936 Coincidence
A well-decorated cafe was sitting on the corner of a commercial street.
Judging from the decoration and the colored chalkboard at the entrance of the cafe, the owner was likely a hipster. There werenât a lot of people in the cafe.
Lu Zhou pushed open the glass door and walked in. He saw Chen Yushan sitting by the window waving at him.
Her appearance hadnât changed since Chinese New Year. She was wearing a beige coat, a white sweater, and knee-high black boots.
Chen Yushan wasnât the only person there.
Lu Zhou saw an unexpected acquaintance sitting next to her.
âLong time no see, Academician Lu.â The woman sitting next to Lu Zhou smiled and said, âThanks for taking care of my daughter.â
âMrs. Yang, youâre too kind.â Even though he was surprised to see Mrs. Yang here, Lu Zhou tried to act unfazed. He politely smiled and said, âAcademician sounds too formal, just call me Professor Lu.â
This woman was none other than Mrs. Yang Danqi, the mother of Lu Zhouâs former student.
Seven years ago, Lu Zhou was still worrying about his living expenses and tuition fees. This woman helped him a ton. They barely kept in touch after he went to study at Princeton and Han Mengqi graduated from high school.
He didnât expect to see her today.
Chen Yushan smirked and spoke.
âOkay okay, enough small talk, itâs not our first time having coffee together. What do you want to drink? I already ordered.â
Lu Zhou: âMocha, please.â
Chen Yushan raised her arm.
âWaiter, a mocha, please.â
When Lu Zhou didnât have access to instant coffee, a cup of mocha was his second choice.
The creamy chocolate masked the bitterness of the coffee, making it more palatable for him.
Lu Zhou took a sip of his mocha.
Chen Yushan looked at Lu Zhou curiously and finally asked, âWhy are you in Shanghai?â
âI have some stuff to do at the ILHCRC. I didnât want to come, but they made me.â Lu Zhou looked at Chen Yushan and said, âWhat about you? I didnât know you were in Shanghai.â
Chen Yushan pouted and said, âWow, I knew you never cared about me. You donât even look at my posts on WeChat.â
Lu Zhou: â...â
What do you mean?
Do you know how busy I am, who has the time to look at your posts...
Seeing Lu Zhou speechless, Chen Yushan sighed and said, âOkay, whatever, remember that plan I told you about last time?â
Lu Zhou nodded and said, âYeah... Is this related to that?â
âSort of,â Chen Yushan said. Because her auntie was here, she didnât elaborate on the details. She briefly said, âBasically, the state wants to invest capital in high-tech industries. Thereâs a high-tech innovation and investment summit happening in Shanghai. Itâs quite big, and a lot of Chinese and Asian companies are attending.
âI received an invitation from GAZEâGeneral Association of Zhejiang Entrepreneursâso I came here as a representative of Star Sky Technology.â
High-tech innovation and investment summit?
Sounds interesting, I wonder what itâs about.
Lu Zhou looked at Mrs. Yang and spoke.
âMrs. Yang, are you going as well?â
Yang Danqi nodded and said, âIâm an old member of GAZE, so I received an invitation as well. Even though my business has little to do with technology, Iâm taking this as an opportunity to catch up with Chen Yushan.â
Chen Yushan smiled and said, âWhat do you think? Do you want to come check it out? Itâs quite interesting.â
âIâm good.â Lu Zhou smiled and said, âI donât even have an invite, so itâs not a good look if I do.â
Yang Danqi smiled and said, âProfessor Lu, you must be kidding, you donât need an invitation.â
Chen Yushan nodded and said, âYeah, yeah, if you want to go, I can get you an invitation right now.â
Lu Zhou looked at Chen Yushan and didnât know how to respond, so he shrugged and spoke.
âIf Iâm available... I can go.â
âSo, itâs settled then.â Chen Yushan smiled and said, âWhich hotel are you staying at? Iâll go find you, weâll go together!â
Mrs. Yang elbowed Chen Yushan and said, âHey, youâre just going to ditch your auntie like that?â
Chen Yushan awkwardly said, âWe can go together, I didnât say Iâm ditching you. Weâll go pick up Lu Zhou together...â
Mrs. Yang smiled and shook her head.
âOkay, okay, you millennials can do your thing, I wonât third wheel you two. Iâll just go catch up with some of my old friends.â
âAuntie, youâre the best!â
âOkay, okay, fine.â
Chen Yushan was grabbing Mrs. Yangâs arm while giggling. Judging from Mrs. Yangâs smile, she seemed quite fond of Chen Yushan.
Lu Zhou didnât know what to say.
This chick...
I didnât say I was going to go...
What if Iâm busy that day?
But...
This high tech summit does sound interesting.
Lu Zhou had been to many academic conferences, and he wondered what the capital investment conferences were like.
If he didnât have to do anything himself, he was quite interested in going and watching on the sidelines.
Lu Zhou made up his mind.
If Iâm not busy, Iâll try to go...
While Chen Yushan was excitedly telling Lu Zhou about what this summit was about, a silver plane all the way across the Pacific Ocean landed at the airport in New York.
Xiao Tong got off the plane with her suitcase and headed toward the place her brother once worked and studied at...