HLM – Chapter 1064 The Stone Plaza

For schools starting with a Chinese-character name, at this level, donating ten million RMB wasn’t a huge deal; it didn’t make a major difference to the school’s development.

Still, since it was a massive donation, the school gave Wang Bo due respect. The principal and the Party secretary personally received him, organized an alumni reception, and presented him with an honorary alumni certificate.

The money would be used as scholarships for students, named the Wang Bo Scholarship. Each year, each faculty would have two recipients, with an award of 8,000 RMB, to encourage diligent study.

After finishing the donation matters, Wang Bo moved on to business. He met up with Professor Fan and his team researching superhydrophobic microporous metal wires to discuss the buyout of the patent.

Sitting in a laboratory, Professor Fan shook Wang Bo’s hand and sighed: “So you were a student of our school after all. I really feel ashamed for not having looked into this earlier.”

Wang Bo smiled: “Professor Fan, no need for that. I know you’re devoted to academia and research. Besides, I’m not some celebrity; it’s normal that you didn’t know me.”

Other professors involved in the new material development came over to greet him, and Wang Bo shook hands and exchanged words with each of them.

Before getting down to business, Li Xing gave him a knowing glance and whispered with a laugh, “Money and power are really something. Just now, it felt like you were meeting with national leaders—I’m so jealous.”

Then came the discussion on purchasing the superhydrophobic microporous metal wire patent. Wang Bo asked, “Professor Fan, have you all reached an internal decision? What’s the outcome?”

In fact, the outcome was already determined. Professor Fan had communicated with Na Qingyang, who was responsible for this matter, and Wang Bo had brought his lawyer. Asking now was just the formality of final confirmation.

Professor Fan said: “After our phone call, I immediately contacted my colleagues that same day. The patent can be sold to you, but because further research will be needed, if we obtain derivative patents from it, we request to retain those patents.”

Wang Bo smiled ambiguously: “What about my previous proposal? I’m willing to hire you at high salaries, and invest no less than ten million RMB annually into your research projects.”

Professor Fan nodded seriously: “We welcome that. But in that case, the derivative patents we produce…”

Wang Bo interrupted: “Honestly, under those circumstances, the patents should belong to me, the sponsor.”

Professor Fan shook his head: “If that’s the case, then we cannot accept your employment. Mayor Wang, I was honest with you before: this technology is only in its early stages. Otherwise, it wouldn’t be sold to you for just over ten million.”

Other professors agreed: “Exactly. If all patent rights were sold to you, ten million is far too low. Superhydrophobic microporous metal wire is revolutionary for marine operations. Once widely adopted, even just for life jackets, it could make you a fortune, let alone shipbuilding.”

Wang Bo replied: “We still have to be reasonable. Professors, I do not question your ability or authority, but achieving the expected performance with this superhydrophobic microporous metal material is basically impossible.”

And indeed, it was impossible. If it weren’t, the state would have acted already. It truly was a groundbreaking project—if successfully developed, even current warships would have to retire.

What followed was just bargaining. The elderly professors were skilled in their field, tossing out technical jargon and holding firmly to derivative patent rights.

After a full four hours of discussion, they finally reached an agreement. Wang Bo would invest eight million RMB annually into their lab, and for future derivative patents, he would receive a 49% share, with the lab retaining 51%.

After the deal, lawyers drafted dual contracts based on both Chinese and New Zealand law.

The patent for the superhydrophobic microporous metal wire would be under Sunset Limited Liability Company, which would also be the investing entity for the lab.

The professors, being older, were very patient. If they hadn’t argued for four hours, Wang Bo might have found it much harder to get this result.

They had dinner together, with Wang Bo inviting Song Zijun to host—he was a top figure in Linhai City.

Unexpectedly, Wang Bo became the center of attention again. Someone mentioned the recently discovered undersea stone deposits. Song Zijun was very interested and said he planned to send a salvage company to search for the stones.

Wang Bo was curious: “Why is your salvage team acting so late?”

Song Zijun laughed: “Well, I only had a few divers at first, and our salvage boats were rented by some sharp operators. Now the rental period ended, so I’m finally organizing a team to scoop up some soup.”

Wang Bo understood—Song Zijun had initially underestimated the undersea stone deposits. At first, he ignored them, but now that the deposits had grown in scale and more people were profiting, he belatedly wanted in.

This piqued Wang Bo’s interest. He asked: “Your team must be professional. How deep can they dive, and how much weight can they lift?”

Song Zijun smiled proudly: “Ah, you’re an expert, Wang. Exactly the right questions. Yes, my team can reach the bottom, and lift weights starting from a hundred tons.”

Diving to the bottom in the shallow sea area wasn’t a big deal. That shoal was at most 100 meters deep. Even without equipment, divers can reach 120 meters today, and with gear, up to 320 meters.

But lifting a hundred tons was impressive. Retrieving such heavy items from the sea is extremely difficult—most fishing vessels can’t do it. Song Zijun’s salvage ship could haul it up in one go.

Song Zijun was targeting large undersea stones. These stones were impossible for ordinary salvagers to retrieve. While they had little value for collectors, they were useful for factories, companies, schools, and villages. For Wang Bo, they were perfect for decorating the central plaza he planned to build.

He hadn’t intended to get involved before, but now hearing Song Zijun planned to target large stones, his interest was piqued.

Song Zijun had a professional diving team. Wang Bo planned to join them underwater and, in the process, pick out some interesting stones to place in Lake Hawaya, later transferring them to the plaza.