Chapter 1394: Birthday Wishes
Inside a Zhongshan International mansion.
After finis.h.i.+ng a day of work and returning home, Lu Zhou opened the door and watched a drone fly toward him.
Xiao Ai: [Master!]
Lu Zhou’s hair was blown to the side by the airflow of the drone. He looked at Xiao Ai with a dazed expression.
“What’s going on?”
Xiao Ai: [There is a weird woman that did strange things as soon as she walked in.]
Strange things?
Lu Zhou took off his shoes and was about to go to the kitchen. He heard light footsteps coming from the corner of the corridor.
“You’re back?”
Chen Yushan walked out of the kitchen with a plate of braised fish in her hand. She had a heart-warming smile on her face as she joked, “I’m borrowing your kitchen for a while, is that okay?”
“I’m sure every man would be fine with this…” Lu Zhou said, “You got off work early today?”
“I wanted to surprise you, so I returned early.”
“Surprise?”
“Don’t tell me you forgot your own birthday?”
Birthday?
Instantly, a moment of realization appeared on Lu Zhou’s face.
Chen Yushan smirked and spoke.
“So you did forget, at least I remembered.”
“Yushan…”
“Ah… Don’t be so cringy.” Chen Yushan couldn’t help but cringe when she heard her name. She said, “Go wash your hands and get ready to eat!”
Lu Zhou nodded and spoke with a smile.
“Okay! I’ll go right now!”
Xiao Ai: [(╯‵□′)╯(┴─┴]
The candles were inserted into the cake, followed by a birthday song.
Lu Zhou looked at the number printed on the candles and made a birthday wish. He felt a little emotional in his heart.
Time flies.
Although this was not the first time he felt this way, the moment the candle was blown out, he felt like an old man.
In the blink of an eye, he had already gone from being a young student to an old scholar.
Fortunately, these past twelve years of his life were not wasted.
One could say he had accomplished quite a lot for his age.
“What did you wish for?”
Lu Zhou put his folded hands together and spoke with a smile.
“Isn’t there a saying that the wish won’t come true if I tell anyone?”
Chen Yushan said happily, “Of course not! We can achieve your wish together, isn’t that double the chance?”
Lu Zhou said with a smile, “Then I’ll say it.”
Chen Yushan nodded.
“Yeah! Say it!”
Lu Zhou closed his eyes.
He put his hands together and made the wish again.
“I want to use the money I have earned over the years to do something that is beneficial to society. For example… Like an old man suggested to me, set up an award in my own name to encourage young scholars.”
In fact, this idea was not created in the heat of the moment; it had been in his mind since a long time ago.
He made up his mind back at Lake Mälaren.
After hearing Lu Zhou’s wish, Chen Yushan pouted.
“I thought it would be related to me.”
Lu Zhou looked at Chen Yushan and smiled.
“Everything is related to you. I hope to show that through my sincerity, not just through a birthday wish.”
“When did you become so charming?”
After thinking about this seriously for a moment, Lu Zhou spoke.
“I am?”
“…”
Chen Yushan turned her head away; her cheeks were burning red.
Although she was not the type who was easily charmed, she always felt that it was very rea.s.suring to watch him say those words seriously.
It was like turning on a switch in her heart.
Ahhhhhh…
I love him so much!
Lu Zhou: “…?”
After the candles were blown, it was time to cut the cake.
However, Lu Zhou didn’t want to eat the cake at all.
Because just a few feet away was a table full of food. Just smelling it made him salivate, not to mention the visual impact; it almost looked like something out of a cartoon.
If there was a rating system for food, Lu Zhou was certain that this would be under the “excellent” or “perfect” category.
After the sumptuous dinner, the two of them sat on the sofa with their shoulders leaning against each other, just like any other couple.
Xiao Ai was responsible for tidying up the table.
Chen Yushan looked at the TV. She seemed to be thinking about something as she suddenly spoke.
“You won’t be back until the end of the year from Mars.”
“Yeah.” Lu Zhou nodded. He turned his face to look at her and said, “We’ll get married as soon as we come back, okay?”
“No, that’s not sincere at all.”
Lu Zhou didn’t expect Chen Yushan to refuse.
“Then… What about—”
“No!” Chen Yushan’s index finger pressed on Lu Zhou’s lips and interrupted him. She rolled her eyes and glared at him. She said, “Make a promise to me!”
“Um… Okay.” Lu Zhou said with a current of warmth in his stomach, “I promise to make you happy for the rest of our lives.”
Chen Yushan smirked.
“Hm, I’ll remember this… Pinky promise.”
Lu Zhou smiled and held his right hand.
“Pinky promise.”
…
Schultz moved to the Jinling launch site and joined the training program. After the successive arrivals of representatives from other countries, Lu Zhou finally met all of the expedition members he was about to lead.
Although all of them were strangers, they got along smoothly.
After all, this was for the future of human civilization. Everyone had fully devoted themself to the pre-launch preparations.
As the day of departure approached, Lu Zhou’s usual work started getting busier. However, he still spent as much time as possible accompanying his fiancee.
At the same time, the discussions on the Internet were constantly fermenting.
In particular, the list of “diplomatic corps” that represented human civilization to Mars for the exchange with the extraterrestrial civilization had not yet been announced. Many people were guessing who would be in the diplomatic corps.
“I’m guessing a member of the LSPM research team must go! I don’t know if you guys have noticed, but the extraterrestrial civilization seemed to have pointed out that they will only communicate with the person who solves the ABC conjecture.”
“I’m guessing it will be Academician Lu, the pinnacle of human civilization… Apart from him, I can’t think of anyone more suitable to represent the highest level of human spirit.”
“No way! If I were high up in the state, I would definitely not allow him to go!”
“Hehe, unfortunately, you are not.”
“Could it be Perelman? We have a good relations.h.i.+p with Russia, and he seems to have worked at Jin Ling University. Maybe they’ll send him up.”
“Probably not him, he… doesn’t seem interested. His mental condition is also unstable. Who dares to send him?”
“Doesn’t matter if he’s interested, if I were Putin—”
“Enough enough, you can’t just force people to go to Mars.”
“…”
The controversy became stronger and stronger as the scope gradually expanded.
The soon-to-be-established “Human Alliance” had also attracted the attention of many people and became a topic of interest.
Prior to this, the shared future of mankind had always been an abstract concept, but now, it had been given a realistic meaning.
Many radical social scientists even put forward bold ideas.
The exchange with extraterrestrial civilizations would not only greatly enhance the technological level of the two civilizations and promote new art forms, but could even completely change the political environment on Earth and change the concept of traditional boundaries.
For example, Professor Camilla Iwen, a well-known scholar of economics and sociology at the University of Cambridge, expressed optimistic opinions in an interview.
“All of the achievements that human society has achieved so far are driven by imagination. Contact with extraterrestrial civilizations will broaden our imagination to a new dimension. We’ll discover a group of beings smarter than us in a corner of the universe.
“And their production economics will be something we have never seen before.”
In addition to the upcoming second round of Mars landing missions, the China Lunar Orbit Committee also announced the second batch of large-scale immigration plans for Guanghan City.
This time, the scale of immigration was 500 people.
Although there wasn’t an obvious cause and effect, people still clearly felt that the discovery of the extraterrestrial civilization seemed to have made China’s development of lunar resources move into the fast lane.
Many people feel a trace of complex emotions in their hearts.
As if to cater to this sentiment, a popular article on WeChat entered the attention of most people, causing people to think about the future…