Chapter 306 Tearing Out a Nobel Prize
Of course, Xi Xiaoding had no objections—on the contrary, he was actually quite pleased.
Although Tian Yaoming had already become a high-ranking figure within Yuanxin, compared to President Xi, he was still... just a tiny bit behind. Whether it was due to Su Yuanshan's strong support or because of the deep impression President Xi had left in Yuanxin's early days, in everyone's eyes, President Xi remained the true big boss. He absolutely lived up to the title of Chief Scientist. If one had to say who else could match that position, it would probably only be Professor Su Xinghe—or the hidden heavyweight, President Shan himself.
More importantly, the tech people at Yuanxin weren't mere spectators who only chased after lively events. They knew full well: whether it was the algorithm textbooks compiled by President Xi, the YXlab built at Pandora Laboratory, or even the "chess AI" project that seemed almost like child's play now, President Xi was laying down the foundational cornerstones for Yuanxin's future. These were tasks that not just anyone could handle.
Therefore... no one had ever considered challenging President Xi's status.
However, the pursuit of technology and honor was an innate drive among these top-tier talents. Respect for President Xi didn't mean they would yield everything to him.
—This was why Tian Yaoming wanted to push for the creation of the NEWBEE Laboratory. It wasn't about splitting off—it was about building an environment where communications technology could also attract top talent and enjoy the highest standards.
Meanwhile, Xi Xiaoding looked at the situation from the broader perspective of Yuanxin's development. He believed that if the new laboratory could help achieve breakthroughs in mobile communications technology, it absolutely deserved support.
This was a matter of different positions, different visions.
—The same went for Chen Jing. She had never worried that Su Yuanshan's support for Zhou Xiaohui might somehow be an attempt to "check and balance" her. Yuanxin was a technology-driven company, and Su Yuanshan's status among engineers was almost mythical. If he wanted to make a move, he didn't need to play political games like leaders at other companies.
Thus, every decision and endorsement from Chen Jing was made purely based on what would help Yuanxin move forward like a war chariot crushing its way ahead.
After seeing Tian Yaoming and Du Rusong off, Su Yuanshan turned back and said to Chen Jing, "Jing Jie, I'll head back first. I need to prepare for the next paper."
"Alright. Where are you planning to submit it?" she asked.
"Nature," Su Yuanshan answered.
"Impressive! When will it be published?"
"Next week."
...
Returning to his office, Su Yuanshan started preparing a paper on the graphene Hall effect. Having gone through the experience of his first publication, he approached this one with far greater caution and rigor, aiming to keep it very modest.
It wasn't that he had no chance of getting published—it was that he had once read an interview with Andre Geim, the discoverer of graphene, and learned that even fifteen years after his initial easier publication in Nature, his subsequent groundbreaking works on the quantum Hall effect and room-temperature quantum Hall effect still had to undergo multiple revisions before finally being published.
At the time, Geim even remarked that one shouldn't "hang oneself on a single tree," implying that sometimes it's better to publish in slightly lower-tier journals.
And that was in 2009, when the semiconductor industry was nearing the limits of Moore's Law and desperately seeking next-generation semiconductor materials.
At present, they weren't even close to Moore's limit yet—whether they could even catch up to it remained unknown. Any small mistake could easily lead to a paper being rejected for "lack of practical value."
Unless... Su Yuanshan could immediately achieve the "magic angle" experiment and enter through the superconductivity route as a "curveball."
The so-called "magic angle" refers to a phenomenon observed at low temperatures: when two layers of graphene are stacked with a slight rotation of about 1.1 degrees, they exhibit incredible superconductivity. This discovery had shaken the international scientific community, opening a new field in condensed matter physics and providing new ideas for superconducting materials.
—And whether it was major journals or the Nobel Prize Committee, the field of superconductivity had always been a darling of science.
One week later.
When the new issue of Nature came out, a forum post titled "Holy crap! President Shan just dropped a god-tier paper in Nature!" instantly exploded across the boards.
As the most "internationalized" company, Yuanxin placed great importance on publishing in global journals. They not only subscribed to a massive array of periodicals but also had multiple channels to access the latest journal content and news.
