Mr. Bao and his son: Only use Stankang for hair oil

Chapter 104 I’m here for fame and fortune
At this time, the value of Hou's alkali production method is actually not that great:
The domestic coastal areas have not yet been occupied by the Japanese army. As long as the sea exists, there will be no shortage of sodium chloride.

Secondly, domestic production of synthetic ammonia and other processes are still controlled by others. Among other things, we cannot produce seamless steel pipes. We need foreigners to nod and spend a lot of money to build factories...

But from an industrial point of view, the practical value of the Hou's alkali production method at this time is not inferior to that of the Solvay alkali production method. From an agricultural point of view, the by-product ammonium chloride also has high economic value.

Even if this kind of technology is not used now, it can always be used in future wars.

But these are not the headaches that Bao Guowei should have now. He only knows that this research can make his name famous abroad.

……

Inside the factory manager's office.

Probably because he was too tired before, after hearing the news brought by Bao Guowei, Mr. Hou suddenly felt a pain in his head. He rubbed his temples:

"Classmate Bao Guowei, no one else knows about this yet, right?"

Bao Guowei has been trying to hide his identity from others in the past few days, intentionally or unintentionally, for fear that this technique will be stolen, so there is no need to worry about this kind of thing:

"In the past few days, I have been working in a group by myself. Except for occasionally asking Mr. Li to prepare some basic ingredients for me, I have not mentioned my experimental process to anyone."

Hearing this, Mr. Hou breathed a sigh of relief. He took a sip of Biluochun tea on the table, then dialed the landline next to the office and called the guard office:

"Hey! Lao Wang! Ask Dadong to come over, yes, come over now..."

……

Tianjin is in the north, and it is winter again now. It gets dark early and the sun disappears at four o'clock in the afternoon.

Various laboratories in the research building of the Academy of Sciences have turned on the electric lights, and people are continuing to conduct complicated chemical experiments under the lights.

There was something unusual today. The researchers in Laboratory No. [-] actually received a notice to get off work early:

"Laboratory No. [-] will finish work early today, and wages will remain the same. Please properly handle the aftermath of the experiment before finishing work to avoid accidents."

Repeating chemical experiments day after day is very boring, and no one wants to work even for an extra moment.

After receiving this notice, the laboratory staff hurriedly ended the experiment at hand and left the laboratory after eliminating all potential safety hazards caused by the experiment.

"Why did you get off work early today? Didn't you always wish we could work overtime until night?"

"I don't know, but it's getting colder and colder lately. Let's go home and warm up by the fire."

"By the way, where is the young man who has been doing experiments in the laboratory?"

"I don't know, maybe I just came to the lab to have fun, and ran away after the novelty wore off."

Soon, No. [-] Laboratory of Novo University was empty.

……

At 04:30 in the afternoon, the door of Laboratory No. [-] was opened, and two people walked in: one was Mr. Hou Debang, and the other was Mr. Bao Guowei.

With a "click" sound, more than a dozen light bulbs on the ceiling were turned back on, and the laboratory was illuminated as if it were daytime: the marble walls and iron experimental bench were shaking, making people dizzy.

"Mr. Hou, follow me."

Under the leadership of Bao Guowei, Mr. Hou came to an experimental platform in the northwest corner.

Mr. Hou looked at the experimental equipment on the iron table and the materials arranged beside the table. He frowned, thoughtfully.

"Classmate Bao Guowei, can you reproduce this experimental process for me?"

"can."

Faced with Mr. Hou's request, Bao Guowei naturally could not refuse. After all, it was Mr. Hou's "invention" and he would not keep it to himself.

He re-selected a set of cleaned experimental equipment, and after preliminary assembly, he took down the high-concentration chlorine gas sealed bottles and saturated sodium chloride solution from the storage shelf...

Mr. Hou Debang just stood there and watched Bao Guowei busy here and there.

His mood at the moment was a bit complicated - not only expectation, but also fear.

He hopes that Bao Guowei succeeds - China's alkali-making industry can take a step forward, at least at an academic level.

In fact, not only in the method of making alkali, this country is still controlled by others even in pre-processing technologies such as the production of synthetic ammonia. But after all, it has lagged so far behind. Nowadays, even a little progress is good.

Mr. Hou vaguely hoped that Bao Guowei... would fail.

