Invited by the professor himself, aren't you going? (Seeking follow-up)

Chapter 27: The Professor Personally Invited You, Aren't You Going? (Seeking Follow-up Reads)

After receiving the bank card, Luo Yao had no intention of touching it.

He currently only had 500,000 yuan. According to ordinary people's thinking, having such spare cash would definitely make them want to invest, usually choosing between buying funds or stocks.

He could predict that chip industry stocks would rise soon, but that wasn't important because he knew the core technology he now possessed was worth more.

Being a market maker was better than being a retail investor; Luo Yao wanted the most efficient way to make money.

Luo Yao actually still had over three thousand yuan saved up. The Luo family had just arrived in Dongcheng, and he planned to keep the 500,000 yuan in the card for emergencies.

It was only seven o'clock, so Luo Yao decided not to return to the dormitory for now. He turned and headed straight for the library.

The homework left by Xia Qing was very simple for Luo Yao. It was like asking someone with the ability to build a skyscraper to manufacture bricks.

Luo Yao ignored the IP core homework and, following his own plan, continued to write his code.

The library was convenient for everything, but he couldn't set up his development environment on a public computer.

The only thing that needed to be solved now was setting up a reliable development environment.

If he only wrote code without setting up a development environment, then important tools like compilers, debuggers, unit tests, and automated tests couldn't be used.

Moreover, to develop EDA now, the computer's processing power couldn't be too poor. The library computers were fine for just typing code, but for subsequent distributed simulations or layout and routing modules, the computers here would definitely lag to the point of questioning life.

Luo Yao realized he needed to find a new place to develop his EDA.

East University of Technology was a research-oriented university, and there should be quite a few majors requiring strong computing power.

Luo Yao searched online and found that there was a Supercomputing Experiment Training Center in the school. He picked up his phone and sent a text message to Xia Qing.

[Professor Xia, I would like to apply to use the school's supercomputing system.]

When Xia Qing heard the text message alert, she didn't pay much attention at first.

Nowadays, people who used text messages were either in e-commerce or involved in scams.

Xia Qing was basically too lazy to look.

But soon, the text message alert sounded again.

Xia Qing's heart stirred, and she picked up her phone. Then she saw Luo Yao's two text messages.

[Professor Xia, I would like to apply to use the school's supercomputing system.]

[This is Luo Yao.]

It was the first time Xia Qing had a student send a text message, and Luo Yao's unusual request came right at the beginning.

She remembered the homework she assigned, and with their level, they shouldn't need a supercomputer.

Why was Luo Yao applying?

Could Luo Yao be giving her another surprise?

Xia Qing actually wanted to recruit Luo Yao into her research project for scientific research practice. Letting him start from the basics would allow Luo Yao to improve faster than staying in school all the time.

After a few seconds of silence, Xia Qing readily gave Luo Yao her account and password, and took the opportunity to ask about Luo Yao's intentions.

[You can use it for free for three hundred hours each month; the time should be enough for you.]

[Also, are you interested in joining the teacher's research project? The research direction is general chips and basic software.]

After receiving the text message, Luo Yao thought that Professor Xia's research direction was indeed good, but undoubtedly, it was all focused on individual research and could not bring about qualitative changes to the chip industry.

What he was developing now was a complete set of EDA, an action that could affect the entire chip industry chain. The priority was clear.

Luo Yao knew that if he joined Professor Xia's project now, his position would definitely be doing odd jobs.

He could join the project, but he absolutely wouldn't do odd jobs, so Luo Yao quickly replied.

[I won't participate for now.]

Before reading the text message, Xia Qing thought Luo Yao would agree, but she didn't expect him to refuse.

She knew how many students wanted to join her project and she was unwilling, but now Luo Yao refused her proactive invitation.

Xia Qing, being rejected by a student for the first time, found it both amusing and helpless.

It seemed Luo Yao was still too young and didn't understand what this meant.

Xia Qing had actually just preliminarily agreed with Huaji to develop EDA software today.

Huaji was currently facing a dilemma. The major foundries cooperating with Huaji were all constrained by foreign EDA manufacturers.

Today they would use software upgrades as an excuse to restrict usage, and tomorrow they would claim the activation code system had problems and couldn't be used, causing Huaji's chip foundries to be led around by the nose.

Domestically, there was a focus on wafer and lithography machine research and development, but not much investment had been made in EDA research and development. This led to Huaji's current passive situation.

Once a chip foundry stopped production, Huaji, as a downstream customer in the chip industry chain, would be 100% affected.

Mature EDA software was concentrated in the United States. If American EDA manufacturers acted up and didn't grant Huaji's foundries licenses to use EDA software, Huaji would clearly have no chips to use.

Being at the bottom of the food chain, they could only be manipulated.

Precisely because of this, Huaji wanted to start independently developing a complete set of EDA software.

Developing a complete set of EDA software was not something that could be solved overnight, but being able to start now was progress.

To establish a new research institute, one must face recruitment challenges. Professor Xia Qing planned to announce the recruitment decision at the school.