Thus, Su Yuanshan's "god-tier" paper was quickly exposed.
He was listed as the first author—and the corresponding author.
This meant he had independently discovered and named a new two-dimensional material: graphene.
...
Inside Su Yuanshan's office, Xi Xiaoding burst in like a whirlwind.
"How did you discover it? Seriously, no one helped you?"
Xi Xiaoding plopped himself down directly onto Su Yuanshan's desk, staring at him with an expression full of disbelief.
As a seasoned overseas scholar, Xi Xiaoding was all too aware of how hard it was to get a paper published in Nature.
With the deepening of the country's reforms and economic improvements—and with the increasing emphasis scholars placed on international publications—the importance of getting papers into major global journals had been firmly recognized domestically.
It had gotten to the point where publishing even one first-author paper in a top journal like Nature or Science could instantly earn a scholar a full professorship. If the contribution was especially notable and the scholar had a solid background, it could even serve as capital for becoming an academician.
For instance, Professor Su Xinghe had become the "youngest academician" not only because of his groundbreaking contributions to the domestic semiconductor and microcontroller fields but also largely thanks to a top-tier journal paper.
But Professor Su Xinghe's paper had multiple corresponding authors, a first author, a second author, and a third—anyone who knew the field could tell at a glance it had been a team effort!
And now there was Su Yuanshan: sole first author, sole corresponding author.
This was beyond bizarre—it was downright shocking.
"Discovered it by accident," Su Yuanshan said nonchalantly, switching off his monitor. He had anticipated Xi Xiaoding's visit and got up, heading over to the bookshelf.
While brewing tea for Xi Xiaoding, he smiled and explained, "Actually, the idea came from a wild spark of inspiration. After reading papers on carbon nanotubes and fullerenes, I thought—since there are spherical and tubular carbon structures, why not a planar, single-layer crystal structure?"
"Later, I looked into it more and found that as early as decades ago, people had tried peeling layers off graphite crystals. So... I decided to give it a try too. As for why I ended up using tape to peel it off—"
Su Yuanshan shrugged, spreading his hands. "The idea just popped into my head."
"..." Xi Xiaoding was speechless.
"You realize," Xi Xiaoding said after a moment, "you might have just torn out a Nobel Prize."
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Chapter 307 Maximizing Benefits
When Su Yuanshan heard Xi Xiaoding say "you tore out a Nobel Prize," he was genuinely startled.
Of course, he knew this discovery would eventually lead to a Nobel Prize—even if he didn't conduct the Hall effect experiments, it would just delay things a little. After all, this was humanity's first discovery of a two-dimensional material that could exist at room temperature, and it possessed outstanding optical, thermal, and electrical properties.
But for Xi Xiaoding to conclude, just from reading his paper, that it might win a Nobel Prize… his scientific intuition was almost frighteningly sharp.
"Even though I'm not a physicist, I've at least been exposed to the field a bit, and anyway, semiconductors and physics are inseparable," Xi Xiaoding said, calming himself down and looking at Su Yuanshan with a complex expression.
"You have to understand, recently there's been a strong push for Nobel recognition for fullerenes and carbon nanotubes—and if those win the Nobel, then your graphene discovery won't be far behind!"
"Moreover, unlike carbon nanotubes and fullerenes, the method to prepare graphene in the lab is very simple—too simple! That means other labs can easily replicate it and quickly develop its properties and applications."
Xi Xiaoding finished in one breath, and his gaze was filled with a mixture of admiration and envy.
"Yeah, the Cavendish Laboratory has already successfully exfoliated graphene too," Su Yuanshan added.
"How do you know that?" Xi Xiaoding asked.
"Uh… I'm the corresponding author," Su Yuanshan said.
"Dammit! You're not even human," Xi Xiaoding cursed, recalling the shock he felt when he noticed that Su Yuanshan was the sole author listed on the paper: first author, corresponding author, all him.
"And then? What are your plans next? This is a whole new field..."
"Hold on, I need to take a call."
Su Yuanshan picked up his phone. Seeing the number was from the capital, he hesitated a moment before answering.
