Chapter 42
The next day, Ji Zhixing arrived at the lab with two huge dark circles under his eyes.
This was the first time everyone had seen Ji Zhixing so listless, and they were all quite shocked.
Yan Anjin reassured her, "There's plenty of time, no need to rush."
"Hahaha!" Zhu Ren had come to call Yan Anjin to a meeting on his way, but he didn't expect to hear Yan Anjin say this as soon as he entered the door. He laughed and said, "You actually have the nerve to say that? Back then..."
Yan Anjin shot him a sharp look, and Zhu Ren immediately fell silent unwillingly.
After the two division commanders left, Yan Jiusheng came over and asked with concern, "Zhixing, did you not sleep well last night?"
More than that, I didn't sleep at all; I was too excited to sleep.
Zhao Yi also came over: "Did you stay up too late looking at the documents? Is there anything I can help you with?"
Of the four of them, Ji Zhixing's task was the most arduous. The tasks of the other three could be completed through continuous experiments, but Ji Zhixing's task seemed to have no end in sight.
Studying the regularity and attenuation properties of the MHD equations in incompressible fluid dynamics is a topic without a definitive answer. With a bit of luck and a bit of inspiration, one might quickly find a solution. But just like solving geometric proofs, sometimes it's impossible to figure out where to draw the perfect auxiliary line.
If the three of them were tasked with researching how to transform flour and yeast into various delicious pastries in different ways, then Ji Zhixing's task was to use algorithms to deduce how to keep bread soft for a long time, steamed buns chewy for a long time, and noodles springy for a long time...
In short, he had to find a solution to ensure the long-term functionality of the finished material. This was no easy task, but it was crucial for the future development of their main research material.
Zhao Yi had initially thought this would be the third phase of the task, where everyone would work together to solve the problem through repeated experiments and a large amount of data. Unexpectedly, Professor Yan assigned it directly to Ji Zhixing in the second phase, meaning Ji Zhixing essentially shouldered the entire third phase task alone.
Therefore, it is entirely understandable if Ji Zhixing feels burdened.
Sun Er also came over and expressed his willingness to share part of the algorithm.
Ji Zhixing shook his head: "No, I was a bit presumptuous yesterday. I thought I had found a feasible direction to solve the Navier-Stokes equations. Then I spent the whole night flipping through papers, only to find that this direction had already been proven to be a failure."
Wow... junior, you're really brave! Taking on the Navier-Stokes equations...
This is one of the most difficult equations in physics! Two hundred years after the first set of equations was created, its complete mathematical solution remains unsolved. Even mathematical and physical masters such as Euler and Hilbert could not fully solve it; otherwise, why would the Clay Mathematics Institute have offered a $1 million reward?
While they were still studying the Navier-Stokes equations, Ji Zhixing was already planning to delve into them. Such a level of understanding, such a vision…
goodbye!
Yan Jiusheng, Zhao Yi, and Sun Er returned to their experimental tables with mixed feelings. They decided to let Ji Zhixing worry about this problem himself; they couldn't help him, and could only offer some humanitarian concern at most.
In the second phase, Ji Zhixing basically didn't need to do any experiments. At most, he would use computer algorithms to assist him. The rest was all about brainpower.
He found a chair, sat down, and stared blankly into space. He was so unwilling! So unwilling! He felt like he had been played, even though he was the one who had both played and been played.
Yesterday, after a burst of inspiration from *Ideal MHD* in the library, he was so excited that he immediately began to verify it. He filled an entire notebook with drafts, but it still wasn't enough; he quickly packed up to go back to his dorm to find more draft paper to continue calculating. Only after leaving the library did the evening breeze slightly cool his overheated mind.
It was only then that he realized that perhaps someone had already explored this route...
He didn't even think about eating dinner. After returning to his dormitory, he frantically searched through literature until dawn. He finally found a highly relevant paper published last year, titled "Feasibility Analysis of Deducing the Analytic Navier-Stokes Equations of Heterogeneous Tensors from the Total Kinetic Energy of Macroscopic Fluid Flow".
