Chapter 35
Upon seeing Professor Yan arrive, everyone stopped chatting and laughing, stood with their hands clasped, and waited for Professor Yan's instructions. The once noisy laboratory instantly fell silent.
Yan Anjin couldn't help but recall Zhu Ren's rambling, repetitive words that had bothered him all morning.
“A new team brings a new atmosphere, and you absolutely must change your bad temper! You're always wearing a stern face, are you afraid they'll rebel? I think they're all serious, studious, and troublesome people. It's fine if you're strict with them in their studies and work, but in their daily lives, at least relax a little when you're with them. Don't make them feel like they're in the King of Hell’s palace!”
Yan Anjin was extremely impatient and dismissive of the idea. A strict teacher produces outstanding students, and he wasn't Gao Xiao, who spent his days joking and laughing with his students without any seriousness; that's why his lab exploded three or four times a year.
However, seeing that several young men who were originally full of energy and chatting and laughing immediately became serious when they saw him, he also felt that the atmosphere was a bit too oppressive and not conducive to the students' mental health.
Originally, he only had Yan Jiusheng under his command, and Yan Jiusheng was a man of few words, so he never realized this.
Looking at it now, no matter how taciturn Yan Jiusheng is, he is still a young man. It is normal for him to chat and laugh with his peers. In the past, he just didn't have the opportunity, or he didn't dare to be unrestrained because he was in the same office as Yan Jiusheng.
Looking at Ji Zhixing, Zhao Yi, and Sun Er, who were all standing upright, he felt even more strongly that there was no need for the students to be so respectful of him.
Reopening the lab after several years was no easy feat. Times had changed, and Yan Anjin felt he should make some adjustments, at least to reduce the psychological pressure on his students. After all, these students were highly motivated and proactive in their studies; he didn't need to be as stern as he was with struggling students.
After thinking for a moment, Yan Anjin tried her best to put on a kind smile. Then Ji Zhixing and the others saw the muscles on Professor Yan's face twitch unnaturally…
Although these unnatural facial muscle changes didn't convey any "kindness," everyone still sensed Professor Yan's effort to project goodwill, and the atmosphere in the lab relaxed considerably. Everyone instinctively wanted to do something to further strengthen the bond between teacher and students, but for the moment, no one dared to make a move.
As a result, a stalemate occurred between the teachers and students.
The rather lively Sun Er glanced at Professor Yan's expression, then at her fellow students standing in a row with her, and felt that the atmosphere was really strange. She almost laughed out loud but quickly pursed her lips.
The unfinished laughter found an outlet in the nose, and everyone heard a long, drawn-out whimper like a horse's neigh. They couldn't help but chuckle quietly. Yan Anjin also laughed, this time with a more natural smile. Only then did everyone in the lab truly relax.
After exchanging pleasantries briefly, Yan Anjin got down to business.
“With the Spring Festival approaching, I won’t assign you too many tasks.” Yan Anjin said, pointing to the stack of papers he had brought. “Take one copy each and take it back to take a look. These are my research results from last year, and they are also projects that our lab plans to work on soon.”
Everyone reached out, and Ji Zhixing also took a copy. It was heavy in his hand; the paper was at least 200 pages long. Judging from the title, it described a special material that could adjust its hardness according to external forces—it looked quite interesting.
"Teacher, is this in the field of physical chemistry?" Ji Zhixing asked. These days, the boundaries between disciplines are becoming increasingly blurred, and interdisciplinary collaboration is particularly common in research projects. He just hadn't expected Professor Yan to choose physical chemistry; after all, if the goal is to produce results quickly, combining physics with electronic applications is the easiest approach.
Yan Anjin mistakenly thought that Ji Zhixing was more looking forward to pure physics projects, after all, he was so enthusiastic about theoretical physics, so she explained: "Pure physics projects require a lot of large instruments, and our lab doesn't have those facilities yet. So, let's do a simple small project first, and then we'll talk about it after we get results."
Ji Zhixing glanced at the paper in his hand. Although he hadn't read the contents in detail yet, he could tell from the title alone that this material was no ordinary one. If it were successfully developed, its applications would be extremely wide-ranging, and its commercial prospects would be immeasurable. However, developing such a miraculous material would naturally be quite difficult, and to call this a "simple little project" revealed Professor Yan's ambition and arrogance.
