Chapter 397 Top of The Top

"The third award winner is…

"Lu Zhou!"

The spokesman announcement was still playing back in Academician Lu's head; his cigarette butt was in the ashtray, extinguished long ago.

The awards ceremony continued.

The TV was broadcasting the awards presentation.

Lu Zhou walked on the podium wearing a suit, and he received a bright red certificate from an old man.

Academician Lu stared at the TV screen for a while before he said with an emotional tone, "… This year's higher-ups are ballsy."

Academician Xu was also staring at the bright red certificate on the TV screen. He was happy to see his own student succeed, but he felt hesitant all of a sudden.

"Do you think this is good for bad?"

"This is good!" Academician Lu lit up another cigarette and said, "This is the first-level State Natural Science Award, how can it not be good? I wish I could swap my academician title for his award."

Academicians were common, but scientific breakthroughs weren't. Scientific results that were widely recognized were even less common.

It was like the tens of thousands of theoretical physicists and engineers working at CERN. Everyone played a pivotal role, but not everyone's work was recognized. Only a few would win the Nobel Prize.

Academician Lu had made a lot of achievements during his lifetime, but none of them were as outstanding as a first-level State Natural Science Award.

By contrast, the Highest Science and Technology Award would be better suited for him.

Of course, he was only joking.

He couldn't just swap a title for an award.

Academician Xu saw that Academician Lu had misunderstood him, and he shook his head as he said, "I meant that receiving this award at this age is unforgettable. He's still young. To receive this kind of attention now might not be a good thing."

Academician Xu's worries weren't unreasonable; this kind of thing had happened in the academic community before.

Although Jin Ling University was a strong university, due to various reasons, Jin Ling University's domestic influence wasn't top-notch. Therefore, he couldn't give much support to Lu Zhou.

"The thing you said can't be avoided. Even if he didn't win the State Natural Science Award, people might still be jealous of him. How many Crafoord Prize or Nobel Prize winners are there in China? It would be strange if Lu Zhou wasn't getting this kind of attention!"

Academician Lu smiled and looked outside the window. He then said, "If people are envious of him, how will that affect him?"

When Academician Xu heard this, he froze.

Suddenly, he smiled.

"You're right."

Outstanding people were always attacked.

Academia advanced through discussion and debates, and discussions were bound to produce arguments. Some people could handle the arguments, while others couldn't. This was inevitable.

Because of this, the more excellent one was, the more they should study the Doctrine of the Mean.

However, this law only applied to average people.

If someone was able to rise and defeat everyone else, why should they care about criticism or jealousy?

If this was true, then Academician Xu was overthinking it…

…

Someone screamed inside the Jinling Institute of Computational Materials.

"Nutty! First-level State Natural Science Award!"

Liu Bo's exclaim attracted the attention of the other researchers in the office. Many people stopped their work and came over.

When they saw the awards on the screen, they were just as shocked as Liu Bo.

"This is… our boss?"

"He is really a god…"

"First-level State Natural Science Award? There aren't many of them at Jin Ling University, right?"

"How many do you think there is? One is already impressive, okay? I remember that the last time someone won this, it was in 2006. Academician Min from our physics department won the prize and was awarded the academician title the following year!"

"Then, do you think our boss can become an academician?"

"I don't know, an academician might need to have experience working domestically. I heard the competition is fierce, but if God Lu wants it, it shouldn't be difficult…"

Qian Zhongming was staring at the screen the entire time, and he was quite surprised.

"This… is the highest domestic honor, right?"

Only the Highest Science and Technology Award was more prestigious than this.

However, although it was called the "highest" science and technology award, it was still a lifetime achievement award. This meant the award didn't focus on only one specific research result. Rather, the committee would look at a lifetime of contributions.

This also meant that the award was only given to older people.

It would be difficult to compare its value to the State Natural Science Award.

The former was more respectable, while the latter was more academically valuable.

For Lu Zhou's age, this was the highest domestic honor he could hope for!

Qian Zhongming wasn't the only one that was aware of this.

Right now, Lu Zhou was standing on the stage.

Back when he was sitting under the stage, even when he heard his name, he remained calm and collected.

But standing here now, at the center of attention, Lu Zhou suddenly felt like time had slowed down.

He accepted the heavy red certificate from the old man, and he could feel his own heartbeat.

Lu Zhou received the certificate and shook hands with the old man.

When he released his hand, the old man smiled at him.

"Nervous?"

Lu Zhou nodded and answered truthfully.

"A bit."

"Young man, the pressure is good; it is motivation!" the old man said as he patted Lu Zhou's shoulder and nodded his head. He then said, "Nicely done!"

Lu Zhou said, "Thank you."

Perhaps it was because the old man highly regarded Lu Zhou, and so, he added the extra compliment.

Lu Zhou could sense the various emotions of those around him.

Jealousy?

A bit.

Respect?

A bit as well.

Sincerity?

I don't know…

Lu Zhou felt the gaze of everyone in the crowd as they stared at him, and suddenly, he felt as if the red certificate had increased in weight.

Part of which was the force from gravity…

The other part was the responsibility that came with the certificate.