Chapter 2542: 2450 Fugui'er Kept in the Dark (Alliance Leader Randy Is Already Nine Years Old, Bonus Chapter 5)

Sweden, Stockholm.

Professor Rudolf Wagner wore a suit; at this moment he was no longer the Fugui'er from Hai Cheng or 912 with a mouth full of coarse talk, but had restored the bearing of an elite doctor at the affiliated hospital of Heidelberg University in Germany.

He had been somewhat tense lately, restless, like an ant on a hot pan.

All work was already done, and the standard materials containing the hard work of the past little over a year had long been submitted.

After leaving Di Du, the professor kept flying back and forth between Stockholm and Europe and America, visiting every committee member and every living Nobel laureate, making final efforts for the last push.

The committee's attitude showed a subtle shift, which the professor could clearly sense. The expected perfunctoryness, scolding, and disdain had been rare from the start. Almost everyone spoke gently, even the most conservative and stubborn reviewers appeared kind.

Things were progressing very smoothly, as smoothly as if he were having a beautiful dream.

But precisely because of this, the professor felt somewhat apprehensive. He feared it was all fake, that upon waking he would find himself still lying in his home in Heidelberg.

The closer the Nobel Prize evaluation days came, the more tense the professor grew, and his complaints about his boss increased.

For such a big matter, the boss didn't even come in person—truly excessive. Especially when he personally saw many nominees for the biology prize humbly visiting the committee, the professor's grumbling grew.

He knew that the people he saw were only a small fraction. Even if the nominees themselves didn't come, their recommenders kept moving about, seeking support from others.

But Professor Rudolf Wagner only felt a slight grumble in his heart; his boss's status in his mind was unshakable. This wasn't because of a Nobel nomination project, but because each time the boss performed surgeries with apparent ease, earning admiration.

The overwhelming superiority in technique gave the professor especial confidence; this was the boss's project, and he was merely an extremely lucky child who had boarded the fast train to the Nobel Prize. The driver was the boss, always the boss.

Only after Doctor Lavesen went to Di Du to give lectures a few days earlier did Professor Rudolf Wagner stop complaining about his boss and give him unlimited praise!

Does the boss need to visit the committee members? Perhaps half a year ago he might have, but now it's completely unnecessary.

The chair of the biology and medicine award committee personally went to Di Du to give lectures, and Professor Rudolf Wagner could vaguely guess what he was thinking.

Especially as various rumors circulating lately corroborated each other, the professor was fully confident he would win the Nobel Prize this year.

Originally, after Doctor Lavesen returned from Di Du, the professor planned to visit him immediately, preparing to read his expression and, from the committee chair's many hints, confirm the possibility of winning the Nobel Prize this year.

However, the subsequent developments once again departed from the professor's expectations.

Yun Ge'er's side reported that Doctor Lavesen had already left Di Du and returned home, but when Professor Rudolf Wagner went to visit, he was told the person was not there.

Doctor Lavesen seemed to have vanished into thin air; there was no trace of him. Asking anyone yielded no concrete information.

By then, the professor was completely frantic. He dared not contact his own boss, knowing the boss's temperament. Moreover, he suspected that Doctor Lavesen had surely fallen out with the boss during their meeting.

The professor could even imagine Yun Ge'er speaking with a sharp, sarcastic tone to mock Doctor Lavesen, whereupon the doctor, angry, left Di Du and, upon returning, shut himself away and refused to see anyone.

Having come all the way to the final step, how could things be messed up so badly? The professor felt each day like a year, constantly agonizing over whether if the boss could come to Sweden and apologize to Doctor Lavesen there might still be room for reconciliation. But such thoughts were just wishful thinking; the professor knew it was absolutely impossible.

This year's evaluation process began a few days earlier than usual; the literature award committee started its activities in early October.

Behind closed doors they evaluated, and it was said that each day they argued until their faces flushed red.

Professor Rudolf Wagner pricked up his ears for news, but at this time he could not find any trace of Doctor Mei Ha'er; everything remained under secrecy.

However, the biology and medicine award committees showed no movement at all—let alone holding a meeting, even the committee chair, Doctor Lavesen, was unknown whereabouts.

The professor spent a day in utter bewilderment, not knowing what had happened.

Without communicating with the Di Du side, Professor Rudolf Wagner thought that even if he stayed in Stockholm unaware of things, his boss and Yun Ge'er certainly wouldn't know either.

Although Yun Ge'er kept saying not to rush, that the chance of winning the prize this year was great, the professor could not help but feel anxious.

Beneath the calm surface, who knows what stormy waves might be lurking.

On October 9, aside from the medicine and biology award evaluations, all other prizes had already been decided.

Next, they would call to notify the Nobel laureates.

Professor Rudolf Wagner still had not received any news; he felt bewildered and helpless.

Sometimes the professor even had an illusion that everyone was deceiving him, that the evaluation committee had actually convened in secret and already decided this year's winners for biology and medicine.

It was not the boss's, his own, or Yun Ge'er's project that won; the ultimate recipient was someone else. All kindly and malicious concealments cut him off from any Nobel Prize news.

For this, the professor was utterly despondent. Yun Ge'er had said the chance of winning was extremely great, yet the more he thought, the more wronged he felt, the more helpless, and Professor Rudolf Wagner even began to drown his sorrows in alcohol, using it to numb himself.

At night, sitting in a bar, Professor Rudolf Wagner drank his sorrows away.

