I am devoted to scientific research, but you want to trick me into having a love relationship?

Chapter 698 We Worked Under Nobel Prize-Winning Giants

6:30 in the evening.

The sun was already low on the horizon, and the orange sunlight shone through the glass onto the sofa under the window, where Er Miao was dozing off.

Inside the room, the three people had already finished eating.

Song Yao handed her soup bowl to Xu Qingzhou, asking him to ladle the soup for her.

"Just soup?"

Xu Qingzhou picked up the soup spoon beside him.

Song Yao nodded.

"I need a bowl too, this soup is very good."

Xu Qingzhou also poured himself a large bowl, and after finishing it, he squinted his eyes contentedly.

Song Lulu looked at the two people calmly drinking their soup and felt that the scene was a bit strange. "No, cousin, cousin-in-law, have you noticed that the atmosphere right now is a bit out of place?"

He won the Nobel Prize, the most prestigious and famous award in the world!

The news has already gone viral online, but the person involved is acting like nothing happened. It's really strange.

It's like being in a tiny room of about 20 square meters, eating instant noodles, drinking beer, and discussing national affairs—but now it's completely the other way around.

"Even if you win an award, you still need to eat," Xu Qingzhou said.

It would be a lie to say I wasn't surprised.

It's worth noting that a call from the Nobel Committee is perhaps one of the most anticipated calls by scientists worldwide. As some have commented, it's one of the briefest yet most enduringly romantic moments in the history of modern science.

But there was no jubilation as people had expected; instead, it was quite calm. Perhaps, as someone who has won a Nobel Prize, I can better understand this: the Nobel Prize is not the ultimate goal, but merely a stage in life.

"That seems to be true."

Song Lulu couldn't refute it. She poured herself a bowl of soup and said with some admiration, "Brother-in-law, you won the Nobel Prize. You must be one of the most outstanding scientists in the world."

"There are many people more capable than me. The Nobel Prize is an important symbol of academic recognition, but it is by no means the only measure of a scientist's achievements."

Xu Qingzhou smiled; he wasn't being modest at all.

Many prominent figures have never won the Nobel Prize. In China alone, there is Hu Wenxiang, who is known as "the man who lifted up the spaceship," and Ye Qisun, the founder of modern physics in China. He determined Planck's constant, pioneered the high-pressure magnetization method, and trained Yang Zhenning, Li Zhengdao, Deng Jiaxian, Qian Sanqiang and other pioneers of the "Two Bombs, One Satellite" project. He is hailed as "a grandmaster of physics in China".

Abroad, Newton, Hawking, Alan Turing, and others are all well-known figures who influenced an era.

The Nobel Prize is not the only measure of greatness.

Song Lulu looked at the two people opposite her, seemingly understanding but not quite, and said, "Did you two already guess that you would win the prize?"

"There is that probability."

Song Yao said, holding the bowl.

Xu Qingzhou's expression was also slightly complicated.

He was confident of winning the physics prize, but he didn't expect to win the chemistry prize first.

Although unexpected, it is also reasonable. The formation of lithium dendrites is an electrochemical deposition behavior at the electrode-electrolyte interface, and the shuttle effect involves the dissolution and migration of polysulfides. Both of these are interdisciplinary issues of electrochemistry and materials chemistry.

Hey~
At that moment, Xu Qingzhou's phone suddenly rang.

"Minister An Haofeng of the Ministry of Science and Technology."

"Oh, you go answer the phone, we'll pack up."

Xu Qingzhou answered the phone, while Song Yao and Song Lulu collected the bowls.

Unsurprisingly, news about the Nobel Prize sprang up like mushrooms after rain on platforms such as Weibo and WeChat.

Xu Qingzhou's phone never stopped ringing. Renren Daily had arranged a special interview for him the next day, and Ji Yunshi, Zhao Shengwen, Zheng Xu, and others all called to congratulate him.

Besides acquaintances, there were also people from the city, government departments, and schools.
Normally, after the Nobel Prize results are announced, People's Daily, Xinhua News Agency, and other media outlets will release a brief report first, not to mention that this time there is also a Chinese person's name on the list.

They promoted it even more vigorously.

The celebration truly reached the nation's ears. This was the third Nobel Prize won by a Chinese scientist native to China, and it was in Chemistry. While Chinese scientists Yuan T. Lee and Roger Y. Tsien had previously won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1986 and 2008 respectively, unfortunately, these were not Chinese scientists. Xu Qingzhou, however, was different; he was a Chinese citizen and the laureate.

The most excited people about Xu Qingzhou's award were naturally the members of the research institute.

Right now, the office of the Kyoto Materials Research Institute is bustling with activity.

Gong Yunfei was still immersed in the news he had just seen, and exclaimed repeatedly, "Junior brother is too awesome!"

"From now on, we can be considered as people who have worked under Nobel laureates."

At the workstation next to him, Wang Wei held a teacup, his expression equally excited.

When I first returned to China, I was still filled with regret. I could have worked under a big shot who had won the Sloan Research Fellowship, but after hearing that Xu Qingzhou was going to establish a research institute, I hesitated and came back anyway.

The Sloan Research Fellowship, which spans disciplines such as chemistry, computer science, economics, and mathematics, has been awarded to 58 recipients who have subsequently won the Nobel Prize, and is considered one of the leading indicators of the Nobel Prize.

现在
Now I'm someone who has actually worked under a Nobel laureate.

"No, you should say that the Nobel laureate is your junior."

Hung Ya-yu added expressionlessly from the side.

Now that you mention it, it does seem to be true.

"But isn't that a bit too arrogant?"

The busiest department, of course, is the institute's publicity department. Within 10 minutes of the Nobel Prize website announcing the winner's name, the Kyoto Institute for Materials Science posted a congratulatory message on its website.

The main focus is efficiency.

In the villa.

Xu Qingzhou was on the phone until 8 p.m., when he finally quieted down for a while and turned his phone off silent.

"It's more tiring than work."

Xu Qingzhou sat down on the sofa and leaned against Song Yao. This was just the beginning; once the news fully spread, the next few days would probably be even more tiring, with all sorts of interviews and being forced to put on a show.
Song Yao gave him a quick peck on the cheek as a gesture of comfort.

Others only see how many awards this guy has won, but only she knows how hard Xu Qingzhou works in private. These days, he often stays up late doing calculations, or he stays in the laboratory with the researchers to guard the equipment.

"Lie down for a while?"

"Let's hug for a while."

Xu Qingzhou took a deep breath, feeling a faint, sweet fragrance waft into his nostrils. "Has Weibo been restored?"

"I was paralyzed for 10 minutes."

The two huddled together, browsing various news items online.

On one side, Song Lulu's phone kept ringing.

In the dormitory group.

Wu Ziyue excitedly shared the news on Weibo in the group chat: "Lulu, Xu Shen has won the Nobel Prize!"

"sharp."

Song Lulu glanced at the boy who had just finished a phone call and was playing with her cousin's hair. He looked carefree and irresponsible, completely different from the glamorous image reported in the news.

"Am I being a bit superfluous here?"

Seeing the two of them being so affectionate, Song Lulu felt like she was being fed a mouthful of dog food (a Chinese slang term for witnessing public displays of affection).

At first, she would be surprised that her aloof cousin could be so petite and affectionate, but now she's used to it.

"It's okay, it won't affect us."

Xu Qingzhou offered words of comfort.

Song Lulu: "."

You awful couple, you're affecting my mood!

(End of this chapter)