On the other end, an excited voice said, "Is this Student Su Yuanshan? This is Professor Xu Zhiwen."
"Hello, Professor Xu," Su Yuanshan replied.
Xu Zhiwen, head of the Physics Department at Peking University, had been someone Su Yuanshan visited and consulted during a previous trip to Peking University.
In terms of age, Xu was about the same generation as Professor Su Xinghe. Although he had spent time abroad, it had only been as an exchange scholar—a brief glimpse of the outside world.
Even so, Xu Zhiwen represented the highest standard in the country's field of physics at the time.
"I'll get straight to the point—how about coming to Peking University?"
Xu Zhiwen's words left Su Yuanshan stunned.
During his visit, Su Yuanshan had gone as a student, but his reputation had already preceded him. Xu had not put on airs; rather, he was quite impressed that Su Yuanshan had mastered applied physics so thoroughly through self-study. Their discussion had been pleasant, leaving a good impression on both sides.
But still… Su Yuanshan had never imagined Xu Zhiwen would directly invite him to Peking University.
For what? To be a graduate student?
They couldn't possibly directly offer him an associate professorship—it wasn't how things worked!
"Uh... Professor Xu, I'm afraid I can't leave here so easily," Su Yuanshan said with an apologetic smile. "Besides, my lab is here…"
"Ah!"
On the other end, Xu Zhiwen sighed, though his tone held no real disappointment.
After all, Su Yuanshan's circumstances were too unique.
The country naturally wanted to see such a genius rise—anyone with a shred of scientific integrity would want that.
But with the country now formalizing its academic and scientific research systems, it wasn't so easy to simply "break the rules" and offer someone a faculty position without following procedure—even if that person was a once-in-a-generation genius.
After a few seconds of silence, Xu Zhiwen said, "You know why I contacted you, right?"
Su Yuanshan humbly replied, "Yes… I should've asked for your guidance on that paper. It was reckless of me."
"Don't give me that," Xu Zhiwen chuckled over the phone. "I admit I'm jealous, but I'm not shameless enough to try and steal credit."
Su Yuanshan chuckled too.
The truth was, domestic academia was only beginning to truly understand the importance of publications in top journals. It hadn't yet become a mandatory requirement for career advancement. Otherwise, people might have been much more eager to "borrow" achievements.
"Anyway, could you find some time for us to discuss the future of graphene? Honestly, everyone who's read your paper agrees this material has immense potential. It might even allow us to overtake others in the materials field."
"Of course, Professor. It's my duty and honor," Su Yuanshan replied.
As soon as he hung up, his phone rang again.
This time, it was the head of the Applied Physics Department at the Electronics Institute calling…
...
"All this fuss just for a Nature paper? It feels like Chinese New Year with all these calls,"
Su Yuanshan grumbled, hanging up again and finally pulling out his phone's battery to shut it off. He turned to Xi Xiaoding and smiled bitterly. "Senior, when you published in TACL, did you get this kind of harassment?"
TACL was one of the top journals in the field of computer science.
"Nope," Xi Xiaoding said, grinning broadly. "Just a few friends congratulated me face-to-face, and we had a meal."
"Sigh... so that's what being part of the 'old families' is like."
"Idiot," Xi Xiaoding said, rolling his eyes at Su Yuanshan. "You published in Nature! A century-old journal! And you did it alone! Plus, there hasn't been a domestically-authored Nature paper like this in recent history."
"Surely there have been some?" Su Yuanshan questioned.
"In the last ten years? None. And if you trace back to the very beginning of Nature's history, your paper ranks among the first ten ever issued from within our country. Of course the entire physics community is going crazy over it!"
Su Yuanshan thought for a moment—and realized it was probably true.
"Xiaoshan, you must seize this opportunity," Xi Xiaoding said seriously after sipping his tea. "You have to continue the experiments and dig deeper."
"At a personal level, this is a massive opportunity for you. At a company level, it's an opportunity for Yuanxin. And at a national level... it's potentially historic."
Su Yuanshan exhaled slowly.
He understood exactly what Xi Xiaoding meant—since President Xi could already recognize the importance of graphene, then Su Yuanshan might truly be the first domestically-based scientist to win a Nobel Prize.
