Chapter 7

I checked into a hotel, ordered an iced milk tea, and opened an old journal.

The first page was an entry from my twentieth birthday:

[100 Goals to Achieve Before 30]

Participate in a research project related to controlled nuclear fusion ✓

Get my PhD at MIT

Buy my parents a big house in our hometown.

Learn to surf.

Travel the world.

Date a super, ridiculously hot guy.

To be determined (crossed out) 7. Save 1.5 million (crossed out) 7. Save 2 million

…

I had listed these goals in order of difficulty.

The first one was achieved quickly.

In my third year of university, I was ranked in the top two of my department, won a scholarship to a summer plasma physics research program in Switzerland, and got a recommendation letter from a top professor.

I was on top of the world back then, with everything under control.

I thought the second goal would be achieved just as quickly.

But then, a series of events threw me off course, and I strayed further and further from the scientific path I had set for myself.

By a twist of fate, Goal 6, which I had thought was the most far-fetched, was one of the first I accomplished.

As for Goal 7, I added that one later.

After a few revisions, I was now only twenty or thirty thousand short of reaching it.

It was time to get back on track.

I sent a message to a senior from my undergraduate physics program at T University, who was now a professor at MIT.

“Zou Yan, is it okay if I ask you a few questions about applying for the PhD program at MIT?”