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CH 054 GETTING TO THE BOTTOM OF EVERYTHING
Jiang Chen raised his head and looked at Shi Fengyue quietly.
He said lightly: “It’s also not wrong to say that, I do have some curiosity about you.”
Shi Fengyue leaned forward slightly, resting his chin on one hand, his thick eyelashes reflected on his pupils, and only one person reflected in his eyes: “It seems that we all need to get to know each other better.”
Jiang Chen looked directly at the scrutiny hidden under the banter, and slightly curled his lips upwards: “Curiosity is curiosity, but there is no need to deepen the understanding.”
Shi Fengyue: “Why?”
Jiang Chen: “Does Dr. Shi like to get to the bottom of everything?”
Shi Fengyue: “Only things that interest me.”
Jiang Chen’s eyes curved: “Even if your interest will affect other people?”
Shi Fengyue said without hesitation, “Yes.”
Jiang Chen leaned back, the smile in his eyes had faded, and his tone was calm: “This is the reason.”
Shi Fengyue put away his smile, but Jiang Chen’s face remained unchanged. When the four eyes met, the air in the coffee shop seemed to be torn into two worlds: stagnant and noisy.
Mo Xi looked at Li Nanfeng who was wiping his clothes after coughing latte from his nostrils on the left, and on the right he looked at He Qianmin who had a dark face and He Qianyu who was blinking innocently. He then scooted back cautiously, trying to minimize his sense of existence.
The waiter carried the plate over and placed the drinks that Mo Xi and the others had just ordered one by one.
“Second Brother.” He Qianyu pulled He Qianmin’s sleeve and said, “I want to eat your cake.”
He Qianmin pushed the matcha mousse in front of him to He Qianyu, glanced at Shi Fengyue’s face, picked up the question book on one side, opened it and said to Jiang Chen, “Big Brother, can you explain this question again to me.”
Jiang Chen withdrew his gaze, lowered his eyes to look at the question, and soon started discussing seriously with He Qianmin.
A single coffee table seemed to be divided into two worlds, one side was the three children who were studying hard, and the other was the three grown-ups who kept silent.
Li Nanfeng finally wiped his clothes clean, and as if he couldn’t sense the atmosphere in front of him, he said with a smile: “Jiang Chen, your grades should be very good.”
He Qianmin glanced at him coldly: “What do you mean very good? My Big Brother has always been number one on exams.”
“That good?” Li Nanfeng seemed to be interested, and asked: “I heard from Mo Xi that you plan to study computer science in the future? What direction?”
“AI.” Seeing that someone eased the atmosphere, Mox Xi quickly answered for Jiang Chen: “Currently there is no such direction for undergraduates in China. It is mostly chosen after graduate school. Jiang Chen can choose computer science or mathematics in college.”
“AI?” Li Nanfeng smiled and said, “Our company has been researching and developing this recently. When you graduate, you can work in our company.”
Jiang Chen raised his eyes: “I wonder what the current research direction of Mr. Li’s company is?”
“Currently the voice system on the mobile terminal is the most invested.” Li Nanfeng said: “We are also planning to develop a face recognition system. Several small technology companies have produced finished products, but I am not satisfied with the effect, so it is hard to say. We are very likely to independently develop a face recognition system, but it is hard to find researchers, and booking one in advance now can be considered as a reserve of talents for the future, Jiang Chen, are you interested?”
The pen was twirling rapidly between Jiang Chen’s fingers, he closed his eyes and pondered, then asked after a few seconds: “Mr. Li wants a mature face recognition system, are you planning to buy it out?”
“Of course not.” Li Nanfeng folded his hands on the table and said with a smile: “The AI market is not mature now, and even the mature scientific research results need to be improved with the development of the times. What I want is not a single result, but the people who are responsible for the R&D results, or the team, and only when there are talents can our company always stand at the top of the industry.”
Jiang Chen: “Excuse me, may I ask the name of Mr. Li’s company?”
“Li De Group.”
