Chapter 131

"When... did this happen?" Fang Ziye lowered his voice, his heart sinking.

Fang Ziye had only just managed to get half a foot into Hong Zili's team, able to increase his Knowledge Points through their experimental results, the quantity added comparable to his own daily experimental gains — this counted as extra income.

But now that this incident had occurred, didn't that mean he wouldn't be able to keep coasting like this anymore?

Luo Tingzhu's movements paused slightly; she had actually wanted to remind Fang Ziye whether his "collecting hobby" could be put on hold for a while, but Fang Ziye seemed unusually fixated.

"It should have been a while ago. I didn't ask for the specific time." Luo Tingzhu replied.

Only after all the experimental reagents had been soaked in water and stabilized did she slowly step back two paces, remove her gloves, and quietly wait for the reagents to warm to around 37°C, human body temperature level.

Fang Ziye hesitated slightly, but still decided to go ask about this matter first to get things clear.

Whether it was all the laboratory personnel or peers from other laboratories, everyone knew that experimental results were the product of heart's blood; to have them leaked without cause and stolen by others was truly heartbreaking.

Moreover, with this kind of unpublished data results, you couldn't even go find someone to battle it out, because the other party had changed all the labels, and then the results were similar.

"Senior Brother Duan, busy right now?" Fang Ziye didn't find Qian Qiaofeng, but found Duan Qingyun in a laboratory.

Qian Qiaofeng was definitely not there, but in the laboratory, Qian Qiaofeng's senior brother, the rumored eldest senior brother of Hong Zili Associate Professor's group, Duan Qingyun, was currently running a Western blot in the lab.

Unlike Qian Qiaofeng's tall and thin build, Duan Qingyun was very fat, especially his belly; not yet thirty, he already had a distinctly prosperous look, and matching the volume of his belly was a pair of chins.

Undistinguished in appearance, on the right side of his face, in front of the ear root, there was also a mole about 4mm in diameter, making him look like a very greasy middle-aged uncle.

But if one really thought that way, they would be absolutely wrong; Senior Brother Duan Qingyun's existence absolutely interpreted the words "one cannot judge a person by appearance."

As Hong Zili Associate Professor's eldest disciple, able to study for Hong Zili's own PhD, the first reason was that Hong Zili was capable enough, the second was that Duan Qingyun's contribution to results during his Master's was also quite significant.

He directly sent Hong Zili up to the Researcher professional title and the identities of Associate Professor and Doctoral Supervisor.

Currently with two 15+ point papers to his name, he was basically a research prodigy who could walk sideways in the recruitment of many teaching hospitals...

"Ziye, what's the matter?" Although Duan Qingyun wasn't handsome, his manner of speech was very natural, basically never stage-frightened facing anyone.

Seeing Teacher Deng, he just called out "Teacher Deng" in a proper and orderly way, then if he had his own opinions he'd voice them, if not he'd chat along — chat about work, chat about relationships, chat about all aspects, a bit of a social butterfly.

"Senior Brother Duan, I heard from Tingzhu about our research group's experimental results?" Fang Ziye didn't ask too directly.

Then while putting on gloves, he very naturally started helping out.

Duan Qingyun shifted aside half a body width, but when he turned, his fat belly still nudged Fang Ziye once.

He stepped back two more paces before saying: "Oh, this matter, this matter has nothing to do with you yourself, Ziye, our team has already investigated it clearly."

"It was just a clueless muddle-headed fellow trainee, showing off with his own results at a company's staff member's place, and that showing off happened to involve another person with a collaboration, who was short one result figure, so he directly sent my fellow trainee's results over."

"He also resigned two months ago." Duan Qingyun was from Sha City, Hunan Province, his speech carried a slight Sha City accent and intonation.

"You thought we suspected you, if we suspected you we'd have hauled you in long ago."

"My Master was the first to say you can be ruled out as a suspect." Duan Qingyun soothed him with this sentence.

Hearing this, Fang Ziye was inwardly startled; honestly, he was truly a bit shaken by Hong Zili's breadth of mind.

