pjbooks Chapter 149 Visit
Chapter 149 Visit
Chapter 149 Visit
The next day.
Sunlight streamed in through the gaps in the curtains, falling on Lin Dong's face.
He frowned and rolled over. His head throbbed as if it were about to split open, his mouth tasted bitter, and his throat felt like it was on fire. He opened his eyes and saw the dormitory ceiling.
He froze for a moment.
What is he doing here?
Last night's events gradually came to mind: the food stall, the drinking, Li Hu's questioning, and the things he said.
But what happened after that was like a broken cassette tape; he couldn't remember anything. He only remembered talking a lot, drinking a lot, and then... then he knew nothing more.
He sat up, clutching his head; his headache had worsened.
He turned his head and looked at the bed next to him.
Li Hu was still asleep, snoring loudly, with dried beer stains on the corner of his mouth. Chen Long lay on his side, his glasses askew.
Xu Zang huddled under the covers, only half of his head showing.
The sunlight shone on them and on the messy bed.
Lin Dong looked at them for a while, then slowly got out of bed.
His head still ached, and he stood for a while, holding onto the bed frame, before it subsided. He picked up his phone from the table and glanced at the time: 7:30 in the morning.
After washing up, he went downstairs and bought breakfast.
I brought back a big bag of fried dough sticks, soy milk, and steamed buns.
When the door was opened, Li Hu was already awake, sitting on the bed rubbing his eyes, his hair looking like a bird's nest.
"Fourth brother, what are you doing here?" Li Hu's voice was hoarse from just waking up.
"I was about to ask you that too," Lin Dong said, placing the breakfast on the table. "How did you get back yesterday?"
Li Hu tilted his head and thought for a while, his expression changing from confusion to contemplation, and then to sudden realization: "It seems to be—"
"I came back in a Mercedes."
Lin Dong understood.
Zheng Hao.
That kid was still watching him nearby last night.
Li Hu jumped off the bed, dragged his slippers to the table, grabbed a fried dough stick, took a bite, and mumbled, "Not bad, Fourth Brother, you've started a company now."
Lin Dong was stunned for a moment.
Memories from last night resurfaced; he seemed to have talked a lot about the company, about cell phones, and about the operating system.
He glanced at Li Hu, who was also looking at him, his eyes showing no surprise, no probing, only composure.
"Didn't you also keep it from me?" Lin Dong said.
Li Hu scratched his head and chuckled, "So we're even? Still good brothers?"
Lin Dong looked at him, and the corners of his mouth slowly curved up: "We're even."
Li Hu lay down on the bed, stretched out his limbs, and let out a long sigh: "That feels good. I don't need to hide it anymore, I'm not pretending anymore, I'm coming clean. I am the system's genius boy."
Chen Long pushed up his glasses beside him, saying nothing, but a slight smile played on his lips. Xu Zang was still huddled under the covers, only half his head showing; it was unclear whether he was awake or not.
Li Hu sat up abruptly and looked at Lin Dong: "By the way, Fourth Brother, you said your company needs a system, right? What stage are we at now?"
Lin Dong sat down and recounted the progress from January to now.
The system has been developed for three months. It can boot up and run the desktop, but it's still far from being usable.
The inter-process communication design has a problem; messages will be lost under high load, and it needs to be fixed and refactored.
He carried the burden alone for three months, and he was almost too exhausted to continue.
After listening, Chen Long adjusted his glasses: "It's quite a large scale. How so? Show us around?"
Lin Dong glanced at him, then at Li Hu and Xu Zang: "Alright. Wash up and let's go."
Li Hu jumped off the bed: "Alright! I want to see what kind of problem is making things so difficult for Lao Si."
Lin Dong picked up his phone and dialed Zheng Hao's number.
"Ah-Hao, were you the one who brought us back yesterday?"
"Yes, Brother Dong," Zheng Hao's voice came from the other end of the phone. "I've been following you. Seeing that you were all drunk, I drove you home."
