Xu Liming shouted, "We're already living together, do we really need to say this out loud!"
Sun Junmei said, "Don't worry, our daughter is perfectly fine. Nothing like what you're thinking is happening!"
Xu Liming's face lit up with joy: "Really? Our daughter is so beautiful, I don't believe that boy wouldn't be tempted by her every day."
Sun Junmei said, "Don't I know my own daughter? If she really slept with that boy, I could tell at a glance. You've really misunderstood Xiaoya. Don't throw tantrums anymore, or we'll team up to deal with you."
Xu Liming smiled and said, "If only I had a son, then my son and I could team up against you."
Sun Junmei retorted without backing down, "You, if you're not afraid of being punished by your workplace, I'll support you!"
Xu Liming picked up the rice porridge again: "Eat quickly."
Sun Junmei asked, puzzled, "Why? You should chew slowly and carefully."
Xu Liming said, "Didn't you say you'd raise another son for me? After you finish eating, come inside and work hard."
Sun Junmei kicked her husband: "You shameless old man!"
Xu Liming chuckled: "I've had too much work at the office these past few days, and I'm feeling really down. Can you help me 'relax' a bit? There's something I just don't understand. Why is Secretary Shan so fixated on Shunfeng Technology? Although he hasn't said it outright, everyone knows that the cases he's investigating are all about law enforcement personnel involved in Shunfeng Technology's illegal activities. Even if Zhao Qiang is Professor Gu's student, he hasn't officially become his disciple yet, has he? Even if he had, would Shan Hongfei and the others be going to such lengths to help him?"
Sun Junmei said, "You should ask your daughter about this. But it would be a great joy for our family if Professor Gu could accept her as a graduate student. Professor Gu is highly respected and even central leaders attach great importance to him. If Xiaoya can gain Professor Gu's appreciation, her future will be bright, and we parents will have less to worry about."
Xu Liming slammed his hand on the table and said, "Who says otherwise? But Xiaoya is sticking to Zhao Qiang now, which will delay her studies. If she angers Professor Gu, he might cancel her graduate school spot. I think Shan Hongfei is helping Zhao Qiang because of our daughter. Our Xiaoya's grades have always been so good. Professor Gu must have noticed that."
Sun Junmei thought for a moment and said, "Maybe, but Professor Gu is such a smart person that he wouldn't take Zhao Qiang as a student for no reason. So you shouldn't be prejudiced against Zhao Qiang in the future. It would be best if you could use Xiaoya's name to contact Secretary Shan and the others more."
Xu Liming said with difficulty, "If that's the case, I'll have to switch sides again. Wouldn't that make me a traitor? How am I supposed to work in the government after that? You don't need to worry about this."
Xu Xiaoya sat down at the computer in a huff, opened the message and saw that it was a reply to the message she left for Zhao Qiang before dinner: "Dinner has started, you should eat too."
Xu Xiaoya asked, "Eating instant noodles again?"
Zhao Qiang said, "No, it was stir-fried at a restaurant."
Xu Xiaoya replied with a smile, "Oh, it's a treat! I knew I shouldn't have come back this evening, or my dad would have scolded me again."
Zhao Qiang said, "Alright, stop arguing with your dad. He's had a tough time too."
Xu Xiaoya said, "You always speak well of him, but do you know what? Today my dad even said bad things about you."
Zhao Qiang sent a teeth-grinding emoji, "I'm thick-skinned and not afraid. Okay, let's drink, that's enough."
Xu Xiaoya hurriedly typed a few words: "Wait, drinking? Who's at the company?"
Zhao Qiang replied, "Hu Xiaojiang, you called me, bye-bye." As if afraid that Xu Xiaoya would continue chatting, Zhao Qiang's profile picture immediately turned gray.
Xu Xiaoya immediately replied, "I'll go too. I just bought some things at the supermarket this evening and will bring them to you. Wait for me."
Xu Xiaoya dressed neatly and left the room. Xu Liming sat on the living room sofa reading the newspaper, while Sun Junmei was washing dishes in the kitchen. When Xu Liming saw his daughter's attire, he asked, "Where are you going so late?"
Xu Xiaoya said matter-of-factly, "Go back to school, otherwise you'll miss tomorrow morning's self-study session."
Xu Liming wanted to stop her, but Sun Junmei peeked out from the kitchen and shook her head at him. Watching her daughter leave, Xu Liming threw the newspaper heavily on the sofa. "She must have gone to find Zhao Qiang."
Sun Junmei said, "Alright, Lao Xu, young people getting together doesn't lead to as many bad things as you think. I warned my daughter before, and she knew what she was doing. She assured me that nothing bad would happen. Besides, my daughter and Zhao Qiang are really just classmates and colleagues. You can put your mind at ease, okay?"
