In 1978, I was admitted to Harbin Institute of Technology

Chapter 144: Cost 600, Selling Price 500, Has Xie Wei Become the Good Fortune Boy?
"Will it put too much pressure on him and have the opposite effect?"

After Xie Wei left, Liang Hongbin and Du Guowang did not end the topic.

Du Guowang, with a worried look on his face, took several puffs of his cigarette before he asked.

"No. Luo Yang and his team have been keeping an eye on Xie Wei and have created detailed files on every student in the experimental class... The whole class is the only one that cannot judge Xie Wei's true thoughts. Every action he takes seems careless, and some are even spoken casually, but as long as you know what he has done before, you will know that this kid has not put in his full energy at all. Any problem can be easily solved by him."

Liang Hongbin sighed at the end of his speech.

Such students put great pressure on them.

Always worried that I won’t be able to train the other person well.

That is a crime against the country!

"Are you thinking too much?"

Liang Hongling took another sip of wine.

"Drink less~"

Looking at Liang Hongling, Du Guowang's face showed worry again.

After her son's death, Liang Hongling's alcohol addiction became worse and worse. The situation would only be better when Xie Rou was at home.

"It won't be long before Xie Rou comes. When the time comes, let her live at home. Although the school has built a new teaching building, the dormitory building has not been built yet..."

Liang Hongling just glanced at Du Guowang and didn't say anything.

Hearing Xie Rou's words, the hand reaching for the wine bottle paused, and in the end, he did not pour any more wine.

Liang Hongbin looked at Liang Hongling's actions and just sighed silently.

He raised his wrist to check the time, "It's getting late, you guys go get some rest, I'll go talk to the principal."

"Is necessary?"

Du Guowang asked him with a frown.

"necessary."

Liang Hongbin nodded. "Don't tell Xie Wei anything irrelevant. Especially the project of the Department of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering."

After saying this, he got up and left.

Li Rui's office did not turn off the lights just because it was so late. Now he almost regards the school as his home.

Unlike the previous time when he was kicked out of the house by his wife, with the new round of college entrance examinations about to begin, the school will begin recruiting students for many new majors this year. The large amount of work generated by various preparations left him no time to go back, so he simply put a folding single camp bed in the office.

When I feel sleepy, I just unfold the camp bed and take a nap.

At this moment, Principal Li looked very unhappy.

"You've been away for more than half a year. Tell me, it took the admissions office so long to convince 27 students to apply to our school?"

Looking at the tired faces of the Admissions Office Director Yu Guohua and Deputy Director Tan Heping, he did not feel the slightest bit of heartache.

Instead, he loudly criticized them for not doing their job properly.

"Other schools don't send out admissions offices to go around the country to recruit talent! Under such circumstances, the entire admissions office has several people, and they have only this much time for half a year. Can they still do the experimental class of 79?"

Principal Li had no choice but to get angry.

The work results of the Admissions Office are truly dismal.

Without any competition, he persuaded 27 top-achieving students to apply for Harbin Institute of Technology.

This is the national college entrance examination!

After passing the preliminary examination, there were 468 million people taking the college entrance examination, but there were only 27 talented students who applied for Harbin Institute of Technology!
How can Principal Li, who has 100 students, accept the idea of ​​expanding the experimental class to two classes?
As a result, seeing that the college entrance examination was only a few days away and other staff members of the Admissions Office had not yet returned, the two of them counted the data, and this was the result.

"Principal, this is not our fault for not working hard. All of us have worked very hard..."

Yu Guohua looked at the principal anxiously and explained, "Before the movies were shown, there was always a 'News Brief', which was mainly about the capital, and students from Peking University and Tsinghua University appeared in it almost every time..."

"Yes, except in the Northeast, not many people know about our school after passing Shanhaiguan... Not to mention the areas south of the Yangtze River. Many students and parents are worried that our winter is too cold..."

Tan Heping also hurried to complain.

It’s not that they don’t work hard.

