On the first Wednesday of February, a bright silver aircraft landed at Paris International Airport.
On the plane, a kindly-looking old man and a handsome young man were courteously insisting that the other go first.
"Academician Lu, please."
"How could I? You should go first."
Under normal circumstances, Lu Zhou would not have declined, but when he thought of the status of the people outside and the occasion itself, he instinctively chickened out a little.
No, it could not exactly be called chickening out.
He simply was not very good at this sort of thing.
Seeing Lu Zhou's awkward expression, the old man laughed heartily and joked.
"If we keep being so polite, the people outside will probably start getting anxious."
Seeing that the old man had no intention of yielding at all, Lu Zhou could only helplessly stop insisting and brace himself as he continued forward.
To be honest, Lu Zhou had never expected that he had merely asked Director Li to arrange a convenient flight for him, hoping he might be able to hitch a ride on a diplomatic aircraft.
Yet he had never expected Director Li to put him on this flight.
The old man who had been courteously deferring to him earlier was none other than the person with whom he had often "exchanged letters."
Apparently, this visit was for the completion of the nuclear Fusion Power Plant at Cadarache and cooperation on the Silk Road.
Since it happened to be early February, and Lu Zhou was planning to visit France anyway, the Chief Elder had "conveniently" brought him along.
Throughout the journey, the two of them talked from Mathematics to Physics, then from Physics to chips, nuclear engineering, and aerospace.
Lu Zhou had originally planned to sleep through the entire flight with his eyes closed,