Chapter Summaries

Key plot points and events

• Two days after the college entrance exams, Zhou Min leads students from No. 1 High School on a two-day tour of Haicheng’s universities. She silences the noisy students, singles out her nephew Zhou Muzhi for a reprimand, and then leaves the group to visit her son, Han Luyi.
• Zhou Min arrives at Source Intelligence’s headquarters, only to learn that Luyi is away inspecting server installations. While she waits, colleague Su Niannian recognizes her and invites her upstairs.
• Su gives Zhou Min a tour of the offices. They encounter the company’s electronically tracked “incense” for its God of Wealth statue, which Zhou Min uses while Su privately judges the product’s poor user experience.
• When Luyi returns, he finds his mother and Su chatting warmly. Zhou Min fusses over his long hair, then he takes her to his office and introduces her to colleagues, including Zhang Biao.
• After explaining that she must return to her hotel that evening, Zhou Min suddenly asks Luyi whether he has started dating anyone.

Character developments and interactions

• Zhou Min is a strict, authoritative teacher with students, but a warm and openly affectionate mother. She takes pride in Luyi’s workplace and quickly grows fond of Su.
• Han Luyi is attentive to his mother, apologizing for not being there to meet her and showing her around when he returns. His mother’s mention of Su reveals that he once talked about her at home.
• Su Niannian is considerate and hospitable, and her professional instincts show when she evaluates the company’s incense product. Learning that Luyi had mentioned her to his mother leaves her curious and quietly pleased; seeing his affectionate side with Zhou Min makes her smile.
• Zhou Muzhi is used to being blamed by his aunt despite not having started the disturbance. He jokingly retaliates by blowing in a classmate’s ear.

Significant themes

• Family affection across generations: Zhou Min’s strictness toward students contrasts with her tenderness toward Luyi.
• Work and personal life intersecting: Su and Zhou connect through Luyi, while Zhou’s visit gives her a glimpse into his adult life.
• Romantic possibility and subtext: Zhou Min’s final question, combined with Su’s reaction to Luyi having mentioned her, hints at an emerging relationship.
• Technology’s comic intrusion into tradition: The company’s data-tracking incense turns a customary act of worship into a product feature, amusing Zhou and irritating Su’s design sensibilities.

Chapter summary: “A Family Dinner”

Key plot points and events

• Zhou Min realizes her son, Han Luyi, has started dating. She pieces it together from changes in his calls and his recent outing to an art exhibition.
• She mistakenly guesses that his girlfriend is Su Nian, but Han clarifies that Su is only his business partner. His girlfriend is Gu Siyue, a lawyer.
• Zhou Min asks to meet Gu. Han invites her to dinner, and Gu eagerly agrees, worrying that she has little time to prepare a gift.
• At the restaurant, Gu arrives dressed more softly than usual and brings Zhou Min throat-soothing fruit. Zhou Min warmly welcomes her and steers the conversation away from intrusive questions, instead sharing stories about Han’s childhood.
• When Zhou Min suggests Gu need not return to Han’s hometown for New Year, Gu briefly looks awkward but says she would like to visit Lu’an someday.
• After dinner, Zhou sends Han to walk Gu to her car. Gu kisses him passionately, and he asks if she will come over that night. She tells him to buy condoms.
• On the drive back, Zhou notices Han is distracted. He is thinking about what Gu seemed to avoid discussing at dinner.

Character developments and interactions

• Han Luyi is embarrassed to be found out but is comfortable introducing Gu to his mother. He expects to mediate between them, only to find himself largely excluded as they quickly get along.
• Zhou Min is perceptive and affectionate, though her lifelong habit of monitoring Han resurfaces. She is eager to meet his girlfriend but shows tact by avoiding personal interrogation.
• Gu Siyue reveals a gentler, more consciously courteous side around Zhou, dressing up and bringing a thoughtful gift. Her momentary discomfort at the mention of New Year suggests an unresolved concern, though she conceals it.
• Zhou and Gu bond through stories about Han, while Han becomes the amused, slightly awkward observer.

