Chapter 398 Enlightenment

December 12th, it’s Wednesday again.

The engineers who were looking worried in their respective offices were suddenly visited by Li Yan.

Everyone was quite nervous.

Given their ability level, it is not too difficult to complete the "personal project" required by Li Yan on schedule.

But when it comes to cooperation, things become complicated.

Although Li Yan has broken down the cooperation content into very small groups, with small groups consisting of two people and large groups consisting of eight people - not counting the hardware group of more than 20 people, and has given directions on what content and how to cooperate, the results are not satisfactory.

Just as Wang Zi said, employees all have their own ideas.

Those with strong abilities want to serve as the backbone of this project, at least to make their names appear more prominently.

Those with relatively weak abilities do not want to be just an engineer.

Everyone wants a sense of presence.

Therefore, in the absence of Li Yan appointing a team leader, "chaos" is inevitable.

Sun Miao was so helpless that when he saw Li Yan coming to visit him in the morning, he couldn't help but complain in front of several old employees:

"Boss Li, these people are too arrogant and don't listen to orders at all."

"Why, have you completed the tasks I assigned?"

Sun Miao smiled bitterly, "There are not many groups that can cooperate well. They get stuck with each other and the efficiency is very low."

"It's okay. There will be a report in the afternoon."

"Mr. Li, what I mean is that... the report this afternoon may not meet your expectations at all."

"I know."

Sun Miao was stunned. "Then let me ask, why don't you appoint a team leader? Just like we did when we were working on the Luoshen core, we could just consolidate everyone's responsibilities. I believe that since you have made such a detailed division of labor, it is not difficult to appoint a team leader."

Li Yan shook her head. "Indirect arrangements are different from direct arrangements. You also know that they are very ambitious. Directly appointing a team leader still cannot solve the problem of 'why is it him?'"

"Ah, so this afternoon is..."

"Don't think about anything extra. Just report what needs to be reported. As senior employees, please don't lose face."

"Roger that!"

It was not until Li Yan left that Sun Miao thought of another question:
Since he was free in the morning, why did he have to wait until the afternoon?
Because the meeting time is difficult to control, it may delay the lunch break, which is not long to begin with.

He wants to see Wei Yunzhi during lunch break.

This was the time Wei Yunzhi had booked after meeting with President Wei.

The beautiful girl seemed a little dissatisfied that her father invited Li Yan to his home without saying hello to her.

Her worry made Li Yan laugh and cry: "I have already made an appointment. If my dad wants to hold a birthday party for you, you have to come to my place first."

Why do you act like you and your dad are from different families?
And why is Wei Yili organizing a birthday party for me, Miss...

"I don't celebrate my birthday, you know."

"I'm not going to celebrate your birthday, so just make an appointment on December 12th at noon and come to the small park next to the school to walk and chat with me."

There is really nothing to do with her.

So Li Yan appeared at the school gate and nodded to the security guard at the gate who greeted him frequently.

Soon, a tall girl in a pink plush coat trotted out of the school gate.

Judging from the speed, he must have run here as soon as the get out of class was over, without wasting a single second.

He was still holding the cake in his hands.

Since Wei Yunzhi entered the first year of high school, her body has been growing at a speed visible to the naked eye. She is now at least 1.68 meters tall, which is considered tall among girls of the same age. Her already delicate and pretty facial features have become even more majestic as she grows up.

It's really eye-catching.

If this trend continues, she will definitely be a bright and beautiful lady when she grows up.

Who says that parents with good looks will end up with negative results?
There is obviously such a chosen doll that has absorbed all the advantages.

Although it was winter, there was warm sunshine, and the not-so-glaring sunlight made Wei Yunzhi's exposed wrist look particularly white.

The silver bracelet must be more eye-catching.

When the beautiful girl ran to the door and saw Li Yan, she was stunned for a moment, then came over skipping with the cake in her hand.

"Boss Li, you are really eye-catching."

Her voice retains its characteristic crispness.

"You're talking about yourself?"

Wei Yunzhi shook her head repeatedly, "Look at you, wearing a vest and a windbreaker, standing here, you don't fit in with the school. You're just missing a hat and a scarf."

"Since you attract attention, just leave."

There is a large public park next to Xinbei Middle School, but usually not many students would waste their precious lunch break time to hang out there.

It's winter now, and there are fewer people visiting the park. However, thanks to the warm sun today, there are still many elderly people coming here for a walk.

"There's a small pavilion over there. Let's go sit there first. At least we can open the cake first."

"You did it?"

"We'll talk about it after we eat."

The small pavilion is quite remote and not crowded, which provides a comfortable tranquility.

Li Yan took off his windbreaker and spread it on the stone chair.

"What is this?" The little beauty was puzzled. "The stone is clean."

"Frozen butt." Li Yan said.

"Are you afraid of the cold?"

"I'm afraid you'll be cold."

