Chapter 77: Ideal

Around 5:00 PM, Di Ye rented a minibus and arrived at the Beimen of Yun University, taking the dozen or so students organized by Zhu Zichun to the Lingyun Hotel for a meal.

Su Zhaonian was the first to board, seizing the seat next to Di Ye, and asked in a low voice, "Are you really the boss behind the scenes of Yingfeng?"

"I used to be, but I've already abdicated in favor of someone else."

"I don't care if you abdicated or not, I just want to know how many Category III films Yingfeng has."

While nodding and greeting the people boarding one by one, Di Ye said righteously, "Yingfeng is a legitimate company; there is no such thing."

Dong Jianzhong grabbed the seat behind the two of them, leaned his head over, and retorted, "Liu says you have a lot of Category III films, but you don't allow the video hall at the West Gate of Yun University to rent them, saying you're afraid of corrupting the college students. We college students are adults with mature worldviews; how could we possibly be corrupted?"

Su Zhaonian completely agreed, saying, "We just want to purely appreciate the essence of Hong Kong film art."

"Then I recommend you ask Boss Liu to rent a Category III film called 'Eight Immortals Hotel'..."

"Damn! Liu has already shown that movie; it's not a Category III film at all, but a thriller. It scared Dong Jianzhong and me half to death."

"Bloody violence also falls under the category of Category III films."

While the three were chatting nonsense, Zhu Zichun stood at the door of the minibus, counting the people one by one. After all the students had boarded, he handed Di Ye a list and said, "Including those 5 junior students, there are 16 people in total, all here. I'm leaving, you all enjoy the meal."

Di Ye liked Zhu Zichun's meticulous working style, but because the purpose of the dinner was to select members for the R&D team, it was hard to make an exception, so he didn't ask him to stay, just thanked him solemnly and then ordered the driver to start the car.

Lingyun Hotel is known for its quiet and elegant environment and has hosted many high-ranking officials and distinguished guests. It looks plain on the outside but is extremely luxurious on the inside, which opened the eyes of students like Su Zhaonian, who hadn't had much contact with society yet, leaving them amazed.

Through the connections of Zheng Yingyong, Di Ye booked a large room with two dining tables, and the dishes were ordered in advance. After everyone was seated, he asked the waiter to serve the food directly, then stood up, clapped his hands twice, and stated the purpose of the treat straight to the point.

"Everyone should know by now that I am taking an R&D team to Pengcheng to develop a Browser, with a total of 10 spots. Let me explain the basic situation first."

"First, this R&D project is expected to last 3 months, departing on March 4th and ending on June 1st. Those who need to attend the Graduate Student re-examination should go after the re-examination."

"Second, food and lodging are fully covered by me. Dormitories and offices have already been rented in Pengcheng. Accommodation will be assigned two people per room, and the office will have 24-hour access to the Internet."

"Third, I will personally provide each team member with a monthly subsidy of 500 yuan."

"Fourth, all courses for this semester need to be self-studied in Pengcheng. I will arrange for someone to fax class notes to Pengcheng, and after the R&D ends, we will return to school for centralized exams."

"That's the general situation. If you have any questions, you can ask now."

As soon as Di Ye finished speaking, Cheng Zhongwei from Computer Class 2 raised his hand and asked, "Di Ye, if this R&D produces results, how will the papers be credited?"

Cheng Zhongwei was a guy who liked to show off. He had been the monitor of Computer Class 2 since his freshman year, had relatively excellent grades, and had already been recommended for graduate studies. He was the most qualified person among this group of students to challenge Di Ye and the one most concerned about paper authorship.

Di Ye stared at him for a second or two, then asked, "A 28-story Industrial and Commercial Bank Building was built on Qingyun Road last year. Have you been there?"

"No. Why do you ask that?"

"There is a plaque on the first floor of that building, which only lists three names: the name of the investment company, the name of the construction company, and the name of the architect."

Di Ye held up three fingers, introduced them one by one, and said, "Developing a Browser is like building a skyscraper. The investment company and the architect are me, the construction company is Yun University, and you are just the coolies moving bricks. If you perform well, I will give you some bonuses, but if you want your name on the paper, unless you can discover a major flaw in my design drawings, you are not qualified."

Since undergraduates are not required to publish papers in journals, most of the dozen or so students present could not distinguish between core journals and SCI and had no concept of the importance of papers. Although they felt Di Ye's attitude was too arrogant, they didn't care much.

Cheng Zhongwei clearly knew, and was immediately enraged. He stood up and sneered, "You treat us as coolies? What a pipe dream!"