The admissions office goes to all the major cities in the country except the capital and Shanghai to look for students with outstanding academic performance. This is not for the purpose of enrolling students in ordinary classes, but to recruit top talents for experimental classes!

In the absence of a nationwide unified student information system, admissions office staff must conduct a large number of visits and investigations wherever they go in order to find out the students' grades.

However, many students with outstanding academic performance have never even heard of Harbin Institute of Technology!
The work simply couldn't get started.

"This is no reason!"

Li Rui also knew that this was the objective fact, but he could not accept such a result.

"That's the truth. Our colleagues took great pains to convince these 27 people. Both the students and their parents don't care whether they can enter the program in their freshman or sophomore years, nor do they care about the school giving them more subsidies."

Speaking of this, Tan Heping's face was full of sadness.

The conditions that they originally thought students and parents would care about very much were not taken seriously at all.

"Also, although there are still a large number of educated youth participating in the college entrance examination this year, before the pre-examination, few people know who the educated youth with solid basic knowledge are. If you took the college entrance examination in the past two years and failed..."

Yu Guohua stopped talking here.

If you have taken the college entrance examination for two consecutive years, you will not meet the requirements even if you now show that your foundation is much better than others.

Even if you spend two more years learning the basic knowledge of high school and get good grades, you still cannot keep up with the learning progress of the experimental class.

Li Rui was filled with anger but had no place to vent it.

I can only keep my head down and smoke non-stop. This is too far from the plan, and many subsequent plans will be affected.

Yu Guohua and Tan Heping could only remain silent at this moment.

The situation has already been stated.

It won’t work even if the principal doesn’t accept it.

The atmosphere in the office suddenly became depressing.

"Duo~duo~"

The half-open office door knocked twice, and Liang Hongbin pushed the door open and came in without waiting for Li Rui to greet him.

Seeing Yu Guohua and Tan Heping, he was stunned for a moment, then smiled and greeted them, "When did you come back?"

"Just got back."

Yu Guohua and Tan Heping immediately felt relieved.

"Okay, you're tired, go back and rest first, we'll discuss this tomorrow."

Li Rui's voice was full of powerlessness.

The school has no reputation. Outstanding students and parents from other provinces are unwilling to apply to HIT, and have never even heard of it. This situation is a huge blow to the president, who is determined to make HIT return to being the top military engineering school in the country.

The two of them had long since stopped wanting to face Li Rui's anger.

He said hello to Liang Hongbin, made an appointment to have a drink together when they were free, and then said goodbye and left.

“Is there a gap between the enrollment work and expectations?”

Liang Hongbin asked Li Rui.

"It's not that there is a gap, but that the gap is very large. So far, the admissions office has only found 27 outstanding students willing to apply for the school, and these students may not meet the basic requirements of the experimental class."

"That's not bad! There were only 28 people in Xie Wei's class originally."

There aren't that many geniuses.

For Liang Hongbin and other people who also teach basic professional courses in experimental classes, more students mean more energy needs to be spent.

"How can it be the same?"

"Why is it different? Principal, our experimental class is aimed at training academic committee members, as you said before, not just academic leaders. Compared with Tsinghua and Peking University, which are well-known throughout the country, we really don't have much competitiveness..."

How could Li Rui not know this?
It's just hard to accept.

The school aims to train military engineers.

The emergence of the experimental class gave Principal Li and the school's top management an idea: to train engineers among engineers, let them become leaders in their disciplines, and lead the development direction of various fields.

During the entire training process, one will definitely face elimination at any time.

If the base number is small at the beginning, and they are eliminated for various reasons later...

"What are you doing here so late?"

Principal Li did not want to discuss this matter with Liang Hongbin, so he asked him why he came to see him so late at night.

"Regarding Xie Wei, Guo Wang and I talked to him before..."

Liang Hongbin directly reported his previous conversation with Xie Wei to the principal, "I think he really has no intention of going abroad."

Li Rui did not comment.

After thinking for a moment, he asked, "Do you believe the reason for coming to school?"

