Rebirth of the Rich Second Generation's Growth Diary

Chapter 119 Real community pilot, new competition mode!
After a while, Li Xu successfully obtained his driver's license.

This was not a difficult task for him, but after getting his driver's license, he was not in a hurry to buy a car. He had several cars at home, so he could just pick one to drive.

It was the end of the semester when I got my driver's license.

The advantage is that Lao Liu doesn’t have to spend time picking him up and dropping him off at school every day.

There is an open-air parking lot opposite the school, which makes it much more convenient to drive there to and from school every day.

Li Xu drove into the parking lot and took off his schoolbag.

Some students passing by noticed it and looked at him with surprise and envy.

In this regard, Li Xu does not deliberately create a simple and low-key image. He is what he is and there is no need to deliberately show off, but there is no need to compromise himself in places where it is convenient for him for the sake of other people's eyes.

As soon as he entered the classroom, Xue Xue stopped him and said, "Li Xu, did you receive the notice?"

Li Xu nodded and said, "We'll be busy during the next summer vacation."

Xue Xue felt more confident when she saw that Li Xu was not panicking at all.

Li Xu now is like their anchor.

The thing is, there has been a huge adjustment to the national competition policy this year. The final finalists and shortlisted projects are required to conduct pilot projects in real communities.

This is the final year that the national tournament is tied to walks, so it's normal to have some big changes.

Of course, the most important reason is that the four topics shortlisted for the national competition are all highly practical.

The theme of this year's competition is "City and the Future", so every project is related to the city.

The four projects shortlisted this year naturally include Li Xu and his team’s intelligent energy management system.

After knowing the other three opponents, Li Xu felt tremendous pressure.

They are: the Tsinghua and Peking University teams, whose work is a home photovoltaic energy system; the Huaxing Youth Group, whose work is a remote home appliance control system; and the Free Lighthouse Team from Ami, whose work is an intelligent security system.

The strength of these opponents should not be underestimated.

Recently, the country introduced a smart city pilot policy. In addition, several of their projects are highly practical, so the competition was finally changed to a pilot project in a real community. The final result will be comprehensively judged based on the results of the pilot project.

They had to take leave before summer vacation even started.

Xue Xue was obviously very excited about the upcoming challenge.

Although Li Xu looked calm, he was actually very nervous inside.

The final form of the game was something he had not anticipated at all, and these opponents were very strong. Compared to their makeshift team of five people, the power behind the other three groups of opponents should not be underestimated.

The teams from Peking University and Tsinghua University are backed by top universities. Although the competition system has requirements and the schools cannot provide them with too much direct help, they come to participate in the competition and use the names of their own schools, so the schools will give them certain support no matter what.

Huaxing Youth Group is backed by Huaxing Company, so even the youth scientific research teams they train are definitely the best of the best.

The last team, the Freedom Lighthouse Team, is an international youth scientific research team that has been selected through layers of screening from Amei. Especially in the past few years when domestic science and technology has not yet experienced a big boom, they are at a clear disadvantage when facing Amei.

But he is the helmsman of the team. Others can panic and be nervous, but he cannot. He has to appear confident at all times!

After the summer vacation began, Li Xu and his group rushed to the capital without stopping, and the real competition began.

……

On the first day of the competition, the atmosphere was tense and heated, and the air seemed to be filled with invisible smoke of gunpowder.

The participating teams gathered in the spacious and bright exhibition hall, where they will make their first appearance on the national competition stage - the concept presentation session.

Li Xu stood backstage with a firm and confident look in his eyes. He was not too nervous about the upcoming performance.

Recalling the product presentation at the provincial competition, from the long day and night preparations in the early stages, to the nervousness and excitement when I went on stage, to the final successful recognition, those experiences have become the basis for my confidence at this moment.

At this moment, he carefully checked the presentation materials again to ensure that every detail was correct.

At the end of his last performance, he shouted, "This is the technical warmth that youth should have," which aroused enthusiastic response from the audience.

But he knew in his heart that this set of skills was no longer enough in this fiercely competitive national competition.

After thinking for a long time, he decided to use the formula "household energy saving = Σ(emotional needs ÷ technological anxiety)" as the conclusion of this work.

When it was Li Xu's team's turn to present, he walked steadily onto the stage and began his methodical presentation. His voice was clear and resonant. Finally, when he confidently presented his unique formula for derivation, the audience erupted in a flurry of discussion, followed by enthusiastic applause, and the judges nodded in approval.

The effect is good.

