My "academic genius" persona is so convincing!

Two months later, Xue Lin carefully examined the blueprints before him. In his opinion, the blueprints were no longer flawed; after repeated revisions over this period, they no longer required much modification. At that moment, both graduate students breathed a sigh of relief.

They worked almost day and night for the past two months. The project was actually quite large, and it constantly pushed them to apply all their knowledge. They had never done so much work before, yet they found it surprisingly easy, since even the ideas were provided by Xue Lin. Moreover, when they struggled to get started, Xue Lin directly helped them locate the axes and completed many parts before handing them over.

After all, Xue Lin worked much faster than them, and most of the time they seemed to be only doing some scraps. But they felt that these scraps were enough. Soon, Xue Lin submitted the drawings. During this time, the client was also constantly negotiating with him, such as what novel ideas they wanted, or what concepts they needed, and Xue Lin would naturally add them quickly. After all, he was just a contractor, and as a designer, even the top designers are all looking to make money. If there was no money, then no one would need to work so hard.

Moreover, since the client had paid, they had the final say on the drawings; they could modify them almost however they wanted. Naturally, they wouldn't be overworked or exhausted, since most of the time, even if these ideas weren't practical, they would still try to bring them to life. Soon, a representative from the client communicated with Xue Lin and highly approved of the drawings. Therefore, Xue Lin directly contacted the design institute and had them sign a contract with them.

The design institute took this project extremely seriously, holding numerous meetings and developing other ideas, all of which were highly cooperative in supporting the blueprints, providing whoever they needed. However, Xue Lin seemed to have no such needs. Even now, with the blueprints already partially completed, the institute hadn't offered a single idea, only providing Xue Lin with some drawings. These drawings were of finished international projects and some of their own previous work. While not top-secret, they served as reference material. Therefore, they were quite attentive to Xue Lin's drawings, and now that the project was complete, they were naturally happy to stamp them and discuss them with the client.

The client quickly conducted the acceptance inspection, and they held numerous meetings. Prior to this, they had confirmed some of Xue Lin's novel ideas regarding the building's content. After all, without the approval of top-level executives, no one would dare to implement these ideas. Xue Lin's architectural designs are truly works of art.

Artworks may seem to have low practicality, but after expert evaluation, the clients had already concluded that while Xue Lin's designs might have novel aesthetics, the usable space and basic functions of the buildings remained completely unaffected. In other words, these buildings were genuinely designed with excellent functionality and spatial arrangement in mind. Xue Lin had already achieved a high level of mastery in these areas. He naturally incorporated the fundamental essence of architecture into his designs. As for other ideas, there was no need to consider them too much; the differences in appearance would simply mean spending more money.

For these clients, spending money wasn't a huge expense. After all, they had 5 million yuan in assets. Whether the amusement park could break even after investing all 5 million wasn't a major concern, since the hype had been successfully generated. The amusement park's architecture was designed by Xue Lin, and it often employed abstract concepts and ideas. Many others have followed Xue Lin's lead in abstract design, but this was the first.

"Alright, you two have finished this project. It's time to pay you. After all, the first batch of progress payments has arrived."

Xue Lin simply smiled faintly. The first installment of the progress payment that reached him was 800 million. After all, the total project cost was only about 2000 million, and he received 2000 million. As for the rest, there would likely be other favors and obligations involved, which would be handled by the architectural design institute.

He'd take whatever share the design institute gave him. Although he and his two graduate students did most of the work, the design institute was, after all, the contractor for the project, so Xue Lin felt it was normal to give them a larger share, and he didn't think much of it. He valued this project quite a bit. But in terms of money, fame was definitely more important to him. Being able to complete a 5 million yuan building, or even just having him design it and have his name credited, was already a huge boost to his reputation.

As for the prospect of this fame bringing a steady stream of wealth, although he was already a somewhat well-known designer and often received good projects, projects of this caliber were still difficult to secure. After all, projects at this level required reliable partners. Otherwise, it was hard to trust a young designer. They would naturally approve of a young designer working under the auspices of a design institute of this caliber. However, if it were just Xue Lin alone, they might not be so appreciative. Creating your own designs is easier said than done.

After all, they're investing real money to support your project. Without the backing of the Jinling University Design Institute, it wouldn't have been easy to complete. Xue Lin understood this, and he didn't dwell on it. He quickly secured the 800 million yuan project. After taxes, the actual amount he received wasn't much, but he didn't care.