Upon seeing this title, he already had a bad feeling. He spent an hour reading the paper, and sure enough, this approach was a dead end...
After sitting dejectedly in his chair for a while, Ji Zhixing gradually cheered up. He wouldn't have cared if he hadn't had this idea before, but once he had the thought of challenging the Navier-Stokes equations, he couldn't let it go.
No! He couldn't give up like this! Yesterday's setback spurred his competitive spirit. If one path is blocked, there are others; if he persisted, perhaps one day a new path would open up before him!
However, he couldn't neglect his work in the lab and club. Ji Zhixing opened the "Magnetohydrodynamics" book he had brought and began reading.
He sat in the lab all morning. Compared to Yan Jiusheng, Zhao Yi, and Sun Er, who were busy, he seemed to be slacking off. But the other three knew that Ji Zhixing's mind was no less active than theirs.
A whole night and morning of brainstorming had left Ji Zhixing exhausted, and Yan Anjin saw him in this state as soon as she returned to the lab.
“Here’s what we’ll do. You can arrange your time flexibly according to your needs during this period. You don’t need to come to the lab,” Yan Anjin said.
Ji Zhixing's task was rather unique, requiring a lot of supplementary reading. The lab lacked internet access, which was inconvenient, so there was no need to confine him there. Of course, the reason he dared to be so lenient was because Ji Zhixing was highly independent and self-disciplined.
Ji Zhixing thought for a moment and realized that it was indeed inconvenient to look through relevant literature while staying in the laboratory, so he thanked Professor Yan and left.
After hastily finishing his lunch in the cafeteria, Ji Zhixing returned to his dormitory and slept soundly for the entire afternoon, waking up at dusk. He felt much better now, and his mind was functioning normally again.
He then remembered that staying up all night hadn't been entirely fruitless. Regarding the problem of the viscous stress tensor of human skin in contact with the seat surface, he had been inspired yesterday by the derivation of the velocity moment equation in *Ideal MHD*, and had even been thinking about how to design a solution afterward. The paper he reviewed last night already contained a complete, referable algorithm; he just needed to adjust the parameters appropriately based on their own model.
Thinking of this, Ji Zhixing couldn't stay in bed any longer. He hurriedly got out of bed, opened his laptop and brought up XQual. While recalling the algorithm he had seen in the paper last night, he began to design and adjust the plan in conjunction with their project.
Ji Zhixing exclaimed once again how convenient it was to have a good memory. The papers he had read last night were clearly visible in his mind, and he could also recall all the data in their project model.
Otherwise, he would have to keep a PDF reader and TestCollab running simultaneously, switching pages every few lines to check for necessary information. Now, he only needs to access his mental storage, making it convenient, time-saving, and efficient!
Ji Zhixing really wanted to hug his smoothly functioning brain and give it a kiss!
After two or three hours of rapid typing, Ji Zhixing finally pressed Enter, and it was done! All he had to do now was hand the new plan over to Lin Lang and have him update the model accordingly.
Just as I was wondering when Lin Lang would return, the dormitory door opened. Lin Lang and Xu Dongyang were back.
Just as Ji Zhixing was about to tell Lin Lang about the new plan, he noticed that Lin Lang and Xu Dongyang did not look too good.
"What's wrong with you guys?" Ji Zhixing asked. Was the club activity not going well?
Lin Lang looked slightly embarrassed, while Xu Dongyang handed Ji Zhixing a piece of paper with a sullen face.
Ji Zhixing took it and saw it was a withdrawal application? It was signed by Xue Hua, a senior in the School of Chemistry.
"Xue Hua quit the club?" Ji Zhixing was a little surprised. The last time he went to the activity room, Xue Hua seemed very enthusiastic about the project. How could she have quit?
