Siheyuan: I eat melons while doing scientific research

Chapter 1459 Are you willing to suffer some losses? (4k)

Looking at the entire test report, apart from the part that is currently impossible to test, the rest basically met Gao Zhendong's expectations, and some even slightly exceeded them.

This pleased him greatly; his comrades were far more capable than he was.

"Very good. The results of the raw silk have exceeded my expectations. Comrades, your skills are far superior to mine."

When Gao Zhendong said this, Pan Gong and the others felt like he was cursing them. However, only Gao Zhendong himself knew that he was not lying. After all, he could only talk, but his comrades would take action.

In Gao Zhendong's mind, it is harder to put these things into practice than to talk about them.

Gao Zhendong only needs to be responsible for copying the books, but the comrades responsible for implementation have to consider many more things.

But his words left his comrades at a loss for words. Engineer Pan laughed and said, "The main problem is that you've paved the way for us. If we can't reach the destination on time, that would really be our problem."

Everything Gao Zhendong did was like having a GPS navigation system. Without a navigation system, you have to stumble and ask for directions all the way, and you might even take the wrong turn and have to turn back. Worse still, you might go down the wrong road and never be able to turn back again.

With navigation, things become much easier. It tells you when to turn, when to go straight, and even thoughtfully tells you in advance: "Sharp bend ahead, please slow down," and "There's a gas station nearby, be careful not to miss it."

As he just said, if they can't even get to their destination on time, then it's really their group's fault.

Gao Zhendong didn't dwell on the matter. He knew that if he said too much, he would probably get beaten up, and his comrades simply couldn't stand hearing him say that.

"So, we've come this far. We've covered 90 miles of the 100 miles of carbon fiber..." Gao Zhendong said to his comrades.

Carbon fiber is not actually difficult to produce; after all, carbonizing a single chemical fiber can be called carbon fiber. The difficulty lies in producing qualified carbon fiber, and the most important factor in controlling the quality of carbon fiber is qualified precursor yarn, at least for PAN and similar technologies.

That's why Gao Zhendong said that.

"Of course, we can't let our guard down. There's an old saying that goes, 'He who travels a hundred miles is only halfway there at ninety.' In other words, even if we've reached 90%, we've only completed half of the journey. We still have to finish the remaining half!"

Actually, there's still a lot to do, but in terms of importance and difficulty, there aren't any major obstacles in sight anymore. It's like a task that might take 10 hours, but the most difficult part might only take 1 hour, and the rest, even if difficult, can always be overcome smoothly.

"Next, we'll do this..." Gao Zhendong was about to take out some documents when Engineer Pan stopped him.

“Committee Member Gao, we have an idea, but we don’t know if we should say it.”

Gao Zhendong laughed: "Since you've put it that way, what's there to avoid saying? This isn't a one-man show. Things are only matters of whether they should be done or not, but there's nothing that shouldn't be said, especially when it comes to technology. Go ahead and say it!"

As a tech person, there's nothing I can't say. Of course, if something is ultimately deemed unworkable after research and analysis, then it truly cannot be done, but there's no such thing as something I can't say.

For Gao Zhendong, the technical leader, listening to opinions is a crucial part of the process. Of course, after listening, he can choose not to adopt the suggestions based on the actual situation; this is called "listening without taking." Daily humility and necessary persistence are both indispensable.

Although he already knew that Gao Zhendong was a kind person who was willing to listen to opinions, Pan was still very happy with Gao Zhendong's statement: "Then I will say it, Committee Member Gao, please don't laugh at us."

Gao Zhendong was taken aback. A joke? Why would I make fun of you?

"Yes, you say it, be bold, don't have any reservations."

"We'd like to study the principles, technology, and processes of this carbonization step ourselves first, and then listen to your guidance. This way, we'll learn more and be able to accept it more quickly." Engineer Pan felt that his colleagues had no room to maneuver at all from the raw solution to the raw fiber; Gao Zhendong had paved the way for them all.

It's certainly enjoyable to do things this way, but the only problem is that we haven't gotten enough training. We've learned a lot of knowledge, but it always feels like we're missing something in the process.

