Chapter 20: Feichi Auto Investment (Part 2)

Chapter 20 The Feichi Auto Investment Deal (II)

After dinner, the two friends headed out early, because Jing Hong had a major event the next day—the Fanhai AI Developer Conference.

The conference had been running annually since 2016, and today's venue was the Beijing National Convention Center, featuring both a main forum and sub-forums. More than 5,000 AI developers would attend in person, with over 100,000 more joining online.

Jing Hong would be giving a detailed rundown of several products at the main forum.

Jing Hong couldn't have cared less whether his friends left early or not.

He'd already memorized the script—no chance of forgetting it, especially with the PPT up on screen. He knew every part of the products inside out, so prepping the speech was a breeze—he wasn't one of those tech-illiterate CEOs, and pacing a presentation had always been one of his strengths. He'd given so many talks that he couldn't get worked up over every single one right up until showtime. If he thought he was ready, that was that.

...

The next morning, the Fanhai Group AI Developer Conference opened.

The stage was decked out with holographic projections, all flashy and spectacular.

The first product Jing Hong introduced was the next-gen autonomous driving system. A pinpoint of light glowed under his feet, while holographic skyscrapers and roads crisscrossed around him in intricate patterns.

Jing Hong spoke at an unhurried pace, dressed in a black shirt and matching black slacks. His movements were always calm and deliberate—sometimes he'd stand still, sometimes take a few steps, sometimes keep both hands out, other times one hand in his pocket while the other gestured. He said, "The new generation of autonomous driving uses GMSL2 cameras based on the Jetson AGX Xavier, IP65 protection rating, and microsecond-level sensor data synchronization... On the edge computing side—"

At one point mid-talk, Jing Hong casually looked up and glanced toward the back door of the hall.

Then, incredibly, Jing Hong froze for a full second—something that almost never happened!

After a beat, Jing Hong picked up again: "...Already road-tested for 5 million kilometers."

As he talked, he shot another glance at the back door.

He hadn't been seeing things.

The man standing at the back door was Zhou Chang.

Zhou Chang had actually shown up in person for this Fanhai AI Developer Conference.

Zhou Chang always stood out in a crowd. Even just standing in the back, hands in his pockets, quietly watching the demo, he had an undeniable presence.

Surprised? Jing Hong wasn't entirely.

Qinghui would naturally keep tabs on Fanhai's product launches to see what they were up to.

The Fanhai AI Developer Conference sold tickets to the public and was a major event in the industry.

The cameras might not catch everything, and the PPT text might be blurry, but Qinghui definitely sent people every year. He just hadn't expected the big boss himself to show up this time.

Did they really think that highly of Fanhai?

Jing Hong thought Zhou Chang might have smiled, but he was too far away to tell.

After autonomous driving, Jing Hong moved on to Fanhai's next-gen AI open platform, concluding with, "Right now, Fanhai's AI open platform offers 155 AI capabilities, covering data mining, natural language processing, deep learning... Many products have already adopted Fanhai's AI open platform, such as those in the United States... or the United Kingdom... and of course, in China... Fanhai is committed to empowering partners and developers, building an AI ecosystem together, speeding up AI adoption, and making everyday life more convenient."

The audience applauded again.

After that came a short break, with two more products still to go. Jing Hong ducked into the VIP lounge for a bit, planning to head back once everyone had filed in and settled down.

When he stepped out of the VIP lounge, his cousin was waiting for him.

The area was deserted, and this spot was actually pretty far from the main hall.

She was a CS student too and came to the Fanhai AI Developer Conference every year for the fun of it.

Jing Hong actually liked chatting with this cousin, since she was your typical 16-to-22-year-old girl. He'd once been really anxious about not getting 16-to-22-year-old girls, since they were the most important consumer group on the internet.

Back then, every time he talked with her, every time he listened to her talk about her life and her thoughts, he came away with real insights.

For an internet industry CEO, "not understanding 16-to-22-year-old girls" was a death sentence.

Jing Hong stopped and asked, "You waiting for me?"

"Yeah." With that, his cousin whipped out a red lip tint from her pocket and said, "Bro, the background at your Fanhai event is all tech colors—deep blue, silver-gray... You looked really washed out on stage just now—your whole face was cold and gray. It showed up in the livestream too—I watched it."

Jing Hong frowned. "???"

His cousin, looking like an expert, glanced around and held up the lip tint: "Just a little bit, rubbed in with your finger—totally invisible, especially since everyone's so far away. But it'll make you look much better. Celebrities do this for shows and livestreams—even the guys."

Jing Hong was stunned for a second, and it wasn't until his cousin lightly dabbed the lip tint on his lower lip, saying, "Don't worry, it's brand new," that he snapped out of it and grabbed her hand.

The lip tint swiped across his lower lip, leaving a streak right down the middle.

So now there was a streak of red running down the middle of his lower lip, top to bottom.

Jing Hong opened his mouth to say something, but then heard, "Jing?"

Jing Hong instinctively looked over and saw Zhou Chang again—clearly, he'd just stepped out of the lounge too.

