Super God-Level Top Student

One can only say the poor kid has been battered too badly recently, even the halo of being a doctoral student couldn't protect Liu Chenfeng anymore.

So, without much thought and purely driven by instinct, Chen Yiwen blurted out, "Hey, you're overthinking it, Liu, where would the bonus come from? We definitely won't get a bonus."

"No bonus? That can't be right? There must be a bonus. Our previous Clear Water project managed to give out some bonus, and besides, Qiao Ze and Su Mucheng don't seem like stingy people," Liu Chenfeng reassured subconsciously.

"We said before there was no bonus, ah... if you don't believe me, ask Tan," Chen Yiwen nodded towards Tan Jingrong, who was immersed in his meal, "Tan, tell us, is there a bonus or not?"

Liu Chenfeng looked towards Tan Jingrong on instinct. The honest man who was engrossed in eating raised his head and gave Chen Yiwen a mournful glance, then shook his head honestly.

Liu Chenfeng was stunned.

That doesn't make sense!

Such a big project and no bonus?

"Oh, I see, your regular subsidies must be high, right? Over ten thousand?" Liu Chenfeng guessed.

Chen Yiwen replied seriously, "I don't know about Tan's subsidy being over ten thousand, but I don't get a penny in subsidies."

Tan Jingrong, nearly driven to tears by the conversation, quickly shook his head like a rattle drum, "No, really no, the subsidy from the mentor is 2000 a month."

"Cough cough... it's fine, it's fine, actually not having a bonus isn't a big deal. After all, your papers got published in top journals."

Liu Chenfeng said somewhat awkwardly. He was already beginning to slightly regret bringing up the topic of bonuses, considering what if Qiao Ze and Su Mucheng heard this, wouldn't they think he was sowing discord in the team?

"Don't worry, Liu, actually, Tan and I have already come to terms with it. Although there's no bonus, the red envelopes were given out early," said Chen Yiwen, nonchalantly.

It must be said that after constantly honing various techniques with Zhang Zhou and Gu Zhengliang, whenever Chen Yiwen decided to start showing off, he could now control his expressions, tone, and body language with ease, as if it were second nature.

"Oh, I see. Ha ha... I knew it, Qiao Ze, Su Mucheng, and Professor Li don't seem like people who would be stingy. That must have been a fat red envelope then, how much was it?" Liu Chenfeng asked with a relieved laugh.

"Ah, it wasn't really huge, just 660,000, after taxes," Chen Yiwen said casually.

"That isn't... wait, what did you just say?"

"660,000, after taxes, you know? What's up, Liu? Here, it was transferred through the company's Alipay, and they specifically noted that they'd cover the taxes," Chen Yiwen enthusiastically took out his phone to look for the record.

But in reality, Liu Chenfeng was already losing interest in engaging with him and instead looked at Tan Jingrong.

The honest man again felt compelled and could only nod silently.

Liu Chenfeng exploded.

After all, he is about to complete seven years from graduate to doctoral student, and all the subsidies and scholarships combined might not even come close to this amount.

If he had joined earlier, wouldn't his life have taken off?

Indeed, the choices one makes are always more important than the effort, especially when it comes to choosing the right boss.

Observing the complex expression on Doctor Liu's face, Chen Yiwen felt completely relieved.

The pressure that had been building up lately was finally totally released.

And it felt good.

Of course, what Chen Yiwen didn't know was that today's bragging had severely threatened his status as the number one bootlicker in the group.

But for someone who had become addicted to showing off, he couldn't care less during those difficult times.

...

Su Lixing's visit to Xilin this time, other than discussing the negotiation results with Qiao Ze, was also to bring Su Mucheng back to Linhai with him.

Taking a morning flight from Shencheng, arriving at Xilin by noon, Su Lixing originally planned to stay in Xilin just for one night and take Su Mucheng home the next day, but at the insistence of the young lady, they decided to stay another night.

In between, Su Mucheng had wanted to arrange a meeting with Lu Xiuxiu for Su Lixing, but after much consideration, he persuaded his daughter.

The reasons were very sufficient.

