Here is a concise summary of the chapter:

1. Key Plot Points and Events

• Wang Zhengfei, a wealthy boss, arrives late to Professor Lu Zhou's lecture with his secretary. After apologizing to the strict entrance staff, he is allowed in after his ticket is stamped.
• Wang Zhengfei reveals to his indignant secretary that the gatekeepers are likely from the General Staff or Ministry of State Security, implying the lecture is of significant national importance.
• Lu Zhou begins his lecture on the proof of the Quasi-Riemann Hypothesis. He writes the first crucial equation, which impresses Terence Tao, who realizes Lu is constructing analytic continuation via the Gamma function, potentially shortening the proof.
• Professor Faltings remains skeptical, insisting the core argument is wrong despite Lu's clever peripheral techniques. Tao argues he now understands Lu's intent.
• Lu Zhou completes the written proof on the whiteboard after roughly twenty minutes, then turns to the audience to open the floor for questions.
• As expected, Faltings stands up and immediately raises a question, demanding a detailed explanation of a step on line 11 of page 17.

2. Character Developments

• Lu Zhou: Poised and confident. He has fully internalized the proof, being described as lost in his work. He anticipates his intellectual duel with Faltings with excitement rather than fear.
• Wang Zhengfei: Shown as humble and respectful despite his high status, willing to politely defer to those in lower positions. Though an outsider to mathematics, he is captivated by Lu's aura.
• Terence Tao: Shown as open-minded and highly perceptive. He evolves from initial skepticism to believing Lu's approach is valid and masterfully constructed.
• Professor Faltings: Depicted as the supreme, exacting skeptic. He is the main challenger and the "man closest to Grothendieck" in the field, ready to rigorously test Lu's foundational claims.

3. Significant Themes

• The High-Stakes Nature of Academic Proof: The lecture is framed like a concert or battle, with the world's top minds scrutinizing a potential proof of the Quasi-Riemann Hypothesis.
• The Hierarchy of Intellectual Merit: The contrast between Wang Zhengfei's worldly power and the pure intellectual authority of the mathematicians highlights the different forms of elitism. The gatekeepers' authority derives from the event's importance.
• The Duel of Giants: Lu's challenge to Faltings's own specialty (Riemann Hypothesis) with tools Faltings knows best (EGA/Grothendieck) sets up a clash of intellectual titans.
• Outsider vs. Insider Perspective: Wang Zhengfei and his secretary cannot understand the math, emphasizing the massive gap between the general public and the academic elite.

4. Character Interactions

• Wang Zhengfei & the Gatekeeper: Wang is apologetic and respectful; the gatekeeper is cold and indifferent, treating the latecomers with impersonal authority. Wang later educates his secretary on the gatekeeper's true importance.
• Wang Zhengfei & his Secretary: The secretary is indignant about the treatment, while his boss corrects his perspective, showing Wang's street-smart wisdom.
• Terence Tao & Faltings: They debate mid-lecture. Tao is increasingly impressed and optimistic about Lu's approach, while Faltings remains dismissive and stubbornly critical, waiting to attack the core logic.
• Lu Zhou & the Audience/Professor Faltings: Lu formally presents his proof and invites questions. Faltings immediately seizes the initiative, rising with a pointed challenge, officially initiating the verbal duel.

Lu Zhou faced Faltings’s challenge about a supposed fatal flaw in his proof of the Quasi-Riemann Hypothesis, then said their disagreement came from failing to reach the proof’s core. He began a new explanation with the Hyperelliptic Curve Analysis Method, shocking the auditorium.

• Scholze, Aksay Venkatesh, and other scholars identified different problems in Lu Zhou’s proof as they followed Faltings’s challenge.
• Faltings argued that Lu Zhou’s use of the Stirling Formula could not establish the claimed zero-free region or shift the boundary left.
• The audience feared Lu Zhou’s approach had failed, while Scholze told Aksay Venkatesh a rumor about Grothendieck linking the Riemann Hypothesis to unifying algebra and geometry.
• Lu Zhou told Faltings that he had not reached the heart of the proof and said he would prove where their disagreement lay.
• Lu Zhou erased the whiteboard and wrote “Hyperelliptic Curve Analysis Method,” setting off a stir in the lecture hall.

