HKUST conference room.
“Can’t we do some work on this matter, have both sides explain the situation, and thus suppress it…” Pan Feng, vice president of USTC, tapped his pen on the notebook on the table and looked around the room.
But what awaited him was silence.
Now Chen Yue's Guoxin has been exposed on the Internet. Although it has not reached the level of a shocking explosion, its momentum has begun to show. Several mainstream media have reprinted the article on Shuimu BBS, and reporters have begun to appear at HKUST. Pan Feng is very keenly aware that if this matter is allowed to ferment like this, its chain reaction will make the explosion surface larger and larger. It is difficult to say what the final extent will be, but it is very likely to be very terrible. It is not an exaggeration to say that it may set off a tsunami of national uproar.
"How do we do the work? The current situation is that both sides have their own opinions and are not communicating. And there is no way to deal with this. Cheng Ran's co-built laboratory is not entirely his. There is also a corporate part behind it. This has become a matter between the company and Dean Chen Yue. He will not pay attention to our university."
"So how does this work?"
"I tend to let them solve it themselves. Because it involves reputation and ownership of scientific research results, USTC has no way to intervene." Huang Pei said in a deep voice.
The problem now is that Chen Yue joined HKUST with HKUST support, so if something goes wrong, HKUST also has a share of responsibility. But HKUST has no power to intervene in Cheng Ran's Tianxing Lab. To put it bluntly, they have CQ, a company that controls instant messaging, behind them. HKUST should not become the subject of legal attacks by the other company when it does not understand the prospects or may not have the upper hand.
"We at the Institute of Computer Science and Technology also think so."
"Then do we need to set up an investigation team to look into this matter?" someone asked.
Principal Zhu Huaqing, who had been silent all this time, spoke up, "Of course we have to set up an investigation team, but let's hold off on it for now..."
"Not now."
Everyone suddenly realized, otherwise why would it be the president? At this time, when neither side had revealed all their cards and the wind direction was unclear, HKUST was not in a hurry to intervene. However, President Zhu Huaqing still believed that this matter was not a big deal. If there was really a dispute over intellectual property rights, HKUST might not have established an investigation team to obtain evidence. Chen Yue's National Chip Project had a company that could be transferred, and HKUST's investigation team had limited authority and could only verify the situation within the school. If the other party was a company outside the school, it would be powerless.
The key point is that if the school takes any action at this time, it will inevitably lead the public opinion. At a time when reporters from all walks of life are waiting and watching, this approach is really unwise.
The most important thing is that the principal Zhu Huaqing has probably already made up his mind. Maybe if we wait for a while, this trend will pass and will not ferment.
…
In Nanzhou, in a lounge serving private circles, Chen Yue and Liu Gao met.
"Tell me what's going on here? Is what the post online said true? Did Guoxin's design take things from Cheng Ran's laboratory?" Liu Gao's voice was a little out of control.
It’s Cheng Ran again.
This man and his father Cheng Feiyang were both existences they hated deeply. The field that Fulong was now developing forced many of their companies to go bankrupt and reorganize. It was because if they succeeded or showed signs of a breakthrough, the stock prices of the companies that controlled the industry in their related fields would plummet, breaking through the siege and defeating their alliance.
However, due to the union's shareholding in Fulong's internal structure and the background of the Xie family, there is no way to use that power to forcibly dismember Fulong.
And now, in this field, I ran into Cheng Ran again.
Chen Yue said, "They won't have any evidence. There is no precedent in China for this. At the same time, we have also carried out our own basic extension and development in the design. Strictly speaking, they have no way to stop us. This will only become a slander."
Liu Gao looked at him, and the message in these words was very clear.
He asked, "Are you sure?"
The truth is no longer important. What is important is that their interests in this matter must be guaranteed to be implemented.