Seeing that vivid red streak in the middle of Jing Hong's lower lip, Zhou Chang paused for a beat. His expression stayed perfectly composed, but his eyes lingered for a split second.

Jing Hong had fair skin, slightly upturned phoenix eyes, a high nose bridge, and full, well-defined lips with a small lip bead in the center. His lip line was sharp, and his lower lip was full with a distinct groove in the middle, slightly lighter in color—and now, that groove was a striking shade of red.

Because his eyes were almost sanbaiyan (three-white), his face usually came off cold and detached—but at this moment, it had a strangely alluring quality.

It was almost absurd.

"...Zhou." Since the cat was already out of the bag, Jing Hong didn't bother hiding it and introduced, "This is my cousin, Jing Yu." As he spoke, his lips moved, and that vivid red on his lower lip drew eyes involuntarily.

Jing Yu was a bit flustered too and stammered, "Uh, I just thought the venue was too dark, and my brother's complexion looked off..."

Zhou Chang nodded and gave Jing Hong's lower lip another glance.

Jing Hong stared back at him.

The window beside them was open, and the yellow spring sunlight poured in like liquid gold.

A plane tree stood in the courtyard. A breeze came, and a leaf drifted down like a lost butterfly, landing on Jing Hong's shoulder.

Deep in the corridor hung a traditional calligraphy scroll that read:

"Grasses and trees burst forth, spring mountains await."

Jing Hong brushed the leaf off and asked Jing Yu, "Got any tissues?"

Clearly, he didn't want to smear that stuff on—didn't want to "look better," wasn't into that trend.

"Uh," Jing Yu patted herself down, found her pockets empty, and said, "It's in the conference room... I didn't bring it out..."

Jing Hong was speechless.

He thought back: had there been any tissues in the lounge just now?

I can't recall clearly.

Then Zhou Chang leisurely untied his tie and handed it to Jing Hong: "Here, use this."

Jing Hong hesitated: "But this..."

Zhou Chang remained very courteous: "It's no big deal. I don't need to go on stage anyway."

"Alright, thank you." Jing Hong took Zhou Chang's tie and, without a second thought, used the tip of the tie—which normally hung at the other man's waist—to wipe his lower lip.

Zhou Chang was wearing a three-piece British-style suit today. His jacket was left in the lounge, so now he wore only a shirt and the tie.

His tie was gray, and once it touched a bit of lipstick, it immediately bloomed with a patch of bright red.

Jing Hong returned the tie to Zhou Chang and thanked him again: "It's time. Thank you, President Zhou."

With that, he gave his cousin a faint glance.

Jing Yu: "..."

Well, she'd screwed up.

When Zhou Chang returned to the main conference room, the second half of Jing Hong's speech was already underway.

The first product was the AI aerospace product. At this moment, the holographic projection background had already changed to a deep space scene with countless planets.

Surrounded by space and planets, Jing Hong still stood on a circular spot of light beneath his feet. He planted himself on the light spot, his voice still unhurried, saying: "Fanhai AI has reached strategic cooperation with the China Lunar Exploration Aerospace Engineering and the China Planetary Exploration Aerospace Engineering. In the future, Fanhai AI will go deep into the ground and mimic human thought, scouting planetary regions on its own, analyzing soil data independently, planning optimal routes independently, and heading toward locations it deems likely to hold water and other resources, greatly improving exploration efficiency and saving exploration time. This is fundamentally different from probes that can only follow preset tracks, collect, and send back predetermined types of information. Fanhai hopes—"

As he finished, XXX—cosmochemist, geochemist, first chief scientist of the China Lunar Exploration Program, and academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences—walked out from behind the stage.

The second half of the presentation would be a dialogue between the two.

Zhou Chang stood outside the door, quietly watching Jing Hong's profile on the stage of the main conference room.

But this time, Zhou Chang didn't have his hands in his pockets as before—a tie was loosely looped around his right palm twice. Zhou Chang held the tie loosely, its tip dangling in the air, touched with red.

Zhou Chang watched Jing Hong slowly explaining the lunar exploration AI in the "universe," occasionally making simple gestures, always composed and measured in his demeanor. Once again, scenes flashed before his eyes: the time he'd forced Zhou Chang to hand over Med-Ferry's AI drug research company, the time he'd maneuvered Zhou Chang into accepting Fanhai's participation in the "Suigou" investment, and the events during the two days of the World Internet Conference—the White Lotus Pagoda, Fengyuan Twin Bridge, the art museum—and then he thought of that brief moment when Jing Hong's lips were stained with a touch of bright red. Once again, he wanted to defeat him, to conquer him.

He had wanted to before, after all—Fanhai and Qinghui were the two best-performing companies on the internet battlefield, and Jing Hong was the rare and outstanding opponent he had only encountered once in his lifetime. But now, Zhou Chang wanted it even more.

To make him flustered, to make him lose composure, to make him think of his name obsessively, tossing and turning sleeplessly in the lonely night.

Author's note:

Cousin: I see it now, I'm just a wingman, a total tool.