readease Chapter 235 Three Directions
Chapter 235 Three Directions
After the three words on the temporary backdrop were raised, the leader got into the car, and the car turned onto Jinke Road.
With the leader gone, the fifty initial researchers were unsure of where to go next. They were waiting for Wei Lan, a colleague temporarily transferred from Qiming this morning, to lead them into the main building.
The main building behind the backdrop is five stories high. Above the entrance to the main building hangs a plain-colored plaque with a line of text:
Qifeng Courtyard Main Building No. 1.
The main building has a lobby, auditorium, and archives on the first floor. Floors two through four are offices. The fifth floor is a central meeting area for temporary meetings and joint commissioning with multiple partners in the same project. The land beyond the fifth floor is planned to have a central computer room, laboratory building, academic rooms, and a separate building, but for now, there is only this one building.
Su Chen went inside.
Lin Wei and Tao Bingwen were beside him. Xu Gong arrived from Hefei at three o'clock this morning. He missed the ribbon-cutting ceremony, but he entered Qifeng Institute at nine o'clock this morning.
In the lobby on the first floor of the main building, the logistics staff who just arrived this morning had mopped the floor three times. The small, temporary stage in the middle was only set up at eight o'clock this morning.
The first fifty researchers entered the hall simultaneously. It took them about twenty seconds to walk from the door to the stage. During those twenty seconds, the support staff in the first section of the hall gently closed the doors.
Once the door was closed, no one could see into the Qifeng Courtyard area from the outside.
Lin Wei walked to Su Chen's side.
"The initial budget," she said softly, "is three billion."
Su Chen nodded.
"Not only that," he said.
Lin Wei glanced at him. Xu Gong, who was behind her, also glanced at him.
"Qifeng Institute will operate for twenty years," Su Chen said. "The accumulated funds before 2034 will be no less than 18 billion yuan. There is no limit after 2046. Qifeng Institute will not go public, nor will it be spun off for monetization. Qifeng Institute will not take on external projects, nor will it use the Weilan business code for redirection. The 18 billion yuan that Qifeng Institute has invested over twenty years is pure burning money."
Lin Wei is the chairperson of Weilan. She showed no physical reaction upon hearing the figure of "18 billion."
Tao Bingwen raised his eyes from behind her.
"18 billion," he said, "could buy the appearance of the fifty first researchers over twenty years. But the hands of those fifty first researchers over twenty years cannot be bought back with 18 billion."
He paused for a moment.
"This main building in Qifeng Hospital," he said, "will be protected for the next twenty years. This is not a waste of time. It's worth it."
Lin Wei lowered her head.
It's not that she can't agree with the figure of 18 billion. What she can't agree with is "more than that".
"Instruments," she said.
Su Chen nodded.
"The equipment is the hardest to buy," he said.
"Qifeng Institute doesn't follow the same path as Qiming," Lin Wei said. "Qifeng Institute isn't a product. Qiming spent eight years there, with six labs across 9.6 locations. Qifeng Institute is a paper. But behind that paper is still the instrument. To calculate a multi-physics coupling term for a multi-quadrant element, you need the raw data from a specific fringe in an instrument at Qifeng Institute. This instrument, as of June, Qifeng Institute doesn't need to buy it from the market. But Qifeng Institute needs the record behind that instrument—the record of its freshly manufactured state, before any additional charges."
She looked up.
"This part came at a high price."
Su Chen looked at her.
He understood what Lin Wei was worried about.
It's not that Weilan can't buy equipment. The EUV lithography machine that runs behind the No. 3 static flame in the Weilan workshop, the one from TSMC that runs on the side of the belt, the dual-stage machine that was brought back from North Korea in 2022, and the domestic prototype machine that was only delivered this year by AMEC and 9C—Qifeng Institute needs the pile of raw data that just jumped out from these three machines.
What Qifeng Institute needs isn't the machine itself. What it needs is the original multi-quadrant element data behind that machine, data that hasn't yet been processed by any EDA tool. SMIC won't provide this, but Vilan can. However, what Vilan can provide to Qifeng Institute isn't enough. Qifeng Institute also needs the original data behind machines from TSMC, Samsung, and Intel. But these companies won't provide it.
"I know," Su Chen said.
Lin Wei looked at him.
"A beginning," he said. "Qifeng Academy doesn't follow the path of enlightenment. Qifeng Academy takes another path. This other path is 'anti-calcification.'"
"Anti-calcium?"
"Qiming is like calcium sucrose," Su Chen said. "It follows the EUV system of 2012, the quantum-MEMS interactive interface of 2033, and continues to move forward in a theoretical and practical way. Qifeng Institute is not like that. Qifeng Institute is the opposite of calcium sucrose. It reverses from the bottom up. It reverses from the product to the paper, from the paper to the formula, and from the formula back to the beginning."
He raised his hand.
"Behind the fifty initial researchers lies five beginnings," he said.