After turning the pen, Jiang Chen raised his eyes: “Li De?”
Li Nanfeng curled his lips upward: “I am the general manager and head of the R&D department of Li De.”
Li Nanfeng, Li De
..
For the first time, Jiang Chen took a serious look at the seemingly foppish young man in front of him. Unexpectedly, the only old enemy in the book who could compete with He Qianjian and also the only one who made He Qianjian suffer countless falls but could only swallow it all down was sitting opposite him.
That novel was not so much a novel as it was more like a biography written from the perspective of a bystander. There were very few ups and downs and inner character descriptions in the book, and it was more about recording the things the protagonist He Qianjian had done.
Jiang Chen knew all the things He Qianjian had done, but he couldn’t know the details of how he did one thing, because most of the time in the book it only described the reason why He Qianjian did one thing and the result, while the intermediate process and the mental journey between him and others were very little.
He Qianjian’s mental journey would be described in detail only when he encountered matters related to two people, one of whom was Jiang Chen himself, and the other was Li Nanfeng.
Therefore, Jiang Chen was deeply impressed by Li Nanfeng, who made He Qianjian extremely jealous, and the Li De Group, which brought great pressure to He Qianjian. He had thought that he might meet the enemy’s enemy if he had the opportunity in the future, but he didn’t expect this meeting to come so early.
“What?” Li Nanfeng asked, “Surprised?”
Jiang Chen nodded, and chuckled lightly, “I’m really surprised.”
Shi Fengyue raised his eyes, and his gaze lightly swept over Li Nanfeng.
Li Nanfeng coughed and said, “After you graduate, you can come to our company. When the time comes, you can come to me without the need to do an interview.”
Jiang Chen tapped his fingers on the table, thoughtful.
“I have a business proposal I want to discuss with Mr. Li. When is Mr. Li free?”
Li Nanfeng: “What business?”
“Speech system and face recognition.”
Li Nanfeng was stunned for a rare moment, then leaned back, looked Jiang Chen up and down, and teased: “You don’t mean to say that you have mature research results in your hands, do you?”
Jiang Chen nodded, and looked at him quietly.
The young man’s calmness made the smile on Li Nanfeng’s face gradually fade away. He sat up straight and said with a smile, “Using a normal person’s way of thinking, your age is really not convincing, but there is someone who holds three patents by the age of fifteen next to me, so——I am willing to give you a chance to make an appointment to talk about this cooperation, but I have to state in advance that friendship belongs to friendship, and the result will only depend on what you have in your hands.”
Jiang Chen stretched out his hand, and the corner of his mouth slightly hooked up: “You can see it now.”
Li Nanfeng’s eyes fell on Jiang Chen’s mobile phone laying on his palm.
“This phone?”
Jiang Chen put the phone in the middle of the coffee table, long pressed on the phone, and a few seconds later, a mechanical male voice sounded:
——”Dylan, do you need help?”
Li Nanfeng’s eyes widened suddenly, and the gazes of the others quickly focused on the center of the coffee table.
Li Nanfeng looked at Jiang Chen, his voice becoming a little excited: “What is this?”
Jiang Chen put a finger to his lips, and said, “Please help me open the photo album.”
Within seconds, the phone screen changed from the home page to the photo album.
The voice on the phone asked, “Do you need help retrieving the photos?”
From the corner of his eyes, Jiang Chen saw He Qianmin who looked surprised and excited, and said with a smile, “Please help me find Qian Min’s photo.”
“During the search, there was one photo of He Qianmin. Do you want to open it?”
“Open.”
A photo of He Qianmin pursing his lips sullenly and showing an aggrieved look at the hot pot restaurant showed up on the screen, and in the steaming mist on the side, there was Jiang Chen looking at the camera with a smile on his face.
He Qianmin’s ears turned red instantly, and he reached out to pick up his phone, “Big Brother! Who took this picture? It’s so ugly!”
“It was taken by Shen Xu.” Jiang Chen betrayed Shen Xu without hesitation.
