The host couldn't possibly harbor any ill intentions; she was merely speaking according to Chen Jin's wishes, being his student and all, just playing the role of a host.
Therefore, the host's sudden mention of the Huanghe Award was likely Chen Jin's own idea.
After all, the Huanghe Award prize money was a hefty 10 million RMB. While Chen Jin was soon to receive hundreds of millions in research funding, that money was subject to oversight. He could only skim off the top through various means, and that carried significant risks. How could it compare to the freedom of 10 million RMB directly in his own hands, belonging to him personally?
More importantly, the Huanghe Award already possessed considerable influence in China.
It was, after all, the award with the highest single prize money globally. Furthermore, all the winners of its first ceremony, apart from that fellow Tong He who was rather nonsensical, were deserving individuals. The credibility of this award was undeniable.
Moreover, over the past week or two, the media had begun hyping and speculating about who the recipients of this year's Huanghe Award would be.
Since May, there hadn't been any major news in China. The media, only able to exercise its talent for stirring up trouble, had to find topics and news to discuss. The Huanghe Award was certainly a topic with much to discuss.
Many media outlets began listing a series of eligible candidates, including both the deceased and the living. Even big names in the scientific community were on the lists.
This made nearly all scientists in the country eye the final Huanghe Award with covetousness. Of course, it wasn't for the 10 million RMB; they simply believed that if they didn't win, no one else truly deserved it.
Chen Jin naturally felt the same. Although he knew Hanxin wasn't truly his creation, the inherent value of Hanxin could not be denied. As long as he presented Hanxin, he deserved to win. He was, after all, the first person in China to break the monopoly on computer chips!
In fact, it wasn't just Chen Jin who thought this way. Many news media outlets seemed to agree. Especially with the recent fervor surrounding the release of the Hanxin chip, many journalists confidently stated in their articles that as long as the Hanxin's performance reached internationally advanced levels, Chen Jin would undoubtedly be qualified to receive the Huanghe Award.
Moreover, there were two potential categories for the award: Physics and Industry. Chip research and development fell within the scope of both these awards.
So, when Chen Jin saw these reports, he was incredibly excited. And when he met Huang He himself today, his enthusiasm was even greater. He even proactively showcased the Hanxin chip, which he usually kept under wraps, with the explicit intention of winning Huang He's favor and securing the Huanghe Award this year.
After all, in a few years, when the truth might be exposed, he'd be lucky if he wasn't beaten to death by the Chinese public, let alone awarded the Huanghe Award.
The probing through the host was naturally Chen Jin's idea. He wanted to gauge the likelihood of the Huanghe Award being given to him.
On the other side, upon hearing the host's question, all the reporters instantly turned their cameras towards Huang He, also very interested in the answer.
Huang He's smile grew even brighter. He said with apparent sincerity, "I believe that if one can develop computer chips that reach world-class advanced standards, that is undoubtedly a scientific achievement worthy of the Huanghe Award. If possible, I would even like to present both the Huanghe Award for Physics and the Huanghe Award for Industry and Mathematics to him!"
"Clap clap clap!" Enthusiastic applause erupted from the audience, and the guests below whispered amongst themselves.
"Well, it looks like Chen Jin is at least going to win the Huanghe Award this time."
"No way, he's so young, and he's just presented his findings, and he's going to win an award directly?"
"You know about your friend Tong He, right? We still don't know what exactly he researched, and he still won an award. So I guess, as long as the chip verification is successful later, Chen Jin's Huanghe Award is secured. The ten million RMB is his for sure!"
"They're holding a press conference now; how could the verification possibly fail?"
"So I'm saying, Chen Jin is definitely winning this time!"
Discussions buzzed among the crowd, while Chen Jin maintained a modest smile. However, his gaze and expression towards Huang He became even more affectionate. After all, this was a walking gold mine; who wouldn't smile upon seeing it?
As Huang He concluded his speech, the press conference was nearing its end. Just as the host was about to deliver some concluding remarks and announce the end of the conference, a voice suddenly boomed through the hall: "Chen Jin, you fraud! You are absolutely not qualified to receive the Huanghe Award!"
As the entire venue was specifically designed with surround sound effects, the voice, even without a microphone, reverberated throughout the hall, making it clear to many. All eyes then turned towards the person speaking.
This was someone wearing Jiaotong University's uniform, clearly a student. He stood in the aisle of the auditorium, staring fearlessly at Chen Jin, like a mouse challenging an elephant.
"Who is this person?" the question arose simultaneously in everyone's minds.
