43. A Warm Welcome?

As expected, Han Ziyue pointed at one of the words and laughed. "This... what does 'ideal' mean? That's so strange. Do papers use words like that?"

"You need ideals to write a paper?"

"Could it be a paper about the legendary New Civilization School?"

Zhang Yuan covered his face and said in exasperation, "...A nonempty subset I of a ring R is called a left ideal if, for any a, b ∈ I and r ∈ R, it satisfies the following conditions for the two operations in R: a - b ∈ I and ra ∈ I. There's a similar definition for a right ideal."

"A nonempty subset I of a ring R that is both a left ideal and a right ideal is called a two-sided ideal of R, usually shortened to an ideal."

Come on, this was the most basic mathematical concept!

Having exposed her own weak foundation, Han Ziyue couldn't help blushing.

She stuck out her tongue. "You're no fun! I was just teasing you, and you actually recited a mathematical definition."

"No wonder you're still single. Ever since my sister dumped you, no girl has liked you! You can't go on like this, you know?"

Zhang Yuan said expressionlessly, "I know, but I'm not going to change."

"..."

Han Ziyue was speechless.

"Zhang Yuan, are you there?" Just then, another woman's voice sounded from outside the door. It sounded like Wang Lili.

When it came to the word "unlucky," there might not have been anyone more unlucky than Wang Lili.

Her advisor had made her spend the entire night reading papers, and she hadn't understood a thing.

That wouldn't have mattered much. Zhang Yuan, the person involved, didn't know about it, so she was only embarrassing herself in private.

But...

Her damned advisor had actually sent her to invite Zhang Yuan to some meeting at the School of Mechanical Engineering!

She'd probably be exposed there, and there was even a chance she'd end up becoming Zhang Yuan's student!

Why was she so unlucky?

"Huh, there's a girl in there too?! Hahaha!" The moment Wang Lili saw a man and a woman alone in the room, her foul mood lifted.

Caught you, didn't I? Is this your new girlfriend?

She's pretty cute. You've got good taste. Little miss, don't fall for his tricks!

She hadn't expected Zhang Yuan, who seemed so dull, to be a closet Casanova.

But it made sense. At their age, people were at their most carefree. Once they were aboard the spacecraft, everyone had to behave themselves. They couldn't fool around anymore.

"Ah, sorry, sorry. Don't mind me, carry on, carry on..."

Wang Lili said, "carry on," but made no effort to leave. She just stood outside laughing, delighted with herself.

"Wait! Carry on with what...?" Zhang Yuan hurriedly tried to explain, sweating profusely.

"She's... my ex-girlfriend's younger sister."

Han Ziyue, eager to stir up trouble, added, "His first love's actual younger sister, too!"

That was a complicated relationship. They'd already broken up, and he was still trying to get with his ex's sister? Curiosity showed on Wang Lili's face, and her appetite for gossip grew stronger.

Young people these days... How impressive!

Zhang Yuan was terribly embarrassed and quickly changed the subject. "By the way, what did you come here for?"

Since they were talking business, Wang Lili stopped teasing him. "My boss would like you to come over and talk in person."

She paused, putting on a serious expression. "I read your paper... It's very good."

"You read it? And it's very good?"

Zhang Yuan remembered that the reply had indeed been forwarded by the School of Mechanical Engineering. A thought suddenly struck him. "Don't tell me you were helping me revise it?"

Wang Lili's heart skipped a beat. "Don't get the wrong idea! I only skimmed it."

"Your paper could lead to all kinds of follow-up papers and projects. We forwarded it to several major companies, and they're taking it very seriously."

"There are representatives from a lot of major companies here this time..."

Professors at the university didn't only work on research projects. They also took on contract work from outside. When high-tech companies ran into difficult problems during development, they often outsourced the work directly to university professors.

Zhang Yuan looked at her suspiciously. "Representatives from lots of companies? What does that have to do with me? Are they going to give me a cut?"

"Come on, they're not going to give you money for nothing. Your paper gives them a framework, and the professors can already handle a lot of things themselves..."

Wang Lili explained, "But first, they definitely don't understand that paper as well as you do, so they can't get the projects done as quickly. For some commercial projects, time is money. Second, you shouldn't forget who dug the well when you drink the water. If those professors took on the entire big project themselves, that would look pretty bad. It'd be great if you were willing to take part."

"So, are you coming?"

Zhang Yuan nodded. So a rich benefactor was here to shower him with opportunities. "I see... I'm free anyway. Let's go."

"I'm coming too!" Han Ziyue hurriedly said.

The three of them walked along as Wang Lili chatted about this and that.

Papers couldn't be patented. Anyone could read them and cite them. Aside from the prestige they brought, they couldn't provide their authors with any tangible financial benefits.

But if Zhang Yuan's new algorithm were used to write robot-control software, the entire software package could be protected as intellectual property. Anyone who wanted to use it would have to pay.

Zhang Yuan had plenty of free time aboard the spacecraft. It would be good to make more contributions.

"Your algorithm could be even more advanced than the old one!"

"The stakes in high-degree-of-freedom robots are just too big. The major companies can't afford not to be anxious."

Zhang Yuan nodded repeatedly.

Han Ziyue's eyes sparkled. "Wow, Zhang Yuan, you're amazing! My sister's judgment is awful—she actually dumped you... Why don't I give it a shot? I don't have a boyfriend!"

"Ahem..." Zhang Yuan awkwardly scratched his head.

He wasn't particularly interested in money. Even if he earned any, he'd just donate it to the foundation...

He immediately called Professor Wang Zhong.

Professor Wang always sounded full of energy. "What? There's a big project? I don't object, of course I don't! If you want to pursue research in this area in the future, working on some projects now would be good. You can build up experience..."

"Right, there's at least another year of wake time before the spacecraft reaches Jupiter. That's plenty of time for you to finish a major project."

"What... You want to donate the money you earn to the foundation?" Professor Wang immediately got excited. "Good, good. I'll send two people over to help you right away!"

After hanging up, Wang Zhong couldn't stop marveling. His academic grandstudent really was impressive. At such a young age, he was already making a name for himself, and he had quite a bit of Wang Zhong's own flair.