the window casually.

He then took a photo of the night scene. However, there was a gold medal that appeared inside the photo.

This time, Lu Zhou added a caption, revealing the mystery of his previous Weibo post.

[Fascinating night scene. Hopefully, I’ll come back. 26/5/2016, Stockholm.]

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