Tech startup: I really do make mobile phones!

Chapter 150 The Passing of the Torch of History

After enduring a grueling night in the wilderness, Zhao Tiezhu, the self-proclaimed "logistics supervisor," decisively applied to return to the village with slightly better conditions early the next morning, citing the need to "ensure the supply of materials."

Chen Mo didn't bother with him; as long as the kid didn't cause him trouble, that was fine.

However, Zhao Tiezhu did not completely break his promise.

In the following days, he would walk for four hours on mountain roads almost every morning and four hours in the afternoon, carrying fresh fruit and cooked food bought from the village on a shoulder pole all day long.

Chen Mo was somewhat surprised by the kid's persistence, and told him that there was no need for him to go through all that trouble.

As a result, this kid insisted on showing that he had plenty of energy and strength, and spent eight hours traveling back and forth between the village and the rubber forest every day.

This was a godsend for Professor Xu's ant field team, who were used to eating compressed biscuits and drinking cold water every day. Zhao Tiezhu immediately became the most popular person among the students, who respectfully called him "Brother Zhao".

While the outdoor environment was largely unchangeable, the improved food greatly boosted morale.

On the fourth day, the students finally learned Chen Mo's true identity from their "Senior Brother Zhou".

He is not only the owner of Orange Mobile, but also a tech tycoon with a net worth of over a billion yuan, who possesses groundbreaking gaseous lithium battery technology, has won the second prize of the National Technological Invention Award, and has received the award at the Great Hall of the People!

When the news spread, the way the students looked at Chen Mo completely changed.

The huge gap between peers makes it impossible to feel jealousy; all that remains is a strong sense of envy and a touch of awe.

Especially those students who aspire to a career in scientific research instantly idolized Chen Mo, surrounding him with curiosity and asking him about the feeling of receiving the award and the excitement of meeting such an important figure, and they all started calling him "Brother Chen".

Even Professor Xu was quite surprised when he found out. Looking at Chen Mo, he exclaimed, "I really underestimated the heroes of the world. Mr. Chen has achieved so much at such a young age. My apologies!"

"Professor Xu, you're too kind! Just call me Xiao Chen. I was just lucky to be at the forefront of the national science and technology development plan and managed to win a small award."

Chen Mo quickly waved his hand, his attitude remaining humble.

"I will always be a student in front of a senior like you who has devoted decades to the field of basic biology. I will have to learn more from you in the future!"

A week flew by in Chen Mo's busy schedule of assisting others, taking time to ask questions, and struggling to adapt.

Chen Mo felt like a sponge, greedily absorbing Professor Xu's knowledge about the ant world. At the same time, he transformed the key points of the three-level bionic scheme he had obtained from his system into specific questions to ask Professor Xu for verification.

Even Xiao Zhou, the engineer who specializes in electromechanical engineering, was having trouble keeping up with their train of thought.

That night, Chen Mo lay in his tent, feeling that he had almost all the answers to his questions about ant biomimicry.

Tomorrow, I'll be on my way back.

Around one or two in the morning, Chen Mo tossed and turned in the humid tent, unable to sleep, when he suddenly caught a glimpse of a faint flashlight beam outside.

He quietly got up, lifted a corner of the tent, and found it was Professor Xu.

The other person was quietly checking the students' tents when they saw Chen Mo come out. They smiled and made a "shh" gesture to him.

Chen Mo understood and followed Professor Xu quietly out of the camp area.

He chuckled and said in a low voice, "Professor Xu, are you going to collect samples at the light trap site? You must be exhausted by yourself. I can't sleep either, so I'll go with you and lend a hand."

Professor Xu looked at Chen Mo's young yet resolute face under the starlight and laughed heartily.

"This old man doesn't need much sleep, that's why I can't sleep. You, Xiao Chen, have something important on your mind, that's why you can't sleep!"

"Haha!" Chen Mo laughed, "Professor Xu, you flatter me!"

The two men, flashlights in hand, trudged through the deep woods toward the light-attracting spot they had set up.

Under the bright trapping lights, various phototactic insects flutter about.

The two carefully avoided other insects, using a suction tube to precisely capture the target ant species attracted by the light.

Because the work was somewhat tedious, the two chatted while working on it.

Chen Mo watched Professor Xu's focused and skillful movements, and thought about how he had been repeating this work day after day for decades, and felt deeply moved.

"Professor Xu, the conditions in the wild are really too harsh!"

"I heard from Xiao Zhou that over the past twenty years, you have traveled all over the country, spending months at a time in the wild, accumulating more than 100,000 ant specimens, and discovering more than 400 new ant species in my country, filling so many gaps in our knowledge."

