Chapter 59: The Seven Treasures of Buddhism

After spending the entire afternoon chatting with Li Mingran, they finally reached several agreements.

As the primary sponsor, Zhao Zejun would personally fund the artificial intelligence robot project of Li Mingran's laboratory. Before the laboratory produced any major scientific research achievements, the amount was tentatively set at two hundred thousand per year.

Once major achievements were made, the price would be renegotiated. Under equivalent conditions, or even slightly disadvantageous ones, Zhao Zejun would still be chosen as the primary sponsor.

Li Mingran himself was hired as the technical consultant and honorary vice general manager of Zeyue, providing technical and social resource support to the company.

Zhao Zejun would collaborate with Li Mingran's laboratory. Li Mingran's graduate students could intern and take on part-time roles at Zeyue, enjoying the benefits of full-time employees. Zeyue would open up all types of thesis-related materials and data to Li Mingran and his laboratory while providing guidance. Provided that national and university-mandated tasks and projects were safeguarded, the laboratory's research capabilities would be given priority allocation toward Zhao Zejun's projects.

In addition, Zhao Zejun assigned the first research project to the laboratory along with an initial seed funding of two hundred thousand.

Between funding the artificial intelligence project and Professor Li's visit, student Zhao had spent four hundred thousand.

Zhao Zejun spent this four hundred thousand quite happily. He was not afraid of spending money; not knowing how to spend earned money was the real trouble.

Collaborating with Li Mingran's laboratory completely resolved Zhao Zejun's weakness in technical capabilities. Li Mingran himself was a well-known software expert in the country, leading a group of graduate students with strong professional skills and backed by the orthodox resources of the University of Science and Technology, resulting in formidable research and development strength.

Even compared with the research teams of several major domestic companies at present, this team was not inferior in technology. The only gap might still be industry experience. A developer's different understanding of the market and the industry would be directly reflected in the software's functionality.

If the team didn't understand, Zhao Zejun understood.

Li Mingran himself also interacted with many key laboratories in various key fields at the University of Science and Technology, possessing a certain level of fame and connections within the industry. When necessary, all of these could be utilized by Zhao Zejun. The cost was a year's consultancy fee—not a small sum, considerably higher than Li Mingran's basic income as a professor.

Zhao Zejun knew that in just a few years, the minds of those university teachers would become active, and they would successively take on projects and engineering work outside. By that time, trying to recruit Li Mingran and his laboratory with four hundred thousand would likely fall far short.

This group of master's and doctoral students in the laboratory would eventually become the technological reserve talent pool at Zhao Zejun's disposal. Once conditions matured, outstanding students who had participated in the projects could be brought under his wing, turning the laboratory into an incubation pool for future technological strength.

Of course, it was still too early to talk about this right now.

The final point was that artificial intelligence itself was indeed a promising industry. From a long-term perspective, investing in technology might bring unexpected and startling returns.

The specific cooperation plan still needed to be discussed in detail, but there was no time left today. He agreed on a time with Li Mingran and then they parted ways.

According to the original plan, before the start of the semester, Zhao Zejun had arranged one more task for himself.

He would contact Old Niu, pay him a visit in person, and take the opportunity to observe the cooperating Changsheng Pharmaceutical Factory on-site.

With the advent of SARS, the pharmaceutical industry presented an opportunity. Zhao Zejun couldn't research a drug to treat SARS, nor did he know how to cure it, but having a ready-made pharmaceutical factory doing nothing during the SARS outbreak was simply too much of a waste.

If they couldn't produce drugs, they could surely make something else.

By the way, he could also build a relationship with Old Niu.

Lately, people had constantly been approaching him for investments; who knew when he might need someone to inject capital into his own ventures? Coal tycoon Old Niu, who had more money than he knew what to do with, was a fine benefactor.

With a single phone call, Old Niu finally pronounced his name correctly this time!

Moved to tears, hearing this old man with a thick local accent call him "Zhao Zejun," Zhao Zejun actually felt somewhat unaccustomed to it for a moment.

The nouveau riche Old Niu was extremely like a traditional Chinese landlord, stubbornly believing that nowhere was better than his hometown. Although he made oceans of money, he holed up in his hometown in Yuhe County for most of the year, regardless of the season. He had built a huge house locally and lived a shameless, happy life with his five wives and a large family.

In the past two years, Old Niu had become superstitious about longevity and health preservation. With the picturesque landscapes of the countryside, he was even less willing to come to heavily polluted big cities.

Zhao Zejun scoffed at this. He believed that rural environments in other places were good, but Yuhe County was entirely surrounded by coal mines. One-fifth of all coal in the entire southern Jiangsu province was produced around Yuhe County. Over the decades, coal mining, coal burning, coal washing... the economic takeoff of the entire county and the city above it had nurtured a deformed, massive enterprise like Deyuan Group—cherished by the county and fawned upon by the city—yet the environment had long since been wrecked beyond recognition.

Zhao Zejun knew Old Niu's mindset: a standard landlord guarding his treasures.

Before heading to Yuhe County, Zhao Zejun first returned to Yijiang City to look for Shen Lian at the antique market.

