Riding the wind of rebirth

"What if we provided funding? Wouldn't that be better, helping the county address the funding gap for technology promotion?"

“Even if we can solve the biggest funding problem, it will still be very troublesome afterward.” Zhou Zhi had already laughed: “Without initiative, no matter how we push, we can’t get it moving. In fact, the funds we provide may be misappropriated for other purposes, and we will end up becoming objective ‘accomplices’ in the corruption of officials.”

“Yes, in recent years, local finances have started to run into difficulties, and teachers’ salaries are often not paid on time. It’s become a regular occurrence for the county to run to the city, and even to Chongqing, to raise money to pay salaries.” Dad sighed, “If we get this technical support funding, it will most likely be used by the local government for other purposes.”

"It ended up like the poverty alleviation pigs in Lianhe Township before." Zhou Zhi said with a wry smile, "It seems that every place has its own poverty alleviation pigs."

"You get the idea, no need for the jokes." Dad waved his hand, but his expression was full of satisfaction and pride in his son's maturity: "Go cook."

Now that his father knows his son has a lot of money, he can't help but worry that his son might develop a "money-driven" mentality. But it seems he's doing well now and knows what's important.

Dinner was a typical family dinner in Jiachuan in early summer: pork belly with minced garlic and loofah in chili oil. To satisfy his cravings, Zhouzhi also made a big pot of potato and green bean rice.

Grandma felt a little embarrassed when she saw this, and quickly explained to the two security guards, "This meal is made with fresh rice, not stale rice, please don't mind."

Ma Bing quickly replied, "It's great, it smells delicious!"

Lu Wei laughed, "I didn't expect Zhou... to be such a good cook with pork knuckle. This dish is delicious!"

“This is kongfan, which is usually made from leftover rice from the previous meal.” Zhou Zhi smiled and said, “It’s not how we treat guests, so Grandma was worried that you two would have objections, so she specially explained to you that it’s actually made with fresh rice. It’s just that we haven’t had it for so long, and we were craving it as soon as we got home, so we didn’t treat you two as outsiders.”

"This is already very good!" Ma Bing said with satisfaction: "Next time, Lu Wei and I can take turns eating earlier or later so as not to delay the guard duty."

"That's really not the case," Zhou Zhi said with a smile. "At least in China, I don't think it's necessary. Even if we were to implement it, we should wait until you've trained the group's security team before doing so. Right now, we're at home, so no one is likely to just barge in."

“Zhouzi is right,” Feng Xueshan said with a smile. “Don’t make Grandma and Uncle and Aunt nervous.”

“Yes, we’re in our own country, so it’s really not necessary to go to a very high level of security right now.” Dad agreed: “We can be a little stricter when we’re traveling, but at home, we just need to be careful.”

Ma Bing relaxed and nodded, saying, "Then we'll do as General Manager Feng requests."

"President Feng?" Mom was taken aback. "Who is President Feng?"

“President Feng is Xue Shan.” Zhou Zhi couldn’t stop laughing: “Theoretically, Brother Ma and Brother Lu belong to the security department, and the security department is under the logistics department, which means Xue Shan is directly in charge.”

"Hey!" Mom couldn't help but chuckle, "I really didn't realize it until you told me." Eating and chatting is a tradition in the Zhou family. Many family decisions are made at the dinner table. Grandma looked at the nanny feeding Xiao Shunzi cucumber soup and said, "In a little while, Zhouzi will go to the riverbank and see if he catches any yellow catfish from the fishing boats. He can make fish soup for Xiao Shunzi."

“Xiao Shunzi will go home to see his grandparents tomorrow.” Zhou Zhi laughed. “The Yang family is nestled between mountains and water, how could they be short of these things? But Grandma, your suggestion is good. It’s been a long time since we’ve had stir-fried river shrimp with chives. We can go to the dock to take a look later.”

"I heard from Xiaojuan that you're going to talk to her about some high-tech project when you come back this time? Is it related to the chip industry?" Dad had been holding back until now, but he finally couldn't hold back anymore: "They're in the food processing business. Isn't that a bit too big of a leap? Don't lead your sister Xiaojuan astray. You know how hard it was for them to get to where they are today."

“That’s quite a big leap,” Zhou Zhi laughed. “But it has to be them; we really can’t do without them.”

"Chip manufacturing is divided into wafer fabrication and packaging. The coarser process is like writing large characters, where the precision requirement is not high. But for high-end chips, it's like writing tiny characters, where even the slightest mistake is unacceptable, as ink can easily seep between the strokes. On a chip, this translates to leakage."

"Therefore, the smaller the chip manufacturing process, the higher the required precision and the greater the manufacturing difficulty. Currently, the European, American, and Japanese companies have all overcome the challenges in the wafer printing stage. More problems are emerging on the packaging side."

"As chip manufacturing processes continue to evolve towards refinement and high density, the shortcomings of traditional packaging materials have begun to be exposed. The biggest problem is that the insufficient insulation performance of the packaging substrate leads to signal interference and poor thermal stability, which in turn causes a sharp drop in chip yield and makes it impossible to meet the wiring requirements of high-end chips."

"This requires a substrate material that must have ultra-high insulation, easy processing, and strong thermal stability. It must be able to isolate signal interference between circuits and withstand the high temperatures during chip operation, serving as the invisible skeleton of high-end chips and solving the two core problems in the packaging process."

"The more I listen, the scarier it gets." Mom had heard Xiaojuan mention it before, but she hadn't taken it seriously. Now, after Zhou Zhiyi's explanation, she became even more uneasy than Dad: "It's not pork knuckle. Your aunt's group started by making pickled cabbage and spicy sauce. How could they make something like what you just described?"

“Let me continue to explain,” Zhou Zhi said with a smile. “This material was actually researched a long time ago. There is a monosodium glutamate company in Japan called Ajinomoto. When the company’s researcher, Koji Takeuchi, was studying the by-products of monosodium glutamate production, he accidentally discovered a special resin material.”

"This material seems ordinary, but it happens to possess several of the properties mentioned earlier. However, it did not initially attract much attention and was only used as an ordinary electronic material."

"Ajinomoto Corporation named it ABF, which stands for Ajinomoto deposited fiber."

"Two years ago, the first-generation patent for this type of deposited fiber was about to expire. AXA Capital preemptively purchased it and reached a technology sharing agreement with Ajinomoto Corporation for the deposition film manufacturing process."

“Ajinomoto lost a lot of money on this deal.” Mai Xiaomiao couldn’t help but chuckle. “Sometimes I admire Zhouzi. He has such a keen eye when it comes to selecting technology reserves.”

"You're the one who idolizes me, aren't you? You're the only scientist in our family," Mom said. This made Feng Xueshan lower her head and chuckle. Mai Xiaomiao hadn't even entered the house yet, and her mother had already forcibly bound her to the family.

"Let's hear what Elbow has to say." Dad seemed to realize something: "Is this also related to Lotus Flower MSG?" (End of Chapter)