Zhou Shan calmly nodded and extended his hand:

"I’ve decided. I hope for a pleasant collaboration, Dr. Xu."

.......

Academician. Before Lu Ke became the youngest academician, he had always held this record. Such a brilliant mind wasted twelve years, a significant loss to the scientific community. His gaze returned to its original position during the gaps in the conversation. Xu Yun also used the corner of his eye to check out the situation inside the room. Besides Zhou Shan, there was a blond, blue-eyed foreigner, seemingly in his forties, looking quite refined. Beside the foreigner was a young man, possibly an assistant or a translator, the two were clearly together. From the tone of the previous conversation, it seemed the young man was the one persuading Zhou Shan earlier. Seeing Lin Zhenhua and Xu Yun staring at him, the foreigner nodded at them with a calm face, as a form of greeting. Then, with somewhat stiff Chinese, he said to Zhou Shan, "Mr. Zhou, since you have new guests, we won’t disturb you further.""The conditions we previously mentioned remain valid for a long time. We hope you will consider it carefully, and you can call me anytime if you have thoughts on it." Zhou Shan didn’t say much, he simply extended his right hand, palm open, gesturing towards the door, maintaining full courtesy while being very clear in his attitude: "Mr. Diablo, take care, I won’t see you off." The blond foreigner sighed slightly helplessly and gave a look to the young man. The two put on their shoes at the entrance and left Zhou Shan’s house. However, as they passed by Lin Zhenhua and Xu Yun, the foreigner’s gaze lingered on them for a moment. Although he had just arrived in Huaxia and wasn’t very proficient in Chinese, his assistant had quickly translated Lin Zhenhua’s words during the conversation between Zhou Shan and Lin Zhenhua. Therefore, it’s quite clear that this old-young visitor duo was also here to recruit someone. But who do they represent? Germany? Neon? Or... across the sea? As for Huaxia’s domestic units and institutions, they were subconsciously overlooked by this person. After the foreigner left, Zhou Shan took two pairs of slippers from the shoe rack and placed them in front of Lin Zhenhua and Xu Yun: "Old Lin, Xiaoxu, come in and talk." Lin Zhenhua took the slippers and changed into them, while Xu Yun closed the door behind them. Upon entering, Lin Zhenhua didn’t rush to state his purpose; instead, he first took a still flapping plastic bag from Xu Yun’s hand. Pretending to be casual, he handed it to Zhou Shan: "Old Zhou, you’re in for a treat today.""I had some luck today, caught a grass carp over two pounds, how about that, aren’t you envious?""Take a look at this fish, it’s just right to eat, but I pulled a bit too hard when I caught it, and its upper lip got torn." Zhou Shan exclaimed, took the plastic bag, and looked at it. Just as Lin Zhenhua was about to brag a bit more, Zhou Shan silently pulled out his phone, opened a screen, and handed it to Lin Zhenhua: "Hey, take a look at this." Lin Zhenhua took it and found on the screen a WeChat chat window. The chat was with someone noted as ’Xiaozhao from the downstairs market’. The chat content was: [Teacher Zhou, today there’s a grass carp over two pounds, it ate so perfectly that it tore its upper lip, do you want it?] Attached was a picture, unmistakably identical to the fish in Lin Zhenhua’s bag. Lin Zhenhua’s mouth twitched: "...." Afraid that the fish he brought from Hanhua Factory wasn’t fresh, he specially "fished" for a fish at a stall after arriving in the neighborhood, but didn’t expect... Elder Zhou turned out to be a regular customer? He was careless... And just as the two were talking, a woman in her fifties or sixties, somewhat haggard but with an intellectual aura, suddenly came out of the kitchen. She was wearing an apron around her waist, and she greeted Lin Zhenhua happily as soon as she saw him: "Director Lin?" "Yes, it’s me, here to check on Elder Zhou." Seeing someone coming to the rescue, Lin Zhenhua quickly seized the moment to change the topic. He said to Xu Yun, "Xiaoxu, this is Elder Zhou’s wife, Teacher Huang Liping.""Teacher Huang, this is my junior, Xu Yun from USTC." Xu Yun quickly walked over to Huang Liping with respect and greeted, "Hello, Teacher Huang." Although this was his first meeting with Huang Liping, he had a very, very high initial impression of her due to