Forty-eight hours ago.
HKUST is a busy place.
The members of Tianxing Society were making corresponding preparations. Some of them came to coordinate and report with Cheng Ran. When they looked at him, their eyes were shining, like wolf cubs who had found their backbone. They were excited, with a fire burning in their hearts. This fire was about the treatment the team had suffered so far, and it might also be what they might encounter as individuals.
Now everyone is united because of this and operates with Cheng Ran as the core.
In their eyes, Cheng Ran brought more confidence, or even a kind of belief.
But what everyone doesn’t see is that when Cheng Ran doesn’t appear in front of others with a calm and composed look, he is usually alone and silent.
He seemed invulnerable in the eyes of others. No matter what was going on in the outside world, such as the Qin Xizhen University of Science and Technology incident, the Shushan Sword Contest, and the Chinese partners... He remained calm no matter the slander against him or the hype and praise from the media.
To a certain extent, it is very effective in stabilizing military morale, and it seems necessary to do so.
CQ, Lianzhong, the Institute of Planning, Nie Yun and Nie Chuan's team, members of the Tianxing Society, including friends and relatives, many people were looking at him at this time.
Any tiny detail can be magnified.
Therefore, he must maintain this role as the backbone of the organization, no matter how exhausted his spirit and physical strength are. He must maintain this style, coordinate all aspects of the team behind him, and contact and negotiate with all kinds of people under the system. After the Shushan Conference, he rushed back to HKUST without stopping, inspected the laboratory, paid attention to the progress of all aspects, allocated resources, kept everything on track, and blocked the impact of external storms.
Even in his previous life, Cheng Ran had never encountered a situation like the current one, nor had he ever been in such a situation.
In the past, when doing things, there were conflicts of economic interests, disputes over personnel, external pressure and choices about the path, but those were not like what is happening now. It involves such a level, such deep and iron-clad forces and groups, and it is a life-and-death struggle.
That was something he had never experienced before.
So no one could tell him what to do now.
The only thing he could do was to realize clearly that this was a war.
It is to mobilize all resources, to use willpower to withstand any backlash and pressure, and then to stand firm to the end of the war amid such consumption.
When everything was dark and silent, Cheng Ran went to Hu Zhiwei's laboratory in the Planning Research Institute. The two of them confirmed the final work. Looking at his appearance, Hu Zhiwei said, "Why don't you take a rest first? You look very tired."
After the Shushan Sword Contest, Cheng Ran had indeed been running around a lot and had not had a good night's sleep. After returning to HKUST, the designated venue for the decision, he was actually still in charge of these things throughout the entire process. Sometimes he would lie in bed in the dark night with his eyes open.
All I can think about are the overwhelming news about him, both good and bad. What I need to consider more is the impact that the people around him will have to face because of this and the effect on their real lives, as well as the operations, arrangements, and gap-filling in all aspects.
I had trouble falling asleep the whole night. Sometimes I finally couldn't bear it anymore and closed my eyes. When I opened them again, it was already dawn. Looking at the time, I had only slept for two or three hours at most. Then I had to get up again and start working non-stop.
Cheng Ran even asked himself, is it worth it? Should he be more gentle and tactful? Is it necessary to compromise sometimes
Because he has become a boat sailing against the current, everyone around him is on board, and their lives and deaths are closely related to him. Even their lives and destinies have changed, been affected, and implicated, and are heading towards an uncertain direction with him.
It was ironic that he had only wanted to live a simple life and do some things that he had not done before, as if this was his biggest wish when he accepted the gift of fate. In the end, he was caught up in the torrent of human affairs and had no choice but to deal with his father Cheng Feiyang and the birth and development of Fulong. Until now, he had also encountered those opposites on a narrow road, sometimes even a life-and-death struggle.
In fact, I am anxious inside and I worry a lot about the uncertainties in the future. I am even afraid.
For this reason, Cheng Ran even got angry with Nie Chuan because of some friction issues at the end.
Soon Cheng Ran's anger subsided and he apologized again. Nie Chuan made a joke to ease the situation, saying, "I know, I know. It was my fault. It was my carelessness. There can't be any mistakes."
Yes, they understood Cheng Ran’s current situation, but they also had full confidence in him.
But Cheng Ran actually had no way to tell others that there was a hole in his heart that was like a whirlpool, overflowing with emotions such as fear, shrinking, and frustration.