Lin Wei paused.
She understood what Su Chen was trying to say. The amount of equipment Qifeng Academy needed wasn't a financial issue. The equipment Qifeng Academy needed depended on the few "beginners" behind it. The equipment itself could be left untouched. The beginners, however, could not be left uninvolved.
Su Chen walked onto the small stage that had been temporarily put together.
All fifty of the first researchers looked over.
Among them were people who had rushed back from Berkeley, Stanford, MIT, Fudan University, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, the Shanghai Institute of Microsystem and Information Technology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and the Institute of Microelectronics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. The oldest among the fifty was fifty-six, and the youngest was thirty-two.
They all stared at Su Chen with their fifty eyes.
Su Chen gently clasped his hands behind his back.
"The ribbon-cutting ceremony for Qifeng Academy was just held at 10 a.m. this morning," he said. "After the ribbon-cutting, the next steps are the five directions."
He extended his left thumb.
"The first direction," he said, "the multiphysics coupling algebraic underlying layer."
He extended his index finger.
"The second direction," he said, "is multi-quadrant adaptive meshes."
He extended his middle finger.
"The third direction," he said, "is the third-order extension under quantum correction, which relies on the above nonlinear extensions."
He extended his ring finger.
"The fourth direction," he said, "is the inversion of process parameters driven by large models."
He held up his little finger.
"The fifth direction," he said, "formal verification and provable correctness."
He spread all five fingers open at the same time.
"These five directions," he said, "are the five directions that Qifeng Institute will pursue over the next twenty years. This morning after 10 a.m., the first batch of fifty researchers were divided into five groups."
He paused for a moment.
"The team leader candidate," he said.
Among the fifty people, this group took the lead. They all knew that Qifeng Institute was no longer Qiming. Qiming's side was engineering, and engineering required people who could negotiate, network, and deal with the people on the production lines of TSMC and Vilan. Qifeng Institute didn't need that. Qifeng Institute needed people who could sit down, derive formulas, and prove, through rigorous examination, when a multi-quadrant adaptive mesh converges and when it doesn't.
The group leader that Qifeng Academy needs doesn't necessarily have to be someone who can perform.
"Five group leaders," Su Chen said, "their names were highlighted at midnight this morning."
He raised his hand and pointed to the projection behind him.
Five names appeared on the projector screen. Behind each name were the journal titles, citation counts, and publication years of their representative papers. The youngest of the five, thirty-two years old, was Lu Li. He received his undergraduate degree from the University of Science and Technology of China. In 2016, he went to Shanghai Jiao Tong University's School of Information and Electronic Engineering to pursue his PhD, later moving to ETH Zurich in Cincinnati before returning in 2023. His representative work, as first author and sole author, was published in Acta Numerica in 2025. That journal publishes one volume per year, and over fifty years, it has published fewer than three hundred representative papers. Lu Li's paper was the second paper published by a Chinese author as the first author.
He was named today as the leader of the multiphysics coupling algebraic bottom layer group at Qifeng Institute.
Among the fifty people, those in their twenties nodded slightly. They had all read that paper.
"The second one," Su Chen said, "is Zhao Wei."
The second name on the projection screen behind him lit up. The journal behind his name was *SIAM Journal on Numerical Analysis*, published in 2023, with 322 citations. Zhao Wei is 41 years old this year. He was originally a young professor at the School of Mathematics, Fudan University. He was listed as the leader of the second-oldest group, the multi-quadrant adaptive mesh group.
Among the fifty, someone glanced at the list. The name Zhao Wei was familiar to the thirty who were leaving. But knowing someone by name is different from truly knowing them. This particular person came from the mathematics department of Fudan University, not the same field. No one could question his masterpiece.
"The third one," Su Chen said, "Ishikawa Akira."
In the middle three rows, someone raised their head.
Ishikawa Akira, fifty-six years old this year, is the oldest among the fifty people present today. He is the sixth author of Su Chen's paper on the third-order nonlinear extension of MEMS thermoelastic coupling. After the five of them quietly read it, they all saw the prototype of the quantum-MEMS interactive interface in his hand. After submitting it, he is currently the only person in China who can lead the entire group in the field of quantum correction. He was named as the group leader of the third group of quantum correction and above nonlinear extension.
"The fourth one," Su Chen said, "Ye Yuyu."
On the projection screen behind me appeared a 33-year-old former assistant professor in the Department of Computer Science at Berkeley, who had returned in 2025. She was the only female group leader among the fifty people behind me today. Her name was listed as the group leader of the process parameter inversion group driven by the large model, which was the fourth group.
"The fifth one," Su Chen said, "Dong Xuan."
The fifth name on the projection screen behind them lit up. Dong Xun, 43 years old, former head of the MIT CSAIL group, brought back in 2025. He was listed as the head of the fifth group, the Formal Verification and Provable Correctness Group.
Su Chen pushed his hand away.
