Chapter 66 (2/2): Unconditional love
Shi Fanyin kicked him.
Zhou Yunlian caught his wife, “Don’t fall.”
Shi Fanyin snorted coldly, “If I fall, wouldn’t you be happy!”
“My slipper slipped just now; I almost fell.”
Zhou Yunlian defended himself, “Our son and ZhÅng Yì are freely in love, deeply. Don’t forget how much you cried on our wedding day. Besides, you’ve checked my accounts before, haven’t I stopped you?”
Shi Fanyin stared at her husband. “Do you know how meaningless it is to check accounts? If there were trust, who would check?”
Zhou Yunlian was silent.
After steadying his wife, he let go and went upstairs to contact the lawyer.
Back at Jinghe Campus, Zhou Shíyì first put several gift boxes back in the hotel room and went out carrying the cake.
ZhÅng Yì called after him, “Wait, I’ll go down with you.”
“Not staying to work overtime in the room?”
“No, I’d rather go to the office.”
“The office has a better atmosphere.”
Zhou Shíyì held her hand, their fingers intertwined as they waited for the elevator.
“Yáng XÄ« replied to me, saying she’ll take leave to attend Sister ZhÅng’s wedding.”
ZhÅng Yì was still worried about the best man for her father. “I’ve thought it over, and there’s no suitable candidate.”
Zhou Shíyì suggested, “Let Yán Tínglín be the best man.”
“Will he agree?”
“He’s young; good things like this don’t come often.”
ZhÅng Yì laughed, “If not, we can let ZhÅu JiÄyè be the best man again. Didn’t he want to call my dad ‘Third Brother’? Give him a chance.”
Zhou Shíyì: “They can both be best men. Whoever does better can call him Third Brother. One best man might get complacent.”
ZhÅng Yì laughed all the way to the office and sat in front of the computer, still amused by Zhou ShÃyì’s words.
Níng QuÄ came back after having a late-night snack and passed by her office. “What are you laughing at?”
ZhÅng Yì said, “I was thinking about ZhÅu JiÄyè. Last time he was the only best man, and not only did he slack off, he bailed last minute.”
Níng QuÄ informed her, “Tomorrow’s weekly meeting has been moved to 10 a.m.”
“Postponed?”
“Yeah, Yán Tínglín said it’s impossible to come before 9.”
Yán Tínglín had eaten two pieces of chestnut cake, napped for three hours, set an alarm to wake himself, and went to the lab at midnight.
***
By 9:30 the next morning, even after optimization, the model’s accuracy still lost 2%.
For an autonomous driving model, even 0.2% loss could lead to unpredictable consequences.
But current technology couldn’t break through further, materials were limited, and advanced chip design software was banned—he was stuck.
A clever cook can’t make a meal without rice.
Yán Tínglín went to the rest area to freshen up, changed into a clean shirt, and arrived at the Algorithm Building conference room promptly at 10.
Shà o JÄ«n’Än arrived ten minutes earlier, studying the model’s redundant design.
Though they had long heard of each other, today was their first meeting. They exchanged pleasantries warmly.
Yán Tínglín: “I didn’t expect to be so fortunate to collaborate.”
Shà o JÄ«n’Än: “Thanks to Zhou Zong for making it possible for me to work with you and ZhÅng Zong.”
After sitting down, they cut to the chase.
Shà o JÄ«n’Än looked at ZhÅng Yì. “The redundancy still needs adjustment.”
ZhÅng Yì looked first at Yán Tínglín.
Yán Tínglín immediately understood her glance and apologized, “The accuracy is still lost.”
ZhÅng Yì then responded to Shà o JÄ«n’Än, “If we adjust more, usable computing power will have to decrease.”
Shà o JÄ«n’Än understood her dilemma. “But if we don’t adjust, functional safety can’t be guaranteed, and the car can’t be on the road.”
For ZhÅng Yì, safety was always paramount.
But if adjusted, the model’s response would delay, equally compromising safety.
Adjust or not—both choices were a dilemma.
Shà o JÄ«n’Än sought help from Yán Tínglín. “How about your side? Maybe you can solve this through chip design.”
Yán Tínglín: “I might need three to four months.”
Shà o JÄ«n’Än: “The recent tech ban must have hit your chip team hard.”
Yán Tínglín smiled lightly without dwelling on difficulties. “ZhÅng Zong invited me back hoping to one day achieve domestic full-industry chain independence, no longer controlled by others.”
Difficulties were expected.
He promised ZhÅng Yì, “Give me a few months, and I’ll solve everything for you, including the lost accuracy.”
Last night, Zhou Shíyì brought him cake and told him to stop listening to that song—the speakers were getting overheated.
Before leaving, Zhou Shíyì said, “I’ll take care of the materials you want.”
ZhÅng Yì: “No rush. If it takes more than a few months, it can be a year. I’ll keep optimizing the parameters.”