"Believe!"

Liang Hongbin nodded without hesitation.

"You have no principles at all?"

Li Rui looked at him unhappily, obviously dissatisfied with his answer.

"I think we are making him too nervous. This will not only bring huge pressure to the school, but also to Xie Wei. When we talked about this tonight, from his reaction, it can be seen that he has never thought about these situations before."

Liang Hongbin reminded Li Rui.

Li Rui was a little too radical when it came to Xie Wei's matter.

"It's getting late, you should go back and rest."

Li Rui obviously didn't want to listen to Liang Hongbin's advice on this matter.

······
After Xie Wei returned to school, he had no intention of studying anymore.

He was too lazy to even wash up and just lay on the bed, thinking about the attitudes of Liang Hongbin and others.

When talking, there is not much time to react to the other person's thoughts and ideas.

He recalled in detail the entire process from the time Luo Yang came to find him to the time he went to Li Rui's place.

He had always thought that he understood the school leaders' thoughts very well, but today Liang Hongbin's words and the reactions of Du Guowang and others made him realize clearly that he actually did not understand.

"Who cares! As long as you have a clear conscience, just do what you should do. Otherwise, you will be upset later."

Unable to figure it out, Xie Wei simply stopped thinking about it.

It's a rare day that I don't have to stay up late, so I might as well give myself a day off and have a good rest.

When they came back, Zhang Jingyan and others found that Xie Wei had taken a break without knowing when. They had already gotten used to the fact that Xie Wei gave himself a break. Although they also wanted to find a chance to stop, they didn't dare to.

They do not have Xie Wei's foundation, and they also think they do not have Xie Wei's "talent".

Early the next morning, Xie Wei woke up again under the influence of his biological clock. Yesterday's events seemed to have no effect on him, and he started the new day according to his original schedule.

For half a month, nothing around changed.

Every day Xie Wei was in the Mechanical and Electrical Engineering Department, participating in the development of the CNC system until Yu Guofeng personally found him.

"Are the samples out?"

Xie Wei did not show too much surprise.

"The chip was tested and found to have no problems. We found a tube factory in Shanghai that produces LCD displays on a small scale, and the school-enterprise office bought that factory."

Yu Guofeng's words stunned Xie Wei. The school-enterprise partnership bought another factory?

Neither Wu Tao nor Wang Zheng told me about it.

Yu Guofeng obviously had no intention of introducing the factory to Xie Wei. "You go and take a look at the products and see if they are suitable. Only a small number of people will be left in the computer project to continue to improve them, and the rest will have to be transferred to other projects."

“Even if the product is successful, there is no need to switch to other projects.”

Xie Wei shook his head, "Directly based on the calculator project, expand the functions, and develop a microcomputer."

"What about the funding?"

Yu Guofeng knew Xie Wei’s next plan.

The Computer Science Department does not have much funding and has its own projects to develop.

Xie Wei's calculator cost more than two million yuan, although this money did not use the limited funds of the Computer Science Department.

Yu Guofeng's idea was very simple: a calculator costs so much, how much would a computer with more functions and faster calculation speed cost?

Although Xie Wei was able to get funding from the principal, the amount of funding he needed was small.

For projects involving millions or even tens of millions, even Xie Wei would find it difficult to get the money from the principal.

The principal himself is short of funds!
"You promised the principal that the school-enterprise office would deliver millions of profits a year. So far, all the profits of the school-enterprise office have been invested in production or research, and they even owe money..."

"Don't worry about the funding. In the coming period, the funding from the school-enterprise office will focus on computer projects."

Xie Wei looked determined.

His attitude moved Yu Guofeng.

Although he knew the importance of computers, Xie Wei was leaning towards computer projects at all costs, which might lead to problems.

"Will the school agree?"

"The school-enterprise office is also an independent business. As long as it hands over the profits promised by the school, who can say anything?"

Xie Wei raised his eyebrows.

Yu Guofeng suddenly stopped talking.

