Chapter 511: They Are the Treasure of Civilization

Translator: Henyee Translations  Editor: Henyee Translations

By the time Lu Zhou returned home, the sky was already dark.

He returned to his long-separated house. The moment he opened his door, the dust coming onto his face made him sneeze.

“I knew I should have asked a housekeeping company to clean it regularly.” Lu Zhou waved his hand around his nose and looked at the dusty doorway.

Maybe I should sleep at a hotel for tonight?

Lu Zhou thought about it for a bit and decided not to.

With the time it would take for him to get to the hotel, he would have been able to clean his bedroom.

Holding a broom and rag in his hand, he spent around an hour cleaning his bedroom and study room.

Lu Zhou leaned the broom against the wall and looked at his newly-cleaned study room. He wiped the sweat off his forehead and had a satisfied smile on his face.

“Next, there’s only one thing to do.”

He planned to finish his work for today before sleeping.

Fortunately, there was only one thing left to do.

Lu Zhou sat in front of his familiar desk and spent around half an hour writing his resignation letter.

After he looked at the completely dark sky outside his window, he put his two resignation letters into his drawer and walked toward his bedroom.

…

A special ceremony was held at the No.1 lecture hall in the Princeton Institute for Advanced Study.

After approving Lu Zhou’s resignation, Dean Goddard awarded him the title of an honorary researcher.

This title was similar to the honorary professor title at the university. It was mainly given to scholars who had made significant contributions to the research institute but are unable to continue to work here for a variety of reasons.

“You are one of the most outstanding scholars throughout the history of the Princeton Institute for Advanced Study. As your colleague, your research results gave me a lasting impression.

“Even though it’s a pity I can no longer work with you, I still hope that no matter where you are, you can continue down the road of academia.”

Lu Zhou nodded and said, “I will.”

A round of applause was heard in the lecture hall.

Lu Zhou received the certificate that symbolized the honorary researcher title from Dean Goddard.

Before this, he already had three honorary professor titles. One from Principle Eisgruber, one from Columbia University, and one from Jin Ling University.

Lu Zhou didn’t deliberately collect these honorary titles. However, he was still curious whether one day, the history textbooks would dedicate an entire page for his academic titles.

After the ceremony ended, Lu Zhou planned on spending the rest of his remaining time wandering around the Princeton campus. Professor Fefferman, who previously worked on the Navier–Stokes equations with him, suddenly called out his name.

He took out a fountain pen from his pocket and said in a joking manner, “Even though Princeton doesn’t have this tradition, I still want to give you something. I got this fountain pen at the International Congress of Mathematicians in Helsinki. This is my favorite one, and I’m handing it to you.”

Because of the movie, A Beautiful Mind, which was directed by Ron Howard, Princeton became famous for a while. And the most talked-about quirk was probably Princeton’s tradition of giving fountain pens as a way of paying tribute.

However, according to author Nasar’s interview, the gift of the fountain pen was only an exaggeration from the movie director. There wasn’t a tradition like that in Princeton. But after the film was aired, this custom was unexpectedly welcomed by Princeton students and teachers.

After all, for these professors, all they had in their drawers were fountain pens collected at academic conferences.

As for the International Congress of Mathematicians in Helsinki that Professor Fefferman was talking about, that was the year he won the Fields Medal.

“Thank you.” Lu Zhou solemnly accepted this meaningful fountain pen and smiled as he jokingly said, “You just gave me such a valuable gift, I’d be embarrassed if I don’t give you something.”

Professor Fefferman smiled and said, “You definitely should give me something. Gifts should be exchanged, I think that’s a saying in Chinese.”

Lu Zhou guessed that Fefferman probably meant gifts should be reciprocated.

Lu Zhou smiled and took out a fountain pen in his pocket and handed it to him.

Fefferman took the fountain pen and looked at Lu Zhou with a surprised expression.

“I didn’t expect you to be prepared.”

“I just have it on me.” Lu Zhou paused for a second and said, “By the way, I got this from the International Congress of Mathematicians in Rio de Janeiro.”

