"Would you consider coming to Jinling?"
At those words, Academician Wang Shicheng nearly spat blood.
Granted, Lu Zhou was only poaching someone with practically no presence at all. Even if Chen Yang had left the Mathematics Center on his own one day, Wang probably would not have cared...
But could someone Academician Lu personally tried to recruit still be considered a nobody?
Even if Wang Shicheng doubted his own judgment, he would never dare doubt Academician Lu's.
After all, the stories about this man were simply too staggering.
"Academician Lu," Wang Shicheng said with a light cough, a hint of reproach in his voice, "isn't this... a little inappropriate? Professor Chen is, after all, one of the key young researchers at our Yanshan University International Mathematics Research Center. Isn't poaching him right in front of us a bit much?"
"...Is it?"
What's wrong with that?
You don't want him anyway...
Lu Zhou paused, then unconsciously frowned. "But I heard... Associate Professor Chen doesn't even have an office here. Since the Yanshan University International Mathematics Research Center is already overcrowded, wouldn't he be better off coming to me?"
Hearing the words "associate professor," Wang Shicheng looked rather embarrassed and gave a dry cough.
"Rumors, nothing but rumors! The only reason Mr. Chen is still an associate professor is that I wanted to test him and temper his character."
Then Wang Shicheng turned to Chen Yang and continued earnestly, "Chen Yang, I was actually planning to promote you to full professor this year. I just hadn't told you yet. We're talking about a full professorship at Yanjing University. You should think this through."
Yet, to Academician Wang's surprise, Associate Professor Chen made no attempt to spare his feelings.
Perhaps he was simply accustomed to ignoring social niceties, or perhaps he did not