One thing she worried about was, “Professor Shà o, I have too little extreme scenario data, limiting the model’s generalization ability.”
Shà o JÄ«n’Än: “Don’t worry, I’ll handle it. When constructing the simulation environment, I’ll provide plenty of extreme scenario training data.”
The conference room was packed; everyone knew the project faced severe challenges and listened quietly, no one speaking.
They had expected fierce disagreements at today’s weekly meeting, with everyone at odds, but surprisingly, the three spoke no quarrels.
Instead, they all thought about how to help each other’s teams overcome difficulties.
Before the meeting, Tang Nuoyun brought iced coffee.
Now, it seemed completely unnecessary.
Originally scheduled for an hour and a half, the meeting ended in less than half an hour.
Yán Tínglín leaned back in his chair, comforting his subordinates who looked stressed: “If the sky falls, I’m still here to hold it up.”
“Ning Zong, I heard your algorithm team has the best perks. Do you have iced watermelon? It’s so hot; without it, we might not make it to the chip building. If we get heatstroke, your algorithm team will be in trouble.”
Everyone laughed.
Níng QuÄ: “Watermelon in unlimited supply.”
He told his assistant to notify logistics to send more iced watermelon.
ZhÅng Yì hadn’t wanted to eat watermelon recently after getting sick at Teacher Yu’s place but had been able to eat a few slices lately.
Last night, Zhou Shíyì squeezed her some watermelon juice, and she drank it all.
Everyone had a plate of watermelon in front of them in the conference room, except Níng QuÄ, who was drinking goji berry tea. He felt he wouldn’t touch watermelon again this whole year.
Yán Tínglín glanced at him. “Why not eat? You’re not saving any money by skipping.”
Níng QuÄ: “I got sick from eating it a while ago.”
ZhÅng Yì chuckled, recalling Níng QuÄ eating a lot of watermelon and iced jelly during hotpot last time.
To make up for it, she planned to treat Níng QuÄ to a meal.
Suddenly remembering, she took her phone and snapped a photo of the watermelon, sending it to Zhou Shíyì.
He always said she never messaged, so at least she remembered today.
【Eating watermelon.】
Zhou Shíyì: 【You remembered to message me?】
ZhÅng Yì: 【When I don’t message, I’m still thinking about you.】
Zhou Shíyì: 【In that case, message me more often.】
【Isn’t today a weekly meeting? Is it over?】
ZhÅng Yì replied: 【Just finished, eating some watermelon to relax. The meeting went well. With Shà o JÄ«n’Än here, I feel confident.】
While editing the message, the conference room suddenly stirred.
Hearing “Ning Zong” called repeatedly, she looked up sharply—it was her cousin arriving.
Níng QuÄ stood to greet their boss. “Ning Zong, you came just in time.”
MÇn Tíng: “You continue.”
He had come to the lab to check project progress and heard several teams were having a coordination meeting. He planned to listen in but hadn’t expected them all to be eating watermelon.
Only Shà o JÄ«n’Än hadn’t met MÇn Tíng before. He put down his watermelon, wiped his hands with a towel, and stood.
MÇn Tíng extended his hand. “Welcome aboard. ZhÅng Yì can finally relax.”
Shà o JÄ«n’Än: “Thank you, MÇn Zong and ZhÅng Zong, for your trust.”
After exchanging pleasantries, MÇn Tíng walked toward his cousin.
ZhÅng Yì dragged a chair over and pushed her watermelon toward him.
“Brother, how come you have time to come today?”
MÇn Tíng: “If I didn’t come, Jinghe Campus would become Zhou ShÃyì’s.”
ZhÅng Yì laughed, “I’ll watch it for you.”
MÇn Tíng: “Forget it. If you don’t steal my home, I’m just lucky.”
Both a biological sister and a cousin sided with outsiders when speaking.
ZhÅng Yì laughed until she couldn’t speak.
MÇn Tíng returned to the topic.
“Don’t work too hard. Third Uncle said you’ve lost too much weight. Take your time with the project. If it takes a few more months, it’s fine. Jinghe doesn’t lack money. Neither does Kuncheng.”
ZhÅng Yì was touched. “Thanks, Brother.”
MÇn Tíng looked at Yán Tínglín.
“I’ll come by your office later. Chairman Jia mentioned a few days ago that conditions in your chip building are average, the rest area even worse, and you’ve been eating and sleeping in the office recently—life is tough.”
Yán Tínglín choked on his watermelon.
Except for the unaware Shà o JÄ«n’Än, others tried hard to hold back laughter.
Some couldn’t help but cover their faces silently laughing.
Shà o JÄ«n’Än was confused and whispered to the person beside him, “What’s so funny?”
“They’re laughing at how our boss’s life is full of hardship.”
Yán Tínglín tried to suppress his smile and replied to the boss, “Thanks for your concern, MÇn Zong and Chairman Jia. MÇn Zong, no need to come see me. I’m living well now.”