Perelman's room was not far from the stairs, and he could see it when he went up the stairs.

"The house is a bit small, please don't mind."

With these words, Perelman put the plastic bag he was carrying in his right hand on the ground and took out the key from his pocket.

Although he had been mentally prepared for the situation in the house, after he opened the door, Lu Zhou was still taken aback by the situation in the house.

I saw all kinds of clothes and daily necessities that had not had time to be washed on the armrests of the sofa in such a mess, and all kinds of sundries piled on the ground made people look at it and couldn't see where to stay.

Lu Zhou admitted that although he occasionally did things like throwing clothes, generally speaking, either he remembered to clean up by himself, or Xiao Ai would also clean up for him very well.

But obviously.

Perelman, who dedicated his life to mathematics, not only did he not have the person who could pack his clothes for him, but his attitude towards life was casual enough.

It's no wonder that many scholars he knows have strange expressions on their faces when they mention this person's name.

Walking next to Lu Zhou, Albert, the physicist who was ridiculed by Professor Krugman as more famous than academics, muttered something in a low voice.

"I thought mathematicians were the kind of people who were very organized."

Not knowing how to answer this question, Lu Zhou chose to remain silent.

As for Scholz, who was on the other side of him, it was embarrassing to explain.

"In general...... But there are exceptions to everything, and there are also those who choose to live informally and spend the time saved on more meaningful things. ”

"This kind of life is really envious, but it's a pity that it's not me. Since I started math, I've wasted most of my time on meaningless work......" Perelman, who didn't care about the stranger's whispering to him, put the week's "supplies" in the refrigerator, and walked back as he rejectedSchultz's argument to excuse himself, and continued as if nothing had happened.

"Do you want something to drink? Even though there's only water and tea here, if you want something else, I can go out and buy it. ”

I really don't want to add a burden to his life, Lu Zhou said stiffly.

"Water will do."

Schultz nodded in agreement: "Me too." ”

Seeing that Krugman and the stranger also nodded, the corners of Perelman's mouth rarely squeezed, as if revealing an unfamiliar smile.

"Okay, wait a minute."

Soon, five disposable cups were placed on the table, and Perelman then took a large five-liter bottle of mineral water from the side and poured a glass for each person.

Seeing a few people looking at him with strange expressions, he didn't care, picked up his cup and took a sip, and then turned his eyes to Schultz, and the topic went straight to the point.

"Why are you here? I had never heard of you coming. ”

Schultz: "Wouldn't it be okay to stop by and visit old friends on the way to the IMU conference?" ”

"I don't have anything to visit, it's quite comfortable to live alone......"

He seemed to be a little disappointed by Schultz's statement, and after hearing that he didn't come to him with any problems, Perelman immediately lost interest in him, and then his eyes quickly fell on Lu Zhou.

After staring at him up and down for a moment, Perelman suddenly muttered in his characteristic "listless but rough" voice.

"I've read your paper and your understanding of group theory and complex plane problems is impressive. In particular, the superelliptic curve analysis method used to solve the Riemann conjecture is ...... Of course, what surprised me the most was that you defined a complex algebraic cluster x on the complex projective space cp^ when you were working on the Sullivan conjecture, and I still don't understand how you came up with it. ”

Topology and differential geometry are areas in which Perelman is proficient, and problems involving differential manifolds are more of interest to him than the quasi-Riemann conjecture.

In particular, the classification of differential manifolds, although this research direction is unpopular, it is surprisingly impossible to ignore, and it can even be said to be one of the core problems of differential manifolds.

Sullivan, who had fully reunited, guessed that he had also studied it, but he didn't come up with any good methods for a while, so he put it aside for the time being.

As a result, just when he was about to forget about it, at the beginning of the year, he suddenly saw a paper published in the "Annals of Mathematics" by Lu Zhou, who had been studying the Riemann conjecture, which completely solved this problem.

This once surprised him so much that he doubted his life.

“…… Sullivan's conjecture? ”

Lu Zhou was slightly stunned, then reacted, smiled and said, "...... Thanks to Professor Craik's paper published in the Annals of Mathematics in 1999, my research has been inspired. Of course, it is also possible that I was not studying this problem at the time, so I was able to think from a perspective that most people would not think of. ”

He was answering Chen Yang's question about his research on Hodge's conjecture, and if it weren't for the reminder from the editor-in-chief of the Annals of Mathematics, he wouldn't even know that he was working on another representation of a major proposition that was famous in differential manifold classification problems.

