Wedding

Shen Qi entered the bedroom.

Ou Ye sat quietly in her room, dressed in a pure white wedding gown, her smile ambiguous, her lips red and teeth white.

"My wife has become more beautiful." Shen Qi's heart skipped a beat. He had known Ou Ye so many years, and today was the most beautiful day of her life.

Ou Ye rubbed her lower back. "I've been sitting since four in the morning, and my back is sore."

"Wife, let's go." Shen Qi carried Ou Ye on his back, left the bedroom, and went downstairs.

The convoy downstairs picked up the bride and groom; there were ten Bentley of the same color and model.

When a fleet of vehicles is organized on a large scale and with standardized equipment, it exudes a powerful presence.

Neighbors gathered around, asking, "Which rich family is getting married?"

"Isn't this Academician Shen?"

"An academician's wedding, how grand!"

Shen Qi's wedding procession sped along, heading towards the outskirts of Beijing.

The wedding venue was a resort hotel on the outskirts of Beijing. The venue was large enough that the Shen and Ou families booked the entire place for their celebration.

Shen Qi and Ou Ye stood at the entrance of the banquet hall to greet the guests.

The wedding was scheduled to begin at 12 noon, and after 10:30, the invited guests began to arrive to offer their congratulations.

The first group to arrive was from Yenching University. Shen Qi and Ou Ye are both employees of Yenching University, and Yenching University had the most guests.

"It's good for both parents to work; it's a stable job," Principal Lu said sincerely, wishing Shen Qi wife a happy marriage. He took out a red envelope and gave it to Shen Qi, saying, "Congratulations! Congratulations!"

"Thank you, Principal Lu." Shen Qi took the red envelope, folded a corner over it, and then returned it to Principal Lu.

Having traveled all over the country for so many years, Principal Lu knew that this was a custom from Shen Qi's hometown.

Folding a corner of the red envelope signifies that the gift has been accepted; the money inside is then returned to the person who offered the congratulations.

What goes around comes around. We're not asking for money, just goodwill. It's about reciprocity, and that's how friendship lasts.

Principal Lu didn't dwell on these small details; the sentiment was enough.

Shen Qi and Ou Ye followed the same procedure with the subsequent red envelopes, folding a corner over each one and returning it to the well-wishers as a way of thanking them for attending their wedding.

Next up was the Morning Star Mathematics Center contingent, led by Chairman Kuang.

Shen Qi and Ou Ye both have ties to the Morning Star Mathematics Center. Shen Qi was once a senior consultant at the center, earning a high salary, and co-founded the Shen-Lu-Wu system with Director Wu of the center.

Ou Ye won the Morning Star Mathematics Award last year, her first Math Prize.

Chairman Kuang gave him a red envelope, Shen Qi folded a corner of it and returned it to him, saying thank you.

Hong Kong boss Chairman Kuang was familiar with this custom. He smiled, took back the red envelope, said "There's always next time," and then entered the banquet hall.

After the guests from the Chinese Academy of Sciences arrived, Shen Qi and Ou Ye's relatives and friends, wedding planners, and hotel staff were all surprised and excited.

More than twenty academicians came and went, but the hotel owner was not qualified to receive them. The Capital Science and Technology Commission sent personnel to the wedding site to provide guidance.

Ou Ye's bridesmaid was stunned. "These guests have such great influence!"

"It's a rare sight to see academicians sitting at two tables." Yu Lei is an insider and knows most of the academicians.

Almost all the guests from the scientific research field were invited by Shen Qi. Ou Ye's social relationships were extremely simple; her personal circle of friends was included within Shen Qi's circle of friends.

Most of the guests invited by Ou Ye's family were her parents' friends, from all walks of life except for those in academia.

Ou Ye only invited one close friend, who was her bridesmaid.

This bridesmaid was Ou Ye 'Ou Ye junior high school classmate, and perhaps her only close friend.

With the arrival of the international friends' contingent and Yu Lei's explanation, the bridesmaids dared not speak.

Two Fields Medal winners, Italy mathematician Faltings and Israeli mathematician Lyndon Strauss, attended the banquet with their families.

"Qi, Ou, I wish you happiness!"

Faltings, Lyndon Strauss, Shen Qi, and Ou Ye warmly embraced each other.

Ou Ye was moved to tears. Lyndon Strauss was her Doctoral Supervisor, and he had flown all the way from the United States to attend the wedding. This was such a great favor.

Three more distinguished guests have arrived: Professor Cui, Chairman Zhu, Witten.

Two of them are Nobel Prize in Physics, and one is Fields Medal winner.

Mr. Witten is really kind; he came all the way from the United States on the same flight as Lyndon Strauss.

Although Witten is Fields Medal winner, he is very familiar with friends in the Physics Community.

Professor Cui and Chairman Zhu are both prominent figures in the American Physics Community. Witten, along with the two Nobel laureates, came to congratulate Shen Qi and his wife.

Among the guests were three Fields Medal laureates and two Chinese Nobel laureates; the scale and prestige of the event were enormous.

This wasn't Witten's first visit to China. On his previous visits, he was received by leaders, and most recently, Witten was received by members of the leadership team in charge of science, education, and culture.

The two Chinese Nobel laureates had met with top national leaders several times, and the Beijing Municipal Science and Technology Commission was not qualified to receive them.

The Beijing Municipal Commission of Science and Technology immediately reported the situation on site to its higher authorities.

Dean Bai of the Chinese Academy of Sciences said, "What are you reporting to the Science and Technology Commission? This is Shen Qi's private wedding. Is it necessary to make a big deal out of it and alarm the state?"

Dean Bai was a guest, and he volunteered to work as a staff member to help Shen Qi receive the Fields Medal and Nobel Prize winners.