Xu Dongyang nodded: "He said he wanted to quit the club as soon as he got to the activity room tonight." Thinking of the scene at that time, he felt a surge of anger again.
Lin Lang awkwardly touched his nose: "Sorry, Zhixing. I acted impulsively." If he had been able to control his temper back then, Xue Hua might not have actually left the club.
He knew that Ji Zhixing valued Xue Hua highly, believing that with Xue Hua's abilities, he would be able to take on a major role in the laboratory later on. But now, he's gone...
Ji Zhixing pulled Lin Lang to sit down beside him: "Don't rush to apologize, tell me what happened first." Lin Lang and Xu Dongyang are both good-tempered, so he didn't think it was necessarily Lin Lang's fault that they were so angry.
So Lin Lang and Xu Dongyang then described the situation to Ji Zhixing, each adding to the other's description.
When Xue Hua and the other club members arrived, he cut to the chase and said, "I want to leave the club!"
Everyone in the activity room stopped what they were doing and looked at Xue Hua. This was the twelfth week of club activities, and this was already the second person to request to leave the club.
Lin Lang was debugging the software when he heard this and was stunned.
Xu Dongyang was the first to react; in fact, he had a premonition.
These past few days, Xue Hua has been constantly complaining in the activity room. He complains that the club activities are a waste of time, preventing him from doing his internship; he complains that the so-called software simulations are too frivolous and don't resemble a proper experiment at all; he complains that their research team is too rudimentary and there's no possibility of success...
These complaints weren't stated directly, but rather expressed indirectly and veiledly, and not all the other members could understand the underlying meaning. For example, the straightforward Lin Lang didn't catch the subtext in Xue Hua's words at all.
Considering that his complaints hadn't yet significantly impacted club activities, and given Ji Zhixing's high regard for him, Xu Dongyang tolerated it. However, it was Xue Hua who couldn't bear it any longer.
"I don't want to continue doing this kind of assembly-line work in an electronics factory. I don't get any valuable training at all," Xue Hua said.
Lin Lang's first reaction was to persuade him to stay: "This is all temporary. Once we figure out the general direction, we can officially set up a laboratory to conduct specific experiments."
Xue Hua spread his hands: "How long will it take? I'm not afraid of waiting, I'm afraid of it being indefinite! I'm already a senior, and I was supposed to be looking for an internship this semester. But I've wasted all my time in this small activity room for your project. What have I gotten in return?"
The first to refute him was Yi Deng: "It was said during the recruitment that it would last for a long time. Who can you blame for not thinking it through back then?"
Gong Cheng from the School of Engineering also spoke up: "Club activities are mostly in the evening, so there's plenty of time for internships during the day, isn't there?"
After observing the members' attitudes, Xu Dongyang spoke up: "I think you, coming from the School of Chemistry, should understand very well that scientific research is basically done in years. It's common to spend several years or even decades to complete a project. Of course, our project has a solid theoretical foundation and may not need to take several years, but we certainly won't see any results in just a few months."
Xue Hua sensed the subtle attempt to persuade Xu Dongyang to stay, and felt a little smug. So he revealed his true intentions: "To be honest, I really believe in your project and am willing to stay in the club. But I need a promise to ensure that my efforts won't be in vain."
"What kind of promise do you want?" Xu Dongyang had a vague idea in his mind.
Xue Hua stared into Xu Dongyang's eyes and said, "I hope you can promise equity incentives after the company is established right now."
Upon hearing this, the people in the activity room exchanged bewildered glances, wondering if it was too early to say such a thing.
Most people are self-aware; at this stage, all they're doing is selecting feasible materials in the software according to Ji Zhixing's experimental plan, then letting the software synthesize and deduce the results, and finally recording the final outcome. This workload and contribution to the project are simply insufficient to warrant equity compensation.
Xu Dongyang was both angry and amused: "Isn't that asking for the moon too much?"
According to his plan, equity incentives should only be considered after the angel round of financing.