Or rather, the first to win the Nobel Prize in Physics—the one with the highest prestige—while holding Chinese citizenship.
It would be good for himself, for Yuanxin, and for the whole country.
"And furthermore," Xi Xiaoding continued, "as long as you keep pushing forward with graphene research, publishing influential papers, Yuanxin's standing in the scientific world will soar."
"I know," Su Yuanshan nodded.
"No, you might not fully realize... here's what I'm thinking," Xi Xiaoding said, his eyes gleaming.
"I want to push for Yuanxin to establish a postdoctoral research station."
"Huh? A postdoctoral station?"
Xi Xiaoding nodded firmly. "Exactly. Only by setting up a postdoc station can we fully maximize the benefits of your paper."
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Chapter 308 Postdoctoral Research Station
"In foreign countries, there's already a relatively mature system for establishing corporate postdoctoral stations. Domestically, it's still mainly research institutes that do it—there's no precedent yet for a corporate postdoc station… but just because there's no precedent doesn't mean Yuanxin can't set one," Xi Xiaoding said, his eyes gleaming as he looked at Su Yuanshan. "Recently, quite a few overseas Chinese scholars have been actively calling for raising the ceiling for Chinese scholars in the West. There's also been a push to encourage successful master's and doctoral graduates to return home. Especially in the biological sciences, a few young scholars are extremely enthusiastic..."
"That's a good thing," Xi Xiaoding continued, taking a sip of tea. "It shows that as long as there are more opportunities domestically, we can attract more outstanding talent back. We can't do much for the biology field, but when it comes to computer science, semiconductors, and mechanical electronics, Yuanxin has a responsibility."
Hearing Xi Xiaoding mention the word "responsibility," Su Yuanshan smiled faintly.
In his memory, the domestic corporate postdoctoral system didn't start until around 1997—after the handover of Hong Kong. Even then, it started only with major state-owned enterprises, and it wasn't until twenty years later that a few private giants began establishing them.
Yet here was Xi Xiaoding already planning to pioneer it.
"If we want to do it, we have no internal issues," Su Yuanshan said without hesitation. "I believe both the wafer fabrication plant and your Pandora Lab can support the conditions needed for a postdoctoral station. The main issue will be with government policy."
Su Yuanshan quickly agreed with Xi Xiaoding's idea but also pointed out the obstacle. "Senior, you should know—the state's attitude toward us is complicated…"
Hearing this, Xi Xiaoding was momentarily stunned, but then he smiled and said, "Understandable. Even just a couple of years ago, they were still debating socialism vs. capitalism. But compared to the big state-owned enterprises, our advantages are clear. I believe if the state is serious about moving forward, they'll consider Yuanxin."
"Our advantages are too obvious..." Su Yuanshan sighed. "The government certainly hopes that domestic companies succeed—but it especially wants the large state-owned enterprises to succeed."
Setting up a postdoc station was, in essence, providing a platform for further research for PhD graduates. It benefited the company by acquiring new research output and benefited the postdocs by boosting their credentials.
A strong postdoc station could attract truly top-tier talent.
Given Yuanxin's current technological reserves and research investment, once it established a postdoc station, it would undoubtedly become the first choice for outstanding postdocs both at home and abroad.
Gathering all top talent to Yuanxin—that could trigger concerns.
"But whatever," Xi Xiaoding waved it off, his tone decisive. "We have to try, don't we? Besides, I figure you'll be setting up your own lab soon anyway, right?"
"More or less…" Su Yuanshan smiled and shook his head. "Although I don't like to talk about 'qualifications,' the reality is that both domestically and internationally, qualifications still matter a lot. What title do I use to establish a lab?"
"Pfft..." Xi Xiaoding couldn't hold back a laugh. "If I were you, I'd just found a lab as a third-year undergraduate student—and only recruit PhD students, and only from TPF—Tsinghua, Peking, and Fudan Universities. If you have the ability, what are you afraid of?"
"PhDs? That's too much," Su Yuanshan hurriedly waved his hand.