Going empty-handed on a first visit was inappropriate, and ordinary gifts would not catch Old Niu's eye; giving something like that was worse than giving nothing. Shen Lian often had strange little gadgets here, so Zhao Zejun had made a phone call asking him to help find something suitable as a gift for a two- or three-year-old child.

Preferably something like "stone."

As it happened, Shen Lian had one readily on hand.

It was rare for Shen Lian's shop to actually have a customer. Seeing Zhao Zejun appear, Shen Lian nodded at him expressionlessly: "Have a seat first."

"Go ahead with your business." Zhao Zejun walked around the shop casually with his hands behind his back. On several shelves, strange and bizarre trinkets were displayed, and it was impossible to tell whether they were genuine or fake.

Shen Lian haggled with the customer, finally selling a "Yuan Datou" silver dollar for eight thousand seven hundred.

The sucker of a customer paid the money, grabbed the silver dollar, and walked out the door with a cheerful grin. Shen Lian turned around, lifted the curtain to go into the back room, and before long, came out with a box, handing it to Zhao Zejun.

Upon opening it, inside was a small stone the color of an egg yolk, about three centimeters long, somewhat like amber but opaque, strung with a silk cord to serve as a pendant.

Touching it, it felt quite warm and smooth, neither cold nor hot, neither soft nor hard...

"Mutton-fat jade?" he blurted out.

Shen Lian rolled his eyes: "What mutton-fat jade? Old ambergris."

"Oh oh oh, ambergris, I've heard of it."

Ambergris was actually a type of amber, but rarer than amber. Amber was transparent, while ambergris was opaque, formed through the secondary fossilization and solidification of amber. Genuine old ambergris rivaled gold in price. In his past life, Zhao Zejun knew a tycoon who constantly played with a string of ambergris in his hands.

If he were to gift a chunk of gold like that, Old Niu might not even think much of it, and it would be too tacky. Ambergris was different; not only was it rare, but it also carried a touch of cultural color.

The nouveau riche upstart loved cultural artifacts! The less cultured they were, the more they loved them.

"Is it the real deal?" Zhao Zejun asked.

Shen Lian fetched a basin of water and dropped the ambergris into it. Clearly a stone, it floated right on the surface of the water.

Zhao Zejun smiled cheerfully: "This is quite interesting. Old Shen, tell me what benefits this thing has, so I can introduce it to others."

Shen Lian took the ambergris out of the water, wiped it with a towel, and said: "Leaving aside how good-looking it is, the temperature of ambergris remains constant in all four seasons, making it suitable to wear. From a pharmacological standpoint, ambergris contains minerals, and long-term wear allows the medicinal properties to be absorbed by the skin, helping to smooth blood circulation, alleviate aging, and promote sleep. It also has a certain therapeutic effect on osteoporosis and arthritis. However, since you're giving it to a child..."

He placed the ambergris back into the box before continuing: "Just emphasize two points. First, it calms the mind and invigorates the brain, stabilizes sleep, and makes people feel joyful. Some children cry incessantly, and after wearing it, there will be noticeable effects. If worn from childhood, the minerals are beneficial for a child's physical growth. Second, red chalcedony, ambergris, giant clam shell, pearl, coral, gold, and silver are the Seven Treasures of Buddhism, and ambergris is one of them. From ancient times to the present, it has been an auspicious item, believed to possess strong spirituality, guiding people into the realm of wisdom, while also averting disasters, dispelling evil spirits, and keeping unclean things at bay."

"Hey, this is good!"

Zhao Zejun was somewhat skeptical about the "medicinal functions" of ambergris. After all, it was just such a small piece of stone; even if it truly had medicinal effects, they would be negligible. Besides, there were many factors affecting human health, and no one could be certain that an improvement in physical condition was the work of ambergris.

As for the latter—the Seven Treasures of Buddhism, warding off evil and ensuring safety—this shared a wonderful resonance with Old Niu's tireless pursuit of immortality. It was simply the perfect fit to gift to his precious son!

"This thing doesn't have an odor, does it?" He picked it up and sniffed it. Fortunately, there was no peculiar smell at all.

For a two- or three-year-old child, the respiratory tract was too fragile, and any strange odor would affect the development of their sense of smell or even trigger illness. Therefore, children generally did not wear accessories with pungent odors, and incense burners were strictly prohibited in infant rooms.

"This is amber; after tens of millions of years of sedimentation, it naturally has a very special scent. But humans can't smell it unless you were born with a dog's nose," Shen Lian said.

"Alright, I'll take it. How much?" Zhao Zejun tucked it into his pocket.

"Take it and play with it, it's my gift to you," Shen Lian said.

"Ah?" Zhao Zejun was stunned, subconsciously looking at the ambergris in his hand: "Old Shen, I'm giving this to someone. Money is no object, please make sure you aren't giving me a fake."

"I'm planning to transfer this shop; I won't be doing business here anymore. Who knows if we'll ever meet again in the future, just take it as a memento." Shen Lian managed a rare trace of a smile.

Zhao Zejun originally wanted to ask why he was quitting so abruptly, but the words reached his lips and he swallowed them back. Shen Lian's background was far too complicated; it was wisest to steer clear of it.

He nodded: "Then thank you, brother. Once you wrap up your business, you'll have plenty of time. Whenever you're free in the provincial capital, I'll play the host."