Restart life

Chapter 599 Final Chapter
On November 10, the Tianwen S1 was officially launched globally.

A tiered subscription system is adopted for regular users, meaning that basic functions can be used for free, while paid members enjoy faster response times and more powerful professional functions.

It also opens up API interfaces to enterprises and developers, providing customized solutions and technology licenses to enterprises and institutions.

Domestic and international media outlets have given it extensive coverage.

Many people have heard of AI before, but have never used it themselves.

The news was so sensational that a large number of ordinary netizens rushed to try it out. Industry professionals from around the world also flocked to experience it, and the app's downloads immediately topped the charts on various platforms that day.

Because it wasn't open source, Nvidia's stock price didn't fall as drastically, but the stock prices of other related companies fared much worse.

The situation in the US is chaotic, with news even circulating that Tianwen AI is being banned.

Musk said at X: "China has many smart engineers, and Tianwen S1 is a good model, but it is not a disruptive breakthrough in the field of AI. XAI will soon release a stronger model, and the AI ​​competition will become more and more intense in the future."

Chen Guiliang, who also has his own X account, replied: "I wish you a speedy resolution to your electricity problem."

Musk said, "Thank you, I'm already building the power plant."

Chen Guiliang said, "After the general election next year, you are welcome to visit China."

Musk asked, "Is this an invitation?"

Chen Guiliang said, "That's one way to understand it."

Musk said, "It's a great honor, and I will be going to China next year."

Their exchange on X quickly attracted global attention.

Chen Guiliang has been the world's richest man for five consecutive years, and he is quite famous on the international internet. Many foreigners don't remember his name, but only know that the world's richest man is "China's Chen".

Chen Guiliang's breakthrough in the United States was, of course, Facebook's acquisition of WhatsApp for a staggering $190 billion.

This acquisition shocked the world, with the transaction price equivalent to 11% of Facebook's market value, and even triggering an antitrust investigation against Facebook by the European Union. Surprisingly, Chen Guiliang's investment company is the second-largest shareholder of WhatsApp.

Subsequently, whenever foreign venture capital firms wanted to invest in rapidly rising companies, they found that Chen Guiliang had often participated in the company's Series A and Series B rounds.

As a result, some people specifically targeted Chen Guiliang's Xiyi Capital, forcing Chen Guiliang to set up a new company to invest.

In the international venture capital world, there's even a common joke: "Do you think you're the Chinese Chen?"

In fact, Chen Guiliang's investments often fail. Some companies that rose rapidly in the original timeline have faced greater difficulties in development and have been eliminated in the early to mid-stages because the investors and resources behind them have changed.

The day after the Tianwen S1 was released was the annual Double Eleven shopping festival, and all major e-commerce platforms were buzzing with excitement.

Perhaps influenced by the AI ​​buzz, HarmonyOS phones saw explosive sales during this year's Double Eleven shopping festival. On multiple platforms, including Tmall, JD.com, and Douyin, HarmonyOS consistently ranked at the top of mobile phone sales charts.

The iPhone 15 only sold a little over 3000 units, far less than Samsung's (which runs on HarmonyOS) sales.

Industry insiders speculate that Apple's market share in China may fall below 2.5% this year. Apple's app ecosystem is expected to deteriorate further, and Apple may withdraw from the Chinese market within the next year or two.

In particular, the economic downturn has led to layoffs in internet companies. Some Chinese companies have directly laid off their entire iOS development teams, and their iOS versions of apps will no longer receive updates.

"Peking University would like to invite you to give a speech," Bian Guanyue said during dinner.

She is now a professor at Peking University, and her academic achievements can withstand public scrutiny.

However, many of their domestic counterparts privately complain that Bian Guanyue relies entirely on his financial power.

Because many of her papers were funded with money, other professors would find it difficult to apply for similar funding, while Bian Guanyue could get her husband to spend money on her.

The most typical approach is to spend money to sponsor an association and use the association's local connections and resources to quickly collect information that would otherwise require extensive fieldwork.

Chen Guiliang asked, "Talking about AI?"

Bian Guanyue said, "You can talk about anything."

“Alright,” Chen Guiliang said, “I’m too lazy to give a speech. I’ll just chat with Dean Li and then let the teachers and students ask questions.”

Dean Li was the dean of Yuanpei College at that time.

Dean Zhu from back then had long since gone to Hong Kong's Education University—he left because he was unhappy with his job there.

After the Yuanpei Class was upgraded to Yuanpei College, it changed from a program that was above all other departments to a college on the same level as them.