The welcoming activities are proceeding in a tense but orderly manner.

There were so many guests that the banquet hall was completely full, both the first and second floors.

The seating arrangement on the first floor was for academicians, international friends, university leaders at the dean level or above, relatives of the Shen and Ou families, and the group of friends with whom Shen Qi and Ou Ye were closest.

Other guests sat on the second floor and watched the wedding live on a large screen.

Shen Qi and Ou Ye's classmates from the undergraduate Mathematics Department were all on the first floor. The young men were dumbfounded. "Shen the Boss and Ou Ye's wedding is just too high-class!"

These young men studying mathematics were surrounded by big names in the scientific community. They dared not make a sound, quietly eating sunflower seeds and wedding candy, observing secretly, and taking pictures with their phones.

Zhou Yu'an, after all, was a PhD graduate from Princeton University and had seen the world. He went to Faltings's side and hugged his mentor. "Long time no see, congratulations on winning the Fields Medal."

"I will come to your wedding." Faltings actually quite admired Zhou Yu'an as a student.

The wedding started promptly at 12 o'clock.

The lights dimmed abruptly, and the wedding march began to play.

The bride Ou Ye, entered the venue arm in arm with her Old Ou, and gracefully walked onto the stage.

"Wow, what a beautiful bride!" the guests exclaimed.

Ou Ye remained relatively calm with a smile, but Old Ou was starting to lose his composure.

At this moment, Shen Qi entered the room, and the spirited groom waved frequently to thank the guests for their presence.

Principal Lu, who was acting as the wedding emcee, said, "Now, please welcome the bride's father, Mr. Ou, to say a few words."

This was the most glorious moment of Old Ou's life. The tough old father's voice choked with emotion. "Thank you all, leaders and friends, for attending the wedding of my daughter Ou Ye and my son-in-law Shen Qi. I won't say more. Please enjoy your meal and drinks. Thank you!"

Old Ou handed Ou Ye's arm to Shen Qi, wiped away his tears, and stepped off the stage.

Originally, there were thousands of words to say, and the script was written in more than 6,000 words, a whole chapter. But Old Ou was so nervous that he forgot to take out the manuscript.

Shen Qi took the microphone. "Thank you to my parents, my parents-in-law, and all our relatives and friends. Your presence makes our wedding exceptionally meaningful."

Turning around, Shen Qi faced Ou Ye: "I especially want to thank my wife. She's been with me all this way, enduring a lot of hardship and suffering. Wife, I love you."

The bride should smile beautifully. Ou Ye didn't want to cry, but she still cried, "Husband, I love you too."

Instead of the usual rituals of pouring champagne and exchanging rings, Shen Qi and Ou Ye used simple and straightforward language to entrust their lives to each other.

The guests applauded, offered their blessings, and some even shed tears.

Shen Qi and Ou Ye disliked those cliché wedding procedures, so they didn't hire a wedding emcee. The president of Yanda University even gave a few lines as the emcee.

However, the procedure of toasting at each table cannot be skipped. People have come from all over the country, Europe and America to attend the banquet, so the bride and groom must toast them.

Ou Ye doesn't drink alcohol at all; she's in poor health and drinks tea instead, which everyone understands.

Shen Qi is a straightforward person; he drinks real alcohol.

They were having so much fun drinking that the best man and bridesmaids who were drinking for Shen Qi got so drunk they forgot their own names.

Yu Lei hugged and kissed the bridesmaid, who was also quite drunk. She and the handsome Associate Professor from Tsinghua University kissed each other.

Then Yu Lei and Ou Ye's junior high school classmates were carried away, and Zhou Yu'an replaced Shen Qi to drink.

Shen Qi also drank some wine. He was happy because the big shots were all giving him face. What does a person want in this life? Isn't it just to have a lively and respectable time?

After toasting everyone upstairs and downstairs, the thoroughly drunk Shen Qi was carried away.

Shen Ou's wedding concluded successfully.

After the wedding, the next usual step is the honeymoon.

Before his honeymoon, Shen Qi Faltings a meeting with three Fields Medal winners Lyndon Strauss: Witten...

Including Shen Qi, there are a total of four winners of the Fields Medal.

After Shen Qi's wedding, he quickly got back to work.

It's not easy for the three Fields Medal winners to come to China; they'll stay until the meeting is over.

The Princeton Mathematics Department's "coffee time" took place at Yenching University, where Shen Qi hosted an academic seminar at the center.

All researchers from the center attended the meeting and listened to the valuable experience of the Fields Medal laureates.

"Elon, you are a master of number theory. I have always believed that number theory is an indispensable part of the Mathematical Grand Unification," Shen Qi said eloquently.

"Qi, I came to China this time for a vacation with my wife and children. I didn't want to discuss math problems with you." Lyndon Strauss came to China with the intention of eating, drinking and having fun, but who knew that after eating and drinking, he would be dragged by Shen Qi to attend an academic exchange meeting.

The versatile Faltings was quite interested in Shen Qi's ideas, and he discussed his views on incorporating elements of Differential Geometry.

Through this exchange meeting, Shen Qi Team reached a strategic cooperation agreement with the Faltings team and the Lyndon Strauss team. They respectively represent the strength of Chinese mathematics, the strength of European mathematics, and the strength of American mathematics, and all three team leaders have Princeton backgrounds.

As for Witten, he was somewhat interested in the Mathematical Grand Unification, but he was more interested in his String Theory, which was the Grand Unification.

"Edward, I strongly support String Theory, but I believe that Grand Unification needs to be built upon Mathematical Grand Unification." Shen Qi led Witten on a tour of Yenching University, chatting as they walked.