Chapter 249: Great Master Coming Out of Seclusion

Translator:

Atlas Studios

Editor:

Atlas Studios

Qin Ran had come to retake high school in Yun Cheng precisely because she had taken a gap year.

Almost everyone in the Lin family knew of this.

The rest of the Lin family exchanged glances without a word.

Ning Qing also pursed her lips.

Ever since Chen Shulan’s death, she had tried to contact Qin Ran several times. After all, she had yet to understand her relations.h.i.+p with Master Wei and Feng Loucheng.

However, Qin Ran seemed to have vanished without a trace, and there was absolutely no news of her.

Ning Qing had even tried to approach Ning Wei indirectly for information, but it was to no avail.

She only knew that Qin Ran had disappeared just like this a year ago, and only just learned from Meng Xinran that this time, she was only coming back for the college entrance examination.

Qin Ran had already repeated a year. If she didn’t take the college examination, she wouldn’t have the grades to graduate.

But she had even taken half a year’s vacation.

“Mom, has she told you about it before? She wouldn’t repeat another year, would she? She’s already 20 this year.” Qin Yu took a bite of a dish and glanced at Ning Qing. She continued saying worriedly, “If she repeats another year, she’ll be 21.”

Finis.h.i.+ng the last bite of rice in his bowl, Lin Jinxuan stood up directly and excused himself gently. “I’m going to find Feng Ci.”

The Lin family all supported his entrepreneurs.h.i.+p collaboration with Feng Ci, which had started picking up in Beijing.

“I don’t know what on earth she wants,” Ning Qing said. She didn’t want to continue discussing Qin Ran’s college entrance examination.

Smiling, Qin Yu said rea.s.suringly, “Maybe Sister will come back to school after the New Year? When we were at Aunt’s house last time, she even said she wanted to enter Beijing University.”

The people at the table were speechless.

When Old Master Lin heard that Qin Ran hadn’t been attending school, he seemed to heave a sigh of relief. Glancing at Ning Qing, he smiled benevolently. “Yes, she might come back after a few days. Beijing University is great; Jinxuan is also schooling there. Since you’re also in Beijing, you’ll be able to take care of her.”

The other people also agreed, but when they exchanged glances, their eyes were filled with ridicule.

“What does it matter if she comes to school or not?” Ning Qing had lost her appet.i.te. She put down her chopsticks and stopped eating.

Sitting beside Lin Jinxuan’s seat, Meng Xinran glanced at the people on the table. Her eyes were no longer as confident as before and were instead filled with doubt now.

She wore a white sweater today. Almost done with her meal, she put down her chopsticks and glanced at Lin Qi. “Is it weird for Qin Ran to enter Beijing University?”

Lin Qi’s hand paused.

Old Master Lin changed the topic. “Xinran, finish your meal, the food is getting cold.”

Meng Xinran pulled a piece of tissue and thoughtfully wiped the corners of her mouth.

Other than being bad in Physics, it wouldn’t be a surprise if Beijing University recruited Qin Ran based on her other subjects.

She could even get full marks on such an abnormal Mathematics paper.

But…

It seemed like none of the Lin family knew of this matter…

Meng Xinran glanced at Qin Yu, feeling uneasy. In the past, she had always been put in the center of attention in the Lin family, but ever since that incident, her favor with both Lin Qi and Old Master Lin had been lost.

With Qin Yu’s return, everyone’s focus was on her instead.

Meng Xinran lowered her head and swallowed back her words about Qin Ran.

**

At a clubhouse in Yun Cheng.

The lights were dim at the big drinking party.

Lin Jinxuan opened the door and came in.

The group of people inside greeted him. “Young Master Lin.”

Lin Jinxuan took off his scarf and reached out to take off his coat. Then, he sat down in the seat that the others had deliberately emptied for him.

“What was so important that you called me out at this time?” He asked Feng Ci, turning sideways to hang his coat on the chair.

Feng Ci put down his gla.s.s of wine thoughtfully.

Hearing Lin Jinxuan, he looked up with his eyes lit up. “Yes, there’s indeed a very important thing. I just got news from my dad that Poppy is back.”

“Poppy?” Lin Jinxuan raised his head. The usually calm expression on his face had finally begun to crack.

The sound of his heart beating violently could almost be heard.

Poppy was a short-lived G.o.d in the IT industry.

Lin Jinxuan and Feng Ci both took two majors in university. His first major was finance, while his second was computer skills. Feng Ci’s majors were the opposite of his, and his first major was computer skills.

Their business was inclined towards the IT industry.

The domestic leader in IT was obviously the Yunguang Consortium.

Everyone in the industry knew that the Yunguang Consortium had a team of IT leaders. This included Poppy, who had an advanced mind and had released many free versions of technology before.

