The lights in the auditorium dimmed further as Lin Zhixia, microphone in hand, stood at the center of the stage. The large screen behind her displayed a countdown, and a small portion of the audience began counting aloud: “Ten, nine, eight, seven…”
When they reached “zero,” spotlights from the ceiling cast beams of light that converged on Lin Zhixia.
Today, Lin Zhixia wore a deep red suit, with hair and makeup meticulously done, looking exquisite, withstanding the repeated scrutiny of the audience. Even without saying a word, she was undoubtedly the focus of attention.
She first thanked the guests present, then continued in a narrative tone: “Three years ago, when our team was just established, none of us imagined that three years later, we would be bringing a series of new products to redefine the concept of ‘quantum computing’…”
Reporters from various sectors pointed their cameras at Lin Zhixia, and the atmosphere in the auditorium instantly became more energetic.
Guests in the audience began to cheer. Jiang Yubai sat quietly in the soft chair at the center of the first row, with his assistant seated beside him—this assistant’s surname was Shen, approximately thirty years old. He was impeccably dressed with a proper demeanor, appearing talented. Assistant Shen was originally an employee of the president’s office, under the management of Jiang Yubai’s father’s parent company. Later, Assistant Shen caught the eye of Jiang Yubai’s father and was transferred to work under Jiang Yubai.
The focus of Assistant Shen’s recent work was organizing today’s new product launch event.
Assistant Shen was a meticulous person. He had checked all the procedures for the launch, organized two perfect rehearsals, and worked overtime to promote cooperation between various departments—his life goal was to demonstrate his potential and distinctive qualities as the “Group’s First Special Assistant” in all aspects of daily life.
So far, the launch was going smoothly.
The audience listened with fascination, and reporters were full of praise.
Assistant Shen sat upright, hands resting on his suit pants, seemingly crowned with the laurel of “Group’s First Special Assistant.” At this moment, Jiang Yubai unexpectedly spoke: “Half an hour ago, Chai Yang posted on Weibo. Several contracted streamers from his company are preparing to livestream during Lin Zhixia’s product launch.”
Assistant Shen froze.
He could hardly believe it.
Chai Yang’s livestreaming app had just recently gone online. Their company had signed quite a few male entertainers skilled at comedy and pranks. These male entertainers always laughed and cursed in their respective livestream rooms, occasionally telling crude jokes that made viewers smile knowingly after thinking about them. This type of livestream style at Lin Zhixia’s launch event… was simply unimaginable!
The halo of “Group’s First Special Assistant” shattered.
Assistant Shen turned his head and calmly said, “Director Jiang, I verified the personnel list and prepared three layers of security. Unless Chai Yang can bring employees in through cracks in the ground, they cannot appear at our launch venue. All attendees must provide an invitation…”
Jiang Yubai continued to look straight ahead without the slightest deviation. He occasionally met Lin Zhixia’s gaze and would smile very faintly, as if all his attention was focused on Lin Zhixia. At the same time, he was also talking to Assistant Shen: “How many invitations did you send out?”
“Four hundred and sixty-seven,” Assistant Shen answered rigorously.
Jiang Yubai pointed out a key point: “Chai Yang doesn’t need to be present in person.”
“You’re right,” Assistant Shen agreed, “as long as Chai Yang arranges a group of friends to come, they can privately take out their phones, upload video footage, and streamers can add voiceovers from home to create buzz for the livestream app. Our security guards can’t expel people, otherwise it would damage the corporate image…”
Jiang Yubai rested his hand on the armrest of the chair. He told Assistant Shen that to ensure Lin Zhixia’s speech went smoothly, he had prepared mobile signal jammers in advance, which were already deployed around the auditorium. He wanted Assistant Shen to turn on his phone and see if he could watch videos smoothly.
Under the influence of the mobile signal jammers, mobile devices could connect to the network and send/receive QQ and WeChat messages. However, network conditions were poor, unable to support video recording, and livestreams would be intermittent, appearing as if the livestream app had suddenly crashed.
Assistant Shen couldn’t help but marvel: “Director Jiang… what a good method.”
Then, another question arose in his mind: why didn’t Director Jiang use his phone to check the network?
Soon, Assistant Shen found the answer.
Because Lin Zhixia was standing on stage.
As such, Jiang Yubai would not lower his head to examine the network. Even if he couldn’t talk to Lin Zhixia, he would wholeheartedly engage in their invisible interaction.
—
Lin Zhixia was completely unaware of the dispute below the stage.
She saw several audience members in the back rows stand up, holding their phones aimed at her, but then slowly sit down again, their listless expressions resembling eggplants touched by autumn frost.