Such a major incident of the group's results being leaked, Hong Zili actually didn't suspect him, an outsider to the group, in the slightest, but instead gave him second authorship on a paper.

Is this something an ordinary person could do?

At least, Fang Ziye felt that if such a thing happened in his own small group, Yuan Weihong would absolutely explode.

With a family background not wealthy enough, who dares to be generous?

It's not being petty, it's truly being unable to bear such a loss.

Small family, small business, one has to be penny-pinching.

Although Fang Ziye was slightly moved, he still replied: "Senior Brother Duan, in the future, please don't let other senior brothers send pictures to me, my heart gets really nervous."

Duan Qingyun now tidied up his belly, piled a smile on his face, eyes narrowing into a slit: "Little Fang, that won't do, since you've already boarded our group's pirate ship, wanting to jump ship midway is not allowed."

"Gene sequencing is a massive workload, needing more manpower to help, more people to discuss together, to have a chance to dig out a new direction. And if a completely new target can be found and named, the importance of this achievement, you should know, right."

"Leaving aside the impact on clinical practice for now, if the corresponding mRNA can be found, combined with plasmid processing, it can support a small biotechnology company to establish itself, just doing the corresponding processing reagents for this target, the annual performance volume would be very considerable."

Seeing Fang Ziye still hesitating, Duan Qingyun nudged Fang Ziye with his shoulder: "Ziye, don't struggle, suspect not the employed, employ not the suspected, we are partners, naturally we must trust and support each other."

"Then thank you, Senior Brother."

"Just feel a bit guilty, didn't help much after all." With things said to this point, Fang Ziye didn't continue to back down.

Fang Ziye indeed needed those results from Hong Zili Associate Professor's group to solidify his Knowledge Points.

How could Knowledge Points ever be enough?

Ten thousand points, Fang Ziye could also spend them clearly and clearly...

"What guilt is there, if you helped, that would be a breakthrough progress in basic scientific research, where is it that easy."

"Originally in the country, even mature researchers who can operate gene probe technology through specialized instruments are not many, this kind of absolutely pioneering thing, still has to be you, Ziye." Duan Qingyun praised with a slight ingratiating tone.

"Senior Brother Duan, that's a bit too much commercial flattery, still needs more accumulation." Fang Ziye didn't dare be proud.

Duan Qingyun's current workload of papers pressing on him were already published, but Duan Qingyun hadn't had a paper come out for a long time, definitely not because he had no workload, but because he was accumulating, and also holding back for a major paper.

Fang Ziye had seen Duan Qingyun's experimental operation speed; he could produce a workload in at least around ten days, and he was a full-time Academic PhD, close to three years, not a peep on the paper front, the workload of that one paper he published during his PhD was still accumulated during his Master's, published and appeared in print during his PhD.

Just to meet graduation and hospital retention requirements, but now, Fang Ziye conservatively estimated, he had at least accumulated over eighty workloads of data, also needing to benchmark against a very high-quality paper coming out.

"Flattery or not, you and I both know, excessive modesty is pride."

"Ziye, you want to act like an unknown sweeping monk in front of my Master, that's overdoing the act a bit. I'm even more so, in terms of workload accumulation I definitely have more than you, but if we compare efficiency."

"Fellow trainee, you also don't need to step on your senior brother to show your own capability, right?" Duan Qingyun could be said to have made his meaning clear in a few words, while simultaneously taking care of Fang Ziye's emotions comfortably.

Fang Ziye didn't know how to answer, but inwardly mused.

Someone like Duan Qingyun, with capability, eloquence, knowing how to take care of others' emotions, and also having a Master who is a big shot proficient in research guiding him, as long as he himself doesn't self-destruct, how could his future be small?

"Senior Brother, you should be entering a mobile station for standardized training after graduation, right?" Fang Ziye changed the topic.

Duan Qingyun is an Academic PhD, Academic PhDs still have to do standardized training after graduation.

Generally if one can enter a Postdoctoral Mobile Station and do standardized training at the same time, the annual income is even higher than directly staying at the home hospital.

