"Is that enough?"
After thinking about it for a long time without any impression, Giacobino hesitated for a moment and continued to ask.
"Thank you for keeping it safe for me for so long."
"no problem."
"Please come in, distinguished guests. His tombstone is in the third row, second from the left."
"You don't have to apologize to me. Anyway, even if you don't come, it's not me who will lose. The person you really let go is lying in the ground. If you feel embarrassed, just go and tell him. Do you need a bouquet of flowers? It's only ten euros." , no matter what you did, the dead will forgive you."
All clues about it were interrupted in that oil painting...
"About last month."
“… we gain a pure harmony from every science when we treat it not as an instrument of power and domination, but as an adventure in knowledge that we humans have striven to pursue for generations. This is This harmony is more or less vast and rich from one period to another. And in different eras and centuries, they show us different themes and subtle and delicate correspondences... as if from Void.”
After clearing his throat, he selected his favorite passage and read it out loud in a steady tone.
What exactly is void
After saying goodbye to Molina, Lu Zhou got into the car driven by Wang Peng and returned to the hotel where he was staying.
However, even though he has seen through this, his emotional intelligence is not low enough to reveal it to his face.
Giacobino smiled and said calmly.
However, these achievements did not improve his life, and did not even attract the attention of the Paris mathematics community at that time.
As if from the void…
Lu Zhou smiled and nodded.
Feeling the weight of history in this notebook, Lu Zhou did not read it for the time being. Instead, he put it in his arms and looked at the old man and said solemnly.
Looking at the smiling Director Giacomino, Lu Zhou smiled faintly.
In fact, why not himself? Assuming that the system comes from a certain "advanced civilization" or "future people" is not necessarily much smarter than entrusting this assumption to the "spirit of the universe".
Standing at the door of the courtyard, looking at Lu Zhou walking out of the house, Molina lowered her arms and asked.
"... You are fluent in French. When did you start learning it? Was it during the time you were working at CERN?"
Only this matter was a trivial matter to him.
Although Lu Zhou himself is an atheist, this does not prevent him from understanding Professor Abel's mentality.
But just as he was passing by the door, the old priest suddenly stretched out his hand and pulled Lu Zhou's arm.
Because he was born in a war-torn era, Professor Grothendieck had always been a radical pacifist during his lifetime. It was precisely because of this that he had serious disagreements and conflicts with the then Institute for Advanced Study in Paris on the issue of "whether mathematics should be used for war purposes", which eventually led him to live in seclusion in a small village in southern France. life…
Before getting on the bus, Lu Zhou originally thought that the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs would arrange for him a bodyguard and a tour guide. However, he did not expect that the person accompanying him would be Director Giacomino of the Basic Department of the French Ministry of Science and Technology.
The origin of the sketch in Professor Abel's notes has become a mystery.
"Where are you going to go shopping next? I can stay with you until the afternoon."
Of course, there was no need to say this, otherwise Lu Zhou was not sure whether his jaw would fall to his knees.
Lu Zhou, who had casually brought a book into the car, seemed to have no interest in chatting at all. He just quietly turned over the book in his hand. This made Director Giacomino hope to have a good relationship with this "dean" in Chinese academic circles. It felt quite tricky.
autobiography
It is a common feature of human civilization to entrust unknowable mystery to some powerful existence.
Lu Zhou read this sentence twice. The first time was in French, and the second time was a translation based on his own understanding. He always felt that he could feel the profound meaning every time he read it.
And what happened next, even without notes, Lu Zhou knew.
After opening the letter, he quickly glanced at it and confirmed that it was Professor Grothendieck's handwriting. The old priest returned the letter to Lu Zhou's hands and said nonchalantly.
Lu Zhou: "That's it."
Just when the conversation between the two could no longer go on, the driver sitting in the front seat spoke up at the right time.
Lu Zhou was about to take out the money, but after rummaging for a long time, he only pulled out a credit card. Director Giacomino, who was standing next to him, caught the embarrassment on his face with sharp eyes. He quickly took out his wallet and looked seriously. He looked at the old priest and said.
"Professor Grothendieck begged me before his death to hand over his notes to you. I thought I would be able to fulfill his wish eight years ago, but I didn't expect that I had to wait from the age of seventy-two to eighty."
“There are not many opportunities to listen to Academician Lu’s lectures.”
Lu Zhou took out the old envelope from his arms and handed it into the priest's hands.
He knew very well the reason behind the smile.
As he spoke, he handed out a notebook from his hand.
"Wait a minute, this is for you."
…
In response to this thank you, the old priest snorted with his nose and said it still unceremoniously and philistinely.
"Please give me two bouquets! Professor Grothendieck was a great scholar. His departure is a loss to the world and a loss to the French people. And we always owe him an apology..."