“I just knew it was him!” He Qianmin quickly found the delete button, but agter hesitating for a long time with a dark face, he didn’t press it. This seemed to be the first photo of him and his brother. He hesitated for a moment, and sent the photo to his phone instead.
Li Nanfeng tried his best to suppress the excitement surging all over his body, but his eager voice inevitably leaked a bit: “Is the system or chip in your mobile phone developed by yourself?”
Jiang Chen rolled his eyes: “Voice system and face recognition system, the model of this phone can’t carry my latest system yet, this is only the initial version.”
“Just the initial version
..” Li Nanfeng stood up straight, put his hands on his head and walked back and forth in the aisle several times. Suddenly, he turned and walked back to the coffee table, and asked with his hands on the table: “How do you plan to cooperate?”
“You have seen some of the results now.” Jiang Chen glanced at Yang Yun who was coming from the opposite road, and said, “Let’s make an appointment to discuss the details later.”
Li Nanfeng could no longer hide his impatience: “I have time now, let’s talk today!”
Jiang Chen smiled: “Today is not suitable.”
“Why?” Li Nanfeng said without hesitation, “What is it? I’ll help you solve it.”
Jiang Chen tilted his head, motioning him to look behind him.
Yang Yun pushed the door open and entered, walking towards this side with a smile.
Li Nanfeng paused, and belatedly realized that now was indeed not the time to talk about cooperation. However, he would fly abroad tomorrow, and this trip would take at least five days before he could return home. If they didn’t discuss this matter immediately, and settle it with a contract, he couldn’t travel with peace of mind.
Because, he understood better than anyone else that once the technology in Jiang Chen’s hands was known, what a storm it would cause. He was afraid that when he came back, he wouldn’t even be able to eat the dredges, let alone the soup.
Jiang Chen knew Li Nanfeng’s worries. This was the reason why he hadn’t revealed what he had before and didn’t find someone to cooperate with. After two lifetimes, he knew very well how unpredictable the influence would be if the research and development results fell into the hands of untrustworthy people.
Even now, when he chose to cooperate with Li Nanfeng, he still didn’t think Li Nanfeng was a trustworthy person. However, as far as the present time was concerned, Li Nanfeng was the best choice compared to others.
“You can rest assured.” Jiang Chen said, “I have no plans to disclose the results to the public for the time being.”
Jiang Chen’s certainty made Li Nanfeng calm down. He wanted to ask something, but when he thought about the situation now, he swallowed his words back: “I’ll be on a plane early this morning, and go on a business trip abroad for a few days. Next Wednesday at the earliest, I’ll come back, and that day happens to be He Qianyang’s birthday. I have to attend, so how about we meet at the He family’s party then?”
Jiang Chen: “I can wait——”
“Xiao Chen is also going to Qian Yang’s party?” Yang Yun happened to hear Li Nanfeng’s last words, and said delightedly: “How wonderful, Auntie will ask the driver to pick you up at your home.”
Getting in touch with He Qianmin and his family in advance had disrupted Jiang Chen’s plan. Before he really came of age, he wanted to avoid contact with more of the He family as much as possible, but in this case, it would be inappropriate to repeatedly refuse.
“Thank you, Aunt Yang, but there’s no need.” Jiang Chen swallowed the refusal: “I can go by myself when the time comes.”
Yang Yun smiled softly and said, “Then Auntie will be waiting for you at home.”
“Then it’s a deal.” Li Nanfeng heaved a sigh of relief.
Jiang Chen nodded: “See you then.”
Seeing that they have a good relationship, Yang Yun politely invited Li Nanfeng and the others: “It’s time for dinner, let’s have dinner together.”
“No need.” Thinking of the cooperation that he wasn’t sure would be possible or not in a few days, Li Nanfeng now wanted nothing more than to fly back to the office to prepare everything, and stretch every minute to an hour. He hurriedly got up and said, “Thank you, Aunt Yang, but I still have something to do at work and I need to go back immediately.”
