The party lasted until ten o'clock in the evening, and the guests and hosts had a great time. It was a complete success.
The next day, at Raj's urging, Penny took Leonard and Howard to Macy's for a shopping spree.
Despite Raj being there to act as their wingman and set them up with women, Leonard and Howard proved inept at flirting, so they failed to connect with anyone in the end.
Therefore, they decided to accept Raj's suggestion and change their image.
Howard cut off his bowl-cut hair and styled it back. Then he put on a suit and tie, transforming into a handsome young man with a yuppie style.
Leonard ditched his glasses and switched to contact lenses. Instead of a pullover, he changed into a leather jacket, which made him look much cooler than his usual bookish appearance.
"Wow, this is really me, cool!" Leonard looked at himself in the mirror and said with satisfaction. "I think I'm cooler," Howard said, straightening his tie triumphantly.
Raj couldn't help nodding with a smile when he saw their successful transformations.
In fact, Leonard and Howard were both well-suited for the yuppie style.
They were talented and well-educated. As the saying goes, one's learning naturally shows through—in terms of bearing, they were actually quite impressive.
It was just that, being nerds, they had been bullied and humiliated since childhood, so they generally lacked self-confidence and became timid and submissive. Even though they were very talented, they could only show a fraction of their potential.
Now, under Raj's guidance and Penny's encouragement, the two successfully changed their style of dress and immediately felt reborn, like new men.
"If you had dressed like this yesterday, you wouldn't have come back empty-handed," Penny said regretfully.
Hearing this, Leonard and Howard's faces fell.
"Don't worry, Penny has many friends. I'll introduce you to them gradually," Raj quickly reassured them.
Penny nodded.
"If it were the old you, I really wouldn't dare introduce you again," she smiled. "But now, I'm happy to play matchmaker."
"Great!" Hearing this, Leonard and Howard cheered up again.
On Monday, Raj went back to the university for work.
"How about it, have you talked to Leslie? Is she willing to join us?" After the meeting, Howard asked.
"It's already been discussed." Raj nodded. "She wasn't very interested at first, but I think she will eventually choose to join."
Leslie is a very strong woman. She regards Sheldon as her lifelong enemy, and she wants to prove to him that she is not a stupid woman who only knows how to wash clothes and nurse children.
And if she wants to prove this point, she must come up with superior scientific research results.
But the symbolic lepton supersymmetry she is studying now is far inferior to Sheldon's string theory. It's impossible to shut Sheldon up with it.
A quantum navigation system is different. This is the most cutting-edge technology and the most practical invention. Once successfully developed, it will surely bring fame and fortune.
It is much stronger than Sheldon's string theory, which has not been verified for a long time, but is just a fantasy.
Therefore, Raj was sure that Leslie would give it a try.
Sure enough, at ten o'clock, there was a knock on the office door.
Raj went to open the door and saw that Leslie was standing outside.
"Welcome, I knew you'd be here," he said with a smile.
"Don't say that. I have to see your research progress first, and then decide whether to join or not." Leslie waved her hand.
"Okay, but before reading it, please sign this agreement." Raj handed over a confidentiality agreement.
The agreement requires that the signatory shall not disclose any information related to the project to anyone, let alone write papers or conduct research on the project's results.
After carefully reading the agreement, Leslie signed her name cautiously.
After confirming that her signature was accurate, Raj and Howard took out their research results.
Leslie's eyes lit up when she saw their project.
"Superfluid surface tension?! Interesting!" she said in surprise.
In the past, when people studied superfluid's, they only considered density and viscosity, never surface tension. This led to imperfect superfluid physics models, and quantum navigation systems developed based on them naturally failed to materialize.
Raj and Howard's research was indeed creative and groundbreaking. If successful, it might enable the development of quantum navigation and communication systems.
"How about it, would you like to join?" Raj asked.
Leslie pondered for a moment, then nodded. "Okay, I'll join."
"Great, welcome." Raj stretched out his hand and smiled.
"Yes, I welcome you too." Howard also leaned over and extended his hand.
Leslie only shook hands with Raj. She knew Howard's wretchedness all too well. "Thank you. Now, what should I do next?"
"First of all, please sign this contract. Let's be villains first and gentlemen later, to avoid future conflicts." Raj took out a contract.
After reading it carefully, Leslie questioned parts of it—her powers, interests, position in the team.
Raj answered each question.
After thinking for a moment, Leslie signed her name.
"Welcome. From now on, you're an official member of the project team." Raj laughed.
"Thank you. Now tell me what I should do." Leslie asked.
"Well, Howard and I have nearly completed the research, but there are a few key equations we can't solve. I hope you can help us." Raj said honestly.
"Okay." Leslie nodded.
Raj listed the equations, and the three of them began calculating.
With Leslie's addition, many problems were solved and progress accelerated greatly.
"It will take at most two more days for our research to succeed." Raj said excitedly.
"Yeah, that's really great." Howard said, equally excited. Fame and fortune were within reach—how could he not be excited?
"Don't get too excited. Building a theoretical model is just the first step. Next, we need to do experiments and consider practical applications. There's still a long way to go." Leslie said coolly.
After she said this, the atmosphere suddenly chilled.
"You're right." Raj nodded.
Just then, his email dinged.
Raj opened it and laughed immediately.
"What is it? What good news can make you so happy?" Howard asked curiously.
"My paper 'Edgeworth-Kuiper Debris Disk' has been accepted by The Astrophysical Journal." Raj said happily.
"Really?! Wow!" Howard couldn't help being happy for him.
The Astrophysical Journal was the highest-level professional journal in astronomy in the United States. Having his paper accepted was quite an honor.
Seeing Raj achieve such success, Leslie couldn't help but stare.
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