Awakening Elementary School System in University

Hearing Chen Lin, Sun Yu was still hesitating whether he or Shen Yan should speak first when he noticed Chen Lin’s gaze had already turned to him.

Sun Yu’s spirits rose. He quickly cleared his throat and began to report on his accomplishments over the past two days.

"President Chen, it’s like this!" His voice held a trace of irrepressible excitement. "I’ve spent the last two days going through the client list from President Peng, and I found a company that’s a perfect fit for our business!"

He flipped the document to a specific page and pointed at the company logo for Chen Lin and Shen Yan.

"This one right here: Era Group. They’re currently the largest domestic CNC machine tool company with the most comprehensive product line."

"CNC machine tools?" Chen Lin raised an eyebrow. He’d heard a bit about the field, knew they were the "mother machines" of industrial manufacturing, and that the technology involved was highly advanced.

Seeing his boss’s interest, Sun Yu grew even more animated. "Exactly! But while Era Group is a domestic leader, they’re still lagging far behind the international giant, Ximengzi from Hans Country. Especially in terms of their software ecosystem and level of automation, they’re getting completely crushed."

He had clearly done his homework, casually dropping industry jargon: "Ximengzi has a proprietary software suite called NX that integrates all three stages—CAD (Computer-Aided Design), CAM (Computer-Aided Manufacturing), and CAE (Computer-Aided Engineering)—to achieve a fully digitized workflow from design and simulation to final production. Meanwhile, Era Group’s software is much more limited, and core algorithm optimization has always been a major headache for them."

At this point, a proud look appeared on Sun Yu’s face. "Era Group’s CTO is a good friend of President Peng. Apparently, President Peng mentioned your mathematical prowess, so they’re willing to give it a shot and see if you can help them with their algorithm optimization."

He handed the document to Chen Lin, pointing to a section he had circled in red. "So, in the materials they provided to President Peng, they included a test problem. It seems that if they’re satisfied with our solution, they’ll immediately send their technical lead to Jinmen to discuss their actual requirements with us in person. After all, those details probably involve trade secrets, so it’s not something they can discuss online."

Finally, Sun Yu patted his chest, his tone clearly looking for praise as he concluded, "Don’t worry, President Chen! I’ve already stripped away all the complex engineering context and distilled the core issue into a pure mathematical problem!"

With that, he looked at Chen Lin expectantly, as if waiting for an order to present the challenge.

Beside them, Shen Yan also grew curious. She didn’t know much about industrial manufacturing, but the moment she heard "math problem," her clear eyes involuntarily lit up.

However, to everyone’s surprise, after listening to Sun Yu’s detailed report, Chen Lin showed no sign of excitement about tackling the problem.

He simply gave a slight nod to show he understood. Then, as if suddenly remembering something, he slapped his thigh.

"Oh, what is wrong with me? I forgot the most important thing!"

With that, he completely ignored the expectant Sun Yu, turned around, and called out to Huang Yiyi, who was at the other end of the office, engrossed in screening intern applications.

"Assistant Huang! I need you to do something for me first, please!"

Huang Yiyi looked up, a questioning expression on her face. "Yes, President Chen? What do you need?"

"Right now, I need you to draft a standard technical service contract template." Chen Lin walked over to her, speaking quickly but with perfect clarity. "The contract needs to make one thing clear: for any new client who wants us to solve a test problem to verify our capabilities, the act of solving that test problem is, in itself, an independent technical service that requires separate payment."

He paused before adding, "Once the test is complete and the client has acknowledged our expertise, if they decide to entrust us with their actual core problem, we’ll then sign a new, formal project contract with them for a larger amount, based on the specific difficulty and workload."

The moment Chen Lin said this, not only Huang Yiyi but also Sun Yu and Shen Yan, who were standing nearby, were left completely stunned.

’We have to charge them just to solve a test problem?’

Sun Yu remembered the first time he’d come to Chen Lin for a consultation. Back then, Chen Lin had even given him a deal on two problems to prove his worth.

He started to feel a bit anxious. ’Era Group is a client personally referred by President Peng. If we do this, won’t they think we’re being too greedy? We might offend them.’

However, Chen Lin had his own line of reasoning.

His thinking was simple, even brutally so.

Now that he had founded a company, everything had to be done by the book, following the most formal and commercialized procedures.

’What are my skills actually worth?’

Tiansheng Investment and the university had put down real money, giving him a pre-money valuation of 15 million.

And the System had given him a true valuation of a whopping fifty million!

’And that’s just at the company’s inception. There’s still plenty of room to grow.’

’How could an asset this valuable be offered up for free testing so casually?’

’There has to be a barrier to entry!’

’Even if the fee for this test is small, we absolutely have to charge it!’

This wasn’t about the amount of money. It was about principle, about rules. It was about setting the tone for Yanhai right from its founding.

’Want a freebie?’

’Not a chance!’

As expected of an elite from Tiansheng Group, Huang Yiyi grasped the deeper meaning behind her boss’s decision in just a few seconds. A flash of admiration even crossed her eyes.

She immediately nodded in agreement. "Alright, President Chen, I understand. I’ll start drafting it right away."

Without another word or a moment’s hesitation, her hands flew across the keyboard with a CLACK-CLACK-CLACK.

Having settled the matter, Chen Lin turned around in satisfaction and walked back over to Sun Yu.

He held out his hand for Sun Yu’s document.

"Alright, now let me see that problem."

Hearing Chen Lin’s words, Sun Yu’s spirits lifted. He quickly and carefully handed the document over.

It was a single A4 sheet of paper containing just one, meticulously prepared math problem.

As Chen Lin took the paper and his eyes fell upon it, Sun Yu began to explain.

"It’s like this, President Chen." Sun Yu pointed to a diagram on the paper, doing his best to explain in the simplest terms he could muster. "Just think of this CNC machine as a super-precise robotic arm that can move freely on an XY plane. We give it a command, like ’move to coordinates (10, 10),’ and theoretically, its cutting tool should stop at the exact point (10, 10)."

"But in reality, because the machine’s own components—like the guide rails and ball screws—can never be one hundred percent perfect, and because the machine generates heat as it runs, causing thermal expansion and contraction... all these factors create a tiny deviation between its actual position and the commanded position. For example, we might tell it to go to (10, 10), but it actually ends up at (10.01, 9.99)."

"This deviation is called ’geometric error.’ Don’t underestimate it just because it’s small. In high-precision machining, an error of just a few hundredths of a millimeter can mean an entire, expensive part has to be scrapped. That’s why figuring out how to predict and compensate for this error with algorithms is one of the core technologies in high-end CNC machines."