The Drive to Forge Ahead: Roll Up Our Sleeves and Get to Work
How should the 12 members of the FASTER Project Team, including Shen Qi, share the 10 million yuan patent transfer fee? This is a mathematical problem.
Shen Qi has finished the calculations; the amount each person receives is different.
Tang Yuan received 880,000 yuan after tax. Shen Qi believed that he had contributed the most, so he gave him a higher salary.
Each person knows exactly how much money they received, but no one else knows.
Yang Ding Tian, the doctoral student who had followed Shen Qi the longest, discovered on the same day that 880,000 yuan had been deposited into his bank account.
"So much?" Yang Ding Tian, who comes from Xiong'an, has land, buildings, and grain at home. Even he, who is well-off, was shocked by the number 880,000. He quickly got an XRD (X-ray diffraction) to calm his nerves.
The XRD results are acceptable, the experimental data is real, but money is an illusion.
880,000 is no small sum. Yang Ding Tian, who is still pursuing his doctorate, sought out Shen Qi separately to express his gratitude.
"Okay, you're quite calm." Shen Qi noticed that Yang Ding Tian was much calmer than Tang Yuan.
"The preparation of the B Series samples, namely the Cerium-Gallium-Copper alloy, is progressing relatively smoothly. We've encountered a few minor issues, but we'll resolve them within two weeks to ensure the project's progress," Yang Ding Tian reported to Shen Qi after receiving the results of his work.
After experiencing the benefits, everyone understands that the faster the FASTER project progresses, the more scientific and technological achievements it produces, and the higher their quality, the greater the material rewards they will receive.
If you want to buy a car or a house, you still need to work with the right leaders to develop applications and conduct experimental research and development that serves industrialization.
More importantly, the more scientific and technological achievements are produced, the richer the experimental materials are accumulated, and the more academic articles will be published accordingly.
Not long ago, an article authored by Tang Yuan and attributed to Shen Qi was published in "Today's Physics" and subsequently cited by "Nature" and "Chemical Reviews".
This will greatly help Tang Yuan enhance his reputation in the academic community.
Once you've made enough money, what should you do next? Of course, you should become a respected and influential person in your industry.
Shen Qi demonstrated a conclusion through some management methods and real-world situations: doing good scientific research and producing tangible results will lead to both fame and fortune.
"Selecting the virtuous and capable, upholding trust and harmony, employing the strong, and utilizing the learned, so that the world may be shared by all—this is called the Great Harmony." Shen Qi recited this with emotion and rhythm.
In Shen Qi's Director's Office, the four cardinal directions are adorned with traditional depictions of the four great gods: Gauss, Euler, Newton, and Archimedes.
A calligraphy scroll hangs in the southeast corner, inscribed with the words the Great Harmony. It was written by Lu Guozhen, an amateur calligraphy master and Vice Dean of the School of Mathematics, and given to his friend Shen Qi.
"It seems Academician Shen is an idealist." Yang Ding Tian looked at the "The Great Harmony.
Shen Qi said, "Our minds can fly beyond the Milky Way, but our feet must be ready to land at any time."
Yang Ding Tian discovered an interesting phenomenon: there wasn't a single book or document related to mathematics on Shen Qi's desk or in his bookshelf.
There is only one physics paper, "Review of Condensed Matter Physics Structure" written by Shen Qi himself, while there are slightly more chemistry papers.
The most common type of books are classic works on ideology, such as the Book of Rites, the Tao Te Ching, the Republic, and Nicomachean Ethics.
"May I borrow Schopenhauer's 'The World as Will and Representation'?" Yang Ding Tian had heard a legend that scientists who have achieved the highest level of success in a certain field often do not keep professional books in their bookshelves.
Shen Qi pressed down on "The World as Will and Representation," took another book, and handed it to Yang Ding Tian: "Schopenhauer is a bit extreme. Let me borrow this one for you, Machiavelli's 'The Prince.'"
"What a prince needs is cruelty, not love... Machiavelli was even more extreme, wasn't he?" Yang Ding Tian took the book, the Prince, and took his leave.
After listening to Yang Ding Tian's report, Shen Qi left his office to have lunch.
He also received a patent transfer fee of 1.27 million yuan.
Having earned a sum of money, Shen Qi still needed to maintain his fine tradition of hard work and frugality, so he prepared to go to the canteen for lunch.
As soon as Shen Qi stepped out of the math building, he noticed a girl wearing glasses standing at the entrance.
"Jinbao, are you going in or out?" Shen Qi asked Shen Jinbao.
"I was just about to look for you." It was clear that beneath Shen Jinbao's calm exterior lay a heart pounding with barely suppressed excitement.
"Have you eaten?" Shen Qi asked.
Shen Jinbao shook his head. "Not yet."
"Perfect timing, let's chat as we walk to the cafeteria," Shen Qi invited Shen Jinbao to join him.
"Academician Shen, isn't this award a bit too much?" Shen Jinbao asked in a low voice. Her award was 150,000 yuan.
In fact, Shen Jinbao's reward was the lowest among the 12 people. Shen Qi laughed and said, "You don't agree with taking so much, right? The money has already been paid out, and it's not convenient to take it back. How about this, you treat all the colleagues in the center to a relaxing trip and spend the money all at once. If there's any excess, I'll make up for it."
"Academician Shen, are you serious?" Shen Jinbao suddenly became nervous.
Shen Qi: "Whatever, it depends on your sincerity."
Shen Jinbao shook his head and said, "I don't agree with doing this; it's too ostentatious."
"Hey, you girl, you don't refuse when you receive an award, but you disagree when I offer to treat you. Do you think I'm spoiling you too much? Yang Ding Tian just told me something: what a monarch needs is cruelty, not love."
"Yang Ding Tian, that guy is a lunatic!" Shen Jinbao cursed Yang Ding Tian angrily, then tugged at Shen Qi's sleeve and said, "Academician Shen, don't go to the cafeteria, this meal is on me, let's eat out, I'm being very sincere."
Shen Qi shook his head and said, "I don't agree with doing this; it's too much of a waste of your money."
"..." Shen Jinbao was speechless; Academician Shen's imitation was incredibly lifelike.
"I appreciate your sincerity, let's go to the cafeteria." Shen Qi insisted on going to the cafeteria; he wanted to eat something light and simple.
While the two were eating in the cafeteria, Shen Qi said, "Look, we both have the surname Shen. People with the surname Shen don't play games. I have a small request: in the future, when you express a positive or negative opinion, it's best to include a specific explanation. Making qualitative judgments based on intuition is very unprofessional for researchers. This is the 21st century, not Fermat's era. If you don't have a convincing reason, the best course of action is to remain silent."
Shen Jinbao had been criticized by Shen Qi. She nodded and said, "Yes, I understand."
In the following period, the other members of the FASTER Project Team successively chatted with Shen Qi, reporting on their work progress and thoughts.
The researcher, who received several hundred thousand yuan in one go, had the idea of buying a house. He couldn't afford a house in the capital, but he could at least buy an apartment with an elevator for his elderly parents to live in in his hometown, a third- or fourth-tier city.
A researcher earning a few hundred thousand yuan can't afford a house anywhere, but buying a small car for commuting is always fine. Of course, the prerequisite is getting a license plate in the capital first.
In short, everyone's happy.
Everyone benefited, and the team was even more motivated. Under Shen Qi's leadership, the FASTER Project Team continued to tackle subsequent technical challenges.