In the same hospital room.
A slender young woman in a hospital gown made from a special material now lay inside the open hibernation chamber. A pale silver blanket with the texture of aluminum foil covered her, setting off her delicate, pitiable face and lending her the serenity of Sleeping Beauty.
Standing beside this unusual "hospital bed," Lu Zhou handed her a somewhat disordered stack of documents.
"...These are the household registration documents. I need your signature."
Vera tilted her head. "Household registration?"
Lu Zhou nodded. "Yes. You're a Fields Medal winner. Although we aren't an immigrant nation, that's never an issue for talented people. I've already contacted Director Goddard at the Institute for Advanced Study and explained the situation. Your position has now been transferred from Princeton to Jinling University. I'm sorry for changing your job without asking, but you'll be staying here for a very long time, after all. Relying on a work visa all that time probably wouldn't be very convenient."
Visa issues could be minor or serious. Although there were no apparent problems now, leaving them unresolved would pose a potential risk decades down the line.
Besides, arranging household registration was hardly difficult for Lu Zhou.
Both Jinling University and the Jinling Institute for Advanced Study had quotas for recruiting foreign talent. Even without those supporting policies, any university in the country would have fought to recruit a Fields Medal-winning scholar.
Ethnic Russians were already one of the country's fifty-six recognized ethnic groups, so integration would not be an issue, either. He also believed that society would become more tolerant of differences in race, skin color, and culture in the future. When she woke up then, she should be able to find her place here.
Even knowing that plans rarely kept pace with change, and that