Free Web NovelChapter 42: Chapter 40: What More Am I Supposed to Do? Break Out of the Milky Way?
Just as Li Dong set his sights on Shanghai.
Shanghai, Zhangjiang High-Tech Park.
Inside the office of the R&D Center Director at the Huaxuan Technology Headquarters Building.
Lin Wei pinched the bridge of his nose, looking at the "16th Huaxuan Cup Semifinals Evaluation Report" that had just been placed on his desk.
"President Lin, are we really going to put that question about ’immersion lithography linewidth error compensation’ in the final exam?"
Standing opposite the desk was Old Zhou, the head of the question-setting team for this year’s Huaxuan Cup.
He spoke with a wry smile.
"Won’t this be too difficult for a bunch of high school students?"
This question wasn’t just some super-difficult competition problem; it was a real-world engineering challenge.
If this problem could be perfectly solved, it would dramatically increase the yield rate of immersion lithography machines.
You could say that whoever solved this problem would be "untying the hands" of the domestic semiconductor industry, resolving some of the core issues where foreign giants had them by the throat.
This would be an achievement worthy of a place in the imperial ancestral temple!
But to expect a group of high school students to solve an engineering problem that gave even top-tier research teams headaches?
Old Zhou just felt that Director Lin was being a bit too naive.
If you put a question like this on the test and no one does it, doesn’t that mean the keystone problem is effectively voided, turning into a freebie?
Lin Wei shook his head nonchalantly.
"Old Zhou, just put it in."
Old Zhou nodded. Since the boss had spoken, all he had to do was follow orders.
"Actually, this year’s Huaxuan Cup has already given me far more pleasant surprises than I expected."
Lin Wei pointed at several semifinal exam papers.
"Look, the papers from these few students are very interesting."
"Wang Yifan from Beijing Renmin University High School, Zhou Siyuan from Modu Middle School, and Qiao Fan, a first-year from Rongcheng Seventh Middle School—on the final experimental question about lithography machine resolution, they all provided solutions involving immersion and multiple-exposure techniques. Their theory is solid, and their thinking is clear."
Old Zhou chimed in.
"Yes, the students from these prestigious domestic schools are really impressive. The optical knowledge base of these competition participants is almost on par with our top university undergraduates."
"But..." Lin Wei pulled a single paper from the very bottom of the stack.
"Their answers are very good, but they’re all within the established framework."
Lin Wei looked at the name signed on the paper.
"Jiangcheng Seventh Middle School, Li Dong..."
"Only his answer, I feel, has the most spark."
Lin Wei pushed the paper, on which was written "Maskless Lithography via Dual-Beam Laser Interference," in front of Old Zhou.
When Old Zhou saw the title, he swallowed hard.
"The optical simulation that Zhang Gong and his team are working on overnight... is it based on this student’s idea?"
"That’s right, it’s his. Once the simulation is successfully implemented, we have to go and express our proper gratitude." Lin Wei leaned back in his chair.
"Although this solution can currently only be used in a relatively small scope for special processes and can’t completely replace EUV or DUV for large-scale, complex logic chip exposure, the angle of attack is just vicious. This Li Dong is perfectly suited for engineering. His intuition is too sharp."
"Old Zhou, I’ll even go so far as to say this: based solely on his answer to the final question in the semifinals, Li Dong is already qualified to receive an offer from Huaxuan Technology."
"If he’s willing, after graduating from university, it’s not impossible for him to directly enter the R&D headquarters of our parent company, National Power Equipment, without even needing an interview."
Old Zhou was stunned to hear this.
’Directly into National Power Equipment headquarters? That’s a core, classified department that countless students from top 985/211 universities fight tooth and nail to get into and still fail!’
"However, I want to see a bit more."
Lin Wei gazed out the window without speaking, as if he were waiting for something.
...
Meanwhile, just as the executives at Huaxuan Technology were placing high hopes on Li Dong.
In the principal’s office at Jiangcheng Seventh Middle School.
"BANG!"
Principal Wang slammed his palm on the desk.
"This is infuriating! They’ve gone too far!"
Principal Wang’s face was ashen with anger as he pointed at a local news article on his computer.
Zheng Hua, standing opposite him, also wore an expression like he had just swallowed a fly.
Why hadn’t Seventh Middle School publicized the news of Li Dong winning the competition yet?
Was it because they didn’t want to?
No! It was because they didn’t know how!
Because Seventh Middle School... lacked experience.
In all its years since its founding, when had this third-rate high school ever produced a prodigy who could storm their way into the Huaxuan Cup finals?
So, when the news came that Li Dong had gotten a perfect score in the preliminaries and then firmly secured the top spot in the semifinals, Seventh Middle School’s external publicity department was completely paralyzed.
Their usual promotional work consisted, at most, of writing press releases like "Our School Held Its Spring Sports Meet."
Faced with this kind of academic competition, they had no idea how to generate media buzz, how to extract selling points, and they even spent ages verifying the dimensions for a banner.
While Seventh Middle School was still slowly figuring out how to make a big splash and prepare for next year’s student recruitment...
...Jiangcheng Second Middle School made its move.
Jiangcheng Second Middle School and Jiangcheng Sixth Middle School had always been the two titans among Jiangcheng’s public high schools.
But in every great rivalry, one must play second fiddle. Sixth Middle School consistently held the top spot over Second Middle School, leaving Second Middle School as the resentful "eternal number two."