Lu Zhou presented his Hyperelliptic Curve Analysis Method to an auditorium of leading mathematicians, explaining how it addressed the Riemann Hypothesis. Professor Faltings accepted Lu Zhou’s proof, and the talk ended in thunderous applause.

• Lu Zhou began his presentation by developing the Hyperelliptic Curve Analysis Method from basic principles, capturing Terence Tao’s, Scholze’s, and Aksay’s attention.
• Wang Peng and Yang Guangbiao discussed the security outside as a downpour began.
• Lu Zhou completed his proof and explained how the Hyperelliptic Curve Analysis Method and Critical Strip Method worked toward the Riemann Hypothesis.
• Professor Faltings acknowledged that Lu Zhou was right and replaced his bowler hat.
• Lu Zhou thanked Faltings, bowed to the audience, and received deafening applause.

Summary of Chapter: "We Won!"

1. Key Plot Points & Events

• Lu Zhou finishes a landmark lecture on the Riemann Hypothesis to thunderous, sustained applause.
• The audience rushes to photograph the whiteboard; Dean Qin orders that it be preserved and framed, calling it a future "cultural relic."
• Professor Zhang Shou-wu recognizes traces of Grothendieck’s work in Lu Zhou’s method but sees it as something entirely original, marveling that Lu Zhou claims to be "not good at algebraic geometry."
• Aksay and Scholze discuss the new Hyperelliptic Curve Analysis Method; Scholze predicts the epsilon value will be updated at least fifty times within ten days, and the two decide to wait rather than do preliminary grinding work. They plan to eat at a nearby roast duck restaurant.
• Wang Zhengfei (Huawei president), who had dozed through the lecture, wakes up and asks his secretary what happened; the secretary answers, "It seems like we won."
• Wang Zhengfei follows Lu Zhou to establish contact, hoping to discuss business.
• Lu Zhou eats a barbecue rice bowl brought by Han Mengqi, then agrees to meet Wang Zhengfei in three days at the Purple Mountain Grand Hotel.

2. Character Developments

• Lu Zhou: Remains calm and down-to-earth after a major academic triumph; shows humor, practicality, and a straightforward attitude toward business negotiations. Unpretentious about eating simple food despite his status.
• Wang Zhengfei: Pragmatic and opportunistic; admits he didn't understand the lecture but wants to connect with Lu Zhou for business purposes. Displays a down-to-earth side, surprised that a Fields Medal winner eats a cheap barbecue rice bowl.
• Han Mengqi: Demonstrates thoughtfulness and loyalty as Lu Zhou’s apprentice; cares for his well-being by bringing him food in the rain.
• Scholze and Aksay: Appear relaxed and strategic, treating the result as an opening rather than an endpoint; plan to let others refine epsilon before intervening.

3. Significant Themes

• Academic glory and legacy: The whiteboard preservation signals the historic importance of Lu Zhou’s work; mathematics becomes a monumental achievement.
• Genius and humility: Lu Zhou’s casual attitude contrasts with the awed reactions around him.
• Academia meets business: The Huawei president’s presence highlights how elite scientific breakthroughs attract commercial interest.
• Mentorship and personal bonds: Han Mengqi’s caring gesture illustrates the warmth in Lu Zhou’s academic circle.

4. Character Interactions

• Dean Qin & staff: Orders the whiteboard framed for future generations.
• Zhang Shou-wu & Xu Chenyang: Zhang expresses disbelief; Xu reminds him that Lu Zhou "excels at creating miracles."
• Aksay & Scholze: Tease each other about rushing to work; agree to dine together instead.
• Wang Zhengfei & secretary: Comic relief; the secretary can only say "it seems we won" because neither understood the lecture.
• Han Mengqi & Lu Zhou: A warm, playful exchange; she brings him his favorite cumin-flavored barbecue rice bowl and eats with him.
• Wang Zhengfei & Lu Zhou: Lu Zhou sees through Wang’s real motive, jokes that he worries about his "irresistibly handsome appearance," then agrees to a future business meeting.