"I truly admire you! Why did you choose this path in the first place?"

Professor Xu paused slightly, a hint of reminiscence flashing in his eyes.

"The reason I chose this path is actually related to an old man who used to clean the toilets at our school!"

"Oh?" Chen Mo became interested, his hands still moving, and joked, "The old gentleman who sweeps the toilets? Could he be the legendary 'sweeping monk' who gave you your biology enlightenment, Professor Xu?"

"Haha! Little Chen, what you said is quite apt!"

Professor Xu laughed heartily: "That old gentleman was truly a 'hidden master' on my path of biology. I was able to embark on this path thanks to his enlightenment."

Now Chen Mo was even more curious: "Professor Xu, who is this old gentleman who enlightened you?"

Professor Xu, however, kept everyone in suspense and did not answer directly. Instead, he asked a seemingly unrelated question.

"Xiao Chen, do you know what the world's first cloned animal was?"

After a moment's thought, knowledge from his biology textbook came to mind. He raised an eyebrow and said, "The ewe named Dolly!"

Professor Xu smiled without saying a word, his face revealing a long-lost expression filled with deep nostalgia, as if he had returned to that fateful moment.

"To explain how I ended up on this path of conducting ant field research for over twenty years, I have to go back to when I had just graduated from university. At that time, I was still quite bright and luckily passed the exam for a government-sponsored overseas study program in the 80s."

Chen Mo exclaimed sincerely, "You didn't get lucky at all. Students who went abroad in the 80s were absolutely one in a million!"

Professor Xu smiled and continued, "Getting into university is indeed a good thing, but at that time, no one in my family could help me make decisions. After I went to Beijing and met up with the others, I happened to learn that the old gentleman who had helped me with my studies lived in the Te Lou area of ​​Zhongguan Village."

Looking at Chen Mo, who was helping him catch ants, Professor Xu was filled with a sense of cyclical emotion.

"That's how it was back then. It was a weekend, and in a beautiful double-flowered peach grove, I was helping him dig the ground and plant trees while asking him for advice!"
After hearing my situation, he patted me on the shoulder and said, "Going abroad will only mean working as an assistant, being a cog in the machine. But if you stay in China, this field is completely untapped. If you can dedicate yourself to it, you'll become a leading figure in the field of ant studies!"

"A titan! Do you know that?" Professor Xu raised an eyebrow, looking at Chen Mo with a hint of shrewdness from someone who had been through it all: "Young Chen, you're also a spirited young man, you must understand my mindset back then!"

"Young people, who doesn't have a little vanity?"
I would rather have a chicken head than a phoenix tail!
I thought, "Great! Then I'll stay here and become the founding father of this blank ant territory!"
So I stayed, running and running in the wild, and before I knew it, I'd reached this point!

His tone was relaxed, with a hint of self-deprecation, but it couldn't hide his boundless enthusiasm for taking root in his homeland and pioneering new frontiers.

A surge of intense admiration welled up in Chen Mo's heart.

He understood that the so-called "vanity" was just Professor Xu's modesty.

In the 1980s, he gave up a promising future of studying abroad on a government scholarship and chose to stay in China to work in the field of ants, which was completely blank for 20 years. He endured hardships and loneliness that are hard for ordinary people to imagine, and filled the gap in basic scientific research. What great courage and what deep love this requires!

It is thanks to unsung heroes like Professor Xu, who selflessly support researchers, that his cutting-edge technology system has been able to take root, flourish, and bear fruit.

He was greatly encouraged and felt that he was not alone on the road ahead!

Professor Xu looked at the talented young man in front of him, who was also working hard at the forefront of science and technology, and his eyes were full of satisfaction.

He smiled, finally ready to reveal the answer: "Xiao Chen, now do you know who that old gentleman is?"

Looking at the gleam in Professor Xu's eyes, and combining the information of "special building," "peach blossom," and "80s," a resounding name immediately came to mind.

He understood immediately and nodded solemnly: "I know! I even learned it in my elementary school textbook! Back then, when we were learning that lesson by the old teacher, I was still naively determined to win glory for the country!"

"Haha! Good! Just hold onto this energy!" Professor Xu laughed heartily and patted Chen Mo's shoulder hard: "Little Chen, you are a true genius. You must keep this energy going and don't let it dissipate!"

"We old folks can only lay the foundation and pave the way for you young people. The task of building skyscrapers from scratch and catching up with those technologically advanced countries like the US and Europe will depend on you young researchers!"

