Oh, This Is Such a Dilemma

Knock knock knock.

Someone knocked on the Director's Office door.

"Please come in."

The visitor was Lao Liang, Shen Qi's secretary. He held a tablet computer and swiped his finger across the screen. "Director Shen, Allesoc Pharmaceuticals from the United States wants to visit you on the 18th of this month. Should we receive them?"

Shen Qi decisively shook his head and said, "No, we won't receive you."

"OK, understood." Secretary Liang crossed out the name of the American pharmaceutical company on the tablet, and then said, "Hokubu Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. of Japan sent a letter saying they can visit you any day this month. Would you like to receive them?"

Shen Qi continued to shake his head, "No, we won't receive you."

Secretary Liang: "GLK Pharmaceuticals in the UK wants to..."

Shen Qi interrupted, "The British and Americans have finished Christmas, and the Japanese have finished New Year's Day, but our Spring Festival isn't over yet. We're not seeing each other anymore, and the Spring Festival is almost here. Aren't these foreigners annoying? I'm telling you, Lao Liang, you can have a holiday tomorrow after you finish work today. See you after the holiday."

At Shen Qi Research Center, not only is Shen Qi busy, but his secretary, Lao Liang, is also busy. "Director Shen is still sticking to his post, how dare I leave?"

"Old Liang, you have to leave. The contact number I've publicly announced is your secretary's office landline. Foreign capitalists can't find you, so they can't bother me either. So, Old Liang, you should hurry up and take a vacation home to spend the New Year with your wife and kids. I'm begging you, okay?" Shen Qi's logic was very clear: making his secretary disappear was the same as him disappearing himself.

Of course, Shen Qi also knew his limits. If it was particularly important official business, the important person would call his cell phone directly, and his cell phone was always on 24 hours a day.

"Okay, okay, I'll go home for the New Year tomorrow." Old Liang had worked for many leaders, but he had never had a leader who let him take an early holiday. Director Shen was truly a good leader.

"Unless it's a specific instruction from a higher-up that I'm in charge of receiving them, then I have no choice but to obey. Otherwise, before the Spring Festival, I will not see any company representatives, whether they are from China or abroad," Shen Qi stated his principle for receiving guests before the Spring Festival.

"Okay, I understand." Old Liang nodded and said, then added, "I've rejected all the visit requests from company representatives. But there is one visit request from an academic institution; I wonder if Director Shen would be willing to see it?"

"Which academic institution?" Shen Qi asked.

The companies or academic institutions that Secretary Liang reported to Shen Qi were already on his shortlist.

Applications for visits from academic institutions or companies such as the "Miyun Game Algorithm Enthusiasts Alliance," "Langfang Fumanduo Chemical Reagent Co., Ltd." and "Papua New Guinea Cosmic Research Association" could not even appear before Shen Qi. Secretary Liang himself had the power to shut down these illegitimate organizations.

Secretary Liang said, "Academicians Alexander Nilsson and Carl Academician Stinga from the Swedish Royal Academy of Sciences would like to visit you before January 31st. Would you like to receive them?"

"Sigh..." Shen Qi sighed, and said reluctantly, "Let's meet."

Academician Nelson is a chemist, Academician Stinga is a physicist; Shen Qi knows both of them.

Shen Qi could roughly guess the purpose of the two royal academicians' visit.

Since they're coming, let's welcome them.

On the 15th, an academic exchange delegation from the Swedish Royal Academy of Sciences arrived at Yenching University, where they were received by Shen Qi.

In the field of scientific research, Swedes love learning and are good at learning; they advocate cooperation and actively participate in it.

The Swedish Royal Academy of Sciences, along with several Swedish universities and research institutes, initiates various academic exchanges and scientific collaborations worldwide each year.

The Nobel Prize selection committee has many designated academic partners around the world, such as prestigious universities like Harvard, Cambridge University, and UC Berkeley.

To give a very real example, scholars who conduct research at Harvard enjoy certain preferential policies from the Nobel Prize selection committee.

Take Nobel Prize in Physics for example. If Shen Qi, a two-time Nobel Prize in Physics laureate, recommends a physicist from Harvard to compete for the Nobel Prize in Physics, and that Harvard physicist does indeed make some important physics achievements, then that Harvard physicist will have a certain advantage in the next year's Nobel Prize in Physics selection.

If a physicist at Montana Vocational Technical College were to produce similar research results, even with Shen Qi's strong recommendation, this fellow would have a very difficult time obtaining the Nobel Prize in Physics.

The Swedish Royal Academy of Sciences' logic is straightforward: the best universities and the best laboratories produce more credible research results.

To many, being able to work in a top lab at Harvard or MIT is an achievement in itself.

The difference between having Harvard endorse you and having Montana Vocational College endorse you is like night and day.

The Shen Qi Research Center has already gained international recognition in the fields of mathematics and physics. Scholars at the Yenching University Shen Qi Research Center are more likely to receive honors and awards than scholars at Jingxi Vocational and Technical College.

Shen Qi first received Academician Stinga, a Royal Physicist.

"Oh, Carl, it's great to see you again. Try the coffee at our center; I swear I won't disappoint you."

"Oh, Qi, this is the best latte I've ever had."

"Oh, Carl, I would be happy to recommend Professor Sha Dongdong from our center for this Nobel Prize in Physics selection."

"Oh, Qi, it's your right, you have the right to do it."

"Then it's settled?"

"Of course, I wish Professor Sha good luck. But I have more faith in Professor Shen himself."

"Oh, Carl, if I participate in the Nobel Prize in Physics selection again, that will be the third time."

There's a Chinese proverb that says things shouldn't happen more than three times. Three times is just right, isn't it?

"Oh, Carl, this really puts me in a difficult position."

"Mr. Nobel wrote in his will that throughout the entire process of selecting the Nobel Prize, the laureates should not be influenced by any nationality, ethnicity, ideology, or religious belief; the primary criterion for selection is the magnitude of the achievement. Mr. Nobel did not limit the number of times a single person could win the prize, so Professor Shen, you don't need to be troubled. With your experimental results on the Black Hole Information Paradox, you have every reason to win the Nobel Prize in Physics in Nobel Prize in Physics for the third time. There are forty-nine former Nobel Prize in Physics who recommend you for this year's Nobel Prize in Physics. And currently, including you, there are fifty-seven former Nobel laureates in Physics still alive. Oh, it's incredible that eight former Nobel Prize in Physics haven't recommended you."

Shen Qi succeeded in last year's European Organization for Nuclear Research Black Hole Information Paradox experiment, which solidified his position as a leader in physics.

What is a leader?

Leaders are destined to make history.

Academician Stinga's intention in this visit was quite clear: he hoped that Shen Qi would not refuse to go to Sweden for the third time to receive the Nobel Prize in Physics in December of this year.