“Oh, really? I have to take good care of it then.” Fefferman smiled and said, “Oh yeah, speaking of which, do you still have your manuscripts?”

Lu Zhou: “I have them, why?”

Fefferman: “If you don’t plan on taking them with you, I suggest you donate it to Firestone Library. Even though that old librarian seems to be a little crazy sometimes, he’s very good at preserving paper documents.”

When Lu Zhou heard this suggestion, he paused for a second.

Donating my manuscripts to the library?

He hadn’t thought about this issue before.

Originally, his plan was to give them to his students as a token of remembrance. However, now that he thought about it carefully, he decided that professionals would take better care of them.

Maybe one day, he’d want to come back and look at them.

After all, those pages were the product of his blood, sweat, and tears.

Lu Zhou was a bit uncertain as he asked, “Will Firestone Library collect those pieces of paper?”

Fefferman smiled and said, “Of course! It’s not just Firestone Library, I’m sure any museum in the world will be happy to take over those documents.”

…

After Lu Zhou left the Institute for Advanced Study, he headed straight to Firestone Library.

When he arrived there, the old man was in his pajamas, and he was taking a nap in his chair.

Even though Princeton was a place full of freaks, it was still rare to see someone wearing pajamas in a library.

Lu Zhou still remembered the last time when he came here to borrow Lyman Spitzer’s manuscripts, this old man gave him a lot of trouble.

However, even though the old man had a lot of weird traits, there was no doubt about his love for books.

Perhaps his weird personality was the reason why he did such a good job at preserving these historical documents.

When the old man saw Lu Zhou at the front door, he snorted and made a weird laugh.

“You’re here?”

The old man’s uncanniness could scare people that were coming to borrow books. Lu Zhou sighed and said, “It’s been so many years, do you not plan on changing your style? Not to mention your eerie smile.”

“What’s the matter, who cares what an old a*s man wears?” The old man smiled and reached for his crutches. He stumbled while standing up. “Not to mention Princeton is full of geeks and freaks, so I’m one of the normal ones.”

No, you’re probably one of the least normal ones.

Lu Zhou silently complained in his mind.

“When do you plan on retiring?”

The old man smiled. “Retiring? It’ll be the day they put me in a coffin.”

Lu Zhou heard this and looked at him in surprise.

“I thought someone your age would avoid the word coffin.”

“Why should I avoid it? Will I avoid death by avoiding the word? We all grow old, but our wisdom and knowledge will be left for future generations.” The old man looked at Lu Zhou with turbid eyes as he smiled and said, “Alright, tell me, are you here to borrow books or are you here for something else?”

Lu Zhou: “I plan on returning to China.”

The old man nonchalantly said “Oh” without any other reaction.

After all, he was only responsible for this library. As for the staff changes in the Princeton Institute for Advanced Study and Princeton University, that wasn’t within his scope of concern.

Lu Zhou thought about what he was going to say and said, “When I was cleaning the house, I found a bunch of manuscripts. Some are related to Goldbach’s conjecture, some about the Navier–Stokes equations, and they might take a while to organize them… What I’m trying to say is, are you interested in keeping them?”

When the old man heard Lu Zhou was planning on donating the manuscripts to Firestone Library, he finally looked interested.

“Of course, this is a treasure of civilization. Give them to me, I’ll take good care of them.”

Lu Zhou smiled and said, “The future generations will judge whether or not it is a treasure. I just think it’s a hassle bringing all of them back, and they probably won’t fit in my suitcases. Also, if I come back one day, I hope they will remain in the same condition.”

The old man smirked and said, “Don’t worry about that. Just like how you’re an expert in mathematics, I’m an expert in document preservation.”

“Really? I’m relieved.” Lu Zhou paused for a second and said, “Oh yeah, by the way, if I borrow my own manuscripts, do I still have to swear to the Bible?”

However, the old man didn’t find this humorous at all.

He replied seriously, “What foolish things are you talking about? This is the treasure of humanity. The moment you completed them, they no longer belong to you.”

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