Chapter 494: Ready To Go

Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations

Lu Yang, Science Island.

Chinese Academy of Sciences Institute of Materials.

Sheng Xianfu stood in the institute director’s office. When he gently placed a resignation letter on the table and took a step back, the old director was dumbfounded.

“I’m here to resign.”

The old director was taken by surprise. He looked at the letter on his table in disbelief before he looked at Sheng Xianfu.

“Re… resign?”

“Yes.” Sheng Xianfu nodded. He knew that there was no pulling back once he handed out this letter. He took a deep breath and spoke in a calm voice.

“You know that I’m researching the Stellarator. This opportunity is rare, and it would be a shame to miss it. I know you don’t want to stand between Academician Zhou and Professor Lu, and if I insist on going, it might be awkward for you. Therefore, there shouldn’t be any problems once I quit.”

The old director shook his head and said, “Is this necessary? Regardless of whether or not Academician Zhou is correct, that’s business between those two. Putting yourself in between them is just making things difficult for you.”

He looked at the resignation letter and sighed.

“I’ll leave this letter here, for now. Think about it for a couple more days.”

He admired Professor Sheng’s talents, and he didn’t want to see this promising researcher ruin his future. Therefore, he decided to give him another chance.

If it were anyone else, he wouldn’t say a word and just let them leave.

Sheng Xianfu shook his head and said, “I don’t have to think about it anymore. I already thought about everything before coming here.”

He didn’t have time to reconsider; the visiting team to Germany was going to leave in a week.

The old director saw how determined Sheng Xianfu was, so he didn’t say anything else. He signed his name on the resignation letter and took out the official seal stamp from his drawer.

“Since you’ve already decided, I won’t say anything else. Your resignation is approved. Go to human resources and follow the procedure.”

Sheng Xianfu nodded toward the director and took the letter of resignation from the table.

“Thank you.”

He then turned around and walked out of the office.

…

The cooperation between Yuhua University went very smoothly, and Professor Li Changxia didn’t even hesitate before accepting Lu Zhou’s invitation.

However, at the same time, he also put forward a request, which was to retain their positions at Yuhua University.

This wasn’t just his personal request; this was also the request from his research team members.

For Lu Zhou, these requests were easy to oblige.

When Lu Zhou met Principal Wu again, he promised him that he would include Yuhua University as a cooperative research unit of the STAR Stellarator Research Project. As expected, the principal readily agreed.

Even though the H1-Heliac was the prominent scientific research project for Yuhua University, but in fact, other than being able to call themselves the first stellarator in China, the H1-Heliac didn’t bring any extra benefits to Yuhua University.

It didn’t matter what the insiders thought. From the outsiders’ perspective, the concept of controllable nuclear fusion was too far away. Because of this, Yuhua University wasn’t able to give Professor Li Changxia a large amount of resource support. It’d be better for them to join the STAR stellarator project as experts from Yuhua University. With the one billion dollar research fund, they might be able to help produce some outstanding results.

When the time arrived, since they were a cooperative research unit, they undoubtedly would get some of the credit.

After the matter at Yuhua University was sorted, Lu Zhou didn’t stay in Hunan for long. He returned to Jinling the next day and began preparing the team for their Max Planck Institute exchange.

There were five formal researchers, including Li Changxia, and ten associate researchers. With these people plus the few controllable nuclear fusion professors that Academician Pan was able to find, the STAR Stellarator Research Institute finally formed a capable exchange team.

However, something unexpected happened.

Originally, Lu Zhou thought he didn’t have to rely on Academician Zhou’s Chinese ITER project team for help. They were still able to get their hands on an expert that came from the Science Island in Lu Yang.

However, that expert had resigned…

Lu Zhou met with this stellarator expert from Lu Yang in his Jinling Institute for Advanced Study office.

“Professor Sheng, it’s an honor to meet you,” Lu Zhou said. He stood up from his chair and walked over. With a smile, he reached out his right hand.

“I’m the one that is honored,” Sheng Xianfu said as he shook Lu Zhou’s hand and smiled. He said, “Not to mention, I’m technically not a professor anymore.”

He didn’t only quit his position at the Institute of Materials. Because he had to work long term in Jinling, and after considering various factors, he resigned from his professor position at the University of Science and Technology of China as well.

Lu Zhou: “If you don’t mind, the Institute for Advanced Study is willing to provide you with a researcher position.”

Sheng Xianfu didn’t decline. He nodded and said, “Thank you so much.”

Lu Zhou: “I noticed in your resume that you have been to the Wendelstein 7-X laboratory for an exchange?”

Sheng Xianfu nodded and answered truthfully, “The Chinese Academy of Sciences’ Institute of Materials organized a collaborative research project with the Max Planck Institute for Plasma Physics on plasma interaction experiments. I’ve also been to some of the ITER cooperation meetings.”

Lu Zhou smiled and said, “So I’m guessing you’re familiar with the Max Planck Institute?”

Sheng Xianfu smiled as he replied humbly, “Not quite familiar, I’ve only been there.”

Lu Zhou nodded and said, “Okay, since that’s the case, you will be the team leader for this exchange.”

The proposal caught Sheng Xianfu by surprise, and he froze for a second.

He didn’t expect to immediately take on such an important responsibility.

Sheng Xianfu hesitated for a moment before he said, “That… isn’t appropriate. I just got here, and I’m not familiar with the situation at the exchange team. Also, aren’t you coming with us?”

“Nothing inappropriate; the other people in the exchange team also just got here,” Lu Zhou said. He then paused for a second before he added, “As for me, I might not stay in Greifswald with you guys for the entire exchange as I still have some other matters to attend to.”

When Lu Zhou saw Professor Sheng’s name on the list that Academician Pan gave him, he had a good impression of Professor Sheng.

He was one of the top plasma physics experts in China and had some involvement in both tokamak and stellarator research. He also had experience leading exchange teams.

Lu Zhou paused for a second and put on a more serious face. He then looked at Sheng Xianfu and said sternly, “This matter is very important, so I hope you can take it seriously. Of course, if you refuse, I won’t force you. It’s just that in my opinion, you’re the most suitable candidate.”

Sheng Xianfu clenched his teeth and nodded. “I can try!”

Lu Zhou nodded with approval and said, “Then this matter will be handed to you.”

Sheng Xianfu asked, “When is the specific departure time?”

Lu Zhou answered calmly, “End of February.”

End of February?

This means there are only three days to prepare.

Sheng Xianfu thought about the imminent departure date and couldn’t help but feel the pressure on his shoulders.

However, even then, he didn’t have any complaints in his heart. Rather, he was looking forward to it.

Perhaps, Sheng Xianfu could really help progress the controllable nuclear fusion field…

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