I followed Yu Guofeng to the training room of the Department of Electronic Engineering and saw an assembled calculator.

The exterior was designed by Xie Wei himself, all based on his memory.

Different from the appearance designed by Huitong Company, the buttons are made of black plastic with white numbers printed on the inside and covered with a transparent plastic shell on the outside; in Xie Wei's eyes, there is still a small LCD screen installed at an angle...

Everything looks exactly like the most commonly used calculator decades later.

According to Xie Wei, the decades-old design of Manifold must have its advantages, and there is no need to modify the design at all.

There are only two models of calculators.

High-end calculators that use the HZ80 chip as their core have more buttons and are much larger in size. Since they use the same LCD display, they do not look as beautiful and elegant as low-end calculators that use the 1328 chip.

"Alas, the display of a high-end calculator is still a little small, and the densely packed buttons look a little messy..."

Xie Wei expressed his most intuitive feelings.

Just pick up a low-end calculator.

"Return to zero~"

"Three plus three equals six~"

"52897 times 353 equals ..."

As Xie Wei pressed the buttons, the built-in voice of the low-end calculator announced the operation...

"Not bad! Even though this voice broadcast is useless, it is a huge selling point. At least, there are no similar products competing with it at the moment."

Xie Wei was very satisfied with the low-end calculator whose most complicated function was just root extraction.

As for the scientific calculator, its appearance is quite different from what I imagined.

Many functions require at least one button to implement.

This results in more buttons.

“Although the scientific calculator may not look as good as a basic calculator, its functions are of great help for scientific research and various theoretical calculations in science and engineering.”

Knowing Xie Wei's thoughts, Yu Guofeng said, "Function is more important than appearance. We need more than 200 calculators of this type just for the school."

"Has the school given the order?"

Xie Wei's question stumped Yu Guofeng.

The school's computer department and the mechanical and electrical engineering department jointly developed a calculator. The school needs it, so we should pay for it?
"Why don't you give me money? This is a self-funded project. Besides, production costs nothing. A chip costs hundreds of dollars!"

Xie Wei rolled his eyes and said unhappily.

"..."

Yu Guofeng suddenly fell silent.

“How many samples were produced?”

Xie Wei asked Yu Guofeng.

"We produced 8 scientific calculators each and gave them to some projects for trial use. We only have 14 of them now, but we still have basic calculators..."

Yu Guofeng looked at Xie Wei with some trepidation.

"Forget about the project team involved in the trial. After more than ten trials, we can collect enough data for subsequent function additions or deletions."

Seeing Yu Guofeng's attitude, Xie Wei felt a little uncomfortable.

According to the cost price, 12 powerful scientific calculators cost less than yuan. A department head...

Or maybe my attitude just now was a bit too much.

"Okay, check first to see if there is anything else that needs to be modified."

"No. Director Yu, please have someone pack up these samples. I'll go find Wu Tao and Wang Zheng right away to prepare to bring the calculator to the market."

Xie Wei thought about it and decided that there was really no need for further improvement at the moment.

Just because you think your appearance is good or not may not necessarily conform to the aesthetic standards of people of this era.

What really needs to be improved needs to be tested by the market.

Soon, Xie Wei arrived at the school-enterprise office with a large pile of samples.

Neither Wang Zheng nor Wu Tao were in the office.

"Thank you, Consultant. Director Wu and Director Wang are out on business."

Du Ying, the administrative staff member who stayed in the office, saw Xie Wei coming in and hurriedly stood up to greet him.

Xie Wei seldom comes here normally, and when he comes it means he has something important to discuss with the two of them.

"When are you coming back?"

"I should be back before I get off work this afternoon."

"Okay, when they both come back, have someone come to the Mechanical and Electrical Engineering Department's training room to find me. You can keep these calculator samples for now."

The reason why Xie Wei did not leave the samples with the computer project was that he was afraid of making things difficult for Yu Guofeng.

Whether it was the project leader or the school leader, they personally came to Yu Guofeng to ask for calculator samples, and it was really difficult for Yu Guofeng to refuse.

