After the successful crewed Moon landing, Hua Nation soon settled on the next strategic objective for its space program, and it was about time for Lu Zhou to return to Jinling.
When Academician Wang Zengguang heard that he was leaving Shangjing, he immediately came to see him. He took Lu Zhou to a restaurant near the State Guest Hotel, ordered a tableful of dishes, and caught up with him over the meal.
"I was going to get together with you a few days ago, but I heard you had a conference to attend, so I decided to wait. I didn't expect you to leave as soon as it was over."
Clinking glasses with Academician Wang, Lu Zhou smiled. "Work's keeping me busy. There's no time to waste."
Academician Wang smiled at him, took a small sip of liquor, and spoke in a conversational tone.
"You must have offended quite a few people this time."
Picking up some food for his bowl, Lu Zhou replied indifferently, "It doesn't matter. As long as you speak up, you're bound to offend someone."
Wherever there were people, there were rivalries. Differences in academic opinion were unavoidable.
If he had to worry about everyone's feelings every time he said something, he might as well give up research.
Academician Wang smiled. "You really don't care."
Lu Zhou paused with his chopsticks in hand and thought for a moment. "Mostly because there's no reason worth caring about, I suppose."
Looking at the unconcerned Lu Zhou, Academician Wang refilled his empty glass with beer and solemnly raised it. "For those words alone, here's a toast to you!"
"You're too kind."
Lu Zhou smiled, clinked glasses with him, and drained his drink.
After the meal, Lu Zhou said goodbye to Academician Wang, returned to the hotel to pack, and