Digging Out KeDa

On the fourth day after returning to Su City.

Chen Mengchuan, who had spent half the night at his computer, was shaken awake by Father Chen. "Your friend is downstairs. Get dressed and go down."

"Who?" Chen Mengchuan yawned as he opened the door, looking like he had not slept enough.

"Hehehehe, a girl surnamed Zhao. She's chatting with your mother. Hehehehe." Father Chen smiled happily.

Surnamed Zhao? Zhao Wanyu? Chen Mengchuan woke up at once.

After washing up and heading downstairs, he saw that it was indeed Zhao Wanyu. Mother Chen was holding her hand in the living room and saying something to her, while her face was flushed red.

She had clearly dressed up carefully. The hair at both sides of her forehead curled loosely around her ears. Her makeup-free face was rosy and fair, and her beautiful big eyes brimmed with laughter. Sure enough, good looks were justice.

"Brother Chuan." Zhao Wanyu saw Chen Mengchuan come downstairs.

"Ahem, you could've told me before coming to my house." Chen Mengchuan looked a little awkward. They had slept together so many nights before, though they had not exactly... And Zhao Wanyu had helped him tremendously. Seeing her now, he felt inexplicably guilty.

Over the past four days since returning, he had stayed home and focused on perfecting A-Chen, practically throwing every other matter to the back of his mind. This had always been one of his bad habits whenever he entered work mode.

Zhao Wanyu smiled. "I'm sorry for dropping by so abruptly. I moved to Su City yesterday and happened to have some free time today. I was passing through this area, called you, but you didn't answer, so I came over to take a look."

"You moved to Su City?" Chen Mengchuan froze.

"Mm. After resigning from KeDa, I wanted a new environment. My family has a place at Peninsula Mansion by Golden Rooster Lake, so I moved in there." Zhao Wanyu smiled.

"Houses at Peninsula Mansion aren't cheap." Mother Chen said in surprise.

"A lake-view villa at Golden Rooster Lake No. 1?" Chen Mengchuan asked.

"I'll have to rely on Brother Chuan's support from now on." Zhao Wanyu nodded shyly.

A genuine rich lady, Zhao Wanyu!

"Hehehehe, you two chat first. I'll go buy groceries. Xiao Zhao, stay for lunch today," Mother Chen instructed.

"Auntie, no, no, I should be going." Zhao Wanyu hurriedly stood up.

"That won't do. Stay for a simple meal, just a simple meal. Treat this like your home, like your home. Hehehehe."

After persuading Zhao Wanyu to stay, Mother Chen dragged Father Chen out the door, her face blooming with smiles.

"You really are... You've been busy these past few days..." Only after seeing his parents leave did Chen Mengchuan awkwardly look at Zhao Wanyu.

"I know you've been busy. I remembered you saying before that I could come over when I had time, so I took the liberty of visiting. You don't blame me, do you?" Zhao Wanyu smiled.

"Of course not. But it would've been enough for you to come. Why did you buy so many things?" Chen Mengchuan looked at the huge pile of health supplements in the living room.

"I didn't know what to buy, so I just picked up a few things."

Chen Mengchuan brought over a small plate of steamed buns. He grabbed one, took a bite, and asked, "What are you planning to do next?"

"I interviewed with Tianzhi yesterday. I'll be reporting in this afternoon." Zhao Wanyu covered her mouth as she laughed.

"..."

Zhao Wanyu laughed happily. "Didn't you say you wanted to poach me?"

Chen Mengchuan stuffed another bite of steamed bun into his mouth and shut up. What could he say? She had even moved here.

"Brother Chuan, there's one more thing I'd like to ask you to help with," Zhao Wanyu said.

"Mm? Go ahead."

"Because Manager Xu and Manager Toni resigned, Sister Wang got implicated and was fired by the company..." Zhao Wanyu slowly explained what had happened to Wang Fanghua.

"Listen to you. If you can persuade her to come to Su City, then on behalf of the company, I welcome her aboard. She can name her salary!" Chen Mengchuan nodded. Although he had only met Wang Fanghua once, judging by how she handled people and communicated, she was an extremely capable career woman. To serve as HR director for a publicly listed company like KeDa Intelligence, worth tens of billions, she had to be highly capable.