After all, the home hospital physician's standardized training monthly salary starts at just over ten thousand. Working at a Postdoctoral Mobile Station, the subsidy is three to four hundred thousand per year, even after becoming an attending physician, there isn't this much.

"It's okay, if Master didn't have a mobile station, I'd have to go outside to find one."

"Are you free tonight to grab a late-night snack together?" Duan Qingyun asked very generously.

Associate Professor Hong Zili currently even has the capability to establish his own Postdoctoral Research Station; this is also the capital accumulated together by Associate Professor Hong Zili and students like Duan Qingyun, allowing Duan Qingyun to enjoy exceptionally top-tier service all the way through.

And the establishment of a Postdoctoral Mobile Station is something that even Teacher Deng currently covets; this thing only speaks to research accumulation and has not a penny's relation to clinical work. Yet Associate Professor Hong Zili obtained it before Teacher Deng, beating Teacher Deng by at least ten years in age.

"Senior Brother, next time then; next time I'll treat you all." Fang Ziye declined politely, but made an appointment for a follow-up.

"Sure." Duan Qingyun was cheerful, seemingly unfathomable.

……

Because he still had basic experiments, Fang Ziye ended the conversation with Duan Qingyun about half an hour later when disinfection was roughly complete, and left the laboratory.

And upon coming out of the laboratory, Fang Ziye's first reaction was that strength is the key to winning respect.

The publication of papers is part of strength accumulation; absolute strength and operation level are another facet of strength.

Perhaps if he lacked even a little something, the current situation would absolutely not be this calm and breezy.

……

In the cell experiment room, Fang Ziye and Luo Tingzhu sat side by side at two cell operation benches.

Luo Tingzhu carefully moved the liquid from the bottle of trypsin-digested cells into centrifuge tubes; after transferring all the cells, she carefully carried them toward the centrifuge, balancing them while adjusting the centrifuge parameters.

"Senior Brother, did you find out the rough reason?" Luo Tingzhu hinted at gossip.

"It was a fellow trainee on Senior Brother Qian's side who accidentally leaked it, and then the company sold it to others; as for specifically who, let's not talk about that." Fang Ziye dared not name names.

Hong Zili's team's own affairs, he himself can handle well; but who bought the paper, how Hong Zili should find the company and this paper-buyer — these are matters of "fighting" with others, temporarily not things Fang Ziye and Luo Tingzhu can consider; they don't even have the qualifications.

Luo Tingzhu's gaze flashed upon hearing this; after balancing the liquid on both sides of the centrifuge tubes on the scale, she placed them symmetrically into the centrifuge, turned her head, and said: "That is to say, Professor Hong actually never suspected Senior Brother Fang you."

"Professor Hong feels that Senior Brother you had no necessity to steal experimental results, right?"

This is a stereotyped perception.

A person worth tens of thousands might steal for a hundred thousand, but a person worth millions or even tens of millions, unless driven to desperation, would not lower themselves to do such a despicable thing for a hundred thousand.

Eccentrics excepted.

Fang Ziye's own accumulated workload is there for all to see, unfathomable; why would he sell a couple of experimental result images? If selling, wouldn't selling his own be better?

"Perhaps so; Professor Hong is still very magnanimous." Fang Ziye tilted his head slightly; to say he felt not a shred of satisfaction inside would be a lie, but more than that, Fang Ziye still felt Associate Professor Hong Zili had given him a vivid lesson.

Luo Tingzhu then said with lingering fear: "So generally, data transfers within a research group are offline, not through online."

"Whether result images or basic data, they are all transferred via USB drives; I heard some formidable experimental groups don't even allow results to be taken out of the lab, and even if transmission is needed, it can only be sent through the intranet."

"We certainly can't have our own dedicated intranet, but being a bit more cautious is for the best."

"Many staff at outside biotech companies, a small portion of them, also have no bottom line."

Luo Tingzhu waited for the centrifuge to finish its automatic run; she wore a white coat, a surgical mask and cap, and gloves, looking a bit dashing.