By then, their experiments were almost on track, and they could begin to establish the company. With ample funds after securing angel investment, they could appropriately provide subsidies or even formal salaries to team members, while equity incentives would be offered only to core researchers who participated in the later stages of the project.
Xue Hua had anticipated Xu Dongyang's rejection: "Then forget it, I won't force you."
He turned to the other members and said, “Are you really going to stay here and do all this hard labor? You all probably only believed this project could succeed because of Ji Zhixing, right? But apart from the first few events, how many times has Ji Zhixing shown up? He's working on his future in Professor Yan's lab, while we're just foolishly wasting our time here.”
Lin Lang was furious when he heard this: "Wasn't the experimental design done by Zhi Xing? Didn't he participate in the software simulation experiment? He just didn't come to the activity room every day, but every single day he submitted at least 50 sets of data?"
Xue Hua smiled sarcastically: "It's different. I hope he can fight alongside us, instead of being multitasking like this, spending most of his time in other labs."
"Heh!" Yi Deng laughed even more sarcastically. "If you're so capable, you can multitask too. You can only complete twenty or thirty sets of data a day, how dare you criticize others!"
Lin Lang and Xu Dongyang were very grateful that Yi Deng was willing to speak up. As the leaders of the gang and the actual beneficiaries, there were many things that were not appropriate for them to say.
Given Xue Hua's attitude, it was impossible for Lin Lang and Xu Dongyang to persuade him to stay.
Xue Hua didn't press the matter further, tore up a piece of paper, and immediately wrote a letter of resignation from the company.
Xu Dongyang took it and immediately became furious.
Besides the title "Application" and the signature, the paper contained only one sentence: How can a sparrow know the ambition of a swan!
Who is the sparrow? Who is the swan? Who is Xue Hua looking down on?!
Since he had already withdrawn, Xu Dongyang didn't want to cause any more trouble or make a scene, as that would only damage their gang's reputation. Since their gang couldn't offer any tangible benefits or promises to its members, a good reputation was of paramount importance.
Unexpectedly, Xue Hua could say even more outrageous things.
He walked to the door of the activity room, turned around, and smiled gently: "I have established a research society for nanoelectrode materials. Those who are interested can sign up."
This is blatant poaching! Lin Lang almost got into a fight with him, but Xu Dongyang desperately stopped him and prevented the situation from getting out of control.
After hearing the story, Ji Zhixing patted Lin Lang on the shoulder and asked, "Why do you think you're wrong?"
Lin Lang glanced at Ji Zhixing's expression: "I just wanted to say, you value Xue Hua so much..."
Ji Zhixing shook his head: "I value him because of his ability, but if he hinders the cohesion of the club, no matter how capable he is, he cannot be kept."
His decision to let Ji Su'an leave was based on this reason: the cohesion of a team is crucial. Being too aggressive, nitpicky, or argumentative can affect the harmony of the team and, consequently, the smooth operation of scientific research activities.
For example, in Professor Yan's lab, the four of them got along very well. This kind of good relationship wasn't the kind that could lead to a close friendship, but rather a relationship where they could help and affirm each other at work, and jointly maintain a positive and harmonious research atmosphere in the lab.
It is precisely because of this that Professor Yan's laboratory has never had any messy situations. Everyone is working towards the same goal, and the scientific research proceeds very smoothly.
But when he went to other laboratories to repair equipment, he also saw all sorts of internal conflicts.
Some people deliberately contaminate petri dishes out of jealousy for others' rapid progress; some intentionally modify data in collaborative projects to make it difficult for others to keep up; some deliberately disrupt the sample bags that others have prepared; and some are so proud of their work that they refuse to teach their mentors or junior colleagues.
The moment you step into such a laboratory, you can sense that even the atmosphere is off. How can anyone inside possibly concentrate on their research without any distractions?
