Chapter 477: Too Early For Me

The accommodation problem was solved.

After New Year’s, the researchers that were hired began working, and the research plan was finally put on the agenda.

As for the coordination of new researchers, they had to quickly integrate themselves into their new roles and positions and arrange their own research group projects. Important equipment and instrument also had to be allocated. This all depended on Yang Xu’s management abilities.

As Lu Zhou walked in the corridor outside the principal’s office, he took out his phone and called Wang Peng, asking him to drive to the administrative building.

However, when he hung up, he suddenly had a weird expression on his face.

Speaking of which, he had been working for so long and even solved the staff accommodation problem. However, he still didn’t have a place to stay in Jinling; he was stuck in a hotel all day.

Lu Zhou couldn’t help but smile as he shook his head.

When I have time, I’ll go look at some houses.

…

Lu Zhou came downstairs and entered Wang Peng’s car. He was putting on his seat belt when he suddenly received another call.

When he saw that it was Xiao Tong who called, he answered the call and placed the phone next to his ear.

“Bro, where are you?”

Lu Zhou: “About to go back to the research institute, why?”

Xiao Tong looked around and began to beat around the bush. She said, “Are you going to the New Year’s Eve party?”

Lu Zhou: “What party?”

Xiao Tong blushed and said, “The party for the Annual Person Award Ceremony.”

When Lu Zhou heard about the party for the Annual Person Award Ceremony, he smiled as he began to casually brag to his sister.

“If everything goes well, your brother will have to present the awards.”

Xiao Tong was surprised. “Really?!”

Lu Zhou: “Yeah… Why?”

“Nothing, I’m hanging up, bye!”

Lu Zhou: …?

Xiao Tong didn’t even give Lu Zhou time to ask a question; she quickly hung up.

When Lu Zhou heard the beeping sound coming from his phone, he put his phone down.

He was at a loss as he looked at his phone screen. He didn’t know why this girl suddenly called.

What was she doing?

Wang Peng: “Little sister?”

Lu Zhou put away his phone and casually said, “Yeah.”

Wang Peng was holding the steering wheel, and he said in a wistful tone, “It’s so nice.”

Lu Zhou smiled and shook his head. “You won’t think it’s nice when you have one.”

Wang Peng had been Lu Zhou’s driver for so long that they were almost friends.

Plus they were around the same age and didn’t take things too seriously, so they often spoke casually to one another. They even occasionally bragged about some private things.

Of course, Lu Zhou didn’t ask about Wang Peng’s specific job scope because he didn’t have to. Wang Peng also didn’t ask about Lu Zhou’s research.

Wang Peng: “That might not be the case.”

Lu Zhou: “You’re an only child?”

Wang Peng sighed and said, “Since my family works for the government, I don’t think we can escape the one-child policy.”

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Lu Zhou nodded, showing his understanding.

But speaking of which, his father, who worked at the factory, also seemed to work for the state.

Lu Zhou didn’t remember how his father was able to save Xiao Tong; he only remembered that it was a cumbersome process.

Wang Peng: “When I marry, I plan on having two children. How about you?”

Lu Zhou gently coughed and said, “… For me, it’s still too early to talk about this kind of stuff.”

…

On the first Friday after New Year’s, the 2018 Jin Ling University’s Annual Person Awards was held at the grand auditorium in the new campus.

Lu Zhou happened to meet an acquaintance on his way to the auditorium.

“Student Yan?”

“Lu Zhou?” Yan Xinjue looked back and stopped walking. His eyes lit up as he asked, “What are you doing here?”

“Principal Xu invited me.” Lu Zhou walked forward and smiled. He then said, “Bro, what are you doing here?”

If he recalled correctly, when he graduated from Academician Lu, this student also graduated from his PhD.

After that, he got a fellowship ¹ at the CERN research center in Switzerland. Therefore, he went to Switzerland and started to work on synchrotron radiation sources and electron injectors in X-ray free-electron laser devices. His research went from being purely theoretical physics to being applied physics. He began to work on the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), and the Future Circular Collider (FCC).

After that, because the two didn’t have an overlapping area of research, plus they were quite busy, they stopped contacting each other.

Meeting each other at the campus of Jin Ling University made them feel extra cordial.

Yan Xinjue smiled and said, “I only returned to China a few days ago, just in time to attend the Annual Person Awards, so here I am. Oh yeah, I heard you plan on returning to China and developing here.”

Lu Zhou smiled and nodded.

“Yeah, I’ll return at the latest this year. Once my work in Princeton is over, I plan on resigning and returning to teach at Jin Ling University. What about you? Is your work at CERN going well?”

Yan Xinjue sighed and buried his chin into his scarf as he said, “There are too many nutty people there, so the pressure is huge. It’s like working under an alarm clock every day.”

Lu Zhou felt sympathetic toward his friend.

After all, theoretical physics was the temple of academia; it was normal for there to be nutty people…

Lu Zhou diverted the conversation into something lighter. He asked, “Are there any interesting discoveries at CERN?”

Yan Xinjue: “Nothing recently, and the laboratories there are on holiday. However, at the end of August, we successfully observed a pair of Higgs boson fading into a pair of bottom quarks, so that’s definitely an exciting discovery. According to the ATLAS and CMS detectors, the observation exceeded five sigma! Almost half of the nutty theoretical physicists went to Switzerland at the end of the year… I thought I could see you there, but you didn’t end up going.”

Lu Zhou awkwardly smiled and said, “I was in Stockholm at that time.”

Yan Xinjue patted his head when he remembered something.

“I almost forgot you won the Nobel Prize… Hm, maybe I should call you something else.”

Lu Zhou was so nutty that Yan Xinjue didn’t want to call him directly by his name.

Lu Zhou joked, “Sure, you can call me Professor Lu if you want.”

Yan Xinjue: “Never mind, forget about it.”

After arriving at the auditorium, Lu Zhou greeted Principal Xu, Academician Lu, and Old Tang. He was then escorted by a staff member to the guest seating area.

Soon after, the award ceremony opened with a youthful dance song.

When Lu Zhou looked at the dancers leaving the stage, he couldn’t help but think back to the previous times when he attended the award ceremony. He then clapped as he spoke emotionally.

“It’s been so many years, that song still sounds so youthful. I can’t believe the dance hasn’t changed yet.”

Yan Xinjue, who was sitting next to him, coughed and said, “… It hasn’t been that long; you were here in 2015.”

Emm…

I think he’s right?

He didn’t know if it was because of Shi Shang’s wedding, or because of the Fields Medal and Nobel Prize, or because of his own mentality changing, but time felt like it was passing by quickly…

Lu Zhou looked at the stage as he reminisced about his youthful years; he suddenly felt like that was a long, long time ago.