In fact, they had done some preliminary research and thinking before they came, but it wasn't very in-depth.

Upon hearing this, Gao Zhendong didn't laugh at them; instead, he seriously considered the feasibility of doing so.

From the perspective of learning and training the team, this suggestion is excellent.

However, from another perspective, it is somewhat of a waste of time.

Gao Zhendong considered it for a moment and said to Engineer Pan, "Here's what we'll do: I'll give you three days, no more than that. How does that sound?"

Engineer Pan was overjoyed upon hearing this: "Three days is enough! Enough!"

From the perspective of principle and preliminary experimental design, three days is enough. After all, the structure and performance of the precursor fiber are already clear. It is possible to find a general path, but of course, it is impossible to find the details.

If it hasn't been found in three days, then there's no point in wasting time; it's very likely it won't be found even in three months.

They actually just wanted to test their own abilities and see if the path they found in a short period of time could match Gao's standard answer to some extent.

Even if only a portion of their answers match, it greatly boosts their confidence and will be very useful in their future work.

Gao Zhendong had taken these factors into consideration, which is why he gave them three days to think it over.

"Okay, I'll be here waiting for you in three days." Since he was giving you time, Gao Zhendong didn't hesitate and specifically set aside three days for you.

These words made Engineer Pan and the others feel somewhat ashamed. Committee Member Gao had deliberately slowed his pace by three days all for their sake. In their view, their request was actually a bit unreasonable.

That's three days! Do you know how much you can do in that time?

If Gao Zhendong could hear what they were thinking, he would probably be ashamed. But no, not at all. "Thank you so much, Committee Member Gao! Don't worry, we'll definitely make up for those three days by working overtime in the remaining tasks! We won't delay your overall plan."

Pan and his colleagues exchanged glances, their eyes filled with excitement and emotion—a feeling of being trusted and cared for.

Although they wanted to think about it on their own first, they still brought the core members of the team with them because they were concerned that Gao Zhendong might not agree with this approach. After all, the project timeline might be very important to him, and Gao was not only dealing with his own group, but also with the actual users' urgency.

Actually, there are no real users for this product yet, or rather, the real users didn't expect Gao Zhendong to have already taken action, so there are no time constraints.

As for users like seasoned anglers, they probably won't need this stuff for a while, as the price and supply aren't suitable. Moreover, a significant portion of them can probably only be called "anglers" because they don't have any fish; it doesn't matter what they use, they could even make do with rebar or something similar.

Gao Zhendong laughed: "No, no, it's not that bad. Let's proceed step by step, according to a scientific and reasonable pace. Three days won't cause the sky to fall. Health is the most important thing, health is the most important thing."

At this point, disregarding the fact that Engineer Pan and the others were still deeply moved, Gao Zhendong added, "Since that's the case, then I won't waste your time. Three days is still a tight schedule, so you should hurry up and figure out a solution. By the way, Engineer Pan, stay behind for a moment, I have something to tell you."

Gao Zhendong directly issued an "eviction notice," even canceling the usual dinner invitation. For the comrades, time was precious, and they probably wouldn't be able to eat it no matter how sumptuous the meal was or how good Sha Zhu's cooking skills were.

Three days means three days. The more time we spend here, the less time we have to think about the problems. Even if it's just ten or twenty minutes, with so many people here, it adds up to a considerable amount. We might be able to solve a few more technical issues with that extra time.

The comrades all stood up. Committee Member Gao was right; time is precious and cannot be wasted. Was it easy for Committee Member Gao to squeeze out three days for us?
As for Comrade Pan, who was specifically chosen to stay behind, he was even more excited.

Something's wrong? That's great, I was just afraid nothing was wrong.

After everyone had left, Engineer Pan asked, "Committee Member Gao, is there any task you need me to complete?"

Committee Member Gao specifically asked me to stay behind, surely it wasn't a dinner invitation? Given Committee Member Gao's habits, when he invites someone to dinner, it's always a group dinner; there's no way he would keep me behind for a special meal.