Seeing that he had stood up but had no intention of leaving, Di Ye used the listing method again: "For these 10 spots, I donated 200,000 to the college; to let you work comfortably, I prepared 10 Pentium computers, each worth 15,000 yuan, totaling 150,000; to let you understand what the Internet is, I signed up for a monthly DDN dedicated line, 80,000 per month, totaling 240,000; other expenses such as catering, rent, transportation, and subsidies will cost about 60,000. In short, for this R&D, I have invested at least 650,000 yuan."

After reporting all the expenses, Di Ye asked back, "Cheng Zhongwei, you are the monitor, you should know the monthly salary of a newly graduated college student. Even if you are exceptionally capable, with a salary of 1,000 a month, after 3 months you would only have 3,000, not even earning back one two-hundredth of my investment. Are you qualified to have your name on the paper?"

The investment of hundreds of thousands shocked everyone present, and they looked at each other in disbelief. Cheng Zhongwei's momentum was also suppressed, and he argued weakly, "Papers are academic things and cannot be measured by money."

Di Ye was waiting for these words. He took "TCP/IP Illustrated" out of the backpack hanging on the back of his chair, threw it on the dining table, and said, "This is a necessary reference book for developing a Browser. I read and understood it completely in two days. Today is February 27th, and there are 4 days left before we depart on March 4th. Take it back and read it. If you can understand it, come and discuss academics with me. If you can't understand it, don't nag, just honestly be a coolie."

Su Zhaonian picked up "TCP/IP Illustrated" and flipped through it, smoothing things over: "Cheng Zhongwei, this book is entirely in English. Your English is so bad, let alone 4 days, you might not even understand it in 4 months. Don't argue with Di Ye, sit down quickly and listen to him talk about how the Browser is going to be developed."

He converted the professional ability issue into a language issue, which saved face for Cheng Zhongwei. Just then, the waiter started serving the dishes, and Cheng Zhongwei, being sensible, took the opportunity to sit down and stopped talking.

In 1995, computers were very expensive. Ordinary students couldn't afford them, and the school's computer room wasn't always accessible, which resulted in many people only knowing how to talk on paper, having very weak hands-on skills, and lacking knowledge related to network programming, completely failing to meet the basic conditions for developing a Browser.

Di Ye knew this well, so he didn't boast about how to develop the Browser next, but chatted with people one by one, observing whether their thinking was flexible and whether their personalities were suitable for the team, and finally selected 10 out of the 16 people.

"I really want to take you all to Pengcheng, but Dean Fei is too stingy and only gave 10 spots. There's really no way, but you don't have to be discouraged. I will come back next month to report the R&D progress to the college. If it goes well, Dean Fei should agree to give more spots, and I will take you there then."

After comforting the 6 students who were not selected, Di Ye took a drink and came to Cheng Zhongwei's seat. He first praised him for being a good monitor with leadership skills, and then asked if he was willing to be the deputy leader of the R&D team.

If Zheng Yingyong was a Golden-level expert, Cheng Zhongwei was at most a Bronze-level rookie. Having just been crushed to pieces and now being held up high, the bit of unhappiness in his heart instantly dissipated, and he was won over in just a few words.

After the dinner, Di Ye sent everyone back to the Beimen of Yun University. When parting, Su Zhaonian made an excuse to stay behind and asked, "Di Ye, we have never been in contact with the Internet and don't know how to develop a Browser at all. You spent hundreds of thousands to get us to Pengcheng; what exactly do you want to do?"

"I'm staying at the school to pursue a PhD next semester, and I'll be a lecturer by the way. Did you know that?"

"I heard it from Zhu Zichun, you're awesome!"

Su Zhaonian was praising him sincerely, but Di Ye didn't care, saying, "I think the teaching quality of our department is very low. This time, spending hundreds of thousands to get you to Pengcheng, besides using you as coolies, I also want to do an experiment to see how the teaching method combining Open Source and the Internet works. If your level can far exceed those students who haven't been to Pengcheng after 3 months, I can convince Dean Fei to promote this method next semester."

"Are you planning to stay and be a professor in the future?"

"It's not certain yet."

Di Ye stood at the school gate, looking at the bustling street scene outside, and said, "Where the heart is at peace is my hometown. There are many cities in the world, but there is only one hometown. I want to start from Yun University and make Yuncheng better."

Su Zhaonian was not a local, but he was from the same province and had lived in Yuncheng for four years, so he also had deep feelings for this provincial capital city. He smiled and said, "That ideal of yours is not bad, I like it."