This resulted in a decline in the actual status of Yuanpei College, yet it still had to coordinate and cooperate with other departments. However, other departments often did not cooperate, or were unwilling to increase their workload for Yuanpei College.

Even daily work is difficult to carry out!

After Dean Zhu left, Yuanpei College was in chaos for several years until Dean Li took office and turned the situation around.

Chen Guiliang has always been the face of Yuanpei College. When the dean and students argue with others, they often say, "You say that the establishment of our Yuanpei College is meaningless? Our college produced a Chen Guiliang!"

The couple were chatting when their two children put down their chopsticks and bowls.

"I'm full, I'm going to Aunt Xu's place."

"I also need to go!"

As soon as they finished speaking, they ran outside, and the housekeeper they hired quickly chased after them, worried that the two children might get hurt.

Chen Guiliang and Bian Guanyue live in a 2-square-meter garden villa, while Xu Fengyin and Tao Xue live in a villa in another phase of the same community.

When Xu Fengyin became pregnant, she finally confessed her relationship with Chen Guiliang to her parents.

What else can parents say?

Since they were all retired anyway, they decided to come to Beijing to take care of their pregnant daughter. In the end, they simply stayed in Beijing to help their daughter take care of the children, and as a result, they ended up taking care of more and more children.

Because Bian Guanyue had a son and a daughter, they often went to Xu Fengyin's place.

Chen Guiliang was very busy in previous years and didn't have time to spend with the children. Bian Guanyue also had a rather strict personality, so the children felt that Xu Fengyin's parents were the best, and now they even call them grandparents.

Finally, Tao Xue also frequently sent her daughter to Xu Fengyin's parents' place.

Xu Fengyin's parents were initially very unhappy, but they couldn't bring themselves to get angry at their children. Over the years, their relationship actually deepened, and they simply began to treat the children as their own grandchildren.

Watching her two children disappear into the distance, Bian Guanyue sighed, "Alas, this can't go on. Xiao Xu's parents spoil their children too much. If they stay there for even a day or two, they'll become completely unruly when they come back."

"They're all very well-behaved," Chen Guiliang said with a smile.

Bian Guanyue gave him a disdainful look.

Just then, Tao Xue walked over quickly: "Is there any food left? I'll have some."

Chen Guiliang asked, "Where is Niannian (Tao Xue's daughter)?"

Tao Xue said, "I left him at Lao Xu's (Xu Fengyin's) house. He's having a great time playing with his older siblings. Lao Xu is attending some kind of animation industry annual meeting today, and he's probably having dinner with his colleagues."

Bian Guanyue complained: "Couldn't you hire a cook? I'm just freeloading every day."

"I often stay up late and eat irregularly, so it's nice to be free and independent on my own." Tao Xue took the chopsticks and rice from the aunt.

The girl has completely collapsed.

She has a short attention span for everything she does. She went to work as a literary planner for Youke's large-scale mobile game "Shan Hai Hui Juan", and halfway through, she went to work as a literary planner for "The Wandering Earth" (game). She even participated in the screenwriting work for "The Wandering Earth" (movie).

Once she gets bored, she runs away, often staying home for two months at a time, spending her days watching TV series, reading novels, and playing games. Asking her to take care of the children means she'll just play games and watch anime with them.

Over the course of more than a decade, she only wrote two novels: "Silk Road Smoke and Dust 1" and "Silk Road Smoke and Dust 2".

Tao Xue is now writing a novel, but after a whole year she has only written a little over 10 words.

She has quite a few friends, much more than Bian Guanyue, mainly from the gaming, film and television, and novel circles.

"Your food is still the best. Old Xu's food doesn't suit my taste." Tao Xue shoveled rice into her mouth.

Bian Guanyue looked at him speechlessly: "You didn't eat lunch again, did you?"

Tao Xue said, "I didn't go to sleep until nine in the morning. I had breakfast at the community club before going to sleep."

Chen Guiliang asked, "What did you do all night last night?"

Tao Xue laughed and said, "I was writing a novel. When I didn't like the result, I scrapped the whole chapter and decided to play games to clear my head. But I just couldn't win at PUBG, so I played until morning. I took my daughter to school, ate breakfast, and went to bed after nine o'clock."

Bian Guanyue could not understand Tao Xue's lifestyle.

Fortunately, the kindergarten and primary school are both private schools within the community, making it very convenient to pick up and drop off her every day. Otherwise, Tao Xue would probably have left her daughter with Xu Fengyin's parents.

After a hearty meal, Tao Xue lay on the sofa and said, "Senior Sister Bian, I'm not going back tonight. I'll borrow your husband for a bit."

