Chapter 108: Evil Capitalism
Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations
After Lu Zhou left Professor Liu, he walked to the carbon nanotubes inst.i.tute and found Professor Li Rongen’s laboratory.
The two brothers were not here, but Lu Zhou knew from his news feed that they were traveling.
When Professor Li saw Lu Zhou, he smiled and said, “Yesterday afternoon, I received notice from the higher authorities, our conclusion report was pa.s.sed! I went to the finance department and calculated the leftover research funding. Even though you’re not a graduate student, we still have to thank you. We wouldn’t have been able to complete this project without your help.”
Professor Li pulled out the drawer and took out a note. He then wrote a few lines before he stamped it.
He placed this note on the table and smiled as he said with a relaxed tone, “I don’t have much else to give you, so I’ll give you this money as a reward. Take this 50,000 yuan.”
Lu Zhou had not expected it at all.
As he took the check, he smiled and said, “Thank you, professor!”
50 grand was quite a lot as even the national scholars.h.i.+p was only 8 grand.
The more important part was that the graduate students working for the professor only got five or six hundred a month. Sometimes, the professor would even take this money away for “research funding”.
Therefore, Professor Li was considered very generous.
Professor Li smiled and waved his hand as he said, “Don’t thank me, I’m the one who is supposed to be thanking you.”
The professor cleared his throat and said, “In recent years, the production process of multi-walled carbon nanotube materials has continued to make progress. Prices have fallen more and more while the pace of commercialization is accelerating, especially in the field of composite materials. Although the cost is higher than carbon black, the price/performance ratio is quite good. I talked with the boss of Zhongshan New Materials some time ago, and I feel that there is still a lot of market cap to be taken in this field.”
“After the end of the year, I will probably open a research project to do electrode materials research. Are you interested?”
Lu Zhou thought and said, “I’ll tell you later. I don’t know if I have the free time.”
He could not make promises for the future. He still had to go to the Princeton mathematics conference in two months. There might be something waiting for him after the conference. Plus, the system might give him some strange missions to do.
Even though he wanted to partic.i.p.ate in this kind of research project to boost his academic experience, he decided to wait and consider more carefully.
Professor Li smiled and said, “Okay, I guess I’ll ask you when the time comes. Okay, there’s nothing for you to do here, go do your own stuff.”
With that, Lu Zhou left the lab and went to the library. He opened his laptop and was about to continue to read the thesis when suddenly, he noticed that the guy next to him used the Campus a.s.sistant lock screen feature. Lu Zhou could not help but smile.
It seemed that Yuan Liwei’s marketing plan was successful. This was not the first time that Lu Zhou saw someone using his app.
Lu Zhou then opened Baidu and typed in “Campus a.s.sistant” before he clicked search. He wanted to see the download numbers.
However, he saw a news article appearing in his search results.
[Zhongshan New Materials (300x.x.x) finances Campus a.s.sistant app. Continues to bring “internet” and “campus” to the university market…]
What is this?
Lu Zhou did not know a lot about the securities market. He only knew that he could buy and sell stocks on there.
As he was curious, he opened the article.
[The day before yesterday, Zhongshan New Materials made a major breakthrough in the technology of carbon nanotube modified cement-based composite materials, and successfully registered two patents. This resulted in the stock price rising. There has been a lot of good news recently, Zhongshan New Materials used idle funds to invest in Campus a.s.sistant…]
Lu Zhou skipped the long article and went to the end.
Suddenly, he raised his eyebrows.
Oh my, the news just came out, and the stock of Zhongshan New Materials rose by 5.6%! The market cap grew by 300 million!
F*ck me, it’s only a five million investment, why has it risen so much?
Lu Zhou thought of the 50,000 yuan cheque that Professor Li gave him and felt ignorant. In comparison, that money he was given was so little. He closed the website and continued to read the thesis.
Capitalism is so evil…
…
While Lu Zhou was reading theses inside the library, a cla.s.sroom inside the teaching building not far away rang, thus indicating that it was the end of the exam.
Wei Feng checked his name on the exam again before he handed in his advanced algebra paper. He then took his backpack and walked out of the exam room.
He was about to go to the cafeteria when he b.u.mped into Li Ruizhe. Li Ruizhe looked like he was looking for him.
“Umm… Brother Feng, are you free?”
Wei Feng looked at him suspiciously as he asked, “Why?”
Li Ruizhe coughed and said, “Can you do me a favor?”
Just spit it.
Wei Feng said, “Just tell me, if I can help you, I’ll help you. If not, there’s nothing I can do.”
Li Ruizhe smiled awkwardly and said, “The thing is, I thought about it, I think I still need to practice my programming. I shouldn’t have left. Do you still need someone in your team? I want to join back…”
Wei Feng smiled and said, “Sure, go to Fat Wu. He’s the club president.”
Li Ruizhe was anxious, “I asked him, but he didn’t agree. How about you help me to persuade him…”
“Sorry, I can’t help you with this,” said Wei Feng as he interrupted him. He then said, “Don’t you remember what you said to me before you left the club? I was trying to convince you not to leave. Why did you leave?”
Wei Feng was speechless.
You were the one that left, you don’t deserve to come back.
Campus a.s.sistant received five million in financing round. After the update, the user downloads and DAU numbers were increasing exponentially. Anyone that wanted to join the team had to be truly talented.
If one missed the opportunity, one would not be able to have it again.
Although it was somewhat hurtful to say it, the fact was that Li Ruizhe’s strength was not even enough to run errands.
Wei Feng was responsible for the team. He could not just let a talentless kid joined for no reason.
Wei Feng turned around and walked away.
Li Ruizhe was ruthlessly rejected, and he did not speak for a long time.
His face was full of sorrow and jealousy.
Finally, he managed to speak.
“F*ck, what the h.e.l.l… Just a sh*tty startup, who cares!”