After Lu Zhou’s presentation convinced Professor Faltings and drew praise from Terence Tao, mathematicians recognized the potential of Lu’s hyperelliptic curve analysis method. Lu planned to publish a separate paper on the method and continue increasing ε toward 1/2.

• Dean Qin stopped the scholars from damaging the whiteboard covered in Lu Zhou’s equations and secured it.
• Terence Tao praised Lu Zhou’s presentation online, and scholars shared photos and video showing Professor Faltings saying, “You are right.”
• An algebraic geometry researcher noted that Lu’s method could increase ε further, prompting scholars to see it as a tool for new research.
• Lu Zhou told Han Mengqi that he planned to organize the whiteboard equations into a paper for Mathematical Annals.
• Lu Zhou decided to tell his student Vera the good news and continue working to push ε to 1/2.

After the banquet celebrating Lu Zhou’s presentation, he completed and submitted his paper on the Hyperelliptic Curve Analysis Method, then used a Vitality Potion that erased his dark circles and left him full of energy. When Faltings called to ask how to get to Purple Mountain, Lu Zhou offered to drive him there.

• At the banquet, Dean Qin heard scholars suggest holding a future International Congress of Mathematicians in Jinling and recognized how significant that would be for Hua Nation and Jinling University.
• The next morning, scholars explored Purple Mountain or gathered for informal research discussions while Lu Zhou stayed up organizing his paper to correct inaccurate versions circulating online.
• Lu Zhou finished the paper, posted a preprint on arXiv, and sent it to Mathematical Annals and Vera.
• Lu Zhou drank a Vitality Potion, which made his dark circles disappear and left him feeling energized.
• Faltings called Lu Zhou to ask how to reach Purple Mountain, and Lu Zhou offered to drive him there.

Summary

1. Key Plot Points & Events

• Lu Zhou and Professor Faltings take a hike up Purple Mountain in late December.
• They stop at a restaurant halfway up the mountain for grilled fish and beer.
• Faltings expresses regret that he cannot reach the summit due to age; Lu Zhou suggests they try again another time.
• The conversation turns to deep topics: mortality, the pursuit of truth in mathematics, and the future of solving a major problem (likely the Hodge conjecture or similar).
• Faltings asks Lu Zhou to leave a copy of the solution on his gravestone if he dies. Lu Zhou promises to find the solution within three years.

2. Character Developments

• Lu Zhou: Shows warmth and concern for the elderly professor; remains modest under praise, but bold in his pledge to solve the problem within three years.
• Faltings: Reveals a philosophical, reflective side beneath his stern demeanor; accepts his own mortality with blunt honesty and a touch of gallows humor; expresses strong faith in Lu Zhou’s abilities.

3. Significant Themes

• Generational change and the passage of time: Contrast between youth and old age; the limits of the human lifespan.
• The pursuit of truth: Mathematics as a search for truth; the emotional weight of unsolved problems.
• Mortality and legacy: Faltings’ meditation on what remains after death; the wish for his tombstone to bear a great proof.

4. Character Interactions

• Lu Zhou ↔ Faltings: A mentor–protégé-like dynamic reversed; Faltings respects Lu Zhou’s genius and urges him not to give up. Lu Zhou shows care (controlling the hike, buying food, promising a timeline) and lightheartedness (teasing about youth, joking about beer). Their exchange is warm but tinged with melancholy as they discuss the inevitability of death.

1. Key Plot Points and Events

• The academic conference ends; scholars depart over following days.
• Before leaving, Faltings gives Lu Zhou a handwritten notebook containing his personal thoughts and dead-end approaches on the Riemann Hypothesis, then departs without explanation.
• Terence Tao reads the notebook, finds it intriguing, and recommends Lu Zhou study it carefully. Tao leaves, hoping to see Lu Zhou's sixty-minute talk at the next International Congress of Mathematicians in St. Petersburg.
• Molina photographs all the notebook's contents.
• Lu Zhou warns Molina not to expect too much from it, since Faltings himself never solved the problem with it—such material only helps those capable of using it.