Zhao Yi and the others naturally recognized the difficulty of the project, but they believed that following such a mentor was the only way to make a future, so they were all very excited.
Seeing that everyone seemed very enthusiastic, Yan Anjin nodded in satisfaction and added, "This project has been successfully applied for, but the funding hasn't been allocated yet. Let's have a brief discussion in the first phase. How much does everyone know about expandable foam materials?"
No one spoke for a moment.
Yan Anjin looked at Yan Jiusheng, who sighed inwardly. He had been engaged in purely theoretical physics research for years. Professor Yan always held his students to high standards, and Yan Jiusheng was already struggling to keep up with the research schedule assigned by Professor Yan; how could he possibly have time to expand his knowledge in other fields?
Seeing Yan Jiusheng silently lower his head, Yan Anjin then looked at Zhao Yi and Sun Er. Zhao Yi and Sun Er exchanged glances. They had been studying the competition project for more than a year. The knowledge involved in the "Green Air Purifier" project was mainly in the fields of physics and biology, so they had not explored much in the field of chemistry.
Yan Anjin sighed inwardly. Although she knew she couldn't force students to actively absorb extracurricular knowledge amidst their busy schedules, she was still somewhat disappointed.
When he looked at Ji Zhixing for the last time, he didn't have any expectations. Ji Zhixing was only a sophomore. Although he won first prize in the CUPT competition, their project was only at the theoretical stage, involving knowledge of physics, ergonomics, and electronic automation, and had basically nothing to do with chemistry.
Unexpectedly, Ji Zhixing spoke up: "Teacher, I have only read the book 'Preparation and Application Research of Expandable Foam Materials' and the paper 'Influence of Modified Expandable Graphite on the Performance and Cell Structure of Rigid Polyurethane Foam' in this area."
Yan Jiusheng, Zhao Yi, and Sun Er all turned to look at him. Are sophomores these days really this serious? Junior brother, you're putting a lot of pressure on your senior brothers!
Yan Anjin couldn't help but smile slightly: "How did you come up with the idea of reading chemistry books?" He really liked students like this who were highly motivated to learn and took the initiative to broaden their knowledge.
"Well, actually my purpose is quite pragmatic," Ji Zhixing admitted. "Because we decided to use the competition project as a starting point for our business, the transition from theory to practice for zero-gravity seats inevitably involves chemical materials, so I've been looking at some related materials recently."
Actually, it wasn't just because of this; in the third stage, the system also gave him a reading list as part of the comprehension task.
The reading list provided by the system in the second stage mainly focused on physics and mathematics, while the reading list in the third stage added books on chemistry. At the time, he felt that the system's arrangement was very much in line with his needs, after all, he was about to start researching chemical materials for the zero-gravity seat project.
At that time, he was so overwhelmed by the unexpected events of the final exams that he just wanted to cool off for a few days. So during that period, he didn't want to do any creative or brain-teasing problems at all, and simply sat in front of books, passively absorbing the knowledge in them.
I never expected that I would have the opportunity to participate in Professor Yan's project, which also involves the application of chemical knowledge.
"Tell me, what impact does adding modified expandable graphite have on the material?" Yan Anjin asked.
"It mainly affects the microstructure, apparent density, compressibility, and thermal insulation properties. The difference in compressibility modulus between samples with and without expanded graphite can reach 36.96 MPa..." Ji Zhixing answered while thinking. His knowledge in this area was still very superficial, and he could not form his own insights. He could only summarize the knowledge he had read by reading from the book.
But this already surprised and delighted Yan Anjin.
Yan Anjin had also heard of Ji Zhixing's feat of achieving perfect scores in six subjects across two grade levels in just four hours during the final exams. She had assumed that to master physics to that extent outside of competitions, Ji Zhixing must have put in a tremendous amount of effort in private, making the most of every minute. However, it now seemed that he was clearly quite capable, with even the capacity to expand his extracurricular knowledge, particularly in the more challenging area of chemistry.
"What impact does it have on mechanical properties?" Yan Anjin asked a few more questions, and Ji Zhixing was able to answer them all to some extent, with some of his answers being quite insightful.
Listening to the back-and-forth questioning and dialogue between his mentor and Ji Zhixing, Yan Jiusheng almost burst into tears. This was not the life he had imagined as a fellow student!
