The rise of nanometers

He glanced at the other party with a meaningful look and replied casually: "After passing it, you can apply for graduation at any time. What about you?"

"I..." Lu Xuedong hesitated, picked up the hot coffee and took a sip. Finally, he sighed and said with some embarrassment: "Ha! I plan to stay in the United States."

"Xuedong, if you have any difficulties, don't hide it alone."

The reason why Huang Xiuyuan said this was because he understood the other party.

After hearing these words, Lu Xuedong held the hot coffee tightly with both hands, seeming to feel the little bit of residual warmth passed on by the cup.

After a long silence, he murmured with red eyes: "My mother is sick. She has late-stage uremia."

"So you plan to stay in the United States and have you found a job?"

“My mentor Marshall recommended me to go to Texas Instruments, but I haven’t made up my mind yet.”

Lu Xuedong, who seems dull, actually has a hot heart. He once said enthusiastically that he hoped to return to China and join the semiconductor industry after completing his studies.

Unlike Huang Xiuyuan, who came from a wealthy family, Lu Xuedong's parents were farmers with their backs turned to the earth. He still relied on work-study studies during college and writing outsourced programs for some small companies to fund his study abroad.

When I went to the United States to study for a Ph.D. in semiconductors, I had been working part-time, relying on some scholarships. I didn't even dare to rent a dormitory, so I had to keep spending time in the laboratory, staying in the laboratory all night and resting.

In these years, not only did I not ask for money from my family, I also sent a lot of money to my family to support my younger brothers and sisters in their studies.

Lu Xuedong has a perseverance characteristic. If it weren't for the sudden bad news, he would definitely not violate his ideals.

A penny can stump a heroic man, the reality is so cruel.

On the one hand, he abandoned his ideals and chose to stay and work in the United States, receive a high salary from Texas Instruments, treat his mother's uremia, and subsidize some family expenses.

On the one hand, if you stick to your ideals and resolutely return to China, you may face an uncertain future and a heavy financial burden.

The feelings of the country and the attachment to the family collided fiercely at this moment.

In the end, Lu Xuedong chose to give in and choose the high salary from Texas Instruments.

The calm Huang Xiuyuan picked up the hot milk and took a sip. Even though he had thousands of words in his heart, he didn't know how to speak.

Unless you have the ability to help the other person, it is best not to persuade others casually, and do not persuade others to do good without suffering others' suffering.

Just thinking about Lu Xuedong's miserable end in the future, he couldn't help but sigh.

In my memory, after joining Texas Instruments, Lu Xuedong was engaged in semiconductor material improvement and new semiconductor processes, and became an important senior engineer of the company.

It was not until 2020 that the new Cold War pattern was officially established, which gave him the idea of ​​returning to China. Unfortunately, Lu Xuedong underestimated human nature.

In January of the following year, just one day before boarding the plane after purchasing the ticket, he was found dead in his apartment.

The forensic autopsy showed that he was shot seven times in the back, indicating a suicide.

Although they are three years apart in age and did not attend Harvard University in the same year, their fate is hard to explain.

Looking back on the past, they have known each other since they were acquainted, and they have become each other's confidants.

After being filled with emotion, Huang Xiuyuan was also thinking about some things. Considering that in the future, he did not want to give up on the talent of Lu Xuedong.

After thinking for a moment, he made a decision in his mind.

"Xuedong, I will lend you 15,000 yuan. My aunt needs dialysis now. This money should last about a year."

"This..." Lu Xuedong's mood was both excited and at a loss.

Without waiting for the other party to speak, Huang Xiuyuan continued: "I plan to return to China to start a business. How about we make an agreement?"

"Please tell me, as long as you can do your best, you will do your best." Lu Xuedong clenched his fists and replied.

"For three months, if I can give you a signing fee of 1 million yuan, you must work for me for 10 years. If I can't do it, you choose Texas Instruments!"

Lu Xuedong didn't even think about it: "Okay, I agree."

Although he didn't believe it, he still retained a trace of fantasy. If possible, it would be his ideal to return to China and join the semiconductor industry.

Even though there was no strong foundation there, he still did not change his ideals. Lu Xuedong was a pure person. If not for fate, he would never have stayed in the United States for more than ten years.

The two of them had their own concerns. After finishing lunch, they transferred 15,000 yuan to Lu Xuedong.

Looking at the 15,000 yuan in the account, Lu Xuedong felt his heart heavy, and finally he could only hold back a sentence: "Thank you, Xiuyuan."

"May you go out half your life and come back still a young man."

"must."

At the entrance of the cafeteria, Huang Xiuyuan was about to go back to his dormitory as he watched the figure retreating away. His peripheral vision glanced at the newspaper rack on the side of the entrance to the cafeteria.

A morning newspaper fell into my sight. I picked it up casually, and the faint smell of freshly baked ink lingered.

A title that is not too big or too small comes into view.

[...In the latest issue of Powerball, no one won the special prize again. The current special prize pool has accumulated to 230 million yuan...]

Huang Xiuyuan immediately searched for relevant information from his memory. More than ten seconds passed, and thousands of clear pictures were locked by him.

Some of these fragments are memories from the past, which are directly eliminated, and those that are too far away from the future are also eliminated.

There are only three clips from the past month left. The latest clip is a news report on the 27th of this month. It was a scene he accidentally saw while browsing online news.

There was a taxi driver who won the special prize in that issue.

Putting down the newspaper, he hurried back to the dormitory.

While searching for information about Powerball on the Internet, his knowledge of Powerball was limited to hearsay, mainly from one of his roommates playing it.

Huang Xiuyuan, who was browsing the web page, muttered to himself: "It's a bit troublesome!"

Because there is no Powerball sales outlet in Massachusetts, he has to go to the next door state of Connecticut to buy it.

It was Thursday the 24th, and the Powerball draws were on Wednesdays and Saturdays. There were still two days left. Seeing that it was still early, I called the car rental hotline of Enterprise, a car rental company, and booked a car.

Taking his driver's license, wallet, and mobile phone, he went out again.

The weather was a little better at noon, with a few rays of sunshine scattered through the clouds.

I came to the parking lot of the car rental company Enterprise, paid a rent of 24 yuan, and got the reserved car, which was an ordinary Toyota.

Passing through downtown Boston, we went straight onto the highway, heading towards Hartford (the capital of Connecticut), 162 kilometers away. In the cold and snowy weather, there was not much traffic on the highway.

After driving for more than an hour and 40 minutes, the car stopped near a lottery sales point. However, he did not walk in directly. Instead, he walked into a bakery dozens of meters away and bought a bag of bread.

When passing the entrance of the lottery sales point, Huang Xiuyuan stopped and walked into the warm sales point.

After looking at the lottery chart on the wall, he pretended to randomly fill in five sets of numbers, paid 5 yuan, and left with the Powerball lottery ticket.

I drove a car and wandered around downtown Hartford for more than half an hour before driving back to Boston.

After four hours, Huang Xiuyuan returned to the dormitory and kept the lottery ticket. This was the fastest way to obtain start-up funds.

And there are not many opportunities like this. You must get this money before the butterfly effect is small.

Although he has other ways to obtain a sum of funds, such as the intensifying subprime mortgage crisis, it is a rare opportunity.

Just through financial means, there is no way to obtain large amounts of funds at once, and there are some difficulties in operation. You have to be wary of the guys on Wall Street.

Once the action is too big, Americans are not vegetarians.

Therefore, getting a start-up capital through Powerball is the safest and most reasonable way.