A Photo Capturing the Present, a Future Full of Hope

"She's not my girlfriend."

Wu Chen took the soup and explained himself to the owner anyway.

"Not yet, but soon, young man. I've got a sharp eye, and I could tell at a glance there was something different about the way she looked at you!"

The owner spoke with absolute certainty.

Wu Chen smiled, thanked him, and turned to leave.

He wasn't made of wood. Naturally, he could tell there was something different about the way Jiang Nan looked at him.

But it wasn't romantic interest.

She was fucking worried her money would go down the drain!

Wu Chen didn't know what trouble had driven Jiangdong Pharmaceutical Factory into bankruptcy in his previous life, leaving Miss Jiang unable to get married even at thirty-five.

But he figured signs of trouble must already be appearing within the company. Otherwise, Jiang Hongyue wouldn't be in such a hurry to cut costs and improve efficiency, and Jiang Nan wouldn't have gone all in on Wu Chen with every penny of her private savings.

He planned to ask about it later.

When he walked out of the shop, Jiang Nan happened to drive up.

Wu Chen went around to the driver's side and knocked on the window.

"Teacher Jiang, let me drive. You drink this soup."

When Jiang Nan saw the lotus seed and pig stomach soup in his hand, a flicker of surprise crossed her eyes.

But she asked uncertainly, "Can you drive?"

"I'm an old hand behind the wheel. Don't worry."

In his previous life, Wu Chen hadn't had much money. He had bought a home in Qiantang District and traveled to Yuhang to teach every day, spending at least two hours driving there and back, so his driving skills were no problem at all.

Jiang Nan still hesitated, because she had never let anyone else drive her car.

But that cup of lotus seed and pig stomach soup was simply too tempting.

She had actually wanted some back at the shop, but since Wu Chen was treating her, she hadn't felt comfortable ordering more.

Now that he had already bought it, she might as well drink it.

In the end, Jiang Nan took the soup and climbed into the passenger seat.

And so the little red Mercedes changed hands, but it continued to glide smoothly through the streets.

Wu Chen looked perfectly relaxed at the wheel, his left hand on the steering wheel and his right resting comfortably on the center armrest as he occasionally grumbled about the other drivers.

Jiang Nan watched him for a while before she felt reassured enough to put the straw in her cup and slurp up the soup.

The warm soup in her stomach immediately eased her menstrual cramps considerably.

By the time she finished the whole cup, she had sucked the plastic container flat. When she let go of the straw, it made a pop.

Wu Chen laughed. "I used to drink through a straw in front of other people, and when there was only a little left, I was always too embarrassed to suck hard. I thought the sound was awkward."

"You're pretty concerned about your image, then."

That was Jiang Nan's assessment.

Maybe it was just psychological, but her complexion really did look a little better.

They chatted about whatever came to mind along the way, and before they knew it, they had arrived at Wanlun Science and Technology Industrial Park.

The space Jiang Nan had rented was in room 608 of building A. It was about 300 square meters in total, with rent and property management fees coming to six yuan per square meter.

With the subsidy, the price would drop to 3.5 yuan, but it was still a considerable expense.

Standing in the empty office, Wu Chen began telling Jiang Nan about his initial plans.

Hazelnut Technology's first product would be Little Jiang No. 2.

As a fully developed industrial-grade camera, its preliminary unit price was set at 18,000 yuan.

Although that was still expensive, compared with foreign products in the same field, such as Japan's Canon or Sweden's Axis, the price was exceptionally fair.

After all, foreign products didn't just have high prices; their astronomical maintenance fees were the real expense, often running into the tens of thousands or even six figures.

Fall behind and you get beaten. Some foreigners were not only arrogant and picky, but also went out of their way to make things unpleasant from time to time.

Being the client and still having to put up with that was beyond the pale.

But with Little Jiang No. 2 in Wu Chen's hands, they could drive those barbarians out of the market for industrial-grade inspection cameras used in certain applications!

According to the system's description, it could not only solve Jiangdong Pharmaceutical Factory's problem, but also achieve millimeter-level precision, operate steadily in high temperatures, heavy dust, and strong light, and was simple to use.

It could also be used in various industrial settings, such as inspecting automotive parts, precisely positioning electronic components, and recognizing characters on product packaging.

For the next few years, this one product alone would basically allow Wu Chen to earn fifteen million yuan a year by monetizing its technology.

Converted into skill points, that was 15,000 points!