However, unlike the provincial competition, this is just the beginning.

Starting from the pilot deployment of the system, special reports were given at specific venues every week for nearly two months.

The judges will examine the system from multiple dimensions, including installation and debugging, operational stability, and actual effects. Each link is crucial, and the final result of the competition will be determined based on the comprehensive score of the entire process.

When Li Xu listened carefully to the presentations of the other three teams, he keenly discovered that their focus was on the system itself.

The Tsinghua and Peking University teams used detailed data and cutting-edge technology to demonstrate the reliability of home photovoltaic energy systems. The Huaxing Youth Team emphasized the convenience and stability of remote home appliance control systems through actual demonstrations and user feedback. The Freedom Lighthouse Team comprehensively explained the advantages of intelligent security sensor systems from technical principles to application scenarios.

Li Xu's heart tightened. He realized that the game had just begun, and his team seemed to have deviated from the direction. This was undoubtedly a sign of a bad start.

At this point, the product launch-style results presentation from last time is obviously no longer effective.

The teams that are able to enter the national competition all have systems that are capable of implementation.

The most important factor is the ability to achieve mass production.

This means that the system must not only be technologically advanced, but also meet certain standards in terms of cost control, production technology, etc. Subsequently, the organizing committee of the competition announced that each team would be given one month to complete the system installation in the pilot community C.

This month will be a critical period for all teams to race against time and sprint with all their strength. Li Xu knows that greater challenges are yet to come.

……

Although the pilot project is being carried out in a real community, it does not need to be installed in the entire community, as the cost of doing so is still too high.

All four of their systems were piloted in the same unit.

On the first day, they first visited this unit.

Liu Yunfei complained speechlessly, "To use such a small community for a pilot project is truly a waste of natural resources."

After hearing Liu Yunfei's words, several people expressed their deep agreement.

Indeed, the quality of this community is very high. After all, it is a national pilot community, and many smart city ideas will be verified here first.

The community's infrastructure is among the best in the country, so there is nothing wrong with using it for scientific research.

But to Liu Yunfei and the others, it still seemed a little shocking. Especially in Liu Yunfei's opinion, it was an extremely awkward thing to use the place where he lived as a testing ground for others.

Li Xu smiled dumbly and said, "Okay, let's get down to business."

Residents living in this community often participate in some pilot projects, so they are not surprised by the system that Li Xu and his team are about to install.

Li Xu assigned tasks to several people in turn and arranged them to work.

Liu Yunfei was about to leave when he suddenly turned around and asked, "You've arranged work for us all, so what are you doing?"

Li Xu smiled slightly and said, "Today will be a hard day. Of course I will arrange good food and a place to rest for you."

Ye Ruida said slowly, "Don't worry about other things. Li Xu won't let him sit idle."

Liu Yunfei blushed slightly and said, "That's not what I meant." Then he chose to shut up. The more he explained, the more confusing it became.

Several people burst into laughter.

In order to facilitate the smooth progress of scientific research, Li Xu did not plan to let several teammates live in the dormitory apartments arranged by the organizing committee. Instead, he found a hotel closest to the pilot community and discussed directly with the manager to rent five rooms for two months!

Naturally, it is a considerable expense.

But this time Li Xu didn't even have to ask his dad for money.

After the news of Li Xu's participation in the national competition spread, Li Yuqian appeared very calm on the surface, but in fact he was already very happy in his heart.

This time, he generously transferred a seven-digit sum of money into Li Xu's account and let him squander it.

Of course, with Li Xu's current project progress, even without his father's support, he can completely rely on this project to find funding sources.

After arranging everything suitable for living, Ye Ruida and his team had not yet finished.

Li Xu took advantage of his free time and went to the car rental market to buy a BMW 5 Series sedan, also for a two-month lease, as his means of transportation in the capital during this period.

After everything was arranged, and things were almost done over there, Li Xu drove over to pick them up. When Li Xu drove the rented 5 Series to the gate of the community, Xue Xue jumped over and said, "That's great! The material conditions we enjoy for this competition are really amazing. I love you, boss!"

Lei Yinbing and Ye Ruida looked at each other and were somewhat used to Li Xu often paying out of his own pocket to help them improve their lives.

Only Liu Yunfei frowned slightly, and after a moment of deliberation, he said, "Aren't we being too high-profile?"

Then everyone looked at him. Liu Yunfei coughed lightly and said, "What I mean is that the gap between the other three teams and us is too obvious."

