Chapter 394: Poaching

Translator: Henyee Translations  Editor: Henyee Translations

Lu Zhou turned off his phone and immediately got out of bed. He sent a video call request to Connie, who was at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Although Lu Zhou could probably guess what Connie was talking about, he still wanted to confirm it.

“What did you guys do?”

“Your guess was correct! After countless experiments, we have successfully discovered that the twisted double-layer graphene can achieve superconductivity under 1.7 kelvin. This is amazing!” Connie said in an astonished tone, “Professor, you’re a god!”

Connie started to think in his mind.

Maybe…

This is the so-called “scientific research intuition” that nutty people have?

Lu Zhou stared at Connie’s look of worship through his phone screen as he said, “I just made a random guess; it wasn’t based on science.”

Connie shook his head and said, “No, Professor Lu, science isn’t needed for intuition. Some people can communicate with the heavens, and this doesn’t even require science.”

He paused for a second before he continued, “We will publish the thesis in Nature. Professor Herrero said that he will send you an email tomorrow to inform you. As for what’s happening right now, we’re about to get wasted at a bar. Unfortunately, you’re not here, so I’ll have to drink your portion of the drinks.”

Lu Zhou said, “Have a great time.”

“Of course!” Connie smiled and said, “We’ve been working throughout Christmas! We spent the entire Christmas holiday inside the laboratory! Thank God, it’s finally done!”

This research was a collaborative study between the Sarrot Institute and the Pablo Jarillo Herrero research group. The Jinling Institute of Computational Materials also took part in the research and helped with many issues; this was why the thesis was completed so quickly.

Although this thesis alone wouldn’t create any patents, Lu Zhou was still very excited to hear this news.

Confirmation of a superconducting carbon nanomaterial could provide a new research path for superconducting materials.

Also, carbon nanomaterials had great plasticity and strain properties compared to alloy and metal compound materials. This meant there would be even more research paths available for superconducting materials.

This was a small step toward “room temperature superconductivity” as well as a small step toward controllable nuclear fusion…

…

A night of rest later…

The next day, Lu Zhou slept until nine in the morning.

Once he finished washing his face, he went down to the hotel restaurant and ordered a bowl of rice noodles. While eating, he was thinking about his plans for today when a beautiful waitress came over.

“Mr. Lu, someone is here for you.”

“Who?”

“He didn’t reveal his identity. He only said he was sent by Director Ma. I told him to wait for you at the hotel lobby. If you want, I can ask him to come over.”

“No need,” Lu Zhou said. He then put down his spoon and stood up before he continued, “I plan on going out anyway. I’ll head over there myself.”

The waitress then replied politely, “Okay, Mr. Lu.”

The hotel had every facility Lu Zhou could hope for; it was like a high-end sanatorium.

However, for Lu Zhou who had to stay here until the 8th, it did not take him long before he started to get bored.

Since Shuimu and Yan University were close by, he felt that it would be a shame not to drop by for a visit.

Lu Zhou met up with the person who claimed to have been sent by Director Ma.

Lu Zhou instantly felt a special vibe coming from the man.

He couldn’t describe what the vibe was, but the man looked like an undercover cop from the movies, or at least someone with a military background.

When the man saw Lu Zhou, he stood up from the sofa and reached out his hand as he said, “Hello, Professor Lu, I am Wang Peng, the driver of the Organization Department of the Communist Party of China. If you need to go anywhere, feel free to ask me.”

They are giving me a personal driver?

Is this necessary?

Lu Zhou looked at Wang Peng and shook his hand.

“Thank you in advance, Brother Wang.”

Wang Peng immediately said, “Don’t call me Brother Wang. Otherwise, the leadership team will tell me off. Just call me Xiao Wang.”

“How can that be? You’re clearly older than me! In that case, I’ll just call you Mr. Wang…” Lu Zhou said. He then went silent for a while before he coughed and said, “I’ll listen to you then.”

Wang Peng sighed in relief and said, “Thank you for cooperating with me. Are you going out now?”

Lu Zhou said, “I’m just going for a walk nearby.”

“Okay, this is my contact number. If you need to be picked up or dropped off, or if you run into any trouble, you can contact me,” Wang Peng said while handing over a business card from his pocket.

There was no name on the business card. There was only a phone number written on it.

Lu Zhou looked at him and asked, “Do you know mathematics?”

Wang Peng was stunned. He then coughed awkwardly and said, “This… isn’t within my scope of abilities. I apologize, but my abilities are limited…”

…

Lu Zhou walked out of the hotel and walked around using the map on his phone.

Soon after, he was at the campus of Shuimu University.

Due to the New Year’s holiday, as one of the sacred academic places in the capital of the country, Shuimu University’s school gate was surrounded by many tourists.

Lu Zhou didn’t know if someone made arrangements beforehand because the guard seemed to have recognized him.

People without a campus ID were forbidden from entering. However, when Lu Zhou walked over, they let him go without any issues.

Lu Zhou walked along the asphalt road covered with green trees on the side while he thought about where he should visit first. He decided to visit the Qiu Chengtong Mathematics Center.

Old Qiu had always been a patriot. While he was a tenured professor of mathematics at Harvard University, he was also the director of the Institute of Mathematical Sciences and the director of the Mathematical Sciences Center of Qiu Chengtong at Shuimu University and XiangJiang University.

The old man once said that he would use Harvard University’s teaching philosophy to create a mathematics center in Asia. Although there was still a long way to go, Old Qiu’s experience from working at Harvard was apparent.

Although Old Qiu wasn’t in Beijing, Lu Zhou still wanted to visit the center.

If Lu Zhou wanted to use the experience he gained from Princeton to build a Chinese version of Princeton, then he had much to learn from the elders.

When Lu Zhou saw a tall guy walking by, he asked, “Bro, where is the Qiu Chengtong Mathematics Center?”

The tall guy looked at Lu Zhou and felt that Lu Zhou looked familiar.

“It’s near the spring gardens, you can ride a bicycle all the way to the south. You’ll see it around there.”

Lu Zhou replied, “Oh, thank you.”

The tall guy then said, “You’re welcome, but are you a new student?”

Lu Zhou smiled. “No, I’m just here to visit… What do you do?”

The tall guy with glasses said, “Me? I’m doing a post-doc in materials research.”

Lu Zhou’s eyes lit up, and he asked, “Yeah? What field?”

“Carbon nanomaterials and polymers…” The tall guy suddenly looked at Lu Zhou suspiciously and asked, “Why do you ask?”

“Nothing, I just wanted to…” Lu Zhou said, “ask you about someone.”

The tall guy asked, “Who?”

Lu Zhou said, “Professor Sun Hongbiao.”

Sun Hongbiao was the only polymer materials professor that Lu Zhou knew at Shuimu University.

Lu Zhou had a deep impression of him.

“Professor Sun?” The tall guy was stunned. He then said, “My supervisor! Wait a minute, didn’t you want to go to the Qiu Chengtong Mathematics Center? Who are you?”

Lu Zhou coughed and reached out his hand as he said, “Nice to meet you, I’m Lu Zhou.”

“Lu Zhou… F*ck?! Lu Zhou! You’re really Lu Zhou?” Lou Fan finally realized why Lu Zhou looked so familiar.

“That’s right.” Lu Zhou coughed. He wanted to make a sneaky offer, and so, he said, “Bro, are you interested in working at Jinling? We’re the ancient capital of the six dynasties, plenty of talented people who are talented at research, and the rent is also cheaper…”

Lu Zhou was suddenly interrupted by a loud voice.

“Professor Lu, it’s not nice of you to do this!”

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