Chapter 46: Qin Hai's Dead Eyes

  Qingfeng Factory stirred up a storm out of a calm, Old Director Ning made a high-profile comeback in both Chinese and English, defeating the new Director Wei Baolin with a crushing defeat, while all this was happening, Qin Hai, who was far away in Hongze, was completely unaware.

  Since joining the task force to solve the material defects of missile tail wings, Qin Hai has been embroiled in a war of words with various experts, or more precisely, Qin Hai has been constantly questioning, attacking, popularizing and brainwashing various experts.

  Led by Chen Heqian, this team of experts, although not yet considered the absolute top in the country, is also a gathering of elites with many talents. These people have very rich theoretical foundation and practical experience, but what they lack is vision and foresight. It is precisely the lack of vision and foresight that makes them unable to cope with this technical problem.

  Of course, this is not to say that these experts are incompetent. Some things are inherently limited by history. For the first point, the reason lies in the fact that China has been closed for a long time, and although it has started to open up now, the breadth and depth of academic exchanges are still insufficient. The English level of some old experts is not up to standard, and there is also a lack of funds for purchasing foreign publications, so they have few opportunities to access the forefront of international academia. Furthermore, foreigners often keep confidential some cutting-edge technologies, which further hinders academic exchange between China and other countries.

  As for the latter, it can only be Qin Hai's patent, after all, crossing over is not something that anyone can encounter. Some materials and concepts that appeared in later generations, if proposed ten or twenty years ahead of time, would be shocking.

  Qin Hai dared not reveal too much of what he knew, but couldn't bear to see a group of experts circling around the window paper, just one step away from the door. He carefully weighed his words, hinting at various ways for the experts to solve problems. In many places, Qin Hai used academic publications as a starting point, elaborating on hints and introducing things that others had not fully grasped, making them suddenly enlightened.

  In the first two days, experts were full of disdain for this 18-year-old vocational school graduate, trying to refute everything he said. But after refuting him for two days, everyone gradually felt that this young man's vision was far from as superficial as they had expected. His seemingly casual remarks actually hid deep meanings behind them, and with a little thought, they could inspire countless new ideas in some way.

  With this understanding, the experts showed reverence for Qin Hai, speaking in a more gentle tone and treating him with increasing humility. Eventually, whenever Qin Hai proposed an idea, everyone's first reaction was no longer to find fault with disdain, but rather to record it down word for word, then secretly find a place to study it seriously.

  Chen Heqian was the first to accept Qin Hai, and it was because of his persistence that Qin Hai was able to enter such a high-level team. Seeing Qin Hai's great performance, which shocked all the expert professors, Chen Heqian was also very happy.

  That evening, after dinner, Chen Heqian called Qin Hai to the base's large playground, strolling around in circles to digest food while saying to Qin Hai: "Little Qin, with your joining, our research work has made rapid progress, and the solution to key technologies is imminent."

  Qin Hai's understanding of the entire project has far surpassed Chen Heqian after several days of contact. The difficult pass that Chen Heqian and his team are currently tackling no longer exists in later generations. Qin Hai is very clear about the complete thinking to solve the problem, and he also knows that with his own hint, the whole team is now on the right track. If necessary, he can now say out loud the breakthrough that is about to appear, letting everyone rush towards the goal. However, he also knows that doing so would be too shocking, it's better to leave some things for others to do.

  "Director Chen, this is all due to your leadership. I just threw out some ideas for everyone's consideration. As for the final solution, didn't each of our experts come up with their own proposals?" Qin Hai said modestly.

  Chen Heqian said, "Xiao Qin, don't be modest anymore. The ideas you brought up are the most important ones. Many experts have been pondering for several months on things that you have clarified with just one sentence. Can you say your contribution is small? You don't know how people are discussing you behind your back?"

  Qin Hai smiled and said, "I won't be criticized for being too young and arrogant, will I? I speak too directly, I'm afraid it makes the experts feel too impolite. How about this, after the project is over, I'll invite everyone to drink and apologize."

  "Haha, just pretend to be stupid!" Chen Heqian slapped Qin Hai's head and said, "Everyone says you're everyone's little master, by the way, they also gave you a nickname, do you want to know?"

  "Nickname......" Qin Hai rubbed his head, "You're all university students, and you're still playing this childish game?"

  Chen Heqian smiled and said: "Your nickname is a good one, everyone says that you are a textbook of materials science, do you think this is an honor?"