……

Time flows like water.

Around February 20th, when Fang Ziye arrived at the doorway of the basic laboratory, he saw several people at the door who were obviously biotech company staff, waiting for something.

And inside the laboratory sat quite a few students, but none seemed to have any intention of opening the door for them.

Fang Ziye had just exited the elevator when several people surrounded him; after scrutinizing Fang Ziye and finding he wasn't from Professor Hong Zili's team, they asked: "Teacher, are you also entering the lab? Can you bring us in?"

"We're here to find Professor Hong Zili."

Fang Ziye heard this and instantly turned to look at the people sitting inside the lab, then replied: "I'm here to deliver something to the people inside."

Whether experimental workers or medical practitioners, they generally don't wear work uniforms while walking. Therefore Fang Ziye's usual attire is a double-shoulder bag, plain clothes.

These people were clearly being deliberately left to cool their heels by the people inside the lab; how could Fang Ziye possibly lead them in?

To gain their trust, Fang Ziye specially called Luo Tingzhu: "Teacher Luo, are you in the lab? Your stuff has arrived. Will you come out to get it, or should I bring it in to you?"

Luo Tingzhu on the other end obviously froze for a moment.

Then she stood up from inside and walked toward the lab exit; at the same time, several fellow trainees from Qian Qiaofeng's group also arrived at the door upon hearing this.

Luo Tingzhu opened the door and pretended to beckon Fang Ziye; the other two fellow trainees said to the other staff: "Big Brothers, don't make things difficult for us students; our Master really isn't here."

"If you have his phone, just contact him directly; the people in the lab right now are all fellow trainees doing experiments; if you keep affecting our work like this, we'll have to call the Security Department."

The Security Department's duties are not only responsible for the department's safety; the laboratory's safety is the top priority.

This laboratory is a Provincial Key Laboratory; if these people really want to force their way in, we can also call the uncles over to have a talk with them.

"Mainly Professor Hong won't answer the phone. Brother, actually there's a misunderstanding between us and Professor Hong, this..." a middle-aged man said.

"We can't get through either, sorry. We need to start working, thanks for your understanding. Bye-bye." With the glass door pulled shut again, the two big brothers also returned to the lab.

They don't want outsiders disturbing them, but that doesn't mean they don't need to work; just keeping people outside is enough.

If they want to force their way in, then the matter really becomes simple; sending them in for a stretch of time wouldn't be difficult.

The charge of breaking into a lab is not small; after all, this is a biology lab.

After entering, Fang Ziye no longer pretended to be some staff member; he did whatever experimental preparation needed doing.

Naturally, the people outside still hadn't left, but they also dispatched one person to stay outside, as if to dead-wait.

"Tingzhu, what's the deal with those people outside? Do you know?" While Fang Ziye was preparing reagents, Luo Tingzhu also came over to help.

Not saying she could really help much, but she could more or less follow Fang Ziye to learn multi-threaded operation and control mode.

Convenient for Luo Tingzhu, after going overseas, to learn Fang Ziye's operation mode on her own and conduct multi-threaded operations.

"They came to apologize in person."

"Although that staff member ran away before, the monk can run but the temple can't. That previous staff member really underestimated Associate Professor Hong Zili's status and weight in the research field within the province and even domestically."

"I heard after he posted this matter in the group and on his own Weibo, this company was basically nearly 'besieged by peers'." Luo Tingzhu came to the lab earlier than Fang Ziye, so she knows more inside details.

Of course, when mentioning Associate Professor Hong Zili, Luo Tingzhu carried a trace of admiration.

To do academia to the level of Hong Zili can truly be said to be without regret.

"Oh, anyway we need to be more careful in the future. Best to avoid similar things happening."

"Of course, our group estimates we can't afford to hire a company to help with the experiment either; it's too expensive." Fang Ziye accompanied it with a laugh.

The gossip is false; being vividly taught a lesson — that is the reality.

Fang Ziye is a person who loves learning.

(Chapter End)