Chapter 205: Spending Money

Research fund was an interesting topic. If there was a leftover, not only would no one praise you, they would criticize you.

What do I do?

It would be easy if he was in engineering as he could just buy new equipment and materials.

He could even use it for the next project. A factory produced a piece of new equipment? No problem, he could buy it and throw it in the warehouse.

It was good to spend research grants as it was a way of showing a person’s ability to maximize resource gains.

However, it was a bit difficult for quantitative subjects.

Especially mathematics where the biggest expense was probably traveling expenses. He accidentally applied for too much money, and now it was a pain in the ass to spend it.

Lu Zhou did not think too much at that time. The government granted the $1.6 million yuan, so he agreed. He had not expected to complete this project within a year.

According to the expenditure process of the initiative, the money would go to the school first. Then, the school would apply for a bank account for him to store the money in. When he needed the money, he would send the school an invoice.

The government already sent the money and if he did not use it all, the audit would ask, “Why did you apply for that much?”

Lu Zhou did not know how to deal with this huge research fund balance.

Suddenly, he thought of one person.

Professor Li Rongen seemed to have some experience in this area.

After dinner, Lu Zhou went back to his dorm.

As soon as he entered, three pairs of eyes looked at him.

Lu Zhou was a little embarrassed as he coughed and said, “Why are you looking at me? Go and do your own thing.”

Huang Guangming raised his hand, “Zhou, can I touch your medal?”

Lu Zhou said, “Go ahead, it’s in my suitcase. Do whatever you want to it.”

Huang Guangming quickly got up and walked to the suitcase.

Shi Shang walked over and patted Lu Zhou on the shoulder as he said with a voice full of emotion, “Not bad Zhou, another award… Also, when do you graduate? Let’s go drinking!”

Liu Rui nodded in agreement.

Hurry and leave!

It’s so hard having you around.

Lu Zhou smiled and said, “… I’m going to graduate next semester. But after going to the states in December, I probably won’t come back. So, around the end of November?”

Liu Rui asked, “Going to America? Another academic report?”

Lu Zhou shook his head, “No, not a report this time. I’m going there to get an award.”

Huang Guangming was taking photos of the Shiing-Shen Chern Mathematics Award when he asked, “What award is it this time?”

Lu Zhou said, “The Cole Prize in Number Theory.”

Liu Rui froze when he heard this.

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Huang Guangming and Shi Shang looked dumbfounded as they obviously did not know about this prize.

After all, they were in applied mathematics, not pure mathematics. Most people would not know of the Cole Prize.

Shi Shang did not want to sound oblivious, so he curiously asked Liu Rui, “This award… How significant is it in China? Do people respect it here?”

“Don’t know,” said Liu Rui as he shook his head. He then said, “I don’t think any Chinese person has won it before.”

Shi Shang: “…”

Huang Guangming: “…”

What…

Why aren’t you guys talking?

…

The next morning, Lu Zhou woke up early as usual. However, he was a little tired, so he laid in bed for a while.

Then, he accidentally slept till noon.

He got up and went to eat breakfast at the cafeteria. He then walked straight to the carbon nanomaterial laboratory located in the corner of the campus. He found Professor Li Rongen who was doing an electrode material experiment and asked him about the research fund issue.

“How to deal with leftover research funding?” said Professor Li Rongen when he heard his question. He then said, “How much do you have left?”

Lu Zhou smiled and said, “Around $1.6 million yuan…”

The University of Jin Ling waived the management of the account and placed all of the money into Lu Zhou’s personal account.

When Professor Li Rongen heard this number, he nearly choked on his own saliva.

“F*ck! So you didn’t use any at all? You’re too frugal.”

He looked at Lu Zhou in surprise.

Lu Zhou coughed and said, “The main thing is that there’s nothing to spend it on.”

The only expense he had was the submission fee for the Annual Mathematics. His Switzerland expenses were paid by Professor Lu, and he did not have an opportunity to spend money in China.

“Let me think… Having so much left, they might criticize you,” said Professor Li Rongen as he rubbed his chin. He then said, “Then… How about you get yourself a new printer or computer? Why did you leave this thing until now! What were you doing two months ago?”

Lu Zhou immediately asked, “Could I get a more expensive computer?”

Professor Li Rongen smiled and said, “Computers are fine since it counts as equipment. It’s not like you’re buying a house or a car. Buy the most expensive computer you want!”

Professor Li did not know how expensive computers could be.

He thought it would cost five figures at most.

His equipment all cost 7 figures, so a computer was nothing to him.

Lu Zhou then asked, “Can I pay for some of it? For example, buy a computer with the research fund as well as some of my own money.”

“Using your own money for the computer?” asked Professor Li Rongen. He then asked, “How much is your computer?”

“Not too expensive,” said Lu Zhou. With a smile, he said, “Around 2 million.”

Professor Li Rongen: “…”