Seeing that he was really in a hurry, Yang Yun said empathetically, “Then go ahead, and come over for dinner when you have a chance in the future.”
Li Nanfeng confirmed the appointed time with Jiang Chen again, then with Shi Fengyue and Mo Xi, who had a dazed expression since Jiang Chen’s cell phone made a sound, they strode away.
Watching Li Nanfeng and the others leave, Jiang Chen also stood up: “Aunt Yang, I
..” As soon as he began, the phone rang. When he saw the caller ID, Jiang Chen instantly burst into a smile. He apologized softly, stepped aside and answered the phone.
Yang Yun’s gaze followed Jiang Chen involuntarily, and what she saw was his side face with lowered eyes and a slight smile, and his gentle and clear voice flowed over to her ears.
“Mom.”
——It was his mother who called.
“What special day is today, you actually made braised meatballs.”
——Jiang Chen liked to eat braised meatballs.
“What cake? The shop across the park?”
“Okay, I’ll pay attention to safety, but it’s not appropriate for me to go back so early on the anniversary of you and Dad?”
——With such an intimate and casual tone, he should have a good relationship with his parents.
“I see, I’ll be back soon, bye.”
Jiang Chen hung up the phone, turned around and met Yang Yun’s gaze. He paused, ignoring the strange feeling in his heart, and smiled lightly.
“Aunt Yang, I’m sorry, my mother has already prepared my dinner, and I can’t have dinner with you.”
Yang Yun had already guessed it, but when she heard Jiang Chen say this, she still felt a little disappointed in her heart: “Since your mother has already prepared dinner, let’s have dinner together next time, do you want Auntie to send you back? “
“No need.” Jiang Chen declined politely, “This place is very close to my house, and I also need to help my mother buy some things, so I’ll just walk back.”
Yang Yun could only nod: “Then be careful on the road.”
Jiang Chen smiled, and after saying goodbye to He siblings in a warm voice, he turned and left the coffee shop.
The Jiang’s was indeed not far from here. If one walked, one only needed to pass through a park and walk seven to eight hundred meters along the street to reach the community where the Jiang family’s house was located.
Holding a cake in one hand, Jiang Chen walked around the bamboo forest in the center of the park, and occasionally stopped to watch the night view, taking it easy and leisurely. Although walking through the bamboo forest would be closer, but today was the 20th anniversary of his parents’ marriage, and he wanted to give them more time for just the two of them.
At the end of the bamboo forest was a lake shrouded in moonlight. The melodious sound of the violin came, accompanying the ripples and flowing water quietly. Jiang Chen stopped and looked in the direction of the sound. After a while, he followed the softer and softer sound. Walking through a short path, an open space suddenly appeared, and in the middle stood a young man playing the violin.
The young man didn’t notice an outsider’s arrival, and skillfully changed the position of his fingers on the string. His eyes were gentle and clear, and the sound of the violin was full of longing.
Jiang Chen stood where he was, unable to help but stop and listen.
At the end of the piece, the boy lowered his head and stroked the violin in his hand, his profile under the moonlight was quiet and lonely.
Jiang Chen didn’t want to disturb him, so he left on light footsteps. Before he walked out of the path, he suddenly heard a suppressed sob. His steps paused, and he could hear faint sobbing mixed with some incomprehensible words. Jiang Chen stood for several seconds and then turned and went back.
A clean handkerchief appeared in his vision.
The boy squatting on the ground raised his head in a daze, and it took a few seconds for him to react. He hurriedly wiped away his tears, stood up and said, “Thank you, but no need.”
Jiang Chen took back the handkerchief: “I heard you playing the violin when I passed by just now, and I couldn’t help listening to it for a while longer. I’m sorry if I disturbed you.”
After apologizing, Jiang Chen nodded slightly, turned and left.
“Wait.” The boy called to stop him.
Jiang Chen turned his head, looking puzzled.
