Chapter 242 Dirty Jokes
"Actually, the credit really goes to Li Xiao. It was her initial proposal for using polymer materials that gave us a great way to reduce the danger from ternary cathode materials," Cheng Peng said, flattering Li Xiao.
Li Xiao pouted angrily. "Cut it out. That's your achievement. I'm not stealing your credit."
Cheng Peng chuckled. Although Li Xiao was only a bachelor's graduate, in materials science, as long as the fundamentals were solid, the rest was about direction and experimentation. Li Xiao was smart, diligent, came from a well-off family, could easily consult professors at their university whenever needed, and with clear focus, it was natural that she could lead a team conducting materials experiments.
But polymer materials were trickier. Without a clear path forward, success depended heavily on a keen academic intuition. In that sense, a fresh graduate like Li Xiao wasn't fully qualified yet. Even Cheng Peng himself often felt mentally drained. If they hadn't obtained Sony's lithium battery tech, Cheng Peng figured he'd have been banging his head against a wall for years.
Now, with lithium iron phosphate cathode material maturing under Li Xiao's leadership and progress being made on polymer batteries, Cheng Peng naturally started thinking more ambitiously.
Su Yuanshan thought for a moment and said,
"Here's what we'll do. Completing the polymer battery remains the top priority—especially driving down polymer costs.
But Senior Brother Cheng's idea is also right. In research, if you find a new path and don't explore it, it's worse than... a groom left lying next to his bride, forbidden from touching her. Even more unbearable!"
Cheng Peng instantly nodded. "Exactly, exactly!"
Li Xiao instantly reached out and twisted Su Yuanshan's arm hard.
"Why are you talking dirty?!"
"...That counts as dirty?" Su Yuanshan dodged away, rubbing his arm and laughing.
"I didn't even say anything about stripping her naked—how is that dirty?"
"..."
Cheng Peng laughed too.
"Li Xiao, President Shan's right. Let's split it this way: you keep handling polymer cathodes and provide technical support, while I'll take charge of experimenting with ternary cathode materials as technical reserves. It won't interfere with your work."
Li Xiao bit her lip, thought for a moment, and looked at Su Yuanshan.
Su Yuanshan nodded.
"Sounds good. Anyway, I never expected the chemistry lab to be profitable in the short term.
You all know why Western and Japanese companies keep making breakthroughs in basic materials, right?
Because they have the money to burn—and the patience to burn it."
Su Yuanshan sighed softly.
"Right now, only Yuanxin has the strength to do that. Whether or not we catch up—or even surpass—in battery technology will depend on whether you can endure the loneliness."
"Energy is a thread running through all of human civilization.
Maybe you'll spend the next ten, twenty years...
or your whole lives... grinding away in this field."
"I don't mind," Li Xiao shrugged.
"I'm fine with it too," Cheng Peng said. "Though they say nuclear fusion is the real future."
"Haha, sure, but that's still far off.
And even if it becomes a reality, we're not going to have miniature reactors the size of a button cell anytime soon.
So batteries will still be needed—
just with higher capacity and faster charging."
The three of them chatted under the trees for nearly half an hour.
Only when the mist started rising and the air turned chilly did they head back to their dorms.
With the lively exchange, Su Yuanshan was now completely wide awake.
He sat down at his computer and opened a blank document to start writing his paper on graphene.
The Nobel Prize for graphene was awarded not just for discovering a two-dimensional crystal stable at room temperature—overturning the widely accepted belief that such a structure was impossible.
It was also because graphene demonstrated extraordinary optical, electrical, and mechanical properties.
The Hall effect experiment that Su Yuanshan had spent over a year conducting was just one aspect of graphene's potential.
As a new material, its outstanding electrical properties explained the hype.
But the truly revolutionary insight would come later, with the so-called "magic angle" phenomenon—
a discovery by a genius boy in the future that would open up a whole new path for superconductivity research.
Unfortunately, Su Yuanshan couldn't replicate that now—
he didn't have the necessary equipment or the perfectly stacked dual layers of graphene needed for the magic angle effect.
...
Five days later, the Vidoo phone officially launched.
And it turned out that the team at Yuanxin had severely underestimated Schwarzenegger's influence in China.
With True Lies hitting theaters across the country, Schwarzenegger's promotional posters appeared everywhere, especially in more prosperous areas where it created a major stir.
Thus, on Vidoo's launch day, posters featuring Schwarzenegger holding the Vidoo phone—heroic pose, determined expression—dominated the streets.
...
Su Yuanshan and Zhou Xiaohui quietly arrived at Jiangdu Tower.
"Xiaohui-jie, how long has it been since we moved out?" Su Yuanshan asked.
"Two years, I think..." Zhou Xiaohui looked around at the surrounding shops, a little nostalgic.
"After we left, I never came back. Didn't expect it to change this much."
Su Yuanshan glanced around at the appliance and communications stores—every store had dazzling POP posters, and colorful hanging signs filled the ceilings.
He couldn't help but smile.
"These ceiling ads... we were the first to use that gimmick, weren't we?"
"Haha, and the office skirts too—you invented that, didn't you?"
"Me? No way! That was Uncle's idea," Su Yuanshan laughed, immediately denying it.
Chatting casually, they soon reached Yuanxin's original storefront.
A dozen customers crowded around the booth, and at least half were playing with the new Vidoo phones. A few security guards stood further out, keeping an eye on things.
From within the crowd, they could hear a salesperson's crisp voice speaking textbook Mandarin.
"Sir, Vidoo is our latest brand, launched globally.
Check out this poster—shot on the streets of New York!
We've been advertising overseas for a while now."
"In terms of features, it outclasses all foreign phones.
Feel the button feedback! See the craftsmanship!
It's completely on par with imported models—
plus, we've got the revolutionary Universal Charger."
The salesperson, a bright and clean-cut young man, held up a phone and spoke eloquently to a middle-aged man.
The man turned the phone over and over in his hands, pulled out the antenna experimentally.
The salesperson jumped in:
"The antenna is for weak-signal areas.
Normally, you won't even need to extend it.
We've hidden it neatly inside for a better look."
"I get all that," the man said, frowning.
"But why is this phone even more expensive than foreign brands?
Isn't it domestic?"
Su Yuanshan and Zhou Xiaohui immediately pricked up their ears.
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