The origin of the sketch in Professor Abel's notes was a mystery.
It could be seen from the later part of the notes that this scholar seemed to have entrusted everything in his dream to God and completely gave up on the search for clues.
Considering the background of the era, this was actually understandable.
Even though Lu Zhou was an atheist, this didn't prevent him from understanding Professor Abel's mentality.
Entrusting unknown mysteries to a powerful existence was a common trait of human civilization.
In fact, wasn't Lu Zhou the same? Assuming that the system came from a "higher civilization" or a "person from the future" wasn't necessarily better than entrusting this hypothesis to the "spirit of the universe".
Anyway, there was no reliable scientific evidence to prove that these three things existed, right?
In short, it was unknown if Abel had gotten rid of the bizarre dream or if he had chosen not to think about it anymore, but the latter part of the notebook had completely turned into thinking about the problem of "there is no algebraic general solution to a quintic equation".
Even without the notes, Lu Zhou knew what happened next.
Professor Abel achieved great success in 1824, and he completed a series of mathematical achievements such as the "Abel theorem".
However, these achievements didn't improve his life, and they didn't even attract the attention of the Paris mathematics community.
Finally, in the spring of 1829, he died of an illness in his fiancée's home. Most of the records about him came from the anthology published for him by his teacher, Professor Holm, ten years later.
It was as if the world depicted in the sketch had never existed in history.
All the clues related to it had been cut off by that oil painting …
Molina stood at the gate of the courtyard and looked at Lu Zhou walking out of the house. She put down her crossed arms and spoke.
She put down her arms and asked, "Where do you plan on going next? I can stay with you until the afternoon. "
Lu Zhou: "Let's call it a day."
Molina raised her eyebrows.
"That's enough?"
Lu Zhou smiled and nodded.
"Yeah, I stayed up all night last night, and I have to go on a long trip tomorrow. I should go back and rest."
After saying goodbye to Molina, Lu Zhou got into Wang Peng's car and returned to his hotel.
He rested for the whole day.
Early the next morning, a black limousine from the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs stopped at the entrance of the hotel and picked up Lu Zhou.
The town they were going to was located in the south of France, not far from Paris. If they planned to return on the same day, the earlier they set off, the better.
Before getting in the car, Lu Zhou thought that the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs would arrange a bodyguard and a tour guide for him. He did not expect to be accompanied by Director Giacobino of the French Ministry of Science and Technology.
Simply put, this position was equivalent to a deputy minister in charge of basic scientific research in China's Ministry of Science and Technology.
Lu Zhou didn't know much about administrative ranks. He didn't even know what rank he was as the chief designer and consultant of the Lunar Orbit Committee. However, before he left, he heard from the old man that Director Giacobino, who came to pick him up, should be on the same level as Xiao Li.
Lu Zhou guessed that the old man was referring to Director Li.
In any case, his level was not low.
Other than the polite greetings before getting in the car, there wasn't much communication on the way.
Lu Zhou, who got in the car with a book, didn't seem to be in the mood to chat at all. He just quietly flipped through the book in his hand. This made Giacobino, who wanted to have a good relationship with the "leading figure" in China academia, feel quite troubled.
He glanced at the time on his watch and saw that there wasn't much time left. He gave the driver a look and told him to drive a little slower. He then looked at Lu Zhou, who was sitting across from him, and spoke with a smile.
"Harvest and Sowing, interesting name, is it a poem?"
Lu Zhou flipped a page and spoke in a relaxed tone.
"Strictly speaking, it's an autobiography."
Autobiography?
Giacobino thought for a while and couldn't remember anything. He hesitated for a moment and continued to speak.
"Who is its author?"
"Professor Grothendieck, I don't know when it was written … Do you need me to read it to you?"
Giacobino smiled and spoke.
"There aren't many opportunities to listen to Academician Lu's lectures."
Lu Zhou looked at Director Giacobino with a smile on his face and smiled.
He knew exactly why Lu Zhou was trying to please Lu Zhou.
But even though he saw through Lu Zhou, he wasn't stupid enough to expose Lu Zhou.
Clearing his throat, he selected his favorite passage and read it aloud in a steady voice.
"Every science, when we do not use it as a tool for ability and dominance, but as an adventure for knowledge that we humans have been striving to pursue for generations, we can get a pure harmony from it. This harmony from one period to another, more or less, is huge and rich. And in different eras and centuries, they show us different themes, as well as the subtle and delicate correspondence … as if from the void. "
As if from the void …
Lu Zhou read this sentence twice. The first time was in French, and the second time was a translation based on his own understanding. He felt that every time he read it, he could feel the meaning behind it.