Significant themes

• Parent-child relationships changing over time: Zhou and Han are renegotiating their familiar, sometimes supervisory dynamic as he becomes an independent adult.
• Family acceptance and belonging: The dinner is a warm first step toward Gu joining Han’s family life, though her reaction to visiting his hometown hints that belonging may not be uncomplicated.
• Intimacy and emotional subtext: Affection between Han and Gu contrasts with the unspoken issue she avoids at dinner.
• Care expressed through attention: Zhou and Gu show consideration through small gestures—thoughtful food choices, a gift, and efforts to make one another comfortable.

• The merger is approved: Source Code Technology and Source Intelligence Technology hold consecutive shareholders’ meetings to approve their merger into the Origin Group, provisionally valued at RMB 200 billion. Han Luyi has already secured broad agreement from the investors, and the motions pass almost unanimously.
• A dispute over employee options: During Source Intelligence’s meeting, a financial adviser argues that the companies should cancel their old, unexercised stock options and issue new ones at current market prices. That would sharply reduce the value early employees could gain from the companies’ growth. Han rejects the proposal and insists that the original options be preserved. The investors do not challenge him, and the plan passes: employees’ options are converted proportionally into Origin Group options, with their exercise prices and schedules unchanged.
• Han’s ownership and status: Once the paperwork is signed, the companies’ core assets are consolidated under Origin Group. Han directly holds 64.55%, worth about RMB 129.1 billion at the provisional valuation. Lu Mingzhou congratulates him on effectively reaching the rich list; Han jokes that Lu should work toward joining it too.
• Employees learn the news: The merger is announced internally, with details on the companies’ respective valuations and the option conversion. Jiang Yixin checks the new stock-option platform and discovers that her original 0.1% stake in Source Code is now 0.03% of Origin Group, valued for reference at RMB 60 million. Stunned, she begins imagining what that wealth could mean.
  Character developments and interactions: Han shows that he is willing to protect early employees’ potential gains rather than maximize shareholder value by canceling their options. The adviser’s attempt to impress the investors instead leaves him awkwardly isolated, while Lu Mingzhou supports the agreed plan and shares in the excitement of the merger. Jiang’s perspective shifts abruptly from product worries to the life-changing scale of her options.
  Themes: The chapter highlights the tension between corporate cost-cutting and fair treatment of employees, the transformative power of equity in a fast-growing company, and the contrast between abstract valuations and the personal impact of wealth.

• Group merger and restructuring: Jiang Yixin learns that Source Code Technology and Source Intelligence Technology will merge as Origin Group. At a senior management meeting, Han Luyi explains that the new company aims to pursue AGI beyond software and models. Han will serve as group CEO, while Su Niannian becomes executive president and oversees daily operations.
• New reporting structure: Zhao Wenyuan will lead frontier-model research in Beijing, reporting to Han. Jiang Songran will oversee computing capabilities, with Xue Zhaoheng and Shen Zhonghe reporting to him. Jiang Yixin keeps responsibility for Source Code’s products, and Chen Jianye continues to lead engineering implementation. Chen will report to Su while also having a dotted-line relationship to Jiang—a detail Jiang is especially pleased about. The existing subsidiaries retain their brands, but administrative, financial, and legal functions move under group management. Shen Congyun becomes chief HR officer under Su, and Lu Mingzhou remains CFO under Han.
• New colleague and IPO plans: Han introduces Song Jianing, formerly a partner at Siheng Law Firm, as Origin’s chief legal officer. Jiang wonders what this means for the company’s relationship with Siheng and its lawyer Gu. Han also announces that the company will prepare for a Hong Kong IPO, with Lu and Song initially responsible; the plans are confidential and the timeline is not yet set.
• Jiang’s reactions and development: After researching her stock options, Jiang realizes they are not immediately available cash: she must wait to exercise them, and selling depends on a company buyback or IPO, followed by a lockup period. Her excitement dims until the IPO announcement revives her hopes of eventual wealth. She is also relieved that her role, boss, and product responsibilities remain unchanged, and amused that Chen’s earlier prediction about organizational restructuring proved right. She saves a photo of the new organizational chart as a memento of seeing her name at this level.
• Character interactions and closing concern: Jiang greets senior colleagues respectfully and watches the restructuring unfold, then plans to introduce herself to Song because product work often requires legal support. As she notices Han speaking with Jiang Songran, she recalls that the new Lingang computing cluster is already nearly half occupied by Glutinous Rice Ball Chat. She worries this may delay the API launch of Glutinous Rice Ball 1.0.
  Themes: Corporate change and hierarchy, ambition and financial uncertainty, the tension between grand technological goals and practical capacity limits, and the importance of workplace relationships and cross-functional cooperation.

