Chapter 446: You Said It Was Just Food…

Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations

Although Lu Zhou was busy with his research, his current research project wasn’t like Goldbach’s conjecture or the Navier–Stokes equation which required his full attention. He still had time to eat a meal.

Not to mention, this was the weekend.

Lu Zhou drove down to the University of Pennsylvania student apartments and waited on the asphalt roads for a bit. However, Chen Yushan wasn’t the only person there.

There was also a middle-aged man, who looked very imposing.

Chen Baohua forced a perfect smile as he reached out his hand and said, “Hello, Professor Lu, I am Chen Yushan’s father. I am sorry to disturb you in the midst of your work.”

Lu Zhou was muddled as he shook this man’s hand.

“… Nice to meet you, Mr. Chen.”

Chen Baohua nodded with satisfaction.

Not bad, this kid is pretty polite.

He quickly realized he had important matters to discuss. Therefore, he coughed gently and went straight to the main topic.

“Shan Shan[1.Shan Shan is Chen Yushan’s nickname] should’ve told you the situation, right?” Lu Zhou: …?

What situation?

Lu Zhou was about to ask this out loud, but he saw Chen Yushan’s pitiful begging eyes.

He hesitated for a bit and decided to change his answer.

“Yeah, she told me…”

Chen Baohua had a smile on his face.

“Okay then, I’ve booked a table at a Chinese restaurant nearby. Let’s eat while we chat… Should we drive your car or Shan Shan’s?”

Lu Zhou: “… Let’s take mine.”

Shan Shan hadn’t driven an SUV before, and even though Chen Baohua knew how to drive, he didn’t have a US driver’s license. Therefore, Lu Zhou was the one who drove his own car.

Chen Baohua got on the car and glanced at the driver’s seat.

“Good car, you like SUVs?”

Lu Zhou turned on the GPS and smiled as he said, “It’s okay, it feels safer to drive… Where’s the Chinese restaurant?”

After Chen Baohua set the destination location on the GPS, Lu Zhou started the car and began to drive.

Lu Zhou immediately made eye contact with Chen Yushan through the rearview mirror; it was almost like they were communicating through their eyes.

Lu Zhou: What the hell is this???

Chen Yushan: Sorry sorry! I’ll explain it to you later!

Lu Zhou: …?

Chen Yushan’s expression was complex and contained a lot of information, but Lu Zhou didn’t understand what she meant.

He was still just as muddled as before.

You said we were going to eat together, so why am I meeting your parent now?

Chen Baohua obviously noticed Lu Zhou and Chen Yushan’s exchange of expressions.

When Chen Baohua saw this jack*ss and his daughter “flirting”, he had a complex expression.

Is there really…

Nothing going on between these two?

When Chen Baohua thought that his daughter was hiding something from him, his mood became as complicated as his facial expression.

If it wasn’t for this mission, he definitely wouldn’t give this kid an easy time.

…

The car soon arrived at the destination.

Before sitting down at the table, Chen Yushan found an opportunity and secretly pulled Lu Zhou aside.

“Sorry!” Chen Yushan put her palms together and looked down with her eyes closed. She said, “I actually didn’t explain it to you. My dad is the one that wants to see you, and I really didn’t know how to tell you this through the phone, so…”

Lu Zhou, “Chen Baohua does mathematics?”

Chen Yushan replied quietly, “… Nope, he’s part of the Communist Party.”

Communist Party?

Although this was unexpected, after her explanation, Lu Zhou nodded thoughtfully.

He recalled that the Thousand People Initiative was under the supervision of the Communist Party.

In this case, Chen Baohua is probably responsible for introducing outside talents?

Lu Zhou didn’t know a lot about the Chinese government, nor was he interested in doing so.

Lu Zhou had a rough estimate of what Chen Baohua wanted to talk to him about.

They all sat down at a table. Chen Yushan sat next to her father, and Lu Zhou sat across from the two.

Chen Baohua coughed and looked at his daughter before he spoke in a demanding manner, “Shan Shan, go to the bathroom. Professor Lu and I have some things to talk about.”

“Oh.”

Chen Yushan obediently stood up from her chair and was about to leave.

She’s probably a “good girl” at home…

Emm…

I didn’t expect this at all!

Lu Zhou threw away his strange thoughts and coughed.

“Chen Baohua, do you plan on talking about something secretive with me?”

Chen Baohua paused for a second and smiled.

“Not quite, I just want you to feel secure…”

Lu Zhou smiled and shook his head as he said, “Then let’s allow student… Chen Yushan to stay here. I have nothing secretive to say.”

It’s quite sad to leave her alone outside.

Chen Yushan looked at Lu Zhou with gratefulness and sat back down.

Obviously, she didn’t want to be excluded.

Chen Baohua looked at his daughter and didn’t say anything. Instead, he cleared his throat and said, “Since you put it like that, I’ll cut straight to the chase.”

Chen Baohua knew it was useless to brainwash intelligent scholars, and people like Lu Zhou who had read too many books often had their own political ideas and viewpoints. He didn’t beat around the bush and cut to the chase.

“The motherland appreciates and needs your talent. We are eagerly looking forward to you returning to China and doing research there.

“In order to show our sincerity, we can pay you three times your Princeton salary and make it such that it is tax-exempted.

“Also, we can guarantee that your scientific research funding will also be three times your current amount. It will also be distributed from the central government in the form of a special fund. No matter what university or research institute you go to, the fund will follow you. On behalf of the Communist party, I can assure you that your research will receive the utmost attention.”

Finally, Chen Baohua said with sincerity, “If you have any other requests, feel free to tell me, I will tell the higher-ups your request!”

Triple salary…

Lu Zhou looked astonished.

Right now his salary was US$400,000, and triple of that would mean US$1.2 million.

That meant it was 8 million yuan, not to mention it would be tax-exempted.

Even for a Fields Medal winner, this was ridiculous.

Although he didn’t require much scientific research funding, being able to receive the funds from the government was still very attractive. It would save him from a ton of complicated application and approval procedures.

After a while, Lu Zhou smiled as he replied, “I have no other request regarding the benefits. All I want is an academic environment that isn’t affected by politics…”

Chen Baohua nodded and remembered Lu Zhou’s words. He was about to speak, but Lu Zhou’s phone began to ring.

Lu Zhou took out his phone and put it on vibration mode. When he saw that it was from an unknown number, he didn’t want to interrupt the conversation. Hence, he declined the call.

However, within two seconds, his phone began to vibrate again.

Is this call really that important?

Lu Zhou raised his eyebrows and was about to turn off his phone. Chen Baohua gently coughed and said, “Professor Lu, just take the call. What if it’s something urgent? Don’t delay anything because of me.”

Lu Zhou shook his head and said, “If it’s anything important, the call would have been made to my office, not me.”

There were always people on duty at his office. If there were anything urgent, Vera would instantly tell him.

From his past experience, calls from unknown numbers were either scams or some kind of marketing calls.

However, since Chen Baohua insisted, Lu Zhou picked up the phone and placed the phone next to his ear.

“Hello?”

Two minutes passed by.

When Lu Zhou heard the voice coming from the other end of the phone, his facial expression became weird.

After a while, the phone call ended.

Lu Zhou looked at his phone screen and went silent for a while.

Chen Baohua wanted to know what had happened but didn’t know if he should ask or not. All he could do was sit and stay in silence.

Chen Yushan didn’t overthink it. When she saw Lu Zhou’s weird expression, she thought something bad had happened. She asked softly, “What happened?”

After a while, Lu Zhou looked up at the two and hesitated for a bit.

“I think… I might have won a prize.”

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