Chen Yue picked up the wine and drank, "Zhang Songnian is about to go to jail, and Li Jingping can't save himself. With you and the one behind you, I believe that in the end, this matter will be just the buzzing of a few small flies. There has always been no major project that has not been attacked maliciously from the opposite side. This may seem harmless from the top, but in the end it all depends on the results. What we want to achieve is a great reputation and status, so naturally we will be criticized in various ways. But I believe that once it is over, what lies ahead is our endless farmland, endless fruits to pick and endless rice fields to harvest..."
"So now, you and that person must support me wholeheartedly."
…
Five days later, Chen Yue did not make any formal refutation, but only accepted a confirmation interview with a newspaper. The newspaper was a media that was more official and backed by a large state-owned group. The newspaper reporter asked Chen Yue about the post on Shuimu BBS.
Chen Yue replied, "Although I don't know the intentions of the poster of that post, and what group is behind the hype and rumor-mongering, and whether they want to hit our nascent chip industry... I am actually very jealous. I studied in the United States and wanted to return to China to make chips for China. This in itself has already violated the interests of some people. So when we released our National Chip, those people abroad didn't believe it. How can the Chinese come up with a related internationally competitive chip in just one or two years? They don't believe it, and they don't want to see it."
"They spread rumors that I stole the chip design from a lab at the same school. I think they probably didn't know the cause and effect. One of my researchers resigned early and came to this lab. Then, I don't know why, they claimed to have a chip with the same function as ours... Of course, before this incident, I followed the principle of voluntary autonomy and freedom and didn't ask where my researcher was going, nor did I know what they were doing in private. Who knew that after the news was exposed, I knew that this was actually the case... Moreover, I didn't expect that some of the patented technologies had been registered abroad by the other party before us. Of course, those were immature, and we have more mature patents..."
"But to be honest... I'm heartbroken."
…
Chen Yue's response was brief, but it was enough to describe a fascinating story that even made people want to curse the traitor.
As a result, fierce conflicts of public opinion began to form behind the posts about Guoxin on Shuimu BBS, Tianya and various forums.
"Need I say more? Dean Chen Yue took the risk to return to China to create a chip business, but a researcher under him, who was blinded by profit, came out with the information. Why was it exposed at this time? It's very simple, it's for profit! Now we should check whether there are foreign forces colluding behind Cheng Ran's laboratory to attack our national chip!"
"Are you lying with your eyes open? How can someone else register your patent abroad? How big of a heart do you have? Are you overly trusting Chen Yue's sanctimoniousness? Even if he is devoted to scientific research, don't you know that once a good thing comes out, the patent must be registered both at home and abroad? Do you think it's reasonable for him, an expert leading a scientific research project, to deliberately package himself as a victim of carelessness?"
"Let me ask you, did Dean Chen Yue say that it was not registered? He said that it was registered by the other party first. We are all engaged in scientific research, and we all know that it takes a long time to register a patent abroad. It is a normal phenomenon. So now I have to ask, how can the chip of Cheng Ran's laboratory be registered through the "fast track"? Shouldn't we dig deeper into this? Maybe foreign forces are behind it! I heard that this laboratory of USTC was jointly built by enterprises, and CQ company has a share. So I have to ask, are there American investors behind CQ company! To mess with our national chip?"
"Bullshit, he said he didn't rob the patent, so he didn't rob the patent? The patent belongs to someone else, and they registered it faster than him! This is confusing right and wrong!"
"Question: How can a team of undergraduates, and even undergraduates who are puppets of a company, be more powerful than Chen Yue, a chip expert who studied in the United States and returned to China with great success in the world's cutting-edge semiconductor field? Normally speaking, even if you are a top scholar, when it comes to scientific research, you are not even worthy of carrying Dean Chen Yue's shoes!"
"There must be a conspiracy behind this, a conspiracy that cannot stand the fact that our country's chips are doing well. As for Cheng Ran, he was taken advantage of, and he saw this opportunity and was just an arrogant top scholar who was crazy about becoming famous. So I say, we have trained so many top scholars, but these so-called top scholars may not even have the basic morals of a human being."
