Chapter 220: Chen Jianguo Issues Another Warning: Urgent Tech Patent Strategy

Zhao Jianguo just took his phone off the doorframe, and Jia Dongxu's voice inside the house was still echoing: "Chen Jianguo said there's movement at the patent office, you need to reply quickly."

He didn't answer, turned and entered the house. When the light came on, the technical manual on the table, its corners curled, was still spread out, showing the energy‑saving stove schematics he had organized a few days earlier. He sat down, tapped the tabletop twice, was about to dial, when the air before his eyes suddenly trembled.

A silhouette floated up from the void, wearing a white lab coat, hair slicked back meticulously, face a little pallid.

"Old Zhao!" Chen Jianguo's projection, just steadied, spoke, "Don't wait until tomorrow, start now!"

Zhao Jianguo's eyebrows twitched, "What happened?"

"In 1992 the market will be fully opened, foreign capital will pour in immediately," Chen Jianguo said at a machine‑gun pace, "All the technologies you have—3D printing, lithography algorithms, energy‑saving models—will be treated as ownerless assets and snapped up! By then you won't even have a chance to argue!"

Zhao Jianguo stared at him, unmoving.

"I'm not trying to scare you," Chen Jianguo stepped forward, "I've already seen internal documents from three companies; they're assembling teams to study the APP interfaces and maintenance logs you made public. They won't fight a patent war, they'll just copy, rename, and file!"

Zhao Jianguo only then stood up, walked to the bookshelf, pulled open a drawer, and with a swish extracted a stack of files. These were all the technical documents he had accumulated over the years, some still handwritten experiment notes.

He flipped through a few pages, looked up and asked, "How many items can be filed individually?"

"Conservatively about thirty‑seven items," Chen Jianguo said, "but you can't handle it alone now. Patent documents have strict formats, terminology must be exact, and if the claims are poorly written, it's money down the drain."

Zhao Jianguo nodded, turned and shouted outward, "Jia Dongxu! Come to the study!"

Jia Dongxu came in holding a thermos, and wasn't surprised to see a figure standing in mid‑air. It wasn't the first time he'd seen Chen Jianguo's projection.

"The situation is urgent," Zhao Jianguo handed over the manual, "Go through it from start to finish, mark every technology item with an innovative point. We'll launch the patent filing overnight."

Jia Dongxu opened the first page, his complexion gradually changed, "That many? Just the solar‑tracking bracket alone would take twenty pages, right?"

As the words fell, a buzz sounded in Zhao Jianguo's mind.

A line of text floated directly into the center of his vision:

【Detected high‑priority task trigger】

【Granted 'Patent Writing Master' skill】

He blinked, and when he looked again, countless templates filled his mind—how to structure claims, how to distill the abstract, how to present the technical background. Even the usual examiner objections were listed clearly.

"All right," he said, "I can write now."

Jia Dongxu looked up, "Then you take the lead on the draft; I'll verify the data for you."

The two immediately divided tasks. Zhao Jianguo activated the system's tech‑traceback function, archiving and packaging every test, every drawing version, every parameter change from the past three years. Jia Dongxu, holding a caliper and notebook, cross‑checked each item.

Time ticked by slowly.

Outside, the sky shifted from black to gray, and no one in the Courtyard had risen yet. Only a cat meow came from the Kitchen direction, followed by the sound of Sha Zhu's pot lid being knocked off.

Zhao Jianguo stared at the Screen, his fingers flying over the keyboard.

The first draft of "Micro‑Crystal Lithography Positioning Method" was completed, forty‑two pages total, with seven figures, and a technical description of three thousand two hundred characters.

"One final pass," he pushed his glasses, "Check whether the thermal expansion coefficient on page seven is written backward."

Jia Dongxu leaned over and looked for a moment, "No problem. Upload it."

Zhao Jianguo opened the pre‑examination portal of the National Intellectual Property Administration, entered his username and password, dragged the encrypted file into the submission box. The progress bar slowly completed, and a green notice popped up:

【Acceptance number generated: ZL. 8】

【Estimated initial examination period: 45 working days】

"Done," Jia Dongxu exhaled, leaning back in his Chair, "The first item finally got submitted."

Zhao Jianguo said nothing, staring out the window.

