Chapter 678 485: 309,000 Units a Day? Is That Even Reasonable! The Strategic Value of the Nobel Prize for Deep Blue Technology

Unbeknownst to the public, Zeng Jiweng, Bi Shanchen, and Gao Zhengxin were sitting in a conference room at Deep Blue Technology, staring at each other with worried expressions.

Zeng Jiweng put down his phone, his mind filled with the media's effusive praise.

If the Deep Blue Battery were truly the fruit of his own research, he could have accepted it with a clear conscience. But while he could fool the outside world, he couldn't fool himself.

From start to finish, the research direction for the Deep Blue Battery, the MOF separator material, and the electrolyte formula had all been provided to them by Chen Yansen.

Accepting this Nobel Prize... it was truly shameful!

"President Zeng, I heard the big boss was the one who submitted our names," Bi Shanchen said in a low voice.

"I'd love to win the award, but I'm well aware that my contribution to the development of the lithium-sulfur battery was minimal."

Gao Zhengxin said with a laugh.

'Honestly, who wouldn't want a Nobel Prize in Chemistry?'

"I'll call the boss," Zeng Jiweng said after a moment of indecision.

"I have no objection. If the boss tells us to accept the award, we'll accept it. If he tells us to refuse, we'll refuse," Bi Shanchen chimed in.

"I'm fine with that, too. We'll follow the boss's arrangements," Gao Zhengxin agreed, nodding as well.

Seeing that they both agreed, Zeng Jiweng pulled out his phone, went to his contacts, found Chen Yansen's private number, and dialed. He then casually put the call on speaker.

"Hello? Zeng, what's up?"

Chen Yansen's voice came through the speaker.

"Boss, the Nobel Prize in Chemistry winners were announced. Bi Shanchen, Gao Zhengxin, and I were just discussing whether we should go to Sweden in two months to accept the award."

Zeng Jiweng asked tentatively.

"Why are you even discussing it? You won, so go accept the award. Are you worried about security? Don't be. Director Yang from the Peace Association already called me. You'll have a security detail with you for the entire trip abroad."

Chen Yansen said in a calm, measured tone.

Some kinds of attention and hype were desirable, others were not.

An honor like the Nobel Prize wouldn't bring him many tangible benefits. On the contrary, it would only create immense trouble for him.

That was why he had made arrangements long ago to push the trio of Zeng Jiweng, Bi Shanchen, and Gao Zhengxin into the spotlight.

Besides, he held the core patents, so he wasn't worried about any unexpected problems.

"But Boss, the Deep Blue Battery is your…" Zeng Jiweng said, his expression troubled.

But before he could finish, Chen Yansen cut him off. "It's just a Nobel Prize in Chemistry. Think of it as your reward. Some things are better left in your heart, understand?"

Zeng Jiweng opened his mouth, but it was a long moment before he finally sighed. "Alright, Boss. I know what to do now."

Chen Yansen grunted in affirmation, then hung up.

In his opinion, Zeng Jiweng and the other two were too thin-skinned and cared too much about face. If it were him, he would have accepted it without a second thought.

"It sounds like there was a hidden meaning in what Zeng Jiweng said."

Song Yuncheng, who was beside him, leaned in and asked with great curiosity.

"You want to know?" Chen Yansen said with a mischievous grin.

"I'm fine either way," Song Yuncheng said with a giggle, proactively taking a step back.

Chen Yansen lowered his head and whispered a few words into Song Yuncheng's ear.

Her cheeks, neck, and earlobes instantly flushed a deep red.

Seeing that Song Yuncheng hadn't agreed but hadn't refused either, Chen Yansen took a very skimpy outfit out of a nearby cabinet.

It was a modified equestrian outfit!

Ten minutes later, Song Yuncheng was dressed. Blushing, she mounted the "horse" and began practicing her riding skills in the villa's master bedroom.

「Meanwhile.」

Far away in Hu City, Zhang Peng stood on the Waibaidu Bridge with his arm around his girlfriend, grinning from ear to ear, his smile exceptionally bright.

"Hey, handsome, can you and your girlfriend separate a little? You're about to smudge the beautiful lady's makeup. Xiaoou, do a touch-up. Everyone, take five."

The photographer said, getting up from the ground.

He'd taken wedding photos for many couples, but he rarely saw a pair like the one today.

The bride-to-be was actually ten years older than the groom-to-be!

