Scholar's Advanced Technological System

The banquet continued.

Because Lu Zhou didn’t stop eating, he was full pretty quickly.

Mr. Georgiev kept trying to talk to him, while Academician Kaufman was staring at him. After politely stating that he had to go to the bathroom, Lu Zhou left the banquet hall.

He finally had some peace and quiet.

Lu Zhou slowly walked to the bathroom and washed his face. After that, he walked to the Purple Mountain hotel balcony.

He had been to his hotel many times. The annual Star Sky Technology meeting was held here. Back in college, he was invited to a celebration party here as well. Therefore, he was quite familiar with the layout.

The balcony on the fifth floor directly faced the Purple Mountain. The scenery during the autumn sunset was breathtaking.

Unfortunately, it was already eight o’clock at night. There was nothing but the cold breeze.

Lu Zhou wanted to avoid the loud and noisy banquet hall, so he tried to kill some time here.

When he sat down on a bench, a hotel waiter nearby walked over with a menu.

“Sir, would you like to order anything?”

“A mocha, please.”

“Got it.” The waiter nodded and scribbled on his notepad. Suddenly, he heard someone speak behind him with a weird Chinese accent.

“I’ll have a glass of Tequila sunrise.”

With her pale blonde hair laying on her shoulders, a Russian girl in a dress walked up and sat next to Lu Zhou. She looked at the waiter and gently said, “Please don’t forget the ice.”

Even though it wasn’t winter season yet, the breeze on the balcony was quite chilly. Ordering an iced drink was unusual.

“Oh… okay.” The waiter looked at the beautiful blonde girl and said, “Won’t take long.”

After that, he put away the menu and left the balcony.

Lu Zhou looked at the strange lady sitting across from him. He guessed she was probably with the Russian visiting group. He was about to ask for her name but the lady spoke first.

“Looks like I’m not the only one sick of the banquet.”

Lu Zhou: “Who are you?”

“Victoria. My father is in the visiting group.” The blonde lady reached out her hand and said, “It’s nice to meet you.”

Even though Lu Zhou felt like she knew who he was, he still introduced himself.

“I’m Lu Zhou, a mathematics professor.”

Victoria seemed to be amused by Lu Zhou’s introduction. She twirled her finger around her hair and said, “Just a mathematics professor?”

Lu Zhou made a helpless gesture and said, “I also do a bit of physics… and chemistry.”

Victoria smirked and said, “You’re funny. I think you do a lot more than just physics and chemistry.”

“Really? I guess…” Lu Zhou looked at the waiter walking over and said, “Your cocktail is here.”

“Thanks.” Victoria lifted her cocktail glass and took a sip. She said, “My Chinese is not very good, I only started learning three months ago.”

Lu Zhou: “You’re pretty good for someone learning for only three months.”

Mastering Chinese wasn’t an easy feat for Russians, and being able to speak at this level within three months was insanely good.

Obviously, Victoria wasn’t just a pretty face.

While Lu Zhou was judging her, Victoria was doing the same. However, she didn’t make it as obvious. She spoke to Lu Zhou like Lu Zhou was her good friend.

“Am I being complimented by a genius?”

“Genius? Me?” Lu Zhou smiled and shook his head as he said, “I’m no genius, I just work a little harder than others.”

Also… I have the system.

But I wasn’t born with that, so I guess it’s not my own talent.

Victoria smiled and said, “You’re so humble. You’ve done more in one lifetime than most people can do in ten lifetimes. That’s not just because of a little hard work.”

Lu Zhou: “Maybe, but who knows what can happen in the future.”

Victoria smiled and said, “I studied economics at Moscow University and took some elective courses in functional analysis. We often hear our professors praise your mathematical abilities. That is very rare for Russians. We rarely praise others for their mathematics talents.”

Lu Zhou: “You know mathematics?”

“Just a little bit… Why, are you surprised?” Victoria said with a flirtatious smirk on her face.

Lu Zhou nodded and said, “I am, I didn’t expect to meet someone that speaks the same language as me here.”

“I’m happy to hear that. I’m also very curious about your research project… Or rather, I’m curious what kind of question is troubling a genius like you.” Victoria took a sip of her cocktail, leaving a print of red lipstick on the glass. She said, “Let’s talk about it.”

Are you sure?

You want to hear about my research project?

Lu Zhou was glad to speak to her. After all, there was still two hours before the banquet ended.

Lu Zhou looked at her “curious” eyes and smiled awkwardly.

“I’m happy to oblige.”

…

Mr. Georgiev obviously knew Academician Lu didn’t want to talk to him.

Most scholars had introverted personalities. Especially those in theoretical research fields. They generally didn’t like to talk with “shallow” people.

As a bureaucrat who used to be a diplomat, Georgiev was obviously aware of this. As for why he kept trying to talk to Lu Zhou…

How else could his daughter Victoria have a chance?

He swore he wasn’t trying to sell his daughter out.

From a father’s perspective, even though Professor Lu was a foreigner, he was definitely a qualified husband; a lot more qualified than those Russian alcoholics. His daughter had yet to find a suitable partner in university, so why wouldn’t he want these two to be a thing?

However…

Things often didn’t go as smoothly as planned.

He thought his plan was perfect, but he still underestimated Lu Zhou…

After the banquet ended, Victoria walked into the hotel room looking tired.

Georgiev looked at his tired daughter and asked, “How is it? Did you meet Lu Zhou?”

Victoria: “I did, and we drank on the balcony together.”

Georgiev looked happy, and he continued to ask, “What happened?”

“Riemann zeta function…”

What?

What the hell is this?

Georgiev frowned.

“Riemann… what?”

Victoria smiled weakly and said, “We talked about Riemann zeta function for three hours, but he was suddenly inspired, that he ditched me… At least he paid for my drink.”

She was exhausted at pretending to be interested in the conversation.

Why can’t Lu Zhou be interested in movies or music?

He is quite handsome, but I would die if I had to talk to him every day…

Georgiev: “…”

Victoria looked at her dad and asked, “Dad, am I ugly?”

Georgiev paused for a second and said, “No, darling, you’re as beautiful as your mother…”

“I’ve never had doubts about my looks before.”

Victoria began to doubt her life, and she began to stare at the ceiling.

Georgiev didn’t know how to comfort his daughter, so he sighed. “Maybe his standards are too high…”

Even though this was unfortunate, he couldn’t do anything about it.

It just wasn’t meant to be…