It was no joke—he knew his level in applied physics. Without any guidance from a master, he was purely self-taught, and his current ability at best matched that of a master's student.
Unless he were to found a lab focused on integrated circuits and chip design—that was his home turf, with decades of immersion and genuine expertise.
"Sigh, you think too much," Xi Xiaoding sighed with a smile. "Anyway, I'll discuss the postdoc station idea further with your father. If we can't establish it under Yuanxin's name directly, we'll find a workaround and do it in partnership with the Electronics Institute—but the research base will still be here at the science park."
"And I figure you'll soon be attending some conferences… Maybe during your talks, you can hint at this idea, warm people up to it." Xi Xiaoding paused, then said seriously, "You can't keep hiding in the background."
"…Was I hiding?" Su Yuanshan asked, a little helpless.
"You think I'm blind?" Xi Xiaoding rolled his eyes, put down his teacup, and stood up. "Anyway, I'm off. You go answer your emails."
After seeing Xi Xiaoding off, Su Yuanshan did just that—returning to his desk and continuing to reply to the flood of emails pouring in from all over.
Truth be told, he had underestimated the impact of that paper.
He only knew that ten years later, when Andre Geim and Konstantin Novoselov discovered graphene, it triggered a massive global research boom.
What he had forgotten was that his paper was not just an early entry—it was an independent work, with multiple experimental samples and data sets, clearly showing the mechanical and electrical properties of graphene at room temperature.
In a sense, he had already pointed out a clear pathway for scientists toward practical applications.
Moreover, there was already a significant overlap between material physics and semiconductors, and Su Yuanshan himself had a growing reputation as a young genius in semiconductors. Combined with Yuanxin's almost miraculous rise, it added a layer of mystery to his persona.
As a result, many laboratories—especially domestic ones—were eager to reach out, sending friendly emails that seemed designed to "build relationships" early.
After replying to a batch of emails, Su Yuanshan refreshed his inbox—and a new message popped up.
"Come home tonight." —Su Xinghe.
...
"Sister Xiaohui, help me make a call. I need to go home tonight,"
Su Yuanshan said as he pushed open the door to Zhou Xiaohui's office, finding her still on a call.
Her office was just outside his. After his previous suggestion, Zhou Xiaohui had arranged for two additional secretaries from the administrative department.
Now, with three people squeezed into her small office, it was a bit cramped—but very convenient.
And Zhou Xiaohui wasn't trying to "compete" with the admin office for duties, so things were manageable.
"Should I notify Team Leader Fu?" asked the new secretary, Qiu Yu, a young woman who had only recently graduated.
"Yes," Su Yuanshan nodded with a smile. "See if he's available. If not, get in touch with Master Zheng."
"Master Fu is definitely available," Zhou Xiaohui chimed in cheerfully. "It's rare to see you heading home."
"Yeah..." Su Yuanshan sighed with a wry smile. "When the old man calls, you can't say no."
He knew full well—his father's summons was almost certainly related to his paper.
—Even though he had given his father some advance warning, talking about it and seeing the actual paper were two very different things.
Moreover, Su Yuanshan suspected that his father's request to come home wasn't entirely personal—there was probably a school-related agenda too.
After all, on paper, Su Yuanshan was still a student at the Electronics Institute.
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Chapter 309 Changing the Direction of the World
Just as Zhou Xiaohui had said, ever since Fu Zhenhua was promoted to team leader of the motorcade, he had become Su Yuanshan's exclusive driver, operating Car No. 1.
Even if Chen Jing needed a vehicle, she would call for another driver—unless Su Yuanshan personally instructed Fu Zhenhua to pick her up.
When there was nothing else to do, Fu Zhenhua would stay in the logistics office, living and working quite comfortably.
After picking up Su Yuanshan, Fu Zhenhua drove steadily down the highway and quickly returned to the Electronics Institute.
"Brother Fu, come upstairs and have a meal with us," Su Yuanshan said as he got out of the car, opening the passenger door himself.
Fu Zhenhua smiled and shook his head, pointing forward. "Principal Zhou is already at your house. I wouldn't dare."