  "Everyone is overpraising me, I'm just ignorant and fearless, speaking nonsense." Qin Hai replied.

  Chen Heqian said with a lingering tone: "You don't know, many people have been asking me, whose proud disciple you are. I told them that you're just a graduate of the Agricultural Machinery Technical School, but nobody believed me. They all said that after the project is over, they want to go visit the school and see what kind of school can cultivate such an excellent student like you."

  "It's too much, it's too much." Qin Hai waved his hand and quickly ended the topic. He said: "Teacher Chen, now that the project is going smoothly, I predict that within half a month at most, our research group will be able to bring out the new material. I've thought about it, and there's not much point in me staying on base anymore, so I'd like to ask for leave from you and head back to the farm machinery factory ahead of time."

  "Are you still planning to go back to the agricultural machinery factory?" Chen Heqian felt somewhat surprised.

  "Yes, I still have a lot of work to do over there." Qin Hai said. The reason he was eager to leave was not because he had any attachment to the agricultural machinery factory, but because if he stayed any longer, he would be exposed. More and more experts were coming to discuss the development direction of materials science with him, and he gradually felt that he was facing the risk of speaking too much and losing everything.

  Chen Heqian changed his expression to a serious one and said to Qin Hai: "Little Qin, these days I've been busy with research and haven't had time to talk to you about some things. After these few days of contact, I found that your theoretical level is very high, your vision is broad, and your scientific research potential is extremely strong. So, after the project ends, I plan to recommend you to work at our Steel Institute, and you won't need to go back to the Agricultural Machinery Factory. What do you think about this?"

  Chen Heqian looked at Qin Hai with eyes full of expectation, waiting for the other's overjoyed expression, and even wondered if he should calmly accept this grand gift if Qin Hai were to kowtow.

  What surprised him was that Qin Hai, upon hearing this, had almost no change in expression, and calmly asked: "The Steel Institute? Are you saying I should go work in the capital?"

  Chen Heqian said, "Right, it's going to work in the capital. Of course, your education is a limitation, and it's not easy to solve the household registration and staffing problems immediately, but I've thought about it, you can first go to our place to work in the form of borrowing, and then take the graduate entrance exam of our institute."

  "This is just a formality, with your performance in the research group, I can now guarantee that you have been admitted. As a graduate student, you will receive a salary, so you don't need to worry about living expenses, and after graduating from graduate school, won't you naturally stay on?"

  Chen Heqian's words were extremely smooth, obviously a plan he had considered for a long time. For someone like Qin Hai, once he discovered him, he couldn't bear to let go. He believed that the capital city, the Steel Institute, and graduate studies - all of these things would be absolutely attractive to an apprentice from a county town's agricultural machinery factory.

  Unfortunately, Qin Hai was not an ordinary young worker. What Chen Heqian said had all been tried by Qin Hai in his previous life, and there was no freshness to it. In his previous life, he had already been a scientist and had experienced all sorts of things. Since heaven gave him the opportunity to start again, why did he need to repeat the life experiences he had already had?

  In the previous generation, Qin Hai achieved fruitful results in theoretical research, but there were also many regrets. Many achievements obtained in the laboratory could not be transformed into actual products due to reasons such as equipment and process, which was frustrating. Qin Hai knew that for materials science to move from the laboratory to the factory, the most important support was funding, and it was enormous to the point of being unimaginable.

  After crossing over, Qin Hai had been pondering this question. If he could leverage his knowledge from his past life to seize the current opportunity that was rapidly unfolding before him, would he be able to accumulate a vast fortune? Using this wealth to bring his ideas from his past life to fruition wouldn't that be even more meaningful?

  With this in mind, Qin Hai gave a tactful refusal to Chen Heqian's well-intentioned plan: "Teacher Chen, I don't want to leave Anhui Province for the time being. I'm used to a carefree life, and if I go to a research institution to study, I'm afraid I'll get sick from being cooped up. So, thank you for your kindness, but I'd rather return to the Agricultural Machinery Factory."

  "This...this...how is this possible?!" Chen Heqian couldn't believe that after talking for half a day, he got such an answer. For countless people, it was almost a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to work in the capital, but Qin Hai was willing to give it up like a worn-out shoe. Was it because he hadn't made himself clear? Or did Qin Hai not know what working in the capital meant? Or...did Qin Hai have a sweetheart in Anhe, and for love's sake, he was willing to give up his future glory?