"Hehehe, you guessed right, there is a mission. But we need to ask for your consent first, since it might cause you some losses."

"There will be losses? That would be even better!!" Engineer Pan readily agreed, "I'm not afraid of losses, just tell me! I will do my best to complete it."

With thousands of years of cultural history passed down, most Chinese people have a deep-seated sense of sacrifice in their bones. This sense of sacrifice is probably not easy for non-Chinese people to understand.

The fact that it required personal loss to complete instantly gave the matter a halo, which Pan felt even shone on him.

I'm determined to do this! Anyone who tries to stop me will have to deal with me!
Seeing his expression, Gao Zhendong laughed: "Don't rush, don't rush. Let me finish before you make a decision. This is only a loss for you, not for anyone else."

He was glad to have such a comrade who stepped forward, but the matter was not so serious that anyone had to be sacrificed.

Pan was completely bewildered. What kind of despicable thing was this? Was he just trying to scam me? But that didn't matter. Let him scam me if he wanted, but I wouldn't let this go.

"It's alright, Committee Member Gao, please speak, I'm listening."

“Okay. Can you, starting now, give up your role as the engineering leader for carbon fiber and switch to research on another product? Just to clarify, this task is not mandatory. If it's inconvenient for you, I can delegate it to someone else.”

Only then did Engineer Pan understand why Committee Member Gao said that this matter would only result in a loss for him, and not for anyone else.

Because, on the surface, he was doing a good job as the "executive deputy leader" of carbon fiber, and it seemed like he was about to achieve results, but suddenly he abandoned it, retreated from the limelight, and started another project.

To outsiders, this loss was considerable, and even Committee Member Gao had reservations about it.

Gao Zhendong shared this concern. After all, it seemed like the fruit was about to fall, but then it was transferred away.

However, that's not actually the case, and Engineer Pan laughed.

"Oh, so that's what you meant. Committee Member Gao, I'll say it again, I'll take this job! Don't worry, what loss is this for me? It's double the gain! The carbon fiber is almost ready to be detonated, and all the work I've done inside for so long won't disappear..."

He didn't spell it out very clearly, but the meaning was quite obvious.

Firstly, he truly gained two things. Although he didn't yet know what the second matter was, anything that could prompt Committee Member Gao to transfer him to such an important position at the last minute must be extraordinary. As a technician, the gains from this matter would undoubtedly be substantial.

Secondly, neither the ministry nor the academy would erase his work in carbon fiber just because he has more important responsibilities to undertake. That's impossible. After all, the initiator of this project is Committee Member Gao, and with such a powerful figure involved, many things become much simpler.

Third, he genuinely wants to do this still unknown thing! There's no other reason than that, as a scientific and technological worker, he wants to do it! Currently, as the person with the most practical experience in special chemical fibers, this is something he should do, even if there are any losses. He doesn't care about losing one thing and gaining another; it's all the same.

Even though Committee Member Gao had various concerns about doing what was best for himself, he still specifically asked me to take the position, which shows that I was the most suitable person for this task.

"Are you sure? Here's what we'll do: if you're sure you want to do it, your job responsibilities on the carbon fiber side will remain the same, only the focus will shift." This work arrangement was quite skillful. Gao Zhendong wasn't the type to demand that others only talk about sacrificing risks; he would try his best to accommodate them and do things thoroughly.

Pan Gong understood Gao Zhendong's words: "Thank you, Committee Member Gao. As I said before, don't worry. Please feel free to assign any tasks you need."

It would be a lie to say I wasn't moved. Regardless of my own thoughts, Committee Member Gao had genuinely considered everything for me and made arrangements to minimize my potential "losses" in the conventional sense.

The more this is the case, the more he cannot let down Committee Member Gao's painstaking efforts.

"Okay! It's settled then. Here's the thing..."

Since his comrades were so straightforward, Gao Zhendong didn't dwell on it. In the end, he had the final say on these matters, and as for losses, they weren't necessarily significant. "You're from the Applied Chemistry Department, and I'm from the Mathematics, Physics, and Chemistry Department. My words still carry some weight, don't they?"

(End of this chapter)