Following the direction Fu Zhenhua pointed, Su Yuanshan indeed spotted Principal Zhou and Director of the Physics Department Lü Xuechao walking one behind the other toward his dormitory building.
As they walked, they chatted casually. When Lü Xuechao inadvertently turned and saw Su Yuanshan's Mercedes, he immediately stopped in his tracks.
"Uh…" Seeing the two stop and smile at him, Su Yuanshan could only scratch his nose awkwardly and jog over.
"Principal Zhou, Director Lü."
"Good timing," Lü Xuechao said. A veteran at the Electronics Institute who had watched Su Yuanshan grow up, he patted Su Yuanshan firmly on the shoulder. "You little rascal, pulling off a major coup without even making a sound?"
"Hehe, it's all thanks to your good teaching, Director Lü."
Although Lü Xuechao carried teaching duties as Physics Department head, the Physics Department at the Electronics Institute was notoriously weak… so his "status" wasn't exactly stellar.
Still, Su Yuanshan knew—regardless of Lü's scientific prowess—his attitude was impeccable.
"Enough flattery, come on, let's head up to your place."
...
Su Yuanshan accompanied the two upstairs. As expected, they had come specifically to see him.
To be honest, as rigorous scientists, both the principal and the department head had always been able to accept Su Yuanshan's earlier displays of "genius."
For example, programming skills—though impressive, they weren't impossible to achieve. With some innate talent—not genius, just talent—and enough coding hours, one could feasibly reach Su Yuanshan's level.
Especially since Su Yuanshan had advantages most others didn't—his father was internationally educated and one of the top programming talents among the professors at the Electronics Institute.
As for Su Yuanshan's chip design talents, those could plausibly be attributed to early education by his father as well.
To put it bluntly, the professors at the Electronics Institute—who knew Su Yuanshan's background intimately—were proud of his achievements but didn't view him as a "prodigy."
That was, until Su Yuanshan independently completed and published a Nature paper.
After Professor Su Xinghe published a paper in a top-tier journal, the Electronics Institute had started placing more importance on academic publishing. Over the past six months, countless students and professors had tried to get papers accepted by international journals.
Without exception, those who submitted to Nature or Science were "instantly rejected."
But Su Yuanshan succeeded—and he published in Nature.
Had it been a paper in JSSC, for instance, everyone would have immediately suspected that Su Yuanshan's father or one of his senior colleagues in the semiconductor field had helped or handed the results to him.
Thus, this proved beyond doubt:
Su Yuanshan's talent in scientific research far exceeded anyone's imagination.
The door to the family home was ajar. Su Yuanshan pushed it open and entered.
Professor Su Xinghe, already having heard footsteps, was standing up from the tea table, smiling warmly at the door.
"Dad, Principal Zhou and Director Lü are here."
"Good, they came just for you," Su Xinghe said, glancing affectionately at his son after a few days apart, then turned to Principal Zhou. "Principal, you should've just dragged him straight to your office—he wouldn't have dared to refuse."
Principal Zhou laughed heartily. "Haha, Little Su, your dad sure sells you out fast!"
"Uh... come on, what face do I have in front of you all? In this room, you're all big bosses. I'm just a humble student."
Just then, Zhang Xiuyun emerged from the kitchen with a plate of fruit, chiming in: "Exactly, you're just a student. Principal, Director Lü, have some fruit."
Su Yuanshan glanced at his mother. Though she was still well-maintained, faint crow's feet had appeared at the corners of her eyes. Yet she was smiling at him warmly, and he couldn't help but grin back. "Mom, don't keep tearing me down! I'm at least a scholar now, having published a paper."
Zhang Xiuyun laughed. "One paper and you're a scholar? You think I haven't been to school myself?"
"Sister-in-law, it's not just any paper," Lü Xuechao said with a chuckle. "Your son published in... well, a very prestigious journal."
...
Su Yuanshan moved a small stool from his room and sat facing the three of them.
"Here's the thing, Little Su," Lü Director and Principal Zhou exchanged a glance, then looked at Professor Su Xinghe, and only then spoke seriously. "I've read your paper—and discussed it with professors from other universities."
