Chapter 425: The Weight Within

After two consecutive days of overcast weather, the sky finally cleared, and the sunlight felt warm as it fell upon me.

Xu Qingzhou walked along the road in a leisurely manner. Seeing the scenery was quite nice, he snapped two photos and sent them to Song Yao to prove he had come out for some fresh air and wasn't just cooped up at home all day.

Professor Roberts and Horn had been very busy lately. He heard their project had entered its second stage and they were working on some algorithm or other, so he felt it wasn't the right time to disturb them.

Meanwhile, in a laboratory at MIT, two middle-aged men were discussing the formulas on a whiteboard. Seeing Professor Vincent return, one of them asked, "Did Xu Qingzhou agree?"

"He refused." Professor Vincent shook his head.

The thin, tall man looked indignant: "Ha, I said the Xia people couldn't be relied upon. We only need a scholar skilled in mathematics to assist us, and we even offered 15% of the shares. Is he still not satisfied?"

"No, perhaps it isn't a matter of profit. You know, he wants to solve the Riemann Hypothesis."

Professor Vincent shook his head.

"Heh, I believe he can handle this damn thing—provided he is God." The thin, tall man shrugged.

Professor Vincent knew the personality of this good friend of his; he wasn't very friendly toward Asians, especially when he had been rejected.

He changed the subject: "It seems we can only look for someone else now."

"Professor Valentin Diaz won't be free until at least March." The other man frowned and said.

"We can't delay any longer. News has come from Princeton that that guy Liren Kent is also working on a project in this area, and their progress is already several weeks ahead of ours."

Professor Vincent paused for a moment and said in a deep voice: "Of course, we don't need to be too pessimistic. We are all experts in batteries, especially in the treatment of lithium dendrites. We can complete most of the current work ourselves. Alright, let's pick up the pace."

"If we can solve the lithium dendrite issue this time, heh heh, we will never have to worry about funding again."

"This thing isn't simple. We should be more pragmatic and reduce the probability of lithium dendrite formation by another 10%."

Xu Qingzhou walked home. When he passed by KFC, he bought a burger and fried chicken again. Being home alone, dining lacked a sense of ritual, so he just ate something casual to fill his stomach.

Just as he reached his front door, he heard his stupid cat meowing inside.

Xu Qingzhou suddenly remembered that he seemed to have forgotten to pour cat food for Er Miao when he left at noon.

"Meow~"

Compared to its own cat food, Er Miao was more interested in the burger and fried chicken Xu Qingzhou had on the table.

Just as it prepared to pounce, it was grabbed by the scruff of its neck by Xu Qingzhou.

"This stuff isn't healthy; you can't eat it."

Xu Qingzhou carried Er Miao to the cabinet to find its cat food and then took it to its little nest. Since getting the automatic feeder, there was a fixed amount, and Er Miao was actually a bit thinner than before.

"Meow twice."

Xu Qingzhou played the villain again, holding a piece of cat food to tempt Er Miao.

It wasn't until Er Miao meowed lingeringly several times that he poured out a small bowl of cat food with a clatter. "The extra is an apology for forgetting to feed you today."

Perhaps it was because he was used to talking with Song Yao at home, but now that he was alone, he always liked to ramble a bit.

Although he could stay up late and play games at home, it was still more comfortable with two people.

If it weren't for Song Yao, he really would just be a homebody.

He finished the burger and half the fried chicken, then went downstairs to take out the trash, not even leaving the bones for Er Miao.

"Phew~ Time to get to work."

Xu Qingzhou sat down at his desk, tilted his head, and focused his gaze on the manuscript from noon.

【ξ(1/2+z)=∫0∞g(t)cot)dt+i∫0∞g(t)sinh(xt)sin(yt)dt,】

"It can be seen that on the critical axis x=0, v(0, y)=0, which allows ξ(z) to become a single-variable real-valued function."

"We can first use numerical calculations to plot the curves of these zeros. In this way, for all zeros with an order of about 2 or higher, the curves seem to be concave upward."

Every time he calculated, he would sigh that the Riemann Hypothesis was truly worthy of being the thing that had troubled people for a century and a half.

The calculations for every step were quite tedious.

By comparison, the previous Twin Prime Conjecture and such seemed a bit... simple?

Let's put it this way: if the Twin Prime Conjecture were a Nascent Soul-level cultivation art, then the Riemann Hypothesis would be at least at the Great Luo Golden Immortal level.

8:00 PM.

Xu Qingzhou let out a long breath, stood up to pour himself a glass of water, and took out his phone to check for messages.

Song Yao was still working overtime.

He thought for a moment and dialed Wang Xiaping.

"Mom~ Are you getting ready for work?"

"Qingzhou? I thought it was Xiao Yao—hasn't she returned from her business trip yet?"

