The air instantly froze.
It was as if time had stopped.
Two ladies who were walking together happened to pass by. They looked at the two of them with interest and whispered with smiles on their faces.
Although it was impolite to make a ruckus in public, no one would blame a girl who had worked hard to muster up her courage because of this monotonous and emotional confession.
Of course, there were also men who looked at Lu Zhou with murderous eyes …
In the crowded open-air parking lot, the two of them stood there, speechless.
Her previous scream seemed to have exhausted all of Vera's courage.
Her cheeks, which were hidden under her golden hair, gradually turned from white to red. Her cheeks were so hot that they were like a boiling boiler, as if they would spew out steam in the next second.
Even when she was a substitute teacher, she had never spoken in such a loud voice.
She had never confessed to anyone before.
Will he say yes?
Or will he reject?
What if he's rejected?
Suddenly, thousands of thoughts flashed through the girl's mind.
However, these questions were far more complicated than the Collatz conjecture, and she couldn't figure out a single answer.
After all, this was the first time she had ever fallen in love.
As for Lu Zhou …
He was standing there with a dumbfounded look on his face.
The astonished expression on his face gradually disappeared. He was silent for a while before he spoke in a calm voice.
"Sorry, I can't say yes."
The moment she heard this, her sapphire-like pupils were stained with a layer of mist.
Vera gently bit her lower lip and buried her head even lower. She whispered in a voice as soft as a mosquito, "You … already have someone you like?"
Lu Zhou: "Not yet."
Or rather, because he had never had someone before, he had forgotten what it felt like to fall in love with someone.
Now that he thought about it, he had never fallen in love with anyone before.
Perhaps, accepting her confession was a good choice.
After all, he was already 25 years old, and it was time for him to think about his other half.
Like Newton or Hardy, he seemed to be able to live alone for the rest of his life. He didn't have any particular obsession with having children.
After all, compared to a piece of ancestral DNA, there were more valuable things to keep.
Although he thought so, according to China's tradition, if he really did that, his father would probably die of anger.
Living in this world, one had to consider others more or less.
Even so, he knew that casually making a promise was the greatest form of irresponsibility.
In any case, in another hour, he would be on a flight back home.
Mustering all her courage, Vera raised her head and stared straight into Lu Zhou's eyes.
From those black eyes, she did not see any evasive look.
However, it was also because of this that the setback of being rejected made her even more depressed.
A trace of sadness flashed in her sapphire eyes, and Vera gradually lowered her head.
"Am I too ugly …?"
Lu Zhou shook his head. "How could that be?"
If this was considered ugly, then there probably weren't many people in this world who could call themselves beautiful.
Although her body was a bit thin, there was no doubt that she was a beautiful girl based on her facial features.
At least that was what Lu Zhou thought.
Vera whispered, "Then … is it because of your breasts?"
Lu Zhou coughed and said, "How is that possible?"
Speaking of which, why did he suddenly bring up such a private topic?
Although he didn't understand it very well, was love directly related to breasts?
"Then … why?" Vera raised her head and looked at Lu Zhou with a puzzled expression. "If you are worried about my identity, I am no longer your student. And I clearly … "
Her head gradually lowered. She stared at the tips of her shoes and spoke in a wronged voice.
"… I've already endured until now."
Lu Zhou went silent for a while.
He looked at Vera, who had her head buried, and thought for about five minutes before he slowly spoke.
"You are a cute girl."
When Vera heard Lu Zhou use the word "cute" to describe her, she felt her cheeks heat up.
She didn't know what to say. Lu Zhou continued to speak.
"The reason why I can't respond to your confession is not because you used to be my student, nor does it have anything to do with what you are thinking.
"It's because I don't have the energy to focus on relationships —"
"I won't hold you back." Vera interrupted Lu Zhou and said, "I can accompany you in your research. I will work hard to catch up to you … I don't need you to spend a lot of time on me, as long as you are willing to let me stay by your side."
Lu Zhou quietly waited for Vera to finish speaking. He looked into her eyes and said in a serious manner, "It's not that I'm worried that you will hold me back, but I don't want to hold you back."
The silence lasted for about five minutes.
After that, there was no more communication between the two.
Suddenly, Lu Zhou saw her thin lips move.
However, because her voice was too soft, he didn't hear what she said.
Just when Lu Zhou was about to ask, Vera suddenly raised her head and stared at him with an aura that he had never seen before.
"I won't give up …"
The girl's eyes were filled with unprecedented courage.
For Lu Zhou, this was the first time he saw such an expression on her face.
"You said that if I win the Fields Prize, no matter how willful my request is, you will agree to it."
Did I say that?
Lu Zhou carefully recalled the past, but his memory of this part was quite thin.
She must have said it casually during a casual conversation. After all, Vera, who was always timid and afraid of strangers, didn't seem like someone who would make a willful request.
However, what he didn't expect was that not only did she take it seriously, but she also remembered it until now.
"Oh yeah?" Lu Zhou smirked and said, "If you haven't given up by then, I'll agree to it."
The Rio de Janeiro mathematicians conference had just ended less than a year ago. The next conference would be held in four years.
Not to mention, the Fields Prize wasn't easy to win.
Although she solved the Collatz conjecture and improved the Group Structure Method to a certain extent, she didn't make any eye-catching results.
Perhaps in the eyes of outsiders, solving an unsolved mathematical conjecture was an amazing thing.
However, in contrast, the mathematics community valued the mathematical methods created in the process of solving a conjecture.
Because of this, there was a point of view in the number theory community that Lu Zhou was the biggest contributor to solving the Collatz conjecture. Because of this, when he submitted the opening report, it was obvious that he had a clear and logical idea on how to solve this conjecture.
However, Lu Zhou didn't agree with this point of view.
Therefore, even if she had the potential to compete for the Fields Prize, she would have to wait seven or eight years before she could win a Fields Prize medal.
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