“I never thought there were still overseas students willing to dedicate everything to their homeland. I thought such people were long gone!” Chen Shoufu remarked as they left Chen Jin’s laboratory.
“Indeed, Chairman. We must find a way to help Professor Chen. He is truly great!” Even Leng Zhiwen, who rarely praised others, offered her sincere admiration at this moment.
However, no matter how much they marveled, Huang He remained silent. Ever since he heard the name "Hanxin," he had been in this state. He quickly found an excuse to cut short his conversation with Chen Jin and left the laboratory.
“Chairman, are you feeling unwell?” Chen Shoufu asked cautiously, noticing Huang He’s demeanor.
“No, not at all. I’m just feeling a bit reflective!” Huang He sighed, a complex expression on his face.
“Alas, since my rebirth, everything has gone smoothly. I believed that with my twenty years of memories, I could see through everyone in this world. Yet, I’ve still been deceived!” Huang He lamented inwardly.
That’s right. The reason Huang He felt so distressed was that he realized he had been completely fooled. If Chen Jin hadn’t finally uttered the name “Hanxin,” Huang He would have probably been figuring out ways to raise 10 million US dollars for Chen Jin’s project.
Although Huang He followed various news closely and considered himself knowledgeable about many business stories, especially after reading countless urban novels on Qidian that practically covered all domestic business sagas, he thought he could see through all the big players. However, when he encountered someone he didn't remember, he was lost.
Take this Chen Jin, for instance. Huang He couldn’t recall who he was at first. It wasn't until Chen Jin mentioned "Hanxin" that Huang He understood. This fellow was the mastermind behind the infamous Hanxin fraud in history.
Historically, Chen Jin, this prodigal son returning from abroad, removed the markings from publicly available chips imported from the United States, then had someone engrave his own "Hanxin" markings on them. He then openly declared that these were chips he had developed himself.
What was even more astonishing was that later, over a dozen experts verified the chips and unanimously confirmed that they were self-developed. In an instant, "Hanxin" became renowned overseas, and Chen Jin successively received over 1.1 billion RMB in various funds for subsequent research and development.
It wasn’t until 2006 that this scandal broke, becoming one of the biggest jokes in China’s scientific research history.
If it were merely a joke and just some money was lost, it might have been acceptable. But the true damage caused by Hanxin was that it crippled China’s path to independent chip research.
Before Hanxin, there were actually many people in China working on independent chip development. However, the chips they developed were either not yet mature or their data was far inferior to Hanxin's. With the emergence of Hanxin, these projects lost their value and were consequently shelved, resulting in immense losses.
By the time the Hanxin scam was exposed, there were no other companies or enterprises in China researching chips. Furthermore, due to the Hanxin incident, the concept of self-developed chips became a pariah in China. At that time, international entities also guaranteed that chips would be supplied openly and without obstruction, making self-research seem entirely unnecessary.
Consequently, China almost abandoned its independent chip development projects. It wasn't until several years later, with the establishment of a company named HiSilicon, that China’s chip development began anew. However, it was all too late. The most crucial decade was completely wasted, forcing China to endure chip extortion.
Huang He had seen this news in his later life, but he only remembered the name "Hanxin." He had forgotten Chen Jin’s name. After all, he had only seen the news a couple of times and hadn’t expected to be reborn, so who would bother remembering such a name?
“No, I must bring down this Chen Jin and eliminate Hanxin, otherwise China will lose a decade!” Huang He decided inwardly. However, he also understood that it was impossible to bring down Chen Jin at the moment.
Firstly, Chen Jin was at a university, and Huang He’s worldly tactics couldn't reach him.
Secondly, Huang He couldn't expose Chen Jin's fraudulent behavior yet because Chen Jin hadn’t produced Hanxin. He hadn’t committed fraud yet. He was still a returning scholar leading numerous graduate students in diligent research, a beacon of hope for China’s future in chips. Exposing him now, without concrete evidence, would only lead to him being branded a rumor-monger.
In fact, Chen Jin’s disguise was extremely well-crafted. Look at his graduate students who worked overtime every day, and his rhetoric about the nation, technology, the future, and self-sacrifice. Such a person, without proper evidence, couldn't be easily taken down.
Even if Huang He presented the fact that Chen Jin had asked him to purchase Motorola data, and even if he produced evidence, it would be futile. It might even help publicize Chen Jin’s name, claiming he was sacrificing his reputation for the nation’s technological advancement.