He had initially thought that having fellow students would alleviate the pressure from their mentor. But now it seems that with Ji Zhixing around, the mentor will only use him as a benchmark to raise the bar for everyone! How unfortunate he is! Waaaaah…
Zhao Yi and Sun Er quickly corrected their attitudes. They had initially thought that if Fan Yongjie hadn't dragged them down, the national first prize in the CUPT competition might have been won by someone else. Although they did admire Ji Zhixing, they didn't think they were any less capable than him.
However, when compared in the same environment now, the difference is immediately apparent. Although Ji Zhixing said he read the book for their project, it is quite remarkable that he could gain so much understanding and insight from reading chemistry books on his own without guidance.
At Guangling University, the School of Chemistry and the School of Physics are known as the two schools with the highest failure rates, competing for the "throne" of the highest failure rate year after year.
For example, in the Department of Physics, none of the required courses such as optics, mechanics, and atomic physics are easy to pass, and the failure rate of Professor Yan's Mathematical Physics Method has been as high as 60% for many years!
The failure rate in organic chemistry at the School of Chemistry is equally high, with 59% failing the final exam this semester. Other subjects are also proving to be incredibly difficult for chemistry students, with students frequently flying back from abroad to retake final exams. This clearly demonstrates the difficulty of university-level chemistry knowledge.
Ji Zhixing was able to thoroughly understand and memorize the knowledge in the book through self-study alone. What kind of understanding and memory does he have?
Seeing the virtuous, Zhao Yi and Sun Er encouraged themselves, determined to work hard and not be like they were today, unable to say a single useful word and only able to stand on the shore and listen to the excitement.
A dozen minutes later, Yan Anjin finished questioning Ji Zhixing and showed a rare satisfied smile.
Upon seeing this, Yan Jiusheng felt even more pressured, and it was foreseeable that in the next year and a half, the three thousand strands of hair on his head would leave him even faster.
Yan Anjin pointed to the papers in everyone's hands and said, "On the last page, I have listed some books and papers, which you all need to read and supplement your learning on your own. If you have any questions, you can ask me. It would be best if you could finish reading all these materials before the start of the next semester."
Ji Zhixing turned to the last page and indeed saw a list, mainly involving organic chemistry, nanomaterials technology, and expandable foam materials. He had already looked at a small portion of it.
After explaining the tasks for the initial stage, Yan Anjin left, leaving the students to continue cleaning and tidying up. Before leaving, she instructed Yan Jiusheng to show the others the laboratory and equipment.
Although the laboratory hadn't been truly used for many years, Yan Jiusheng had taken the initiative to ask Professor Yan for the key after becoming his student, and would come to clean it every now and then. This mainly involved cleaning the dust off high-precision instruments and performing necessary maintenance, so Yan Jiusheng knew the condition of these instruments like the back of his hand.
He subtly glanced at his three junior brothers, secretly delighted. Finally, it was his turn to shine. Professor Yan had just tested everyone's knowledge, and he hadn't been able to get a word in edgewise on the chemistry front—a truly humiliating experience for the senior disciple of the Yan school. Now was the perfect opportunity to redeem himself!
Ji Zhixing looked around, glancing at this and that, quite intrigued.
Although these instruments were moved in ten years ago, the pace of upgrading physics experimental instruments has been slow over the years, so many university laboratories are still using them and they are not considered outdated.
Compared to undergraduate labs, it's far superior! And the basic lab in the system space can't even compare.
The junk in the basic lab looked like it'd been salvaged from a secondhand market, while all the equipment in this lab looked brand new. Although it didn't belong to him, Ji Zhixing was still very satisfied. He no longer needed to piece things together from scratch or rack his brains to make one instrument serve multiple purposes!
Yan Jiusheng thought for a moment and decided to start introducing the items according to their placement order.
"This is a scanning electron microscope. Its main function is to use a narrowly focused high-energy electron beam to excite the physical information of the sample..."
When Yan Jiusheng mentioned Young's modulus measuring instrument, Zhao Yi looked down through the ruler-reading telescope and said, "Hmm? I can't find the ruler?"
"Is the instrument not set up properly?" Sun Er tried adjusting it, but it still didn't work.