After saying that, he ignored the expression that gradually turned into embarrassment on Director Giacomino's face, turned around and walked to the back door of the church, reaching out and pushing open the wooden door leading to the cemetery.
After turning a page casually, Lu Zhou said in a relaxed tone.
Lu Zhou didn't know much about administrative levels. Even today, he didn't quite understand what level he, the chief designer and consultant of the Lunar Orbit Construction Committee, was considered to be. However, before setting off, he heard from the person who came to France with him. The old man said that Director Giacomino who came to pick him up should be on the same level as Xiao Li.
To put it simply, this position is roughly equivalent to the deputy department in charge of basic scientific research in the Ministry of Science and Technology of China.
The Church of St. Lizier is located in the small town of Omets. It is not a famous tourist attraction, it is just a small church where locals go to worship.
In short, I don’t know whether Abel has gotten rid of that bizarre dream, or whether he actively chose not to think about it anymore. The rest of the note has completely turned into thinking about the century-old problem of "the fifth equation of one variable has no algebraic general solution" .
The world depicted in that sketch is as if it had never existed in history.
"Well, I stayed up all night last night and have a long trip tomorrow. It's time for me to go back and rest."
"If you really felt that way, you wouldn't be here today eight years later."
Rested all day.
Apart from the polite exchanges before getting on the bus, there wasn’t much communication along the way.
"Where's the letter?"
The town of Omets they were going to was located in the south of France, a little far away from Paris. If they planned to return on the same day, the earlier the better.
"Strictly an autobiography."
Molina raised her eyebrows in surprise.
To be honest, Lu Zhou was somewhat surprised that there was only such a little bit.
"..."Harvest and Sowing", a very interesting name, is it poetry?"
These are all things of the past.
"Sorry for causing you any trouble."
However, it was a little more difficult for Giacomino to empathize with the profound meaning that Lu Zhou felt in his heart. And in comparison, he was even more surprised by Lu Zhou's French.
"Are these Professor Grothendieck's notes?"
Old priest: "There are others, but he said this one is the most important, so I put it in the church. I can't understand the things on it, but according to him, it is an unsolved mathematical problem."
Lu Zhou was stunned for a moment, then nodded with a smile.
The two of them had always communicated in English before, so he didn't know that Professor Lu was also so fluent in French.
"Here we are."
"Professor Grothendieck, I don't know what year it was written... Do you want me to read it to you?"
Standing at the door of the church, looking at Lu Zhou coming out of the car, the old priest with cloudy eyes recognized his face at a glance, walked forward and said.
To be precise, he started learning it at the end of last month when he decided to come to France.
"He has always wanted to find someone to help him. In the past, he was interested in Deligne, and he also considered a German named Schulz, but he hated Germans and thought he was too young... I just don't know why, in On his deathbed, he finally chose you, whom he had never met."
Lu Zhou estimated that the little Li the old man mentioned was Director Li.
"Who wrote it?"
Finally, in the spring of 1829, he was impoverished and died of illness at his fiancée's home. Most of the records of some of his deeds in later generations come from the collection of essays published by his teacher Professor Holm ten years later.
Seeing the dumbfounded expression on Director Giacomino's face, Lu Zhou smiled lightly and ignored him, but continued to read the autobiography in his hand.
He glanced at the time on his watch and saw that there was not much time left. He gave the driver a look to ask him to drive a little slower. Then he looked at Lu Zhou, who was sitting opposite him, and chatted with a smile.
Early the next morning, a black limousine from the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs stopped at the door of the hotel and took Lu Zhou into the car.
He has been thinking about this issue.
Professor Abel achieved great success in 1824 and successively completed a series of mathematical achievements such as "Abel's Theorem".
"You're welcome, you must be a rich man. If you want to thank me, why not donate some money to me? This church has not been renovated in fifty years."
The old priest snorted rudely and continued in a hoarse voice.
It can be seen from the later part of the note that this scholar seems to have entrusted everything in the dream to the gods and completely gave up the search for this clue.
Lu Zhou took the slightly yellowed notebook from the old priest's hand and carefully opened the title page.
Lu Zhou nodded and walked towards the wooden door.
Looking at the wrinkled old priest, Lu Zhou was slightly stunned and smiled a little sheepishly.
Giacobino: “…?”
Anyway, none of these three have reliable scientific evidence to prove their existence, right
"You're here, I almost died from you."
Considering the background of the times, this is actually understandable.
"...I'm really sorry."
Lu Zhou shook his head gently.
Looking at Giacobino, whose expression "seemed" to be serious, the old man snorted with his nose and dropped a meaningful sentence with a half-smile.
Compared to those complex mathematical problems.
Anyway, the level is not low.