Chapter 525

Xu Qingzhou and Song Yao had already walked out of Wutong Residential Complex. It was the dead of winter, and the air was laced with a hint of winter's chill.

Festive red lanterns hung from the streetlamps on both sides of the street, and occasionally, the sound of firecrackers could be heard from within the residential complex.

"I've arranged to meet Ding Jiahui and the others on the third day of the Lunar New Year to have hot pot."

"That's great. It's been another half a year since we last met." Xu Qingzhou nodded.

They usually kept in touch online and occasionally made video calls, just knowing that both of them had been poisoned quite badly by society.

Of course, he felt this might be a common sentiment among corporate slaves; having just graduated, they all had to adapt.

The two of them walked slowly along the road, enjoying the rare, leisurely time.

"Is your model for the Higgs boson partner particle finished?" Song Yao held Xu Qingzhou's arm, her gaze looking into the distance. Compared to when they returned in July or August, the street had already taken on a different appearance.

"How could it be that fast?"

Xu Qingzhou sighed and said in a deep voice, "I have some ideas, but the computational volume is quite large. Perhaps I'll need to use a supercomputer. That means I'll have to return to school."

That's right, he was now considering the matter of the Higgs boson partner particle again.

Richard had sent an email a few days ago saying that the new round of experiments at the LHC had ended, but they still hadn't been able to find the partner particle Xu Qingzhou had mentioned, and they would conduct the final round of experiments next month.

If the results remained the same, this project would be postponed.

LHC resources were limited, and they couldn't devote all their time to searching for the partner particle.

Xu Qingzhou wasn't surprised; this was a normal phenomenon.

It took 48 years just for the Higgs particle to go from theoretical proposal to experimental discovery, because it involved theoretical refinement, technological breakthroughs—such as superconducting magnets, particle accelerator technology, and so on—as well as challenges like international cooperation and resource integration.

Most importantly, in ultra-high-energy collisions, the production probability of Higgs particles is also very low; the LHC only produces about one Higgs particle for every 10^12 proton-proton collisions, requiring the accumulation of massive amounts of data and complex statistical analysis to confirm.

Richard had no choice but to approach Xu Qingzhou again, hoping Xu Qingzhou could think of a way.

This was equivalent to having a treasure laid bare before one's eyes, visible but unattainable.

Thinking about going home for the New Year, besides accompanying his parents, there really didn't seem to be anything else to do, so Xu Qingzhou indicated that he could give it a try.

Afterward, Richard sent the data over.

The data was dozens of times larger than before, which actually provided quite a bit of convenience for Xu Qingzhou.

In two days, he already had some ideas, correcting the mass of the Higgs partner particle using high-order Feynman diagram calculations, including perturbation expansion, divergent integrals, and renormalization group equations (RGE), as well as adjustments involving group theory and supersymmetric analysis.

Quite complex.

Anyway, just treat it as passing the time.

The two of them walked slowly, turning left from Wutong Street toward Nanlin Road. Unknowingly, the snack street they used to frequent often was already very lively, perhaps due to the New Year, with people coming and going.

Moreover, besides snacks, its functions were more comprehensive than before; perfume, bags, jade pendants, everything was there.

Whether intentional or not, the two of them stepped toward the snack stalls.

Passing by a milk tea stall, Song Yao turned her head and asked Xu Qingzhou, "Do you want to drink milk tea?"

"If you want to drink it, just buy it; don't pin the blame for your decadence on me." Xu Qingzhou saw through Song Yao's routine at a glance.

Song Yao pouted, complaining that this guy didn't know how to play along with her. She looked at the blackboard, then said to the young girl running the stall, "One cup of hand-shaken lemon tea."

"Two cups," Xu Qingzhou said from the side.

"I can't finish two cups."

Song Yao muttered softly.

Xu Qingzhou reminded her, "This isn't at home; you don't need to pretend to be a lady."

Song Yao was gentle and virtuous in front of her parents, pinching her voice and calling them "Uncle" and "Auntie"—who could tell that this young lady usually lorded it over him?

"I'm not pretending!"

Song Yao glared, paused, and said distressfully, "I have to eat a lot of meat during the New Year, so I need to control my sugar intake in advance."

"You really don't need to lose weight."

Xu Qingzhou comforted her, "If you're thin, you're my little sweetheart; if you're fat, you're my fatty liver."

"..."

Where did this guy learn such disgusting, cheesy pickup lines?

"Aren't you supposed to be very moved right now?"

"Shut up!"

When the two young people returned home, it was already 3:00 PM. Old Xu and Old Song had set up the chessboard, while Wang Xiaping and Zhang Junli were already busy in the kitchen, preparing to personally cook the first New Year's Eve dinner for both families.

At 6:00 PM, the sky was darkening, the festive lights were just lit, and fine, fragmented snow grains began to drift down, blowing against the glass with the howling cold wind. Inside the house, the fragrant food was already set on the table.

The New Year's Eve dinner was finished in a lively atmosphere.

Xu Qingzhou and Song Yao took on the task of washing the dishes, while the four middle-aged people started playing mahjong again.

12:30 AM.

After Song Yao and the Song couple left, the Xu family returned to its usual quietness.

"It's really nice."

Wang Xiaping closed the door, looking at the slightly messy living room after the gathering, very happy. In the past, during the New Year, she would often say there were too few people in the house, not even enough to make up a table for mahjong; now, it was much better.

Xu Qingzhou picked up an apple from a plate, rarely peeling it, took a big bite, and smiled in agreement, "Alright, it'll be even better when we have a few cubs in the future."

"Where are the cubs?"

"They haven't been born yet, right? Okay, I'm going back to my room first. Mom, Dad, you guys rest early too."

Xu Qingzhou ran off in a flash.

"He's not young anymore, yet he's still so unreliable all day long..."

Wang Xiaping looked at her son's back and sighed. After a pause, she began to fantasize happily, saying, "Maybe he'll really become steady when he becomes a father."

Xu Shouyun didn't interrupt his wife's fantasy, but he vaguely felt this sentence was somewhat familiar. He vaguely remembered that a long time ago, his wife's words were, "It'll be fine once he starts dating and has someone to keep him in check."

Later, it became "It'll be fine once he gets married and has a family," and now, it had turned into "having children..."

He didn't have the heart to discourage her.

The dream of helping his son raise children would have to wait at least four or five years.

Inside the bedroom.

Xu Qingzhou sat down at the desk, listening to the low voices coming through the door panel, and couldn't help but smile, taking out the calculation drafts regarding the Higgs boson partner particle from the past two days.

Group theory constrains partner particle mass and coupling; field theory calculations guide experimental parameter optimization.

After studying mathematics in depth in this life, Xu Qingzhou understood the importance of mathematics even more. For example, the calculations at hand—mathematics is like a "navigator," capable of locking onto the possible traces of partner particles amidst trillions of collisions.

Supersymmetric algebraic structure.