Chapter 90: Chapter 87 A Higher Perspective (3rd Update!)
"What? The external review editor responded so quickly?"
In the office, Tian Liangwei put down his thermos cup and looked at Xu Yun in surprise:
"It’s only been a day, right? Tsk tsk, Old Mo sure is loyal."
Looking at this ’my friend is awesome’ expression on the old man’s face, Xu Yun couldn’t help but roll his eyes slightly:
"Teacher... he’s still a foreigner, isn’t it a bit inappropriate for you to call him Old Mo like that?"
"Why wouldn’t it be appropriate? That guy lived in Sichuan Province for seven or eight years, and he probably knows more about playing mahjong than you do, right?"
"..."
Seeing that he’d regained some ground in front of his student, Tian Liangwei continued to ask:
"By the way, what did Old Morton’s reply say? Is there anything particularly troublesome or that needs major revisions?
He’s quite meticulous, so it’s possible he might find some bones to pick."
Xu Yun shook his head at these words, pulled up the email on his phone, and handed it to his teacher:
"No, Mr. Morton’s tone is very friendly. He only pointed out some less appropriate footnotes, along with some more precise semantic edits. I aim to finish the revisions and send them back to him by tomorrow."
As an external review editor for a top-tier journal, Morton’s professional integrity is naturally beyond question.
After reading Xu Yun’s paper, he didn’t rush to reply; instead, he patiently pointed out a few areas and then formally sent them back to Xu Yun’s email.
This behavior isn’t about nitpicking for the sake of it; it’s a standard part of the paper review process, commonly referred to as proofreading.
Locally, it’s generally called the third review, third proof stage, also known as the baldness stage.
It’s short at a week or two, and it can stretch on for half a year to a year with you.
Of course.
This is also related to Xu Yun’s first submission to a top-tier biology journal.
Biology is ultimately not physics, and there are some nuances he hasn’t fully grasped yet, so the presence of errors is a very normal situation.
For instance, some scientific terms in the early stages of research, he may not have precisely translated between Chinese and English, and Morton carefully circled these areas.
Then Tian Liangwei stood up, walked to the window, and gently rubbed his shoulder:
"All right then, if there aren’t any major issues, you can handle the Proof stage yourself. Once the external review is done, I’ll urge them to publish it.
Also, regarding your patent, if nothing goes wrong, you should have a result within half a month."
"Whoa, half a month?"
Upon hearing this timeline, an obvious question mark appeared on Xu Yun’s face:
"But... teacher, how can it be so fast?"
Tian Liangwei glanced at him and said slowly:
"This time, with Principal Hou... or rather, Dean Hou’s personal assistance, of course, the review process goes faster."
Hearing the word Principal Hou, Xu Yun was taken aback at first, then his pupils suddenly contracted!
Throughout the entire history of Ke Da, whether before or after the southward migration, there has only been one dean with the surname Hou, and that’s Dean Hou of the Science Institute now!
And when mentioning Principal Hou, naturally, another person must be mentioned first.
This person is surnamed Zhu, one of the longest-serving principals at Ke Da.
During his presidency, he engaged in numerous bizarre maneuvers, leaving the large-scale operations left by Principal Tang in a mess, known as the most lackluster principal in the history of Ke Da.
To some extent, the current antagonistic relationship between Ke Da and Guoke largely stems from his actions.
The most absurd part is that after stepping down, he even began promoting Quantum Buddhism—not Quantum Mechanics, but Quantum Buddhism, claiming that meditating could form entangled states.
In those years, Ke Da was in complete disarray, heavily enacting contraction policies, bearing the name of Ke Da in name only.
And after this person left Ke Da in ruin and walked away, Ke Da welcomed one of the most highly regarded principals after the 1990s, Hou Xingyuan.
Hou Xingyuan was a transitional figure in Ke Da’s history, taking over a mess filled with the aura of the old era but delivered a modern university catching up with the new era.
During his tenure, he constantly mended relations with the Science Institute, local authorities, and the Ministry of Education, also reversing the subject construction plan that abandoned engineering and mathematics to focus on physics and chemistry, reducing the erroneous policies created in various places.