"Haha, then I'll thank Brother Chuan on Sister Wang's behalf." Zhao Wanyu smiled.

"You're helping me poach talent. Shouldn't I be the one thanking you?" Chen Mengchuan waved his hand.

After asking about Xu Shuwei and Toni's resignations, Chen Mengchuan learned that the two had submitted their resignation letters to the board and HR department on the very day they had spoken with him. Their resignations had not only detonated like a nuclear bomb within KeDa, but also caused huge waves throughout the entire Artificial Intelligence industry.

"So Brother Xu and Toni have already left KeDa?" Chen Mengchuan asked.

Zhao Wanyu nodded and sighed. "It wasn't just Manager Xu and Manager Toni. A whole group of core technical staff who followed them all submitted their resignations. The scene in our HR department that day was simply spectacular."

"Sister Wang urgently transferred nearly a hundred people from the research departments in Hefei City and Yantai City for an emergency handover. Not only did she fail to become the hero who turned things around, she was directly fired as well," Zhao Wanyu continued.

The moment he heard the number, Chen Mengchuan was overjoyed. Nearly a hundred core technical personnel—if they could quickly join the A-Chen project, the progress would undoubtedly increase dramatically.

Before long, Father Chen and Mother Chen returned with groceries and quickly prepared a table full of dishes. They ate lunch around the round table like one family. Mother Chen's enthusiasm, treating Zhao Wanyu completely like her future daughter-in-law, left Chen Mengchuan deeply embarrassed.

After lunch, he packed up and hurried toward Su City Industrial Park as if fleeing for his life.

After only a few days away, the company had changed dramatically again. The scaffolding around the building had all been removed, and the freshly repainted exterior looked brand-new. The fountain pool at the main entrance had begun operating, and the reception area in the first-floor lobby had also been completed. After going upstairs to the second floor, Zhao Wanyu smiled and parted ways with him to report to administration.

Chen Mengchuan saw Sun Zhongyong talking with Xu Shuwei. Nearly a hundred computers had already been set up in the office area, while another thirty or forty men and women were organizing the computers and workstations.

After he walked over and greeted them, Xu Shuwei said, "These are only some of the people who came first. A total of forty-three people from my team came with me, and around fifty people from Toni's team will also be coming. Mengchuan, all of us will be following you for a living from now on. Hahaha."

Sun Zhongyong said to Chen Mengchuan, "I rented a guesthouse on the west side of the park. Over the next few days, several dozen more people will be coming from Shanghai City, and everything has been arranged. I prepared one hundred sets of work equipment and computers before, thinking it would be enough, but after talking with Dr. Xu, I realized we still need to buy more. Quite a few of these people need two or even three computers at the same time."

Xu Shuwei waved a hand. "Brother Sun, stop calling me Dr. Xu. Just call me Shuwei. You're even two years older than me."

"Brother Sun, there's something I didn't discuss with you beforehand. I already talked it over with Brother Xu and Toni. Every core technical staff member who comes over will receive a twenty percent raise based on their KeDa salary, and the company will cover their food and accommodation as well," Chen Mengchuan said after the fact.

Sun Zhongyong rolled his eyes. "Shuwei and I already finished discussing all that before you brought it up. Too late. Go, go, go. I get annoyed just looking at you."

"Hahaha, don't be like that. I'll treat everyone to dinner tonight."

"Another day, Mengchuan. Once everyone else has arrived, we'll get together when the whole group is here," Xu Shuwei declined.

After work ended at six that evening, Zhao Wanyu had just gotten into her car when Chen Mengchuan opened the front passenger door and climbed in.

"What are you doing?"

"Going home." Chen Mengchuan fastened his seat belt.

"I'm not going to Jiangmu Ancient Town. It's not on the way," Zhao Wanyu said as she looked at him.

"To your place." Chen Mengchuan sat upright.

Zhao Wanyu's face reddened, but she started the car anyway.

When they arrived at Zhao Wanyu's three-story villa, Chen Mengchuan looked at the lake view and vast green lawn and sighed again. "Poverty really does limit my imagination."

Zhao Wanyu's villa at Peninsula Mansion on Golden Rooster Lake was practically one of the best-located villas in the entire development.

After night fell, Zhao Wanyu slipped into Chen Mengchuan's bed again.