191: Chapter 191 CATL's Invitation

"I'm genuinely jealous. When I was eighteen, I was still battling my parents for a one-thousand-yuan monthly allowance, while he has already achieved financial freedom through his Intelligence."

"He got so much money, why hasn't he donated to Project Hope? He has absolutely no sense of social responsibility."

"School funds are state funds too. How can they just hand out one million to an undergraduate like that? Couldn't that money be used to build a few more dormitories?"

"With that arrogant personality of his, I bet he'll get carried away now that he has this money. He's finished; it's only a matter of time before he loses his talent."

These haters' comments had barely surfaced before they were thoroughly roasted by a large number of rational netizens.

"Are the people above suffering from terminal jealousy? He proved a mathematical conjecture based on his own ability and received a legitimate academic award. Why should he be forced to donate? Just because you're weak doesn't mean you're right."

"Losing his talent? Are you blind? He just published a top-tier NIPS paper solving computer underlying architecture. Achievements of this level would be treated as a national treasure in any country!"

Zhao Yang, sitting in front of his computer, took a quick glance at the trends in the comment section regarding these varied reactions and closed the webpage.

He had no interest in continuing to follow these arguments. Through his experiences in his past life, he had long seen through the nature of online public opinion.

Separated by a screen and internet cables, you can never be certain what kind of person, or what their psychological motives are, is hiding behind the keyboard typing those malicious words.

Trying to dwell on these irrelevant evaluations, or attempting to prove one's innocence online, serves no substantial purpose other than wasting one's own energy and time.

A person can never convince everyone.

Just like Grandpa Yuan Longping, known as the "Father of Hybrid Rice," who solved the fundamental problem of food for all mankind and made such immense and outstanding contributions.

Yet, after the internet became widespread, there were still no shortage of people online smearing, insulting, and even morally kidnapping him, simply because he looked at a slightly expensive car at an auto show or bought two newer models of mobile phones.

If even a great man of that level could not keep online public opinion absolutely pure, then Zhao Yang, a young man who had just begun to make a name for himself in the academic world, would naturally be unable to avoid becoming a target for some people to vent their dissatisfaction with reality.

This was an inevitable outcome.

After closing the webpages, Zhao Yang opened the stock trading software on his computer desktop.

He casually transferred the one million RMB bonus that had just arrived into his linked A-share securities account.

Prior to this, he had already invested nearly 30 million in the A-share market.

Since the A-share market completed its bottoming out on October 28, 2008, when the Shanghai Composite Index fell to the historical low of 1664 points.

Accompanied by the full implementation of the national four-trillion-yuan infrastructure stimulus plan, the entire domestic macroeconomic landscape and capital market experienced an extremely strong recovery.

The current situation in the A-share market was very good. Infrastructure, building materials, non-ferrous metals, and some financial heavyweight stocks had moved into a unidirectional upward trend.

Over these few months, the total amount in his A-share account had expanded significantly.

The newly transferred one million RMB occupied only a tiny proportion of his current total account balance.

Zhao Yang followed his previously set quantitative model and distributed the one million funds to buy three pharmaceutical and Chemistry sector stocks that had just finished consolidating and showed a net inflow of capital.

Once the buy operation was completed and the transaction confirmed, he logged out of the trading software.

Several thick professional books lay on the desktop. Mathematics and Informatics had both reached LV5; after reaching this level, advancing to the next one required a full 500,000 experience points.

It had become very slow to upgrade these subjects now, and currently, the cost-effectiveness was not high.

Allocating energy to other relatively weaker subjects to raise their levels and increase his Intelligence more would be a better thing.

Right! He still had two random draws!

Zhao Yang suddenly remembered one thing: the two random draws brought by his previous Informatics level increase.

Draw! Zhao Yang silently thought to himself.

"Ding! User has successfully drawn energy potion +10!"

"Ding! User has successfully drawn trash +1!"

Bad luck! Taking a look at what he had drawn, Zhao Yang rolled his eyes. The system was great in every way, except for this random draw, which was simply too unstable!

Shaking his head, he acted as if nothing had happened.

Zhao Yang casually picked up a book titled "Advanced Inorganic Chemistry" from the table, preparing to continue reading to accumulate basic knowledge.

Just then, the screen of the phone placed beside his hand lit up, and then the standard incoming call ringtone played.

Zhao Yang took a look at the caller ID; it was the Dean of the School of Mathematical Sciences, Peking University, Professor Wang Wenyuan.

He pressed the answer button. "Academician Wang." Zhao Yang greeted Professor Wang Wenyuan with a smile on his face.

"Little Zhao, are you busy right now?"

"I just finished dealing with some personal business; I have time now. Is there something you need?" Zhao Yang asked.

"If it's convenient, come to my office at Peking University now. There is a special project here that needs a top mathematical brain to oversee. I can't explain it clearly in a few words over the phone." Professor Wang Wenyuan's tone was slightly serious.

Zhao Yang thought for less than a second and agreed immediately: "Okay, I'll be there right away."

Hanging up the phone, Zhao Yang put on his coat and walked out of the Young Teachers Apartments.

The two schools were very close; ten minutes later, Zhao Yang walked to the administrative building of the School of Mathematics at Peking University.

Walking to the door of the Dean's office, the door was slightly ajar. Zhao Yang raised his hand and knocked on the door twice.

"Come in." Professor Wang Wenyuan's voice came from inside.

Zhao Yang pushed the door open and walked into the office.

In the reception sofa area of the office, besides Professor Wang Wenyuan, there was also a strange middle-aged man sitting there.

This person looked to be in his forties, wearing a dark blue business jacket, with his hair cut very short. Although he was sitting on the sofa, his back was held very straight. He wore black-rimmed glasses, and between his brows, there was a sense of rigor characteristic of someone who had long been engaged in scientific research, along with a hint of imperceptible fatigue.

Seeing Zhao Yang enter the door, Professor Wang Wenyuan immediately stood up and stepped forward to greet him.

"Little Zhao, come, sit here." Professor Wang Wenyuan pointed to the single sofa beside him, then turned to the strange middle-aged man and began to introduce him to Zhao Yang.

"Little Zhao, let me introduce you. This is the Chief Scientist of the CATL Beijing R&D Center, Professor Wu Kai."

Hearing the words "CATL," Zhao Yang's gaze shifted slightly.

Memories of his past life quickly churned in his mind. At this point in time, 2009, the domestic power battery industry was still in its early incubation stage.

Although CATL would not be officially independently registered and established until 2011, its predecessor and core R&D team—the power battery project group born out of ATL—had already begun intensive technical research and material testing during this period. Professor Wu Kai was, moreover, an absolute leading figure in this field.