Lin Dong's lips twitched slightly: "Okay. Then come pick us up now, we'll go to the company."
"Okay, Dong-ge, I'll be right there."
After hanging up the phone, Li Hu had finished washing up, smoothed his hair with water, and looked much more energetic than before. Chen Long was tying his shoelaces, and Xu Zang had also crawled out of bed, his face still showing signs of sleepiness.
"Where was I yesterday?" Li Hu asked, putting on his coat. "Oh right, I said I'm a system genius. Fourth Brother, do you believe me?"
"I believe you," Lin Dong said.
"Really? You agreed so readily?"
"You practically swore an oath last night, how could I not believe you?"
Li Hu paused for a moment, then chuckled, "Of course. If I tell a single lie, may I be struck by lightning." "Alright, alright," Lin Dong interrupted him, "Let's go."
By the time the four of them went downstairs, the sun was already shining brightly.
In early April, Shenzhen was neither too hot nor too cold, and the breeze felt very comfortable on my face.
Li Hu walked in front, taking long strides. Chen Long walked beside him, occasionally adjusting his glasses. Xu Cang was at the very back, holding the book again. Lin Dong walked in the middle, watching the three of them.
The car had arrived downstairs. A black Mercedes was parked in front of the dormitory building, gleaming in the sunlight.
Zheng Hao stood by the car, wearing a black jacket, his back ramrod straight. He nodded slightly when he saw them come out.
Li Hu circled the car and whistled, "Not bad, Fourth Brother. I was too drunk to look closely yesterday. This Mercedes isn't cheap."
"Alright, stop joking around," Lin Dong said. "Let me introduce you. This is Zheng Hao. These three are my roommates: Chen Long, Li Hu, and Xu Zang."
"Hello." Zheng Hao nodded.
"You were the one who brought us back yesterday, right?" Li Hu patted Zheng Hao on the shoulder familiarly. "Thank you so much!"
Otherwise, we would have had to sleep on the streets yesterday.
Zheng Hao scratched his head and gave a sheepish smile. Lin Dong opened the car door: "Alright, get in. Let's go to the company."
The car drove out of Shenzhen University and merged into the main road.
Li Hu sat in the back seat, constantly asking questions. How many people are in the company? What do they do? How far have they progressed? Lin Dong answered one by one, and Li Hu kept pressing for answers. By the end, Lin Dong's ears were practically calloused.
"You'll see when we get there," Lin Dong said.
"Couldn't you have given me a heads-up?" Li Hu persisted.
"cannot."
Li Hu leaned back in his seat and muttered, "Stingy."
Chen Long sat beside him, looking out the window without saying a word.
Xu Zang sat on the far side, still holding the book in his hand, but not opening it. The car drove for about half an hour before turning into Futian District. The roads grew wider, and the buildings taller. Li Hu leaned against the car window, looking at the glass-walled skyscrapers outside.
"Fourth brother, where is your company located?"
"Soon."
The car quickly pulled up in front of the company building. Li Hu got out, looked up at the glass-walled building, and kept clicking his tongue: "Not bad, Lao Si, this location, this building... which floor is your company on?"
"Fifty-two." Lin Dong locked the car and walked ahead.
"The top floor?" Li Hu caught up. "The whole floor?"
"Um."
Li Hu opened his mouth, then closed it again.
Once inside the elevator, Li Hu began looking around again.
As the numbers on the elevator panel jumped up one by one, his mouth never stopped moving. Lin Dong stood in front, watching Li Hu's naive and clueless expression through the reflection in the elevator doors, and a slight smile twitched at the corner of his mouth.
But he was thinking about something else.
I should have thought of this a long time ago.
From the start of their freshman year, four people were crammed into the same dormitory room, representing four different majors—Electronic Information Engineering, Electronic Science and Technology, Computer Science and Technology, and Communication Engineering.