After talking with Hu Zhiwei, Cheng Ran sat down on a garden bench outside the Planning Research Institute. He then muted his cell phone and put it back in his pocket. From time to time, a light gradually lit up through the layer of jeans and went out in the darkness.
He looked back at the brightly lit buildings and suddenly felt a little afraid. He was afraid to go there, afraid to be the person who cheered everyone up as if everything was under his control.
The garden of the Institute of Planning and Design still retains the style of the 1980s. The marble benches have cracks and gaps. The street lamps can only cast light particles in a small area under the dense shade of the evergreen trees, and he is mostly hidden in the darkness. Occasionally, someone walks past in a hurry and has no time to recognize the person sitting on the stone chair in the dark.
At that moment, Cheng Ran seemed to understand more deeply what loneliness is.
The light in the trouser pocket kept flickering for a long time, and the glow reflected in Cheng Ran's eyes slowly woke up.
After feeling a break for respite and a little relief from the suffocating pressure, he finally heaved a sigh of relief, stretched out his hand, prepared to take out his cell phone from his pocket, and start thinking again. In the distance on the road, someone was approaching with the fluorescent light of a cell phone in hand.
Cheng Ran seemed to have sensed something and looked up, and saw Jiang Hongshao taking the phone away from her ear and standing in front of him. Her stunningly beautiful face was tilting her head, staring at him from top to bottom.
"They said you came to the Institute of Planning..."
Cheng Ran looked at her and asked, "Aren't you at your aunt's place?"
"Just got off the plane and came straight here."
Jiang Hongshao spoke calmly, but this decision was not an easy one. With Cheng Ran's incident having fermented to this point, many people in the family were on high alert to prevent Jiang Hongshao from having any contact with Cheng Ran at this time, to avoid making the situation worse, or even putting some of them in an embarrassing position.
Those are related to the vital interests of many people, whether it is money or power, no one wants to really clash with the opponent.
So when a series of things about Cheng Ran were exposed one after another and the press conference was about to be held, the aunt called for several days in a row with harsh words, while the uncle spoke softly and kindly, and even revealed his sad humility. He even told her about how he took her to play when they were young. In fact, he didn't want his son, who was the president of an affiliated company, to be implicated and lose his bright future.
Therefore, Jiang Hongshao's every move is actually related to the future and destiny of many people in this original family. Perhaps if she had not met a man named Cheng Ran in her life, she would definitely become everyone's "popular choice". As for her own life pursuit, with the lessons learned from Zhang Yu and Li Yun, it is actually not very important. She can just regard it as her own effort to protect everyone in this family.
But now there is someone who makes her want to live a little more selfishly.
Jiang Hongshao squatted down and looked up at him, which immediately made Cheng Ran's eye sockets shine in the night. Her condescending gaze just now turned into an upward gaze, and the black hair beside her ear opened up, revealing a small red gem earring.
The most beautiful women in the world are right within reach.
Just now, she recognized Cheng Ran sitting here from the dim light of the mobile phone in his trouser pocket in the dark, but she did not ask him what happened or what he was thinking about. She just raised her waist gently, climbed around his neck with both hands, and hugged him with her warm body breath.
Neither of them spoke, and no sound was made. Only the slight snorting of each other could be heard.
After a long separation, Cheng Ran looked at the beautiful woman in front of him and said, "So, this is a benefit?"
Jiang Hongshao winked playfully, stretched out her fingers and took his hand, "Let's go for a walk together..."
Cheng Ran stood up and miraculously found that his whole body was full of energy.
Jiang Hongshao held his arm, and the two of them were just like any ordinary college couple. They went to the store to buy drinks together, went shopping together, watched boys and girls running past them laughing and joking together, and were surprised, envious, and jealous by anyone who accidentally discovered them.
There was also a small incident on the way. Two children, who were probably children of faculty and staff, ran out of the playground. The boy was running, and the girl was chasing him with a basketball, her face flushed as she shouted, "Come back! If you run again, don't let me catch you... Is this all you have?"
The little boy hesitated and stood in front. He turned around and looked like he was about to cry. "I told you I don't want to play with them, but you insisted on playing with them. I can't even hit the ball properly!"
"If you can't take good pictures, I'll teach you! I'll teach you!"
"I need you to teach me how to be a man!"
The little girl swung the ball over, hit the boy and bounced off.
The boy was fierce, "What are you doing!"
