Award Ceremony

First love only happens once; it exists solely within memory.

A person will never again experience that age where the mere scent of someone of the opposite sex makes their heart race.

Zhang Yuan sighed. Time is a terrifying killer; it blurs even the memories of first love, washing away all the past unpleasantness until it seems as if everything was truly perfect...

If they boarded the spaceship, everything on Earth would inevitably grow old alongside the passage of time.

All memories would eventually turn beautiful.

Just like that day he climbed a high mountain in the sweltering heat to witness the sunset; the entire process was hot and miserable. But decades later, the vast majority of the unpleasantness would be forgotten, leaving behind only that red sun that refused to set for so long...

"20 light-years of distance... that must be an entirely different space-time, right?"

With a long sigh, Zhang Yuan walked out of the supermarket entrance.

Next, at one o'clock in the afternoon, the Galaxy Award ceremony was to be held.

Zhang Yuan arrived at the venue early. Various festive decorations had dressed the grand auditorium in an exceptionally solemn atmosphere.

The Galaxy Award is held every two years, co-founded by the Deep Space Foundation and the National Science and Technology Association. It rewards those who have made outstanding contributions to the aerospace industry and has a history of over eighty years.

This national award comes with a generous prize: the first-place winner receives 10 million yuan, the second-place 5 million, and even the third-place receives 2 million. It is the highest-paying science and technology award in the country, broadcast live by major media outlets.

In short, the organizers had written the words "wealthy and imposing" all over their faces.

It's obvious they're going to be broke in the future, yet they still hand out prizes like this...

Zhang Yuan couldn't help but grumble inwardly.

But there was no helping it; for those who have made outstanding contributions, rewards must be given. No matter how poor things get, one must not skimp on the scientists.

The time was still early, and the ceremony had not yet officially begun. Zhang Yuan had already seen many old acquaintances, including Professor Wang Zhong, Xu Yunjing, Wang Lili, and others, as well as some of his father's former colleagues. Everyone cast friendly gazes his way.

"Nervous?"

"It's alright, I'm just here to accept it on someone else's behalf anyway..."

Professor Wang smiled and said, "One day, you should stand on this stage based on your own merits."

Zhang Yuan nodded, a thought occurring to him: "Professor Wang, I wrote a paper recently. Could you help me take a look at it?"

Hearing that Zhang Yuan had actually written a paper, Professor Wang Zhong was in a good mood: "Oh? What is the title? I'll criticize you if you're just padding it with nonsense. Research papers aren't undergraduate theses; if they can't be published, they're essentially useless..."

Zhang Yuan quickly said, "It's definitely not filler! The title is 'Kinematic Analysis of High-Degree-of-Freedom Robots Based on Geometric Group Theory and Topology'. I'll send it to your email."

"Geometric Group Theory? Fine, I'll take a look when I get back." Professor Wang browsed the title: "However, I'm not very proficient in robotics. I can only help you check for logical errors in the mathematical reasoning. If it's good, I'll help you forward it to other professors to take a look."

Zhang Yuan said happily, "Thank you, Professor Wang!"

Peer review is an exhausting task; it takes effort and offers no authorship credit, so only professors with good relationships are willing to help in this way.

If no professor is willing to recommend an article, the probability of getting it published drops significantly. Professional reviewers are rarely willing to look at work from unknown sources. Once they see it's just an undergraduate submission without a recommendation from a big name, they are likely to pass on the article immediately.

After all, there are so many amateur scientists in the world who claim every day to have invented "perpetual motion machines" or "proven the Goldbach Conjecture." If one had to read every piece of nonsense, one wouldn't have time to do anything else.

Since this was Zhang Yuan's first time writing a serious, long-form paper, having Professor Wang oversee it should help refine any substandard details.

Immediately after, Xu Yunjing walked over quietly and patted Zhang Yuan on the shoulder.

Seeing him in his casual clothes, she said with great dissatisfaction, "Why are you dressed like this? No, no, you need to change your clothes immediately."

Zhang Yuan asked curiously, "What else is needed?"

"Didn't I tell you? It needs to be formal!"

"I don't have any, I never wear that kind of..."

"Wang Lili, hurry up and borrow your boyfriend's suit!"

"Oh, okay." Wang Lili ran out of the venue in a flash.

After more than ten minutes, Wang Lili ran back, panting, and said to Zhang Yuan, "Hurry up and put it on, put it on!"

Changing clothes, especially into someone else's, gave Zhang Yuan a massive headache.

"Senior, if you keep pulling and tugging at me like this, your boyfriend will get jealous."

Wang Lili giggled: "Jealous of a little junior? That would be too narrow-minded... You're about to 'ascend' to the stars, would he really be jealous of you?"

"Hurry up! I'm a volunteer, I have to manage the entire venue! If I get scolded later, you'll have to take responsibility!"

"How should I take responsibility? By offering myself?"

Wang Lili stared at him with both eyes: "How bold, you dare to tease your senior now? If you were willing to stay behind, I might consider it..."

"Of course that's impossible!"

With no other choice, Zhang Yuan had to go to the restroom to change into the suit.

Clothes make the man; after changing, his entire demeanor seemed different.

"I didn't expect you to look quite handsome... If my boyfriend saw this, he might actually get jealous." Wang Lili giggled.

Another group of volunteer girls gathered around, chattering and observing this "first-prize winner," making Zhang Yuan blush slightly.

"Sisters, I'm not the one winning the award..."

"Alright, the meeting is about to start, so just sit here and behave. When you hear your name, go up on stage to accept the award. You've already thought about what to say, right? No need to say much—three thank-yous and two or three minutes will suffice. The reporters won't give you a hard time."

Zhang Yuan nodded.

A burst of music played, and everyone still standing quickly returned to their seats.

First came the speeches from the various leaders, followed by interspersed artistic performances. The entire process was boring to the point of explosion, making Zhang Yuan feel drowsy.

But for others with ulterior motives, this was a prime opportunity for networking.

After all, the Galaxy Award was a major domestic honor, and those attending the ceremony were big shots from all walks of life, including various officials, CEOs of Fortune Global 500 companies, academic heavyweights, and so on.

Some students were just here to join in the fun, or perhaps they were extras assigned by the student union.

Some students wanted to get familiar faces in this crowd. With so many big shots around, who knew? Maybe a "familiar face" could land them an opportunity on their future path.

There were also industry titans exchanging news about industry trends, using all sorts of professional jargon that left listeners completely bewildered.