It's not easy to unite everyone in a team. Sometimes it depends on individual compatibility, and sometimes it depends on the leader. Lin Lang and Xu Dongyang have always paid close attention to this. He visited the activity room several times, and the atmosphere there was always great. Everyone was serious when they needed to be serious, and they joked around when they wanted to.
Therefore, people like Xue Hua, who are arrogant and unrestrained, will definitely be eliminated, either actively or passively.
Perhaps in the future, as their team grows and the company becomes more established, they will have ample room to accommodate individuality or cater to the needs of capable individuals with high salaries and benefits. However, in the initial stages, such individuals will only cause their fledgling business to sway precariously, or even capsize.
Seeing that Ji Zhixing understood, Lin Lang and Xu Dongyang both breathed a sigh of relief.
Ji Zhixing then asked, "How are the other 10 people? Are any of them wavering?"
Xu Dongyang then smiled slightly: "I was also worried that others might want to leave the club but would be too embarrassed to say so, and it wouldn't be meaningful to keep such people in the club. So I conducted an anonymous survey, simply asking people to tick or cross their names. I originally thought that maybe one or two people would want to leave, but I didn't expect that the desire to stay was very firm."
He thought that he would no longer have to experience the frustration of quitting halfway through.
Ji Zhixing thought for a moment and asked, "Do you think it's time to start distributing benefits?"
...
On the other side, after Xue Hua returned to his dormitory, his roommates surrounded him and asked him questions.
"So? What was their reaction?"
Xue Hua said nonchalantly, "They're just surprised, they'll try to persuade me to stay, what other reaction could they have?" Actually, he was still a little dissatisfied. In his imagination, they should have tried harder to persuade me to stay.
"So when do we start?"
"Let's do it tomorrow. We'll post the recruitment notice tomorrow."
Xue Hua had long harbored the idea of starting his own business and had been pondering it for the past few months. Tonight was the final test; if Ji Zhixing and the others were willing to promise equity incentives, keeping him wouldn't be out of the question. In the end, they still lacked the resolve to retain talent.
Since we're all doing the work anyway, instead of doing all the work for someone else, we might as well build a team and do it ourselves!
"Isn't it too late to recruit new members now? It's already May."
Xue Hua had already turned on her computer and started writing the recruitment post.
"I've thought it all out. I'll just promise to give 10% of the shares to new members. What's there to worry about? Nobody will come?"
Since Ji Zhixing, Lin Lang, and Xu Dongyang set the precedent for scientific research societies, many people have been interested in this entrepreneurial model.
Many college students are enthusiastic about starting their own businesses, but they are hampered by a lack of funds and manpower. Of course, the lack of manpower is also caused by a lack of funds. However, by recruiting college students to work for research clubs, both of these problems can be temporarily solved.
Therefore, after the Zero Gravity Seat Research Society, various research societies sprang up like mushrooms after rain at Guangling University. Then, one after another, they quickly went out of business.
Therefore, when a recruitment post for a "Nanoelectrode Materials Research Society" appeared on the Guangling University forum, most people were not optimistic about it.
"Another one, they just keep coming one after another!"
"Why does everyone seem to think that setting up a research club is so easy? Aren't all the failures enough of a lesson to be learned?"
"Too naive! The reason why Ji Zhixing's club was able to gain a foothold is because it has the first prize in the CUPT competition as its backing, which is a legitimate project."
"And it also has a brilliant person like Ji Zhixing at the helm."
"Xue Hua from the Chemistry Department? I seem to remember that he was on the admission list for Ji Zhixing's club."
"It seems they're planning to go independent and start their own business."
"Well, capable people naturally won't be content to be subordinate to others."
"Yes, I respect his choice, but I don't think it will be successful."
"This is just using his graduation thesis as a project, which isn't too outrageous. It's still better than those clubs that were hastily established without a clear project plan."
"A 10% equity incentive plan? That's bold!"
"Courage my foot! There's no company in sight; it's just an empty promise."
Let's wait and see—
A note from the author:
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