In short, after considering all options, Huang He realized that he couldn't do anything to Chen Jin until Chen Jin actually produced the "Hanxin" product.
If that was the case, he shouldn’t alert the enemy. He should let Chen Jin continue his act until he was completely exposed.
With this realization, Huang He’s expression finally returned to normal. He then said to Leng Zhiwen, “Zhiwen, you and Professor Chen will meet with this Mr. Chen again tomorrow and tell him that we are facing significant financial difficulties and cannot raise the 10 million US dollars. I will find a way later and apologize to him, saying I’m sorry.”
“Ah!” Leng Zhiwen blinked in surprise and then couldn’t help but say, “Chairman, we can afford 10 million US dollars. We should help Professor Chen!!”
“This girl, Zhiwen, is indeed a tender shoot from the university, lacking any social experience, easily deceived by Chen Jin!” Huang He mused inwardly, completely forgetting that without his future memories, he himself would likely be scrambling to raise 10 million right now.
Huang He understood Leng Zhiwen’s personality well and knew that a direct order wouldn't convince her. So, he said with a smile, “Zhiwen, you’re right. We can indeed afford 10 million US dollars, but doing so wouldn’t be helping Professor Chen; it would be completely ruining him!”
“I know Professor Chen has the best intentions and is willing to sacrifice his reputation, but we cannot do this. If this is exposed in the future, Professor Chen’s reputation will be shattered, he will lose all his honors and achievements, and he might even be sent to jail. Tell me, if we help him do this, wouldn’t we be completely ruining him?” Huang He reasoned.
“I see now. Brother-in-law, I was wrong. I was thinking too simplistically!” Leng Zhiwen lowered her head, offering a rare, sincere apology.
“Yes, do as I say. You should also try to persuade Professor Chen to abandon such a dangerous approach. We still have time, and Jiangnan has money. As long as he can produce results, Daqian will cover all expenses. He doesn't need to worry about money and can focus wholeheartedly on his research!”
“Alright!”
After a night of tossing and turning, they arrived at the hotel around one in the morning. Lying alone in bed, Huang He found it hard to fall asleep.
He couldn't get involved with the Hanxin issue anymore. He was waiting to expose the fraud, but his own plan to manufacture chips had returned to square one.
“Perhaps I should just buy foreign server components?” Huang He thought, but then quickly shook his head. Since he had decided to enter the chip field, he couldn't back out. Otherwise, his five small goals promised to the pineapple beer would likely remain a joke forever.
Our Boss Huang was serious about achieving those five small goals.
“I refuse to believe that China can’t find any experts in the chip field!” Huang He tossed and turned for an hour in bed, still unable to sleep and without any new ideas. He decided to get dressed again, left the hotel, and went to a nearby internet café to get online.
Fortunately, this was a core area of Shanghai, so internet cafés were readily available. In other cities, it would be difficult to find one.
However, Boss Huang wasn’t online to play games. He opened a search engine and typed in keywords like “chip expert,” hoping to find experts in the chip field online.
The search results were dominated by Chen Jin. Apart from him, there were only a few less-known experts, and Huang He had no impression of these experts. He guessed they probably hadn't achieved anything significant in the future.
But Huang He didn’t give up. He started changing keywords and searching, but the results were not satisfactory. Until Huang He saw an article titled “Ark Chip Returned, Ni Guangnan States, ‘We Still Need Time!’”
“Ni Guangnan!” The name struck Huang He like a bolt from the blue. Right, how could he have forgotten this master!
Huang He’s understanding of Ni Guangnan began with a web novel he had read called “Instant Noodle Tycoon,” which told the story of the protagonist being reborn in 1990 and becoming the richest man in the world.
Although the novel had a grand scope, its writing was poor, and it was particularly superficial, lacking in handling romantic scenes. It was generally bad, but it mentioned many ideas, concepts, and historical figures that left a deep impression on Huang He. Among them, Ni Guangnan was the most prominent.
Because the protagonist of this novel, with the help of the brilliant Ni Guangnan, had single-handedly brought China’s chip industry and lithography machine business to world-leading levels in about fifteen years, starting from scratch around 2005.
Note: world-leading, far ahead of the competition, dominating all others.
If even 1% of the plot in that novel was plausible, then this Ni Guangnan was worth seeking out!