2. Character Developments

• Lu Zhou shows confidence bordering on indifference about competition, explicitly stating it makes no difference who solves the Riemann Hypothesis first.
• Molina reveals both competitive drive and naivety, treating the notebook as near-treasure; Lu Zhou's blunt advice visibly frustrates her.
• Faltings is portrayed as generous, passing along years of unpublished research notes rather than hoarding them.

3. Significant Themes

• The difficulty of the Riemann Hypothesis: even a mathematician like Faltings left only dead ends and partial insights.
• The value of informal, unpublished research material in guiding others—not as a shortcut, but as a map of roads already tried.
• Rivalry versus cooperation in mathematics: Molina treats Lu Zhou as a competitor, while Lu Zhou treats the problem itself as the real opponent.

4. Character Interactions

• Lu Zhou and Faltings: a silent, meaningful exchange—the notebook is Faltings's legacy of unfinished work.
• Lu Zhou and Tao: warm, professional camaraderie; Tao's encouragement is genuine.
• Lu Zhou and Molina: a mix of courtesy and subtle condescension; he offers her a coffee, lets her photograph the notebook, then delivers an honest (and slightly mocking) reality check that leaves her angry and embarrassed.

Lu Zhou learned that Mathematical Annals would publish his quasi-Riemann hypothesis proof alongside his Hyperelliptic Curve Analysis Method, while researchers raced to improve the bound on ε. Reading Professor Faltings’s notebook led him to investigate a possible connection between the Riemann zeta zeros and quantum mechanics, but an unexpected caller interrupted him.

• Mathematical Annals told Lu Zhou that his proof had passed peer review and that both his proof and his analysis method would appear in a special issue.
• Researchers pushed the value of ε to one sixty-millionth, but many could not submit papers relying on Lu Zhou’s method until his work was formally published.
• Lu Zhou returned to his villa and studied Professor Faltings’s notebook while gathering papers on the Riemann hypothesis.
• Lu Zhou translated a German diary entry in which Faltings described a possible correspondence between zeta zeros and the eigenvalues of a Hermitian operator, a connection he had discussed with Professor Kliqing and Edward Witten.
• Lu Zhou considered whether finding a quantum system whose energy spectrum matched the nontrivial zeta zeros could offer a physics-based route to proving the Riemann hypothesis.
• An unidentified caller asked Lu Zhou whether he remembered them.

1. Key Plot Points

• Lu Zhou receives a phone call from Wang Zhengfei (President of Huawei Group), reminding him of a dinner appointment they made three days ago at the Purple Mountain Grand Hotel.
• Lu Zhou had completely forgotten the arrangement; he hurriedly agrees to meet him within ten minutes.
• Lu Zhou’s internal narration explains that he usually dislikes dealing with business tycoons, but Starry Sky Technology needs a manufacturing partner to enter the carbon-based chip industry.
• He drives to the hotel with his driver Wang Peng. Secretary Li Yang greets him and leads him to the private room.
• Lu Zhou meets Wang Zhengfei, politely skips small talk, and gets straight to business.
• Wang Zhengfei asks if the Carbon-Based Chip technology was Lu Zhou’s research result. Lu Zhou replies "No." (Chapter ends on this cliffhanger.)

2. Character Developments

• Lu Zhou: Absent-minded about social commitments, deeply focused on research, somewhat indifferent to wealth and business. He is pragmatic, willing to cooperate with industry but only to serve technological goals.
• Wang Zhengfei: Patient, respectful, and business-savvy. He tolerates Lu Zhou’s forgetfulness and tries to build rapport, clearly eager to access or collaborate on the chip technology.

3. Significant Themes

• Academic-Industry Collaboration: The chapter highlights the tension and potential between pure research and industrial production.
• Technology and Manufacturing Gap: Starry Sky Technology excels in research but lacks production capacity, creating the need for alliances with companies like Huawei.
• Social Awkwardness of Geniuses: Lu Zhou’s forgetfulness and bluntness contrast with Wang Zhengfei’s diplomatic politeness.