Li Xu shook his head nonchalantly and said, "For them, this is a competition, but for me, it's more than just a competition. We don't need to worry about how others arrange things. We just do what makes us feel comfortable."

Hearing this, Liu Yunfei stopped talking. After all, living comfortably and eating well was something no one would object to. It was just that Liu Yunfei was used to making a fortune quietly, and this somewhat ostentatious lifestyle wasn't something he was used to.

While eating, we talked about the results of today's investigation.

Ye Ruida said: "The infrastructure of this community is very complete. Whether it is the electrical facilities and equipment or the network facilities and equipment, the standards used are extremely high. There is no problem installing our system."

Xue Xue also nodded and said, "The residents are also very cooperative with our project. I have visited every household, and no one has objected so far."

It is worth mentioning that although the final competition is scheduled to be piloted in this community unit, it does not mean that the residents there will definitely accept to participate in this pilot. This also requires the research team to communicate and negotiate with the residents there.

In fact, this is also part of the game.

Afterwards, they discussed the details and then talked about other interesting topics.

Just as they were chatting happily, Ye Ruida suddenly remembered something. He was silent for a moment, interrupting Xue Xue, who was laughing heartily, and said, "Oh, there's something I need to tell you all."

Everyone turned their gaze to Ye Ruida. He briefly organized his words and said, "During our inspection today, the Freedom Lighthouse team was also present. Their security system requires the use of the internet, so in a sense, our system conflicts with theirs."

Everyone turned their attention to the other side. Lei Yinbing frowned and said, "What kind of conflict could we have with them?"

Ye Ruida said seriously, "I also overheard it. Their network security module wants to establish control permissions for home routers, and our data relies on the home network. This is a hidden danger."

Li Xu pondered for a moment, then looked at Liu Yunfei and said, "Yunfei, you're an expert in this area. Can you analyze the impact of the Freedom Lighthouse team's security system on our energy management system?"

Liu Yunfei thought for a moment and said, "They briefly explained that system at their work presentation yesterday. In principle, it's similar to ours. They just use more sensors to collect data, send it to a backend server, and use algorithms to analyze and determine home security from various dimensions. Logically, they shouldn't have network management permissions."

"If their system has control over our home network, wouldn't it be easy for them to restrict our data transmission? And for ordinary families, this is actually a security risk, right?"

After listening to Liu Yunfei's analysis, the previously cheerful atmosphere suddenly became quiet.

Everyone turned their gaze towards Li Xu. When they didn't know what to do, they habitually looked at Li Xu.

Li Xu narrowed his eyes and thought seriously in his mind, how would those outstanding entrepreneurs or even teachers make decisions and deal with this situation.

After thinking for a while, Li Xu seemed to have found a clue amidst the complex tangle. He then said seriously, "My view on this matter is that we are always competitors with other teams. We are always in a competitive relationship. We don't play tricks, but we cannot help but be on guard against others doing so. Moreover, the authority their team has will obviously jeopardize the fairness of the competition, so we must nip this possibility in the bud in the bud."

Once the direction is decided, the next step is to figure out how to do it.

Lei Yinbing put down his chopsticks and said, "Then we will appeal to the organizing committee and ask them to revoke their network control rights."

Li Xu shook his head, thought for a moment, and said, "Huaxing Youth Group, their system is for remote control of home appliances, right? This also requires the use of the Internet."

Liu Yunfei asked curiously, "You mean to let them go and make trouble?"

Li Xu quickly made a decision and said, "Well, let's contact the Huaxing Youth League privately first to see if we can file a joint complaint with them. Meanwhile, we'll deploy and install our energy management system during this time. Yunfei doesn't have much to do, so can you think of a way to technically prevent any malicious throttling or data tampering that might actually occur?"

Liu Yunfei said: "I will find a way to write a program that leaves a trace."

Then Li Xu comforted them: "But everyone, don't be too nervous."

"First of all, this competition is no longer just a simple scientific research competition. Since it involves a pilot project, it must be very standardized."

"Home network control rights involve user privacy and network security, and have strict authentication and authorization mechanisms, so they cannot be obtained at will."

"And from the perspective of the competition, the organizing committee generally strictly regulates the scope and method of obtaining permissions for participating projects to avoid security risks and unfair competition. But again, we just need to do our best to be prepared for any eventuality."

Later facts proved that Li Xu's judgment was correct. The authority of the Free Lighthouse Team was not at that high level and was operating within the framework.