Seeing Yan Jiusheng's guilty look, Ji Zhixing roughly guessed what had happened.
Yan Jiusheng indeed whispered, "I broke it..."
Although Professor Yan never intended to open the laboratory, he once told Yan Jiusheng that if he was capable of establishing a project, the laboratory could be lent to him unconditionally.
Yan Jiusheng was very self-aware. Although he was so tormented by theoretical physics that he almost wanted to become a monk, he never thought of pursuing experimental physics. However, since he had Professor Yan's permission, he would occasionally come to the lab to do some small experiments, just to relax his brain, which was being strangled by theoretical physics.
Once, while measuring the mechanical properties of a metal wire, he felt the measuring instrument had too large an error. For some reason, he was incredibly bold and disassembled the instrument, then spent a day reassembling it, which only made the experimental error even greater…
If it were equipment in a school lab that broke down, it could be reported as damaged and the school could arrange for repairs or replacements. But this was Professor Yan's private lab, and the equipment inside had come to Guangling University from Yenching University many years ago. Yan Jiusheng wasn't sure if Professor Yan had any special attachment to these instruments, so he hadn't dared to say anything, maintaining his ostrich-like mentality until now. But now that his fellow students were involved, he certainly couldn't let his juniors take the blame, and he frantically wondered how to explain this to Professor Yan…
Zhao Yi and Sun Er know how to use and fine-tune the Young's modulus measuring instrument, but they don't know what to do with one that has been extensively disassembled and has extremely large errors.
Ji Zhixing looked through the binoculars and said, "Do you have a laser pointer? I might be able to adjust it."
“Huh? Yes, but…” Yan Jiusheng hesitated. Could Ji Zhixing really do it? But then he thought, it couldn’t get any worse anyway, so he took a laser pointer out of the drawer and handed it over.
Ji Zhixing held a laser pointer and shone it into the telescope. Based on the principle of reversibility of light, he tried to adjust the angle of the laser to hit the ruler, and then adjusted it little by little in reverse.
"Alright, take another look," Ji Zhixing said, putting away the laser pointer.
Yan Jiusheng hesitated for a moment, then looked up excitedly: "It really works!"
Ji Zhixing smiled. Of course, the modulus measuring instrument in the basic laboratory in the system space was even worse. Not only was the entire instrument rusty, but even the metal wire was rusty! He didn't know how much time he had spent adjusting that thing to be barely usable.
Although the basic laboratory looked dark and cramped, it was small but complete, with all the commonly used experimental instruments. In order to practice experiments, Ji Zhixing had to learn to repair all the broken pieces of metal by himself. Later, he became addicted to it because he felt so accomplished. He even repaired instruments that he didn't need during his undergraduate studies, and he became very experienced in this field.
Zhao Yi and Sun Er also took turns trying it, and it really fixed it...
Yan Jiusheng looked at Ji Zhixing as if he were a savior: "Zhixing, um, could you please take another look at that liquid chromatograph...?"
This instrument is quite expensive. Yan Jiusheng checked the model and brand and found it cost over 400,000 yuan, so he dared not tell Professor Yan. He knew that given Professor Yan's temperament, he most likely wouldn't ask for compensation, but he was just a coward!
Ji Zhixing readily agreed; there wasn't much left to fix in the basic lab, and he'd actually been itching to do it for a long time.
"At that time, the screen kept showing an error message. I saw that the connector of the front column connection was leaking fluid. I tried to tighten the corresponding part of the Agilent cable, but I accidentally broke off the metal part..."
Ji Zhixing observed the various parts for a while and analyzed, "The leakage is probably due to the improper relative positions of the red wire and the plastic connector. After swapping the two ends of the red wire, the leakage will stop. As for the error message, it should be related to dust inside. I can just disassemble it and clean the dust."
"Are you sure?" Yan Jiusheng asked, then realized he had gone too far. He was the one who broke the item, and even if it broke again in Ji Zhixing's hands, it was because Ji Zhixing wanted to help him.
So he quickly tried to smooth things over: "I didn't mean anything by it, I just wanted to ask if you needed any help."
"No need for that, it's not complicated at all." Ji Zhixing didn't think too much about it; he was quite confident.
Zhao Yi and Sun Er exchanged a glance, both seeing the helplessness in each other's eyes. "It's not complicated," they couldn't even see what the problem was...
