bacchusnovels Chapter 164 Aftermath
Chapter 164 Aftermath
January 17, 2020, early morning.
When Su Chen woke up, the laboratory lights were not yet on.
He glanced at his watch—6:12 AM. The springs of the cot were so hard they hurt his bones, but Su Chen had gotten used to it. For the past week, he had been sleeping in the lab every day, the longest he had slept was five hours, and the shortest was only two and a half hours.
He sat up and turned on his phone.
Fourteen hours after the phone was turned off, the notification sound rang continuously for nearly two minutes the moment it was turned on.
147 WeChat messages.
32 missed calls.
Su Chen frowned—this was not normal.
He checked Lin Wei's messages first. The last one was posted at 1:23 AM:
"The live stream is over. Everything went smoothly. I'll tell you tomorrow. Get some sleep."
Su Chen glanced at it for a few seconds and replied with a single word: "Okay."
He then put his phone back next to his pillow and got up to wash up.
He doesn't know—and doesn't want to know for the time being—what exactly happened last night.
The calibration procedure for the 250mm cavity must be completed this morning, system integration testing will be done this afternoon, and the first test will be tomorrow.
This is the only important thing.
……
But the outside world has already exploded.
At 7 a.m., headlines from major media outlets flooded the internet as if by prior arrangement.
YuChen.com homepage headline: "Technical Q&A Livestream: Hongyuan Feiniao COO Lin Wei Outshines Beihang University Vice President, CAS Academician Personally Endorses Her"
Science and Technology Daily: "Equivalent Thermoelastic Approximation Method"—An Original Methodology by a 26-Year-Old Entrepreneur; Academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences Says, "I've Never Thought of This Direction in Thirty Years of Work"
Sina Tech: From being questioned to being mentioned by academicians, what exactly does Su Chen's 12.05 degrees Celsius mean?
The Paper: "A live tech broadcast with 153 million online viewers broke all records in China's tech industry."
Tencent News: "It's not that he's wrong, it's that the entire industry hasn't reached this point yet—the hottest tech quote of 2020 is born."
On Weibo, three topics have remained trending since last night:
#It's not that he's wrong, it's that the industry hasn't reached this point yet# — Trending at number one, with 8.7 million views and 420 million discussions.
#Equivalent Thermoelastic Approximation Method# — Third on the trending topics list, with 4.2 million views.
#SuChen250mmVerificationCountdown# — Seventh on trending topics, 1.8 million views
On Zhihu, the question "How do you evaluate the equivalent thermoelastic approximation method proposed by Su Chen?" received more than 2700 answers overnight.
The top-ranked answer came anonymously from a postdoctoral researcher in the Department of Microelectronics at Tsinghua University. The title was: "As someone who deals with ANSYS every day, I was amazed by a handwritten derivation."
This answer provides a detailed analysis of the dimension reduction technique demonstrated by Su Chen on page 113 of his notebook—constructing orthogonal basis functions using the anisotropy coefficients of the [100] crystal orientation of silicon single crystals—and draws the following conclusion:
"This method is mathematically rigorous and self-consistent. If the verification experiment at 250mm can achieve similar accuracy, then the design paradigm for large-size DRIE cavities may need to be rewritten. I don't know how Su Chen came up with this method, but I do know—during my six years of doctoral and postdoc studies, no one ever taught me to think in this direction."
This answer received 4.3 upvotes.
The second-ranked answer was even more straightforward, coming from an anonymous user who identified himself as an "associate professor in the School of Microelectronics at a prestigious 985 university":
"To be honest, my first reaction after watching the live stream wasn't shock, but shame. Our entire industry—including myself—is far too reliant on commercial simulation software. We've become software operators, not engineers who truly understand the physics at play. Su Chen's method reminds us that some problems don't require millions of dollars worth of software; they require a pen and a truly thoughtful mind."
……
9 o'clock in the morning.
School of Microelectronics, Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics.
An emergency meeting had just ended in the dean's office.
Those attending the meeting included Zhang Guohua, Dean of the School of Microelectronics, two vice deans (excluding Fang Jianhua), the chairman of the academic committee, and a deputy director of the school's discipline inspection department.
The meeting reached only one conclusion:
Effective immediately, all of Fang Jianhua's teaching and research work is suspended, and he will cooperate with the school's disciplinary inspection department in investigating his financial dealings with Bosch China.
After the meeting, Dean Zhang Guohua sat in his office chair and rubbed his temples.
He watched the live stream last night—not the whole thing, but he was woken up by his wife in the early hours of the morning, who said, "People from your college are trending on social media."
When he opened his phone and saw that the hashtag #It'sNotHisWrongIt'sTheIndustryHasNotReachedThisStepYet had already garnered over 5 million views, he knew that this matter was no longer something the academy could handle internally.
Fang Jianhua's performance during the live stream—from his initial aggressive stance to his eventual silence—was captured countless times by netizens, turned into memes, and accompanied by various sarcastic captions. The most popular image is of Fang Jianhua saying, "No one in the industry has ever used this before," captioned: "Methods no one has ever used are not science → Methods everyone has used are science → Science = Common sense → ??? → Fang Jianhua.jpg"
More seriously, some netizens have begun to delve into the relationship between Fang Jianhua and Bosch China—the source of funding for his "joint laboratory," the sponsors of the three international academic conferences he attended last year, and even details about how his two doctoral students went directly to work at Bosch China after graduation.
Each piece of information may not seem like much on its own, but when put together, the whole picture becomes quite unpleasant.
Zhang Guohua was not unaware of the relationship between Fang Jianhua and Bosch. Corporate sponsorship of joint laboratories is common in universities. However, what Fang Jianhua did—the open letter, the joint questioning, the confrontation on live stream—far exceeded the scope of "academic exchange."
