Chapter 218 is still shocking to think about.

After the holiday, everything returned to normal.

Lin Sicheng carried the file bag and walked towards the conference room.

Today is the first plenary meeting since the center was established a month ago. Except for one receptionist at the bar and one security guard outside the exhibition hall, all other staff members are present.

The newly hired assistant was waiting in the corridor early in the morning. When she saw him from afar, she smiled and then bent her waist slightly.

"Teacher Lin!"

Lin Sicheng smiled and said, "Senior Brother Fang, there's no need to be so formal. Relax!"

A slight smile appeared on his face, and Assistant Fang nodded.

According to his position, he should be addressed as "Director," but Lin Sicheng was not used to it; the center uniformly called everyone "Teacher."

Lin Sicheng's personality was undeniably good; he spoke softly and gently, and was always courteous and amiable. He had repeatedly emphasized that his assistant should be more relaxed, but the assistant dared not be, and even if he wanted to, he couldn't.

Putting everything else aside, just look at the college's leaders and professors—who still addresses him by his first name when they see him now?

Those who are not familiar with him call him Director Lin, while those who are closer call him Teacher Lin…

With that thought in mind, he opened the meeting room door for Lin Sicheng.

The two went inside, one after the other.

As soon as he stepped across the threshold, Lin Sicheng was slightly taken aback: Wait... why are there so many people?

This is the internal meeting room, which also serves as the center's multi-functional classroom.

There was a U-shaped table in the middle, and behind it were rows of seats, about fifty or sixty in total, and it was almost full.

But where would the center find so many people?

Upon closer inspection, several officials from the school office and the college office were present, along with numerous professors from the porcelain group. In addition, there were several leaders and technical personnel from the district's Culture Bureau, Tourism Bureau, and Industry Bureau.

A rough count revealed that the number of employees was not much less than that of the center's staff.

After a brief pause, Lin Sicheng quickly smiled and said, "Dear leaders, I'm sorry I'm late!"

"It's not late, it's not late, we're too early..."

The speaker was Section Chief Han from the Cultural Affairs Bureau, who also serves as the director of the Intangible Cultural Heritage Protection Center. He arrived before the Lunar New Year and has been stationed at Xida University for a month.

The two people next to him are deputy directors. They don't come often, but they've eaten together a few times. Every time they eat together, Wang Qizhi gets them drunk. They're precocious and can't be more so.

With a chuckle, Section Chief Han patted the seat next to him: "Come on, Teacher Lin, sit here!"

This is the head seat; if it were an internal meeting, Lin Sicheng would definitely be sitting there. But with so many people suddenly showing up, Lin Sicheng was a little confused about the nature of today's meeting.

Just as he was pondering this, Section Chief Han pulled him aside: "Teacher Lin, please don't take offense. When we came this morning, Professor Wang told us that the center was having a meeting today, so we thought we'd like to learn from it... Don't worry, we'll just sit in and not cause any trouble!"

Lin Sicheng suddenly understood.

The higher-level supervisory unit will be attending the meeting as observers, and as the applicant unit, the college office and the university office will definitely be present. The college's porcelain research group, as the guiding unit, will also be indispensable.

Naturally, the number of people nearly doubled, turning it into an expanded meeting.

While sitting down, he glanced around again: apart from the school and higher-level units, there were only about twenty people inside the center. This also included the three advisors: his grandfather, Professor Wang, and Professor Shang.

It has five departments, large and small.

The R&D department is personally overseen by Lin Sicheng, whose two core researchers were recruited through alumni associations; one holds a PhD and the other a Master's degree. Both have extensive experience working in large laboratories for many years.

If Lin Sicheng is not around, Shang Yan will take care of things for him.

Shang Yan will be in charge of the training and records, and they will be gradually handed over to Li Zhen after she has grown a bit more.

The school office provided support with a deputy director who is in charge of personnel and external liaison, as well as the center's daily operations, which mainly involves the office area.

The finance department hired a professional company, and after discussing it with the old man, Wang Qizhi also arranged for a trustworthy cashier.

Finally, there's the Business Department. We didn't hire anyone; General Manager Zhao was in charge, and he was given a professional assistant.

Below them are technicians, data clerks, archivists, apprentices (Zhao Da and Zhao Er), interns, and logistics personnel.

