Chapter 575: Retire After Success

Lu Zhou just felt that it would be a waste to disband the STAR-2 demonstration reactor team. Therefore, he proposed to retain those talented people that had experience managing a large scientific research project. He would use the Helmholtz Association of German Research Centres model to open a system that connected companies and research institutes.

However, he didn’t expect that the government officials would let him manage this project himself.

Furthermore, the 2.7 billion yuan leftover research funding for the demonstration reactor was also left behind as a “start-up fund”.

Normally speaking, leftover scientific research funding should be returned to the investor.

With this money, Lu Zhou wouldn’t have to worry about financial matters, such as employees’ salaries, where the new R&D center, and other costs.

Two days after the commendation conference.

The people over at the Ministry of Science and Technology contacted Lu Zhou.

A man in his thirties wearing glasses personally came to visit him. The man looked like he was rather elegant and easy-going.

Lu Zhou learned that his name was Feng Shuqing, and he graduated from the Department of Life Science at Shuimu University. However, after he received his master’s degree, he didn’t look for work in his professional field. Rather, he took the national examination and entered the strategic planning department at the Ministry of Science and Technology.

He was quite a high-ranking official within the department.

According to the department, Secretary Feng was mainly responsible for two things. One was to complete the restructuring of the STAR-2 demonstration reactor project team by coordinating with the necessary departments. The other was to serve as the secretary for the soon-to-be newly formed Eastern Research Centers Association.

“The higher-ups greatly value your opinion, and they told us to cooperate with you. Our department leadership team had a meeting and decided to send me here to help you.” When Feng Shuqing noticed Lu Zhou’s look of surprise, he smiled and asked, “Is there a problem, Director Lu?”

Lu Zhou smiled and said, “No problem, I just think that you look very young.”

Feng Shuqing smiled gently and said, “Maybe the higher-ups think that we are similar in age, so there’s less of an age-gap in terms of communication.”

Lu Zhou nodded and said, “Thank you so much for helping me manage this restructuring. I might be a bit busy, so I might not be able to help much.”

Feng Shuqing said, “Don’t worry about it. The whole reason I’m here is to help you!”

Lu Zhou: “Okay, thanks… Oh yeah, one more thing.”

Feng Shuqing: “What?”

Lu Zhou smiled and said, “Just call me Professor Lu, I’m more used to it.”

Feng Shuqing paused for a second and smiled. He then said, “Since Professor Lu is insisting, then from now on, I shall call you that.”

…

After the Chinese New Year holiday ended, Lu Zhou’s parents made sure that Lu Zhou’s health was in good condition. After they repeatedly told him to take care of his body, they went back to Jiangling, while his sister went back to Jinling and began to apply to universities abroad.

As for Lu Zhou, because there were some matters he had to attend to in Beijing, he decided to stay here for a couple more days.

After he got out of the 301 Hospital, he had been staying in a luxury hotel near Yuanmingyuan Park. Even though he didn’t have a house in Beijing, every time he came here, he didn’t have to worry about finding a place to stay.

Three days after the commendation conference, Feng Shuqing went to Haizhou and began to work on restructuring the STAR-2 demonstration reactor team.

Lu Zhou’s business in Beijing was almost finished, so he bought a train ticket to Jinling.

He was feeling a bit guilty. He had been a Jin Ling University professor for more than a year now, but he hadn’t even interacted with the students at Jin Ling University yet. Now that the controllable fusion project was finally finished, he could finally spend some time on the things that interest him.

Dusk time, near the hotel man-made lake…

Chen Yushan was walking next to Lu Zhou when she asked, “Is your health better?”

Lu Zhou smiled and said, “I’m already out of the hospital, what do you think?”

Chen Yushan sighed and said, “I know you like to stay in the laboratory, but don’t overwork yourself.”

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Lu Zhou said, “Don’t worry about it. Now that the controllable fusion project is done, I won’t have to be that busy. Well, not for a while at least.”

Chen Yushan: “What do you plan on doing next?”

Lu Zhou thought and said, “Probably return to Jin Ling University and teach.”

Chen Yushan said, “You’re a chief designer now, do you still have time to teach at the university?”

Lu Zhou smiled and said, “I was a chief designer. Now that the controllable fusion energy project is finished, the rest of the work can be handed over to the professionals. There’s nothing else left for me to design per se.”

Even though he was somewhat involved with the Eastern Research Centers Association, Lu Zhou didn’t want to spend too much energy on anything outside of research. Right now, he was just paving the way for his future research work.

If it turned out that Feng Shuqing was competent, then Lu Zhou would just give him a general direction and let him handle the rest.

It was quite interesting actually.

Lu Zhou found out that the road he was walking on was oddly similar to someone from the other side of the Pacific Ocean.

After the Manhattan Project ended, Oppenheimer also returned to Princeton as a dean and was no longer engaged in atomic bomb research. However, unlike Lu Zhou, Oppenheimer had been driven away from research due to his inner guilt that was caused by the war. On the other hand, Lu Zhou simply wasn’t interested in a management role. Therefore, he chose to retire.

It took twenty years for Oppenheimer to receive political rehabilitation. Compared to him, Lu Zhou was receiving a much better treatment.

Whether it was being called the father of controllable fusion or the honor of the Ling Yun medal…

With these two honors on his shoulders, he could walk into any industry or field he wanted.

And that honor and prestige were something that money couldn’t buy.

Chen Yushan gently kicked a stone on the road and sighed. She looked at the man-made mountain near the lake and felt a little depressed.

“That’s so nice, you know what you want to do, and you know how to achieve your goals. Unlike me…”

Lu Zhou smiled and said, “Aren’t you the same? A University of Pennsylvania offer is no easy feat.”

Chen Yushan didn’t seem to be comforted.

“Well, is it harder than a Princeton offer? Mr. ‘Nearly became the dean of the Princeton math department’.”

Lu Zhou nearly choked on his spit. “When did I nearly become the dean of the mathematics department? I don’t remember anything like that.”

Chen Yushan: “Who cares, if you want to become the dean, you can.”

Lu Zhou: “Let’s not talk about me. I’m curious, what’s troubling you?”

“Oh… Actually, it’s not a trouble, it’s more of a self-entanglement dilemma kind of thing.” Chen Yushan twirled her hair with her fingers and hesitated for a bit. She said, “My father wants me to work in the government, but I don’t really like working here. I’m studying finance and an MBA, and I want to work at a multinational company with a hundred-billion market value. Wouldn’t it be weird to just sit around in some government office?”

What?

What do you mean just sit around?

That’s kind of diminishing what government officials do.

Chen Yushan smiled at Lu Zhou’s expression and said, “Whatever, thank you, Mr. Big Scientist, for spending so much time to listen to my non-existent problems… Well, since you’re in good condition, I’m gonna leave now.”

As Lu Zhou watched her walking away, he suddenly remembered something and called her.

“Oh yeah… Wait.”

Chen Yushan stopped walking and looked back at him. “What’s up?”

Lu Zhou thought for a bit and said, “Remember that question I asked you last year? If I recall correctly, you promised me something…”

Chen Yushan: “…”

Lu Zhou paused for a second before he said, “If you don’t have anything better to do, why don’t you come work for me?

“Even though it’s not a hundred-billion dollar company, it’s still a billion-dollar company.”