Chapter 90

Chapter 90

Feng Xia didn't go back to Professor Zhu's place; she headed straight to the 101 Research Institute. She'd totally crushed her last project, and the institute had issued her an access pass and set up a small office next to Professor Zhu Guangya's, ready for the genius's sudden inspirations.

Zhang Ying was also pissed about what just went down, but that was the reality. On the world stage, the Flower Kingdom was still dirt-poor and behind. The Flower Kingdom was the one begging other countries to come do business. Those foreign businessmen had all the leverage to act high and mighty. Earning foreign exchange has always been just a talking point. In reality, most of it was a zero-sum game—the foreigners made bank, and you had to grin and thank them for it.

Feng Xia wasn't about to put up with that crap. She turned to Zhang Ying and asked, "Sister Ying, think you can give those guys a hand later? If you can, do it. Sister Ying, you know why watches cost an arm and a leg here?"

Zhang Ying nodded. She could give those young guys a hand; they were fellow countrymen. As for watches, they were crazy expensive, hard to find even if you had cash, and you needed coupons too. They were completely unavailable in small towns. When her oldest sister got married, her mom started planning two or three months ahead to buy her a watch. It was a huge hassle—took forever and a ton of effort.

Especially if it was a big brand like Tianxing or Langqing, her mom lost a few more strands of hair. And Zhang Ying's family had connections; for ordinary households, it was even harder.

Zhang Ying thought for a moment and replied, "The main reason our watches are so pricey is that raw materials cost a lot and our production methods are outdated. Many parts are hand-polished, which drives up the cost. Plus, the foreign watch market is already established, and our domestic industry gets crushed by that competition."

Feng Xia nodded with approval. "Sister Ying is right. But why should we let those foreign devils make us beg to buy their stuff? A bunch of morons. If I don't slash the price of watches, I'll take their last name!"

Hearing Feng Xia's wild talk and seeing that proud, cocky look on her face, Zhang Ying started to get an inkling. Remembering what Feng Xia had said earlier to the Beautiful Country people, she wondered—could it be...? She looked at Feng Xia, her eyes sparkling with delight. Sure enough, Feng Xia was a genius!

The two walked into Professor Zhu Guangya's office, one after the other. Professor Zhu was there. Feng Xia sat down boldly at the desk. After Professor Zhu finished writing a line and put down his pen, she said, "Professor Zhu, are you interested in our Flower Kingdom making our own watches?"

Professor Zhu Guangya was confused. Watches? What did that have to do with him? This girl was all over the place—why was she suddenly asking about watches?

"I'm not very familiar with that. Are you interested in it? I heard there's a new type of electronic watch abroad that displays the time, date, month, and year, powered by a new type of battery. Are you going to research that?" Professor Zhu Guangya looked at Feng Xia expectantly. Feng Xia waved her hand. She wasn't planning to work on that for now.

She cleared her throat and said slowly, "Professor, the reason our watches don't sell for much is mainly the materials. Abroad, the manufacturing processes for materials like platinum, titanium, and steel are mature. Here, we rely mostly on manual labor. So, I'm gonna develop a new material. Can you ask the higher-ups to bring in a couple of advanced watch production lines from overseas? Let's work together to bring down the price of our domestic watches and make Flower Kingdom watches popular overseas."

Professor Zhu was floored. This girl had some nerve! How much baijiu did she down to say something like that! Even he, Professor Zhu, wouldn't just casually claim he could invent a new material. In her mouth, creating a new material was as easy as drinking water or eating a meal. You know, the founder of a new material, if it's widely applicable, could be written into university textbooks! Not to mention being remembered for a hundred generations, becoming famous is a certainty.

Professor Zhu's throat went dry. Without even taking a sip of tea to moisten it, he stared at Feng Xia and said, "Girl, how sure are you about this new material?"

Feng Xia: "One hundred percent."

Professor Zhu was speechless for a moment, then said, "You don't need to worry about the production chain. Just get the material developed. I, Old Zhu, will personally gather the people and get the production line. So, write me a project proposal. If you're going to do experiments, do it properly."

Feng Xia nodded. "Alright, I'll write it now. As for personnel, I'll just pick a few myself."

With that, she went next door, grabbed a project application form, and began filling it out quickly. As she wrote, she thought about recruiting an assistant to train. A true big shot shouldn't have to handwrite application reports every time; let some fresh-faced college student handle that.

Professor Zhu stood behind her, watching. "Experimental Project Application: Composite Ceramic Material. Material Uses: Watch manufacturing, automobile manufacturing, aerospace engines..." Oh my god, Professor Zhu involuntarily clutched his heart. Damn it! This wasn't just about watches; this was like using a cannon to kill a mosquito! A material that could be used for aerospace engines being used to make watches—no wonder Feng Xia was so confident. What a thought!

When it came to the funding section, Feng Xia pondered for a while. The main cost was the expensive consumables. The base materials for this weren't too expensive and were relatively rare. They were one of the main materials used for protective suits against zombies in the early days of the apocalypse. She remembered the composition almost entirely, but a few components still needed combination experiments, and the ratios required extra adjustment.

She finally settled on 10,000 yuan—no small sum in the 1970s. At this point, Feng Xia was a bit worried whether the higher-ups would approve it.

Given the current manufacturing techniques, it was impossible to produce the high-grade composite ceramics from the apocalypse. But a simple version would be sufficient, and it would definitely blow foreign tech out of the water. Feng Xia was confident.

The project approval process still had to go through. Professor Zhu took Feng Xia and Zhang Ying straight to the office of the Minister of Science and Technology. The four of them had a secret one-hour meeting, then Feng Xia and Professor Zhu returned by car. The minister got into another car and went to Nanhai, placing the report before the top leader. The top leader's secretary quickly recounted the entire incident at the state-owned restaurant. The top leader carefully read the application, pondered for a moment, and nodded. "Look, which top scientist in the world wasn't cultivated with the full support of their country? Experiments are built on money. Let the girl go ahead and do it. If it fails, we'll take the heat. In twenty or thirty years, she'll repay our motherland. This deal is well worth it."

The Minister of Science and Technology nodded and left with the application. The next day, the project was approved. The "Composite Ceramic Material" project was established. That day was October 13, 1974, later playfully called by netizens the "Day of Flower Kingdom's Technological Ascension."

And the two simple Chinese characters "Feng Xia" left a resplendent mark on the pages of history.