Although they are few in number, their strength is not weak.

First, let's look at the scale: the equipment for the two colleges of archaeology and cultural heritage conservation, and the two ceramic experimental centers combined, only amounted to a little over ten million yuan. Lin Sicheng spent a full six million yuan here, more than half of the college's budget.

Looking at the R&D department's warehouse, which of those experimental samples brought in by General Manager Zhao wasn't from a famous kiln or a renowned porcelain brand?

While it may not be able to compete in terms of quantity, in terms of value, its sample reserves are several times higher than those of the ceramics group at the academy.

Looking at the exhibits in the exhibition hall, although most of them have now been replaced with replicas, when they were first put in, every single one of them was a genuine and precious item.

Not to mention that Lin Sicheng got several more pieces just two days ago, as if they were found on the street.

But all of these are secondary. The most important and crucial factor is Lin Sicheng's research and development capabilities:

From the beginning of preparations to now, a full six months have passed, and the center has already included six patent projects in its registration plan:

The inventions include: a method for repairing ancient porcelain cracks without damage; a method for repairing defects in finished porcelain (repairing missing parts); kaolin geopolymer repair materials; lacquer materials for repairing ceramic bodies; and two innovative restoration techniques: Qing Dynasty official glaze (tea dust) and Yaozhou reverse-flow teapot.

It's worth noting that the latter two options allow for the direct construction of factories.

Even setting that aside, let's just talk about restoration: Mr. Zhao's younger brother has been here for almost half a month, his eyes practically green with anticipation. If Lin Sicheng just nods in agreement, he can bring countless broken pieces from Beijing, ranging from Qing dynasty porcelain to doucai porcelain, then enamel, famille rose, and at the very least, sacrificial glaze porcelain and wucai porcelain.

At Lin Sicheng's pace, he could easily replace one item a day. Even if he only earns a small amount per item, at 50,000, how much would that be in a month?

However, Wang Qizhi, Lin Changqing, and Lin Sicheng all felt that it was better not to commercialize too early and to focus on research and development in the early stages.

Even if revenue generation is needed in the medium term, the target group should be cultural and museum institutions. Private restoration projects are not off-limits, but they must be undertaken with utmost care and sincerity.

The reason is simple: in the current environment of the antique and collectible industry, you may repair a damaged item, but when people sell it after the repair, they will not sell it as a damaged item.

It wouldn't necessarily lead to a lawsuit, but it would severely damage one's reputation.

Therefore, we must continuously investigate and learn, and strive to improve and perfect the technology and processes of each famous kiln and kiln system.

Not to mention anything far away, he could thoroughly study the major kilns and famous porcelains of the surrounding provinces. As long as he could become the best in the Northwest, he wouldn't be able to finish filling the porcelain collections of the provincial museums.

Even now, although the center hasn't generated revenue yet and is still spending money, employee salaries are quite high, exceeding the city average by more than 20%. This includes receptionists, cleaners, and security guards.

It's no exaggeration: not to mention researchers, in the month before and after the Lunar New Year, the line of people applying for internships at the center could stretch all the way to the school gate.

Therefore, Lin Sicheng didn't need to make empty promises; everyone in the center, from top to bottom, was focused on achieving their goals.

Those who know, know. Lin Sicheng didn't say much, just briefly mentioned it, and then talked about his recent plans and work arrangements.

In short, we will continue our investigation and learning, conduct simultaneous research and development and training, and improve our archives and application materials to prepare for the city-level application for World Heritage status.

Lin Sicheng spoke eloquently, and Wang Qizhi and Lin Changqing, sitting at the lower end of the table, exchanged a glance, feeling greatly gratified.

You didn't teach me, right? I didn't teach you either.

But the plan and arrangements were done quite well.

Others were even more impressed: if we were to compare it to a company, the center's assets would have long exceeded ten million. If we were to calculate its valuation, it would be at least thirty to forty million now.

Talking about it too much gets tiresome, but every time Shang Yan thinks about it and looks at Lin Sicheng's still somewhat immature face, she can't help but think:

How long will it take for Lin Sicheng to expand the center's asset size and valuation to over 100 million?

Half a year, or a year?

Just thinking about it is awe-inspiring...