The entire range of majors from the School of Electronic and Information Engineering was represented. This wasn't random assignment; it was deliberate. The school leaders knew something, or rather, they knew from the beginning that these four weren't ordinary students.
He didn't think much of it at the time, assuming it was just the school taking care of outstanding students.
Looking back now, it wasn't about taking care of people, it was about screening them.
The school put four of the most special people into the same dormitory room.
The reason he was kept in the dark for so long wasn't because he was stupid, but because he simply hadn't considered that possibility.
He cherished this bond from his dormitory life so much. In his past life, he had never attended university, never lived in a dormitory, and had no brothers. In this life, he had them, and he didn't want to ruin it. So he never doubted them.
Li Hu and Chen Long won national-level awards in high school. How could they have done it without some kind of family background?
It's not 2025 now. Computers aren't expensive, but playing computer games, participating in competitions, and using high-end equipment are beyond the reach of ordinary families.
Moreover, Chen Long was working on something like chip one, something that even many college students, let alone high school students, couldn't even begin to grasp. Their families were either wealthy or powerful.
Their effortless performance in the competition, that air of "I can win with just a few strokes," was not a sign of hiding their true abilities, but rather a devastating blow.
He only realized now that Li Hu "deliberately wrote the wrong thing" in the competition not because he was afraid of losing, but because he didn't want to win too easily.
And he himself has been hiding it all along.
The elevator reached the 52nd floor, and the doors opened.
Li Hu was the first to walk out. Standing in front of the company's glass door, he turned back and winked at Lin Dong, "Fourth brother, your company is really impressive."
His tone was exaggerated, and his expressions were over-the-top, as if he were acting in a play.
Lin Dong knew that Li Hu was giving him face.
Given Li Hu's experience, he was probably familiar with this kind of scene, but he was willing to act, willing to show his surprise on his face, and willing to make Lin Dong think, "Dude, you're really awesome."
Lin Dong felt a warmth in his heart and patted Li Hu on the shoulder: "Alright, third brother, that's enough."
Li Hu stopped making exaggerated expressions and put on a serious face, but the corners of his mouth were still curved.
He glanced at Lin Dong, hesitated for a moment, and then spoke: "Fourth brother, for someone your age, to have achieved this is truly remarkable. How much support has your family given you?"
Lin Dong glanced at him.
This kid thinks he's like him, relying on his family.
Lin Dong raised an eyebrow: "Dude, you're a self-made man. You made it all yourself; your parents are just ordinary people."
Li Hu was stunned for a moment, his mouth slowly opening wide: "No way? Fourth Brother, you're that awesome?" He looked Lin Dong up and down, as if he were getting to know him all over again, "I thought—"
"What did you think?" Lin Dong asked.
Li Hu scratched his head and didn't continue.
He genuinely believed that Lin Dong relied somewhat on his family.
It's not that I look down on Lin Dong, it's just that he is who he is. Although his own talent is very important, his family has also provided a lot of support to get him where he is today.
Good schools, good facilities, good teachers—none of these come without costing money.
He assumed Lin Dong was the same.
But now that Lin Dong says that "first-generation rich" "all made their fortunes through hard work," he believes him. Because Lin Dong is not the kind of person who would lie about this.
Lin Dong patted him on the shoulder: "Alright, let's go in and take a look. You can move your mouth now, you'll have to open it even wider later."
Li Hu looked at him suspiciously: "Really?"
They went inside.
Zhang Mingyuan stood up from his workstation, glanced at Lin Dong, and then at the three people behind him.
Zhou Chengyu peeked out from behind the screen and adjusted his glasses. Su Xiaowen leaned against the wall, holding a phone frame in her hand.
Cheng Chuan jumped out from the corner, but was held down by Cheng Yu.
"Mr. Lin, who are these people?" Uncle Cai walked out of the office.
"These are my roommates. I'll show them around," Lin Dong said. "You guys should get busy."
Uncle Cai nodded, asked no further questions, and turned to go back.
The others gradually returned to their workstations, but their eyes still kept drifting over here.