4. Character Interactions

• Wang Zhengfei ↔ Lu Zhou: A formal but slightly awkward meeting. Wang Zhengfei is courteous and accommodating; Lu Zhou is direct and eager to bypass pleasantries.
• Secretary Li Yang ↔ Lu Zhou: Brief greeting and escort to the private room.
• Wang Peng ↔ Lu Zhou: Minimal; Wang Peng simply drives Lu Zhou to the hotel.

Chapter Summary

Key Plot Points / Events

• Wang Zhengfei visits Lu Zhou to discuss cooperation on carbon-based chips (graphene semiconductors).
• Lu Zhou clarifies he didn't personally solve the graphene transistor problem—he contributed theoretical work on Mott insulators; the transistor is Professor Wu's achievement.
• Wang thanks Lu Zhou on behalf of China's semiconductor industry, but Lu Zhou redirects to business.
• Lu Zhou reveals he already knew about—and in fact proposed—the establishment of a fifth major semiconductor industrial cluster for carbon-based chips, with central government backing.
• Lu Zhou introduces a larger vision: using graphene for topological quantum computers, via Majorana fermions in topological insulators.
• Wang Zhengfei realizes the deep strategic importance: graphene could open two new eras (carbon-based semiconductor chips and quantum computing).
• Lu Zhou offers cooperation, and when Wang asks what he wants, Lu Zhou replies: "I want HiSilicon."

Character Developments

• Lu Zhou: Calm, measured, strategically dominant. He underplays his own contribution, but holds strong negotiating leverage by revealing high-level policy influence and advanced technological plans.
• Wang Zhengfei: Starts confident and full of praise, gradually becomes overwhelmed by the scope of Lu Zhou's knowledge and influence. Ultimately surrenders the initiative in negotiation, forced to ask what Lu Zhou wants.

Significant Themes

• Science vs. industry: The gap between academic research and industrial application—and the need for cooperation.
• Strategic negotiation: Information and control of key patents/technology confer overwhelming bargaining power.
• Technological ambition: Graphene is not just an incremental semiconductor advance—it's a gateway to topological quantum computing.
• Intellectual credit: Lu Zhou refuses to take credit for work he didn't do, despite academic norms.

Character Interactions

• Lu Zhou and Wang Zhengfei: A negotiation scene built on intellectual asymmetry. Lu Zhou explains esoteric concepts (Majorana fermions, topological qubits) while Wang struggles to follow but grasps the stakes. Wang begins with overt flattery and ends in cautious submission, forced to ask for Lu Zhou's terms.

Chapter Summary: "Now We Have It"

Key Plot Points and Events

• The chapter provides background on HiSilicon, tracing it back to Huawei's ASIC Design Center (1991). It supplies chips for mobile devices, communications equipment, transmission networks, home digital devices, and security/surveillance (holding a 90% market share in the latter).
• Lu Zhou proposes that Starry Sky Technology invest its Carbon-Based Chip technology into HiSilicon in exchange for equity control — a condition Wang Zhengfei finds difficult to accept, as HiSilicon is Huawei's core foundation.
• Lu Zhou suggests postponing the discussion, but Wang Zhengfei unexpectedly agrees on the spot, shaking hands on the deal.
• After dinner, an executive questions Wang's decision in the car. Wang explains that HiSilicon had no Carbon-Based Chip research project, and the partnership gives them access to the technology.

Character Developments

• Lu Zhou: Shows inexperience in negotiation — he cannot read Wang's expression, doubts his own demands, and briefly entertains the thought that he is a "business genius" after Wang's surprising agreement.
• Wang Zhengfei: Portrayed as a decisive, strategic leader who trusts his judgment and makes bold long-term bets, despite internal opposition.
• HiSilicon Executive: Loyal to Huawei but skeptical of outside control; reluctantly accepts Wang's reasoning after the explanation.

Significant Themes

• The strategic value and vulnerability of core corporate technologies.
• The tension between maintaining ownership/control versus acquiring cutting-edge external innovation.
• The importance of forward-looking investment in emerging tech (Carbon-Based Chips as the "new era").
• Risk-taking and decisive leadership in high-stakes business decisions.