He is 37 years old this year. He has devoted almost the first half of his life to the alkali production industry. He has devoted almost all his body and mind to improving the Solvay alkali production method. He had previously begun to study the new alkali production method. It’s not the first year now…

But now there is a middle school student who has just arrived in the chemical plant. It may only take him three days to catch up with more than ten years of hard work. He will inevitably feel worried about gains and losses.

Mr. Hou put his hands behind his waist and paced back and forth near the experimental table. His hard-soled leather shoes made a "tapping" sound of varying frequencies on the bluestone floor, indicating that his mood at the moment was not as calm as he appeared. .

Bao Guowei didn't care what Mr. Hou thought. After making preliminary preparations for the experiment, he took out the match, lit the candle, and began to heat the sodium chloride solution in the beaker.

After the thermometer's reading reached 30 degrees Celsius, Bao Guowei took out the ammonia gas sealed bottle, and after some operations, used a catheter to pass in the sodium chloride solution...

……

After some careful operations, the experiment was finally completed. The finished product sodium hydroxide and the by-product ammonium chloride had been put into two glass dishes by Bao Guowei.

"Mr. Hou Debang, the experiment has been completed."

Bao Guowei's face showed a little tiredness. He did this complete experiment very slowly, which took a full hour, which was very energy-consuming.

At this moment, the sky has completely darkened. From the window of the laboratory, you can see the bright moon hanging in the sky, looming among the gray and black clouds.

When the experiment came to an end, Mr. Hou Debang had already prepared platinum wire and purple litmus paper in advance.

In fact, based on the experimental raw materials and experimental process, as well as the properties of the two products, Mr. Hou almost confirmed that the products in front of him were indeed soda ash and ammonium chloride.

However, in line with the rigor of a scientific researcher, he still had to conduct the final step of testing.

Bao Guowei had already given up his position in advance. Mr. Hou nodded to him and then came to the experimental table, ready to start the test - his slightly trembling hands revealed that he was a little nervous inside.

After heating the platinum wire with an alcohol lamp, he gently stretched the platinum wire into a small pile of sodium hydroxide powder on the iron plate, and a yellow flame rose with a "pop" sound.

Seeing the scene in front of him, Mr. Hou felt as if his brain had been hit with a big hammer. He felt a little dizzy. His originally squinty eyes also widened a lot at this moment.Without enough time to calm down, Mr. Hou's eyes turned to another glass plate, which also contained a ball of white powder - ammonium chloride.

He smeared moist purple litmus paper onto another pile of white powder—it turned blue.

"This... soda ash and ammonium chloride? Just do this? Just do this? You can make soda ash and ammonium chloride just by doing this..."

Hou Debang froze on the spot, muttering this sentence repeatedly in his heart. His eyes were still staring at the blue test paper in his hand, and he felt as if he was dreaming.

Over the years, the new alkali production method that I had dreamed of researching just appeared?And it came from a middle school student who was barely fifteen years old?
This man, who had received a perfect score of [-] points in a college entrance examination, received a doctorate in engineering from Massachusetts, and led the domestic alkali-making industry to win an award at the Philadelphia Exposition, began to doubt his ability for the first time.

"Mr. Hou? Factory Director Hou?"

Bao Guowei's shout brought Mr. Hou back from his thoughts.

After coming back to his senses, Mr. Hou put both hands on Bao Guowei's shoulders and shook them. Probably because he was too excited, Mr. Hou's hands were quite strong.

"Classmate Bao Guowei, you... are simply a genius!"

Hearing this compliment, Bao Guowei always felt a little weird: He actually plagiarized other people's research results in front of others, and in the end, people were still praising him?

"Mr. Hou, you deserve the award. Without your trust and guidance, how could I..."

The meaning of Bao Guowei's words is obvious: this research result was "guided" by Mr. Hou...

If Mr. Hou is willing, he can get some credit in the name of his mentor.

Mr. Hou Debang is a smart man, how could he not understand the meaning of Bao Guowei's words? His expression stiffened for a moment, then returned to normal in an instant.

"Classmate Bao Guowei, you are simply born to do chemical research. There are more than a dozen researchers in the alkali plant, and with so many people, the research results of these years are not even for you..."