Key plot points and events

• Jiang Songran meets privately with Han Luyi after being promoted to senior vice president, responsible for infrastructure and computing power.
• Jiang admits he lacks confidence: he has experience buying and using chips, but not manufacturing them, and worries about managing expert Xue Zhaoheng and coordinating with Icecore and Shen’s team.
• Han explains that Jiang’s strength is management, while Xue will lead on technical decisions. The urgency is growing: publicity has driven Glutinous Rice Ball Chat’s usage sharply upward, nearly filling the latest cluster, and the L100 cards they acquired are the last of their kind. The next-generation L200 is still in development.
• Han proposes gathering domestic computing-card manufacturers and releasing the middle layer of Origin’s L100 adaptation framework as open source. Manufacturers could build their own hardware-specific support and connect their cards to Glutinous Rice Ball 1.0.
• Origin would help manufacturers adapt their cards in exchange for buying their existing inventory and future production. This could quickly expand inference capacity, though it may not solve training needs.
• Han asks Jiang to attend a Domestic Computing Card Alliance meeting in Beijing. Jiang agrees and recognizes the opportunity’s importance.
• Han sends Jiang materials submitted by the manufacturers. Their claims of being the first to overcome foreign restrictions appear impressive at first, but the specifications prompt Jiang to doubt the advertising.

Character development

• Jiang Songran is candid about his limits rather than hiding problems from his superior. Despite his anxiety, he quickly understands Han’s technical and business strategy and becomes enthusiastic about carrying it out.
• Han Luyi shows confidence in delegating: he assigns Jiang coordination and management while reserving technical authority for Xue. He also demonstrates strategic thinking by linking open-source software, hardware adaptation, and guaranteed purchases.

Character interactions

• Han reassures Jiang that he is not expected to be the chip-production expert; his management ability is what the project needs.
• Jiang responds with frank concerns, then recognizes and praises Han’s plan.
• Their discussion shifts from Jiang’s promotion and confidence to the immediate computing shortage, and finally to a coordinated arrangement with domestic manufacturers.

Significant themes

• Honesty and competent leadership: Jiang’s willingness to admit uncertainty helps surface risks early.
• Growth under pressure: Rapid product adoption is a success that also creates a serious infrastructure crisis.
• Collaboration and strategic independence: Open standards and cooperation among domestic manufacturers may reduce reliance on foreign hardware ecosystems.
• Marketing versus reality: The chapter ends by questioning manufacturers’ bold claims, suggesting a gap between advertising and actual performance.

Plot points and events

• Zhao Wenyuan welcomes Jiang Songran to Beijing, where Origin’s renamed research institute is rapidly expanding: it has recruited researchers and technical staff, taken on business projects, and rented additional office space.
• Jiang asks Zhao how to approach a government-organized meeting with domestic computing-card manufacturers. Zhao explains that officials are providing the platform, but Origin must persuade companies through practical technical results and commercial agreements.
• Concerned by the manufacturers’ uneven hardware quality and the warnings he has received, Jiang reviews his materials and consults Xue Zhaoheng about technical questions.
• At the meeting, Director Yu helps greet the company representatives, then gives a formal opening speech about collaboration, shared standards, and reducing duplicated investment before leaving.
• Jiang presents Origin’s achievement: the Tangyuan Model’s inference clusters run entirely on its L100 computing cards. A live dashboard demonstrates the cluster’s workload, impressing many attendees and distinguishing Origin’s deployment from competitors’ claims of breakthroughs.
• The chapter ends as Jiang considers how to make the case even stronger, noting that Lingang also operates a separate cluster of two thousand cards acquired from Dingsheng.