He didn't oppose the idea of Su Mucheng dating Qiao Ze in principle. However, on one hand, there needed to be time to prepare Qiao Ze's mother, and on the other hand, it'd be more formal for the parents to meet for the first time if Su Mucheng's mother could come along.

Thus, three days after Su Lixing returned to Xilin, Su Mucheng bade Qiao Ze a reluctant farewell and set off on her journey home.

Chen Yiwen also took the opportunity to ask Qiao Ze for a week off, deciding to go back to his hometown in Dongguang and have some fun.

In fact, his parents had told him that if he had the chance to study at school during the summer vacation, he didn't need to come back.

They said they were still in good health and could have more fun without him around. Moreover, they now collected rent through direct WeChat transfers, so there was no need for him to come back and make a mess.

But Chen Yiwen felt he had to go back.

Whether it was his name appearing in an international top journal or the fact that he'd earned 660,000 yuan in a month on his own merit, if he didn't go back and show off in front of his multitude of aunts and uncles, what was the difference from a stealthy enriched lifestyle?

So even if it was exhausting to travel back and forth, and he had to visit more than a dozen relatives in a week, he was undeterred.

After all, the more outstanding his performance was, the more miserable his cousins would feel this summer. At the very least, it would ensure those kids got an extra earful from the aunts and uncles. For the sake of spiritual satisfaction, a bit of physical fatigue was absolutely worth it.

After Su Mucheng and Chen Yiwen left, the research team became much quieter.

Tan Jingrong took over Chen Yiwen's previous tasks, starting to run to the library and fetch meals from the cafeteria every day.

Liu Chenfeng began helping Qiao Ze download the necessary materials from various journals, making sure everything an assistant should do, and even what shouldn't be done, was completed perfectly.

And unlike Tan Jingrong, his search scope was broader.

Even for the more obscure journals and conferences that the school didn't subscribe to, if he found useful papers, he'd pay out of pocket to download them and then forward them to Qiao Ze.

Luckily, the range of journals subscribed to by the school was actually quite broad, and the project funding this time was generous, so Liu Chenfeng definitely wouldn't lose any money.

As for Li Jiangao...

This advisor still slept in the research team's office every day; after more than half a month, he had digested less than one-tenth of the hundred papers Qiao Ze had assigned.

But the harvest was substantial. It's just that when all his energy was immersed in studying these papers, he couldn't bother with other miscellaneous matters.

Just like that, the peaceful days swiftly progressed until the end of July.

Chen Yiwen's one-week leave had been used up, and he had informed everyone in the WeChat group that he'd bought his return ticket and would be back the next day. As Tan Jingrong was packing up the books Qiao Ze had been through yesterday, planning to go to the library to get a fresh batch for Qiao Ze, Qiao Ze suddenly changed his request.

"Tan, don't borrow books about chips today; instead, get me a few on international history, preferably on the modern history of Europe and the United States," Qiao Ze said.

"Oh, okay," replied Tan Jingrong.

Sitting next to Tan Jingrong, Liu Chenfeng found it strange that Qiao Ze had suddenly taken an interest in history. Qiao Ze, then, altered his request to him as well.

"Liu, help me find some papers analyzing the development models of large companies dealing with chips in Europe and America, and the different decision-making approaches from recent years. I want to understand it a bit," Qiao Ze said.

"Sure, no problem. There are many papers on that topic," Liu Chenfeng responded.

"Good, then download more; I read fast," said Qiao Ze.

"Got it!" Liu affirmed.

Hearing these requests, Tan Jingrong and Liu Chenfeng subconsciously exchanged glances.

They both had a feeling that Qiao Ze was planning to do something, but they couldn't figure out exactly what.

It surely couldn't be that he was thinking of using the money he earned from Youwei to start a company in the chip sector, could it?

As this thought dawned on Liu Chenfeng, he couldn't help but ask, "Qiao Ze, are you thinking of starting a chip company?"

Qiao Ze gave Liu Chenfeng a strange look and then replied confidently, "No, I'm not. The core logic of business is to make a profit, but I'm not interested in making money."

"Uh... okay, I guess I was off track," Liu Chenfeng said with a goofy smile, scratching his head.