A Mother's Worries as Her Child Travels Far

After coaxing his younger sister Candy to sleep, Mo Jingchun experienced the joy of unboxing something for the first time.

The laptop felt a little heavy in his hands, but he still liked it very much, especially with its black casing.

After taking everything out of the box and looking it over, Mo Jingchun eagerly plugged in the laptop and pressed the power button.

The screen lit up, displaying the manufacturer's large logo. About two seconds later, it switched to the language selection.

Simplified Chinese

Following the prompts step by step, Mo Jingchun eventually saw several poems and Classical Chinese passages he knew well.

"Meeting you for the first time is like an old friend returning."

"Is it not a joy to have friends come from afar?"

"Indigo is derived from blue, yet it is bluer than blue."

"The Sword Gate stands steep and towering; one man guards the pass, and ten thousand cannot break through."

"Under the bright sun, every household replaces old peachwood charms with new ones."

"Do not dwell on your homeland before old friends; instead, try the new tea with freshly kindled fire."

After waiting several minutes, Mo Jingchun heard the familiar computer startup ringtone.

The empty desktop had nothing but a Recycle Bin.

After fiddling with it for quite a while and searching for information online, a few more icons finally appeared on the new laptop's desktop.

Computer, Network, Control Panel, and several commonly used programs.

He even installed the much-criticized 360 Security Guard.

Mo Jingchun knew that 360 Security Guard would take up computer resources, but he downloaded it anyway. No other reason—it was convenient.

In truth, on a slightly better computer, the system resources used by 360 Security Guard were really negligible.

Without realizing it, Mo Jingchun had spent more than two hours tinkering with the laptop. Only when his stomach began growling did he notice it was already past noon.

Fortunately, his younger sister Candy had not woken up yet.

That afternoon, Mo Jingchun tried everything, but Candy simply refused to sleep. She stayed curled up in his arms, her tiny hands clutching his collar tightly.

Left with no choice, Mo Jingchun supported the Little One with his left hand while using his right to search for recommended C++ software development tools.

After comparing the pros and cons of various C++ development tools online, Mo Jingchun ultimately chose Visual Studio.

He searched Baidu for a Visual Studio download and installation guide, followed the instructions, completed the installation, and reconfigured the development environment.

A whole day passed in the blink of an eye. Other than working on the laptop all day, he had done nothing else.

The Little One had probably exhausted herself playing during the day. Once the sun set and darkness fell, Candy, full and content, fell asleep before long.

Only then did Mo Jingchun finally have his hands free. He created a new project in the Visual Studio editor and typed out his first line of code.

It was not any line of code from the AI Smart Butler in his mind, but rather...

#include"ostream"

Watching "hello world" appear in the compilation results, Mo Jingchun smiled with heartfelt delight.

A sense of accomplishment—there it was.

That damned feeling of satisfaction.

After basking in self-satisfaction for quite some time, Mo Jingchun finally began writing the first custom library from his memories.

In the room, there was a desk lamp, a laptop, Mo Jingchun tapping away at the keyboard in front of it, and Candy sleeping soundly on the bed. It was like a painting.

After stretching, taking a deep breath, and slowly letting it out, Mo Jingchun felt completely relaxed.

Without realizing it, he had already written more than two thousand lines of code. No wonder his eyes felt sore and swollen.

But Mo Jingchun also realized that his coding speed was far below his expectations. At this rate, who knew when the AI Smart Butler would ever see the light of day.

"Such a pain."

Shaking his head, Mo Jingchun snapped the laptop shut.

After taking a shower and climbing into bed, it was already past eleven.

Lying in bed, Mo Jingchun reflected on the day. Though he had ready-made AI Smart Butler code in his mind, he had also discovered his own shortcomings.

Perhaps because it came from the system, the code in his mind was easy to understand. For every function, Mo Jingchun could accurately pinpoint which section of code implemented it. But when it came to fundamental knowledge, he knew nothing at all.

Just like during the day—after getting the new laptop and facing a blank desktop, Mo Jingchun could only turn to Baidu.

Mo Jingchun's knowledge of computers was limited to the computer classes he had taken at school.

The principles behind operating systems... CPU instruction sets...

Mo Jingchun knew absolutely nothing about any of it.

Now it seemed that the road he needed to travel to create the AI Smart Butler was truly long and far.

Today, Mo Jingchun unusually did not write any code. Early in the morning, he locked the door, held Candy in his arms, picked up a Red Plastic Bag, and headed up Back Mountain.

Fresh soil, a New Grave, while the funeral wreaths on either side were a mix of old and new.

There was one more person in the grave, yet the Grave Mound had not grown any larger. It was still exactly as it had been before.

Bang~

The sound of fireworks startled the Little One strapped to Mo Jingchun, and he patted Candy's back.

"Don't be afraid, don't be afraid. Brother is here."

Perhaps Mo Jingchun's comfort worked. The Little One was no longer afraid and instead craned her neck, trying to find where the sound had come from.

Mo Jingchun knelt on the ground, placed the incense and paper offerings together, and lit them. Then he began murmuring softly.

"Father, Mother."

"I'm leaving for school tomorrow."

"Don't worry. Someone's taking me tomorrow. Fourth Uncle is even driving me to the train station in the city."

"Grandpa also told me that the neighbors will see me off tomorrow."

Mo Jingchun smiled. "You used to envy my cousins all the time for getting into college and looking so glorious. Now, in the blink of an eye, it's your Son's turn. Are you happy?"

"You must be happy, right? Your Son got into Jing University. He's so much better than them."

"You don't need to worry about little Candy either. I'll take my Younger Sister with me to school. Hehe, I might be the first person ever to take his Younger Sister to college."

"Candy, say goodbye to Father and Mother~"

"Hmm-hmm~"

"Father, Mother."

"In a few months, it'll be New Year... I'll come back to see you again."

Only after confirming again and again that there was no remaining source of fire did Mo Jingchun leave the gravestone-less Grave Mound with his younger sister.

Back in the room, Mo Jingchun scratched his head in frustration. Such a large suitcase was filled after only tossing in a few things.

More than half the suitcase was filled with Candy's belongings, while his own things took up less than a third of the space.

When he turned around, Candy was still lying on the bed, smiling at him.

"Looks like I'll have to wait until winter to buy a Down Jacket."

After packing, Mo Jingchun carried Candy from upstairs to downstairs again, checking every window one by one to make sure they were shut and locked.

That evening, Mo Jingchun took his younger sister to Grandpa's house.

"Grandpa, these are the spare keys to the house. While I'm away, I'll have to trouble you."

PS: Grandpa, your... Recommend Tickets~~~