Chapter 920: 916. Having a Backer is Just Great (Please Subscribe and Vote)

What is the one thing Zhang Ran is least lacking in?

The principal was confused for a moment, but he reacted instantly—of course, it's money!

After all, he is the Richest Person in China; could he possibly be short on money?

"Are you saying that Zhang Ran has donated to Anderson's laboratory? But that doesn't seem right. Based on the timeline, Anderson only received the Nobel Prize after Zhang Ran disappeared. Or are you saying he had already donated before that?" the principal asked, frowning.

Professor Zheng smiled and said, "No, Zhang Ran hasn't donated, but don't forget what kind of people associate with Zhang Ran. Those financial groups have certainly donated, and they are Anderson's important patrons."

"Such a matter is a big deal to us, but to those people, getting Anderson to act is just a matter of a single word. After all, for Anderson, this is actually just a small matter."

Although the explanation was messy, the principal understood it immediately.

No matter how big-name a scientist is, or how impressive a scholar, they spend their whole life struggling for one thing.

That is research funding!

And in situations where there is no state support, or the state support is insufficient, then support from the outside is needed.

Worldwide, ninety percent of laboratories and ninety percent of scholars rely on outside donations.

Every scholar with any reputation spends most of their time chasing funding, outside of the time they spend on their own academic research.

Some scholars even spend more time chasing funding than they do on their own research.

This is a very realistic problem.

Because in many laboratories, what they need are unconditional donations.

This means that these donations cannot come with any requirements; once the donation enters the laboratory, how it is spent is none of your business.

Even if they use all that money to buy ice cream to eat, you cannot interfere in the slightest.

This also adds some difficulty to donations for some laboratories.

After all, this is equivalent to giving money away for free, and not being allowed to say a word about it; it really is somewhat unfriendly.

If one can find a long-term, stable donor, then at such a time, agreeing to some personal requests is naturally a very simple matter.

The principal quickly figured out the key to this, but that didn't mean he felt relieved, nor did it mean he looked down on Professor Zheng.

On the contrary, compared to other things, the issue of funding is actually a school issue as well.

If Professor Zheng could secure sponsorship—no, a donation—from Zhang Ran, then for him, that would be an even better thing than knowing Anderson.

Because this money would be for the school, and how it is used would be entirely up to the school; by then...

And this is real, tangible money.

"Ahem, well, Lao Zheng, I might have been a bit too impatient before. Don't take it to heart. Here, let me apologize to you," the principal said with a dry cough.

In the face of money, one still has to learn to bend a little.

Seeing the principal like this, Professor Zheng felt a secret thrill in his heart. When else could he make the principal bow his head, and at such a moment, too?

Therefore, Professor Zheng also felt very grateful to Zhang Ran in his heart, and at the same time, he was somewhat shocked by Zhang Ran's influence!

Although many things were said simply, there is no doubt that getting someone like Anderson to come out and show support is not such an easy thing.

But this was just a single phone call for Zhang Ran, which made Professor Zheng feel Zhang Ran's terrifying nature even more.

"Ahem, no need, Principal. Please, don't do this. We are all colleagues working together; you doing this makes me feel ashamed," although Professor Zheng was pleased, he knew he couldn't really get too big for his boots.

After all, his relationship with Zhang Ran wasn't that close, and being able to get Zhang Ran to step in this time was thanks to his old friend, Qian Zhengkun.

If he really offended the principal, he wouldn't be able to ask Zhang Ran for help again.

What's more, he could guess what the principal was planning. He wouldn't go to Zhang Ran to ask for money for the school; he didn't have that kind of face.

But if Qian were to speak up, Zhang Ran surely wouldn't be stingy, right?

Thinking of this, Professor Zheng couldn't help but start to envy Qian Zhengkun. Having such a friend is really... it makes one not know how to envy him enough.

He knew that Zhang Ran treated Qian Zhengkun very well, without any ulterior motives, and Qian Zhengkun didn't have anything Zhang Ran was after.

It was just because during the time Zhang Ran was gone, Qian Zhengkun's family took care of Zhang Sicheng and his sister, especially Siyan.

The Qian family was truly very good to her.

Zhang Ran kept this kindness in his heart and had always shown it through his actions.

There is no need to mention Qian Li; she is already worth nearly a hundred million now. As for Qian Zhengkun and his wife, someone sends them a lot of nutritional supplements, high-end ingredients, and so on every week.

These were clearly all arranged by Zhang Ran.

So, while feeling envious, Professor Zheng was also happy for his old friend. Being able to meet someone who repays a drop of kindness with a gushing spring is also Qian Zhengkun's good fortune!

If one really talks about it, what Qian Zhengkun and the others did wasn't actually that much, but even so, Zhang Ran remembered the favor, and the repayment was more than a hundred or a thousand times over!

Thinking of this, Professor Zheng suddenly thought of what Zhang Ran had said before, that he could go work in his laboratory.

Before, he didn't have this idea. Helping out was fine, but to go and work there, he thought he'd better not. But now it seemed this was also another opportunity for him.

To say nothing else, if he worked for Zhang Ran wholeheartedly, it would be easier to ask for Zhang Ran's help if something happened at home in the future.

He couldn't keep asking Qian Zhengkun for help later, right?

By then, even if Zhang Ran didn't have any thoughts about it, he wouldn't have the thick skin to do so, and he didn't want to consume his old friend's favor with Zhang Ran any further.

From this matter, Professor Zheng also fully felt the value of Zhang Ran's favor.

"Principal, I'm thinking that after this matter is over, I'll look into retiring. Anyway, it's only a matter of these two years, so retiring a bit early shouldn't be a problem, right?" Professor Zheng said.

The principal was stunned. Just a moment ago, he was thinking about how to win over Professor Zheng more in the future; why did he suddenly want to retire early now?

"Lao Zheng, our school still needs a professor like you. Please don't do this. If there is anything you are dissatisfied with, you can completely bring it up. We will hold a meeting to discuss and decide; we definitely won't let you suffer any losses," the principal said hurriedly.

If it were in the past, he probably wouldn't even be polite and would have agreed directly, but now he wasn't willing to let Professor Zheng go just like that.

But Professor Zheng's mind was made up now. He just didn't want to stay at the school anymore; going directly to Zhang Ran's laboratory would be so much more comfortable, and he would have a great backer.

Now he knew how great it felt to have a real backer.