Some have bravely traveled across oceans to carefully bring back the seeds of science from laboratories in foreign lands. Others have devoted themselves to nurturing these seeds in barren soil for twenty years, helping them take root, sprout, and slowly break through the earth.

The ancient proverb, "It takes ten years to grow a tree, but a hundred years to cultivate a person," has long been filled with expectations throughout the ages.
Now, it is the turn of a new generation of researchers to take up the baton and use their youth and passion to build our own Great Wall of Science and Technology.

The night sky is filled with countless stars, like a pair of gazing eyes, silently overlooking this rubber plantation.

Now, it is once again an old man and a young man, two generations of researchers, silently completing a solemn historical handover in the rubber forest.

Chen Mo met Professor Xu's expectant gaze and nodded solemnly.

next morning
After bidding farewell to Professor Xu and his ant research team, Chen Mo and Zhou Mingzhe, filled with a wealth of knowledge and mixed emotions, embarked on their journey back to their village, watched by their students.

Just as we reached the edge of the village, we heard the roar of a motorcycle approaching from afar.

Zhao Tiezhu rode a familiar motorcycle with a horse basket hanging on the back, speeding up in front of the two of them. He braked suddenly and swerved, kicking up a cloud of dust.

"Brother Chen! Little Zhou! There's no time to explain! Get in the car!" Zhao Tiezhu looked unusually nervous and spoke very quickly.

Chen Mo and Zhou Mingzhe had just gotten into the back seat and hadn't even had a chance to ask what was going on when they heard angry shouts and hurried footsteps coming from the direction of the village.

Looking back, I saw more than a dozen dark-skinned local men, carrying gleaming machetes, chasing after me menacingly!

The burly man leading the group was furious, pointing at Zhao Tiezhu and cursing incomprehensibly in the local dialect.

"Holy crap! Let's get out of here!"

Zhao Tiezhu's expression changed, and he twisted the throttle sharply. The motorcycle shot off like an arrow and began to speed wildly along the narrow cliffside mountain road!
In order to shake off his pursuers, Zhao Tiezhu completely let loose.

He didn't follow the usual "Z"-shaped mountain road at all. When he saw the steep downhill "Z" bend ahead, he turned the car around and drove straight down from the top of the "Z" to the bottom of the "Z" dozens of meters away, at a steep slope of nearly 60 degrees!

The motorcycles hardly rolled down the slope on wheels; instead, they slid and bumped along the gravel and mud like sleds as they rushed down the steep incline!

Chen Mo and Zhou Mingzhe clung tightly to the car frame and Zhao Tiezhu's clothes, their faces pale with fright, their hearts nearly leaping out of their throats!

At this moment, all the three of them could hear was the sound of the wind, the rolling of gravel, and their own heavy breathing.

After Zhao Tiezhu's several reckless descents downhill, the angry shouts and curses behind him finally faded into the distance.

Zhao Tiezhu then slowed down slightly, and even had the leisure to turn around and ask Zhou Mingzhe, whose face was ashen.

"Xiao Zhou, what were those people shouting just now? Were they praising my driving skills?"

Zhou Mingzhe, still shaken, took several deep breaths before saying with a strange expression, "President Zhao, some people said they'd break your legs and make you stay in the village to nurse the baby, while others said they'd drag you across the river to Yu Nan and slaughter you!"

Upon hearing this, Zhao Tiezhu was not afraid at all; instead, he grinned and teased Chen Mo.

"Brother Chen! Did you hear that? They're really hospitable! They're asking me to be their son-in-law and inviting me to visit them on the other side of the river!"

Having just experienced a rural version of a life-or-death escape, Chen Mo was pale and nauseous. He barely managed to suppress the nausea when he heard Zhao Tiezhu's bastard words. He couldn't hold back any longer and cursed out loud.

"Holy crap, Zhao Tiezhu! What heinous things have you done in the village that people are trying to break your legs and kill you?"

Zhao Tiezhu shrank his neck and didn't answer directly. Instead, he asked with a sly smile.

"Brother Chen, do you know how to say 'young girl' and 'young woman' in the local dialect?" Seeing Chen Mo's ashen face, clearly not in the mood for riddles, he quickly answered himself, "They're called 'qiao doli' and 'shao doli'."

Chen Mo's mind raced, and he instantly understood. He was so angry he almost fainted, gritting his teeth as he said, "Damn it! You little brat, you turned 'Qiao Duoli' into 'Shao Duoli,' didn't you?!"

Chen Mo knew this kid's character well enough; he was the kind of guy who could turn a honey trap into a trap.

