Starting From the Chip in 1991

Chapter 49: Let's Make it Happen

The four major schools affiliated with the Department of Electromechanical Engineering, each with its own electronic technology institute, have been long known for their strength and influence. Among them, Xidian University and Chengdu University of Electronic Science and Technology (CDE) stand out as the strongest in terms of both power and capabilities. Over the past decade and even now, these two universities have been continuously providing assistance to Guilin University of Electronic Technology (Guilin University) and Hangzhou Dianzi University (Hangzhou University), with Chen Xiaochuan himself being an alumnus of Xidian University, who was sent to aid the construction of Guilin University's electrical engineering department.

Chen Xiaochuan slowly calmed his emotions, glancing at the professors from the two schools nearby. He noticed that Qin Jianzhong from Xidian University, like him, raised an eyebrow slightly before quickly returning to his calm state. As for the professor from Hangzhou University... well, that person was from Chengdu University's circle and could not be relied on.

With the host finishing the introductions, a rare silence filled both the stage and the audience.

The preliminary round of this competition was first selected by the Department of Electronic Science, and then experts from the four schools conducted a blind review to select the winners for special prizes, first, second, and third places. Su Yuanshan's entry was naturally a candidate for the special prize. When Chen Xiaochuan first saw the source code, he was immediately impressed, but also worried. He knew that with the current education standards, it was nearly impossible for a middle school student to produce something of this caliber.

However, there was still the Q&A session to follow. Chen Xiaochuan believed that, regardless of whether the work was written by Su Yuanshan himself or not, someone like Su Xinghe, who founded Yuanxin Technology and led the development of Yuanxin EDA, would certainly be able to tell whether the work was genuinely his. After all, the project was related to Yuanxin EDA.

What Chen Xiaochuan had never expected was that the work was actually written by Su Xinghe's son, and completed while he was still in the first year of high school—not the type of vocational school student he had imagined.

Chen Xiaochuan glanced at Su Xinghe, who was wearing a faint smile, and a sense of self-mockery rose in his heart.

It was said that Yuanxin made quite an impact at a recent global computer distributor exhibition, surpassing companies like Apple and IBM, letting the representatives of Summer Kingdom's delegation hold their heads high. Furthermore, Su Xinghe's microcontroller project was about to succeed, which would certainly make headlines again.

But with all these honors, Su Xinghe still wasn't satisfied. He wanted to make his son a genius? Wasn't it just about sending his son to college? Was it really necessary to go this far?

It seemed that humans would never be content.

Chen Xiaochuan let out a soft breath, lowered his eyelids, and began to carefully review the project documents.

At this moment, seeing that no one had asked any questions, Su Xinghe caught a glimpse of his son's half-smiling, half-serious expression. He recalled his son's earlier words, "You won't be able to come up with any valuable questions," and shook his head with a smile, then addressed Su Yuanshan, "Su Yuanshan, could you explain how you achieved reading Protel data?"

Su Yuanshan glanced at his father, the corners of his mouth moving slightly, "It's simple. After decompiling, you can see their logic layer. Then, the plugin I wrote mounts on Yuanxin's EDA system, essentially serving as a guide. The methods used aren't difficult."

Su Xinghe continued to ask, "And how did you implement the code part? I noticed that your code is very concise."

Su Yuanshan continued his answer, "The code is simple because I used logistic regression, which makes classification algorithms very easy. Actually, Protel is just that simple..."

Su Yuanshan shrugged nonchalantly with a smile on his face.

Su Xinghe nearly couldn't hold back his laugh. He knew his son's ability—if his son were to get serious, no one here would be able to beat him.

At that moment, Chen Xiaochuan lightly cleared his throat.

"Su Yuanshan, I've carefully reviewed your code, and it's very well written. Now, could you explain what line 127 does?"

Su Yuanshan looked toward Chen Xiaochuan, who was sitting next to the department leaders on the podium. For a moment, he was slightly stunned.

Chen Xiaochuan calmly stared at Su Yuanshan, waiting for his answer.

After thinking for a moment, Su Yuanshan smiled bitterly and said, "Professor Chen, could I see the source code?"

