Meeting a Big Shot Again

The last few days of the holiday were busy for Li Qiwei. He had a lot on his plate and urgently needed an assistant.

While Hong'er and Li San were trustworthy, their scientific and cultural literacy was too low.

His younger brother, Chris, had sufficient knowledge, but Li Qiwei couldn't fully trust him yet. After all, Chris wasn't Chinese, making him unsuitable for certain matters.

After much thought, Li Qiwei decided to bear the burden himself and plan for an assistant after this busy period.

On September 1st, 1900, Li Qiwei finally began the new academic year, his final year of undergraduate studies.

As he stepped onto campus, many people looked at him with envy.

Thanks to the Vice-Chancellor Cadwell's tireless promotion, Li Qiwei's legend had spread not only throughout Trinity College but also to other institutions.

In modern terms, he had gone viral.

Li Qiwei was pleased with this development. If only he had more time, he would have loved to chat with the giants of philosophy, chemistry, mathematics, and life sciences at Cambridge.

In the final year of the physics program, students had very few courses, mainly focusing on their graduation theses.

For Li Qiwei, this was a piece of cake. He suspected the supervisor would be the one trembling during the defense.

With fewer classes, Li Qiwei had more time to conduct experiments at the Cavendish Laboratory.

During this period, Lord Kelvin sent a message confirming that the conference on Quantum would be held on September 25th, leaving little time.

Three days later, Li Qiwei entered the Cavendish Laboratory for the first time since the holiday began.

As soon as he appeared, the research fanatic Wilson caught him. "Hey, Bruce, I've missed you so much. You missed quite a bit of excitement during your trip to Germany."

"You're more famous than my supervisor in the physics community now. Many of my colleagues have been asking about you."

Faced with Wilson's barrage of words, Li Qiwei could only offer an awkward smile and wave his hand. "How can I compare myself to Professor Thomson? I'm worried sick about how I'll debate with all those big shots."

Wilson knew he was talking about the Quantum conference and teased, "Haha, I've also been invited. There are only twenty-something days left, Bruce, are you nervous?"

Li Qiwei replied, "I'm young, and I have nothing to lose. I'll just have to face it head-on." Inwardly, he thought, Get out of my way, I'm about to show off.

Wilson patted his shoulder and laughed, "Don't worry, I believe in you. With your genius, you can easily take on ten of them, old seniors included."

"Come on, I'll introduce you to another genius today. He's also one of the supervisor's students, and technically, my junior."

"Of course, I'm far behind him. Sigh, everyone in the lab is smarter than me. It's truly disheartening."

Amidst Wilson's rambling, Li Qiwei met the genius he spoke of.

He was not tall, but his eyes were piercingly bright. He sported a small mustache above his upper lip, wore a suit and tie, and exuded an aura of a super-elite.

Wilson introduced, "Bruce, this is Ernest Rutherford. He was a student of my supervisor and is now a professor in the physics department at McGill University and a fellow of the Royal Society of Canada."

"And I'm just a lecturer, how shameful."

Rutherford smiled slightly and said to Wilson, "Senior, the supervisor has always said he likes you the most."

Wilson feigned agreement, silently shedding tears.

Then, under Li Qiwei's gaze, Rutherford extended his hand and turned to him. "Hello, Bruce, I've heard a lot about you. I'm Rutherford."

Li Qiwei extended his hand and smiled, "Hello, Rutherford, I'm Bruce. It's a pleasure to meet you."

Meeting a future titan was exciting, and simultaneously, Rutherford's resume appeared in Li Qiwei's mind:

"Ernest Rutherford, born in New Zealand in 1871."

"In 1894, he earned three degrees from the University of New Zealand (BA, MA, BSc)."

"In 1895, he joined the Cavendish Laboratory as a postgraduate student under Thomson."

"In 1898, upon Thomson's recommendation, he became a professor in the physics department at McGill University and was elected a fellow of the Royal Society of Canada in the same year."

"In 1908, he received the Nobel Prize for his research on radioactivity."

"In 1911, based on the results of alpha particle scattering experiments, he proposed the planetary model of the atom."

"In 1919, he discovered and named the Proton."

"In 1932, he guided a student in the discovery of the Neutron."

"He passed away in 1937 and is buried alongside Newton and Faraday."

Such a brilliant resume was terrifying.

According to Li Qiwei's classification, Rutherford was a solid T3 level existence.

Furthermore, Rutherford wasn't just brilliant himself; five of his students went on to win the Nobel Prize in Physics, and one received the Nobel Prize.

Among them was the future Niels Bohr, the leader of the Copenhagen school.

His other honors were countless.

Facing such a super-titan, Li Qiwei could only show respect and dared not underestimate him, even though he was very young.

Rutherford looked at the young man before him, puzzled by his deference. He smiled and said, "Bruce, please forgive my rudeness on this first meeting. You are very different from what I imagined."

"Oh?" Li Qiwei smiled faintly. "Please elaborate."

Rutherford paused for a moment, organizing his thoughts. "I thought anyone who could publish on Quantum theory would be arrogant and unrestrained, otherwise, where would such wild imagination come from?"

"But meeting you today, Bruce, you are gentle, refined, and reserved. You fit my perception of a Chinese elite perfectly."

"In the language of China, you are a 'Junzi'." The words "Junzi" were spoken by Rutherford in Mandarin.

This greatly surprised Li Qiwei, who thought, "As expected of a Master of Literature, he even studies China's culture."

So, he replied, "Thank you for your compliment, Rutherford. For us Chinaese, 'Junzi' is very high praise."

"I'm also very happy to meet a foreigner who understands China. You know, I face a bit more discrimination here."

As he spoke, Li Qiwei gestured with his hand.

Rutherford smiled knowingly and said, "Mediocre people always like to judge others by labels, forgetting what the essence of a person is."

"Bruce, you don't need to worry. At least there are people like me who understand you, aren't there?"

This almost made Li Qiwei swoon. What's going on? Is this Rutherford a transmigrator in disguise?

He's so smooth. Are Master of Literature graduates just this good at flirting?

It seems I need to find an opportunity to minor in a literature degree at Cambridge. I need to solve my single status problem sooner rather than later.

Li Qiwei chuckled, "Thank you, Rutherford. You make me feel that this world is still a beautiful place."

"Regarding physics, I'm sure we'll have many common topics."

"Will you be staying in Britain for a while?"

Rutherford said, "Yes, I'm processing some related paperwork and expect to stay in Britain for a long time."

"I also have many questions I'd like to discuss with you. I need to attend to some matters now, so we'll meet again later."

With that, he bid farewell to Li Qiwei and Wilson.

Wilson, who had been silent the entire time, finally spoke, "As expected, geniuses appreciate each other. I couldn't even get a word in."

Li Qiwei replied, "Oh, my teacher Wilson, hurry up and do your experiment. Get your cloud chamber sorted out quickly, and then you'll be a genius too."

Wilson chuckled, his energy renewed.