He liked simple drinks, especially the iodine‑tasting Lafuge; drinking it reminded him of the taste of surgery. Each time he drank Lafuge, he recalled how he had been performing surgeries nonstop for the Nobel project over the past year.

After a little over a year of hard work, leaving home behind, having given too much, the professor sighed in his heart.

The professor sat alone in the bar, tasting Lafuge, sadly recalling this year's experiences. The surrounding noise and revelry seemed unrelated to him; he just wanted to drink quietly alone and savor the surgical taste in peace.

"Rudolf, drinking alone?" a hand rested on Professor Rudolf Wagner's shoulder.

It was Raymond Brag, a professor at Berlin University researching chemistry. It was said he had been nominated for ten consecutive years, yet each time missed the Nobel Prize.

"Raymond, sit down and have a drink." The professor slapped the table, his voice somewhat out of control. Under the strong effect of alcohol, he seemed to forget all his worries and sorrows.

"Rudolf, I hear your project this year has a great chance of winning the Nobel Prize—how enviable. May Heaven bless you." Raymond sat down, his face somewhat gloomy, "Not like me—I have no hope at all. Next year I won't even come; those old fogeys simply don't understand the value of my research."

"At first I thought the same, but… sigh. You at least know a bit of news; I don't even know whether the evaluation meeting has been held." Professor Rudolf Wagner sighed long and deeply, holding the bottle of Lafuge and complaining.

Raymond stared for a moment; Professor Rudolf Wagner's words confirmed one point—the committee viewed his project extremely unfavorably, not even having a familiar member leak a hint of information to him.

What a poor fellow—he can't even get the Nobel Prize, and on top of that he has no news at all, only able to sit here alone drinking.

"I heard that starting tomorrow morning they will begin calling to announce the Nobel Prize allocations, and the website will publish the final news at noon." Raymond took a big gulp of wine, "Those damned bastards never understand how important my work is. I really don't want to see Lincoln's ugly face after he gets the Nobel Prize."

Professor Rudolf Wagner strained to open his drunken eyes, using the last shred of clarity to ask: "They're going to call tomorrow to notify? So fast? What date is today?"

"Rudolf, I think you should go back and get a good night's sleep." Raymond looked at the professor's bloodshot eyes and said pityingly, "Take a good wash, relax, screw the Nobel Prize!"

Professor Rudolf Wagner had already sunk into despair; tomorrow they would call to announce the Nobel Prize allocation, yet tonight he didn't even know whether the evaluation meeting had been held. He fell into deep confusion and bewilderment, even feeling some self‑reproach.

Bottle after bottle of Lafuge went down, until finally the professor was drunk to the point of unconsciousness.

He didn't notice a reporter secretly watching him from the side; the professor was already immersed in sorrow, unable to pull himself out. Tomorrow they would call to announce the Nobel laureates; the biology and medicine awards had surely finished evaluation, yet he still had received no news.

Damn it, truly damn! How could this be! Even if he passed out drunk, the professor's heart kept cursing.

……

……

Doctor Mei Ha'er stood by the window, looking at the lights in the night curtain, as if thinking about something.

"Doctor, it's finally confirmed that the meeting will be held tomorrow morning at eight." His assistant held up a tablet, opening the most recent email and said.

Oh? Lafusen has finally recovered?

"Yes, Doctor." The female assistant's voice was as cold as ever, like a cold winter wind. "The news from the UK Royal Brompton Hospital: the pathological diagnosis is clear, it's adenocarcinoma. Because it was detected early, it's estimated that no radiotherapy or chemotherapy will be needed after surgery."

"It's really fortunate." Dr. Mei Ha'er's tone was flat, one couldn't tell if it was regret or some other emotion.

Dr. Lafusen had his chest tube removed this morning and has already boarded the ship.

"Why must he rush back? Wouldn't a remote meeting work?" Dr. Mei Ha'er muttered, his eyes sparkling with joy and pleasure, the corners of his mouth slightly raised, like a fluttering flag.

"If there's nothing else, I hope you can rest early." the female assistant said.

"I understand." Dr. Mei Ha'er said with a smile: "After dragging this on for so long, finally being able to see the moment the solid ice breaks, I think tonight's sky should be accompanied by a drink."

Your heart can no longer tolerate alcohol's stimulation; if you insist on this, I will inform your lady.

Dr. Mei Ha'er waved his hand, slightly regretful.

The female assistant left, and Dr. Mei Ha'er remained standing by the window, gazing at Stockholm's night sky. That little rascal far away in the capital is really not bad; I originally thought I would have to pay an extremely high price to gain him even a sliver of opportunity, but I never expected him to do far beyond my imagination.

Even that old stubborn Lafusen abandoned his prejudices and flew straight to the capital. Just thinking about this, Dr. Mei Ha'er's smile grew richer.

He could even imagine how that old stubborn felt when going to the capital; Zheng really is an interesting person, he persisted all the way to the end. He piled all the pressure onto Lafusen, forcing Lafusen to give up his dignity and go to the capital.

However, Lafusen's luck was also not bad, because during this trip to the capital, Zheng diagnosed his lung cancer.

Otherwise, waiting for the Nobel Prize to settle would delay another month or so, and by then that damned lung cancer might have metastasized, which would be uncertain.

Zheng, he really is someone kissed by heaven. Dr. Mei Ha'er gazed into the distance, raising his hand high, as if holding a goblet filled with rich, fine wine.

This glass, a toast to victory.