That evening, Professor Xia Qing released a notice stating that she would recruit 1-3 outstanding students from the freshman cohort of the microelectronics major for her new project. The recruitment requirement was to complete her most recent course assignment.

As soon as the news broke, students from all three departments of the microelectronics major became excited.

The main group chat for the microelectronics major.

"You Feng Yi Ye: Getting into Professor Xia's project is a clear path to success after graduation!"

"Calcium Deficiency Wangzai: I want to go! But the last assignment was so hard, we had to design an IP Core!"

"Big Ditch Hai: Were your assignments also about IP Cores?"

"Calcium Deficiency Wangzai: It seems all three of our departments had this assignment. The competitive pressure just shot up!"

"Dinosaur Against Waves: Over 200 people are competing for just a few spots. How lucky do you have to be to get selected!"

"Tank 6: What is an IP Core?"

While everyone was enthusiastically discussing in the group chat, Luo Yao went alone to the school's Supercomputing Experiment Training Center to begin his formal development work.

It had to be said that Professor Xia Qing's guidance that day benefited Luo Yao greatly. Luo Yao gained a deeper understanding of the technology provided by the system.

Modules within EDA, such as the graphical user interface, circuit modeling, layout design, timing analysis, simulation, and verification, all appeared before his eyes like puzzle pieces with numbered sequences, incredibly clear.

Now, he just needed to place the puzzle pieces one by one according to the numerical order.

Time quickly passed to 9:30 PM. Wu Tianming, seeing that Luo Yao hadn't returned home, called to ask about his situation. Luo Yao checked the time and decided to head back to the dormitory.

The Supercomputing Experiment Training Center was actually open all night to facilitate research groups within the school working on their projects.

Luo Yao naturally wanted to develop EDA all night, but he wasn't a robot and couldn't function without sleep. So, he planned to go back to sleep and come back early the next morning.

When he returned to the dormitory, Wang Ye eagerly told Luo Yao that Professor Xia Qing would be selecting 1-3 freshmen to join her project.

Wang Ye could tell that Luo Yao held a degree of admiration for Professor Xia Qing. Otherwise, Luo Yao wouldn't have listened so intently when Professor Xia Qing provided him with individual guidance earlier that day.

He thought that after telling Luo Yao about the recruitment, Luo Yao would be interested. To his surprise, Luo Yao said, "Mm, I know. Professor Xia already told me."

Wang Ye froze in place, his eyes wide: "Professor Xia told you personally?"

"Tianming, look at this treatment! We all found out about this through a mass notification, but Professor Xia actually told him privately!"

Tianming was still holding the textbook on Integrated Circuit EDA Technology. Hearing this, he immediately sighed.

"San Tu learns more by himself than we do. Professor Xia Qing will definitely take him. By the way, San Tu, when are you going to join the project?"

"I didn't say I was going."

"What?!" Wu Tianming and Wang Ye were stunned. The professor personally invited you, and you're not going? Are you out of your mind?!

Wang Ye walked up to Luo Yao. While Luo Yao wasn't paying attention, he reached out and placed his palm on Luo Yao's forehead.

"This kid isn't running a fever, why is he talking nonsense?"

Luo Yao, unaccustomed to this, recoiled his head and said expressionlessly, "I'm not sick. What I want to do now is more valuable in my eyes than joining Professor Xia's project. Therefore, not going is the most correct choice."

"Hey, you're not old, but you've got a big mouth. Just say things like this in front of us, don't say them outside. Otherwise, if someone reports it to Professor Xia, she'll be unhappy."

Professor Xia will be unhappy?

This piqued Luo Yao's interest.

"Why would Professor Xia be unhappy?"

Most people asking this question would be a bit foolish, but Wu Tianming and Wang Ye knew that Luo Yao genuinely didn't understand.

For someone whose mind was filled only with knowledge and academics, he wouldn't spend time understanding the complex emotions of someone who felt belittled by a student.

"It's like this: imagine your mom cooks a big meal, and we go eat it and say it's not tasty. Your mom would definitely be unhappy if she heard that."

Wu Tianming used the simplest and clearest example to explain to Luo Yao.

After hearing this, Luo Yao pondered for a moment, then nodded and said, "Okay, I understand. I won't say such things in front of Professor Xia."

After speaking, Luo Yao prepared to wash up and go to sleep.

Wang Ye exchanged a look with Wu Tianming, then said to Luo Yao, "San Tu, I don't understand some of the content related to IP Cores. Can you explain it to me?"

Luo Yao was about to go to the balcony to get his toiletries. Hearing Wang Ye's request, he turned around and asked Wang Ye, "You only don't understand a small part?"

Wang Ye chuckled, shamelessly admitting, "I don't understand anything at all."

Luo Yao felt he had truly never met someone so brazenly admitting they didn't understand anything.

"San Tu, I don't understand much either." Wu Tianming, seeing an opportunity, quickly followed Wang Ye's lead, playing the victim in front of this younger brother who was two years their junior.

P.s. This entire novel is fictional and unrelated to reality.