Character developments

• Jiang Songran moves from uncertainty about the meeting to taking charge of it. He prepares carefully, assesses representatives and their products, and presents Origin’s results with confidence.
• Zhao Wenyuan demonstrates his growing familiarity with Beijing’s business and government environment, advising Jiang and supporting Origin’s expanding operations.
• Director Yu acts as a facilitator: he uses his official position to convene the industry, while leaving the substantive negotiations and technical persuasion to Origin.
• Xue Zhaoheng supports Jiang behind the scenes by helping him work through hardware details.

Significant themes

• Proof over promises: Industry claims of domestic computing breakthroughs matter less than demonstrated performance in real deployments.
• Collaboration and competition: The proposed alliance aims to standardize interfaces and reduce wasted investment, but Origin must still win manufacturers’ trust.
• Institutional support versus technical credibility: Government endorsement can gather the industry, but convincing companies requires genuine solutions.
• Building through practical partnerships: Origin’s growth depends not only on research but also on engineering, staffing, and business relationships.

Character interactions

• Zhao advises Jiang on the meeting’s structure and reassures him about how it will work.
• Jiang consults Xue Zhaoheng by video call while preparing.
• Director Yu welcomes and introduces representatives, lending the gathering official legitimacy and encouraging cooperation.
• Jiang personally greets each company representative, exchanges business cards, and presents Origin’s live technical results to the assembled manufacturers.

Key plot points and events

• Chengjiang Technology’s vice president of sales, Yue Xiangdong, attends an Industry Alliance meeting expecting it to be a government-arranged opportunity to sell products to Source Intelligence.
• He learns the company is now called the Origin Group and has developed its own computing cards, raising doubts about whether it needs Chengjiang’s hardware.
• Origin demonstrates that it can run inference on trillion-parameter models using its L100 cards. It also announces an open-source abstraction layer that will let other manufacturers connect their hardware to major AI inference frameworks.
• The surprise deepens when Origin demonstrates the same capability on clusters built from Chengjiang’s CJ590 cards—without Chengjiang’s knowledge. The audience assumes Chengjiang and Origin have secretly collaborated.
• Yue realizes the adaptation is Origin’s achievement, not Chengjiang’s. He urgently asks what it would cost, only to learn that Origin will share the technology with partners in exchange for computing power, prioritizing those who contribute most.

Character developments and interactions

• Yue begins as a confident salesman looking for a customer, but the demonstration leaves him shocked and anxious about Chengjiang’s technical position and stock price. He quickly shifts from selling to trying to secure Origin’s technology.
• Jiang Songran presents Origin’s results calmly, revealing the open-source plan and the terms for sharing hardware adaptations.
• Yue presses Jiang for a price; Jiang makes clear that money is not the main consideration—computing resources and long-term cooperation are.
• The other representatives react with astonishment and mistakenly credit Chengjiang with the breakthrough, turning Yue into the focus of the room’s speculation.

Significant themes

• Software and ecosystem matter as much as hardware: Origin’s abstraction layer unlocks capabilities for chips that their maker could not achieve alone.
• Cooperation as leverage: Origin uses access to its technology to secure the computing power it needs.
• Rapid shifts in industry power: Chengjiang, once a leading domestic chip company, suddenly finds itself dependent on a competitor’s software breakthrough.
• Public image versus reality: The audience sees Chengjiang as having made a secret advance, while Yue knows the achievement belongs to Origin.