Zhao Tiezhu immediately protested, sounding aggrieved: "Brother Chen! I swear to God! It wasn't me who initiated it! It was her...it was her! I...I asked for water, and she gave me some sweet rice wine that I couldn't taste the alcohol content of."

"Shut up!"

Chen Mo interrupted him coldly.

"I don't want to listen to your nonsense anymore. If anything like this happens again, don't even think about coming out with me. You're always causing trouble for me!"

The three of them had a terrifying journey, but they finally made it to the town at the foot of the mountain without any real danger.

The first thing Chen Mo did was to have Zhao Tiezhu ride the motorcycle to the entrance of the town police station.

"Brother Chen, this..." Zhao Tiezhu was a little confused.

"Get out of the car and wait!"

Chen Mo gave the order irritably, then went to the bank across the street to get the money.

The two stood at the entrance of the police station, and Chen Mo walked straight into the bank across the street.

A moment later, he came out with a wad of cash, walked through the door, handed the money to a police officer, pointed to the motorcycle, and said in as calm a tone as possible:
"Comrade, we're from Shenzhen. Could you please do us a favor? This car is 'rented' by us. The owner is probably in that village to the north. Could you please pass this money on to the owner as rent?"

That stack of money was thick enough to buy a new motorcycle.

Looking at Chen Mo's serious expression and then at the old motorcycle covered in mud, the police officer seemed to understand something and nodded.

"Okay, we'll handle it!"

After leaving the police station, Chen Mo looked at Zhao Tiezhu, who was looking embarrassed, and was furious: "What are you looking at? I'll have Sister Gong deduct this money from your salary next month. You get back to Shenzhen right now, we don't need you in Shancheng anymore!"

Zhao Tiezhu immediately wilted, his face contorted with despair: "Brother Chen...please don't! I know I was wrong!"

"Stop talking nonsense! You get your ticket and get out of here right now!"

Zhao Tiezhu lowered his head dejectedly, rolled his eyes, then raised his head again, stretched out his palm towards Chen Mo, skillfully pinched his thumb and forefinger together, made an internationally recognized "money counting" gesture, and squeezed out a flattering smile.

"Hey! Brother Chen! You know, my salary for this month hasn't arrived yet. I can't exactly walk all the way back to Shenzhen, can I? So, could you perhaps give me a little advance on my plane ticket?"

Chen Mo rolled her eyes in exasperation at his shameless behavior and was about to curse when her phone suddenly rang.

He took out his phone and saw a bank text message:
Flower Bank:
尊敬的陈默先生，您尾号8812账户于2011年01月12日16:30完成“新能源材料技术特别收益（协议CM2010-SC)“入账8，120，000.00元。

This payment is for the annual share of technology rights, and subsequent payments will be automatically settled according to the agreed ratio.

If you have any questions, please call 95566 and ask for the confidentiality hotline.

Looking at the long string of zeros at the end of the text message, Chen Mo's anger inexplicably dissipated a little.

He glanced at Zhao Tiezhu, who was looking expectantly at him and rubbing his fingers together, then looked at the text message about the deposit, and finally pulled out a wad of hundred-yuan bills and threw them at Zhao Tiezhu with a hint of annoyance.

"Get lost! All you do is cause trouble, I hate just looking at you!"

"Hehe!" Zhao Tiezhu grinned, revealing a set of bright white teeth, and performed a series of backflips for Chen Mo on the spot. He stopped at the door and waved, "Brother Chen, bye-bye! I'm going back to Shenzhen now!"

He turned around and secretly weighed the wad of money in his hand.

Goodness, that's almost ten thousand!

Then, Zhao Tiezhu clapped his hands together, mentally calculating:

There's plenty of money left over for buying a plane ticket. How about we spend a couple of days exploring Yunnan Province and experiencing its local customs and culture before heading back?

This week, Zhao Tiezhu has been so busy enjoying the warmth of the hot pot that he hasn't had time to savor the other flavors of this "colorful Yunnan province" yet!
On the other side, Chen Mo and Zhou Mingzhe didn't linger. They had a simple meal at the airport and then prepared to board the plane and depart.

After the three left, a young man who had come from Shenzhen walked into the police station, showed his identification, and asked the police about Chen Mo and the other two.

After asking the question, the young man booked the same flight and went to Shancheng with Chen Mo and the others.

Ever since Chen Mo offended a powerful figure, he has become a key target of attention. Whenever he leaves Shenzhen, someone will secretly follow him to ensure his personal safety.

(End of this chapter)