Going Home

Zhang Aiguo's eyes went wide.

"Xiao Yuan, this old man may be old, but I'm not senile. And you think I don't know you're trying to fool a child?"

Yuan Jingsong knew Elder Zhang wouldn't believe it, but in truth, once they realized the importance of the Intelligent Assistant, how could they not check who developed it? For such a world-leading talent from the private sector, it was impossible not to take notice. Yet they'd searched high and low, only finding leftover traces on Aliyun—and even those were filled with fake information.

"Elder Zhang, for a team capable of developing an AI like the Intelligent Assistant, if they want to hide online, how likely do you think it is we'd find them?"

Zhang Aiguo, hearing Xiao Yuan's words, finally realized that might be the case. The grin on his face vanished as he shoved the copy of Fundamentals of Computer Science back into Yuan Jingsong's hands.

"Study hard. I'll be quizzing you in a few days."

"Beep. Beep. Beep."

"Beep. Beep. Beep."

"Big brother, get up! If you don't get up, you'll miss the high-speed rail!"

Li Zhou was sleeping soundly when the phone's noise jolted him awake. Half-conscious, he grabbed his phone from the bedside and saw—what a sight! Nai Yi was holding a little paper horn she'd folded, blasting noise at him.

"Alright, Nai Yi, if you don't stop, I'll be dead from the racket."

With the harsh noise gone, Li Zhou's eyelids drooped involuntarily, threatening to close again.

"Big brother, it's already two in the afternoon! Nai Yi calculated that it takes half an hour from here to the train station."

Li Zhou took a deep breath of fresh air, forcing his brain to boot up. Brushing his teeth and washing his face took him only ten minutes. Luckily, he'd packed his luggage beforehand. As for the bedding on the bed—after four years, the cotton inside had turned black, and when light shone through, you could spot a few visible holes. If he brought that blanket home, his mom would never stop teasing him.

Li Zhou dragged his oversized suitcase to the dormitory door, and with reluctance, closed the door to Dormitory 609. May the next batch of freshmen take good care of 609.

The dormitory buildings at CHZU Academy were only six stories high at most, so there were no elevators—going up and down relied entirely on two legs. The suitcase, which didn't seem to hold much, was surprisingly heavy. By the time Li Zhou hauled it to the first floor, he was drenched in sweat and panting heavily.

After resting a moment, Li Zhou pushed the suitcase and, holding the dorm key, found the dorm matron at the entrance. Spotting her, he smiled and greeted the auntie sitting at the desk by the door.

"Auntie, I'm here to return the key."

The auntie at the door smiled and teased, "Leaving already, young man?" She took the key from Li Zhou's hand while pulling out a registration book and handing it to him.

Li Zhou was very familiar with this registration book. Every time he went home for break, the school required students to fill it out. But this time, the book had changed to "Graduate Departure Registration." Following the order, he quickly found 12#609. Sure enough, the ugly handwriting of the other three guys in 609 was already signed there. Picking up the black pen on the desk, Li Zhou signed a handsome name—Li Zhou.

Looking at his stylish signature, he couldn't help but sigh: if only the handwriting didn't look like chicken scratch, it'd be perfect.

"Auntie, I'm off."

"Leaving? Come back and visit the school sometime."

"I will. Definitely."

Bidding the auntie farewell, Li Zhou put on his earphones and began his journey home alone.

When he reached the high-speed rail station, there were only ten minutes until departure. Li Zhou swiped his ID card and entered the platform to wait for the train. Sure enough, things never escape Murphy's Law!

Murphy's Law: In life, there are always strange things—the more you fear something, the more it happens. It means "if something can go wrong, no matter how small the possibility, it will," also illustrating inevitability within chance.

Li Zhou had hoped countless times that the seat next to him would be a pretty, beautiful girl, but every time, it was either an uncle or a male college student like himself. This time didn't disappoint either—it was a woman who looked about sixty, with a small child, probably her grandson.

Li Zhou's hometown, Lu'an City, wasn't too far from the school. The high-speed rail took less than 40 minutes. But if you thought that meant he was almost home, you'd be dead wrong.

Li Zhou's hometown was in Nong Village, deep in the Dabie Mountains. To get home from the city, he first had to take an hour-long bus to the county seat, then transfer to a bus from the county to the town—about another hour or so—before finally arriving home. Lugging his suitcase through transfers, he didn't get home until 6:30 PM. Luckily, it wasn't dark yet when he arrived.

Before he even reached the door, Li Zhou shouted from a distance.

"Mom, I'm back."

Before long, a middle-aged woman walked out of a two-and-a-half-story Western-style house.

"Back? I was just talking to your dad about how you still hadn't made it home."

"Woof woof woof."

As Li Zhou walked up the sloped cement path to his house, a black mutt burst out from the bushes.

"Big Black!" Li Zhou patted Big Black's head happily, and the dog's tail wagged so fast it was practically a fan.

While Big Black was getting cozy with her son, Li Zhou's mom had already taken the suitcase from his hand.

"Son, what did you bring back? Why is it so heavy?"

Li Zhou shrugged at that.

I don't know either. I just stuffed in whatever seemed useful.

"Hurry up and wash your hands for dinner. I knew you were coming back, so the food's been ready for a while."

"Where's Dad?"

"Your dad's still watching TV, the lazybones."

Having lived a second life, Li Zhou was pretty useless himself, but thanks to many of his suggestions, his family was fairly well-off in the neighborhood.

The biggest supermarket in town? That was theirs.

It wasn't that Li Zhou had never thought about having his parents run a bigger business, but the truth was, his mom had never been to school—she could only write her own name. Even his dad, who had some education, only made it through middle school.

Don't underestimate that supermarket, though. It brought in a decent income every year. At the very least, Li Zhou had never felt like the family was short on money. As for how much savings they had, he really didn't know.

During dinner that night, after a few sips of liquor, Li Zhou's dad started getting chatty.

"Xiao Zhou, what are your plans? Say what you will, but you've got ability. Your mom and I know that, so we've never worried about you finding a job. Worst case, there's always the supermarket."

Li Zhou took a bite of braised pork and said, "Dad, I've already thought it through. I'm planning to start a tech company back in our hometown. I've even got the first project ready."

"Good, good, good! I knew my son had ambition. Tomorrow, have your mom take you to the bank. Say what you will, but we've got a million yuan in the family."

Later, Li Zhou found out from his mom that some relatives had been whispering in his dad's ear about him not finding a job, which had made his dad furious.