Zhōu Shíyì glanced at the “Jewelry Appraisal Certificate” while picking up his phone.
【It’s not as messy as my handwriting, but it’s not as good as before.】 After editing it, he sent it directly to Zhōng Yì.
Her usual handwriting was free and easy, yet gentle.
For a while, she practiced his flamboyant calligraphy every day and managed to mimic about forty to fifty percent of it.
Three years had passed, and now there was barely a trace of his penmanship left.
Two minutes passed, and Zhōng Yì still hadn’t replied.
Maybe she was busy.
Or perhaps she was deliberately ignoring him.
Zhōu Shíyì: 【From now on, on Saturdays or Sundays off, I’ll practice calligraphy with you.】
Zhōng Yì: 【No time. Saturday afternoon I have to go study with Yán Tínglín.】
Zhōu Shíyì: 【Study what?】
Zhōng Yì: 【Chip design. He told you to come listen in too.】
Without hesitation, Zhōu Shíyì replied: 【I’m not going. Even if I go, he just makes me do menial tasks.】
Zhōng Yì smiled and texted back: 【I’ll do your menial tasks for you.】
Zhōu Shíyì: 【You took my appraisal certificate, feeling guilty now, huh? Told you not to be curious but you didn’t listen.】
Zhōng Yì fired back: 【I just wanted to see what your lounge looks like, and I happened to see it. You didn’t put it away properly.】
Zhōu Shíyì went along with her: 【Indeed, I didn’t put it away properly.】 He hadn’t expected that she would come see him while busy with the project.
Zhōng Yì asked: 【It really doesn’t look like your handwriting? I thought it did.】
Zhōu Shíyì glanced at the paper again: 【Not like before.】
He folded the “Jewelry Appraisal Certificate” and placed it on top of the stack of documents. 【Not normal to be apart for so long. You haven’t practiced these past few years either.】
He added: 【I’m coming to your place now.】
Zhōng Yì checked the time; it wasn’t even 3:50 PM yet. She definitely wouldn’t be off work before 10 PM.
【So early. What are you here for? Aren’t you busy?】
Zhōu Shíyì: 【What do you think I’m here for? To check on you.】
He continued: 【Not busy. Give me the original appraisal certificate. You keep it there, but every time you look at it, you feel guilty.】
Zhōng Yì joked: 【I knew you came for the certificate, not to see me.】
Zhōu Shíyì: 【Don’t change the subject. If you keep changing it, I’ll take the certificate back anyway.】
Zhōng Yì: 【Then bring my copy of the “Jewelry Appraisal Certificate” to exchange.】
Zhōu Shíyì didn’t reply again. He took the handwritten appraisal certificate and headed to Jinghe Park.
Zhōng Yì put down her phone and was about to get a cup of coffee to refresh herself when Níng Quē’s assistant knocked and entered, carrying a strong aroma of coffee from afar.
“Director Zhōng, I brought you afternoon tea.”
One cup of coffee, two pieces of cake.
“Thank you, I was just getting hungry.”
“You’re welcome.” The assistant noticed she had eaten little for lunch and brought an extra piece of cake.
Zhōng Yì had been focused on the product launch all lunch, hardly eating.
Now that everything had settled, she suddenly felt both hungry and sleepy.
If she leaned on the table, she would fall asleep immediately.
As she ate cake, Níng Quē knocked and came in.
He had been following the entire launch event of Kuncheng and Ruichi, including Shao An Wu Zao’s driving video.
The Zhijia Fuzhu Xitong was excellent at safety—it could intervene and forcibly take over the steering wheel to prevent an accident.
“Besides forcibly taking over the steering wheel, we should also consider how to quickly slow down and switch the headlights the moment the system detects a vehicle driving the wrong way.”
He said.
Zhōng Yì: “Coincidentally, I was just thinking about that.
If the system slows down and switches lights quickly, it buys the wrong-way driver more reaction time.
Both sides avoiding each other doubles the safety margin.
From detection of the wrong-way vehicle to issuing commands to execution, it takes less than one second, maybe even less.
This demands that multi-sensors process data with zero delay.”
Níng Quē: “That bottleneck hasn’t been cracked by any team yet.”
Zhōng Yì was confident they could overcome it, but the difficulty was: “The chip can’t support ultra-high computing power.”
Níng Quē: “Let’s see what Yán Tínglín suggests in the next weekly meeting regarding your programmable problem.
Given current process limits, reserving 20% programmable area is very difficult.”
Zhōng Yì munched on cake and fell into thought.
Níng Quē looked at the two pieces on her plate: “You didn’t eat lunch?”
“No, barely.”
Zhōng Yì asked where he had eaten lunch since she hadn’t seen him in the cafeteria.
“I went to the West Zone Cafeteria to mooch a meal.”