It's normal for the elderly couple to care about their daughter; it's only natural.
Xu Xiaoya drove back to Shunfeng Technology Company in no time. She had the key to the big iron gate, so she opened the gate herself and parked the car in the yard. Sure enough, two figures were reflected in the window of the finance department, already raising their glasses and drinking. As Xu Xiaoya unloaded things from the car, she muttered to herself, "These two guys didn't even wait for me. I'll get them drunk later."
(An extra chapter added, please vote! Thanks to Feihe Chat for the 588 Qidian coins! Thanks to Deep Blue Whale and Da丨God's Hand for the donations!)
Volume 2 [093] Super Biochip
Hu Xiaojiang pointed to a bottle of Wuliangye he had brought and said, "This is it for tonight. We'll each have half. It's also a way of making up for the banquet we had for your opening. I was too busy then to come and congratulate you. Giving you a separate banquet shows how sincere I am."
Zhao Qiang handed him the bamboo chopsticks: "Eat your vegetables first, try the boiled pork slices, I specially asked the owner to add extra chili."
Hu Xiaojiang started cooking: "Okay, it's freezing outside, so having some chili peppers is a good idea. I'll treat you to hot pot later, with fatty beef, it'll be even more delicious when you cook it."
Zhao Qiang reached out and said, "Give me the hard drive, I'll save the data to my computer first."
Hu Xiaojiang was stuffing a slice of meat into his mouth: "Let's do it after we finish eating."
Zhao Qiang said, "Didn't you want this special effect? I'll send it to my friend first, otherwise you definitely won't get it on Christmas Day."
Hu Xiaojiang quickly rummaged through his bag for a portable hard drive: "Yes, yes, you've thought this through. This is a big order worth a million. Lao Zhao, you must tell them to hurry up with the work. As for the quality, it's best to improve it a bit more than the last one, 'Extreme.' You know we're doing special effects for Hong Kong this time, which is also an opportunity for our Flying Bird Studio to break out of the mainland and go to the international stage. Maybe next time a Hollywood producer will come to us for cooperation."
Zhao Qiang patted his chest and said, "Okay, don't worry. You'll give me 100,000, and I'll give you 900,000. As long as we have the money, things will be easy!" With that, Zhao Qiang took the external hard drive to the repair shop. To make repairs more convenient, Zhao Qiang had cleared out a room, partitioning off a large portion to serve as the repair shop. It was furnished with tables, chairs, repair workbenches, and equipment, and there were over a dozen repaired computers on the floor. The other half of the room was Zhao Qiang's bedroom, usually locked, where his most important laptop was located.
As Zhao Qiang plugged the external hard drive into the laptop's USB port, he said to Xiao Wei, "Little sister, this is a big order. Hurry up and finish the film. It needs to be completed the day after tomorrow. The quality should be a level higher than 'Extreme.' Don't let Hu Xiaojiang down. He's our biggest cash cow right now."
Xiao Wei nodded. It didn't care about such a small matter at all. It could handle it without Zhao Qiang drinking all the wine. It just couldn't let Hu Xiaojiang take it away so quickly, otherwise he would be shocked to death.
"Brother, I created a super biochip, and I finished it just yesterday." Xiao Wei finally decided to confess to Zhao Qiang.
Zhao Qiang was about to turn and leave the room when he heard Xiao Wei's words and immediately turned back to sit at his computer desk: "What?"
"A control chip that can connect to the human brain can partially replace the human brain in control and calculation."
Zhao Qiang was speechless for a long time. This thing was even more incredible than repair tools. What was Xiao Wei's true identity? To it, products of a super-civilization that humans could not manufacture were like toys, which it could create at will.
"So this is what you wanted microbial culture medium for?" Zhao Qiang hadn't paid any attention before, thinking that Xiao Wei was just messing around for fun.
Xiao Wei looked serious. Its face had changed a lot, and it looked more like a human than a cat! Its facial features were becoming more and more defined. However, Zhao Qiang thought that Xiao Wei was adjusting its program and did not take it seriously. In fact, this was an important process that represented Xiao Wei moving closer to being a human from an intelligent program.
"Yes, brother. The human brain is used very inefficiently, and it is impossible to develop it using real-world tools. Even if you keep learning new knowledge, the knowledge at the very beginning will be gradually squeezed out due to the limited capacity. In the end, the limits of human brain function cannot be broken."
Zhao Qiang understood the problem Xiao Wei mentioned. During this period, he studied almost day and night, but as the old saying goes, once you learn something new, you start to miss things. Even though his total knowledge had increased compared to before, his progress was not impressive. He was making slow progress, and Zhao Qiang simply couldn't achieve photographic memory.
