Chapter 509

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Protagonist:

Li Xiulan

Several people ate and discussed for a good while, everyone had their own views, and no one could convince anyone else.

Xiao Hua envied Wan Zhiyuan and Wen Lingyun; they had only been freshmen for a short time since school started, yet they already had clear research directions, unlike Xiao Hua, who was still confused and didn't know what he should do.

Chemical Engineering and Technology is actually a foundational major; the courses taken are all foundational courses, such as Physical Chemistry, Biochemistry, Applied Chemistry, and so on—all very basic and broad. Future research directions still have to be found and figured out by oneself; if you don't figure it out, you can only muddle through and wait to die.

Because these foundational chemistry courses have almost completely disconnected from modern industrial technology; this is stuff for laying the foundation, and there is a huge gap between it and knowledge at the very top of the pyramid today.

It's not that these things are useless; if you don't learn the basics and don't lay a good foundation, you also cannot build a high-rise.

It's just that these foundational knowledge points only need to be quickly gone over once.

More energy still needs to be placed on research into cutting-edge projects.

For this reason, Xiao Hua humbly asked Wan Zhiyuan for advice, asking how he found his research direction so quickly.

You have to know Wan Zhiyuan is only sixteen years old; he's still so young and already has a clear research direction, which inevitably makes people admire him.

Wan Zhiyuan's answer was very simple:

"Learn in advance, learn broadly."

Wan Zhiyuan had already self-studied various university chemistry courses before even entering university, and had even self-studied Advanced Mathematics; then he spent his remaining time contacting the most cutting-edge scientific projects. His parents would also take him to listen to lectures by various expert professors inside the university, visit factories, and exchange at institutes.

So although he was very young, in both knowledge and experience, he left Xiao Hua in the dust.

"Learn in advance? Learn broadly?" Xiao Hua frowned slightly, somewhat puzzled: "Zhiyuan, I can understand learning in advance, but this broad learning—won't it result in the tail wagging the dog? I remember Chen Zhongshi saying that a person's energy is limited, and being able to do one thing well is already remarkable; won't broad learning be broad but not precise?"

Wan Zhiyuan looked puzzled and asked:

"Which scientist is Chen Zhongshi? We haven't heard of him?"

Xiao Hua gave a dry laugh: "He's not a scientist, but a writer, the one who wrote White Deer Plain."

"Oh, oh, a writer, no wonder I haven't heard of him." Wan Zhiyuan suddenly realized.

This genius youth also had knowledge blind spots and was not without any shortcomings.

He had always been enthusiastic about chemistry research and barely dabbled in literature, so he hadn't even read White Deer Plain, a work with such huge domestic influence.

Wan Zhiyuan said at this time:

"You should just try your best to learn broadly, touch every field you can contact, flip through a large amount of literature, not seeking precision but breadth; once you've touched enough, you'll naturally find what you're interested in, and as long as you have interest, you'll have the motivation to study it deeply."

Xiao Hua slowly nodded, also feeling that Wan Zhiyuan's words made some sense.

Wan Zhiyuan said again:

"Actually, I only decided to research electric vehicle batteries during the summer vacation; I spent the whole vacation buried in literature, reading several hundred cutting-edge papers, felt that the battery field attracted me, and then made this decision."

Xiao Hua nodded again, and couldn't help but show a look of admiration.

A summer vacation is only fifty-some days; reading several hundred papers—doesn't that mean reading three or four a day?

This speed and efficiency simply left people speechless.

But they are genius youths, so having this efficiency is normal.

Without this efficiency, they wouldn't deserve the title of genius youth.

True geniuses in reading are definitely able to read ten lines at a glance and never forget what they've seen.

Not taking obscure scientists as examples, but taking the famous writer Li Ao that everyone knows: the books he read, over the past five or so years, ancient and modern, Chinese and foreign, almost all books, materials, and literature in history and literature have been read by him, so he can speak eloquently and quote classics; listening to his lectures is a cultural feast.

Xiao Hua's reading efficiency is actually not bad either; he can also read ten lines at a glance and can remember the general content.

Just like White Deer Plain just mentioned, this book has nearly five hundred thousand words; Xiao Hua can finish it in a day and remember the plot and some golden lines.

"Xiao Hua, you should first finish the content of our courses before thinking about research directions; laying the foundation is very important."

Wan Zhiyuan added at this time: "By the way, don't neglect Higher Mathematics either; Higher Mathematics is also very important."

Xiao Hua nodded; he was very grateful for Wan Zhiyuan's suggestions.

In the time that followed, besides attending the required courses every day, he spent all his remaining time on self-study.

University courses are quite loose; generally classes aren't scheduled full every day, especially on Thursdays and Fridays, sometimes the whole morning or the whole afternoon has no class.

As for evenings, generally only some elective courses are taken, leaving plenty of time for self-study.

Xiao Hua used these times to start a study mode even more hellish than the college entrance exam.

Almost every evening, he stayed inside the library until the library turned off the lights and the administrator came to chase people out, before he left leisurely.

With two genius roommates urging him on, he really didn't dare to slack off for a moment.

Things like getting braces had long been thrown to the back of his mind.

Not to mention getting braces, he didn't even have time to get a haircut.

Regarding personal image, he didn't pay attention to it at all anymore.

Anyway, besides eating and sleeping every day, he was studying.

This was completely opposite to the state of others after entering university, who would relax or even indulge themselves.

And all of this, he had to thank Wan Zhiyuan and Wen Lingyun, these two geniuses.

People are like this; in different environments, they present different states. South oranges, north trifoliate oranges—the ancients already understood this principle.

The importance of environment goes without saying.

If Xiao Hua were placed in a growth environment like Wan Zhiyuan and Wen Lingyun's, perhaps he would also become a genius youth.

But many things have no "if"; all that can be done is to try hard in the present; discussing the past is meaningless, only looking to the future can change the future.

Xiao Hua was immersed in studying, to the point that he forgot a very important thing.

Previously he had promised his parents that during National Day he would take them to Beijing to play.

As September entered its latter half, he still showed no sign of movement.

It was not until September 24 that his mother Li Xiulan called and brought up the matter, and only then did he realize.

"Xiao Hua, are you doing well at university?"

"Mom, I'm fine. Is something the matter?"

"Nothing, just calling to show concern. Don't be stingy—eat as well as you can and dress as well as you can. Is the weather cold in Beijing now?"

"Mm-hmm, I'll take good care of myself. You don't need to worry."

"Want me to send you some money?"

"No need. I still have plenty of money; I can't possibly spend it all."

Wang Xiaohua was telling the truth. Now at university, apart from spending money at the canteen for meals, he had no other expenses. The food at the canteen was very cheap—seven or eight yuan could buy a very good meal. Not exaggerating, including his meal money, he couldn't spend even one thousand yuan in a month.

Meanwhile, his bank card held the tutoring fees and endorsement fees he had earned before, totaling over one hundred thousand yuan—truly more than he could spend.

Li Xiulan then spoke up:

"Xiao Hua, your father asked me to ask you: how are we going to Beijing for National Day? Should we buy tickets?"

Hearing this, Wang Xiaohua couldn't help but slap his forehead, knowing things were turning bad:

"I've been focused on studying these days and completely forgot this matter. I'll buy tickets for you and Dad later!"