However, although they had no way to directly restrict and tamper with the data of other systems, there were still some potential risks in sharing the same network, so Liu Yunfei wrote the program as it was.

A week later, all preliminary inspections of the four teams were completed and the first progress report meeting began as scheduled.

In addition to reporting the results of the first phase of the investigation, this conference will also require a physical demonstration of the system hardware.

However, Li Xu had planned everything, but he never expected that the first disturbance he encountered in this competition would occur at this report meeting.

Li Xu's team is the only team composed mainly of high school students.

The order of presentation was decided by drawing lots, and unfortunately they drew the last one.

Last time at the provincial competition, I was the last one to go on stage to present my results, and I was the finale, but being the last one this time may not be a good thing.

When the representatives of the Peking University and Tsinghua University teams brought out their most core technology - photovoltaic tracking technology, this technology immediately made several expert judges on the scene applaud and praise it, saying that it has completely reached the level of graduate students!

As the first team to present their work, Peking University and Tsinghua University's system made it difficult for those who came on stage later to introduce it.

Xue Xue, who was standing below, said unconvincedly, "Undergraduates from Peking University and Tsinghua University are not much different from graduate students from ordinary universities, right? It's a bit of a bully."

Li Xu smiled dumbly and said, "They are demonstrating their technology openly, there's nothing to complain about. However, we are just a little younger than them, and our talent is no less than theirs. In a few years, we will definitely be able to create something more powerful than their system!"

In comparison, the works presented by Huaxing Youth Group and Free Lighthouse Team were not particularly impressive.

Li Xu, who was sitting in the audience, knew very well that Huaxing's technical route and the Free Lighthouse Team's security system would not cause any big waves in the future.

This is already very telling.

Huaxing Youth Group is okay. After all, if they change their technical route slightly, it will become the prototype of Huaxing Smart Selection in the future.

In a sense, Huaxing's system is similar to theirs.

But the Liberty Lighthouse team's security system is a bit outrageous.

After all, national conditions are different.

Perhaps Amei really needs such a security system to make her home safer, but Li Xu firmly believes that there is a 99.99% chance that his country will not need this system.

However, this thought only flashed through Li Xu's mind.

This is not something he should focus on.

Then it was his turn to take the stage.

Li Xu's introduction to this hardware system was quite standard.

However, it must be said that compared with several other systems, Li Xu and his team's system may only be considered ordinary in terms of technical difficulty, but it is the highest in terms of practical innovation.

Although the photovoltaic system technology of the Tsinghua and Peking University teams is very advanced, the problem is that the cost is also very high and the cost-effectiveness is too low.

In this competition, technology only accounts for 40 points, and the remaining 60 points are divided into 40 points for business and 20 points for innovation and practicality.

When Li Xu was introducing, it was obvious that several judges and experts in the audience showed great interest.

But something unexpected happened during the question-and-answer session.

An electrical engineering professor pushed up his glasses, took Li Xu's team's materials, and carefully examined them for a while before asking, "Your hardware solution involves Texas Instruments sensor modules, right?"

Li Xu was stunned for a moment. He knew all the details of this system.

When asked the question, he nodded subconsciously: "Yes, teacher."

The teacher placed his pen on the table, folded his arms across his chest, and leaned back slightly in his chair. Then, with a serious expression, he said, "Is there no domestic alternative?"

Li Xu was stunned for a moment, then suddenly realized something and his pupils shrank.

Despite all his calculations, he had forgotten about this one thing - sanctions and controls!

You should know that the projects that make it to the finals are, in a sense, the focus of national attention. Because the grasp of future trends is unclear, any scientific research project has the potential to become a future trend.

Li Xu's project has already demonstrated certain potential, so when judging it, the far-sighted professors will all realize the problem: they rely on foreign parts. What if the supply is cut off?
The other links are fine, but if this system can really be used commercially on a large scale, or even enter some important areas - it seems too early to consider this now, but it is not impossible.

At that time, I was stuck by a certain component. What should I do?
The old professor's tone grew serious. "How can we even talk about energy independence if we don't even have a domestic alternative?"

This is an extremely harsh review.

Energy independence is a concept that Li Xu mentioned before. He was originally just joking about the family's energy independence, but he didn't expect the professor to directly elevate it to a higher level.

The sudden questioning caught Li Xu off guard.

What he didn't notice was that among the judges in the audience, there was an old professor wearing a red scarf, but without a name tag in front of him. He was looking at Li Xu with interest, to see how he planned to deal with the next situation.

(End of this chapter)