"And here, among friends, speak honestly: was it truly completed independently?"
After saying this, Director Lü looked at Su Yuanshan with burning eyes.
Su Yuanshan was briefly stunned, but soon he understood from his father and the principal's expressions what this was really about.
They weren't suspicious of him. Rather, they were acting out of a protective instinct, confirming things to defend him if necessary.
In other words, they didn't want to later discover he had used someone else's results—which would be academic misconduct—even though the possibility was remote. Given his control over Yuanxin, he technically could have made such a move.
Had that been the case, they would likely have chosen to shield him.
Realizing this, Su Yuanshan let out a long breath.
He smiled, then spoke slowly and gently: "It really was me, independently, alone. You all know—especially Dad—you know that engineers at Yuanxin all have a certain pride. Even if my senior brothers had wanted to help me, they would've insisted on standing on principle."
The three men visibly relaxed, but their expressions quickly turned serious again.
After a few moments of contemplation, Principal Zhou said, "So the predictions in your paper… they're based on your understanding of graphene's properties?"
"Yes, Principal," Su Yuanshan said, licking his lips lightly. "To put it simply, I suspect this material could change the world."
"Or at least, it could change the direction of the world."
"At the very least, it will change a certain field—or the future of that field."
The three men exchanged another look.
This time, it was Su Xinghe who asked: "So what's your plan?"
"My plan is to let Yuanxin pursue it first."
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Chapter 310 This Melon Isn't Sweet
Su Yuanshan was very optimistic about the future of graphene. In later generations, beyond the speculative hype from hot money, graphene—especially monolayer graphene—became a favorite in the research world due to its excellent performance and unique two-dimensional crystalline properties.
Any material, any discipline, as long as it could be used to crank out academic papers, would become popular sooner or later.
Even without hype, graphene was strong enough on its own merits to carry humanity into the next era of semiconductor materials.
As for letting Yuanxin take the lead... Su Yuanshan had two main reasons.
First, he didn't want to see the country's already tight research funds being thrown at fields that had no practical outcomes yet, which would only result in scientists flooding the journals with meaningless papers without real technological advances.
Second, he alone knew which directions were truly the right ones to pursue.
...
Upon hearing Su Yuanshan's thoughts, Principal Zhou and Director Lü both fell silent, deep in thought.
Since they had confirmed that this graphene discovery was truly the independent work of Su Yuanshan, they had every reason to trust his scientific instincts.
And more importantly, they understood that Su Yuanshan really could wield the immense resources of Yuanxin at will.
Yuanxin wasn't jokingly called "a mini-Chinese Academy of Sciences"—whether it was through its teaching and research teams with the Electronics Institute or elsewhere, whenever Yuanxin selected a collaboration project, funding in the millions was easily provided. For those projects personally chosen by Su Yuanshan—like photolithography machines and lithium batteries—funding of hundreds of millions was invested without blinking.
In the country, there was truly no second company that dared to invest like that.
After a few moments of contemplation, Principal Zhou finally said, "Xiaoshan, when you say you want Yuanxin to handle it, does that mean you don't recommend other domestic institutions to get involved?"
"Mm... I wouldn't really recommend it," Su Yuanshan said with a smile. "Other institutions can wait until Yuanxin has made some progress and then follow up."
At that moment, Su Xinghe interjected, "And how do you plan to set up your lab? What kind of structure?"
Looking at his father, Su Yuanshan immediately understood that the old man was leaning slightly toward the school's interests. He chuckled and said, "Just today, Senior Xi mentioned he wants to establish a postdoctoral research station at Yuanxin."
"Postdoc station?"
All three of them were stunned!
The postdoctoral system had already been running domestically for several years, but even a top professional university like the Electronics Institute only had one such station. And now a private company like Yuanxin wanted to establish one?
However, Principal Zhou quickly regained his composure. As the head of the school, he was privy to more inside information and understood that setting up postdoc stations at enterprises was inevitable sooner or later.
He immediately smiled and nodded. "Good! If Yuanxin can establish a postdoc station, it will provide an excellent platform and also promote deeper research in related fields."