"Pick it up for me! Quickly!"
"Then why are you so fierce!"
"Pick it up quickly!"
The boy came over to pick up the ball reluctantly. The two looked at each other with hatred, one passed the ball, and the other took it.
The little girl then started to hit the ball in front of the little boy, "Look at how I hit it... I guarantee that you will be better than them in the future..."
The little boy stood by and glared at him, unconvinced.
Cheng Ran and Jiang Hongshao watched all this hand in hand, trying not to laugh, and then they looked at each other.
Life is short, but life on earth is long.
In the dream, passers-by looked at me with smiles.
Look with smiling eyes.
Guest in the dream.
Not in a foreign land, but by your side.
…
Forty-eight hours later, at the press conference.
After Jiang Yueqin sat down at the investigation team's seat, she was slightly distracted and saw Jiang Hongshao with Cheng Ran in the backstage of the conference room.
If she joined the investigation team to look into the cause of the Guoxin incident, it was a feat she had planned to regain lost ground, a counterattack to regain her reputation and a declaration of the inviolability of some kind of inherited honor.
Then, the appearance of Jiang Hongshao, her daughter, beside Cheng Ran at this time, and the significance of their two generations appearing at the press conference at the same time, how will it be interpreted by the outside world? Can it herald the sounding of the horn of collision
Jiang Yueqin began to have a headache.
…
The time turned to 2:30 in the afternoon. When Zhang Xinyu heard the Hanwu press conference start, his ears buzzed, as if he felt that a huge gear had started, making a terrible sound of gear teeth approaching.
Wang Wen from the Alpha team said, "It doesn't matter. Everything is within the controllable range... Their release today is nothing more than the same functions as ours, with some additions and subtractions at most, but it cannot fundamentally overturn the fact that our Guoxin project was announced first... The boss is capable of handling it..."
The reporters set up their cameras and Cheng Ran walked onto the stage under everyone's gaze, and then there was complete silence.
The slight noise coming from the microphone was the most heart-pounding sound in the whole venue.
Without a host, the venue seemed simple, but no one dared to think that this press conference was simple. The quiet environment was filled with a suffocating atmosphere. The vortex behind it even involved the attention of countless people, from high-level officials to the general public. A spark could start a prairie fire.
After adjusting the microphone to the most comfortable speaking position, Cheng Ran on the stage briefly introduced himself as the founder of the Hanwu Project, and then cut into everyone's attention. Under the camera, under the camera lens, in the recorders of reporters and investigators, dust was swirling in the air waiting to sink or float.
"I know that the Hanwu No. 1 chip has been in a storm before, and many of you came here for this storm. So this is not only a launch conference for the Hanwu series chips, but also a clarification meeting. Before that, I want everyone to understand a basic concept, that is, the chip architecture. How should I put it? If designing a chip is like designing a building, then the architecture is like the frame used for this building. There are only a few types of frames. Once you choose one, you can't change to another. This is the basic concept."
"Then, let me introduce a person. His name is Zheng Xing. He is a researcher of Professor Chen Yue's National Core Research Institute. He is also one of the first researchers in Nie Yun's team who left the team and was encouraged by Chen Yue to join National Core Research Institute."
As Cheng Ran was speaking, Zheng Xing appeared and walked up to the stage from the backstage. At this moment, flash lights were flashing wildly and the sound of shutter clicks could be heard from the scene.
The moment he saw Zheng Xing, Zhang Xinyu felt as if struck by thunder, and at the same time, he heard extremely vicious curses from Wang Wen and others around him.
Zheng Xing came up to the stage and spoke to the crowd of people present. "After enduring Chen Yue's intimidation and threats, I had no choice but to enter his National Core to help with the basic research and development. Chen Yue also hired an external team, known as Alpha, to conduct the most confidential and secret research and development. However, based on my experience in my position, the basic research and development I was engaged in was far from supporting what National Core claimed to have achieved at the press conference two months ago. Therefore, I was more careful. I took a photo of the chip layout displayed at that time. At the same time, while I was in charge of connecting with the wafer production company, I got an engineering chip at that time. This chip was also the same batch of chips as Chen Yue's at the wafer production factory. There are relevant certification reports and layout drawings, which can be compared and confirmed..."
When Zheng Xing raised the fingernail-sized chip in his hand, the whole audience became agitated.