Character Interactions

• Lu Zhou and Wang Zhengfei: A tense negotiation where Lu states his conditions, Wang hesitates in silence, and Lu nearly backs off — before Wang abruptly accepts.
• Wang Zhengfei and the Executive: A post-meeting car conversation where the executive challenges the decision and Wang justifies it with a simple, pragmatic answer: "Then now we do."

Wang Zhengfei agreed to share control of HiSilicon’s carbon-based semiconductor development with Starry Sky Technology after deciding that Huawei could not afford to fall behind. After a vacation in France, Molina returned to Princeton, where she found Vera gravely ill and asked about Lu Zhou.

• Wang Zhengfei decided that partnering with Starry Sky Technology was better than letting competitors gain the carbon-based semiconductor technology.
• Molina spent seven days in France, where her grandfather tried to comfort her and hinted that he had something important to tell her.
• On her flight back to Princeton, Molina read about rapid progress in proving numerical values for ε and resolved to study Lu Zhou’s Hyperelliptic Curve Analysis Method.
• Molina returned to Princeton and found Vera pale and feverish; she noticed a red stain on the tissue Vera had used after coughing.
• Vera asked Molina to tell her about Jinling and Lu Zhou, and Molina asked whether he was doing well.

Lu Zhou discussed the connection between the Riemann Hypothesis and random Hermitian matrix eigenvalues with Luo Wenxuan, who related it to the BGS Conjecture. Lu Zhou proposed that the phenomenon might point to an unknown quantum system and asked Luo Wenxuan to collaborate.

• The Fifth-Largest Semiconductor Industrial Cluster was confirmed, with a restricted, centrally managed base established in Hubei Province.
• Luo Wenxuan directed students as they decorated his office for Christmas and considered using research funds to add a fireplace.
• Lu Zhou entered Luo Wenxuan’s office with Professor Faltings’s notes and showed him the research on the Riemann Hypothesis and physics.
• Luo Wenxuan read the notes and connected the random Hermitian matrix to the BGS Conjecture.
• Lu Zhou suggested the Riemann Hypothesis might correspond to an unknown quantum system and asked Luo Wenxuan to work with him.

Summary of Chapter: “Leaning on a Powerful Backer”

Key Plot Points

• Lu Zhou invites Senior Brother Luo Wenxuan to collaborate on a promising research lead that could reveal new physics.
• Luo immediately agrees, excited about the potential; the two divide the work: Lu Zhou focuses on the Riemann zeta function, Luo refines the theoretical physics side.
• Lu Zhou visits Luo’s lively, decorated office; in contrast, his own office is quiet and strictly academic.
• Before leaving, Lu Zhou awkwardly suggests decorating their office for the holidays, but receives no immediate response.
• After he leaves, his graduate students react with surprise and gossip about Lu Zhou’s personality and personal life.
• Han Mengqi privately thinks about the upcoming Christmas, her sister, and her own conflicted feelings.

Character Developments

• Lu Zhou: Shown as intellectually accomplished but socially awkward; makes an effort to connect with his team by suggesting office decorations, yet feels embarrassed by the silence.
• Luo Wenxuan: Enthusiastic, talented, and playful—jokes about misattributing a quote to Einstein; demonstrates strong collaborative spirit.
• Students: Revealed as gossipy but fond of Lu Zhou; they view him as distant yet human. Lin Yuxiang pretends to know him well; Zhao Huan deflates the gossip; Han Mengqi wrestles with inner turmoil.

Significant Themes

• Interdisciplinary collaboration between mathematics and physics.
• Contrast between academic intensity and social warmth.
• Awkwardness of senior scientists engaging with everyday office life.
• Quiet, unspoken romantic tension surrounding the holidays.

Character Interactions

• Luo and Lu Zhou negotiate roles, banter about scholarship, and share a friendly fist-bump.
• Lu Zhou makes a tentative, poorly-received suggestion to his students, highlighting the distance between him and his lab.
• Students giggle and speculate about Lu Zhou’s love life; Zhao Huan’s blunt remark ends the conversation.
• Han Mengqi’s private thoughts hint at personal complications regarding her sister and “that guy” (likely Lu Zhou).