Wei Yunzhi's face turned red immediately. She didn't look cold, and was even a little hot.

She unpacked the cake swiftly, and judging from the lack of any store sign, the answer was obvious.

"Try it!" Wei Yunzhi looked very excited. "Although it's not big, isn't it very delicate?"

Is this something you did? Do you still need to guess...

However, the shape of the cake was indeed very beautiful, so beautiful that Li Yan suddenly wanted to change it.

It’s only the size of a palm, but the delicate cream shape makes it look like a product of a famous cake shop.

The main body of the cake is white, and when cut open, the filling is peach jam.

It seems that the Wei family treats Li Yan like a monkey, and all sweet things they give him taste like peach.

Amid the bright and expectant look in the little beauty's eyes, Li Yan scooped a spoonful and put it into his mouth.

Then my eyes widened. The delicate texture, soft cake, perfect sweetness and rich milky aroma... were not any worse than the cakes at Feicui Xuan!
Li Yan looked at Wei Yunzhi, who looked very proud, and suppressed the reasonable answer of "You asked an expert for help" and replied:

"You did it."

Wei Yunzhi nodded, "Yes, how is it?"

“I was surprised how delicious it was.”

The beautiful girl covered her chest and took a long breath, "Finally my one year of study was not in vain."

Studied for...a year?
Li Yan remembered that on October 24th last year, which was Li Yan’s “ID card birthday”, Wei Yunzhi gave him a rough little cake.

He even said to me, "The service at this store is a bit perfunctory."

Good man, you still remember it?

"Amazing." Li Yan gave a thumbs up and expressed her appreciation for the cake by taking a bite.

At the beginning, Wei Yunzhi was very happy. He held his face with a smile and just looked at Li Yan quietly.

But when Li Yan was about to eat the third piece of cake, she reached out to stop him.

Her expression became somewhat worried, and her pretty eyebrows slightly frowned. Li Yan was stunned, "What's going on?"

"I won't eat it yet."

Wei Yunzhi actually directly pulled Li Yan's hands. You know, the two of them were originally sitting leaning against each other, so this made them a little closer, right?
Li Yan was a little puzzled and smiled, "What's wrong? I haven't wiped my mouth yet."

"You're so tired."

These four words locked Li Yan, who was about to get up, in place.

Wei Yunzhi handed over a tissue and moved slightly closer to Li Yan - almost touching her.

"Not bad." Li Yan said.

"I'm suddenly curious about something," Wei Yunzhi didn't continue looking at Li Yan, but turned to the park, "Do you think that the 100 million yuan investment my father gave you is a kind of... charity?"

Are all girls so sensitive? Li Yan looked at her profile and was distracted for a moment.

The girl just noticed that something was wrong with his condition, but she didn't ask any questions about it. Instead, she approached the issue from some delicate angles.

Li Yan benefited a lot from it.

He would not answer questions like whether he was tired or uncomfortable.

How can you admit to others the emotions that you won’t even face yourself?

"No," Li Yan replied, "On the contrary, whoever I accept investment from is giving alms to that person."

"That's great." Wei Yunzhi nodded, "You have always been like this, confident and strong."

Li Yan did not comment.

"Yan, I'm actually quite surprised that you would say such humble words at the end of a TV interview."

Wei Yunzhi began to shake her feet, as if she treated the pavilion floor as water. However, her legs were very long now, so she had to lift them up intentionally when shaking, causing her upper body to shake as well.

Then he kept shaking against Li Yan.

"I'm not some ignorant brat." Li Yan said with a smile.

"Is that the truth?"

"It's the truth."

"Do you accept?"

"To be honest...there's nothing to be unacceptable about this."

Wei Yunzhi lowered his voice a little, "The truth also needs to be faced and understood."

Li Yan's heart moved.

"Yan, we still have some time at noon, let's chat."

"Well, we're here to chat, aren't we?"

"Actually, making a mobile phone... isn't that difficult for you, right?"

Li Yan didn't expect Wei Yunzhi to ask this.

"Well, you could say that. Why do you think so?"

"Ever since you said you wanted to make a phone, I've been reading posts on Knowledge Planet every day." Wei Yunzhi's tone was a little proud. "Everyone is discussing it very actively. I've been looking forward to you coming out to say a few words, but you're too busy. In fact, everyone who believes that the Luoshen core can be made thinks that the Jiaolong phone can definitely be made. Of course, I am one of them."

"Well, you could say that."

"Then what?" Wei Yunzhi asked, "What else do you want to do?"

"A lot." Li Yan replied calmly, "If the mobile phone can be as I expected, it will bring me huge wealth. With money, I can enjoy what I should enjoy and invest what I should invest... Besides, there will be a lot of software operating companies to manage by then. When all these are done, I will launch an impact on more difficult things, until one day I solve the problems that humans cannot solve now."

