The Science Fiction World of Xueba

On Christmas Eve, Pang Xuelin and Wang Muhui accepted the invitation of the Witten couple and enjoyed an American Christmas dinner at their home.

There is still nearly half a month of Christmas vacation, the two discussed it and chose to travel by car.

From Princeton, head south through Philadelphia, Newark, and into the Delmarva Peninsula.

The Delmarva Peninsula Highway, the famous self-driving road in the United States, is located here.

Nestled between the Chesapeake Bay, Delaware River, Delaware Bay, and the Atlantic Ocean, the highway is just a few hours' drive from one of the busiest urban corridors in the East, dotted with wetlands and tranquil hydrological landscapes.

In contrast to the hustle and bustle of the city, there are small towns on the piers of the Chesapeake Bay that are home to fishermen.

Life here is long and quiet, as if isolated from the rest of the world.

Pang Xuelin and Wang Muhui stopped and stopped all the way, and at night they stayed in a homestay run by locals.

Sometimes I don't want to leave, so I just stay in the seaside town for a few days, enjoying the rare two-person world.

It was not until the evening of January 5 that the two drove back to Princeton.

In the evening, after the two were lingering, Wang Muhui lay in Pang Xuelin's arms, looked at Pang Xuelin with blurred eyes and said, "Honey, I'm going back to class tomorrow, and I won't see you for a long time."

A girl who just fell in love can't wait to be tired of being with her man every day.

For Wang Muhui, the happy time of more than ten days seemed to pass by like a quarter of an hour.

Pang Xuelin kissed her on the forehead and said with a smile, "I'll drive to see you every weekend, anyway, Boston is not too far from Princeton."

"Uh-huh!"

Wang Muhui nodded, and thought of another thing, "Husband, tell me, do you want to tell my parents about us?"

Pang Xuelin laughed and said, "Okay, but it's a pity that we can't go back during the Spring Festival this year. When I return to China in a few months, I will go to Lincheng to see Uncle Wang and Aunt Qin, and talk to them about our marriage by the way."

"No!" Wang Muhui blushed suddenly, and said, "Husband, can you wait a little longer? When I go back for summer vacation, let's go back together and tell them..."

"good,

Well... I listen to you! "

...

Early the next morning, Pang Xuelin sent Wang Muhui back to Harvard.

Then life in Princeton was relatively simple and comfortable.

When he was at Tsinghua University, Pang Xuelin was the vice dean of the Faculty of Science, and he actually did the work of the dean.

Although there is not much time to teach undergraduates, there are departments of mathematics, physics, and chemistry in the Faculty of Science, and various administrative affairs take up more than half of the daily work.

In Princeton, Pang Xuelin had just joined the job, and there was no need to arrange for graduate students for the time being. The school only arranged one course for Pang Xuelin, which was to explain Ponzi geometry to undergraduates.

Ponzi geometry can be regarded as the most cutting-edge theory of modern mathematics, but if the mathematical foundation is a little weak, listening to this course is like listening to heavenly scriptures.

In Tsinghua University, he taught graduate students a special course on Ponzi geometry.

And when he taught the undergraduates at Princeton, half of them could keep up.

Pang Xuelin had to lament that Princeton's undergraduate education is awesome.

Time passed day by day, and it entered February 1994 without knowing it.

The Chinese New Year is relatively late this year, and February 10 is New Year's Eve.

Because it happened to be Thursday, Wang Muhui took two days off from the school, plus the weekend, making up four days off.

Pang Xuelin drove to Harvard on Wednesday, and after Wang Muhui's morning class ended, he took her to Princeton.

The next day, the two got up early in the morning and went to the supermarket to buy flour, fish and various fruits and vegetables.

There is no Chinese supermarket in Princeton, and the two bought some unique Chinese ingredients and seasonings, such as rice wine, chili sauce, soy sauce, five-spice powder, star anise, cinnamon, bay leaves, bean paste, etc., at an Asian supermarket in Boston and brought them back.

In addition, Wang Muhui specially bought Chinese knots, red paper, ink and so on.

Pang Xuelin wrote couplets, and Wang Muhui cut window grilles.

The two of them remembered that they went to the market to sell New Year's goods during the New Year a year ago, and couldn't help but smile at each other, feeling that things were different.

After arranging the festive atmosphere of Xiaojia and preparing the ingredients for the New Year's Eve dinner, Wang Muhui said, "Husband, you can call Professor Witten's family later, and if you have other familiar friends in Princeton, call them too." Come here, and invite everyone to have a New Year's Eve dinner together in the evening, it will be lively."

Pang Xuelin thought for a while, nodded and said, "Okay, Xiaohui, then you should do your homework first, and I'll go out for a while."

Pang Xuelin first went to the Witten family on the opposite side of the road. The Witten couple happily accepted the invitation, and Jennifer came to help in advance.

Then, under the leadership of Witten, Pang Xuelin successively visited Andrew Wiles, Pierre Deligne and Peter Sarneck. The Wiles couple and the Deligne couple were very happy to accept the invitation, but they had some regrets Surprisingly, Peter Sarnak was on vacation and had flown to Hawaii with his family a few days ago.

As for the others, Pang Xuelin was not familiar with them.

In this era, according to Pang Xuelin's knowledge, among the Chinese, only Yao Qizhi and Cui Qi worked in Princeton.

Yao Qizhi is a Turing Award winner in 2000 and a computer expert. In the real world, he later returned to China to work at Tsinghua University, and officially transferred his nationality back to China in 2017.

Cui Qi is the winner of the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1998 and is currently a professor in the Department of Electronic Engineering at Princeton University.

After Pang Xuelin came to Princeton, he hadn't had any contact with these two big men, so it was not easy to invite them to his home at this time.

In the afternoon, the Deligne couple and the Wiles couple also came to Pang Xuelin's home.

Pang Xuelin accompanied Deligne, Wiles, and Witten to the study to chat, while their wives helped Wang Muhui prepare the ingredients.

Of course, the chef is still Wang Muhui, and they are just helping out.

At six o'clock in the evening, the sumptuous New Year's Eve dinner is officially served.

The staple food is dumplings stuffed with pork, cabbage, shiitake mushrooms and egg fried rice. Side dishes include braised pork ribs, longli fish in tomato and sour soup, Kung Pao chicken, tuna salad, braised prawns, tamales...

Everyone sat around the oval dining table, Pang Xuelin raised his goblet, stood up and smiled and said, "Professor Deligne, Professor Wiles, and Professor Witten, you and your wife are very welcome to come to our house to celebrate the Spring Festival. For us Chinese, The Spring Festival is a special day. It is a festival for relatives and families. There is a saying in China that we eat dumplings on New Year’s Eve, and there are no outsiders. It means that people who are busy all year round, people who are wandering around, celebrate the Spring Festival Generally, you have to go home. Two generations of father and son, three generations of grandparents and grandchildren, and even four generations live in the same house. Toast wine and bow. Enjoying the warmth in the world. For those of us who are wandering outside, the Spring Festival is even more special. It is your arrival that makes my wife and I feel the warmth of family. Here, I would like to express my gratitude to you .And I wish you all a happy Chinese New Year, and in the new year, happiness and happiness for your family! Cheers!"

"cheers!"

Everyone raised their glasses and cheered together.