the introduction he received from Lin Zhenhua earlier. Academician. Before Lu Ke became the youngest academician, he had always held this record. Such a brilliant mind wasted twelve years, a significant loss to the scientific community. His gaze returned to its original position during the gaps in the conversation. Xu Yun also used the corner of his eye to check out the situation inside the room. Besides Zhou Shan, there was a blond, blue-eyed foreigner, seemingly in his forties, looking quite refined. Beside the foreigner was a young man, possibly an assistant or a translator, the two were clearly together. From the tone of the previous conversation, it seemed the young man was the one persuading Zhou Shan earlier. Seeing Lin Zhenhua and Xu Yun staring at him, the foreigner nodded at them with a calm face, as a form of greeting. Then, with somewhat stiff Chinese, he said to Zhou Shan, "Mr. Zhou, since you have new guests, we won’t disturb you further.""The conditions we previously mentioned remain valid for a long time. We hope you will consider it carefully, and you can call me anytime if you have thoughts on it." Zhou Shan didn’t say much, he simply extended his right hand, palm open, gesturing towards the door, maintaining full courtesy while being very clear in his attitude: "Mr. Diablo, take care, I won’t see you off." The blond foreigner sighed slightly helplessly and gave a look to the young man. The two put on their shoes at the entrance and left Zhou Shan’s house. However, as they passed by Lin Zhenhua and Xu Yun, the foreigner’s gaze lingered on them for a moment. Although he had just arrived in Huaxia and wasn’t very proficient in Chinese, his assistant had quickly translated Lin Zhenhua’s words during the conversation between Zhou Shan and Lin Zhenhua. Therefore, it’s quite clear that this old-young visitor duo was also here to recruit someone. But who do they represent? Germany? Neon? Or... across the sea? As for Huaxia’s domestic units and institutions, they were subconsciously overlooked by this person. After the foreigner left, Zhou Shan took two pairs of slippers from the shoe rack and placed them in front of Lin Zhenhua and Xu Yun: "Old Lin, Xiaoxu, come in and talk." Lin Zhenhua took the slippers and changed into them, while Xu Yun closed the door behind them. Upon entering, Lin Zhenhua didn’t rush to state his purpose; instead, he first took a still flapping plastic bag from Xu Yun’s hand. Pretending to be casual, he handed it to Zhou Shan: "Old Zhou, you’re in for a treat today.""I had some luck today, caught a grass carp over two pounds, how about that, aren’t you envious?""Take a look at this fish, it’s just right to eat, but I pulled a bit too hard when I caught it, and its upper lip got torn." Zhou Shan exclaimed, took the plastic bag, and looked at it. Just as Lin Zhenhua was about to brag a bit more, Zhou Shan silently pulled out his phone, opened a screen, and handed it to Lin Zhenhua: "Hey, take a look at this." Lin Zhenhua took it and found on the screen a WeChat chat window. The chat was with someone noted as ’Xiaozhao from the downstairs market’. The chat content was: [Teacher Zhou, today there’s a grass carp over two pounds, it ate so perfectly that it tore its upper lip, do you want it?] Attached was a picture, unmistakably identical to the fish in Lin Zhenhua’s bag. Lin Zhenhua’s mouth twitched: "...." Afraid that the fish he brought from Hanhua Factory wasn’t fresh, he specially "fished" for a fish at a stall after arriving in the neighborhood, but didn’t expect... Elder Zhou turned out to be a regular customer? He was careless... And just as the two were talking, a woman in her fifties or sixties, somewhat haggard but with an intellectual aura, suddenly came out of the kitchen. She was wearing an apron around her waist, and she greeted Lin Zhenhua happily as soon as she saw him: "Director Lin?" "Yes, it’s me, here to check on Elder Zhou." Seeing someone coming to the rescue, Lin Zhenhua quickly seized the moment to change the topic. He said to Xu Yun, "Xiaoxu, this is Elder Zhou’s wife, Teacher Huang Liping.""Teacher Huang, this is my junior, Xu Yun from USTC." Xu Yun quickly walked over to Huang Liping with respect and greeted, "Hello, Teacher Huang." Although this was his first meeting with Huang Liping, he had a very, very high initial impression of her due to the introduction he received from Lin Zhenhua earlier. Academician.