903 The Third Half

However, Lu Zhou went from Jiangling to Jiangcheng, then from Jiangcheng to Beijing. He had had a long trip and felt a little tired.

After he put down his luggage at the hotel, he didn’t have anything to do. After he took a bath, he began to quietly read his notebook, comparing it with Vera’s thesis from time to time.

It was time for dinner, and he called the hotel and ordered room service. After he finished eating, he read the conference documents, took a shower, then quickly went to bed.

Lu Zhou woke up early the next day and called Wang Peng and asked to go to Yuanmingyuan Park.

Lu Zhou was about to go to Yanjing University, but he changed his mind at the last second and walked toward Shuimu University instead.

The security guard looked at his ID and politely let him in.

Lu Zhou walked along the tree-lined paths of Shuimu University and enjoyed the scenery. He experienced the rich academic atmosphere as he walked toward the west gate.

While walking next to a lake, he happened to run into two of his acquaintances.

These two were pretty big names.

They were leaders in the Chinese physics and mathematics community.

These two were none other than Mr. Qiu, the founder of geometric analysis, as well as Mr. Yang.

Lu Zhou wanted to say hello, but he overheard the two people discussing something. Therefore, he followed them and tried to listen in on the conversation.

“Mr. Yang, I don’t agree with that. What do you mean a waste of money? How would you spend the money? In my opinion, this is the right place to spend money on.”

“Pfft, what do you mean by the right place? Did you ask everyone’s opinion?”

Mr. Yang suddenly noticed Lu Zhou walking nearby. He frowned and squinted at Lu Zhou.

“Academician Lu?”

Qiu Chengtong immediately turned his head around and saw Lu Zhou. He greeted him with a smile.

“Oh, Academician Lu! What a coincidence, what brings you here to Shuimu?”

Lu Zhou smiled and said, “I’m here for a conference, so I just came here for a visit.”

“The International Lunar Hadron Collider Conference?” Old Qiu’s eyes lit up as he smiled and said, “What a coincidence, I was just talking with Mr. Yang about this. He won’t admit he’s wrong, how about you be the judge?”

I be the judge?

Why?

Lu Zhou wasn’t sure what to do.

Mr. Yang Chen Ning glanced at Qiu Chengtong.

“What do you mean to admit I’m wrong? I’m just talking facts and logic, how am I wrong?”

“Our country is still in the primary stage, barely going into the intermediate stage. Now is not the time for blind optimism.”

Qiu Chengtong unhappily said, “Old Yang, I don’t agree with that. The times have changed now. US$20 billion is quite a big expense. But we don’t have to bear the entire cost of the project. Also, we’ll be able to attract thousands of outstanding international scientific researchers to work with us. We’ll be able to export our culture to the international academic community, and this is something money can’t buy!

“I recommend you to go to the conference. Don’t you want to see the day, where we can become the Switzerland of the physics world?”

“Oh, please, you’re a mathematician, why are you worrying about physicists,” Yang Chen Ning groaned and looked at Lu Zhou.

“Chief Designer Lu, what do you think?”

“Chief designer is just a role, and it sounds too serious. Please just call me Professor Lu.” Lu Zhou coughed and said, “As for my opinion… Mr. Qiu already said it, now is not the time to save money. After all, if you want to make money, you have to spend it first.”

Mr. Yang stared at Lu Zhou, then turned toward the lake. After a while, he spoke.

“I wrote an article more than a decade ago. I still remember the title—China Should Not Build a Hadron Collider. Even though it’s been more than a decade, my opinion hasn’t changed. However, the steering wheel is in your hands. I don’t have anything else to say.”

Lu Zhou wanted to say something, but Mr. Yang continued, “I don’t want to criticize your opinion. Finding the solution to the Yang-Mills equations, linking the strong interaction and electromagnetic force… all these prove that you’re at the top of the theoretical physics field. Unless someone else can reveal the mystery behind the gravitational force… Which I don’t think is possible within this century.”

Mr. Yang looked away from the lake and stared at Lu Zhou.

“I’m almost 100 years old. I’m not as wise as I once was. I was rejected by PRL a while ago, which made me realize that I’m really getting old. Maybe it’s not a bad thing.”

“It seems like you know what you’re doing.”

Mr. Yang nodded at the woman in her forties, who was standing next to him. With the woman supporting his fragile body, he slowly walked away.

“This old guy… ” Old Qiu shook his head and said, “Normally, he would argue with me for at least an hour or two.”

Even though the media constantly portrayed these two as being on opposite sides of the Hadron Collider construction, these two had a pretty good personal relationship. In fact, Old Qiu’s research on the Calabi–Yau manifold was a very important tool in mathematical physics. These two often communicated on academic matters.

That was one of the reasons the Qiu Chengtong mathematics research institute was built on the Shuimu University campus.

Lu Zhou: “Mr. Yang just cares about our nation’s future, and his concerns are not unreasonable.”

“Yeah, otherwise, I wouldn’t have debated with him for so long.” Qiu Chengtong nodded and smiled at Lu Zhou. “Speaking of which, US$20 billion is not a small number. Can you handle this much pressure?”

Lu Zhou smiled and spoke.

“Mr. Qiu, you’re mistaken.

“It’s only US$20 billion.

“It’s my third time managing a project of this size.”