Xie Wei took it away, and no matter who wanted it, they had to come to Xie Wei.

Xie Wei didn't care about leadership or not, it was all about money. Otherwise, if they developed a microcomputer in the future, the cost of one would be tens of thousands, and if the project team for the trial was not paid, no one could bear it in the long run.

"Ok!"

Du Ying took the cloth bag handed over by Xie Wei, and Xie Wei left directly.

When Du Ying saw a brand new calculator inside, she was stunned for a while. This was a high-tech product and it was very expensive. How could Consultant Xie just casually put it in a bag and bring it over?
No respect for high technology at all!
Xie Wei didn't care about Du Ying's thoughts at all.

Since the current quality of plastics cannot be compared with that of decades later, anti-fall designs have to be considered during the design process, which also increases costs a lot.

Fortunately, there are currently no competitors in the market and the increased costs are still within an acceptable range.

At around four o'clock in the afternoon, Wang Zheng personally went to the Mechanical and Electrical Engineering Department's training room to find Xie Wei.

"Have you seen the samples?"

"Yes, it is much more convenient and faster than an abacus to calculate various accounts."

On the way to the school-enterprise office, Wang Zheng said excitedly, "But that scientific calculator has too many functions. It is not useful for ordinary finance."

"Basic calculators are mainly used for ordinary calculations of basic data, which is sufficient; scientific calculators are mainly used for calculations such as functions, and are generally used in scientific research. The prices of the two will be very different."

Xie Wei naturally knew the difference between the two calculators.

"How to set the price?"

"A scientific calculator costs 498 each, and a basic calculator costs 98 each..."

"what?"

Wang Zheng stopped in surprise. "The production cost is much higher than this. If the price is like this, won't we lose as much as we produce?"

He just couldn't understand it.

It is impossible for Xie Wei not to know the production costs.

The sales price was set nearly one hundred yuan lower than the production cost. The more units sold, the greater the loss.

The existence of the school-enterprise office is to make profits.

When did Xie Wei transform into a boy who gives away money?
"Xie Wei, the School Enterprise Office is currently in a loss-making state. In order to solve the production of LCD screens, the School Enterprise Office borrowed 120 million from the bank to purchase an electronic tube factory in Shanghai..."

Wang Zheng felt that he needed to remind Xie Wei.

Wu Tao had discussed with him the matter of the school-enterprise loan, and there was no need to upset Xie Wei with such a thing.

The calculator market had great potential, and they also hoped to quickly recoup their investment after the listing, with a loan from the bank that lasted only one year.

According to their previous discussion, they thought the price of a scientific calculator would be at least a thousand dollars.

A basic calculator must have more than 200.

"If 80 units are produced, how much will the cost of HZ1328 be reduced? How much will the cost of 20 chips be reduced? If units are produced, how much will the production cost of LCD screens be reduced?"

Xie Wei's question once again stunned Wang Zheng.

Whether it is Factory 14 or the newly established electron tube factory under the school-enterprise organization, Wang Zheng and others are clear about the production costs.

The larger the production scale, the lower the cost will naturally be.

And the technology will be more mature.

"A scientific calculator, where would you use so much?"

According to Wang Zheng's idea, even if all scientific research institutions and universities in the country purchased scientific calculators, it would not be possible to require 100,000 of them.

A basic calculator is possible.

"Brother Wang, if the school-enterprise office wants to develop, it must fully consider how to use the product to link up all subordinate units. The price is too high, which is difficult for any unit to accept... How much is a slide rule?"

In today's China, even in various scientific research institutions, human resources are the cheapest!
In particular, many scientific research institutions do not have much funding.

"It seems to be a loss now. I have calculated that as long as the production volume of scientific calculators exceeds 2000 units, including the R&D costs, it will be lower than the production cost of 498. Not to mention the basic calculators, which are mostly used by those who work in finance and business..."

"..."

Wang Zheng was shocked again.

(End of this chapter)