OBS Chapter 222 Envy and Jealousy
Chapter 222 Envy and Jealousy
Zhang Qian's senior, Yin, had just returned to China a week ago. He told Zhang Qian that he had specially brought back cutting-edge nanoscale materials for Tsinghua and Peking Universities. Because these materials were difficult to obtain and he was worried about the safety of mailing them, he decided to fly back in person.
Just in time for the Spring Festival, after finishing his business, Senior Yin returned to his hometown to visit the former principal of his alma mater. Afterwards, he prepared to return to Los Angeles, having booked a direct flight from Haicheng to Los Angeles at 2 AM. He took the train from his hometown to Haicheng, passing through Xichuan along the way. Haicheng is not far from Xichuan, and he had enough time, so he got off the train in Xichuan to visit Zhang Qian and deliver the things Zhang Qian's parents had entrusted to him.
Zhang Qian was very grateful to Senior Yin for coming to see him, so he invited Senior Yin to dinner that evening, as the two fellow townsmen would celebrate the Lantern Festival in advance. In order not to delay their shifts, they decided to eat in Zhang Qian's office, since the laboratory was next door, making it convenient for meter reading.
The two chatted and ate, and even drank some wine when they were in high spirits. Senior Yin kept advising Zhang Qian not to drink too much, so as not to affect his work. At one point, he asked Zhang Qian, quite puzzled, why he, the cashier, was in charge of the lab's shifts. Zhang Qian explained that it was because of the New Year and there wasn't enough manpower, so Professor Zhou had assigned him to the shifts as well. Senior Yin just shook his head and didn't say anything more.
When facing Senior Yin, Zhang Qian always felt a complex mix of emotions, a mixture of envy and jealousy.
He admired his senior, Yin, for being able to stay at prestigious universities like Tsinghua and Peking University as a lecturer, and for being able to go to the United States as an exchange scholar at such a young age. He had achieved such success in just three years, and he would surely be promoted to associate professor upon his return.
What I envy is that they came from the same place, attended the same high school, even had the same homeroom teacher, and put in the same effort, but the results they achieved were worlds apart.
Because he was four years late, there were many graduates in his year, and his mother's illness affected his performance, causing him to miss out on Tsinghua and Peking Universities and only get into Sunan University.
He even felt that orphans like Senior Yin, who had no parents, might actually be better off without so many ties. Since he was able to stay at the principal's house, the school teachers had to flatter the principal, probably giving him a lot of private tutoring.
Now, having finally graduated from university, Zhang Qian is still worried about finding a job. His spot in a state-owned enterprise was snatched up by someone with connections, and he's already quite content with the opportunity to stay at the university as a laboratory worker. But with the experiment nearing its end and the lab facing closure, he fears he might lose this job.
What to do next was causing Zhang Qian great distress. He absolutely did not want to return to his hometown; firstly, he felt it would be too shameful. What decent job opportunities could one find in a small county town?
He graduated as the top scorer in the county's college entrance examination. If he couldn't make it outside and had to go back, wouldn't he become a laughing stock? Secondly, how would he face his family after returning? His mother is in poor health and has been bedridden for many years, requiring care. His father doesn't have a formal job and can only support the family by doing odd jobs. He also has a younger brother who is in high school. If his brother gets into university next year, whether he should help support his brother's education is a question that is causing him great distress.
Faced with numerous setbacks, Zhang Qian, who is usually not very talkative, spoke at length about his innermost thoughts when he met his close senior, Yin.
Zhang Qian wasn't a big drinker to begin with, and coupled with his recent low mood due to work, he unknowingly drank too much and fell asleep on the table.
Since Senior Yin withdrew from the experimental project and chose to go to the United States as an exchange scholar, he has had less and less access to the lab's data. But given the current situation, he can't just ignore it.
So Senior Yin had to go to the lab next door to help read the data. He was an extremely data-sensitive person and immediately noticed that there was something wrong with the data from the previous night, and it seemed to be logically different from the data displayed in the current table.
When Zhang Qian woke up, he found that Senior Yin had already left. He glanced at the time; it was a little after five in the morning.
The leftover food and wine bottles from last night have all been cleaned up. On the desk is a stack of calculation papers, densely covered with calculation formulas.
Although he wasn't in this field and couldn't quite understand the formulas, he could still decipher the final conclusions written in words.
He picked up the paper and began to read: "From a simple data analysis, there is a problem with the amount of material added twice during the experiment. However, through further calculations, it is clear that there is a serious logical contradiction in the experimental data. We need to carefully check the experimental records of the past three days to determine whether the problem lies in the data recording or the material addition operation before we can make the necessary adjustments. This is of utmost importance!"
Then he saw the message below, with Zhang Qian's name at the top, clearly addressed to him: "Zhang Qian, since I have withdrawn from the experimental center, it is inconvenient for me to directly hand over the experimental results to Professor Zhou and Professor Yang. You must find a way to tell them about this problem. The experiment is currently at a critical stage. If something goes wrong, all the efforts of the past six months will be wasted, and everything may have to start all over again."
You've been complaining all evening, and your anxiety about the future is making you anxious. I've been through all that; you can always get through it if you just grit your teeth. I have to catch my flight now, so I'll be going now. Feel free to email me if you need to talk to me or get help. Best regards! Yin Bei.
Upon hearing the comment about the data issue, Zhang Qian immediately came to his senses.
He recalled what had happened the night before; he had overslept and woken up almost two hours after the time he was supposed to read the meters. So, based on the data trend, he pushed the time forward by two hours and filled in a fabricated set of numbers.
Later, as morning approached, he noticed that the numbers on the table were smaller than expected. He assumed that he had miscalculated the time when creating the numbers, perhaps making it too large, so he changed the current numbers down. This problem would be difficult to detect without careful observation of the data from both days.
Zhang Qian secretly admired Senior Yin, who not only had a wise mind but was also particularly meticulous and responsible.
But then I thought, if I reported these things to Professor Zhou, it would expose his fabrication of data and his act of covering for Ning.
Anyway, Senior Yin has already gone abroad and won't be back anytime soon, and he doesn't want Professor Zhou and the others to know that he had been to the lab and had access to the experimental data.
Zhang Qian began to wonder if the experiment failed and needed to be restarted, which meant the lab wouldn't close, and he could continue working there.