Bian Guanyue said, "Take it and use it as you please, so he won't go out and flirt with other women."

"I'm innocent!" Chen Guiliang cried out immediately.

Bian Guanyue said, "Let's not talk about those in China. I haven't even settled accounts with that Watanabe Bo from last time. I wouldn't be surprised if a few illegitimate children suddenly appeared one day."

Chen Guiliang silently fiddled with his phone.

Tao Xue, filled with righteous indignation, declared: "I'll castrate him tonight after I'm done with him!"

Chen Guiliang continued playing on his phone, casually crossing his legs and clamping them tightly together.

……

The temperature was only 1 degree Celsius, and a cold wind blew from time to time.

Outside Peking University's Centennial Hall, many students had been standing there for a long time, all wrapped in down jackets, stamping their feet to keep warm.

Some girls were even holding hot water bottles.

The doors to the Centennial Hall had been open for a long time, and the students who managed to get tickets had already gone inside. Those standing outside were all people who hadn't managed to get tickets.

"I'm coming!"

A group of people walked closer as they approached, and many students on both sides of the road were taking photos and videos with their mobile phones.

School leaders accompanied Chen Guiliang from afar, but Bian Guanyue did not follow, as she had to teach a graduate class that day.

Students kept flocking over, wanting to take photos or shake hands with Chen Guiliang, and the accompanying security personnel couldn't stop them at all.

"Senior brother, senior brother..."

"Old Ancestor Chen!"

"Hahahaha!"

Many students are just there to watch the excitement and maybe share some photos on social media or short video platforms.

Many of them are die-hard fans.

Especially after Chen Guiliang became the world's richest man, his number of die-hard fans in China increased dramatically.

The group finally made it into the auditorium, where the students were incredibly welcoming. Those sitting in the front row, in particular, stood up to shake hands with Chen Guiliang.

Two chairs were placed on the stage. After shaking hands, Chen Guiliang and Dean Li sat down.

A school leader served as the host, and after a speech and expression of gratitude, the event began.

After exchanging a few pleasantries, Dean Li said, "President Chen hasn't been back to Peking University for several years, has he?"

Chen Guiliang said, "I came back in 2018 to give a speech, and more than five years have passed in the blink of an eye. Actually, I sometimes come quietly, for example, to bring my wife to Peking University for class."

Dean Li laughed and said, "Everyone says that after you became the world's richest man, you were afraid of being the first to stand out, so you chose to step down and hide away, never daring to show your face in public."

Chen Guiliang said, "That's not necessarily true. But I really don't dare to go abroad anymore. I haven't been abroad since 2015. What if... well, you know what I mean."

A burst of laughter erupted from the audience.

Dean Li said, "I study philosophy and know absolutely nothing about AI. In the past few days, Tianwen S1 has shocked the world. Could you tell me about it, Mr. Chen?"

Chen Guiliang said, "Actually, I don't understand technology either. My major before graduating from university was philosophy." Dean Li took the opportunity to promote his Yuanpei Academy: "Did your learning experience at Yuanpei Academy, and the thinking you cultivated through studying philosophy, help you in your entrepreneurship and business operations?"

Chen Guiliang said, "It has been a great help, it has already influenced me subtly. But there is no need to talk about it, once it is said, it will just be a feel-good story."

Dean Li smiled and said, "I think many of the teachers and students here would love to drink the chicken soup you've made."

The teachers and students in the audience immediately echoed.

Chen Guiliang waved his hand and said, "These days, it's better not to make chicken soup. If it gets out, people will criticize us."

Dean Li said, "Young people nowadays really don't like listening to celebrities preach, or even inspirational stories. What do you think is the cause of this phenomenon?"

Chen Guiliang said, “It’s the same all over the world. When the environment is bad, especially when it’s hard to change even if you try your best, people will naturally develop anti-authoritarian sentiments. The more successful and famous you are, the more likely you are to be hostile, because you are not one of the masses.”

Dean Li explained: "If social contradictions continue to accumulate, they need an outlet to promote unity within the community. Successful people, celebrities, and authorities are easily chosen as 'scapegoats' because of their visibility, distinctiveness, and perceived responsibility. By blaming, mocking, and attacking scapegoats, the public transfers structural and systemic frustrations to moral judgments of specific individuals, thereby gaining a false sense of control and collective identity."

Chen Guiliang laughed and said, "René Girard's theory of the desire to imitate and the scapegoating mechanism. I just read his book during the mask era."

"Clap clap clap!"

The entire audience of teachers and students applauded.

If Chen Guiliang were only an alumnus and the richest man in China, his teachers and students would still give him face. But since Chen Guiliang can readily name a philosopher and his theories, his teachers and students will like him even more and treat him as one of their own.