Spring breezes drifted in from the Courtyard, fluttering the curtains and reaching the old locust tree that had just revived. New buds swayed gently in the morning light.

At that moment, the system suddenly popped up a new message:

【Detected Historical Correction Force enhancement】

【Suggestion: Strengthen technical confidentiality measures】

Zhao Jianguo's gaze hardened.

He stood up, walked to the main server rack, unplugged the network interface. Then he opened the local server management console, created an encrypted partition, and migrated all the original data he had just submitted into it.

"From today onward," he told Jia Dongxu, "Core technologies will only keep paper copies, stored in a safe. The digital versions will be kept offline; accessing them requires two people present."

Jia Dongxu sat upright, "You mean... someone has already started moving?"

"Otherwise Chen Jianguo wouldn't be this urgent," Zhao Jianguo turned off the monitor, "We thought we were inventing, but we've actually been watched all along."

Jia Dongxu lowered his head, looking at the scattered draft sheets on the table, suddenly reached for the top one and tore it, "From now on, no drafts of drawings—once finished, file them away. If copies are needed, stamp them 'Internal Material' and assign a registration number."

Zhao Jianguo gave him a glance and nodded.

The two sat down again, continuing to compile the second patent: "Foldable Wind‑Resistant Greenhouse Frame Structural Design."

Two more hours passed.

The sun rose, shining through the window onto the keyboard. Jia Dongxu yawned twice, his eyelids beginning to fight, but his hands kept recording parameters.

Zhao Jianguo took a sip of Cool Tea and kept typing.

The system was quiet for a moment, then suddenly lit up again:

【Detected abnormal access request】

【Source: Unknown IP address】

【Target file: Complete thermal flow model of energy‑saving stove】

Zhao Jianguo's fingers paused.

He quickly pulled up the firewall logs and found that ten minutes earlier someone had tried to reverse‑track the server path via the old APP interface. Though the attack was automatically blocked, the opponent used a spoofed protocol; the technique was very professional.

"Not an ordinary person," he said, "they're after the technology."

Jia Dongxu rubbed his face, "Should we call the police?"

"Useless," Zhao Jianguo shook his head, "You can't trace a person for this. All we can do now is stay one step ahead of them."

He saved the freshly written second patent document as an encrypted copy and placed it onto an offline hard drive.

"First submit the five core items," he said, "Lithography method, energy‑saving stove, foldable frame, bio‑repair module, remote collaboration protocol. These five must be registered first."

Jia Dongxu noted the order and opened the next notebook.

Inside the room only the sound of a pen tip scratching paper and keyboard clicks remained.

From outside came the rustling of San Daye sweeping the floor, and the Footsteps of a child going to school. A new day began, but here it felt as if a slow‑motion button had been pressed.

No one ate the noon Meal Ticket.

At 3 p. m., the third patent was successfully submitted.

At 6 p. m., the fourth item entered the pre‑examination process.

At 9 p. m. at night, the fifth material was ready.

Zhao Jianguo leaned against the chair back, his eyes gritty. After working continuously for ten‑plus hours, his brain felt like a wrung‑out towel.

Jia Dongxu lay on the desk and fell asleep, still clutching a pen in his hand.

Zhao Jianguo gently helped him onto the sofa to lie down and covered him with a blanket.

He sat back down in front of the computer.

He knew this was only just beginning.

Across the country, so many tech stations are waiting to use their solutions—northwest, southwest, northeast—new requests come in every day. If these results were scooped, it wouldn't just be a loss of money; the entire technical support system would collapse.

He opened a blank document and began drafting the "Siheyuan Technology Sharing Management Regulations".

Article 1 reads: All technologies released externally must complete patent filing in advance; projects without filing may not disclose details.

He paused here.

Moonlight from outside streamed in, sprinkling onto the freshly printed patent certificate Photocopy on the table corner.

The name was clearly visible: Zhao Jianguo.

He reached out to touch the paper, his fingertip brushing a line of small text:

"The applicant commits to having full original rights over the technology."

At that moment, the mainframe alarm suddenly sounded.

The Screen flashed red:

【Detected secondary intrusion attempt】

【Attack source location changed】

【Simulating defense protocol】

Zhao Jianguo sat up straight immediately.