Zhang Xinyu was dumbfounded. Wang Wen, the Alpha team member who was privately called Chen Yue's "Grand Commander of the Imperial Guard", had a gloomy face. He was reporting to Chen Yue in Beijing in a hurried tone over the phone, "Zheng Xing did serve as the person who took over the wafer production at Hewan Island..."
A loud angry voice came from the other end of the phone, and Wang Wen's face changed.
After Zheng Xing showed up and displayed the chip, Cheng Ran said, "After Zheng Xing provided this national core chip, our team of Professor Hu Zhiwei of Hanwu conducted reverse engineering on this chip. The so-called reverse engineering can be understood as analysis and deconstruction, and obviously for this chip that we are all very familiar with, this process is not difficult. So after getting Zheng Xing's sample, we completed the reverse deconstruction in the fastest time and analyzed its internal structural mechanism."
A reporter said, "As far as I know, Guoxin Chip has accused you of turning the tables because one of you is a key researcher who previously worked on the research and development of Guoxin for Professor Chen Yue, so it is very likely that the design drawings have been leaked during this process. Even if the two chips are exactly the same, isn't that normal?"
Everyone looked at Cheng Ran with doubt. It was indeed the case.
Cheng Ran nodded to the reporter, "You are right, it is indeed the same as our Hanwu No. 1 chip. So now we have to talk about the architecture we mentioned at the beginning. Do you remember what I said? The architecture is the frame of a house, which determines the shape of the house. There are only so many types of architectures, four of which are mainstream, belonging to four companies respectively. The Hanwu No. 1 chip adopts the architecture of the British ARM company to achieve our own micro-architecture circuit innovation. Yes, this is also the architecture adopted by Guoxin, and the circuit is exactly the same as ours."
Cheng Ran took out the file bag on the table and opened it. It was a thick document. The projector displayed the key pages of the document in the background.
"However, the use of this architecture must be authorized by its parent company. The one in my hand is the authorization document of the British ARM company, which records the legal contract that ARM company authorized us to use the instruction set. So what I want to say now is that our Hanwu No. 1 developed and designed the circuits based on the authorization. Why is Chen Yue's Guoxin also using it? Do they also have such authorization?"
There was a sudden uproar at the scene.
Zhao Qiangguang stared at Li Taihang in astonishment, "How did he get the authorization? How did he negotiate with the British company?!" His tone was full of surprise, envy and even a sense of madness.
In the China World Trade Center in Beijing, Liu Gao in the conference room turned around from the French window and looked at Chen Yue who was facing the loudspeaker telephone. His eyes widened and his five fingers were trembling as he pointed at the press conference information coming from the telephone.
Chen Yue raised his hand to calm down, indicating that he should stay calm. It's not that he doesn't have a backup plan. "It should be a normal authorization, just to bluff people."
At this time, someone in the meeting said, "National Core does use a good ARM architecture, but it's too absolute to say that you are the only one with the license. As far as I know, Professor Chen Yue and his team have also obtained the license from ARM! But if you want to compare the time of the license, it may be troublesome, because as far as I know, although Professor Chen Yue's team has been negotiating with British companies for a long time, the situation has not been ideal, mainly because there is no shortcut to deal with those overseas capital forces. It is possible that someone can take advantage of some conveniences to get ahead in this process."
Cheng Ran looked at the person who was speaking. He was from Chen Yue's team. His words were cunning and hurtful. It was obvious that he wanted to set the tone, implying that Chen Yue had "no background" and could only negotiate with others diligently and in the clumsy way of a scientific researcher. But you are different. You have the capital backing behind you. Who knows if there are any foreign forces that made it so easy for you to obtain authorization and be the first to register overseas patents.
Many people glared in the direction of the voice, but the other party was obviously prepared, having received the signal from behind, and stared at Cheng Ran without blinking, as if nothing had happened, deliberately leading the public to this kind of suspicion. It just so happened that Cheng Ran's exposed identity was more in line with this guidance.
Cheng Ran just looked at him and smiled. "There are some key points of authorization on the slide just now. You are probably not a professional and did not understand it. So let me tell you now. Our authorization, that is, before the Hanwu project was established, we obtained ARM's V6 architecture, the highest level of instruction set authorization, architecture authorization. We can use this authorization to do anything, such as changing the architecture at will, innovating new architectures, creating new instruction sets, writing them directly into our instruction sets without going through ARM, and using them at will. Before that, it was absolutely impossible. In other words, only we are qualified to use the architecture content, deep design, and even free changes on Hanwu No. 1.