Lin Zhixia wasn’t affected by them.
She had just finished introducing the quantum encryption security vault when Professor Gu Likai, seated in the front row, led the applause for her.
Professor Gu Likai, over seventy years old, had specially flown from Beijing to the provincial capital to attend today’s launch event, making Lin Zhixia feel particularly grateful. She vaguely felt that she had completed a kind of inheritance in a sense, and presented this special “inheritance” to the public.
A few days ago, the Vice President had told her, “It’s still a continuation of the same lineage.”
A continuation of the same lineage.
She raised her head slightly.
Everyone was looking at her.
She raised her voice and continued: “Next, I will focus on introducing the new generation cloud computing platform, which represents an epoch-making innovation. As a young technology company, we have our sense of mission and responsibility…”
As she pronounced the word “responsibility,” strangely, an image flashed through her mind.
At the age of ten, in the ocean physics laboratory, she had made a promise with Shen Zhaohua, committing that she would continuously pursue her ideals throughout her life.
She was accustomed to using “ideal” instead of “truth,” because the “truth” recognized by humans at this stage might not be real and absolute, but possibly just a special tool limited to a certain environment to express concepts or solve problems, just like cyclic groups and non-cyclic groups, Euclidean spaces and non-Euclidean spaces—they follow mutually contradictory laws, each with its unique significance.
Lin Zhixia’s brain operated at high speed, while her articulation remained clear and concise: “We have given quantum technology products a completely new meaning.”
Staff members pushed in two tables with two computers connected to a local area network. The monitor displays were projected onto a wide screen. Using these two computers, Lin Zhixia demonstrated on-site the platform differences between quantum cloud computing and traditional cloud computing. The superiority of quantum cloud computing included, but was not limited to, extremely high-efficiency acceleration, encryption, and quantum security application mechanisms.
After the demonstration, the entire venue fell silent.
Jiang Yubai stared intently at Lin Zhixia, while Assistant Shen had stopped breathing.
Lin Zhixia stood motionless, then continued: “As you can see, for individual-level users, we provide simpler acceleration, more secure encryption, and more favorable prices, ensuring you enjoy extreme speed and feel ultimate security while surfing the internet; for enterprise and government-level users, we will customize solutions, build service systems, ensure data transmission security, and improve the reliability of communication networks. For example, we can support encrypted quantum communication between Earth satellites and ground stations[1].”
This statement once again ignited the enthusiasm of all reporters at the venue.
Assistant Shen remarked: “Colleagues from the engineering department all say that Professor Lin always leads in tackling technical challenges… she’s a genius, isn’t she?”
“Of course,” Jiang Yubai said proudly, “she’s a genius.”
She’s a genius, he thought.
He leaned back slightly against the chair, watching her shine on stage.
Lin Zhixia was radiant as she continued describing: “Now, we’ve launched the ‘Product Verification Officer’ activity, inviting tens of thousands of individual customers from around the world to use our quantum computing platform free for life. The reason we dare to do this is because we have great confidence in our products!”
Jiang Yubai led the applause.
The audience responded in unison.
The applause lasted for more than ten seconds. Lin Zhixia straightened her back and confidently said: “In the future, we will develop far-reaching cooperation with multiple industries such as finance, communications, electric power, security, and biopharmaceuticals. We remain at the forefront of creating quantum computers. We promise to deliver high-quality software and hardware services to the market. We are the world’s first company capable of providing large-scale commercialized quantum products. I am certain that at this moment, at 10:30 AM on October 28, 2016, the first-generation products released by our company will make a long-term contribution to the technological revolution of the twenty-first century.”
After she finished speaking, the large screen played another promotional video.
Lin Zhixia slowly exited the stage.
She had spoken continuously for more than an hour.
Her throat was dry and slightly painful, but her heart was beating fast, pounding vigorously.
The feeling was quite remarkable, as if something was about to grow out of her body.
A product launch was completely different from an academic report.
In academic reports, Lin Zhixia would only use complex and profound technical terms to elaborate in detail on her paper’s thought process and innovative technology.
While at a product launch, Lin Zhixia had to compare the company’s products with competitors, focusing on describing the product’s functions and prospects. The audience’s reaction was more enthusiastic than she had imagined. After she rested backstage for a while, staff members told her, “Professor Lin, you’re in the news. The entire industry is boiling.”
“So quickly!” Lin Zhixia was somewhat surprised.
She opened a bottle of mineral water, took a sip, tidied up a bit, and headed back to the front stage.
