Sail across the sea

Chapter 352 Leave this to me

After leaving the academic affairs office, Gao Fan went to the resource room. Yang Kai had already become a graduate student, but he was still working as the department's resource clerk, which allowed him to have his own office, much better than other graduate students.

When Gao Fan came in, Yang Kai didn't pay much attention. He just told Gao Fan to get himself a cup and pour himself some water, while he continued to sit in front of the computer and type away at the keyboard.

Gao Fan had just come from the dormitory and wasn't thirsty. He walked behind Yang Kai, looked at what Yang Kai was typing, and knew that the other was writing a calculation program, but he couldn't tell what it was calculating.

"Are you aware that Teacher Dai and Teacher Hong are trying to make things difficult for me?"

Gao Fan pulled up a stool, sat down next to Yang Kai, and asked.

Yang Kai nodded: "I heard it from Grandma Zheng. The exam paper they gave you for exemption from the course was obviously meant to embarrass you. But I told Grandma Zheng at the time that you could definitely do it, but she didn't believe me."

“Now she believes me,” Gao Fan said. “But she warned me that next time it might not be so easy, and they might make it more difficult.”

Yang Kai said, "There are a few teachers in the department who are quite petty. You've embarrassed Professor Dai and Professor Hong this time, and others will be thinking of helping them get revenge."

"So, Grandma Zheng suggested that I hurry up and make some achievements so that the department would have a reason to take care of me."

“I told you long ago, you have so many ideas, you could easily write a few decent papers. It’s just that you insist on playing the high and mighty and disdain writing.”

“This has nothing to do with being aloof,” Gao Fan said. “It’s mainly because I don’t plan to pursue an academic career. What’s the point of publishing papers?”

Yang Kai chuckled coldly: "Do you still think that way now?"

"I'm not thinking like that anymore. Just to keep my exemption from taking the course, I have to hurry up and publish a paper in Science."

"What are you doing? Say it again."

"Science? If that doesn't work, Nature will do. I've heard that the requirements for articles in Nature aren't high; you just need an idea, the more outlandish the better. I'm quite an expert in this area."

Gao Fan's statement wasn't entirely unfounded. Nature does indeed have a tendency to emphasize originality and interdisciplinary research, and its requirements for academic rigor are relatively low. For example, if you study the frequency of dog urination and come up with some interesting conclusions, you might be able to publish an article in Nature.

However, Gao Fan's statement that "the requirements are not high" only applies to geniuses like himself or Yang Kai.

Yang Kai himself is a madman. After hearing Gao Fan's words, he stopped what he was doing, remained silent for a moment, and then said, "When we designed that vitamin C device last year, the population control model of continuous culture of Gluconobacterium oxysporum that you proposed, if we summarize it carefully and combine it with the production data of Canghua Vitamin Factory for verification, it is not entirely hopeless to publish a paper in Science."

“A group control model?” Gao Fan thought for a moment and nodded. “We derived this model before, and it is theoretically valid. In the end, our equipment was also designed according to this idea. However, it will take some effort to write it into a paper, and we may need to do some computer simulations.”

"Leave this to me," Yang Kai said without any hesitation. In his opinion, Gao Fan had never written this type of academic paper before, and it would take him a long time just to figure out the writing style. Yang Kai himself had received very systematic academic training, had good ideas, and had previously done model derivation, so writing a paper based on that wouldn't be too difficult.

"How should I sign my name?" Gao Fan asked.

In the past, he would never have intended to be a co-author on such a paper, but this time he was looking for a protective shield, so he needed to consider the issue of authorship.

Yang Kai said nonchalantly, "You can be the first author, and I'll be second." Gao Fan said, "That's too much trouble. You wrote the paper, so you should be first and I'll be second. Anyway, the school will definitely recognize the second author."

“You proposed the model,” Yang Kai said. “The most valuable part of this paper is this model. Anyone could have done the derivation later. Your contribution is the greatest, so you are the first author.”

“Alright then,” Gao Fan said. “If you’re the first author, Director Teng will have even more grounds to speak. Don’t worry, senior brother, I’ll give you a few more ideas in a while, and I guarantee you can publish another paper in Science.”

Yang Kai laughed and said, "Great, I'm just waiting for you to give me some ideas. I've been wondering how an ignorant, repairman-capitalist like you can have such a strong academic sense. Last year in Cangtang, the ideas you shared with me, I searched the literature after I got back, and none of them had been proposed by anyone else."

“I can tell that these ideas are correct, but our conditions are limited and we can’t do those kinds of experiments. Otherwise, I would have published seven or eight papers in journals like Science and Nature by now.”

Gao Fan chuckled: "Senior brother, if Lao Dai and Lao Hong heard what we were saying here, wouldn't they be spitting blood?"

“Once our article is published, they’ll have plenty of time to vomit blood,” Yang Kai said.

After chatting and laughing for a while, Gao Fan pointed to the computer and asked, "Senior brother, what are you doing?"

"I'm helping a friend calculate a model about paint adhesion. Wait, I'm confused, this model is for your sister." Yang Kai only realized his mistake halfway through his sentence.

"My sister, Gao Min?" Gao Fan was taken aback.

“That’s right,” Yang Kai said. “How many older sisters do you have?”

“I only have one older sister…” Gao Fan stammered, sighing inwardly.
Sis, you really haven't given up on your wicked intentions.

Yang Kai was oblivious. He explained, "Your sister said you arranged for her to go to Xinglong Coatings Company in Shuainan Province. Their coatings sell very well, but they still have some technical shortcomings. The main problem is that the coatings don't adhere well enough. She asked me if I could help them improve the formula."

"Did she call you?" Gao Fan asked tentatively.

Yang Kai said, "No, she just wrote me a letter, explained the specific situation, and asked if I had any solutions."

"What's the recipe?"

"She said the formula is a company secret and she cannot disclose it without your permission."

"Fortunately, my older sister is still somewhat rational," Gao Fan sighed, then said, "I'll tell her later that you don't need to keep the formula a secret from me. I'll write down the paint formula they're currently using for you in a bit, and you can calculate it for them and see how to improve it."

"Why didn't your sister come to you about this?" Yang Kai complained.

"Haven't you heard the idiom 'girls are outgoing'?" Gao Fan said with a bitter face.

(End of this chapter)