"But you said before that we can't modify living cells," Zhao Qiang asked.
Xiao Wei said, "Yes, this is just an experiment. However, biochips are not considered living cells. They are only easily integrated with the human brain because of their material. In reality, they are still a carrier and a program. In addition, I am still unsure about the adverse consequences of human transplantation, so I am very conflicted these past two days."
Zhao Qiang asked, "What's the contradiction?"
Xiao Wei said, "I don't know if we should transplant your brain. The only way for you to break out of your current predicament is to improve your own strength, but your own system is not enough to complete it, at least not in a short time. The best solution is to hand over part of the brain's management capabilities to a computer. But I'm scared when I think about the damage to human cells caused by energy during the transplant and the unclear consequences of the transplant."
Zhao Qiang remained silent, pondering the sudden news. He felt a sense of dread, indeed, dread. He was thankful that Xiao Wei hadn't secretly performed the modification while he was asleep. Otherwise, there would have been no way to undo the damage if there had been any adverse consequences. These adverse consequences could have been cancerous due to energy radiation affecting his body cells, or the transplant modification might have failed, leaving him in a vegetative state.
However, there was more surprise than anything else. Zhao Qiang really needed an opportunity, a chance to truly become stronger instead of completely relying on Xiao Wei. The human brain cannot be completely replaced by a computer, but what if it only manages memory and assists learning? In that case, humans would be freed from heavy learning tasks and could quickly master the latest and most comprehensive scientific and technological knowledge. As someone once said, technology is power, and the more knowledge Zhao Qiang has, the stronger he will become.
Zhao Qiang quickly weighed the pros and cons, "Xiao Wei, how confident are you about the chances of a successful transplant?"
Xiao Wei said, "Twenty percent, and that doesn't even include the probability of it turning into cancer."
Zhao Qiang almost fainted. He immediately abandoned the idea of transplantation. "Xiao Wei, you can keep the chip for now."
Xiao Wei popped out the optical drive, which was actually its storage compartment. Inside was a milky-white object about the size of a thumbnail, covered with a hazy white mist. That must be Xiao Wei's energy, probably used to protect the biochip. "Brother, I will always keep it with me." Xiao Wei had already repaired its own chip before New Year's Day, but because the 'A' substance had not been manufactured, it could not be modified or upgraded.
Zhao Qiang coughed and said, "Brother means to postpone the transplant for now. It's too dangerous. You don't want to lose your brother, do you?" Zhao Qiang had to give Xiao Wei a heads-up first. What if she was too eager to win and took advantage of him while he was asleep to carry out some kind of modification? He would be devastated. Who knew if she would wake up? And if she did wake up, who knew if she would still be human?
Xiao Wei nodded and said, "That's what I think too. Without my brother, I would lose my reason for existing. Let's talk about it another time. I just couldn't keep this to myself. Now that I've confessed to my brother, I don't have to waste any more energy calculating this matter anymore."
Xiao Wei must have pondered for a long time whether to tell Zhao Qiang and whether to proceed with the transplant. As an intelligent program, it has its own rules, and when something violates those rules, it must be under immense pressure. Now that it has confessed everything to Zhao Qiang, there is no longer any violation of the rules, so it feels relieved.
Hu Xiaojiang shouted in the yard, "Old Zhao, come here quickly, stop looking, it won't make a difference if we take another meal."
Zhao Qiang patted Xiao Wei's face on the screen: "Okay, Xiao Wei, let's leave it at that for now. Listen to your brother, we'll talk about it later, or when you're sure the transplant will be 100% successful."
Feeling shy from Zhao Qiang's touch, Xiao Wei lowered her head and retracted the CD drive. "I know, brother. I'll listen to you. Go eat. I'll make the special effects video for you."
(Thanks to RainyNightXStar for the reward and for urging me to update! Please support Xiaoqiang with your recommendation votes, thank you! Three chapters today, one more this afternoon and one more this evening.)
Volume 2 [094] Some Success
Hu Xiaojiang had already poured himself a drink, and as soon as Zhao Qiang sat down, he immediately made Zhao Qiang drink another one as punishment. "Hey Lao Zhao," Hu Xiaojiang liked to call Zhao Qiang Lao Zhao after they got to know each other, "you're really quite cunning."
Zhao Qiang drank a small glass of baijiu and quickly ate a few slices of braised beef. "How am I being slippery? You haven't lost out at all in the special effects video business."
Hu Xiaojiang said, "I admit that Xu Xiaoya is working for you, isn't she?"
Zhao Qiang nodded: "What does it matter to her whether I'm slippery or not?"