After chatting about philosophy for a while, Dean Li asked, "There are news reports in the United States saying that they are going to strengthen export controls on AI chips. How much impact will this have on Tianwen AI?"

Chen Guiliang said, "The impact is not significant. I stockpiled tens of thousands of Nvidia chips in advance, and our self-developed Xuanbird chip has also been put into use."

Dean Li asked, "How big is the gap between the Xuan Bird and Nvidia's cutting-edge chips?"

Chen Guiliang said, "There is still a generational gap in computing power for single cards, and the efficiency gap in large-scale clusters is obvious. But it is usable, especially since the Tianwen S1 does not have such high requirements for chips. Our goal is to achieve 50% domestic production of Tianwen's training chips within the next three years."

After chatting for another half hour, we finally moved on to the Q&A session between teachers and students.

A student asked, "Senior Chen, do you think AI will threaten employment? The employment situation is already very bad."

Chen Guiliang said, "It depends on how you interpret it. Just like when the automobile was invented, a large number of coachmen lost their jobs, and those who made carriages and raised horses also lost their jobs. But then a series of jobs related to automobiles appeared, forming a huge new industrial chain."

Another student asked, "Do you think the tensions between China and the US will ease next year? Will the restrictions imposed on Chinese STEM students by American universities be lifted or eased in the future?"

Chen Guiliang asked, "Are you planning to study in the United States?"

The student said, "I had already made up my mind, but now I'm a little hesitant."

Chen Guiliang said, "The tension between China and the United States will intensify. Trump will definitely be elected next year, and there will be a lot of fun then. The Americans will become more and more chaotic. I really don't want to talk about this kind of topic. It gives me a headache as soon as I start talking about it because I have to deal with a bunch of lunatics."

The scene was filled with both laughter and surprise.

A professor asked, "Why does President Chen think Trump will win? His performance is terrible, sometimes even anti-intellectual. For example, he said that injecting disinfectant can kill the virus, which is hard to imagine coming from the mouth of the US president."

Chen Guiliang said, "The more foolish he is, the more the voters will consider him one of their own."

The professor was even more confused: "Why?"

Chen Guiliang asked, "Can you understand the 'free purchase' offer?"

The professor shook his head: "No."

Chen Guiliang said, "Behind every phenomenon you can't understand, there's no such thing as something that happens without a reason. Just like state-owned enterprises in the 80s, there were regulations that prohibited service staff from beating customers without cause or urinating or defecating in the production workshop. It sounds like a hellish joke to people now, but back then it was a bold and advanced measure. There's no need to understand the absurdity of the Americans, and it's best if you never understand it in your life. Because it's really ridiculous."

"What's missing?" This professor doesn't play games.

Chen Guiliang said, "You can look up the letters S, A, and N online."

Many students were already laughing because they felt a sense of familiarity that Old Master Chen was actually playing the same kind of game with them.

"Diao san" is slang that only they understand.

The next student said excitedly, "Senior Chen, I've been a fan of yours since high school. I especially love the poem you wrote in the essay competition."

Chen Guiliang said, "Thank you."

The student continued, "Especially these sentences in the preface: 'I come from humble origins and have nothing of value, yet I hope to illuminate the Milky Way with my faint light.' And that sentence: 'Even in this small, humble place, there exists a spirit that can support the heavens and the earth.'"

Dean Li said, "It seems this person is truly a fan of yours, having memorized all the key quotes from the article."

The student said, "And then there's the last line: 'If one day I fulfill my ambition to mend the heavens, I will throw this branch again to fill the void.' You're the richest man in the world now, have you fulfilled your ambition to mend the heavens?"

Chen Guiliang said, "We still need to work hard."

The student asked, "When you wrote this poem, did you imagine yourself becoming the world's richest person?"

"I was young and impetuous, and I dared to think about anything," Chen Guiliang said. "I even thought about mutating myself and saving the world like Spider-Man."

"Hahaha!"

The teachers and students present all laughed.

The student said, "I think this poem is amazing. It's practically your inspirational poem, and many of the things in the poem have come true."

Chen Guiliang said, "Thank you."

The Q&A session continued, and although Chen Guiliang tried to keep his remarks to himself, most of his comments still attracted attention.

For example, his prediction that Trump will win next year will definitely spark heated discussions online.

……

As expected, what Chen Guiliang said at Peking University sparked a lot of arguments among netizens.

Many people don't have a high opinion of Trump, believing that Americans will choose a younger, more reliable candidate. At the very least, they want someone who looks mentally sound!
But over the past decade or so, all of Chen Guiliang's predictions have come true.