Yan Jiusheng was still very nervous and uneasy. It was over 400,000 yuan! He cautiously said, "Do you mind if I record a video? I don't mean anything by it. It's just that if I forget how to put it back together later, I can watch the video for reference." That's how he disassembled the Young's modulus measuring instrument.
Ji Zhixing agreed nonchalantly, mainly because Yan Jiusheng looked incredibly nervous. However, he understood; over 400,000 yuan was a huge sum for him in the past, and still is now. It's just that he now has considerable savings, so he feels relatively more confident.
Seeing that Yan Jiusheng had set up his phone, Ji Zhixing began disassembling the mirror, PDA, and disconnecting the bus. He cleaned the rearview mirror, dried it with a hairdryer, and quickly reassembled it. Ah! That was so satisfying!
Yan Jiusheng turned on the liquid chromatography system and saw that the brightness of the "lamp" was only in the single digits before, but it was indeed higher after cleaning the dust. Great!
Zhao Yi and Sun Er watched from the sidelines, growing increasingly silent with each passing moment. They had initially thought that their experience in the school's labs due to the competition would give them a slight edge over Ji Zhixing in practical skills. However, it turned out that Ji Zhixing's performance today far surpassed theirs, both in theory and practice. The two exchanged a glance, both seeing the same determination in each other's eyes.
After familiarizing themselves with the lab, everyone took their papers and went back to their dormitories separately.
As soon as Ji Zhixing returned to his dormitory, he received a call from Lin Lang.
Lin Lang came to lament his experiences during the winter vacation.
When he returned home for winter break, his parents were especially fond of him because they hadn't seen him for a long time, so they let him sleep in for two days.
But from the third day onwards, his treatment took a sharp turn for the worse. He had to be woken up at 7 a.m. to accompany his mother to the park to practice Tai Chi; after returning home at 9 a.m., he had to go out again to accompany his father for a walk and a game of chess.
It's not that the two elders can't live without him; in fact, he's just a personal accessory to show off.
"How did your son do on his final exams? Sigh, mine's no good. He was so busy with the National Undergraduate Physics Competition that he barely passed. And his competition results? He just got lucky and won a first prize..."
"I heard your daughter started a business recently? Sigh, girls are so great, they're so methodical. My son is such a worry, he's holding onto his patent and absolutely refuses to sell it. The company even chased us home with two boxes of cash, but he still insists on starting his business. I wonder what he'll end up with..."
Lin Lang has always been a headache since childhood. He has many "great achievements" and is quite famous among relatives, friends, neighbors and colleagues. Lin's parents have long since lost all face because of him.
Unexpectedly, their luck turned around and their ancestors seemed to be smiling from their graves. Lin Lang actually won the first prize in a national competition. Lin's parents couldn't resist seizing the opportunity to wipe away their previous humiliation and finally hold their heads high!
Lin Lang suffered because his parents had been repeating the same lines for days and they still weren't tired of it, but he was tired of hearing them too.
After another day of mascot activities, Lin Lang couldn't help but call Ji Zhixing to complain.
Ji Zhixing didn't take it seriously at all. He had witnessed firsthand how cunning Lin Lang could be over the past year and a half. Lin's parents had been tormented for over twenty years; this was just retribution.
He encouraged, "If you're tired of staying at home, come to the school. I'll introduce you to Professor Yan's lab."
Based on Professor Yan's standards, he probably wouldn't want Lin Lang to be his graduate student. However, since the lab is currently short-staffed, Lin Lang can help with some simple experiments.
"You went to Professor Yan's lab? My God, what were you thinking?"
Professor Gao Xiao of Tsinghua University had earnestly invited Ji Zhixing to his lab, but Ji Zhixing refused. Now, he's turned around and run into Professor Yan's arms. Lin Lang sees this as refusing the path to heaven and choosing instead to brave the gates of hell!
"I'm not actually a formal student of Professor Yan; he just made an exception and gave me a chance to participate in the research." After all, he hadn't earned enough credits during his undergraduate studies.
"Are you coming or not?" Ji Zhixing asked again, thinking that it was always good to get some exercise.
"No, no, no!" Lin Lang suddenly felt that his home was incredibly warm.
A note from the author:
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