"Dai Jiang, I know you were greatly affected because I didn't approve your graduation thesis, but your thesis indeed had many inappropriate aspects, and your data and experimental procedures were incomplete. What you should be doing now is identifying and correcting your own mistakes, continuously refining your thesis, not coming here to accuse your teacher with such absurd lies!" Seeing Dai Jiang appear, Chen Jin immediately put on a righteous expression, tinged with a sense of pity for his misfortune and anger at his lack of progress, speaking with great regret. xxs 1
At the same time, Chen Jin's statement contained a wealth of information, instantly making the guests present understand that this student who had burst in was named Dai Jiang, Chen Jin's student. Because Chen Jin had not approved his graduation thesis, Dai Jiang had come to accuse his teacher of falsification.
Consequently, everyone displayed expressions of sudden realization.
Chen Jin was undeniably intelligent. He knew very well that the worst thing to do in the face of rumors was to be hesitant, unclear, and to not explain, but instead, to immediately chase someone away.
Therefore, Chen Jin didn't directly call security to have Dai Jiang, who had barged in, removed. Instead, he proactively explained the situation, immediately framing Dai Jiang as someone who had fabricated accusations against his mentor due to a failed graduation thesis.
This way, no matter how Dai Jiang exposed the truth later, the guests would view it with suspicion, as a lie concocted for revenge against his teacher, giving Chen Jin an inherent advantage.
Furthermore, Chen Jin intended to steer the conversation towards Dai Jiang's graduation thesis, making Dai Jiang argue with him over this issue. In reality, Dai Jiang's thesis did have quite a few problems.
These problems were ambiguous; they could be overlooked or not. His refusal to approve the graduation because of these issues was entirely within the rules, placing Chen Jin in a position of certain victory.
In fact, anyone who has written a graduation thesis knows how arduous the process is. If a supervisor is determined to find fault, there's virtually no thesis that can escape scrutiny. Thus, Chen Jin was already in an invincible position.
And once it was proven that Dai Jiang's graduation thesis was indeed substandard, the matter would be classified as accusing a teacher, and thus, no one would pay attention to the Hanxin chip itself.
As expected, the older the ginger, the spicier it is. Dai Jiang fell for the trap and began to retort, saying that his thesis had undergone detailed experiments and possessed complete data, and Chen Jin was simply being nitpicky.
Facing Dai Jiang's accusations, Chen Jin remained graceful, using unhurried and logically coherent language to point out the deficiencies in Dai Jiang's thesis.
Although Dai Jiang's thesis was not present at the scene, Chen Jin seemed to remember every problematic part of it, speaking eloquently to the air, leaving Dai Jiang speechless.
This indicated that Chen Jin had indeed made thorough preparations. After all, he knew Dai Jiang might cause trouble, so he had arranged for security guards to intercept Dai Jiang in advance.
However, for some unknown reason, these security guards failed to stop him, allowing Dai Jiang to break through. It was probably because the conference was nearing its end, and security was more lax, allowing Dai Jiang to exploit the loophole.
But Chen Jin was a meticulous person, and he had anticipated this scenario, preparing countermeasures for Dai Jiang. He had read Dai Jiang's thesis over a dozen times, memorizing every single issue.
Indeed, all these preparations paid off. Dai Jiang was rendered speechless by Chen Jin's refutation.
Chen Jin, seemingly finding amusement in the flustered Dai Jiang, then announced that he would invite three other professors from the same department to review the thesis on the spot. If these professors all deemed the thesis problematic, then it couldn't be Chen Jin causing trouble.
Undeniably, Chen Jin's strategy was highly sophisticated.
Firstly, as previously mentioned, if a teacher wants to find fault, no thesis can escape it. And these three professors called upon were all from Chen Jin's department. As the department head, Chen Jin could not afford to offend them, as they all ate from the same pot, and who would offend a department head with such a promising future?
As for why Chen Jin went through the trouble of summoning professors, it was because he wanted to turn this incident into a formal proposal, using the presence of domestic and foreign reporters to frame Dai Jiang's report as an accusation of his own.
While this approach carried a certain risk, it also had a tremendous benefit: if someone were to report him in the future, similar to Dai Jiang, people would instinctively recall Dai Jiang's actions today and instinctively believe it was another instance of false accusation. This way, relevant authorities might not even be interested in reviewing such reports, allowing him to gain several more years.
After all, he couldn't spend every day for the next few months trying to find connections and suppress the dozen or so reports Dai Jiang had sent out; these things consumed significant energy and goodwill.
There are always a thousand days for a thief, but not a thousand days for a guard.
Therefore, this was simply a perfect plan!
Chen Jin couldn't help but give himself a mental pat on the back for his intelligence.