Apart from this, no one and no company can do this.
Maybe Apple and Qualcomm can also use ARM's architecture license, but they use different instruction sets than us, which is well documented. And there are only a few companies in the world that can obtain such permissions from ARM. So you are telling me that Professor Chen Yue impressed ARM with his sincerity and passion, and then ARM generously gave them the highest level of authorization that they would never easily grant except to shareholders and partners of large companies! ? "
One stone can cause a thousand ripples!
While the whole audience was still waiting to respond to this bombardment, Cheng Ran made a gesture and the Tianxing Society staff below immediately switched to the next set of slides.
That's a document.
Deadly document.
The authorization document obtained by Chen Yue from ARM.
"This is the authorization that Professor Chen Yue obtained! This authorization letter shows that this authorization from ARM is only a university... project authorization."
"That is to say, your authorization can only be used for basic university teaching, and cannot even involve civilian and commercial fields! It can only be used to popularize chip knowledge and explain structural analysis. You don't even have the right to use this instruction set for chip production!"
Every word is like a knife, piercing the chest of those who have ulterior motives and are hoping for the best.
Huh! What people are thinking about now, besides why Cheng Ran has the highest level of authorization from ARM, is why there is also this authorization document that Chen Yue and ARM have discussed? It's like a photo taken from an archive, and then put under this slide today, in front of these national media, in front of this booth that is open to the outside world.
This is a public execution!
Zhang Xinyu, the Alpha team, people related to Guoxin, and even Chen Yue and Liu Gao in Beijing behind them, felt their scalps tingling, as if they had been struck by thunder and lightning, and their hairs stood on end.
That photo was clearly not that formal. It was clearly taken in the corner of the filing cabinet using not-so-good photography techniques. It was as if a ghost had turned the background out and displayed it to everyone.
Cheng Ran's voice came, and it was directed at the person who had just spoken. At this time, the blood on the other party's face had drained away, and he could no longer maintain the previous sneer and obscure "raising an army to hold someone accountable" expression.
"So you're telling me... Chen Yue used the authorized content that he didn't even have, and made a chip that used the highest authorization, and then we copied you?"
At the investigation seat, Jiang Yueqin kept recording the last stroke of the pen.
She looked at the investigation team around her. Among the experts in the investigation team, there were very few academicians from the two academies this time. Instead, they were representatives of technical teams from industry companies. The expressions on everyone's faces were very interesting. Some were looking at Cheng Ran with sparkling eyes, while others were looking at the people from Guoxin who were being questioned by Cheng Ran with ridiculous and pitiful expressions of embarrassment for them.
The agitation is still expanding, still continuing, and after the truth is revealed, it is still expanding in an extremely absurd, empty, and even black hole-like fear-involved energy.
Whose pants were pulled down
And now who can bear the anger of being deceived? Cheng Ran? Han Wu? Some people shook their heads and sighed. The spirit is commendable, but do you know what has collapsed after the sky has been pierced? It may be the collapse of the entire trust system, or a mess of mud and sand.
Cheng Ran has made contributions, but will it be recorded in the future that he is also guilty
Amidst such thunderous noise, Cheng Ran continued.
"Chen Yue's National Chip played three songs repeatedly during its demonstration in March... But in fact, at that time, our Hanwu No. 1 had not yet completed its final research and development. So why could Chen Yue's chip play songs? He played these three songs over and over again because he could only play these three songs. Although his chip claimed to have MP3 processing capabilities, it was only achieved through an external module, not the chip itself, because this was also the design requirement of our Hanwu. They copied Hanwu and could only follow the path, but could not ultimately achieve its function."
"What I am showing you today is the Hanwu No. 1 that has passed the packaging test." Cheng Ran had a small circuit module in his hand, and the metal layer emitted a mysterious glow under the light.
Then the device containing the chip was taken out and demonstrated by brothers Nie Yun and Nie Chuan.
Cheng Ran played songs on the computer and even asked everyone present to request songs. He directly dragged the audio files on the computer into the chip control system menu, and soon the songs sounded on the field.
Switch, play the song, switch, play the song. It shows the powerful audio processing function.
Until the end of the demonstration function, the last ballad seemed to still echo in everyone's completely bombarded chests and minds.
That was a song...
"A Laugh in the Ocean"!
Heart-wrenching.