Xu Qingzhou scooped up Er Miao, who was sleeping on the sofa, into his arms. "There are still seven or eight days left... No, can't I call home?"

"You can. At this hour, you should have eaten, right?"

"Yeah, I ate."

"When you're alone, cook something yourself; don't eat those fried foods all day... When are you two coming back for the New Year?"

"The New Year? That's still early, isn't it?" Xu Qingzhou was a bit surprised.

"The New Year is next month, and you call that early?"

Xu Qingzhou nodded: "Alright, when she gets back, we'll discuss when to buy the plane tickets."

"Come back as early as you can; the New Year only lasts a few days... Xu Lao, Xu Lao, hurry up, dawdling in the morning."

Xu Qingzhou sank into terrifying calculations.

Song Yao's side was no less busy; they were researching the acquisition of a financial company in Singapore this time.

Against the backdrop of declining global direct investment, Southeast Asia still maintained growth, with Singapore, Indonesia, and Malaysia attracting 80% of the investment volume.

The investment cases she had once seen in books were all materialized during this trip, and were even more complex.

Just speaking of investment or acquisition, it wasn't just about directly taking a stake or buying a company. Once you go abroad, it forms a cross-border supply chain. After crossing borders, it involves transactions and pricing between various companies, and one must also define the functional positioning of each entity, allocate appropriate assets, and additionally, handle various tax arrangements in the host country, and so on.

This was her first time participating in a large-scale international merger and acquisition case.

Every day when she opened her eyes, there were various reports that needed to be calculated and reports that needed to be submitted.

And besides her actual work, when she returned to the hotel, she would slightly extrapolate and compare the differences between domestic investment methods and the investments she was currently handling.

She would discover that there wasn't actually much essential difference between domestic companies and foreign companies; they weren't as professional or as rule-abiding as domestic hype suggested.

Stocks, derivatives, and the like were still things used by insiders to cut leeks in a vacuum.

Of course, it wasn't entirely the same, for instance, in the area of personnel management.

Most foreign enterprises would abide by contractual effects; they might not listen to what the management says, but they would generally follow the rules.

Many times, it was already eight or nine in the evening when she finished.

Due to employee issues at the company being acquired, the acquisition draft stalled. It was only after several days of negotiations that it was able to restart. Consequently, Song Yao's trip to Wall Street was ultimately delayed by several days, and she didn't return until January 28th.

Creak~

Just after putting her suitcase away, Xu Qingzhou was tackled onto the sofa by Song Yao.

"Xu Laoshi, I'm tired~"

Song Yao pressed her cheek against Xu Qingzhou's clothes. This was the first time they had been apart for so long since they got together.

"Get some good rest these two days."

Xu Qingzhou felt a pang of heartache. He helped the girl leaning on him tidy the hair on her face. After more than twenty days, he finally held his fragrant and soft girlfriend.

Song Yao rubbed against Xu Qingzhou twice and let out an "mm" sound in her nose. "Xu Laoshi, did you miss me?"

"No."

Xu Qingzhou laughed. At this moment, the school beauty's tone was soft, rarely showing such femininity.

Song Yao pursed her lips, staring at the boyfriend beneath her: "Really didn't?"

"I missed you every day. Every time I called, I wished I could fly over to be with you. Hiss~ I already admitted it, why are you still using your hands~"

Xu Qingzhou grinned.

Song Yao hummed. It was confirmed: Xu Qingzhou had a constitution where he was happy only when he was being beaten.

Xu Qingzhou hugged the girl again and said, "I've booked the plane tickets; we're going home on the 27th of the twelfth lunar month."

"Mm, my mom called this morning to ask about that too. I've been missing them a bit."

The two felt each other's body temperature and familiar scent.

Er Miao circled the sofa twice, finally discovering it was still too crowded.

Sometimes, a hug is truly more useful than a thousand words.

However...

The faint scent of gardenias on the school beauty drilled into the tip of his nose, hooking up all the restraint he had held back during this time like a hook.

He took a deep breath, suppressing the restlessness in his body.

This girl looked very tired...

He patted Song Yao's back and said softly, "I'll go cook..."

Then, Xu Qingzhou saw Song Yao had already climbed up from him, gathered her hair together, tied it up, her gaze burning, and slowly pressed down.

This scene was a bit familiar.

Meeting Song Yao's fiery gaze, Xu Qingzhou's body shuddered, and he had the illusion that he was about to be eaten.

"Be gentle~"

The next day.

Xu Qingzhou woke up groggily. Checking the time, it was only 8:30 in the morning.

The school beauty hadn't woken up yet. Perhaps disturbed by him, she burrowed into his arms and let out a humming sound.

"This girl..."

Xu Qingzhou gently helped her brush her hair aside.

For a moment, a sense of trance arose again.