You Jiuyu tightened his grip on the violin, his ears turned red, and his voice was dry with tension: “Can you listen to me playing another piece?” Pausing a bit, he seemed to have gathered his courage and looked straight into Jiang Chen’s eyes, saying word by word: “I want to try, how it will feel to have an audience.”
Jiang Chen walked to the bench beside the open space and sat down, saying with a slight smile, “I look forward to it.”
The young man’s eyes followed him, accidentally meeting his smiling eyes. He turned his eyes away, took a deep breath, rested his left cheek lightly on the chin rest, closed his eyes and started playing.
At the end of the piece, the boy opened his eyes, his anticipation clearly visible.
Jiang Chen truthfully told his feelings: “It’s very nice. Although I don’t know much about music, I can hear longing from it.”
“Longing
..?” The young man thought of something, and he lowered his eyes and fell silent. After a while, he looked up at the night sky and said softly: “If you are not in a hurry, can you listen to three more? Every time before, the person I miss would listen to me play five pieces.”
“Of course.”
The boy turned his head and smiled, lowering his eyes and began playing.
Three pieces of violin music with completely different styles flowed from his fingertips. When it was over, Jiang Chen was a little regretful.
The young man smiled shyly, sat down beside Jiang Chen, and carefully put the violin into the case.
“Thank you, for the first time in ten years, someone listened to me playing the violin.”
Jiang Chen smiled slightly: “It’s my honor.”
The young man looked up at the sky, and said softly, “It’s actually my honor for you to listen to me playing the violin. In fact
..for a moment just now, I thought you were the person my mother sent to comfort me.”
Jiang Chen also raised his head and said with a smile, “She must be using her way to comfort and support you where you can’t see.”
The boy’s eyelashes trembled, and he turned to look at Jiang Chen. For some reason, facing a stranger, he suddenly had the desire to confide in him: “My mother was a violinist
..”
The boy’s mother was a very famous violinist when she was alive. She played all over the world all year round, but unfortunately passed away in a car accident on the way back from a performance. His father, who loved his mother deeply, did not want to be hurt by memories, and since then he had not allowed anything related to the violin in the house, including the sound. Since then, he had never practiced the violin at home, and only brought his violin to this park to practice every time he missed his mother, day after day, and it had been ten years now.
Jiang Chen’s voice was calm and gentle: “Have you never thought about talking to your father?”
The boy smiled wryly and shook his head: “Father thinks that I don’t have the talent to play the violin. In his eyes, no one in this world can match the music played by my mother. Of course, I also feel the same
..”
“Does your mother feel the same way?”
The young man was startled, turned to look at him, and after a long time, said: “My mother once said that I was the most talented violinist she had ever seen, but that’s just a mother’s opinion of her child
..” His voice gradually lowered, his eyes dimming.
“Your mother is not only a mother, but also an excellent violin player. You should trust her fairness and professionalism in her evaluation, and most importantly
..” Jiang Chen turned his head and smiled: “Tonight, these few violin pieces were the most beautiful and touching music I have ever heard.”
“Really?”
Jiang Chen pursed his lips and smiled slightly: “Of course.”
The young man stared at him in a daze, until Jiang Chen raised his eyebrows in puzzlement, then he quickly looked away: “Thank you, thank you, and your comfort
.”
“What I’m saying is the truth, not just consolation.” Jiang Chen glanced at his watch, and placed the second one of the buy-one-get-one cake next to the young man: “A reward for touching people’s hearts, I believe you will have more viewers in the future. I should go now, see you in the future if there’s a chance.”
The young man’s eyes fell on the cake box. From the corner of his eye, he saw that Jiang Chen had already walked out of the open space. He hurriedly stood up, chased after him, and called out: “May I know your name?”
Jiang Chen looked back and smiled slightly: “Jiang Chen.”
“My name is You Jiuyu.” You Jiuyu walked up to Jiang Chen, looked him in the eyes, stretched out his hand and said, “Nice to meet you, Jiang Chen.”
Jiang Chen shook his hand, and said with a slight smile, “I am also very happy to meet you, You Jiuyu.”