You Can't Let Him Get Away! (Please Follow)

You Can't Let Him Get Away! (Please Follow)

"You mean someone from the authorities?" The others did not know, but Xia Qing understood very well. Huaji was like a state-owned enterprise wearing the skin of a private company—every move it made was tied to the authorities.

"Exactly." Meng Xiangping no longer beat around the bush with Xia Qing.

"To be honest, I've seen geniuses before, but never one this remarkable!"

Hearing Meng Xiangping praise her student, Xia Qing was delighted, even though she had only taught him one class.

If they could cooperate with Huaji, Xia Qing believed Huaji would definitely be able to provide Luo Yao with what he wanted.

At that moment, Luo Yao was with the testing team.

Luo Yao had seemed arrogant in their eyes before, but once he actually got to work, the testing team experienced his professionalism firsthand.

Even Dai Guangchao's attitude toward Luo Yao had changed. He no longer treated him like a child.

When problems arose, he instead began asking Luo Yao for advice.

Luo Yao noticed that Dai Guangchao's questions always hit the key points, so he was happy to explain them.

While Dai Guangchao was getting some water, someone from the testing team asked him, "Manager Dai, why are you being so polite to that kid?"

Dai Guangchao slowly took a sip of water and said, "You're all too young. Haven't you figured out Luo Yao's temperament yet? When you talk to him, you have to get straight to the point. If you don't, he'll ignore you."

"A genius's time is precious. How could he have time for idle chatter?"

Dai Guangchao had become testing manager not only because of his strong professional skills, but also because of his ability to read people.

Testing had never been an easy job. Among the entire R&D department, no team had it rougher than the testing team.

They had to extract requirements from product managers above them and pick apart the technical team's mistakes below them. If their tone was even slightly off at work, it could lead to a physical altercation.

After all, no one liked someone constantly pointing out their mistakes. Every bug the testing team found could keep the technical team busy for an hour.

As a result, Dai Guangchao often had to mediate between them.

When it came to handling people, Dai Guangchao truly had a knack for it.

"And do you know what it means that this kid produced full-process EDA Software?"

The tester shook his head. He was just an ordinary member of the testing team. Every day, all he dealt with was bugs. How could he think that far ahead?

"It means Hua Nation may become the only country capable of achieving a complete chip industry chain."

The tester stared at Dai Guangchao in disbelief, feeling as though the man was selling him an impossible dream.

A complete chip industry chain? Even the technologically powerful Ugly Nation had not managed that!

While they were chatting, Luo Yao received a text message from Wu Tianming.

Santuo, why did you take leave? Is there something going on at home? I haven't seen you all afternoon.

Luo Yao thought for a moment and decided to reply.

I have something to deal with. I won't be going back today.

Seeing that response, Wu Tianming knew Luo Yao did not want to elaborate, so he did not ask further. He merely told him that their counselor had brought over the books they needed for class.

Books for class?

Luo Yao felt that he would not need those things anymore.

After sending the message, Wu Tianming saw that Luo Yao had replied with only an "Okay." He sighed and said, "Santuo isn't coming back today. I don't know what's going on. I hope he's okay."

"He should be fine. Santuo's smart. Do you think the assignments we handed in will pass? I really want to join Professor Xia's project," Wang Ye said wistfully.

"I don't know. But after Santuo explained things to us before, I feel that programming isn't all that difficult. We just need to build the framework first."

"Don't think so far ahead. Let's learn first and talk later!"

Seeing Wang Ye unusually eager to study, Wu Tianming suddenly had a thought. "Are you working this hard just so you can show off in front of Luo Zhu?"

Having been exposed, Wang Ye did not care in the slightest. "That's called 'a fair lady is the gentleman's pursuit.' What do you know?"

Like an innocent young boy with a secret crush, Wang Ye continued to worry, "Santuo will undoubtedly get into Professor Xia's project. What if I can't?"

"Do you think there's some way to pull strings?" Wang Ye felt he could not beat others the proper way, so he began entertaining crooked ideas.

Wu Tianming found it amusing. "What, are you going to give Professor Xia an antique? Forget it. Professor Xia is a nationally recognized talent—how could she possibly accept that sort of thing? I advise you not to get any ideas. Do you think, with Professor Xia connected to Huaji, she'd care about your little trinkets?"

It seemed the crooked path was not going to work, so Wang Ye dejectedly began reading.

Meanwhile.

After reading Stacked Prime Number Theory for a while in Huaji's library, Luo Yao ate something with Xia Qing and then returned to the room Meng Xiangping had arranged for him to sleep. He slept exceptionally soundly, unaware that Huaji's upper management would remain awake all night.

"Xiangping, have the test cases been written yet?" This was already the third time Rao Huiling had asked Meng Xiangping that night.

"Not yet, President Rao. Why don't you rest for a while first? I'll notify you once the test cases are ready."

"How could I possibly sleep? I've already informed President Zheng, and now the President's Office is urging us too." Rao Huiling had never been this anxious before. She simply could not imagine that the EDA Software she had longed for had fallen from the sky just like that.

"President Rao, you know as well as I do that, in a situation like this, the fewer people who know, the better. The EDA department's testers were screened in advance. If we add people at the last minute, it would be less safe instead."

Of course, Rao Huiling understood everything Meng Xiangping said.

All she could do now was wait.

After an anxious night of waiting, at six thirty in the morning, the testing team, having pulled an all-nighter, finally finished writing the test cases.

Meng Xiangping reviewed the test cases, confirmed there were no issues, and sent them to the leaders who had been waiting all night. Then, unable to hold on any longer, he collapsed onto the desk and fell asleep.