"Five group leaders," he said. "We don't look at seniority. We don't look at professional titles. We don't look at whether they can perform on stage. We don't look at whether they are used to speaking in front of a camera. In Qifeng Institute, the position of group leader is based on only one thing."
He paused for a moment.
"That masterpiece behind me."
Among the fifty people, a few nodded slightly. Some of them were in their thirties and still assistant professors. Before entering the hall today, they had assumed that the group leaders in Qifeng Institute would be seasoned veterans, people with connections and the ability to secure projects. They didn't object. They simply agreed.
However, at 10:30 this morning, the list that Su Chen presented made several of them re-examine their own representative works.
They reassessed their chances of securing a spot on the second batch of group leaders.
"The list of team leaders," Su Chen said, "will be reviewed every three years. Each review will only consider one aspect. Why three years, not five, not one?"
He looked at them.
"One year is not enough," he said. "Five years is too long. Three years is enough for one representative work. From starting the project, deriving the formula, conducting experiments, promoting the work, independently reproducing it, publishing it in a journal, and getting more than three hundred citations, three years is not enough."
He lifted his hand.
"The name of the organization," he said. "In Qifeng Institute, how much you earn doesn't depend on your position, your title, or your seniority. It only depends on three things."
He raised three fingers.
"Impact factor of representative works in journals".
"Number of citations of representative works".
"The originality of the representative works' theories."
He lifted his hand.
"Qifeng Institute doesn't set KPIs," he said, "but it does record representative works."
After that sentence was spoken, the five men among the fifty—Lao San, Zhao Wei, Ye Yuyu, and Dong Xuan—all nodded slightly. They all understood.
This morning, the five of them went out to collect progress reports on behalf of Wei Lan. They will represent a name: Qifeng Academy.
Within the Qifeng Institute, the higher the impact factor of the journals in which their representative works are published, the more citations they receive, and the higher the originality of their theories, the more money they earn. A researcher at the Qifeng Institute who is not a group leader, dean, or director, but whose representative work is published in "Nature" or "Science" and cited more than 500 times, can earn several times more in a year than the dean of the Qifeng Institute.
This is the true "fairness" within Qifeng Academy.
Su Chen stepped off the stage.
He walked over to Lin Wei.
Lin Wei asked softly, "Dean of Qifeng Academy, in what capacity do you intend to present yourself?"
"Su Chen," he said.
"Without salary or professional title?"
"I won't take it."
Lin Wei nodded.
She understood. Su Chen wouldn't be giving away the position of Dean of Qifeng Institute this morning. What position does the Dean of Qifeng Institute hold? It's the one in Qifeng Institute whose representative work has the highest combined impact factor, citation count, and theoretical originality. This position will be re-evaluated in three years. Who will it be in three years? At 10:30 this morning, those among the fifty people who were still assistant professors or in their thirties all seemed a little more fiery.
The position of Dean of Qifeng Academy is one that they can compete for over the next three years.
Su Chen walked to the door.
Lin Wei and Tao Bingwen followed. The three of them entered through the lobby on the first floor of the main building, using the temporary dean's office on the right.
After entering, Tao Bingwen gently closed the door behind him.
"President Su," Tao Bingwen said, "among the five directions at Qifeng Institute, the quantum correction group is mine. I'm the third one."
Su Chen nodded.
"I jumped ship from the Institute of Microelectronics," Tao Bingwen said, "not because of Qiming, but because of Qifeng. Qiming is about events, while Qifeng is about 'beginnings.' In the eight years that followed, I published countless papers, all for the sake of Qifeng."
He looked up.
"It's not for Wei Lan's sake that I changed."
Su Chen looked at him.
He raised his hand and patted Tao Bingwen on the shoulder.
"Old Tao," he said, "I took out these five directions from Qifeng Academy at 10:30 this morning. The quantum correction group is third. Third place is not a ranking. The third group is the only group that will be able to succeed in both Qiming and Qifeng streets in the next eight years."
Tao Bingwen looked at him.
He understands.
Within the group of nonlinear extensions above quantum correction, the representative work is Su Chen's paper on thermo-elastic coupling third-order nonlinear extensions. Of the five directions presented by Qifeng Institute, this is the only one that can simultaneously pursue Qifeng's path and also influence Qiming's product roadmap. He reported himself as the third in command because he was using this identity to compete.
"Okay," he said.
Su Chen walked behind the temporary dean's desk.
He raised his hand and looked at his watch.
10:41 AM.
He lifted the small black notebook on the table. This notebook was the one Tao Bingwen had brought to Qifeng Academy this morning before he rushed over from the Aerospace Bridge. Tucked inside was a letter from 1995 and a note from Weber dated August 15th.
He turned to the third page.
The third page was originally blank.
He took out a pen and added a line of text at the top of that page.
July 7th, the page with the five directions of Qifeng Academy.
He paused slightly with his pen and started a new line.
In the next eight years, representative works will be re-evaluated.