Su Yuanshan chuckled, "That's why I think using Yuanxin as a base, following the postdoc station model, is the best way for everyone to advance graphene research slowly."
"And you? Will you be setting up your own laboratory?" Director Lü asked, staring intently at him.
Su Yuanshan immediately realized Director Lü's thoughts.
Though the Electronics Institute's physics department was widely mocked, Director Lü wasn't willing to be treated as a joke. If he gave up now, they might as well just shut down the physics department altogether.
Weak as it might be, if the department could boast a young physics prodigy who had independently published in Nature, it wouldn't look so weak anymore.
—This was exactly why Lü and Principal Zhou had been so careful to verify Su Yuanshan's authorship earlier.
The Electronics Institute desperately needed an untarnished, homegrown physics genius.
"I will establish a lab," Su Yuanshan said, exhaling slightly and smiling. "I'll invite a few senior brothers from our school to help out, and I'd also like to invite Director Lü to guide us."
Upon hearing this, Lü Xuechao let out a long sigh of relief.
He didn't dare hope to have his name attached to Su Yuanshan's papers, but he had graduate students under his wing—if they could make a name for themselves working under Su Yuanshan, he, as their mentor, would bask in their reflected glory.
...
After seeing Principal Zhou and Director Lü off, Su Yuanshan returned to the living room to find his father smiling at him with a look of proud satisfaction. He couldn't help but shake his head.
"Dad, did you also doubt whether my Nature paper was really mine?"
Su Xinghe, however, was very candid: "I never doubted you made the discovery. But I did have a little doubt whether you completed all the experiments alone—you just don't have that much free time."
"That's true," Su Yuanshan admitted. "I squeezed every bit of time I had..."
Hearing that, Su Xinghe suddenly froze. He remembered how a year or so ago, around the Chinese New Year, Su Yuanshan had seemed extremely restless, holed up in the lab every day. He stared at Su Yuanshan in disbelief.
"Was that when you were working on this?"
"Yes."
"You…" Su Xinghe's eyes widened, and he drew a sharp breath that seemed to reach all the way to his heels.
This kid was an absolute monster!
He had concealed such a major discovery not just from the public—but even from his own father—for almost two years!
Su Xinghe's face was filled with shock. "You endured all that in silence?"
"Isn't that what real scientific research requires?" Su Yuanshan said lightly, smiling. "Patience and endurance."
"Anyway, let's not talk about that now," he added. "Dad, let me ask—if my experiments had actually been done by others, or worse, if it was all faked, what would you have done?"
After a few moments of silent reflection, Su Xinghe smiled and said, "If the experiments weren't done by you personally but you had simply used or bought someone else's results, I would have pretended not to know. But if it were outright fabrication, I would insist you retract the paper."
"And what about Principal Zhou and Director Lü?"
"Old Zhou and Old Lü..." Su Xinghe sighed, looking at his son with a complicated expression before slowly smiling. "Xiaoshan, domestic academia now places increasing importance on papers, especially those published in the three top journals—Cell, Nature, and Science."
"Nowadays, publishing in those journals almost guarantees a fast-track promotion: a lecturer becomes an associate professor, an associate professor becomes a full professor. In fact, some schools are already discussing making a top journal paper a requirement for being nominated for academician status."
"Scientific research must integrate with international standards. Our country fell behind for too long, and now it's racing to catch up."
"And your Nature paper is officially counted under the Electronics Institute's name—it's the first one in over a decade! So... you can imagine how much it means to Old Zhou and the others."
Su Yuanshan let out a deep sigh after hearing this.
"Dad, don't worry. Forget about outright fraud—even if my experimental results couldn't be replicated, I wouldn't have submitted it. Even if I did submit early to secure priority, once replication failed, I would voluntarily withdraw."
"Reproducibility is the foundation of science," Su Yuanshan said quietly, pressing his lips together. "And I want to set the example."
At that moment, Zhang Xiuyun emerged from the kitchen carrying a tray of watermelon slices.
"You two still chatting even after everyone's left? Come have some watermelon," she said.
Su Yuanshan chuckled, reaching out to grab a slice and taking a big bite.
"This melon... isn't sweet."
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