Lin Shuwen watched Luo Ming speak with such ease and confidence, and for some reason, she felt her heartbeat quicken just a little.
They say a man is at his most attractive when he’s serious.
And right now, with that focused, self-assured look on his face, Lin Shuwen couldn’t bring herself to look away.
Before she knew it, she’d somehow agreed to learn big data algorithms from Luo Ming.
Seeing her say yes, Luo Ming broke into a smile. The two of them were now in the same boat—with Lin Shuwen’s support, the company could develop much more smoothly.
Besides, all the startup capital had come from Lin Shuwen. There was no way they could make such a major move without keeping her, their investor, in the loop.
Now that she’d decided to dive into big data, Lin Shuwen grew more serious and asked her first question: “Luo Ming, can you tell me what big data is actually useful for?”
“Wenwen, a few years ago, both phones and cameras had this popular feature called smile detection, right?”
Lin Shuwen nodded. Smile detection was basically a function where the camera would automatically snap a shot the moment you smiled.
She actually found it quite handy—it captured a lot of happy moments.
“What does that have to do with big data?”
“It has everything to do with it. Smile detection is just one part of facial recognition, and facial recognition technology relies on big data algorithms.
Think about it, Wenwen—what’s the most important thing on a person’s ID card?”
“The ID number, obviously.” Lin Shuwen answered without hesitation.
“Exactly. In a sense, a person’s face is their ID number.
Being able to recognize that face means being able to identify that person.”
At that, Lin Shuwen’s eyes lit up. “I get it! Luo Ming, you’re a genius! We can’t exactly wear our ID numbers on our foreheads all day.
But once facial recognition technology is in place, combined with cameras connected to big data, we can instantly identify anyone.
And once we know who they are, a lot of their recent activities can be recorded by big data.
Not to mention other things—just knowing their spending habits alone could generate massive wealth.”
“Nice! Wenwen, you’ve already figured out how big data makes money.” Luo Ming praised her.
Lin Shuwen rolled her eyes. “That was such a stiff compliment. I’m not stupid. You already mentioned how Walmart and Microsoft profited from big data—anyone could piece together how it works with a little thought.
But seriously, Luo Ming, big data really does have a lot of potential. How did you come across this opportunity?”
“I’m just standing on the shoulders of giants. Nothing worth bragging about.” Luo Ming said with a composed expression.
Lin Shuwen clearly misunderstood who the “giants” were. She nodded and said, “Microsoft definitely counts as a giant.”
Luo Ming didn’t correct her. One day, she’d realize he wasn’t talking about Microsoft.
“So, Luo Ming, is our company going to get into big data too?” Lin Shuwen asked.
“Absolutely. But what we’re going to do will be different from what some internet companies that have already entered the field are doing.”
“Different how?”
“Most internet companies right now use big data by collecting user information, organizing it, figuring out consumer habits, predicting future spending trends, and profiting from that.
What I want to do is take the opposite approach—use big data to provide services to users.”
“Provide services to—”
Knock, knock~ “Wen Jie, I’m back!” Chen Sichu’s knock interrupted Lin Shuwen mid-sentence.
“Come in!”
At Lin Shuwen’s reply, Chen Sichu pushed open the office door and walked in.
The moment she entered, she spotted Lin Shuwen sitting in the boss’s chair.
Chen Sichu winced internally and thought to herself, “Wen Jie, this is someone else’s company! You invested 500,000 and now you’re sitting in the boss’s seat?”
But as much as she thought it, she didn’t say a word. She obediently walked over and stood behind Lin Shuwen, hands clasped together over her stomach, back straight as a rod—clearly not wanting to embarrass Lin Shuwen in front of outsiders.
Seeing Chen Sichu like that, Lin Shuwen was so mortified she could’ve dug a hole with her toes.
She glanced at Luo Ming, who had a faint smile on his lips, cleared her throat, and said, “Chuchu, President Luo isn’t an outsider. You don’t have to be so stiff.”
Chen Sichu glanced at Luo Ming and finally couldn’t hold back. “Wen Jie, you’re sitting right in President Luo’s seat—don’t you think that’s a bit inappropriate? And here I am trying so hard to save face for you, and you’re telling me to relax?”
Lin Shuwen covered her face, at a loss for words. She couldn’t exactly tell Chen Sichu, “He’s already seen how you really are in private, you know?”
“Forget it! Do whatever you want.”
“Wen Jie, you already ruined my act—how am I supposed to keep it up?” With that, Chen Sichu walked over to the sofa, gave Luo Ming a nod, and sat down.
“Would you like something to drink?” Luo Ming asked with a smile.
“Thank you, President Luo. I actually bought myself some bubble tea earlier—already had it.”
“Bubble tea? You didn’t get me one? I want some too!”
“Wen Jie, one cup of bubble tea probably has enough calories to fuel a 10-kilometer run.”
“Uh, never mind then. Luo Ming, let’s continue.”
“Let’s put that topic aside for now.” Luo Ming said, glancing at Chen Sichu.
Lin Shuwen paused for a moment, then nodded.
“Seems like Luo Ming doesn’t want others to know about the big data algorithms for now,” she thought to herself.
And that was indeed the case.
It wasn’t that Luo Ming didn’t trust Chen Sichu—it was that she didn’t have the background knowledge to understand just how important big data algorithms were. If she casually mentioned his future plans in some idle chat someday, it could all fall apart.
“Wenwen, if there’s anything about C++ you don’t understand, feel free to ask me. I’ll explain it.”
“Great! Earlier when I was writing that calculator program…”
Chen Sichu sat on the sofa, listening to Luo Ming and Lin Shuwen talk, her head full of question marks.
What were they even saying? She understood every word individually, but once they were strung together into sentences, she couldn’t make heads or tails of it.
Just as the two were getting really into their conversation, Rong Mu walked in. He’d come to call them for lunch since it was almost noon. He overheard their exchange and froze for a second as well.
“Hey—Ms. Chen, your Wen Jie knows C++?” Rong Mu walked over to the sofa and asked in a low voice.
Chen Sichu latched onto him like a lifeline. “Wait—you can understand what President Luo and Wen Jie are talking about?”
“Yeah. They’re discussing C++.”
“What’s C++?”
“It’s a programming language. Programmers use it.”
Chen Sichu’s face only grew more confused. “Since when did Wen Jie learn all this?”
