Chapter 320 - 247: The Office on the Weekend

Chapter 320: Chapter 247: The Office on the Weekend

Chen Lin sat up in bed and reached for the phone on his nightstand.

His original plan was to just laze around for the day—watch some videos, play some games, and be a useless bum with no ambitions.

But for some reason, the scene of his conversation with that old gentleman in the quaint, antique-style building suddenly surfaced in his mind.

’What was it that the old gentleman said again?’

The large-scale AI model—Chen Lin was already working on it.

As for controlled nuclear fusion, Chen Lin was already involved as a consultant.

Academician Xiang Wentian...

Chen Lin planned to visit the old gentleman in Yuxi before the new year, once the semester was officially over.

So, what was left?

Chen Lin tried hard to recall the contents of their conversation and suddenly remembered the last few things the old gentleman had said.

"Quantify the social sciences with mathematics, analyze human history with AI..."

At the time, Chen Lin hadn’t paid it much mind, thinking it was all too abstract and not as tangible as the other, more concrete projects.

But thinking about it now, perhaps it was a "topic" the old gentleman had tossed his way?

A grander proposition concerning the future?

"This stuff... how the hell do I even tackle it?"

Chen Lin scratched his head, feeling completely lost.

He understood math, and he was already working on AI.

But "quantifying the social sciences"? "Analyzing human history"?

He didn’t even know where to start with these fields.

’Looks like I’ll have to do some studying first.’

Chen Lin unlocked his phone and started searching for related content on various video platforms.

Things like "cliometrics," "digital humanities," "computational social science"...

A pile of terms he’d never heard before popped up.

Chen Lin randomly clicked on a few videos, but after a few minutes, he started to feel drowsy.

It wasn’t because the content was bad, but because—

—he was watching them in bed, and the position was just too comfortable.

Plus, he hadn’t been awake for long, so his body was still in a relaxed state. As he watched, his eyelids began to grow heavy.

"This won’t do."

Chen Lin sat up abruptly and patted his cheeks.

’I can’t get in the zone studying at home.’

He glanced at the time: ten-thirty.

’I’ll go to the office.’

For one, the office environment was more conducive to studying.

And for another—

Chen Lin glanced at his three-year-old laptop, a look of disdain crossing his face.

’This piece of junk lags just opening a web page. It’s a real pain to use.’

The high-spec desktops at the office were so much better.

A 5090 graphics card, 64GB of RAM, a 2TB solid-state drive...

’Once you’ve used something good, you can never go back.’

At this thought, Chen Lin sprang out of bed and quickly changed into a gray sweatshirt, a pair of black casual pants, and some sneakers.

After a quick wash-up, Chen Lin headed out the door.

...

「11:00 AM sharp.」

Chen Lin arrived at the building housing Yanhai Company.

The Yannan University Innovation Space building had staff on duty even on weekends, so the entrance was open as usual.

Chen Lin swiped his card to enter and went up to the second floor.

The hallway was quiet. Most of the company doors were closed, giving it a deserted feel.

It was the weekend, after all. Who would come to the office for no reason?

As he walked, Chen Lin muttered to himself:

’I hope no one’s at the office, so I can study in peace for a bit... huh?’

He stopped in his tracks.

Because when he reached the entrance to Yanhai Company, he discovered—

—the door was slightly ajar.

From the crack, he could faintly hear a rustling sound.

’Who’s so diligent? Coming to the office on a weekend?’

Chen Lin pushed the door open, and the faint smell of cleaning solution hit him.

A familiar figure came into view.

The person was wearing a light-blue tracksuit and a pair of white sneakers, their long hair casually tied back in a ponytail.

Right now, her back was to the door as she wiped the office floor back and forth with a mop.

Sunlight streamed in through the window, bathing her in light and tracing her silhouette with a soft, golden edge.

Hearing the door, the person turned around.

A bright and lovely face appeared in Chen Lin’s line of sight.

It was Yunqing.

"Well, well, the boss is here?"

When Yunqing saw Chen Lin, her eyes instantly lit up, and her face broke into a brilliant smile.

Her smile was like a blooming flower in spring, enough to brighten anyone’s day.

"I didn’t think anyone would be here on the weekend." Chen Lin paused for a second, then walked into the office. "What are you doing here?"

"I told you I was coming in for a big clean this weekend, Boss. Did you forget?"

Yunqing leaned the mop against the wall, patted her hands of non-existent dust, and said with a grin,

"The new year is almost here, so we have to get the office spick and span. It’s a good omen for the year to come."

When Yunqing had first mentioned it, Chen Lin had assumed she’d only do it for a few weeks. He never expected her to have actually kept it up.

"You’re doing all this by yourself?" Chen Lin looked around, feeling a little bad. "How about I give you a hand?"

"No, no, it’s fine! You can just sit back and relax, Boss."

Yunqing quickly waved her hands, then mysteriously lowered her voice and jutted her chin toward the inner office.

"Besides, I’m not alone. Yanyan’s here too."

"Shen Yan?"

At that moment, Shen Yan was sitting at her desk, facing her computer, completely absorbed in the screen.

Today, she was wearing a cream-colored turtleneck sweater and black pants, which added a touch of gentle intellect to her usual cool and distant demeanor.

A stack of printed research papers was spread across her desk, densely covered with handwritten notes.

Sunlight slanted in through the window, falling on the side of her face and lending her already fair skin an even softer, more delicate glow.

Hearing the sound from the door, Shen Yan looked up.

When she saw that the person walking over was Chen Lin, an almost imperceptible glint flashed through her clear, limpid eyes.

"You... what are you doing here?"

Her voice was slightly dazed, and a faint blush seemed to rise on her fair cheeks, but it vanished in an instant.

"I came to the office to use a computer and look some things up."

Chen Lin walked over to her side and glanced down at the papers on her desk, noticing that most were English articles on deep learning and neural network architecture.

"What about you? Not taking a break on the weekend?"

Shen Yan’s gaze drifted down to the papers in front of her, her voice soft.

"I... I wanted to learn a bit more."

She paused as if gathering her courage, then looked up and met Chen Lin’s eyes earnestly.

"This way... I can be more helpful in the future."

Looking into Shen Yan’s earnest and slightly hopeful eyes, Chen Lin felt a warmth spread through his chest.

Of course, he knew what Shen Yan meant by "being helpful."

Ever since the solid-state battery project, Shen Yan had been working hard to learn about fields she wasn’t familiar with.

She didn’t just want to be a "translator" who converted engineering problems into mathematical ones.

She wanted to truly understand these things, to be genuinely involved, to fight alongside Chen Lin for real.

Chen Lin could feel her sincerity.

"...Alright."

Chen Lin didn’t say anything sentimental, just gave a slight nod.

He wasn’t the type to be very expressive.

But he believed that Shen Yan would understand.

"You carry on, then. If there’s anything you don’t understand, you can ask me."

Shen Yan let out a soft "Mm," lowered her head, and went back to her papers.

Chen Lin saw the tips of her ears secretly turn a shade of red.

Meanwhile, out in the main office area, Yunqing, holding her mop, "casually" glanced toward the inner office.

Seeing Chen Lin and Shen Yan speaking softly in front of the computer, her lips tightened into a slight purse.