Zhao Chen, the "woodcutter in the green mountains", is browsing the Internet to see how the Guoxin incident is developing. He, several well-known Internet figures, and moderators of major forums have been following the development of the matter.
They knew everything from the Guoxin incident to the investigation by several media outlets at HKUST. They instigated one of the reporters and kept in close contact with them. However, when these reporters asked Chen Yue, he denied it outright but refused to give a more detailed explanation. Later, when they called Chen Yue, he refused with various reasons. This is actually very confusing. According to normal logic, if you are wronged, shouldn’t you actively contact reporters to clarify the matter
It was not until the fifth day after the incident that Chen Yue published his public statement in a media with "reputation and background". Other media were also excluded. The media that were unable to inquire in person had only two choices: one was to reprint the report of the big media. The other was not to report it. Because they did not ask Chen Yue questions in person and seek some opportunities to clarify their doubts.
When Zhao Chen and his group were privately making inferences about this matter, they also felt that Chen Yue's reaction was rather suspicious. However, because of that report, Chen Yue's public opinion suddenly changed, causing Cheng Ran's Tianxing Laboratory at HKUST to immediately come under more attacks and suspicion. Including Cheng Ran himself, who was accused of having bad character, and even of wanting to use this to gain a higher position, such as high IQ but not using the right path, which is even more dangerous.
This scene is really a feast for the eyes.
…
In the midst of the heated arguments, Cheng Ran received a phone call.
It sounded like an unfamiliar overseas call, but hearing the voice made Cheng Ran a little dazed.
It’s ginger and red peony.
The girl's voice came from the phone, "Cheng Ran, I'm in the United States now."
Cheng Ran was stunned. "You didn't tell me you were going to the United States. Weren't you still in school a few days ago?" Then Cheng Ran reacted. "What happened?"
"I saw the situation online and made a temporary decision. I just landed in Los Angeles..."
Lao Jiang said on the phone, "Chen Yue said that his company called ESOC, which is responsible for chip peripheral IP configuration, is in the United States. I used Yahoo's YellowPage but couldn't find the company's phone number, and Google reported that this place is a residential area, so it's hard to prove the existence of this company. I could have contacted someone to help me check the location, but I thought there were other things to confirm, so I decided to come here myself..."
Jiang Hongshao explained her thoughts to Cheng Ran in a clear and logical manner. Probably because she didn't want Cheng Ran to worry, she said in a relaxed and playful tone, "So I came here..."
"In addition, since Chen Yue stated that his study in the United States involved the design of this chip, according to the resume on your internal website of the University of Science and Technology, Chen Yue graduated from the University of Texas at Austin. I believe this should not be false. Then I will go to Austin, Texas. Before I came, I found the "student profile" of Professor EdM Cluskey, a famous scholar in the field of computer science in the United States, and sent an email to his mentor, Professor Jaob Abraham of the Department of Electronic Engineering and Computer Engineering at the University of Texas, hoping to find relevant papers he wrote in college. Then, through investigations with his mentor and former classmates, I can roughly know the academic scope and content involved in his master's and doctoral degrees in this school, so that I can do a comparison. After this is done, based on his experience as an engineer at Motorola, I will also go to Motorola in Austin to understand his situation as an engineer and whether it meets his so-called chip design capabilities. This should give us preliminary investigation results..."
"Also, I am doing this with my aunt, so don't worry."
It was the capable voice of the girl in the wind in Los Angeles on the other end of the phone.
Cheng Ran's heart was surging and shaking. When Jiang Hongshao entered the combat state, it was probably like a sword that could chill the nineteen states.
Cheng Ran said softly, "Wife... take care of yourself, especially pay attention to safety. Compared with the results of the investigation, I don't want you to rush around without caring about other things."
At the Los Angeles airport, the girl's hair was slightly disheveled and her face was slightly red, but she just shook her head gently.
"I'm not tired."