Lu Zhou turned down a movie outing with his colleagues, then agreed to help his younger sister Xiao Tong with a difficult economics thesis. He asked her to submit the finished paper with him as the corresponding author and told her not to worry if her advisor objected.

• Luo Wenxuan awkwardly offered Lu Zhou a pair of midnight movie tickets, and Lin Yuxiang bought them after misunderstanding his intentions.
• Lin Yuxiang offered to go to the movie with Lu Zhou, but he refused, leaving Luo Wenxuan embarrassed and Kong Jie laughing.
• Xiao Tong video-called Lu Zhou to ask for a New Year's present and sent him her thesis assignment on welfare policy and the Bewley Model.
• Lu Zhou examined the assignment, agreed to collaborate with Xiao Tong on the mathematical principles, and told her to submit the paper with him as corresponding author.
• When Xiao Tong worried that her advisor might block her graduation, Lu Zhou told her, "Let him try."

Lu Zhou used his mathematical expertise and Xiao Ai to improve the model in Xiao Tong’s unfinished paper, then sent her the results within an hour. The chapter ended with him hesitating over his delayed takeout after learning it had been tested by Doctor Yan.

• After speaking with Xiao Tong, Lu Zhou began reviewing her paper and replaced its optimization method with a more efficient approach.
• Lu Zhou had Xiao Ai organize his calculations and test the new algorithm on the quantum computer, which showed a 21% gain in computational efficiency.
• Lu Zhou sent Xiao Tong the algorithm and mathematical model, and she replied with three question marks.
• Lu Zhou discovered that Wang Peng had collected his delivery and brought it to him because his security level had increased.
• Wang Peng told Lu Zhou that Doctor Yan had tested the food, leaving Lu Zhou unsure whether he wanted to eat it.

1. Key Plot Points / Events

• Lu Zhou, back home, sets aside his earlier suspicions about his takeout and eats the braised chicken rice, enjoying it thoroughly.
• In Oxford, Xiao Tong receives an email from her brother containing a Mathematical Models and algorithm that completely overturn her understanding of Functional Analysis, Statistics, and the Bewley Model, leaving her shocked—especially because it seems to have been done quickly.
• Senior colleague Ansley arrives to ask whether Xiao Tong can submit her paper before Christmas break ends, relaying Professor Foster’s offer to make the unsolved topic her doctoral research project.
• Xiao Tong confirms she can submit and politely refuses the offer, revealing she wants to go further—specifically to Princeton.
• She explains to Ansley why she must leave Oxford: she is tired of being treated as “Lu Zhou’s sister” and wants to earn recognition on her own merits.

2. Character Developments

• Xiao Tong shows significant growth: she moves from being passively grateful for her brother’s influence to actively rejecting the easy path of leveraging his reputation. She is determined to build a career where her own name matters, not just her family connection.
• She displays maturity and self-awareness: she acknowledges the privileges she has received, but does not want to remain under Lu Zhou’s shadow forever.
• Ansley is surprised and slightly admiring; she sees a side of Xiao Tong she hadn’t expected—a resolute, independent ambition.

3. Significant Themes

• Identity and independence: Xiao Tong’s struggle to be seen as herself rather than “Lu Zhou’s sister.”
• Merit vs. privilege: her desire to achieve something substantial, not merely receive opportunities because of her brother’s fame.
• Growth: the chapter’s title is reflected in Xiao Tong’s decision to leave a comfortable academic path and chase her own goals.
• Academic influence and reputation: how family connections shape opportunities in research life.

4. Character Interactions

• Lu Zhou: appears only briefly, alone, eating his dinner—his genius and influence affect the plot from afar.
• Xiao Tong & Ansley: the core conversation. Ansley tries to persuade her to stay, but Xiao Tong firmly explains her reasons and her plan to go to Princeton.
• Xiao Tong (implied) & Professor Foster: although Foster doesn’t appear, his repeated attempts to keep Xiao Tong under his supervision are discussed, and she declines through Ansley.
• Xiao Tong & Lu Zhou: their relationship is central offscreen—his work empowers her, but she now wants to step beyond his shadow.

