Chapter 131 - Morning Enlightenment, Graphene
Because in his previous life he had completed his final project on pagers, Su Yuanshan knew that during the collapse of the pager market, various kinds of pagers had been designed.
But by that time, even within China, the transition into the mobile phone era was well underway.
No matter how impressive a pager was, there simply wasn't a market anymore.
Seeing the two men in front of him looking so surprised, Su Yuanshan smiled and said,
"In my opinion, to make pagers attractive again, you need features that are eye-catching and widely appealing.
How many people really care about weather forecasts?
Or stock quotes?
And besides, you can't even easily demo those features."
"But games and radio-enabled pagers —
those you can demo right in the store, right?"
"Exactly!"
Wang Chaoxin clapped his hands, visibly excited,
"I'll get started on that right away!"
"Good.
Plus, having unique features will boost brand image.
As long as we keep developing functions that are hard for others to copy, we can easily create a strong brand effect.
It'll make our products much more impressive."
"And a functional pager like that has self-propagation properties —
Think about it:
if you're just using a pager, few people ask about it.
But if you're playing a game or listening to the radio on your pager,
people will definitely come over and ask what brand it is."
Wang Chaoxin nodded enthusiastically like a pecking chicken.
...
After seeing the two of them off, Su Yuanshan no longer felt like going back to bed.
Instead, he sat down and began reviewing his studies.
This semester, he had been almost entirely self-taught.
He had barely visited classrooms, let alone the teachers' offices.
Skipping classes wasn't a problem — he had an official exemption.
But when it came to final exams, he had to rely entirely on his own ability.
Moreover, by now, his reputation had spread.
Even his classmates had learned that they had a celebrity among them — Su Yuanshan, the student who had won a special prize in a programming competition and been admitted without exams.
Worse yet, he had chosen to major in physics.
What did that mean?
It meant this was someone so brilliant that he could afford to skip computer science altogether.
Under such fame, Su Yuanshan couldn't possibly accept any favors from professors.
He had to pass fair and square.
During the exams, many students couldn't help sneaking glances at him, curious to see this "legend."
By the end of the month, when grades were posted, Su Yuanshan finally let out a long sigh of relief.
He hadn't made it into the top three, ranking fourth, but the gap was small.
His mistakes were mostly due to missing some material the teachers had covered in class.
His foundations, however, were solid.
After winter break began, Su Yuanshan returned to his routine at the Tech Park —
cafeteria, dormitory, office — until the Spring Festival approached.
Even during the holiday season, Su Yuanshan stayed at the Tech Park, holed up in the lab.
...
"Yes, Mom, I'm doing an experiment.
I'll come back in two days."
"Okay!
Just don't forget!
Don't make me mad again, you hear me?"
Running a hand through his greasy hair, Su Yuanshan lost his temper for the first time since being reborn, snapping at his mother.
After hanging up, he left the lab and stared out across the Tech Park.
It was already the 28th of the twelfth lunar month.
In two days, it would be Spring Festival.
Yuanchip had officially closed for the holiday two days ago.
Only a few local security guards and logistics staff remained.
Even the distant construction sites had fallen silent.
There wasn't a soul in sight.
Just then, his bulky mobile phone vibrated.
Taking a deep breath, Su Yuanshan answered.
It was his father's calm voice.
"What's wrong?"
"Dad...
I know Mom worries about me.
But she doesn't understand.
You do —
when you're chasing the dawn, you forget about eating, sleeping, even about Spring Festival.
Even death wouldn't stop you."
The old saying — To learn the truth at dawn, to die at dusk — it is enough — echoed in his mind.
There was a long silence on the line.
"Son, I've been where you are,"
Su Xinghe finally said.
"I understand you.
But you've never been a father,
so you can't understand me.
Come home."
Su Yuanshan gripped the phone tighter.
He realized that he had indeed become obsessed with isolating graphene.
"No, Dad.
Let me try one more time.
Whether it works or not, I'll be home before dinner.
I'll drive myself."
After hanging up, Su Yuanshan roughly rubbed his face.
Then he returned to his experiment —
peeling graphite with duct tape.
Mechanical exfoliation was the original method for obtaining graphene.
First, cut a piece of graphite.
Then press duct tape firmly onto it.
Then — rip!
The crystal layers stuck to the tape were layers of graphene.
And then — keep peeling.
Layer after layer.
Until you obtained a single layer of carbon atoms —
graphene.
The method was simple.
But its significance was enormous.
It shattered a seventy-year-old belief that two-dimensional crystals could not exist at room temperature —
a theory that had always been challenged but never truly overturned.
Now, it was Su Yuanshan challenging it.
Graphene couldn't be seen with the naked eye.
It was hard to spot even under an optical microscope.
But Su Yuanshan had a scanning tunneling microscope.
He could see it.
Taking a deep breath, he placed a suspected successful sample under the microscope.
Amidst a fluctuating atomic landscape,
there were no overlapping layers, no bumps.
It indicated that the sample was a single, ultra-thin crystal.
Su Yuanshan closed his eyes and clenched his fist.
He didn't cheer.
He simply exhaled lightly.
For a brief moment, he even felt like a thief.
But that feeling was quickly crushed.
...
Sealing up the duct tape samples, Su Yuanshan went downstairs, drove a Santana to the University of Electronic Science and Technology.
When he saw his father, he didn't mention what he had just achieved.
And his father didn't ask.
Even his mother seemed to forget that he had lost his temper at her.
The family simply ate and chatted warmly.
But Su Yuanshan didn't linger to watch TV with them.
Instead, he dove into the study and buried himself in books.
"Xiaoshan,
I feel like you've been unusually driven lately,"
Su Xinghe said as he stood behind him.
Seeing his son studying from an original English physics textbook,
he was proud but also worried.
Su Yuanshan put the book down and looked at his father's concerned face.
He smiled.
"It's nothing, Dad.
I just want to take advantage of my passion while it lasts."
"No matter how passionate you are, you must not push yourself too hard."
"I know.
I treasure my life."
Su Yuanshan chuckled softly.
"Dad, could you help me pull some strings at Peking University?
I want to spend some time in their lab —
to study condensed matter physics experiments,
especially low-temperature experiments."
"...Alright."
"Thanks, Dad."
Su Yuanshan smiled warmly.
Su Xinghe smiled too, patting his son's thin shoulder.
"No matter what you do,
I won't question you.
I'll always support you."
"Hehe,
actually I've got a lead,
but I'm a little embarrassed to tell you,"
Su Yuanshan said sheepishly.
Originally, he had thought about pulling his father into the project.
But he changed his mind.
His father was dedicated to integrated circuits —
design, not materials science.
Dragging him into this would be disrespectful.
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