"Then what?" Wei Yunzhi turned and looked at Li Yan.

"That's too far away." Li Yan smiled and met his gaze, "It's not something I should be thinking about right now."

"You must have thought about it."

"Why are you so sure?"

"Because you are not excited now." Wei Yunzhi shook his head, "Unlike the Li Yan I know, you are not too excited about the future."

Li Yan didn't know what to respond for a moment.

"That's why I want to ask you, are words like 'we are just getting started' and 'we are far from being able to be compared with our predecessors who have been carrying the torch on this road for a long time' acceptable sincere statements?"

Li Yan's pupils dilated.

He just felt that Wei Yunzhi had forcibly pulled out something that he was unwilling to face and placed it in front of him in a bloody state.

Of course it was the truth, but it was the truth that came out passively after Li Yan discovered the almost insurmountable mountain.

In other words, it is a helpless truth, a truth that one is unwilling to accept.

Li Yan's pattern comes from the harsh reality.

He is still young and reckless. If the possibility of breaking through 80% or even 90% is imminent, why bother about the torch of predecessors? I will just grab it and run forward.

Gotta put this fucking torch on top of the mountain.

Just like what he convinced himself to do when he fell asleep that night, no matter how high the mountain was, he would fly over it.

Give them a shot of cardiotonic force.

But as Wei Yunzhi said, Li Yan was actually just tired.

He also wanted to learn other skills to improve himself as he said, but the unreachable mountain always weighed on his mind. The greatest motivation this system gave him was that "every effort has a progress bar", and now the progress bar was so long that there was no end in sight.

Even he couldn't avoid losing his spirit.

After a silence of about ten seconds, Wei Yunzhi suddenly changed the subject, "Do you know my life goal?"

Li Yan came back from her trance, wanting to say something but stopping herself, and could only shake her head.

"I didn't." Wei Yunzhi pursed her lips, "Although it sounds a bit hypocritical, please don't laugh at me."

Li Yan shook her head again.

"I have never lacked material things since I was born, so I don't have any material needs. If I want to find the meaning of life, I can only look for spiritual needs." Wei Yunzhi said, "Of course, I'm just saying this to you. There are still many people in this world who are carrying heavy burdens. In their eyes, I was born with a silver spoon in my mouth. If you say anything dissatisfied, you are really ungrateful."

"Don't worry, I'm the only one listening." Li Yan said.

"But I'm not like you, Yan." Wei Yunzhi's eyes were covered with mist. "I'm not a genius. I can't create spiritual world products that are acceptable to myself. I can't even convince myself."

Li Yan was silent.

"Sometimes I think I want to live a different life. But I don't know what kind of life is 'different'. I want to find something... something that can make me crazy, so that I can live for it wholeheartedly in this life and have no regrets when I die, but I can't find it. Or maybe... it's not my destiny yet.

"So it's easy for me to feel that nothing is meaningful." Wei Yunzhi chuckled, "But don't worry, I'm not too hypocritical. I'm already happier than most people. Material enjoyment is no obstacle for me. Although I can't get satisfaction from it, at least I have the right to choose whether to have it or not."

Li Yan had sensed from her previous conversation with Wei Yunzhi that this girl was actually a bit nihilistic.

However, most people who have ever thought about the meaning of life are a bit nihilistic, and it is more likely to develop nihilism after their material life becomes relatively worry-free.

He was not too surprised by Wei Yunzhi's condition.

What was surprising was Wei Yun’s next few words.

"Everyone has his own troubles and his own ways to deal with them. My way of fighting this kind of thinking is to downgrade a lot of happiness. I don't need to ask the meaning of some things, nor do I have to be "crazy". If there is something that makes me feel full and happy, at least for a period of time - it can be a day, an hour, or even a minute, that is enough.

“Just like when I was making this cake, just like the conversation we had this afternoon. Maybe after you leave, I will fall into a strong sense of nothingness again, but at least I enjoyed the happiness at this moment. I can keep going for this happiness instead of being trapped in nothingness.

Li Yan looked at her in a daze.

"I'm a little tired," he said.

Wei Yunzhi's eyes were more misty and watery. "I don't understand your world, so I won't say anything. Just take a rest. Maybe for you, resting is not as comfortable as working hard."

"Yan, I envy you for having your own morning star, and for being able to pursue it with determination. But if the morning star is too far away, you will get tired along the way. Why not just feel the starlight, as it is shining all the way."

Wei Yunzhi slowly grabbed Li Yan's hand and held it tightly in his palm.

“I really like the answer of climbers when asked, ‘Why climb mountains?’ It’s ‘Because the mountain is there.’ Reaching the top may be meaningless, but every step of the climb may be meaningful.”

Ding!
[Mind +1, Level 7 skill, total ]

Li Yan stared at Wei Yunzhi with clear eyes, then suddenly hugged her.

(End of this chapter)