“To be honest, this millet porridge isn’t as good as mine.”
After drinking Lin Shuwen’s millet porridge, Luo Ming felt like he was back on top of his game. For people from Shanxi, making millet porridge was practically a essential skill.
Luo Ming actually had a lot of experience with making millet porridge, and he genuinely thought Lin Shuwen’s was just so-so.
“I believe that. My dad’s millet porridge tastes better than my mom’s. He says people from Fenyang drink porridge every day, so making it is just a matter of practice.
My mom is from Mianyang. I learned to cook from her, so my taste leans toward Sichuan flavors.”
“I remember you mentioning that your dad was a graduate student at Sichuan University, and so was your mom. So they got together during college?” Luo Ming asked curiously.
“Yeah, both my parents were in the biology department at Sichuan University. They were even graduate students under the same professor. They spent a lot of time together and eventually ended up together.
After they got married, my mom followed my dad to Bingzhou. When she was pregnant with me, it took a toll on her health. Not only could she not get pregnant again afterward, but she also became frail and sickly—she’d start coughing whenever the weather changed.
Because of that, right after I was born, my mom had to stop working. She took me, just a few months old, to stay with my grandparents for a year to recover.
Later, when she went back to work, she left me in my grandparents’ care.
When I was 12—I remember it was right after my coming-of-age ceremony—my parents received an invitation from the School of Life Sciences at Capital Normal University.
So I went to the capital with them. After that, except for holidays, I almost never went back to Bingzhou.”
“No wonder I always felt like you weren’t that familiar with Bingzhou.”
“I’m not that familiar with the capital either. I only really know the area around my home.”
“You don’t seem like the homebody type though!”
“It’s not about being a homebody. I just don’t have many friends, so I don’t go out much. By the way, Luo Ming, what’s your family like?” Lin Shuwen shifted the topic.
“There are five of us—my parents, and a pair of twins, a brother and sister, who are five years younger than me. My dad’s a truck driver, and my mom’s an elementary school math teacher.”
“An elementary school teacher and a truck driver—those jobs sound so mismatched. How did your parents end up together?”
“My dad was a soldier who transferred to civilian work. At first, he was assigned to the public security bureau in our area. My mom had a associate degree and was assigned straight to a local elementary school after graduating from teachers’ college. At the time, their jobs were considered a good match.
Later, my dad couldn’t stand this one scumbag. During the arrest, he used excessive force, and during interrogation, when the guy wouldn’t talk, my dad got physical. Because of that whole chain of problems, my dad lost his job and started driving trucks.”
“Your dad really has a strong sense of justice, huh!” Lin Shuwen said in a tactful way.
Luo Ming smiled and didn’t dwell on the topic. As a son, he couldn’t exactly say his own father was in the wrong. He continued, “With parents who are a truck driver and an elementary school teacher, I’d say I’m not an orphan, but it sure feels like it. Both of them were away from home most of the year.
My siblings and I have been ‘checked into’ a small meal table since elementary school. My mom would only pick us up when she got home from school at night.”
Lin Shuwen had clearly never heard the term “small meal table” before. She asked curiously, “Small meal table? What’s that?”
“You can think of it as something like after-school tutoring, except this place not only has teachers to help you with homework, but also provides meals, and you can even stay overnight.”
“Sounds pretty convenient.”
“Mainly convenient for the parents. For me, the small meal table life wasn’t exactly a good memory.”
“Did something bad happen?”
“Not really. I was just a bit of a loner and couldn’t get along with the kids there. For a long time, I kept to myself. It wasn’t until high school in Bingzhou, when I made a few friends, that I started to change a bit.”
“Fifth High School is a key school in Bingzhou, right? I remember my cousin went there.”
“Yeah. Speaking of which, when I first went to Fifth High, I was pretty confident. Back in my hometown, I was always in the top 5 of my grade.
But when I got to Fifth High, I realized there’s always someone better. The grades I was so proud of meant nothing there. I couldn’t even get into the accelerated class, let alone the rocket class.
I studied like crazy in the regular class, and in the end, all I could get into was a 211 university. That was probably the first time I realized how uneven the world really is.”
Lin Shuwen could tell Luo Ming wasn’t in the best mood, so she quickly tried to comfort him. “That’s all in the past. You’re doing great now! You made 3 million from one little game. Plants vs. Zombies is definitely going to make big money too.”
Luo Ming smiled and didn’t dwell on the topic. He changed the subject. “Wenwen, later help me contact your senior. Tell her we’re going to see Professor Wu tomorrow and ask her to come with us.”
“Okay. By the way, Luo Ming, how much investment does Professor Wu need?”
“Let me put it this way—the most important thing for big data research in the early stages is a large amount of data samples. And those samples need very specialized equipment to analyze. That equipment is where the investment mainly goes. I’d estimate you’d need at least tens of millions, maybe even one or two hundred million, to even get it off the ground.”
“Ah? That much money? You’re not already counting the Plants vs. Zombies revenue in there, are you?”
“How could I? Actually, the whole reason I went to Fudan University to find a big data research group was to save that money.
Fudan is consistently ranked in the top three universities in China. They’re definitely not short on equipment. By using Fudan’s equipment, we can cut out the biggest expense. As for research costs, I estimate ten million or so should be enough.”
Hearing this, Lin Shuwen suddenly understood. “So you’re planning to use the 2048 revenue to trade for the big data patent from Professor Wu’s team, right?”
“Exactly. We only want the commercial usage rights to the patent anyway. That doesn’t cost Professor Wu’s team anything. In fact, having someone invest in their project saves them the trouble of applying for research funding.”
“Mutual benefit! I get it. By the way, Luo Ming, I have a question. Do you think the future of the internet is big data?”
“Why do you ask all of a sudden?” Luo Ming asked, taken aback.
“I’ve been learning a bit about the internet industry lately. I asked Zhao Ningyuan this question, and he thinks the future of the internet is AI—highly intelligent interconnectivity. But you keep working on big data.”
“The two don’t conflict. I also think the future of the internet is AI. As for highly intelligent interconnectivity, I have my reservations—I’m not sure if that’s good or bad for humanity. But AI is definitely the main direction the internet will develop in the future.
In a sense, big data is actually part of AI’s supporting infrastructure. It’s just that big data has extremely important significance in business, especially in e-commerce.
I think big data is the next big internet wave. There’s a saying—when you stand on the wind, even a pig can fly. If we grab onto big data now, it’s like grabbing a ticket to the future.
As for AI, as big data algorithms keep improving and developing, AI will gradually reveal its important side. By then, we should already have some capital on hand, and it won’t be too late to invest in AI.”
“No wonder Director Wang from our company’s tech department couldn’t stop thinking about you after meeting you just once,” Lin Shuwen couldn’t help but remark.
“Director Wang? Wang Hongyu?”
“Yeah. He wants to chat with you when you have time. I’ve scheduled it for next week.”
Luo Ming nodded without overthinking it. He could tell Wang Hongyu was a kindred spirit, and Luo Ming was quite willing to exchange ideas on tech with him.
