As soon as the weekend ended, Lu Zhou's office came alive again.
Having heard from Assistant Zhao that Professor Lu had another important announcement to make, all the students in the research group got up early, finished breakfast, and hurried to the office.
"Let me introduce our new member." Patting the shoulder of the eccentric-looking man beside him, Lu Zhou glanced around at the astonished students in the office and cleared his throat. "This is Professor Perelman, a mathematician from Saint Petersburg. He'll probably be staying until the end of the year... barring any surprises, I should be able to finish the mathematical grand unified theory before then."
The office fell eerily silent for several seconds.
Then a pen fell to the floor with a soft clack.
As though someone had tossed a chunk of sodium into water, the previously quiet office erupted.
"Holy shit! Perelman? The... the genius who solved the Poincaré conjecture?"
"No way... didn't he retire from mathematics?"
Perelman!
The Perelman who supposedly never left his house, who had turned away both Russian tycoons and the secretary-general of the International Mathematical Union at his door!
If not for the certainty on Lu Zhou's face, almost everyone, Han Mengqi included, would have thought their professor was joking.
Since he couldn't understand Chinese, Perelman had no idea what they were saying amid the excitement in the office. Assuming they were welcoming him, he nodded and said, "Thank you," in broken Chinese.
Recovering from his shock, Chen Yang stared at Perelman in amazement. Excitement gradually spread across his normally impassive face, and he stepped forward eagerly.
"...I've read your papers!"
Unsure how to respond to that, Perelman hesitated for a moment before finally giving a stiff nod.
"Mm."
Having heard plenty about Perelman's reclusive personality, Lu Zhou had initially