Li Hu stood still, looking at everything around him—the employees focused on their work, the equipment whose names he didn't know, and the wall covered with blueprints.
He noticed the way the employees looked at Lin Dong—not with the politeness of subordinates looking at their boss, but with genuine respect and admiration.
Lin Dong walked ahead, leading them through the office area.
As Lin Dong passed Zhang Mingyuan's workstation, Zhang Mingyuan stood up and called out "General Manager Lin," to which Lin Dong nodded.
As he passed Zhou Chengyu's workstation, Zhou Chengyu peeked out from behind the screen and adjusted his glasses.
As Lin Dong passed Su Xiaowen's workstation, she was looking at a phone frame under the light. When Lin Dong walked by, she looked up, nodded at him, and her gaze lingered on the three people behind him before looking away.
Li Hu walked, observed, and remained silent the whole way.
Chen Long adjusted his glasses several times. Xu Zang took his hand out of his pocket and then put it back in.
Lin Dong pushed open the door to his office: "Come in."
The office wasn't big, but it was very clean.
A desk, a computer, and a chair.
A cot sat by the window, its blankets neatly folded.
Several thick textbooks were stacked on the table, and an unopened loaf of bread sat next to them. A suitcase stood in the corner, its baggage tag still attached.
"Please sit wherever you like," Lin Dong said.
Li Hu sat down on the sofa, Chen Long sat next to him, and Xu Zang sat at the other end. Lin Dong poured them water.
"Please have a seat, I'm going to get something," Lin Dong said, then pushed open the door and left.
The door closed.
The office quieted down.
Li Hu held his water glass and looked out the window. After a while, he suddenly exclaimed, "Damn!"
Chen Long glanced at him.
"That fourth kid, he really doesn't show off." Li Hu put down his water glass, stood up, and took a few steps around the office. "This location, this environment, an entire floor—that's fucking impressive."
Chen Long adjusted his glasses: "The key isn't the location or the environment."
Li Hu looked at him.
"It's those people," Chen Long said. "Did you notice the way they looked at Lao Si? It wasn't politeness, it was respect. This isn't something you can get by just giving money."
Li Hu paused for a moment, then nodded: "Yes. I noticed that too. Fourth Brother is only eighteen, a year younger than us. Those people all look older than him, some maybe more than ten years older. But when they called him 'General Manager Lin,' they meant it."
Xu Zang didn't speak, but he nodded.
Chen Long continued, "And it wasn't because of his family. The fourth brother said his parents are ordinary people. It's not easy to achieve this level from scratch."
Li Hu sat back down on the sofa, staring at the ceiling: "So, how far have he gotten with that phone?"
"You'll see when you get there," Chen Long said.
Li Hu sat up abruptly, looking at Chen Long and Xu Zang: "Should we join in too?"
Chen Long glanced at him but didn't say anything.
"Look," Li Hu said, counting on his fingers, "Old Fourth is short of a system right now, and I'm a systems engineer. Chen Long, you work on chips. Xu Zang, what did you do again?"
Xu Zang looked at him without saying a word.
"Anyway, you have your own skills," Li Hu said. "If the four of us work together, it'll definitely be more than the sum of its parts. Look how worried I was for the fourth brother yesterday. It's time for me, the system genius, to step in."
Chen Long pushed up his glasses: "Let's see. Besides, it also depends on what the fourth brother thinks."
"Is there even a question?" Li Hu waved his hand. "Given our relationship and our strength, Fourth Brother definitely needs us."
Xu Zang picked up his water glass, took a sip, and said nothing.
The door opened.
Lin Dong walked in, holding a black box in his hand.
The box was small, square, and covered with a black cloth.
He put the box on the table, and several people stood up and crowded around.
Lin Dong glanced at them and smiled slightly: "Hold on tight, don't fall."
Li Hu raised an eyebrow: "Tch~ I'd like to see who this is." He reached out and lifted the black cloth.