Chapter 1018 - Dirty Trading

1018 Dirty Trading

CTV had obtained the rights to broadcast the conference.

Now that Academician Lu won another prize at ICM, the CTV obviously wouldn’t miss this excellent promotional opportunity.

Even though it wasn’t a Fields Medal, it was still an ICM award, the highest level of honor, recognized by the entire mathematics community.

Why wouldn’t they share this exciting moment with the country?

The reporter nearly wrote that the Carl Friedrich Gauss Prize was more impressive than the Fields Medal.

But strictly speaking, Carl Friedrich Gauss achieved ten times more than John Charles Fields, not to mention that the Carl Friedrich Gauss Prize was the first award to be given.

So if you put it that way...

Maybe one could argue that the Carl Friedrich Gauss prize was more impressive?

However, even though the CTV tried to promote this award ceremony, it didn’t receive a huge response.

There was only one reason.

It was because the Chinese people were bored of seeing Academician Lu win awards.

Clearly, someone at CTV didn’t realize this.

In other words, they overestimated the impact of this award.

Li Mo was eating lunch with his family when the TV happened to show a video of Professor Lu winning the award. Li Mo thought that this would be a good opportunity to tell his parents the secret he had been hiding for the past two months.

When father Li Zhong heard that his son wasn’t going to Yan University, he couldn’t believe his ears. He had to confirm with his son that his son wasn’t joking around.

A brief moment of silence went by.

After that, he slammed his fist on the table and spoke.

“You little b*stard! Who the f*ck let you apply to Jinling, didn’t you tell me you’re going to Yan University?!”

Li Mo dropped his chopsticks and jumped out of his chair.

“Dad, listen to me, listen to me!”

“Listen my as*! I’m going to give you a beating so bad you’ll want to crawl back into your mother’s belly!”

Li Mo said, “No, please.”

“Sh*t up!”

A month ago, Li Zhong was ecstatic when he heard that his son got full marks in the mathematics olympiad. People that didn’t know him thought he had won the lottery.

In his opinion, winning the gold medal meant a guaranteed entry into Yan University!

In fact, that was what his son told him.

But now...

He heard that his son wasn’t going to Yan University, nor Shuimu, but Jin University!

His blood began to boil.

“Professor Lu is at Jin University!”

“Who cares about Professor Lu? Is mathematics going to pay the bills? You’re going to marry mathematics for the rest of your life?!”

“Why can’t I?”

“You little sh*t, let me go grab my belt!”

“No, Dad, please don’t, you could ruin a future mathematician!”

“Don’t give me that! Stand still!”

The news broadcast continued to play on TV.

Lu Zhou received the medal from Shigefumi Mori and sat back down. Soon after was the Shiing-Shen Chern Mathematics Award, the Leelavati Prize, and finally the Fields Medal.

Even though these awards had nothing to do with Lu Zhou or China, CTV still captured some shots of the winners out of respect.

When Li Mo saw the lady on stage, his eyes lit up as he spoke.

“Dad, look, that Vera Pulyuy girl, she’s Lu Zhou’s student from Princeton!”

That seemed to do the trick.

His dad curiously looked back at the TV.

“Student?”

Li Zhong stared at the girl on TV and said, “She’s quite pleasant to the eyes... Doesn’t look like a mathematician to me.”

Li Mo sighed in relief and said, “That’s not the important part, this Fields Medalist was taught by Professor Lu!”

Li Zhong said, “So what?”

Li Mo: “Professor Lu is going to be my teacher!”

Li Zhong snorted and spoke.

“Okay, keep bragging, kid, he’s an academician, he barely even gives lectures, you think he has time to teach you?”

Li Mo said, “Dad! I’m being serious, I have his email, I can show it to you.”

Li Zhong realized that his son didn’t seem to be joking. He frowned and put down his belt.

“You sure Academician Lu is going to personally teach you?”

Li Mo: “It doesn’t matter if he personally teaches me, it’s not like I need help every day. He’ll just guide me in the right direction, I can teach myself.”

“I guess being a student of Academician Lu is pretty good.” Li Zhong nodded and said, “He can probably help you get a job.”

Li Mo said, “Jesus, Dad, why do you only care about getting a job? Can’t you think about my dreams? What’s the point of life without dreams?”

Li Zhong said, “What kind of dreams do you have?”

Li Mo smiled and stared at the TV.

“Who cares about an IMO medal...

“I want a bigger medal!”

...

After the list of Fields Medal winners was announced, the Mathoverflow forum was filled with discussion posts.

Everyone knew who was going to win the Carl Friedrich Gauss Prize, but the new female Fields Medalist shocked everyone.

The second female Fields Medalist!

Only 26 years old!

Combined with her physical beauty, Vera completely overshadowed the other three winners.

[Jesus! 26 years old! Is she just cutting the line?]

[Why would the committee do this, I think this is unfair for scholars that have been waiting for more than a decade.]

[There is no doubt that proving the Collatz conjecture is worthy of this, and her main work is perfecting Professor Lu’s Group Structure Method. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with giving her this award.]

[That’s what I think, but she is too young... and she’s a female.]

[What’s wrong with being a female, you pig?]

[I’m just saying, maybe she did some favors to get where she is...]

Lu Zhou: “...”

These idiots...

What kind of thinking is this?

He felt like there were more and more Chinese scholars joining the MathOverflow forum, it was becoming more and more similar to Weibo.

But honestly, even Lu Zhou himself didn’t expect Vera to win the prize.

More precisely, he didn’t expect her to win it this year.

After all, 26 years old was very young.

Also, her academic achievements were barely on the cutoff for a Fields Medal. Unlike Lu Zhou’s achievements, she didn’t produce any revolutionary result that would immediately warrant a Fields Medal.

After the award ceremony, the most famous opera and ballet group from St. Petersburg began their performance.

Even though Lu Zhou was sitting near Vera, they never had a chance to speak.

After the talent show was over, he saw that Vera was gone.

His phone vibrated.

He took out his phone and saw that Xiao Ai had sent him a message.

[Master, do you want me to find her room number?]

Lu Zhou: “No, thanks.”

That sounds like something a stalker would do.

Xiao Ai: [Are you sure? It seems like you want to talk to her. ( ́◔‸◔’)]

Lu Zhou: “... No, it’s fine.”

Xiao Ai: [Why? ・ω・]

“I don’t have anything to say...”

Lu Zhou sighed and scratched his head as he said, “Sometimes, I don’t know what to do.”