Most people in the entire IT industry were now using Poppy’s management mode.

However, few people knew anything about Poppy. Even when he published papers and released technology, it had always been done randomly in journals.

He never held any press conferences nor accepted any interviews. Other than a few core internal staff, n.o.body else knew who he was.

They had never seen his face before.

In recent years, computer graduates had even done up their graduation projects based on his technical content.

His name was often mentioned by senior professors during cla.s.ses in university.

It had already been more than a year since his last technological announcement, and he had never appeared since then.

In his year of seclusion, the Yunguang Consortium had yet to offer any explanations either.

Some people even speculated that Poppy was too old and had already pa.s.sed.

Most weren’t willing to accept this ending.

Of course, Lin Jinxuan and Feng Ci didn’t believe it either.

Last summer, Lin Jinxuan had even gone to 129’s official website to hire their detective to investigate Poppy, but his order had been rejected.

Feng Ci’s news at this time came unexpectedly.

“I’m certain.” Feng Ci put down his wine gla.s.s and pushed his gla.s.ses up the bridge of his nose. His eyes were deep as he continued explaining, “Yunguang Consortium has already made a decision. At the end of June this year, an artificial intelligence system will be released globally. The leader is Poppy himself.”

Lin Jinxuan was still stunned.

Feng Ci looked up at him. “I asked you here to tell you not to let go of any chance of cooperation. All the other companies have the same idea too. This time, it’s really going to blow up.”

**

Continent M’s border.

The fourth floor of the big building had been completely cleaned up by Huo’er’s men.

“Boss, Miss Qin, you can move in now.” Huo’er took off his little felt hat inside. The scar on his brow bone looked even more menacing when he spoke.

The aircraft parking ground in Continent M controlled the information of countless people and also interacted with countless pa.s.sengers.

The building where Huo’er was stationed had a separate security system and was extremely futuristic.

Qin Ran walked around the first floor.

“Is your database that big?” she asked as she stopped behind a technician. Then, she pointed to the data on the screen and raised an eyebrow.

This was probably the flow of people throughout Asia, not in Continent M.

Behind her, Cheng Juan said casually, “Maybe it’s because of the high traffic.”

“Really?” Qin Ran glanced at him.

“Hmm.” Cheng Juan followed behind her, holding a gla.s.s of water. He lowered his head and chuckled. “No, indeed.”

“Let’s go and take a look at the fourth floor.” He put down his cup casually and took her to the fourth floor.

After they had left, Huo’er’s subordinate glanced at Huo’er.

Huo’er ma.s.saged his eyebrows silently and followed them upstairs.

The other high-level executives in the base also followed them silently into the elevator.

The fourth floor had a lounge and a training ground. Hence, there wasn’t much s.p.a.ce for work itself.

However, Qin Ran didn’t really need a huge s.p.a.ce for her work. The layout here was pretty similar to that of the manor, which was why Cheng Juan had chosen this floor, to begin with.

“This is the studio.” He opened a frosted gla.s.s door and revealed three rows of black computers inside. He thought for a moment and turned to ask, “Is it enough for you?”

There was still the smell of coffee in the room from the group that had just moved from here to the first floor.

Qin Ran touched her chin and said nothing.

A high-level executive hurriedly said, “I wonder what Miss Qin wants to do? If it’s not enough, I still have a group of IT staff here. I can transfer two over temporarily. There are three S5 computers in the office on the first floor as well. I can bring them all here.”

They had already heard that Miss Qin was working with IT technology.

She had moved here from the manor because of their good equipment.

Seeing that Qin Ran was still frowning, Cheng Juan lowered his head to look at the time and then said softly, “Let’s go, it’s time to eat. We’ll think about it while eating.”

Qin Ran nodded and followed him.

Huo’er and the others didn’t follow them immediately.

“Mason, what nonsense were you spewing? Transferring two people is enough; those three S5 computers in the office had been obtained with great effort by Boss. Even if they’re rarely used by the Yunguang Consortium, we still have to rely on them to drive the host system,” a high-level executive said in a low voice. “You’re just trying to steal the limelight in front of Boss.”

Mason stared at them. “Otherwise, should I have waited for Boss to speak up himself? Have you forgotten Mr. Cheng Shui’s words?”

Oh, they had forgotten that their Boss was a s.e.x-crazy devil.

The others were speechless for a moment.

After a long pause, someone finally said, “Then you should have curried favor with Miss Qin alongside us.”

Mason was speechless.

It was more chaotic the more they talked about it, so Huo’er frowned deeply and said, “Mason, your technical department will definitely be frequented by Miss Qin. Work harder for now and be on standby at all times. Miss Qin will return to Yun Cheng for her college entrance examination at the end of May. It’s just four more months, so everyone, bear with it.”