His thoughts drifted far away, thinking of the first time they met, three or four years ago. That was when he had just been reborn, standing by a tree smoking, and the school beauty's cold, aloof appearance was still vivid in his mind.

He never would have imagined that the two of them would end up lying in the same bed.

Thinking and thinking, Xu Qingzhou thought of the Riemann Hypothesis he was currently conquering. During this time, he had made significant progress.

He had already climbed halfway up the second mountain.

In the process of proving the second proposition, Xu Qingzhou introduced two inequalities. Currently, the most difficult part should be the calculation of non-trivial zeros.

Here, he spent nearly 10 days perfecting a tool to hunt for zeros—the z(t) formula.

He simplified the computationally intensive Riemann-Siegel formula to: z(t)=2cos【o(t)】+r(t).

But the troublesome part was that the zeros estimated this way had an error of about 3%, so Xu Qingzhou's next task was to find a way to reduce the error.

Xu Qingzhou was pondering the next steps when the girl in his arms let out another murmur.

Song Yao had woken up.

"What are you doing?" Seeing Xu Qingzhou staring at her, Song Yao yawned, her eyes bleary with sleep.

Xu Qingzhou glanced at the school beauty—her collarbones were delicate, her chest was rising, and there were many red marks on her originally snow-white skin. "You're shaking me."

Song Yao's face darkened. She gave her boyfriend, who spoke without thinking, a punch and said unhappily, "If you're awake, get up quickly. I've only been gone a few days, and the house is already a mess."

"Let's sleep a while longer."

Xu Qingzhou pressed down on the corner of the quilt, not wanting to get up.

"Are you a pig?" Song Yao rambled, planning to take a shower first. She felt a bit sticky all over and not comfortable at all.

"Heh heh, otherwise how could I have arched into you, this big cabbage?"

Xu Qingzhou squinted, examining his girlfriend's graceful figure, his gaze finally lingering on those flawless, jade-like long legs.

Leg beauty.

Song Yao was just putting on her pajamas when she turned her head and saw Xu Qingzhou staring at her lecherously. Her teeth felt a bit itchy, so she climbed onto the bed and pinned Xu Qingzhou down.

"Kissing me early in the morning." Xu Qingzhou had been wrapped in the quilt, and now he couldn't move at all, feeling a bit like he was trapped in a cocoon of his own making.

"I'll stink you to death!"

Song Yao pressed Xu Qingzhou's head down and kissed him several times before she was satisfied and went to take a shower.

"Female hooligan."

Xu Qingzhou sighed endlessly as he leaned on the bed. The school beauty had now completely let herself go.

The sound of rushing water soon came from the bathroom.

"This..."

Hearing the sound, Xu Qingzhou suddenly had motivation again. He did a fish-flop, climbed out of bed, too lazy to even put on clothes, and walked out of the bedroom naked.

"Xu Qingzhou!"

Song Yao's angry voice came from the bathroom.

"Let's wash together; save water."

"Who wants to wash with you, woo~"

In the morning, the two planned to simply tidy up the house...

Song Yao made the bed. When she came out, she saw Xu Qingzhou sprawled out on the sofa, looking exhausted. She pulled her feet out of her fuzzy slippers and nudged him. "Xu Qingzhou, are you okay?"

"..."

"Someone didn't have this expression when they were begging for mercy just now..."

Xu Qingzhou muttered in a low voice, but under Song Yao's threatening gaze, his voice grew smaller and smaller.

Song Yao glared fiercely at Xu Qingzhou, complaining to herself that this guy had the nerve to say that, being such a lecher early in the morning...

She heard the washing machine stop and raised her chin at the person on the sofa. "The clothes are done."

"Going to hang them now."

Xu Qingzhou hung the clothes and squeezed in next to Song Yao.

"It's so crowded." Song Yao was chatting with Ding Jiahui. Although she complained, she still leaned into Xu Qingzhou's arms, found a comfortable position, and continued typing.

Xu Qingzhou watched the two sisters chat, fiddled with Song Yao's long hair for a while, and suggested: "About what I said last time, should we buy a car for getting around?"

When the two were together, Xu Qingzhou could never sit still; he was always handsy, touching this and that, or just playing with Song Yao's hair.

"Buying a car... if..."

Song Yao thought about it and felt it was feasible. Having a car here would be much more convenient, and they could also drive around to play in the areas around Boston. "Let's buy a used car; we won't be here for many years anyway."

"Alright." Xu Qingzhou nodded.

Song Yao opened the chat interface with Kaelier and said: "Then I'll ask Kaelier; she bought her car at a used car market."

Xu Qingzhou had no objections.

Buying the car was decided in half an hour.

Kaelier did indeed have a friend who sold used cars, so they discussed going to take a look tomorrow morning.

In the afternoon, the two were too lazy to go out, so they huddled on the sofa playing games.

(End of chapter)