Su Niannian reported Tangyuan Chat’s growth and computing-power shortage to Han Luyi, who approved renting cloud capacity to sustain expansion. After she left, Jiang Songran called from Beijing with a possible source of computing cards and conditions Han Luyi needed to consider.

• Su Niannian told Han Luyi that Tangyuan Chat’s user base was growing quickly, its paid conversion rate was stable, and its computing resources would run short by mid-July.
• Su Niannian proposed reducing free usage or suspending advertising, while Han Luyi suggested renting cloud computing power as a stopgap.
• Han Luyi approved renting cloud capacity despite its cost and urged Su Niannian to bring her own proposals to future briefings.
• Han Luyi explained that the company would prioritize growth now and optimize costs after growth peaked; Su Niannian thanked him and left.
• Jiang Songran called Han Luyi from Beijing to report that Chengjiang Technology could provide computing cards, but its conditions required consultation.

Han Luyi rejected Chengjiang Technology’s proposal to trade five thousand cards for a joint statement and summoned its CEO to negotiate directly. He asked Song Jianing to prepare a cooperation framework that would exchange Origin’s technology for staged stock options and priority purchasing rights.

• Han Luyi told Jiang Songran to have Chengjiang Technology’s CEO meet him and to prioritize other suppliers with available, compatible cards.
• Yue Xiangdong accepted that negotiations had stalled and said Chengjiang Technology would arrange a visit to Han Luyi in Haicheng.
• Han Luyi called Song Jianing to discuss Chengjiang Technology’s proposed partnership and joint statement.
• Song Jianing explained that Chengjiang wanted to use Origin’s endorsement and orders to strengthen its market prospects.
• Han Luyi asked Song Jianing to draft a framework seeking staged stock options tied to procurement milestones and priority purchasing rights.

Yue Xiangdong told Chengjiang Technology’s executives that Origin Group had demonstrated its Glutinous Rice Ball model running on both its own cluster and Chengjiang Technology’s CJ590 cards. Shi Potian decided to travel to Haicheng with Yue that day to negotiate, leaving Bei Haishi worried that Chengjiang’s years of R&D could be discarded.

• Yue Xiangdong called Shi Potian and asked him to convene Chengjiang Technology’s senior executives for an urgent meeting.
• Yue Xiangdong reported that Origin Group had demonstrated Glutinous Rice Ball running on its own cluster and on a cluster using Chengjiang Technology’s CJ590 cards.
• Bei Haishi doubted the demonstration, but Shi Potian and Yue Xiangdong warned that Origin Group’s open-source technology could transform the AI chip industry if it was real.
• Yue Xiangdong said Origin Group had rejected Chengjiang’s offer of five thousand cards in exchange for its technology and a partnership announcement, and had asked Shi Potian to meet its boss in Haicheng.
• Shi Potian ordered Yue Xiangdong to review available inventory and production capacity, then arranged for them to travel to Haicheng that day.
• Bei Haishi asked to accompany Shi Potian, but Shi declined and warned that if Origin Group’s technology was genuine, Chengjiang Technology no longer had the right to choose.

Han Luyi hosted Shi Potian of Chengjiang Technology, who verified Origin’s breakthrough in running inference on CJ590 cards and offered Origin computing resources in exchange for cooperation. Han said Chengjiang’s offer was not enough, leaving their negotiations unresolved.

• Liu Yu told Han Luyi that Shi Potian planned to visit Origin’s headquarters the next morning.
• Han Luyi invited Gu Siyue to move in with him, and she said she would think about it.
• Shi Potian asked Han Luyi to show him Origin’s operational data so he could verify the inference breakthrough.
• Shi Potian examined the third cluster’s data and confirmed its computing power and load matched the CJ590’s theoretical capabilities.
• Shi Potian offered Origin five thousand cards in stock and discounted priority access to ten percent of Chengjiang’s annual output.
• Han Luyi told Shi Potian that the offer was not enough.