Mr. Hou pretended not to understand and changed the topic. This was actually within Bao Guowei's expectation. With Mr. Hou's temperament, he naturally disdained to take advantage of others:

"Mr. Hou, I'm still in middle school, and I'm afraid I have to go to school for a few more years. Let's talk about this kind of thing later."

Bao Guowei smiled and declined Mr. Hou's request.

People with amazing talents can easily achieve success in whatever they do.

Historically, Hou's alkali production method, which only appeared in 13, came to the world [-] years ahead of schedule.

I wonder what direction Mr. Hou will choose to conduct research in the future, and what new achievements will he make?
……

Mr. Hou took Bao Guowei and repeated the experiment several times in the laboratory.

He found paper and pen from the laboratory and kept recording the experimental data while doing the experiment.

Bao Guowei didn't stop him in any way - he had already shown the entire experimental process to others before, and it didn't matter whether they remembered the experimental data or not.

Although Mr. Hou is now a factory director, in the final analysis he is still an academic fanatic. After getting the new alkali production method, he was obviously in a very excited mood - until Bao Guowei's hungry stomach let out a "gurgling" sound. After hearing the sound, Mr. Hou finally broke away from his identity as a researcher.

When Mr. Hou heard Bao Guowei's voice, his eyes finally left the experimental device. He put down the pen and paper in his hand and scratched his somewhat Mediterranean head:

"Classmate Bao Guowei, I'm sorry, I've lost my temper a little today. Do you want to go out for a meal together?"

"of course can."

It was now one o'clock in the morning the next day, and the employee canteen of the chemical plant had been closed for several hours. The two of them could only choose to find a restaurant outside to cope.

As soon as he walked out of the laboratory building, Bao Guowei met three of his servants. They all looked anxious and stretched their heads to look at the roof of the laboratory building.

They obviously wanted to go in, but were stopped outside by the guard guarding the door of the experimental building.

Seeing that Bao Guowei was safe and sound, the three servants finally felt at ease.

"Let's all disperse! Mr. Hou and I are going out to have a meal."

After hearing Bao Guowei's shouting, the three servants dispersed and returned to their dormitories to rest.

……

Before going out for dinner, Mr. Hou also brought several doormen with guns on their backs.

Even in a big city like Tianjin, you have to be careful when traveling at night, and don't bring too many people with you, otherwise it won't be worth it if you encounter some hooligans or the like.

In Mr. Li's Tianjin restaurant, the palace lanterns on the ceiling are on and the dining tables are made of mahogany. Even though it is past two o'clock in the morning, there are still a dozen or so luxuriously dressed diners dining here.

Mr. Hou is still in a very good mood. As soon as he sat on the chair, he said generously to Bao Guowei opposite:
"Classmate Bao Guowei, feel free to eat whatever you want! I'm treating you today!"

……

Soon there was a plate of Bazhen tofu, a whole roast duck, a pot of stewed fresh sea fish, two large bowls of rice, and finally a large plate of sliced ​​sausages.

Even in a high-end restaurant, the cost of this meal is only two yuan, which is negligible compared to Bao Guowei's recent expenses on taking the train.

"Mr. Hou, I will return to Jiangnan in a few days."

While eating, Bao Guowei suddenly said this.

Hearing Bao Guowei's words, Mr. Hou was stunned for a moment. He was going back so soon?

"Classmate Bao Guowei, don't you have to take a month off during the winter vacation? Why don't you stay in the alkali plant for a few more days?

If you feel that your food and accommodation are not good, I can improve it for you, or rent you a place outside..."

Bao Guowei shook his head. He originally planned to stay in Tianjin for ten days and a half, but on the way here, the figure of Lao Bao kept appearing in his mind, and he always remembered that he seemed to be begging him not to do it that day. The look of someone traveling far away.

For Bao Guowei, as long as the fame, fortune and wealth are enough, the most important thing is his family.

Therefore, Bao Guowei planned to leave the alkali plant early and embark on the road back to Suzhou after finishing his work.

Mr. Hou stuffed a piece of fish into his mouth. At this moment, he had already recalled what Bao Guowei meant by what he just said:
"You have now developed a new method of making alkali. If this method is made public, I am afraid it will cause a lot of repercussions in the academic world..."

"Yes, I came here just for fame and fortune."

Bao Guowei is outspoken.

(End of this chapter)