The first batch was only 800 million, and the second batch might be a little more, but not by much.

"You two, 30 each."

Xue Lin smiled faintly. 30 yuan wasn't a lot for this project, but it was quite a sum for the two of them.

So both graduate students stared at their bank account balances as if they'd seen a ghost.

"Damn, we've only been here a couple of months and we've already made so much. 30 in two months, that's over 10 a month, that's no small sum, is it?"

Someone spoke up, and even he was somewhat dumbfounded. They hadn't expected Xue Lin to actually give them money, and in real cash at that. Previously, they thought that a small service fee would suffice; after all, the projects they'd done before, though small, had still earned them tens of thousands of yuan each. So their enthusiasm was naturally high. But this project was giving them far too much—30 yuan per person.

Even if they actually got into some kind of Century Research Institute, or even took on a large project and did it all themselves, they probably wouldn't get this much money. And Xue Lin has done so much for these projects himself. They even felt that if Xue Lin gave them tens of thousands, 5, or 8 yuan, they would be extremely happy. But now, 30 yuan directly—it's almost unbelievable! It's just too good to be true!

Xue Lin didn't seem to care. Talented people need encouragement, and they had already accomplished a great deal. Besides, most people would find these abstract architectural styles difficult or have some misconceptions when they first encounter them. But the two of them overcame this and successfully designed and built the building, which naturally demonstrates a high level of design sense.

The fact that the two of them were able to complete the task means they are qualified. 30 yuan isn't much, and even at 30 yuan each, it only adds up to 60 yuan. That's all the money they're worth in two months. High-level talents often possess very high value. Even in engineering, which requires considerable talent, most people don't have that talent. Therefore, Xue Lin doesn't care how much these two are paid; as long as they get the job done, that's enough.

"Oh, right, I also need to write a paper on deconstructivist architecture. Could you guys help me with a draft, or you could submit one of your papers as well? Then we can send out all three papers together."

Xue Lin smiled faintly. After all, deconstructivist architecture still needed a foundation. Without this foundation, most other ideas would be castles in the air, just like his previous minimalist architecture. Without a central theme, without a solid guiding principle, minimalist architecture might have been perceived by most as simply a matter of simplicity. But it involves philosophical concepts and societal modes of production and daily life. These concepts are, after all, extremely important most of the time.

If you don't put these ideas into practice, even if you design something, others won't perceive it as something new; they'll just think you're doing something haphazardly. But these things aren't haphazardly done; they involve some very natural thinking. If these thoughts aren't put into a thesis, many people might go astray, taking these things for granted as abstract concepts. Or, from the perspective of painting or other mathematical approaches, they might not find a suitable feeling.

"This time it's another philosophy paper. I used to think about these abstract things, but I never imagined that these abstract things would one day actually come to fruition, and that I would be designing a building for it. This sense of design is truly a novel experience."

One graduate student spoke up, admitting he had indeed considered some abstract ideas, but those ideas only flashed through his mind briefly before fizzling out. After all, most of the time, if you really want to do something very abstract, you'll likely only ever think about it.

If you want to design a house, and you want to design it as something abstract, not so three-dimensional, not so geometric, then you need a lot of room for thought to create this house.

But something created has to be bought by someone. If you don't design it well, or if your abstract ideas are incomprehensible to others, then in a significant sense, they might reject your carefully considered work without needing much thought. Therefore, most people have this idea, but find it difficult to put into practice. It's like most people enjoy writing; they want many people to read their work. But without good writing skills or a clear thought process, even if someone does read it, it won't resonate with them as much.

Writing is art, and so is painting. If you want to paint, if you want to engage in these abstract art forms in many ways, then you need to sketch out these ideas in many different situations. But most people don't have this kind of thinking.

"Yes, the minimalist philosophy of the past has created a great trend. I wonder what kind of sensation this deconstructivist abstract idea will cause. But I think we should be able to write this paper. After all, we've already thoroughly mastered deconstructivism during the design process. Although we're not quite as proficient as Lin, we should be close, at least ahead of most people in this era. They probably don't have such novel ideas, right? It's really hard to imagine whether most buildings will take a very novel approach after this paper is published. What will the future of architecture look like? We should wait and see."

Their eyes were now filled with a burning desire, after all, minimalism had indeed set off a trend before, but they hadn't been exposed to it at the time, and now they were truly in the thick of it!