However, when they heard that Lu Zhou was not really studying the classification of differential manifolds, Perelman and Schultz both had surprised expressions on their faces.

Fortunately, they didn't know that this question had taken Lu Zhou a whole day to come up with, otherwise they were afraid that their jaws would fall to the ground.

Putting away his surprised gaze, Perelman took a sip of cold water and continued to ask.

"Enviable luck, although I don't think it's explained by luck...... So without further ado, do you have any questions you want to discuss with me? ”

Seeing the subtle look of anticipation flashing in his eyes, Lu Zhou instantly felt a little embarrassed.

In fact, he is just as boring as Schultz, if not more than the latter. After all, the latter had come to visit an old friend, and he had come to satisfy his curiosity about the hermit with the idea that it was no different from a visit to the Hermitage or something.

However, it always feels a little rude to say it directly.

After all, he's not a zoo gorilla, and judging by the attitude of this benevolent brother who doesn't want to talk nonsense about inconsequential matters, it's clear that he's not the kind of person who likes to socialize.

What to do?

Not beat around the bush?

But Lu Zhou was a little worried, if he really told the truth, would he be blocked by this guy.

At this moment, a flash of inspiration suddenly flashed in his heart, and he remembered several issues that he had discussed with Chen Yang at the Jinling Institute for Advanced Study some time ago when discussing Hodge's conjecture.

"Can I borrow a piece of paper?"

"Yes, there are a lot of them."

Soon, Perelman took out a dirty notebook and a ballpoint pen with a missing cover from the sofa next to him and handed them to Lu Zhou.

After taking the banknote, under the curious gaze of several people, Lu Zhou wrote his question in his notebook and handed it to Perelman.

“…… That's it. ”

“…… I'll take a look," Perelman glanced at the equation after taking the notebook, and a look of surprise appeared in his eyes, "Are you studying the Hodge conjecture?" ”

Lu Zhou stubbornly said, "Sort of." ”

In fact, it is not a lie, although he has not really entered into the research of this issue, there are still people in his research institute who are researching, and often discuss this kind of problem with him.

Perelman, however, seemed to believe it, and nodded his head as expected, muttering.

"No wonder, it turned out to be studying the Hodge conjecture. I'll just say that after reading your paper, it seems that the methods mentioned in it can be used to solve this kind of problem......"

Schultz had a surprised expression on his face and glanced at Lu Zhou a little strangely.

“…… When did you go to study the Hodge conjecture? ”

Lu Zhou smiled embarrassedly.

"When you're not busy."

Schultz: "......"

As the minutes ticked by, Perelman stared at the question for more than ten minutes, and Perelman did not react at all. It's like forgetting a few guests sitting here, completely immersed in your own world.

Unable to sit still, Albert got up and leaned in to his notebook to take a look, but was quickly defeated by the lines of ghostly calculations, and sat back with a headache.

As for Krugman, who was sitting next to him, he had already expected that he would definitely not understand, but he did not move at all, and drank tea there very calmly.

Looking at this Russian who was in deep thought, Lu Zhou said with a little humility.

“…… You don't have to give me an answer right away, and it's the same with emailing me afterwards. ”

“…… Again, this question doesn't seem to be clear in a few words," agreeing with Lu Zhou's statement, Perelman muttered, put away the notebook, and then continued to look at Professor Krugman and Albert on the side, "What about you?" Let me know if you have any questions. ”

Krugman took a deep breath, he had been brewing for a long time, he finally found a chance to speak, cleared his throat and said in a solemn tone: "We are here for a significant research topic, which involves a lot of complex mathematical calculations that are beyond our ability——"

However, he had just started to speak after a long time when he was interrupted by Albert, who was sitting next to him.

I saw the physicist stand up and say to everyone in an excited/emotional voice.

"Do you believe, gentlemen, that our future can be predicted?"

Almost at the same time that this sentence was uttered.

The entire single apartment, which is less than twenty square meters, was instantly quiet......