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"Us miserable PhD students, of course, were just shaking those bottles and jars in the lab," Zhu Mengchao said helplessly. "I don\'t know what got into my head, finishing grad school and then enrolling in a PhD program. My hair is thinning by the day, yet my pockets have never bulged."

"Don\'t you get a decent monthly subsidy?" Zhang Menglong asked curiously.

"Subsidy? Forget about it! The university\'s three-thousand subsidy is barely enough to live on, a casual purchase by the girlfriend and it\'s all gone. This year, Teacher Han\'s research funding is too tight; our labor fee has already been cut from four thousand a month to eight hundred. More tears than words!"

"Oh?" Zhang Menglong\'s eyes lit up. It seemed that due to this year\'s overall situation, these traditional enterprises had been affected, and even university professors were unable to secure research funding.

"Let\'s not talk about that anymore. You should start preparing for your thesis. Let\'s start tomorrow; I\'ll send you some materials to look over, and tomorrow I\'ll take you to start the experiments."

"Alright," said Zhang Menglong.

Zhang Menglong turned on his computer, and indeed a file had already been sent to his email.

"Graphene surface modification?" Zhang Menglong glanced briefly at his topic. Graphene was a very popular inorganic material recently; its excellent performance plays a critically important role in many domains.

However, the cost of producing graphene was quite high; the most common Hummer\'s method produced in labs results in less than one gram per week, and its purity was very low.

Those high-purity graphenes even sold for thousands of yuan per gram, ten times more expensive than gold!

"Wow, indeed, engaging in scientific research is the most expensive!" Zhang Menglong glanced at his experiment content; just the price of this one gram of high-purity graphene reached 2000 yuan. No wonder these professors are always trying to make money in various enterprises, a research group is simply like a money-burning machine.

Thinking this, Zhang Menglong immediately called Zhu Mengchao again.

"Menglong, what\'s up, do you have any questions about the topic?"

"No issues with the topic," Zhang Menglong said, "I just wanted to ask, senior, whether our research group\'s funding is really tight?"

"Ah, speaking of this, I\'m really troubled!" Zhu Mengchao lowered his voice. "Last year, Teacher Han secured 30 million yuan in research funding, hoping to achieve some breakthroughs in graphene. We\'ve had some success now."

"But this 30 million in funding will last less than a month at most. The enterprises collaborating with us are also pressing us for results. Business is tough, and they are unwilling to increase their research investment anymore. Teacher Han has been worried sick during this period."

"Is the funding gap huge?" Zhang Menglong tentatively asked.

"Quite huge, at least 25 million I\'d say. But don\'t worry, the funding for your graduation project is still sufficient, but we are the ones who will suffer, alas..."

"Senior, is Teacher Han at the university these days?"

"Teacher Han went to the enterprises again these past two days, but he will be back at the university the day after tomorrow. Is there something you need?" Zhu Mengchao asked. "Wait, you aren\'t thinking of doing a graduate study, are you? Don\'t make that mistake, advising people to get a PhD is like cursing their lineage; don\'t step into this pitfall of a major, you have a bright future ahead."

"Senior, I\'m thinking of investing some research funding into our research group."

"What? Could you repeat that?" Zhu Mengchao thought he had misheard. Investing in research was no joke; not only did it bear enormous risks, but even if there were results, turning research achievements into an industry took a very long time.

Most importantly, Zhang Menglong was just an ordinary senior undergraduate student; where would he get the money to support research? Even millions wouldn\'t last long with their research group\'s rate of spending.

"Senior, I mean I want to invest some research funding into our research group." Zhang Menglong repeated, "You just said there is still a 25 million gap, right? I\'ll first invest 50 million."

"What? 50 million? Wait, junior, you must be joking, right? You..."

"Seriously, I\'m not joking. Look, I\'m about to leave the university, and I just thought of making a contribution to our school, to our research group before I graduate."

"But..." Teacher Han had a notoriously tough temperament. If Zhang Menglong was joking, he, as a senior, would have to face severe repercussions from Teacher Han.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

"Senior, this is what we\'ll do, give me Teacher Han\'s contact info, and I\'ll speak to him myself; that way, even if there are issues, it won\'t affect you," Zhang Menglong knew what Zhu Mengchao was worried about. 在这种事情上,换做一般人,谁能相信呢?

Even though that 30 million had been hard-won by Professor Han making trip after trip, signing many agreements and clauses, the school still took a portion of it for the so-called "procedural fees", so what he actually got was nowhere near 30 million.

"Okay, but you must not say that I gave you the number."

"Don\'t worry, senior, I\'ll treat you to a meal when the time comes!"

"No need for a meal," Zhu Mengchao said, "If you can really help our research group solve the funding issue, I\'d be more than thankful. This way, Old Han won\'t deduct our labor fees anymore."

"Hahaha, don\'t worry, senior, I\'ll definitely talk to them for you!"

Zhang Menglong got Professor Han\'s phone number smoothly from Zhu Mengchao.

Professor Han, full name Han Jinyu, was a well-respected professor at Jiangnan University of Science and Technology and also the head of the Materials Science department. He held the title of Yangtze River Scholar, and if this project succeeded, he even had the chance to become the second self-developed Academician of the university, which was no small feat for an ordinary university like theirs.

Han Jinyu lay on the hotel bed with a troubled expression, surrounded by a thick stack of documents.

Though he appeared to be a suave professor, only they knew how painful it was to deal with business owners.

Especially when asking them for money, it was like bowing and scraping.

Today, he had been given the cold shoulder again. The project had been ongoing, and its achievements were merely on paper. However, the businesses were completely uninterested in what level of papers were published, even if they were on top-notch international journals like Science or Nature.

They only cared about how the research results could be applied to the industry, how it could help them make more money, and that was all.

Having already invested 30 million, they had seen no returns yet, and now Han Jinyu was asking them for more funds. Wasn\'t that a joke? Businesses were not charities!

Just as Han Jinyu was on the verge of a breakdown, his phone rang, but on the other end was the voice of a very young man.

"Hello, may I speak to Professor Han?"

"Who is this?"

"Professor Han, I\'m Zhang Menglong, who chose your research group for my graduation project this year. You should remember me, right?"

"Oh, it\'s you," Han Jinyu said, "Didn\'t I assign Zhu Mengchao to guide you with the experiments? What\'s the matter, did something go wrong with the experiments, or has your senior neglected his duties?"

Han Jinyu\'s attitude quickly made Zhang Menglong feel favorable towards him. He knew many teachers who always acted high and mighty towards ordinary students. Just for that, Zhang Menglong was willing to help him.

"No, not at all, senior has been taking good care of me."

"Well, that\'s good. So, did you call me for something?" Han Jinyu really couldn\'t imagine why a graduate would call him unless he hoped for leniency in his graduation project.

"Professor Han, I heard that your research group has recently encountered some financial problems, so…"

"Did Meng Chao tell you that?" Han Jinyu\'s tone suddenly became serious. That kind of information was supposed to be confidential within the research group. How could it be casually mentioned to a student doing a graduation project?

"Teacher, please don\'t be angry, here\'s the thing: I have some funds I\'d like to invest in our research group as research funds. When would you be available to discuss this matter?"

"Research funds?" Han Jinyu couldn\'t help but laugh, "How much are you planning to invest in our lab?"

"Let\'s start with 50 million for now?"

"What? 50 million?"

"Yes, and if that\'s not enough, I can add more later. You said you\'re out of town these days, so I…"

"No, no, no, where are you right now? I\'ll return to the university immediately!" Han Jinyu suddenly seemed to regain all his energy. This time, his research was saved!