Summary: "Installing a Fireplace"

(From the novel "I Like Academic Ace's Black Technology System")

1. Key Plot Points and Events

• After Christmas, a rare snowfall falls on Jinling; feeling nostalgic for his Princeton home, Lu Zhou decides to install a fireplace at home.
• Wang Peng asks if the heating is broken; Lu Zhou teases that he needs a bricklayer, and Wang Peng seriously offers to get experts from the General Staff, which Lu Zhou declines.
• Lu Zhou hires the interior design company that renovated the Jinling Institute for Advanced Study, and they treat him with extreme favoritism—sending fifteen designs and giving him a shockingly low quote (under ¥5,000) with a ¥20,000 handmade rug and other freebies.
• Lu Zhou notes his "Math is too good" and calls out the suspicious pricing, but the saleswoman smoothly insists it's their company policy.
• He chooses a design, and the fireplace is fully installed within three days. He lights it with smokeless charcoal and relaxes contentedly.
• His mother, Fang Mei, calls. Lu Zhou promises to drive home for the Lunar New Year instead of having his parents travel to him.

2. Character Developments

• Lu Zhou is revealed to be sentimental and a little homesick; he dislikes troubling others, making a fuss over trivial matters, and receiving special treatment—preferring to be treated as an ordinary person.
• He values family over career, recognizing that research can't always come first; although he deflects his mother's hints about marriage and children, he feels guilty about not being closer to his aging parents.
• Fang Mei (his mother) is warm, caring, and proud; she worries about his health and eating habits, gently pressures him about grandchildren, and only wants him to live happily.

3. Significant Themes

• The ordinary vs. the extraordinary: Despite being a world-class mathematician, Lu Zhou only wants simple comforts—a fireplace, a nap, a visit home—and is visibly uncomfortable with the "VIP treatment" he receives from the design company.
• Family and roots: Lu Zhou chooses to go home for New Year, emphasizing that family is more important than work; his mother's desire for him to settle down highlights the generational gap.
• Integrity and self-awareness: Lu Zhou refuses to waste "national resources" over a small matter and questions the unethical favoritism in the company's pricing.

4. Character Interactions

• Lu Zhou & Wang Peng: Lu Zhou teases him for being like "Doraemon" after Wang Peng seriously suggests the General Staff has bricklaying experts; the exchange shows their trust and Lu Zhou's fondness for his straightforward, reliable bodyguard.
• Lu Zhou & the saleswoman: A humorous exchange where her corporate pleasantries and "generous" discounts clash with Lu Zhou's shrewd mathematical sense; he is awkwardly torn between accepting a good deal and his conscience.
• Lu Zhou & Fang Mei: An affectionate, warm phone call—she worries about his health, offers to travel to him, and hints at grandchildren; he becomes "homesick" and promises to return for the holidays, visibly pained by her resigned "let's hope so."

Lu Zhou’s papers on the Quasi-Riemann Hypothesis and the Hyperelliptic Curve Analysis Method appeared in a special issue of Mathematical Annals, prompting widespread academic attention and celebrations at Jinling University. He estimated that he could solve the Riemann Hypothesis within three years and agreed to ask whether Jinling could host the next International Congress of Mathematicians.

• Mathematical Annals editor-in-chief Professor Saen informed Lu Zhou that his two papers had been published together in a special issue.
• The papers’ publication triggered a rush of submissions to mathematics journals and criticism of journals offering rapid, low-quality reviews.
• Dean Qin congratulated Lu Zhou and defended Jinling University’s public celebration of his achievement.
• Lu Zhou told Dean Qin that he expected to solve the Riemann Hypothesis within three years and might discuss his research at the next International Mathematical Olympiad conference.
• Dean Qin asked Lu Zhou to help Jinling pursue hosting the 2026 International Congress of Mathematicians, and Lu Zhou agreed to see what he could do.