Chapter 499

Just as Su Xinghui was brushing past the group, he heard the middle-aged man in the center say, "Once this water-to-oil expansion agent of mine is put into production here, you can just wait to get rich."

Ma Bin said, "That's right, that's right. Thank you, Teacher Wang, for being willing to cooperate with us here. Once we get rich, we won't forget Teacher Wang."

By the time they said the last two sentences, the group had already entered the restroom.

These few lines of dialogue made Su Xinghui shudder. Water-to-oil? Wasn't this a famous scam from the nineties? How did this person end up in Jiangcheng?

Water-to-oil was a technology announced in the eighties by an ordinary worker named Wang Hongcheng. It was said that by adding one-quarter oil to three-quarters water, and then adding a few drops of an expansion agent he invented, all the water could be turned into oil, and the heat produced would be higher than that of ordinary gasoline.

If this technology were real, wouldn't that be incredible? It could simply compete to be one of the greatest technologies in human history. It caused a sensation across the country at the time. Because Wang Hongcheng was a skilled con artist and had a group of people helping him promote it, many big figures believed his scam, making his influence grow larger and larger.

Wang Hongcheng, a worker who had only finished a few years of primary school, was thus touted as the greatest inventor in human history. He went around swindling, and in a few years, he swindled hundreds of millions of yuan in sponsorship fees and funds, causing huge losses to the country and the people.

In fact, Wang Hongcheng's scam did not conform to the principles of physics and chemistry. Water is a hydrogen-oxygen compound, while oil contains carbon elements and is basically a hydrocarbon. Turning water into oil would mean turning oxygen elements into carbon elements, which would mean nuclear fission. How could any expansion agent achieve that?

Wang Hongcheng once filmed an experimental video. His experimental setup was extremely crude, just a few broken oil drums. His experimental process was also incredibly simple: he would drop a few drops of the expansion agent into the oil drum, then pour out the liquid from the top layer of the drum, and if it could be ignited, he would announce the experiment a success.

Yet, it was this kind of farcical experiment that fooled who knows how many people. They provided sponsorship to Wang Hongcheng, cooperated with him to build factories to produce the expansion agent, or spent money to buy his expansion agent. Some academicians even jointly wrote to the Central Committee to promote Wang Hongcheng's invention. It was truly ridiculous and tragic.

Of course, those who were deceived were only a portion; many scientists also raised their own doubts, and some even exposed Wang Hongcheng's scam on the spot and wrote articles in newspapers to expose him.

Over the past two years, Wang Hongcheng's scam had less and less of a market. The Central Committee had issued documents over the past two years, or published articles in newspapers questioning Wang Hongcheng's invention, and demanded that news media no longer promote him.

Sadly, some news media were still wildly promoting Wang Hongcheng, with some believing this was the persecution of a great inventor, while Wang Hongcheng's scam continued. Now, he had actually run to Hudong Province.

Listening to that dialogue, it should be Tian Xiaopeng's group that brought Wang Hongcheng here, seemingly wanting to cooperate with him to open a factory to produce this so-called expansion agent.

This was not surprising at all. Tian Xiaopeng's group were all ignorant people; how could they distinguish Wang Hongcheng's scam? They only knew that if this expansion agent were produced, it could become a tool for them to reap huge profits, and they likely thought that Wang Hongcheng's agreement to cooperate with them was out of respect for their deep backgrounds.

Originally, this matter had nothing to do with Su Xinghui, and Tian Xiaopeng being scammed was his own fault. However, he thought again: if Tian Xiaopeng cooperated with Wang Hongcheng, he likely wouldn't use his own money; he would definitely use his father's connections to get a loan. If this loan were swindled away by Wang Hongcheng, the ones suffering the losses would still be the country and the common people of Hudong Province.

Because of this reason, Su Xinghui had to find a way to prevent this from happening.

With something on his mind, Su Xinghui returned to the private room and appeared somewhat restless. Lu Xiaoya, sitting beside him, asked softly, "Xinghui, what's wrong with you?"

Su Xinghui smiled at Lu Xiaoya and said, "It's nothing, I'll tell you later."

After the group finished eating, Min Tong paid the bill and said he would treat everyone to singing. Lu Xiaoya said, "I won't go. My family doesn't let me go back late. You guys go ahead."

Su Xinghui said, "Then I have to take you home, I won't go either."

Chen Xiaomeng said, "If you guys aren't going, then I won't go either."

Lu Xiaoya said, "Xiaomeng, don't be like that. I'm a special case. What are you afraid of going to sing for a while? After you're done, let Min Tong drive you home."

In this era, singing still had a significant appeal to young people, and Chen Xiaomeng didn't have a bad impression of Min Tong, so she hesitated.

Lu Xiaoya said, "Min Tong, show some sincerity."

Min Tong hurriedly said, "Chen Xiaomeng, let's go sing. Even if we sing for two hours, it'll only be nine o'clock. I'll be responsible for taking you home."

Only then did Chen Xiaomeng nod and say, "Alright then."

After exiting the hotel entrance, Min Tong said, "Lu Xiaoya, how about I drive you home?"