Chapter 560: When I Grow Up, I Want to Be a Scientist Too
Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations
Beijing.
Inside an ordinary apartment in the 3rd Ring Road region.
A family of four sat around the table while eating dinner in a lively atmosphere.
If this were previous years, there would be someone else sitting here.
But that person was in Haizhou, Jiangsu, and hadn’t come back yet.
“Grandma, what about Grandpa? Is he not eating with us?”
The little girl with a ponytail tilted her head and spoke quietly.
Wu Haiyan had a head of white hair. She looked at her dear granddaughter and smiled.
“Darling, you miss Grandpa?”
“Yeah!” The little girl nodded and said, “Where is Grandpa?”
Wu Haiyan had a kind smile on her face as she touched her granddaughter’s hair and spoke in a loving voice.
“Your grandpa is planting a sun.”
The little girl blinked innocently and asked curiously, “Planting a sun? Does that exist?”
“Yes it does, darling.” Wu Haiyan smiled and said, “Your grandpa is a scientist, there isn’t anything he can’t do.”
Pan Gaoyang was sitting at the dinner table eating. He looked at his daughter and his mom. He then said, “Dad has already retired, why is he still so busy. It’s New Year’s Eve tomorrow.”
Wu Haiyan knew what her son was thinking. She sighed and said, “After all, that’s your father’s dream.”
Pan Gaoyang said, “I know, but he doesn’t have to be this busy, does he?”
Even though he was questioning his father’s actions, he actually understood why his father was doing this.
Just like his mom said, this was his father’s dream, and his father had been fighting for this his entire life.
However, controllable fusion was still the science of the future. Any type of advanced research was difficult.
Even westerners were puzzled with this stuff. It wasn’t an easy task to catch up and be at the forefront of the world.
The hands on the clock on the wall finally hit 7 o’clock. The television news broadcast played in the background.
Pan Gaoyang hadn’t watched TV in a long time, so he didn’t pay attention nor was he interested in the news.
However, he suddenly heard his daughter exclaim.
“Wow! It’s Grandpa! Grandpa is on TV!”
Grandpa is on TV?
Pan Gaoyang was stunned, and he quickly looked at the television screen.
A short film of the demonstration reactor control room was being shown on TV.
Wait, that old man in the gray jacket with tears running down his face… Isn’t that my dad?
Fusion ignition experiment?
Connected to the power grid within this year?
How come I’ve never heard Dad talk about this before?
Does this mean… they have succeeded?
Controllable fusion!
As Pan Gaoyang listened to the film narrator, he was completely shocked.
His daughter, who was sitting next to him, curiously watched the TV screen and spoke with a girly voice.
“That guy standing next to Grandpa, is that Professor Lu, the one Grandpa always talks about?”
“Guy?” Pan Gaoyang paused for a second. He looked at the young man through the TV screen and smiled. He said, “Yeah I think that’s him. He looks quite young.”
His wife, who was sitting next to him, jokingly said, “Look at him, winning the n.o.bel Prize in his twenties. What were you doing in your twenties?”
When Pan Gaoyang heard his wife’s roast, he smiled and put his hand on her shoulder.
“You don’t remember? I was chasing after you.”
Cui Xuefang looked into her husband’s eyes. She then blushed and rolled her eyes.
“Stop flirting.”
The little girl was still staring at the TV screen. She suddenly looked at her dad and said in a childish but serious voice, “Dad, I also want to become a scientist when I grow up.”
Pan Gaoyang smiled and rubbed his daughter’s head.
“Okay okay, I’ll support whatever you want to do! But being a scientist is no piece of cake.”
The little girl clenched her fists.
“I will try my best!”
Pan Gaoyang smiled and said, “Not bad, you’re ambitious. Since you’re so confident, how about you ace both of your next exams!”
…
While the news broadcast was happening, the STAR-2 demonstration reactor official Weibo account, which was created a few hours ago, sent out a post.
The post was unusually short for a celebratory post. It only contained five words.
[We Lived Up To Expectations!]
Within an hour of this post being sent out, several media outlets, including the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Everyone Daily, had re-posted the post and added their own captions for explanations.
This was just like the ignited fusion light.
It was almost like the news of the successful experiment grew a pair of wings as it flew at incredible speed all across the country.
Almost everyone who had seen this news was startled by it.
[F*ck me, controllable fusion!!! I can actually witness controllable nuclear fusion within my lifetime!!!]
[I just woke up and now I’m seeing news about a demonstration reactor fusion ignition. Shook. Can anyone tell me what year this is, and how long did I sleep for? Did I turn into Captain America?]
[Even though I have no idea what is going on, it seems impressive!]
[China has the best technology! (fist) (fist) (fist)]
[Thank you to all the scientists that are still working near the holidays! (touched) (touched) (touched)]
[Congratulations from Jin Ling University!]
[Congratulations from Jiangsu! I, for one, welcome the decrease in electricity prices. Take that, Zhejiang!]
[Congratulations from Zhejiang! Also, that person from Jiangsu, I’m sure our electricity prices will decrease as well.]
[Science is finally on trending!]
[How good is this?]
[…]
There were still opposing voices, questioning whether or not this was all worth it. They doubted whether the technology was really as good as was mentioned. They even doubted if the fusion ignition was successful at all…
However, these weren’t the mainstream opinions, and they would never become mainstream.
This was just like how scientific research was pure.
There would always be respect toward the exploration of the future.
After all, most people looked forward to the future.
Everyone Daily and the Chinese Academy of Sciences weren’t the only ones being flooded with comments.
After the world learned who the chief designer behind this demonstration reactor was, Lu Zhou’s comment section was blown up.
[G.o.d Lu is nutty!]
[Nutty!]
[Please have some respect! Stop calling him G.o.d Lu! Call him Chief Designer Lu!]
[G.o.d Lu is planting a sun for us!]
[He’s too good!!!]
[G.o.d Lu! G.o.d Lu, have you found a girlfriend yet? Have you thought about having a boyfriend?]
[? ? ?]
However, even though Professor Lu was usually pa.s.sionate about sharing his joy with fans, he didn’t interact with his fans at all this time.
Normally, if someone was calling him handsome in the comment section, he would secretly give the comment a like…
But today, no matter what kinds of witty compliments the fans gave to Lu Zhou… Lu Zhou was nowhere to be seen.
Maybe because he was too busy?
That was what most people were thinking.
After all, Lu Zhou wasn’t an ordinary mathematics professor anymore. He was responsible for scientific research projects worth hundreds of billions. Especially after he became the chief designer for the controllable fusion project, he probably didn’t have as much time to spend online.
However, surely Lu Zhou would look through the comments one day and smiled at them, right?
That’s what most people thought.
However, no one knew that their hero was lying in the bed of 301 Hospital, unconscious…