“Mooch Yán Tínglín’s Fanka?”
“Yeah, his Fanka has more money. Eating with his saves mine.”
Zhōng Yì: For the sake of saving a meal, he went so far?
“You use Yán Tínglín’s Fanka every day? Why keep money on your own Fanka then? It doesn’t earn interest.”
“Fanka can’t be cashed out, and he doesn’t get fewer meal subsidies than Yán Tínglín anyway.”
Níng Quē: “Better to keep it to treat you all later. When they eat boxed lunches for overtime, we eat Western food.”
Zhōng Yì laughed: “Better not let Yán Tínglín find out.”
Níng Quē got up: “You should get off work early today and rest. I’ll handle the parameters.”
“No need.”
She could still manage.
Níng Quē left, and the office was quiet again.
Zhōng Yì sipped her afternoon tea, watching Shao An Wu Zao’s past test drive videos.
His footprints spanned the globe; it seemed there was no place he hadn’t been.
He had traveled all the provinces and cities in the country as well.
Shao An Wu Zao had set several Guinness records, driven on ice surfaces at minus dozens of degrees, climbed the highest altitude mountain roads.
He was also a careful observer and meticulous recorder.
The extreme conditions Shao An Wu Zao had experienced were more valuable references than anything she could gather from big data.
Zhōng Yì messaged Zhōu Shíyì: 【You hired Shao An Wu Zao for testing; you must be close?】
Zhōu Shíyì: 【Don’t know him. A friend of Jì Fánxīng.】
He asked: 【Do you want to talk to him?】
Zhōng Yì: 【If it’s convenient. His data is useful for me.】
Zhōu Shíyì: 【I’ll ask Jì Fánxīng to arrange it. We might have dinner together.】
Zhōng Yì: 【OK.】
After finishing her cake, Zhōng Yì didn’t rest but threw herself back into work.
She was completely immersed in coding, unaware when Zhōu Shíyì knocked and entered.
Zhōu Shíyì quietly closed the office door behind him.
Her eyes moved between the three monitors in front of her, completely unaware of his presence.
He had passed through the open office area earlier; few noticed him at their desks.
He recalled Mǐn Tíng’s remark that his presence in the Algorithm Office Building disturbed Zhōng Yì’s work.
While hanging up the phone, Mǐn Tíng added: “If you really have nothing to do, go check on Shen Chi. He needs your attention most.”
Seeing Zhōng Yì still hadn’t noticed him, Zhōu Shíyì quietly retreated.
He hadn’t yet seen the temporary office assigned by Jinghe.
In the elevator lobby on the first floor of the chip building, Zhōu Shíyì met Táng Nuòyún returning from the lab, frowning in thought. She only noticed him when he got close.
“Director Zhōu.” She greeted hurriedly.
Zhōu Shíyì nodded.
The elevator doors opened, and they entered together.
He pressed for the 10th floor and asked Táng Nuòyún: “Which floor?”
“8th floor. Thank you, Director Zhōu.”
9 was now Yán Tínglín’s lucky number; it had been 10 before.
Back then, he deliberately chose the 10th day to ask Zhōng Yì for her WeChat. After being rejected, he changed his lucky number.
Zhōu Shíyì never believed in such things but had a strong aversion to March 22.
“Director Zhōu, is the single-chip cost confirmed with no room for increase?”
Táng Nuòyún still wanted to push a little.
If Kuncheng allowed cost overruns, reserving 10% editable area would be fine.
But 20% was out of the question.
Zhōu Shíyì tilted his head: “Wasn’t that discussed at the meeting? No overruns considered.”
The elevator stopped at the 8th floor.
With no time to talk more, Táng Nuòyún nodded reluctantly.
She wanted to meet Zhōng Yì’s demands but was constrained everywhere and powerless to help.
The elevator continued upward; Zhōu Shíyì got off at the 10th floor.
The office given to him was indeed temporary—only a desk and a sofa inside.
He instructed Zhān Liáng: 【Select an office furniture set to deliver to Jinghe Park.】
Zhān Liáng asked clearly: 【For Director Zhōng or Director Yán?】
Zhōu Shíyì: 【For myself.】
Zhān Liáng misunderstood his boss’s intention.
Zhōu Shíyì suddenly remembered he had only mentioned working in the park to Du without informing his assistant.
【Starting next week, I’ll work at Jinghe.】
He glanced at the assistant’s reply and added: 【Get two sets, choose one for Yán Tínglín as well.】
That way, Yán Tínglín could no longer use his office furniture as an excuse to visit upstairs frequently.
Zhōu Shíyì opened the window; jazz music floated up from below.
He knew the piece well—it was one Yán Tínglín always listened to during the early design phase, especially when stuck in thought.