The venue was brightly lit, and audience members were gradually leaving their seats. Lin Zhixia also saw her undergraduate advisor, Professor Gu Likai, her immediate superior, the Vice President, technical backbones from the company’s engineering department, Luo Ying, Tang Tingting, Lin Zeqiu, and others, as well as Jiang Yubai.
Jiang Yubai had just spoken with Gu Likai, and upon seeing Lin Zhixia, he extended a hand toward her.
Lin Zhixia happily ran toward him.
He smiled and said, “Your speech was brilliant.” He also disclosed: “Professor Gu thinks highly of our company.”
Gu Likai was standing not far away.
Lin Zhixia hadn’t seen Professor Gu for a long time. Professor Gu was also the guide who led her into the quantum industry, having given her numerous care and support. She said to him both happily and openly: “Professor Gu, I now supervise three graduate students myself.”
“That’s good,” Gu Likai nodded, “keep it up, you can achieve even greater accomplishments.”
Lin Zhixia’s left hand was behind her back, secretly holding Jiang Yubai’s hand. At the same time, she firmly replied: “Don’t worry, Professor, I will.”
Gu Likai surveyed the entire venue but didn’t find Tan Qianche. Gu Likai understood and didn’t say a word to Tan Qianche. He only said: “Your senior fellow apprentice’s paper output hasn’t been abundant these past two years.”
Tan Qianche began his undergraduate studies at eighteen and received his doctorate at twenty-eight. Gu Likai had supervised him for ten years. After his doctoral graduation, Gu Likai had also networked for him, sending him to top overseas laboratories for postdoctoral work, gilding his academic resume.
Without a doubt, Tan Qianche was Gu Likai’s pride and joy student.
Lin Zhixia knew that Gu Likai and Tan Qianche also hadn’t seen each other for a long time. So, she said, “Professor Gu, let me call my senior fellow apprentice. Let’s have a gathering for our academic family.”
Unexpectedly, Gu Likai declined: “I have a flight back to Beijing this afternoon. No need to see him.” He added: “Over the years, you’ve been continuously improving, more clear-headed than your senior fellow apprentice.”
Lin Zhixia pondered thoughtfully.
—
When Lin Zhixia was an undergraduate, she was still a minor. The Lin Zhixia of that time differed somewhat from the current Lin Zhixia.
The undergraduate-era Lin Zhixia would certainly not have imagined that she would personally market the company’s quantum products.
The day after the launch ended, the marketing plan designed by Lin Zhixia went online.
Lin Zhixia personally wrote a series of viral WeChat articles with eye-catching titles and shocking content. Her writing ability reached a state of perfection, successfully stirring up a hot topic of “quantum cloud computing” in just a few days. Regarding this, she remained modest, saying: “It’s nothing. I’m just attracting public attention, hoping Chai Yang will apologize to me soon.”
Jiang Yubai couldn’t help but suspect that even if Lin Zhixia were to simply open a WeChat public account and write self-media articles every day, she could live quite comfortably.
While the heat of “quantum cloud computing” had not subsided, the Vice President introduced Lin Zhixia to government officials. Both parties conducted several negotiation meetings, exploring in detail the topic of “promoting the application of quantum technology in government security fields.” At the same time, several financial and internet companies from Beijing and Shanghai approached them, and foreign enterprises also extended olive branches for cooperation. In less than two months, Lin Zhixia’s quantum technology company had opened the door to the global market—she had almost no competition on equal footing.
At this point, when Lin Zhixia looked back at Chai Yang, she had a very subtle perception.
On a day in late December, Lin Zhixia sat in the study of Jiang Yubai’s home, describing to him, “Chai Yang seems to have nothing to do with us anymore.”
Jiang Yubai had just returned home, still wearing a suit. He unbuttoned his cuffs, revealing his wrists—the lines of his wrists were all smooth and beautiful. Lin Zhixia couldn’t help but reach out her fingertips, lightly touching him, as she heard him say: “Chai Yang wants to sue me.”
“What?” Lin Zhixia was quite surprised.
Jiang Yubai, however, was very calm: “Civil dispute, not a big issue.”
“A criminal dispute would be terrible,” Lin Zhixia said seriously.
Jiang Yubai pulled his sleeve up an inch. Lin Zhixia extended her fingers, along his veins, carefully stroking the back of his hand: “I’m very curious, why does he suddenly want to sue you? Shouldn’t he be focusing wholeheartedly on his startup? If a startup doesn’t show results, how can it attract investment?”
Jiang Yubai went through Chai Yang’s network of relationships, and finally added one point: “Nie Tianqing works at a top venture capital firm, and he has a good relationship with Chai Yang.”