As the saying goes, marrying a woman three years your senior is like getting a bar of gold. This guy was getting three bars with change to spare.

While Chen Fengling was having her makeup touched up, the photographer sidled up to Zhang Peng and asked, fishing for gossip, "Hey man, is your… girlfriend loaded?"

That was the photographer's first thought.

Zhang Peng frowned slightly, feeling the photographer had no sense of personal boundaries. He wasn't going to bother responding, but on second thought, he replied with a grin, "Yep. Six apartments in Jinling, two in Hu City, and she gives me thirty thousand a month in spending money."

"Holy crap! For real?" The photographer's eyes lit up, and he pressed on, his tone tinged with envy.

"Of course not," Zhang Peng answered.

But he immediately added, "Actually, she gives me forty thousand a month."

The photographer froze for a second, unable to tell if he was joking or not.

But he'd heard the makeup artist mention that the woman was the one paying for the photoshoot.

At this thought, he sized Zhang Peng up and down, his gaze finally landing below the man's waist. 'This guy's just a little handsome, barely better-looking than me,' he thought. 'Does he really have some… extraordinary gift?'

For the rest of the shoot, the photographer kept stealing envious glances at Zhang Peng while he worked.

They didn't finish the outdoor portion of the shoot until the sky had grown completely dark.

On the way back, Chen Fengling suddenly asked, "Don't you think that photographer was acting a little strange?"

Zhang Peng burst out laughing, his shoulders shaking uncontrollably, and explained the whole exchange.

Chen Fengling smiled, pursing her lips. She linked her arm through Zhang Peng's and said, "I'm not a landlady with eight apartments, you know. I'll try harder in my next life."

"Eight apartments isn't that many. I'll buy them for you in the future."

Zhang Peng said, full of confidence.

He had already been transferred from Orange Pay in Xucheng to Semir Online in Luzhou. Thanks to the huge success of the "shipping insurance" project, his bonus for Q3 alone had been equivalent to three months' salary.

At his current salary and with Luzhou's housing prices, he wasn't sure if he could buy eight apartments after a few more years, but two or three would be a piece of cake.

Chen Fengling watched her little puppy make grand promises, a wide smile on her face.

Her transfer application had also been approved. After the October holiday, she would be able to move to Semir Online and work at the same company as Zhang Peng.

...

...

The seven-day holiday passed in a flash.

On the morning of October 8th, Zhou Shouzhi, in his capacity as CEO of Orange Technology, publicly announced the plans for the new Orange Mobile Phone product launch.

October 18th, at the Luzhou Binhu International Convention and Exhibition Center.

"Not in Xucheng? They changed it to Luzhou?"

"Finally! Good thing I held off on buying the iPhone 5s. I'm dying to see what makes the Yaocheng X2 worth such a long wait!"

"Hurry to the official Orange Mall website! The lottery for invitations to the launch event starts at noon. Use this direct link!"

"Don't click it, guys! That guy's link is a trojan. Use my link instead."

"Fuck! You two bastards above me! It's a referral link, and you're trying to hide it, huh? If you invite friends, you get an extra entry in the lottery. Don't fall for it, everyone!"

Zhou Shouzhi's comments section was instantly flooded with thousands of new messages.

Invitations to Orange Mobile Phone launch events were always highly sought-after. Every fan who attended in person was guaranteed to receive at least a new Orange C-series phone, valued at around 2,000 yuan.

Mobile phone manufacturers like Huawei, ZTE, Coolpad, Apple, Mountain Star, Xiaomi, and Meitu quickly received their invitations and readily agreed to attend.

Even though they were all competitors, each of them cooperated with Orange Technology to some extent.

Take Huawei, for instance. A portion of their low-end models were manufactured by the Orange Phone Factory. Hisilicon had purchased the architectural license for the Orange Z1 Instruction Set, and the two companies also had a cross-licensing agreement for patents in the field of baseband module R&D.

The same was true for ZTE, which also featured the Aurora Future Operating System on some of its models.

The Hongyan baseband in the Celestial Craft A100 also relied on technical support from ZTE.

Coolpad had licensed the patents for Orange Technology's fast charging, battery management system, and the Aurora Future Operating System.

Apple used the Orange Z1 Instruction Set to develop its A7 chip and used Deep Blue Battery exclusively in its 5s series.

Xiaomi, 360, LeTV, NetEase, Meitu, and others were all Orange Technology's junior partners. When the big boss held a product launch, who would dare not to come?