Chapter 403 - Seven Figure Bonus

Chapter 403: Seven Figure Bonus

Han Mengqi didn’t know why, but she suddenly had the urge to bite someone.

Talking about her height was fine, but Lu Zhou’s questioning tone was infuriating!

If it was anyone other than Lu Zhou...

Meng Qi swore that she’d definitely...

Ahhh, I’m so angry!

Han Mengqi buried her mouth in her scarf and didn’t say anything. She gave the sample box to the laboratory teacher and left.

Yang Xu watched Meng Qi walked away before asking Lu Zhou, “Do you guys know each other?”

Lu Zhou didn’t know why Han Mengqi’s demeanor suddenly changed. “I used to teach her.”

Yang Xu suddenly realized what was going on.

However, Lu Zhou didn’t know what Yang Xu knew.

“Fine, no more nonsense...” Lu Zhou redirected the conversation and asked, “Tell me how the experiment is going.”

Yang Xu: “The experiment was very successful. The two layers of graphene were superimposed. When the corner angel reached 1.1 degrees, and the temperature reached 1.7k, an unconventional superconductivity phenomenon happened. Our research team named this angle the ‘Magic Corner’.”

Lu Zhou was interested. He raised his eyebrows and said, “Very imaginative name.”

“That’s right, full of imagination. This research result is like the name, full of imagination,” Yang Xu said with a smile. He then added, “Metal superconducting materials are more difficult to adjust; for example, carbon oxide. Carbon nanomaterials, on the other hand, have a higher plasticity which gives us unlimited possibilities.”

Lu Zhou smiled and said, “It also means unlimited experiments?”

Yang Xu said, “Experiments are always necessary.”

“Room temperature” was actually hotter than “high temperature”, at least in the field of superconductivity. The latter was only 77K (around -196 Celsius), while the former had to be above 273K.

Not mentioning the high tech laboratories that had 100K superconducting temperatures, the 1.7K temperature was in an even worse position than copper oxide which had a temperature of 35K.

However, it would be ignorant to classify the technology as useless just because it couldn’t be commercialized.

It was no exaggeration to say that 99% of the research results were useless.

However, without 99% of the results, there wouldn’t be the 1%.

Yang Xu briefly explained the experiment and began to talk about their future plans.

“... Our next goal is to find a way to increase the superconducting temperature of the graphene materials to 77K. Of course, this is a long term goal, it might be difficult to achieve in the short term.”

Lu Zhou thought for a moment before he said, “A goal of 77K is too conservative; we should set it at 100K.”

The system said 100K was achievable, thus it would be a pity not to use this information.

Yang Xu looked helpless.

“Ok, but we have a problem. Whether it is 77K or 100K, if this superconducting material can be created, then this technology will carry limited industrial application prospects... It will generate patents regardless of anyone’s interest in the technology.”

Yang Xu didn’t finish his words, but his meaning was clear.

Collaborative research projects became awkward once patents were involved.

Lu Zhou thought for a moment before he asked, “What does Professor Herrero think?”

Yang Xu: “When I was doing my post-doc at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, I heard that Professor Herrero was a person that didn’t care about fame or fortune. Looking at his past theses, it is obvious that he rarely competed with students for experiment results. He’s happy to train those with great potential.”

Lu Zhou asked, “So what you’re saying is?”

Yang Xu shrugged and said, “He probably will think that this technology should be used equally by everyone.”

Just like in China, there were professors overseas that didn’t care about owning patents; they only cared about doing research.

Instead of coming from companies, most of their funding came from a variety of state-funded research funds. As long as the professors’ salaries could pay for their living expenses, they didn’t care about converting research results to patents.

Lu Zhou thought for a moment before he said, “I just think that we are not offering enough. If I’m willing to pay them US$10 million in research funding, I think they might take this problem more seriously.”

When Yang Xu heard the US$10 million figure, he was stunned.

Every scholar thirsted for research funding, and US$10 million was an amount that couldn’t be rejected.

Even a Nobel Prize winner couldn’t easily secure funding of that size.

Yang Xu gulped before he asked, “Is this worth it?”

Even if the 100K temperature superconducting material was created, it wouldn’t be worth much money.

After all, superconducting materials had a more limited industry application compared to lithium batteries.

Lu Zhou shook his head and said, “I don’t care if it’s worth it. I need this technology, and I need the relevant patents. As for the why, I’ll tell you that later. As for now, you don’t need to care if it’s worth it. You only need to remember that we have to do this thing even if we lose money.”

Yang Xu nodded and said, “Okay... What if he doesn’t agree?”

Lu Zhou said, “Then offer US$20 million.”

Yang Xu: “...”

F*ck sake!

He nearly forgot that his boss was filthy rich.

Lu Zhou paused for a second before he said, “My limit is US$20 million. If he refuses, then we have to find someone else that is willing to cooperate... I’ll leave the negotiation to you.”

Yang Xu nodded and said seriously, “I will relay your intentions.”

Lu Zhou looked at Yang Xu and nodded with satisfaction.

He suddenly remembered something.

“Oh yeah, speaking of money, I said there’d be a year-end bonus.”

When Yang Xu heard this, he smiled and said, “Boss, I’ve been waiting. If you didn’t bring it up, I was planning on asking you about it on behalf of the team.”

Several researchers in the laboratory all began to listen in to the conversation. After all, they were all curious about their bonuses.

“You guys have been working so hard every day, how could I forget about the bonuses?” Lu Zhou cleared his throat and said, “I’ll go to the finance department in a bit and sort out the bonuses. I can promise you that everyone will have a new year full of happy surprises.”

Yang Xu smiled as he asked, “Boss, can you tell me what my bonus is? Just give me an estimate?”

Lu Zhou smiled and said, “What kind of estimate?”

Yang Xu said, “Just tell me how many months of salary the bonus is equivalent to?”

Lu Zhou shook his head and said, “That’s too precise. I’ll tell you how many figures it is, but you’ll have to guess the exact amount.”

Yang Xu asked, “How many figures?”

Lu Zhou said, “At least seven figures.”

Yang Xu was frozen.

Seven...

Seven figures?

He originally thought that it would be three or four months of salary.

He didn’t expect his boss to exceed his expectations.

Lu Zhou smiled and patted Yang Xu’s shoulder while he said, “You guys have been working hard this year, keep it up for next year!”