Two hours later, Meng Xiangping received a call from Rao Huiling.

"Xiangping, come to the Super War Conference Room at ten."

Super War was Laboratory 012's largest and most important conference room. Unless a project was especially significant, it was not qualified to hold meetings there.

When Meng Xiangping arrived at the conference room and looked around, he discovered that besides the seven people from the president's office, there was also a representative from the East Capital Investment Committee and an official from the capital.

"Xiangping, we've all reviewed the test cases. There are no problems. I truly never expected that EDA suite to support process designs below 7nm. It's honestly unbelievable!"

After praising it, Huaji's president, Zheng Housheng, continued, "But there's one thing that concerns me: where did this EDA suite come from?"

"We checked the surveillance footage and confirmed that the developer, Luo Yao, completed it at school. According to him, he didn't have a suitable computer before, so he only wrote down the code instead of entering it into a programming tool. After he went to East University of Technology, he ported it over."

"This student is extraordinarily gifted. While writing the code, we never saw him look up any references. He didn't even log into GitHub."

Zheng Housheng sighed after hearing that. "And we only found a genius like this now! It looks like we'll have to put more effort into recruiting talented people in the future. Otherwise, who knows how many we've already missed?"

Zheng Housheng shifted the topic and continued, "Do you know what this EDA can bring to Hua Nation? An entire chip industry chain."

"Many Semiconductor devices and design software products have low sales volumes but high technical barriers. Ordinary companies are unwilling to invest in them. This is especially true for companies in Ugly Nation, where profit comes before everything else."

"As a result, they prefer for the entire world to be their factories, while they only need to control a few key upstream technologies."

"But with this EDA suite, we can establish an entire chip industry chain in the shortest possible time. Once the chip industry develops, all related industries will be driven forward as well!"

"From now on, no one will be able to choke us through chips again!"

"Of course, to ensure this EDA suite goes online quickly, we'll still need assistance from the authorities."

As he spoke, Zheng Housheng looked toward the East Capital Investment Committee representative and the official from the capital.

"President Zheng, rest assured. We will provide our full support. However, you'll need to personally contact and negotiate with the various manufacturers," the East Capital Investment Committee representative said bluntly.

"Of course. We'll make the arrangements," Zheng Housheng said, nodding before turning to Rao Huiling and Meng Xiangping.

"What are you planning to do about the developer, Luo Yao?"

Rao Huiling had already considered this. She said, "Luo Yao is only sixteen right now. He hopes that we can provide all the resources he needs for research. That part is easy—every resource in Laboratory 012 can be allocated to him."

"But as for a title... one too high would be too much for him to handle, while one too low probably wouldn't interest him."

Zheng Housheng could tell from her expression that she had not figured it out. He waved a hand and said, "Huiling, you're being too cautious. Doesn't the EDA department still exist?"

"Break it up and establish a laboratory specifically for chip research. Luo Yao is still young, so he can't be given a specific position. Once he develops his management abilities, we can spin the laboratory off into an independent company, with him as president."

"President Zheng, you're right, but forming a company is still far off. Would Luo Yao even agree?" Zheng Mengrong, the CFO who had remained silent until now, spoke up.

"We learned from Professor Xia that Luo Yao's family circumstances are poor. The entire family relies on a small restaurant to make a living. In this situation, we should first use benefits to secure him. A sixteen-year-old kid has high ambitions—we need to paint him a big picture, but there can't be a shortage of tangible rewards either."

"The situation is unusual right now, and going through the standard procurement process risks leaking secrets. However, if Luo Yao joins us, we can distribute the money in installments as employee wages or bonuses. I'm honestly glad Luo Yao is already sixteen. Otherwise, we'd be suspected of employing child labor."

Sometimes, a genius being too young was not necessarily a good thing!

At Zheng Mengrong's words, everyone else laughed as well.

"However, private transfers accumulating to fifty thousand yuan in a single day will be monitored, while two million yuan will trigger key scrutiny. So I'll need to discuss this with the Banking Regulatory Commission. When the time comes, we may need a representative to come forward."

The East Capital Investment Committee representative nodded.

"President Zheng, no matter what, you must secure Luo Yao first. What if he runs off to Ugly Nation?" the East Capital Investment Committee representative reminded him.

"Rest assured, we'll definitely handle this properly."

"Mm. If you have any funding problems, the state can provide the money for you."

The East Capital Investment Committee representative's words made Zheng Housheng's heart skip a beat.

How could he possibly dare let the state step in?

If Huaji could not even come up with this little amount of money, how could it claim in the future that it invested billions into research and development?

They were looking down on Zheng Housheng too much.

"Mengrong, how much cash can we put together right now?" Zheng Housheng immediately looked at Zheng Mengrong.

Zheng Mengrong picked up the laptop beside her. "We'll need to discuss this with the Banking Regulatory Commission. Anything too large probably won't work. For now, we can give him two hundred million yuan. Of course, that's the amount Luo Yao will receive after tax; we'll pay the taxes on his behalf."

Zheng Housheng made the decision, slapping the table. "Then give it to him! It's only two hundred million!"

Pulling such a large sum from their cash flow was no small matter, but Zheng Housheng felt it was money well spent if it meant Luo Yao would work with them.

"Besides the direct reward, add physical shares, virtual shares, and TUP incentives as well."

"In short, you must not let Luo Yao get away!"

P.S. Zheng is not included in the Hundred Family Surnames, but it does indeed exist and traces its origins back to the Yellow Emperor.