Chapter 34

Zhang Yuan did not have the interest to network with others. He would soon leave from the face of Earth so why would he care who they were. It would be better for him to use the time and take a short nap.

For some reason, he would often have insomnia in the dormitory, but during classes or at such public venues, it was easier to feel sleepy.

Half an hour passed by in a flash.

The award ceremony usually started from the third prize. If they handed out the first prize from the start, what purpose would there be to continue?

The atmosphere in the venue was extremely good. The host was professional, humorous, and in addition, it was the most famous award of the country. Therefore, thunderous applause could always be heard.

“Next, the winner of the first place of the Galaxy Award is…” The host deliberately dragged on. He was slightly surprised when he saw the sleeping Zhang Yuan.

All of a sudden, Zhang Yuan heard his father’s name and he hastily woke up from his dreamland.

A video about Zhang Yuan’s father played out on the screen. It was about his father’s achievements in life. A famous mathematician, engineer, the man behind the spaceship main control system, the nuclear engine engineer, and so on…

From those lines of words shown on the screen, the audiences released sounds of murmur and exclamation.

Any single one of these achievements would allow an ordinary person to brag about it for their whole life.

Among the exclamation, a piece of sad music played. “Due to overexertion, Professor Zhang had passed away at the young age of 60… therefore, his family member will receive the reward on his behalf.”

Zhang Yuan went up on stage after the host finished talking. He slightly bowed and received the gold medal.

Shortly after, a microphone was passed to him.

The host wanted him to give an acceptance speech, and soon, the venue gradually quietened down.

Zhang Yuan was not nervous as he had already prepared his speech beforehand.

“It’s a great honor for me to be able to receive the first place Galaxy Award on my father’s behalf. Firstly, please allow me to thank the panel of judges, the scientific committee, and…”

It was a very procedural speech. In any case, there were usually three targets to thank as too many would look bad as it would sound redundant. But if there were too little, it would not sound formal enough.

Normally, winning the first place prize was a very sensational event. Moreover, with the principle of better to have none rather than a substandard choice, rarely would there be someone who received the gold medal. Until now, that position had been vacant for quite some time.

However, as the first place recipient had passed away and the award was received on behalf of him, there was now less meaning behind this segment. As a result, the reporters were not interested in interviewing him.

What could they possibly get from interviewing a family member?

Zhang Yuan was thinking deep down that if only he was the one who won this award, then that would be considered true glory…

Thanks to his father, he had managed to experience the feeling of having all sorts of aura and attention placed on him.

It was pressuring but motivating at the same time.

The following words were what Zhang Yuan originally intended to say.

“According to my father’s last wishes, I am willing to donate the entire prize money of 10 million yuan to the Deep Space Foundation to support the development of the aerospace industry!”

What he said was basically poking the hornet’s nest, and waves of murmurs soon sounded in the hall.

Even though Zhang Yuan was only a substitute recipient, his act of donating the entire prize money had still caused a huge discussion.

No one would believe that it was Zhang Qiming’s last wishes. Even if he was a genius, he could not have possibly known that he would receive the prize after his death.

Therefore, it was definitely that young man’s intentions.

It was 10 million yuan for goodness sake!

That was definitely not a small sum of money. It would suffice for an ordinary person to spend the rest of his life comfortably.

However, he gave it up just like that.

*Clap-clap-clap*

The audience burst into an unprecedented thunderous applause.

“Thank you!”

Zhang Yuan slightly bowed, handed over the mic to the host, and when he was about to step down the stage, he saw Professor Wang and the surrounding people next to him overjoyed by his surprise.

“Mr. Zhang, can you accept an interview?”

A huge wave of reporters swarmed in like dogs who smelled meat as they impatiently asked their questions.

“Mr. Zhang, I have a question for you…”

“Mr. Zhang, please come here for a moment!”

“Why did you…”

Zhang Yuan felt dizzy from the commotion.

He’s in trouble. He seemed to have caused trouble with his good intentions and accidentally provoked the crowd of reporters!

The host cleared his throat to calm down the crowd. He knew what the reporters wanted to ask.

He quickly helped Zhang Yuan as he said, “Dear reporters, due to time constraints, we can only allow a single question. Let’s go with this lady. What do you wish to ask?

The host pointed to the lady standing right at the front.

Zhang Yuan felt his heart drop.

Unfortunately, the lady was the golden-haired reporter, Angelica, whom he bullied in the past. That’s right, it was that lady from some humanist association he had teased.

She wouldn’t possibly cause trouble for him on such an occasion, right?

Angelica looked at Zhang Yuan with a complicated gaze. In fact, she wanted to take revenge against him but she did not dare to do so in such an event.

She adjusted her emotions very quickly and thought for a second before speaking in fluent Xia country’s language. “Hello everyone, my name is Angelica and I’m from Lan country.”

“I aspire to travel all over the world, and I’ve visited many different places. The prosperous Xia country, the beautiful Mi country, but I have also visited some poorer small countries…”

“I’ve once visited a small country and met with a rich man there. He was wearing linen, a type of yellow plant fiber that was the best material out there in the area. He has eight wives, please do not laugh at this as polygamy is legal in their country.”

“So how rich was he? He has a cassava processing plant with two machines that can grind cassava into powder.”

“Just like that, he became a famous tycoon and almost all the girls in the village are willing to be married to him.”

“I believe everyone can imagine that such poverty still exists in all the corners of the world. It is not just one place or a single person. Instead, there are numerous people out there in need of help…”

The hall was silent for a moment before sounds of whispering could be heard.

Zhang Yuan could already imagine what she wanted to ask.

Angelica continued and said, “I wish to ask Mr. Zhang, why don’t you donate that sum of money to people who need them more?”

“There are numerous poor people who need our help and the Deep Space Foundation is rich enough to invest millions of dollars into the space and aviation industry every year. I’m sorry I can’t remember the exact amount. However, the amount of money donated to the poor is much much lower in comparison. Isn’t this order reversed?”

The question was very sharp and it even carried traces of political sensitivity.

Several big political figures slightly frowned in fear that the young man would not answer this question well.

The entire award ceremony was a live broadcast and every single word would be recorded down, causing an extensive discussion among the people.

In particular, it was impossible for a full donation of prize money to be overlooked.

The entire atmosphere in the hall quietened down and everyone’s gaze focused on Zhang Yuan as they wanted to know how that young man would answer the question.