What is the void?
Lu Zhou had been thinking about this question.
However, for Giacobino, it was a bit difficult to empathize with Lu Zhou. He was more surprised by Lu Zhou's French.
The two had been communicating in English, so he didn't know that Professor Lu was fluent in French.
"Your French is very fluent, when did you start learning it? When you worked at CERN? "
Lu Zhou shook his head gently.
"About last month."
Giacobino: "…?"
Accurately speaking, he only started learning it at the end of last month when he decided to come to France.
Of course, there was no need to say this out loud. Otherwise, Lu Zhou wasn't sure if his jaw would drop to his knees.
Seeing the stunned expression on Director Giacobino's face, Lu Zhou smiled faintly and ignored him. He continued to read the autobiography in his hand.
Just as the two of them couldn't continue their conversation, the driver sitting in the front row spoke up.
"We're here."
…
St. Lizier Church was located in the small town of Omites. It wasn't a famous tourist attraction; it was just a small church that locals would go to.
Standing at the door of the church, the old priest looked at Lu Zhou, who got out of the car. He recognized Lu Zhou's face at a glance and walked forward.
"You're finally here, I almost died because of you."
Looking at the old priest with wrinkles on his face, Lu Zhou was slightly stunned. He smiled a little embarrassedly.
"I'm sorry to have caused you trouble."
"Where's the letter?"
Lu Zhou took out the old envelope from his arms and handed it to the priest.
After opening the letter and glancing at it, the old priest confirmed that it was Professor Grothendieck's handwriting. He then returned the letter to Lu Zhou and said, "Professor Grothendieck begged me to give you his notes in person.
"Professor Grothendieck begged me to give his notes to you in person when he was alive. I thought that I could fulfill his wish eight years ago. I didn't expect that I would have to wait until I was eighty from seventy-two."
"… I'm really sorry."
The old priest snorted rudely and continued with a hoarse voice, "You don't have to apologize to me.
Anyway, even if you didn't come, I wouldn't be the one who lost. The person you stood up is lying in the ground. If you're embarrassed, go tell him. Do you need a bouquet of flowers? For ten euros, no matter what you did, the dead will forgive you. "
Lu Zhou was about to take out money, but he only found a credit card. Director Giacobino, who was standing next to him, noticed the embarrassment on his face. He quickly took out his wallet and looked at the old priest with a serious face.
"Please give me two bouquets! Professor Grothendieck is a great scholar. His departure is a loss to the world and the French people. And we owe him an apology … "
Because Professor Grothendieck was born in an era of war, he had always been a radical pacifist. It was precisely because of this that he and the Institute for Advanced Studies in Paris had serious disagreements and conflicts on the issue of "whether mathematics should be used for war purposes". This eventually led to him going to a small village in southern France to live a secluded life …
This was all in the past.
The old man looked at Giacobino, who "seemed" to have a heavy expression. He snorted and threw out a meaningful sentence with a faint smile.
"If you really think so, you wouldn't have come eight years later."
After that, he ignored the awkward expression on Director Giacobino's face. He turned around and walked to the back door of the church. He reached out and pushed open the wooden door leading to the cemetery.
"Please come in, distinguished guests. His tombstone is in the third row, second from the left."
Lu Zhou nodded and walked in the direction of the wooden door.
But when he passed by the door, the old priest suddenly reached out and pulled Lu Zhou's arm.
"Wait a minute, this is for you."
As he spoke, he took out a notebook from his hand.
Lu Zhou took the slightly yellowed notebook from the old priest's hand. He held it in his hand and carefully opened the title page.
"Is this Professor Grothendieck's notebook?"
To be honest, Lu Zhou was a little surprised that there was only so little.
The old priest: "There are others, but he said this one is the most important, so I put it in the church. I don't understand the things in it, but according to him, it is a mathematical problem that has not been solved. "
"He has always wanted to find someone to help him. He used to like Deligné and also considered a German named Schulz, but he hated Germans and thought he was too young … I don't know why, but when he was dying, he finally chose you, who he had never met."
Lu Zhou felt the historical weight of this notebook, so he didn't flip through it. Instead, he put it in his pocket and spoke solemnly to the old man.
"Thank you for keeping it for me for so long."
The old priest snorted through his nose at this thank you, and still spoke bluntly and profusely.
"You're welcome. You're rich, right? If you want to thank me, you might as well donate some money to me. This church hasn't been renovated for fifty years."
Lu Zhou paused for a second, then smiled and nodded.
"No problem."
Compared to those complicated mathematical problems.
This was the only thing that was trivial to him.
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