If the investigation confirms that Fang Jianhua did indeed take money from Bosch to attack a domestic company, then Beihang University will suffer enormous reputational damage.
"Really..." Zhang Guohua sighed, not finishing his sentence.
……
Meanwhile, the other five signatories of the open letter from the six professors are also rapidly disassociating themselves.
The fastest was Associate Professor Sun Hao from Northwestern Polytechnical University—he posted a statement on Weibo at 8 a.m. that day:
"Regarding the joint open letter released on November 12th, I hereby declare that I did not fully verify the relevant facts when I signed it, and made my judgment solely based on the materials provided by Professor Fang Jianhua. Last night's technical Q&A livestream made me deeply realize that Mr. Su Chen's original contributions to the field of MEMS are real and valuable. I apologize to Mr. Su Chen and Hongyuan Feiniao Technology for my rash actions."
The other four professors released similar statements that morning, with largely the same wording, but the core message was the same: "I was misled by Fang Jianhua, and I apologize."
By noon, the open letter from the six professors had become a mere formality.
On Weibo, the hashtag #SixProfessorsOpenLetterFails# trended to number 12 on the hot search list.
……
2 pm.
Shenzhen, Nanshan District, Hongyuan Flying Bird Headquarters.
Lin Wei sat in her office, with more than a dozen tabs open on her computer screen—reports from major media outlets, trending topics on Weibo, discussions on Zhihu, and comments from industry analysts.
She looked at it all morning, but there wasn't much joy on her face.
Because she knew that the victory in public opinion was only temporary. What truly determined everything was the 250mm verification experiment that would follow.
If the 12.05 degree is correct—all open letters, doubts, and attacks will become a joke.
If 12.05 degrees is wrong—
Lin Wei dared not think any further.
Her phone vibrated. It was a message from Su Chen:
"The calibration process was completed this morning. System integration testing will be conducted this afternoon. First test will be tomorrow."
After a few seconds' pause, another message appeared:
"You must have had a hard night."
Lin Wei looked at these four words and the corners of her mouth turned up slightly—this was probably the most affectionate thing Su Chen could say.
She replied: "It's not hard work. Looking forward to your 12.05."
……
4 pm.
Tokyo, Bosch Asia Pacific Headquarters.
Akira Ishikawa sat in the conference room, a newly compiled report on his laptop. A video call window appeared in the upper right corner of the screen—on the other end was Hans Müller, president of Bosch's MEMS business unit, headquartered in Stuttgart, Germany.
Hans Müller looked very grim.
"Ishikawa," Mueller's voice was low and restrained, "your plans in China—the open letter, the academic agents, the media offensive—have all failed. Not only have they failed, but they've also put Bosch's name in negative discussions on Chinese social media. Do you know how many people on the Chinese internet are discussing 'Bosch funding' today?"
Akira Ishikawa remained silent for a few seconds.
"Mr. Mueller, I admit that the Chinese strategy was flawed. Fang Jianhua's capabilities fell short of expectations, and Hongyuan Feiniao's response speed exceeded our judgment."
"A deviation?" Muller's tone rose an octave. "You invested 800 million RMB in a joint lab project for a Chinese university professor, and he got beaten up by a young woman on a live stream, unable to utter a single word. Now Chinese netizens are digging into the accounts of your joint lab—if these things are officially reported by Chinese media, Bosch's brand image in China will be severely damaged."
Akira Ishikawa's lips moved, but he didn't speak.
Müller took a deep breath, his tone softening slightly:
"Ishikawa, listen to me. The proxy strategy has failed. We need to change direction."
"Which direction?"
"Go straight off the field."
Muller's gaze sharpened: "Bosch is the world's largest manufacturer of MEMS sensors. We don't need a Chinese professor to undermine a Chinese startup—we let our capabilities speak for themselves."
You mean—
"I have submitted a proposal to the board. It will be formally approved tomorrow." Mueller opened a document. "Bosch will invest RMB 15 billion to build a brand new MEMS sensor manufacturing base in Suzhou, China. At the same time, we will acquire a 67% stake in Shenzhen MicroPort Sensor Technology, gaining access to domestic packaging and testing production lines."
Akira Ishikawa's eyes widened slightly.
15 billion RMB. This is Bosch's largest MEMS investment in the Asia-Pacific region.
Muller continued, "Furthermore, we will sign a strategic cooperation agreement with Hangxindatong—integrating Bosch's MEMS inertial sensor solutions with Hangxindatong's 'Tianshu' flight control chip to provide a complete solution for the Chinese drone market."
"Tian Shu chip..." Ishikawa Akira murmured.
He certainly knew about Hangxindatong's TianShu chip—a project He Zhiqiang had been pushing forward, expected to be taped out by the middle of next year. If the TianShu chip were paired with Bosch's MEMS sensors, it would be a complete drone flight control solution—directly competing with Hongyuan Feiniao's lightweight sensor + DRIE process solution.
"This is our new strategy," Muller said calmly and firmly. "No need for open letters, no need for agents. Bosch will let its products speak for themselves. Let the market decide who wins."
Akira Ishikawa was silent for a few seconds, then nodded slightly.
"Understood."
"There's one more thing," Muller added, "regarding Fang Jianhua—clean it up completely. Leave no loose ends. Effective today, the joint laboratory agreement between Bosch and Fang Jianhua is officially terminated."
"Yes."
After the video call ended, Akira Ishikawa sat alone in the empty conference room.
He looked out at the Tokyo skyline, but his mind was on Su Chen, a 26-year-old man he had never met.
A young man with no simulation software, no top-notch equipment, and no overseas background forced the world's largest MEMS sensor manufacturer to invest 15 billion RMB to get involved.
Akira Ishikawa gently shook his head.
"This person..." he murmured, then didn't finish his sentence.