Chen Xiaochuan raised an eyebrow, smiling faintly as he looked at him, slowly responding, "I thought you'd remember the source code, especially since your comments are so good, and all in English."

Su Yuanshan furrowed his brow slightly before relaxing and smiling, "I submitted the manuscript in August, and haven't looked at it since. I really can't remember. Could you please give me a printout of the source code?"

Su Yuanshan knew that every participant's source code had a printed version since these were all small programs.

"Alright, could the host provide a copy?"

The host quickly handed over a printout of Su Yuanshan's code to him. Su Yuanshan glanced at it and swiftly replied, "This is a partial differential equation. Its solution will be part of the circuit path analysis."

Chen Xiaochuan stared at Su Yuanshan, "According to the materials, you're still in your second year of high school, aren't you? Have you started learning partial differential equations already?"

Su Yuanshan looked up, and he read something undefined in Chen Xiaochuan's eyes.

It seemed like Chen Xiaochuan was just trying to pick a fight.

"I taught myself a bit, including discrete math and derivatives," Su Yuanshan squinted his eyes, smiling calmly. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed that his father was frowning slightly.

"Very impressive. It seems that Professor Su Xinghe's son is indeed a genius," Chen Xiaochuan chuckled, tossing the manuscript aside. He suddenly felt bored.

Second year of high school... No, it should be first year of high school, and he was already self-learning advanced mathematics and subjects typically studied by math majors. Plus, his code was so efficient and neat, as if he had been programming since birth.

If that's not a genius, what is?

Since Su Xinghe wanted to make his son into a genius, why not help him out! Announce it publicly!

But... could he win over the hundreds of students in the audience?

...

The audience, which had been silent, was now preparing to admire Su Yuanshan. But when they heard that Su Yuanshan had "self-taught" advanced mathematics and knowledge typically studied by math majors, even the students of Professor Su Xinghe couldn't help but murmur.

Su Yuanshan furrowed his brow slowly, staring intensely at Chen Xiaochuan, trying to detect some hint of scheming, cunning, or pride in his expression. But unfortunately, all he saw was exhaustion and disdain.

Su Yuanshan looked toward his father, who seemed surprised and helpless. He knew that his father hadn't expected a judge to openly reveal the relationship between father and son at such an event.

The murmurs in the audience grew louder, and every conversation seemed to focus on three words: impossible.

Behind those words lay the two most shameful words: cheating.

Su Yuanshan took a deep breath, slowly turning around.

His gaze moved from the distance to close, and he saw all the senior students from the Department of Electronic Science either hesitating or looking at him with disdain. And the other contestants, about his age, didn't speak, but the disbelief was written on every face.

Suddenly, his gaze stopped in the corner.

His pupils contracted sharply, and in that instant, all the images, all the people disappeared, leaving only a young girl in a white sweater coat.

The girl was pursing her lips, furrowing her brow as she stared at him, her face showing no attempt to hide her disappointment and a trace of mockery.

One second felt both too short and too long.

At this moment, the department leader sitting in the center of the seven-judge panel sighed softly. He had seen Su Yuanshan before and heard him give reports, but no one had expected Chen Xiaochuan to stir things up like this, and there was no way to stop him.

Moreover, under the public eye, how could he prevent Professor Chen Xiaochuan from speaking?

The leader knew that it was up to him to take charge.

"Let's move on to the next person."

Su Yuanshan quickly turned around, collecting all his emotions and locking his gaze on Chen Xiaochuan's face.

"No, I request a computer."

"The National Electronic Circuit and Program Design Competition is a purely technical competition. It cannot have any unfairness, not even a flaw," Su Yuanshan paused and shifted his gaze to the department leader. "Therefore, I request a computer, and I ask the judges to give a live test. I will design the program on the spot."

"If possible, I hope the contestants can supervise me behind me to see if the code is really mine."

"Thank you."

After bowing, Su Yuanshan straightened his chest and slightly turned his face so that the girl sitting in the corner could clearly see his side profile.

She had once said that his side profile was the best.

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