Low-priced and high-performing: as long as they could mass-produce it reliably, money would come pouring into Wu Chen's pockets as if blown in by a gale.

Although Wu Chen was only an average speaker, the grand blueprint still got Jiang Nan a little excited, and her usually calm eyes sparkled.

Of course, the working environment was important too when building such a great business empire.

So Jiang Nan asked about the renovation plans.

Wu Chen had no particular requirements in that regard, so he simply picked the most spacious office and told her to handle the rest as she saw fit.

Jiang Nan agreed, then picked two offices for herself as well.

She explained, "I have a close friend. I think I mentioned her to you before. She works on artificial intelligence at Peking University, and I'd like to bring her on board. I'd give her five percent out of my own shares. Is that okay?"

"Sure. Just have me sign the paperwork when the time comes."

Jiang Nan had a twenty percent stake, and how she divided it was her own business.

But under company law, Wu Chen, as the controlling shareholder, had to sign before the transfer could take effect.

Still, he was a little curious.

"Peking University shouldn't have started the term yet, right? Why didn't she come by on such an important day? I could have discussed some technical matters with her."

One of the biggest problems Wu Chen currently faced was that he had too many theories, but his research was progressing too slowly.

He badly needed some outstanding academic laborers to help him "reproduce" his theories.

Jiang Nan was a little helpless about it too.

"She really wanted to come, but she ran into a difficult research problem recently and swore she wouldn't leave the house until she solved it."

"What a weird habit."

Wu Chen didn't quite understand.

"She's a homebody to begin with."

"Oh, so she just doesn't want to go out at all."

Wu Chen didn't give it much thought, though he hadn't expected someone like Jiang Nan, who was so good at getting things done, to be close friends with a homebody.

After a few more words of casual conversation, Jiang Nan, full of drive, brought up another matter.

First of all, this place could only serve as an office for algorithm research and development, administration, and the like.

For actual production, they would need to find industrial land and build a production facility.

It would take an enormous amount of effort, but Jiang Nan said she could handle it. She knew an electronics factory in Xiaoshan was about to go bankrupt and was searching high and low for someone to take it over.

If they could acquire it for a suitable price, it would save them a great deal of trouble.

"President Jiang always knows what to do. I'll give you a raise later."

Wu Chen smiled as he spoke.

Although his tone was joking, his gratitude was sincere.

Even with a complete set of production materials, finding a site, obtaining approvals, building a factory, and hiring workers would still take a great deal of effort.

With Jiang Nan there now, he really did have much less to worry about.

But Jiang Nan didn't think much of it. "Whether we succeed or not still depends on your technology, Chairman Wu."

"That's the one thing you don't need to worry about."

Wu Chen spoke confidently.

Jiang Nan nodded.

"Then, besides taking care of the renovations and the factory over the next few days, I'll look for some clients too. But I know a lot of people my dad deals with have similar requirements. They're just waiting for us to start mass production."

"Got it."

Jiang Nan's words suddenly gave Wu Chen a sense of urgency too.

After their discussion, the two went to the room they planned to use as a conference room.

But it was empty at the moment, without so much as a stool.

They stood and discussed the renovation plan and their next steps for a while. Since Jiang Nan wasn't feeling well, they decided to leave for now and continue communicating on QQ afterward.

But as they were leaving, Wu Chen thought for a moment and said, "Teacher Jiang, I guess this counts as our first shareholders' meeting, right? How about a photo together?"

"Sure."

Jiang Nan agreed without giving it much thought.

She was the spontaneous type, and she stood wherever she happened to be, ready to press the shutter without the slightest intention of striking a pose.

But when Wu Chen said he wanted to put the photo on the company's wall of honor someday, she did fix her hair and touch up her lipstick.

Once they were in position, they didn't fuss over poses. They stood neither too close nor too far apart and took a photo together.

It was evening, and the orange sunset washed over the office building's glass curtain wall, casting long stretches of warm light across the floor and gently overlapping their shadows.

In the photo, Wu Chen was smiling happily, looking full of confidence in the future.

Jiang Nan didn't have much of an expression, though she looked a little livelier than usual.

Wu Chen reminded her, "Send me the photo later."

Having been given another life, Wu Chen wanted to record more of it, so it wouldn't feel as unreal as a dream.

"Okay."

Jiang Nan nodded in agreement.

Once they were downstairs, she insisted on driving Wu Chen back.