Hu Xiaojiang added, "My cousin Luo Xiaowei is working for you too, right?" As he spoke, Hu Xiaojiang patted a large box on the ground next to him, which was full of fast chargers that Zhao Qiang had brought for Shunfeng Technology's customers to try out.
The charger manufacturing plant, overseen by Luo Xiaowei, has already started operations, and the full product launch and sales period will begin on New Year's Day.
Zhao Qiang said, "Since you're relatives, I won't hide it from you. Yes, she helps me run the Qimingdeng fast charger business." The factory established under Luo Xiaowei's supervision is named 'Qimingdeng' Electronics Company. Zhao Qiang came up with the name because he believes that high technology illuminates the way forward for mankind, so he named it Qimingdeng. Actually, it's a name that makes Xu Xiaoya and Luo Xiaowei laugh, but Luo Xiaowei respects Zhao Qiang's opinion, and the factory name and product trademark are based on it.
Hu Xiaojiang refilled their glasses, and they both took a sip. He continued, "The optimization software that my older sister Hu Qian runs is also yours, isn't it?"
Zhao Qiang said, "That's right, nominally it's mine."
Hu Xiaojiang said, "That's it. You said you weren't cunning, hiring a bunch of beautiful women to work for you, but what do you do? You hide in the repair shop every day fixing computers. Can you believe how shameless you are? Old Zhao, if you're not taking a dump, can you give me a spot?"
Zhao Qiang almost burst out laughing: "What are you talking about? We're eating!"
Hu Xiaojiang picked up a photo from the desk next to him and said, "You know, she's such a pretty girl. You're always watching her and you're not even tempted. If it were me, I would have won her over long ago."
Hu Xiaojiang was holding a photo from Xu Xiaoya's desk. It was a photo of Xu Xiaoya taken this summer, a photo that was both innocent and sexy. Her deep cleavage made people's imaginations run wild, but her school uniform made her look innocent.
Zhao Qiang laughed: "Hu Xiaojiang, if our class monitor finds out that you compared her to a cesspool, I guarantee you're finished!"
Hu Xiaojiang waved his hand: "Don't worry about how I compare her to you. Tell me, how about you pursue my cousin? Or even my cousin, but give her to me."
With a bang, the door to the finance department was pushed open, and Xu Xiaoya carried in a large box of things, asking as she did so, "Who are you chasing, Zhao Qiang? Who are you going to chase? Let me tell you, I'm your class monitor. Don't do anything without my supervision."
Hu Xiaojiang didn't hear the car outside. When he suddenly saw Xu Xiaoya, he shuddered in fright. This woman, who seemed innocent yet sexy, was actually a wild girl. He had a crush on her, but he was also afraid.
Zhao Qiang was even more surprised: "Why are you here?"
Xu Xiaoya put the box down on the ground: "I heard you guys were drinking, so I came to join in. My dad scolded me last night, and I didn't even get a proper meal. You're not planning to let me go hungry, are you?"
Hu Xiaojiang solicitously handed Xu Xiaoya a pair of chopsticks and a cup, saying, "Come, come, Ms. Xu, sit next to me. It's so cold, let's have a glass of baijiu together to warm up."
Zhao Qiang felt a chill run down his spine and said to Hu Xiaojiang, "Can you please stop doing this? She can't drink alcohol."
Xu Xiaoya glared at Zhao Qiang and said, "Why can't I drink alcohol?"
Zhao Qiang didn't dare say anything more. If Xu Xiaoya really got drunk and acted badly, she would always take it out on him. However, there was one condition: if Zhao Qiang wasn't around, Xu Xiaoya almost never drank a drop of alcohol. Even if she reluctantly had a drink, she would only drink a little. Zhao Qiang didn't dare ask why, but this made him feel a little relieved. Otherwise, if Xu Xiaoya got into trouble while doing business because of drinking, he, as the general manager, would be held responsible.
Hu Xiaojiang eagerly refilled Xu Xiaoya's glass with wine. Xu Xiaoya said, "There's beer and beef jerky in the box. I like beer. Zhao Qiang, go get it."
Hu Xiaojiang said, "Is it okay to drink beer in this cold weather? Besides, drinking beer will give you a belly. Mr. Xu, aren't you afraid?"
Xu Xiaoya proudly put her hands on her hips and puffed out her chest, saying, "Hu Xiaojiang, do you think I look like someone who's afraid?"
Xu Xiaoya's slender waist and full breasts were Hu Xiaojiang's favorite. He was so aroused by Xu Xiaoya's actions that he almost drooled. However, he was extremely frustrated that he could only look but not touch. "You really are someone who can eat and drink whatever you want and not gain weight. By the way, I heard that you have a good slimming tea. Get some for me before the New Year so I can take it home to my mother and sister."