128: Chapter 128 Unexpected Visit

It was now mid-December. After Chen Youhua finalized the plan with Wang Zhe and Li Wei, they scheduled the live stream for New Year's Day.

In the laboratory, Chen Youhua took a deep breath, pulled out his phone, and logged into his Weibo account, which had long since exploded with followers and was so filled with private messages that it was impossible to read them all.

His fingertips hovered over the screen for a moment before he finally followed the plan and typed out his first Weibo post:

"@Chen Youhua V: Hello everyone, I am Chen Youhua, the person in charge of the neural link prosthetic limb project. Based on the attention regarding the project's online discussions recently, I cordially invite everyone to watch our report on the first phase of the project's research progress on New Year's Day. We will conduct a demonstration of the relevant results at that time. Please look forward to it. ——Z University Neural Engineering Laboratory"

Once the Weibo post was sent, his phone began to vibrate crazily almost instantly, with notification sounds merging into a continuous stream.

"First!" "Taking a photo in the front row! Is Professor Chen about to do something big?" "Wow, Professor Chen actually posted!" "Hasn't the online skepticism basically died down? Professor Chen's attitude is so honest and responsible! Must support!" "Already added to the must-watch list for New Year's Day! Looking forward to it!" "May I ask if Professor Chen will appear on camera to explain? I want to hear the master explain the technology!" "I hope the demonstration is intuitive and not too obscure to understand..." "For God Chen, I've booked my New Year's Day to stay at home!"

The enthusiasm in the comment section was instantly ignited, and the number of likes and retweets skyrocketed as if they were on a rocket.

Chen Youhua glanced through them hurriedly, but before he could look closely, his phone rang again.

These past few days, this had become the norm. He answered helplessly, "Hello?"

Fluent English with a distinct foreign accent came from the other end of the line. "Hello, Professor Chen Youhua. This is the editorial department of the Annals of Mathematics. We are very honored to be able to contact you..."

The caller got straight to the point, expressing their great importance regarding his work on proving the Navier-Stokes Equation. They warmly invited him to submit the complete, standardized version of the proof for publication in the journal and promised to provide every convenience, including expedited processing and the waiving of certain procedures.

Chen Youhua suddenly realized that he had only taken photos of his manuscript and uploaded them to arXiv previously; he had indeed not submitted a formal paper version with strict formatting and supplementary details to any reputable journal.

Organizing this material, from standardizing symbols and supplementing citations to polishing details, was undoubtedly a meticulous task that would consume a great deal of energy.

"Okay, I understand. Thank you for the invitation from your journal. I will consider organizing the formal manuscript as soon as possible." Chen Youhua responded formulaically, calculating in his heart that this was yet another troublesome task that needed to be outsourced. It seemed he would have to trouble enlightenment again.

After dealing with the journal editor, he put down his phone and rubbed his brow. Day after day, things outside of academia were more exhausting than doing research.

In the days that followed, Chen Youhua unexpectedly gained a rare period of leisure.

The Navier-Stokes Equation had been conquered, and the training of the prosthetic monkeys in the laboratory was progressing steadily under the leadership of Wang Zhe and Li Wei, with data looking better day by day.

His main work every day had become helping out in the laboratory, doing data analysis, or observing with great interest the three monkeys wearing mechanical arms as they made continuous progress in their training, occasionally feeding them small snacks and watching them clumsily yet diligently try to reach for them with their new arms.

However, this peace was broken by two unexpected visitors who arrived suddenly. When Chen Youhua opened the laboratory door and saw who was standing outside, he was truly taken aback. "Academician Zheng? Why did you come here personally?"

Chen Youhua quickly stepped aside to let them in. "If you had something to discuss, you could have just called." Standing at the door was indeed Academician Zheng; he was energetic, with a gentle smile on his face, and was accompanied by a middle-aged man with a steady temperament and sharp eyes.

Academician Zheng waved his hand. "It's been a long time since I came to see you. I happened to have something to do, so I dropped by to visit. What, are you not welcoming me?" "You're joking, please come in!"

Chen Youhua hurriedly welcomed the two in, though he felt some confusion about what Academician Zheng meant by "dropped by" and "something to do."

Academician Zheng and the middle-aged man walked into the laboratory, their gazes sweeping over the precision instruments and the busy Researchers, finally landing on Wang Zhe and Li Wei, who were debugging equipment in front of the observation cage. The middle-aged man's gaze was particularly meticulous, carrying a sense of scrutiny and evaluation.

Chen Youhua led them to his small office and study. As soon as he entered, the accompanying middle-aged man's gaze fell on the books, calculation drafts piled on the desk, and the slightly messy bookshelf. A flash of emotion crossed his eyes, and his tone carried sincere admiration.

"It is truly better to see once than to hear a hundred times. It is hard to imagine that the proof of the Navier-Stokes Equation, which solved a century-long problem, was completed in such a simple and unadorned study. Doing pure academic research, far from the hustle and bustle, seems indeed necessary."

Chen Youhua looked at Academician Zheng with an inquiring gaze. "Look at my memory, I was only focused on exchanging pleasantries." Academician Zheng laughed and patted his forehead, pointing to the middle-aged man beside him to introduce him. "Youhua, let me introduce you. This is Comrade Yang Shihai, the Chief Engineer of our national nuclear fusion engineering project and an Academician of the Academy of Engineering."

"Chief Engineer Yang, hello, hello!" Chen Youhua immediately felt a sense of reverence, stepped forward, and took the initiative to reach out his hand. He had always held these engineering experts who were rooted in major national projects and contributed silently in high regard.

Yang Shihai also reached out his hand and shook hands firmly with Chen Youhua, his smile gentle and carrying the pragmatism unique to engineers. "Professor Chen, I have long admired your name! I have always wanted to find an opportunity to visit, but I was afraid of disturbing your research. Today, thanks to Old Zheng, I have finally met you in person. Congratulations on solving the Navier-Stokes Equation; this is a remarkable achievement!"

Chen Youhua gave a wry smile. "The two of you Academicians visiting together puts too much pressure on me. I am just an ordinary scholar doing some basic research."

Academician Zheng and Chief Engineer Yang laughed upon hearing this. Academician Zheng teased. "An ordinary scholar? Youhua, you are too humble. I think it won't be many years before we old fellows will have to change how we address you and call you Academician Chen."

"Old Zheng is right," Yang Shihai agreed with a smile. "The younger generation is formidable."

Chen Youhua shook his head with a smile and did not continue the topic. After they sat down, Academician Zheng's expression became slightly more serious, and he entered the main topic.

"Youhua, the reason for this visit is mainly that Chief Engineer Yang has encountered some critical bottlenecks in his project and needs to utilize your mathematical expertise. Especially your profound understanding of fluid mechanics and complex partial differential equations. He went through some trouble to find me and asked me to make an introduction."

Chen Youhua understood in his heart; as the fundamental equation describing fluid motion, the Navier-Stokes Equation had an extremely wide range of applications, and the high-temperature plasma confinement and turbulence control involved in nuclear fusion research were precisely one of its core application scenarios.