Chapter 32: Chen Xiao's Insane Output (Part 1)

After conducting an investigation, Zhou Linghua learned that Chen Xiao's father, Chen Qiang, had resigned from Jiangcheng Machinery Factory and then joined Delong.

Upon this discovery, Zhou Linghua was so angry that he felt like he was going to vomit blood. He had already imagined many scenarios in his mind. Zhou Linghua believed that Chen Qiang had stolen the blueprints of the mainboard from Jiangcheng Machinery Factory and conspired with Chen Xiaoliao to deceive him, all with the motive of making money.

He even believed that Chen Xiao had fabricated the title of a genius boy and little inventor just to deceive him. However, Zhou Linghua still trusted Wang Xiang's character and felt that Wang Xiang would never participate in such deceitful activities unless he wanted to stay away from this situation.

In other words, Wang Xiang had also been deceived?

With anger bubbling inside him, Zhou Linghua couldn't control himself and immediately asked the driver to take him to find Wang Xiang first.

Wang Xiang was supervising production at the factory when Zhou Linghua dragged him out and forced him into a commercial vehicle.

"What do you think about Chen Xiao's school?" Zhou Linghua asked urgently.

Confused, Wang Xiang replied, "What's happening? Why are you in such a hurry?"

Zhou Linghua explained that their order had been canceled and that a motherboard similar to theirs had appeared in the market at a cheaper price, affecting their production.

Wang Xiang couldn't believe it and said, "No way! How could this happen!"

Zhou Linghua said, "Let's go to Chen Xiao right away. There's definitely something wrong with this kid. We've both been deceived!"

Wang Xiang firmly stated, "Mr. Zhou, I think you need to calm down. Let's investigate and find out the truth. There must be some misunderstanding. I know that Chen Xiao is definitely a genius, and it's impossible for him to steal any designs."

"The designs for our lightweight VCD were created by Chen Xiao, and the counterfeit Demag motherboard was also designed by him and given to us for production. Chen Xiao would never steal any designs."

Zhou Linghua was too furious to listen to reason. He wanted to find Chen Xiao and confront him immediately.

"I strongly disagree with you going there now. Chen Xiao is currently in his third year of high school and is in class. If you bring so many people to his school to find him, it could affect his studies and the school's atmosphere. Moreover, if you take any punitive actions, it will be troublesome!"

Zhou Linghua was impatient, just like when he rushed to sign a contract after discovering that Chen Xiao was the inventor of the motherboard. Now, upon knowing that there was a similar device on the market, he was eager to find Chen Xiao again.

Wang Xiang couldn't stop him, so Zhou Linghua led the group to find Chen Xiao's third-grade, third-classroom, disregarding the guard's obstruction.

"Chen Xiao, come out here!"

The New Year's Day was approaching, and Teacher Liao was assigning homework for the holiday. Suddenly, a group of people barged into the classroom, startling Teacher Liao.

"Chen Xiao, come out here!" Zhou Linghua was on the verge of having a heart attack, thinking about the millions of dollars lost.

The classmates in the third-grade class looked at Zhou Linghua and Chen Xiao, not knowing what was happening.

Teacher Liao quickly approached and asked, "Are you... Chen Xiao's parents?"

Zhou Linghua said, "I have something personal to discuss with Chen Xiao. Chen Xiao, come out quickly!"

Teacher Liao said, "Students are at school, and the school is responsible for their safety!"

Su Qiao felt a bit of schadenfreude at this moment. Even a fool could see that Zhou Linghua was furious, and the people with him looked like they were involved in some shady business. If Chen Xiao got dragged out and beaten, Su Qiao would be delighted.

Shen Wei also looked at Chen Xiao with concern and asked, "Chen Xiao, who are they?"

Chen Xiao replied, "It's okay. I'll go out and talk to them."

"Mr. Liao, these are my friends. I'll go out and talk to them."

Teacher Liao tried to prevent him, as Chen Xiao was the top student in the class. Though it was unfortunate that he didn't attend the special recruitment event at Yanjing University, he was still a promising student heading to a key university. Teacher Liao didn't want any trouble for Chen Xiao.

Chen Xiao said with determination, "Mr. Liao, it will be alright. There might be some misunderstanding."

Seeing Chen Xiao's determination, Teacher Liao said, "Then go out, but come back to class afterward. I'll inform the school security department."

Chen Xiao nodded and went to the school playground to meet Zhou Linghua.

"Chen Xiao, you claimed that your motherboard has unique intellectual property rights in the country. Why is there a CNC machine tool with a similar motherboard on the market?"

"Zhongjing is still in the process of applying for patents for the motherboard and other components of their device. Explain what's going on."

If Wang Xiang hadn't stopped him, Zhou Linghua would have lectured Chen Xiao in a rough manner.

Chen Xiao remained calm. Based on his understanding of the development progress of Xia Guo's integrated circuits, the development speed of civilian microelectronics was very slow. It wouldn't improve significantly until around 2010.

In other words, no one in this era could design their own motherboard integrated circuit diagram.

Although the design was impossible, imitation and production were feasible.

After Zhou Linghua vented his anger for a while, he noticed that Chen Xiao was calm, showing neither anxiety nor anger. This demeanor was more suitable for a forty or fifty-year-old person from Jianghu than a seventeen or eighteen-year-old boy.

Casually, Chen Xiao asked, "What's the background of this Zhongjing Company?"

Zhou Linghua replied angrily, "It seems to be an equipment manufacturing company jointly established by Jiangzhou Machinery Factory and a mechanical design company in Shanghai."

"Jiangzhou Machinery Factory?" Chen Xiao frowned. "If it's convenient, I'd like to see their equipment."

The motherboard was most likely copied.

If the other party didn't have the original blueprints, they could only imitate and produce the motherboard based on the one left at Jiangcheng Machinery Factory. This implied that the other party had managed to find a master.

However, in order to retaliate against Jiangcheng Machinery Factory for slandering Chen Qiang, Chen Xiao had taken precautions. He deliberately introduced flaws in the motherboard design left at Jiangcheng Machinery Factory.

For instance, some input terminals were suspended in the air, leading to possible high levels, and the width of the metal wire significantly differed from the final drawing handed to Wang Xiang. After a period of use, these deliberate flaws would lead to the automatic burning of the board.

The purpose of these intentionally left "defects" was to reduce the service life of Jiangcheng Machinery Factory's equipment drastically. If nothing went wrong, the batch of equipment repaired by Chen Xiao would encounter serious problems again after about a month of high-frequency use.

Today's people would never discover these subtle tricks.

The reason for the previous CNC machine tool burning incident at Jiangcheng Machinery Factory was clear. Gao Hongze had used high-power electrical appliances, and this information was known by the factory, as well as TV stations and Jiangcheng Daily.

In other words, even if there was another problem with the equipment, it was unrelated to Chen Xiao and Chen Qiang.

Chen Xiao's maintenance of the motherboard was an act of kindness towards Jiangcheng Machinery Factory, not an obligation.

With a smile, Chen Xiao said, "Mr. Zhou, don't worry. Brother Xiang is here, and he knows very well how difficult it is to design the motherboard. Even if the other party has produced a similar motherboard, it's a counterfeit, not an independently designed one."

"Although there are many orders for Linghua's equipment, none of them have been officially shipped yet. The other party imitated the first batch of equipment motherboards from Jiangcheng Machinery Factory."

Chen Xiaoyu was astonished, "This batch of motherboards has issues. If it's convenient for President Zhou, it's best to obtain a Zhongjing device. I will then figure out what's going on."