He improved the welfare of faculty and staff and cut off a large batch of bizarre project funding—for example, research on reincarnation and placing a jellyfish on your head to induce telepathy...
We can put it this way:
Xu Yun’s generation of students witnessed the entire process of Ke Da’s decline and revival, witnessing firsthand what it means to save a sinking ship and prop up a crumbling edifice.
So when Hou Xingyuan was transferred away, countless students privately voiced their opinions.
There was no other way.
The mark he left on Ke Da students was just too deep, and many people were already shaped like him.
Later, Hou Xingyuan rose to the Science Institute, and after Academician Ding, who had clashed with Mr. Chai, stepped down, he was successfully elected as the director of the Science Institute, which can be considered an affirmation of his work.
With such a significant figure advocating for it, naturally, there would be no delays in Xu Yun’s patent application.
But compared to the time for patent application, Xu Yun is more concerned about.....
"Does Principal Hou... Dean Hou also know about this matter?"
Tian Liangwei nodded, somewhat moved:
"Yes, Dean Hou has always been following the news at Ke Da. The day before yesterday, as soon as he saw the hot topic, he immediately called the principal’s office.
At that time, Xiaopan mentioned something about the patent application, and Dean Hou didn’t decline. Yesterday, I just uploaded the related documents, and today it showed it’s already in the internal recommendation stage.
That’s how Dean Hou is; he doesn’t say much, but he never leaves things undone.
So Xiaoxu, the pressure on you and the school regarding this East District cockroach eradication is probably far greater than you imagine..."
Xu Yun opened his mouth but said nothing.
Generally speaking, the patent application cycle for biopesticides ranges from six months to a year, with some even possibly stalling for two to three years.
Even for a school like Ke Da with such a background, trying to shorten the time to within a month is indeed not an easy task.
So when Tian Liangwei told him that the patent could be applied for in the short term, he vaguely speculated on some possibilities.
But no matter how he tried to imagine it, he never thought that someone like Hou Xingyuan would be helping him?
Director of the Science Institute.
This can be said to be one of the highest achievements in the local research field, even tougher than becoming an academician.
Indeed.
The fact that Hou Xingyuan was willing to help with the patent’s internal recommendation is largely due to his affection for Ke Da.
But on the other hand, this also implies that he has learned about Xu Yun, because if it were a useless patent, there’s no way he would invest time and effort into it.
Even from the most conservative perspective, he at least knows about someone like Xu Yun from Ke Da now.
Therefore, for Xu Yun, the result of the patent application has instead become a secondary gain; more crucially, he has caught the eye of such a figure.
Perhaps it might be difficult to ’cash in’ this in the short term, but if Xu Yun achieves something more valuable in the future, this connection might be significantly helpful!
Then Tian Liangwei looked at the clock on the wall, suddenly thought of something, and asked:
"By the way, Xiaoxu, do you have any ideas about the company factory site?"
Hearing his teacher’s question, Xu Yun quickly gathered his thoughts and nodded:
"I’ve got a lead. I’ve already scheduled a meeting with the person in charge of the Lu Zhou High-tech Zone and plan to visit the site tomorrow.
I came to see you today to talk about this. Once the factory site is determined, I’ll definitely need to sign a lease contract, but our company’s official seal..."
"Rest assured about the official seal."
Tian Liangwei waved his hand generously:
"If nothing goes wrong, the official seal will be ready within two days.
After all, our company’s business nature involves pharmaceuticals, so even going through the New Creation Fund’s channel will take some time.
You can first inspect the plant and try to settle the factory location. The school’s idea is to have the factory successfully start production within a month!"
...
Note:
To avoid accusations of padding, here’s some clarification: Hou Xingyuan is basically the highest-level figure that will appear in the future, so this Chapter briefly introduces him.
The position of Science Institute director isn’t politically sensitive, and it’s easy to guess who the prototype might be.
By the way, everyone, does anyone have any recommendations for ancient-style or high-energy songs?