This time, in the Huaxuan Cup semifinals, Zhao Ziv from Sixth Middle School underperformed, ranking somewhere beyond the top ten.
Meanwhile, Second Middle School had a top student named Zhang Zeyu who exceeded expectations, ranking seventh on the list!
Logically speaking, seventh place wasn’t really anything to brag about, since he hadn’t even made the top three.
But the tricky part was, for some reason, Huaxuan Technology had deliberately added a line of small text at the bottom of the list: "Rankings are not ordered."
The principal of Second Middle School saw this and thought, ’Here’s our chance!’
’So the rankings aren’t ordered, huh?’
So, before Seventh Middle School or Sixth Middle School could react, Second Middle School’s publicity office worked through the night on a press release. The next morning, all the major local public accounts and the education section of the city’s evening paper were filled with...
"Warmest Congratulations to Our Student Zhang Zeyu for Besting the Competition and Successfully Advancing to the Huaxuan Cup National Finals! A Showcase of Jiangcheng’s Student Excellence!"
The article made no mention of his specific ranking, only stating that "Student Zhang Zeyu, with his outstanding physics knowledge, stood out from tens of thousands of candidates across the province to secure a ticket to the national finals."
The press release also subtly threw some shade at Sixth Middle School, implying that Jiangcheng Second Middle School was the true leader in science education in Jiangcheng.
As for the real first-place winner, Li Dong?
He wasn’t mentioned at all!
"That Old Zhang! So shameless!"
Principal Wang was so angry he started cursing.
"Damn it, because of what he did, now all the parents in Jiangcheng think their Second Middle School is number one! They all think that Zhang Zeyu kid is the most badass in the province!"
Although Zheng Hua was also angry, he still tried to calm him down.
"Principal Wang, calm down, calm down."
"How can I not be angry?" Principal Wang’s eyes were wide. "We’re clearly number one! Our Li Dong is the real number one! And there’s something wrong with Huaxuan Technology, too. Why couldn’t they just announce the scores? What’s this nonsense about ’rankings are not ordered’!"
The situation Seventh Middle School now faced was extremely awkward.
If they followed up with their own congratulatory announcement now, saying, "Our student Li Dong is the real number one," would the parents in Jiangcheng believe them?
’Seventh Middle School? That Seventh Middle School with the pathetically low university admission rate? First place?’
Others would definitely think Seventh Middle School was just trying to ride Second Middle School’s coattails. They’d think they were just being sore losers and bragging for the sake of it.
"Forget it, Principal Wang," Zheng Hua sighed.
"Let them have their moment. I believe in that kid, Li Dong. When the finals come, he’ll definitely come back with a truly significant ranking!"
"When that time comes, with the scores laid out clearly on the table, let’s see how Second Middle School can still claim to have ’bested the competition’!"
In fact, amidst this farce, even the top students within Second Middle School felt embarrassed.
The true academic elites knew what was what.
They had, of course, seen the list on the official website. Even if the officials said the ranking wasn’t ordered, anyone with a brain knew who the real powerhouse was.
So, when the uninformed regular students on Second Middle School’s campus were excitedly discussing how "Zhang Zeyu is so amazing, bringing glory to the school, besting the entire province," the top competition students all tacitly kept their mouths shut. They even felt that the school’s promotional tactic of twisting the truth was really classless.
...
But the real protagonist, Li Dong, acted as if nothing had happened.
Because he was genuinely busy right now.
Chinese, English, Biology—which subject didn’t require memorization? Even with his memory being far superior to that of an ordinary person, cramming so many facts into his brain was a bit overwhelming.
On Friday evening, Li Dong returned home from school.
The moment he walked in the door, he smelled the aroma of cooking.
Li Qin was just coming out of the kitchen with a plate of stir-fried vegetables. Seeing her son home, she started chatting casually.
"Xiaodong, have you heard? There’s a kid from Jiangcheng Second Middle School named Zhang Zeyu who apparently won first place in the province in a physics competition! A few of the aunties at the wet market were talking about it when I went grocery shopping today."
Second Middle School’s propaganda was clearly working. In the eyes of others, what else could "besting the competition" mean if not first place?
Li Dong paused in the middle of changing his shoes.
’Zhang Zeyu? The most badass?’
"Mom..." Li Dong looked up, a bit resigned. "Actually, I’m the one who was first on that list."
Li Qin froze for a moment.
"Is this the competition you were talking about before?"
Li Dong nodded.
But then Li Qin said...
"Then what’s the point of publicizing it? It doesn’t get you extra points on the college entrance exam, does it?"
Li Dong: "..."
"My Xiaodong is still the best. He got fifth on the monthly exam this time."
Li Qin said as she carried the dishes.
In her mind, what was the use of these empty titles? You couldn’t get automatic admission to a university, and you couldn’t get extra points.
"Oh, right. Your big sister Lu Yao sent me a WeChat message a couple of days ago asking if you wanted to continue with tutoring."
The moment Li Dong heard about more tutoring, he quickly refused.
"No thanks, Mom. I’m busy this weekend."
"What could you possibly be busy with? Going to the internet cafe to play games again?"
Li Qin poked her head out of the kitchen, her brow slightly furrowed.
"No!" Li Dong answered truthfully. "I’m going to be tutoring someone else this weekend. I can even earn a little tutoring fee."
Li Qin stopped what she was doing and said seriously.
"In that case, you’d better do a good job tutoring them. Money doesn’t come easy."
Li Dong nodded. Since he had taken the job, he would definitely do it well.
