The breakthrough of lithium battery technology continues to ferment its impact on the capital market.

The world's largest producers of lithium materials are SQM in Chile, Albemarle in the United States, and Chemetel in Germany, which almost monopolize 80% of the world's lithium brine production.

On the last trading day before Christmas, almost as soon as the market opened, investors in the three lithium giants received an amazing Christmas gift.

Perhaps the shareholders of the three companies themselves were stunned by this sudden surprise, when "Nature" and "Science" highlighted the lithium dendrite paper, the market did not move at all, and no one thought that an MRS meeting would bring such an amazing effect.

However, as the development of lithium battery products in the industry has fulfilled people's expectations, the capital dividend brought by technological breakthroughs has also begun to come to an end.

After all, when the upstream of the industrial chain feels the heat, it undoubtedly means that the downstream has begun to return to calm.

How the capital market on Wall Street is changing, Lu Zhou is not interested in these things for the time being, and he does not pay any attention to them.

First, he didn't study financial things, and second, he probably didn't be so interested in money for a while.

After financial freedom, he can explore more purely in the field of science, without worrying too much about scientific research funding, market value and life problems.

To be honest, Lu Zhou probably understands David Shaw's mood now.

Although Wall Street brought him Columbia University's beautiful cars and mansions, it could not give him eternal satisfaction.

Perhaps the fluctuating capital game is indeed exciting enough, but this kind of stimulation often can't last even the first few years, and it will drown in the emptiness swept by the tide, and in the end only the numbness of these unaesthetic numbers remains, like a makeshift marriage.

Especially for an expert in massively parallel computing, this boring and monotonous number game, he can no longer get any quick out of it. Feel.

However, the science is different.

The pleasures of science are more lasting than any money, beautiful women, luxury cars, or even all material comforts.

Imagine that when a research result comes out, the whole world is changed because of you. Most people don't even feel the rotation of the earth, but you can feel that the whole world is rotating because of you.

Emptiness seconds later?

Numbness after getting used to it?

Inexistent.

Because the universe is like a Möbius ring, there is never an end.

The same is true for science.

……

With the arrival of Christmas, the whole town of Princeton is filled with festive spirits.

Princeton's campus, by contrast, is much more deserted.

Winter holidays begin two weeks before Christmas, and will continue until the second week after Christmas.

Except for some international students, almost most students choose to go out on vacation at this time, or go home for the "New Year".

Lu Zhou originally planned to hold a Christmas party to celebrate the housewarming, but unfortunately, none of his friends could come.

Senior Brother Luo and his new girlfriend have returned to China, and this guy is not a friend or twice.

David Lawrence returned to his hometown in Boston as soon as he had a holiday, and almost as soon as Lu Zhou returned from Boston, he got on the plane, so it was naturally impossible to make a special trip back.

As for the senior sister in Philadelphia, because the mentor's project is so busy, even if she wants to come very, very much, she really can't leave.

According to her, her mentor had just received an outsourcing project from a large client to plan the organizational structure of a company with assets of hundreds of millions of dollars, and the deadline set by the other party was to complete it by the end of January.

The menopausal woman threw her a bunch of uncomplicated but unusually tedious tasks on the grounds that you weren't a Christian anyway, and went home to enjoy the holidays on her own.

Although this statement seems to be fine, it still makes the senior sister can't help but roll her eyes a few times when she is on a video call with Lu Zhou.

expressed sympathy for Senior Sister Chen's experience, but this kind of management is beyond his ability, and he can only help it.

The three of them couldn't come, and Lu Zhou suddenly found that he didn't seem to have anyone to invite.

Among his friends, these three young people were close to Princeton.

As for the old professors of the Institute for Advanced Study, although many of them have a very good relationship with him, they obviously can't play together with different ages.

Fortunately, Lu Zhou's three students all chose to stay in school, so that the party would not end alone.

Soon it was Christmas Day.

There was a roaring fire in the fireplace, and goose feathers and snow were falling outside the window.

Sitting at the banquet table in front of the fireplace, Lu Zhou, as the boss, opened the champagne and said slowly to the three students sitting around the table.

"Next year, it's a new year."

Hardy raised his hand: "Professor, this is nonsense. ”

Lu Zhou: "......"

Just your words!

Ignoring the kid's statement, Lu Zhou continued to read his Christmas speech and expressed his outlook for the new year.

“…… Starting next spring, there will be new students enrolled. I hope that you, as brothers and sisters, can take the lead. ”

Vera nodded earnestly as always, taking the professor's words to heart.

Qin Yue belongs to the more wooden type, and his expression has not changed much.

Hardy babbled as always, patting his chest and saying, "Don't worry, Professor, I'll take the lead-"

Lu Zhou said unceremoniously: "Especially Hardy, I hope you can keep up with the progress, especially not to be surpassed by your juniors." Otherwise, when I recruit more students, I may forget your name. ”

Qin Yue, who took a sip of champagne, almost didn't choke, and quickly coughed to hide that he was laughing.

Hardy frowned and said, "Oh, professor, please, please don't do this!" ”

The living room resounded with merry laughter, and the atmosphere gradually became lively.

Looking at his student's funny appearance, Lu Zhou couldn't help but laugh and ridicule.

"Then you'll have to refuel."

It was just a lively joke, and he certainly couldn't have forgotten the names of his students.

Since they have chosen to put their future in his hands, he will be responsible for it as long as they don't give up.

Unless, one of them did something of academic misconduct, which made Lu Zhou feel disappointed in his character.

Raising a glass full of champagne, Lu Zhou sent a final Christmas message to the roaring fire, the snow outside the window, and his students.

"I wish you all a fruitful new year, and I wish our project a complete success, cheers!"

Vera, Qin Yue, and Hardy also raised their glasses in unison: "Cheers!! ”

The sound of staggering voices kept ringing.

Although the church bells are not heard here, the laughter is full of warmth.

Hadi, who boasted about how good he could drink at the dinner table, was drunk by Qin Yue, who didn't look very good at drinking, in just a few rounds.

However, within a few rounds, Qin Yue also lay down.

No one expected that in the Hail Conjecture research group, the most drinkable person turned out to be Vera, who looked the weakest and couldn't help the wind.

The empty bottles on the table had been arranged in a row, but there was only a little red glow on the white cheeks, and it was impossible to figure out where the wine had gone.

In the past, Lu Zhou didn't believe in the amount of alcohol that the Slavs drank, until he, as a mathematician, began to lose sight of how many glasses they were.

Slightly drunken staring at the dimly lit fireplace, Lu Zhou, who had barely poured a cup, couldn't help but think in his heart.

Will a Santa Claus suddenly crawl out of the crackling fire?

If so, would the fire have cooked the elk that he was pulling the sled?

Thinking about it, his consciousness drifted and gradually became clouded.

In this exotic festival, Lu Zhou, who had not been drunk for a long time, rarely got drunk again......