Will I be wrong this time?
What's even more hilarious is that the topic even spread to the United States, and even Trump knew about it.

During his speech, Trump even boasted about it: "There's a very capable person in China who was the world's richest man for several years. His name is Chen, of course you know him, TikTok is his product. I have a very good relationship with him, I've had conversations with him before. Chen has extraordinary abilities, he can predict things, he recently predicted that I will win next year..."

It was really bumpy.

His opponents immediately launched an attack, claiming that Trump had secret dealings with China and might betray American interests in the future.

It's the weekend again.

Xu Fengyin was personally teaching the children to draw, while Bian Guanyue was alone in the music room listening to opera.

Tao Xue sat cross-legged on the sofa, eating potato chips and watching a movie projected onto the TV.

Chen Guiliang, however, was happily watching mindless short dramas.

"What's so interesting about those things?" Tao Xue complained.

Chen Guiliang said, "You don't know. ByteDance registered an overseas company last year, specializing in creating micro-dramas for foreigners. In the past few months, four micro-dramas have become hits, and European and American netizens are being baptized by Chinese brainless micro-dramas."

"Oh." Tao Xue continued munching on her potato chips.

Chen Guiliang said, "ByteDance's market value has surged by more than 100 billion RMB in three months."

Tao Xue sighed, "Sigh, you capitalists, making money is so easy. You've given away your shares as employee stock options for five consecutive years, and yet your personal assets have only increased."

"Isn't your brother the same?" Chen Guiliang said. "His game company is barely surviving, but his net worth keeps increasing."

Chen Guiliang watched several episodes of the short drama, but he couldn't stand the brainless plot anymore, so he finally uninstalled the app and watched girls dancing to clear his head.

A few days ago, a Peking University student recited a line from Chen Guiliang's poem, which surprisingly attracted a lot of netizens to dig up Chen Guiliang's previous poems, songs and various statements.

Many Gen Z netizens were surprised to learn for the first time that Chen Guiliang had also written poems and songs.

As a result, many content creators took the opportunity to make related videos to gain traffic, and even people like Lao Liang came to join in the fun.

In one video, Lao Liang pretends to hold a folding fan: "Everyone has probably heard of Chen Guiliang, the world's richest man, the wealthiest person. He's recently become famous again for creating the world's most powerful AI... But younger viewers probably don't know that Chen Guiliang is not only a successful businessman, but also a very talented writer, lyricist, and composer..."

"Speaking of Chen Guiliang, he's quite an extraordinary person. Many entrepreneurs rely on connections or overseas education. Chen Guiliang is a farmer's son, what resources did he have? He never studied abroad, never had an education overseas. He truly started from scratch..."

"It's said that when he was in elementary school, there were only two teachers in the whole school. They only recruited one class of students every three years. If you're not old enough to start first grade this year, you'll have to wait another two years to enroll. What kind of teaching capacity does a rural school like that have? Chen Guiliang's elementary school only had one teacher, who took the public school teacher exam every year, and even when the school closed down, he was still a private school teacher..."

"The environment in junior high school wasn't good either; back then, the 'Young and Dangerous' movies were all the rage..."

"Even with such a basic primary and junior high school education, he still managed to get into a top provincial school. Chen Guiliang liked to read extracurricular books, but he didn't have the money to buy them, so he could only pick up books from the garbage dump to read..."

"He writes essays so well! He participated in the New Concept Writing Competition, and his poems and prefaces were all written in classical Chinese, which stunned dozens of judges. The admissions officers from the top ten universities in the country immediately wanted to recruit him... I'll just read you a few lines at random. If you didn't know it was written by a student, you'd probably think it was written by some great ancient poet..."

"Logically speaking, most people would just give up after being admitted with a lower score requirement. But Chen Guiliang is no ordinary person. He worked even harder in his senior year of high school and passed the admission line for Peking University based on his college entrance examination score..."

It's hard to define what kind of group Lao Liang's fans are, but there are quite a lot of people who watch his videos.

There were also quite a few bullet comments and replies.

"That's amazing. I only knew he owned a company before."

"If I hadn't seen Lao Liang's video, I wouldn't have known that Chen Guiliang was so talented."

“That’s what you call a genius. My son should watch this video so he can learn from Chen Guiliang and study hard.”

"Old Liang said that 'Those Things of the Ming Dynasty' is finished and a collector's edition has been published. I'll go buy a set for my grandson tomorrow."

"A true people's entrepreneur. He doesn't use labor dispatch services, he's been providing employees with the five social insurances and one housing fund for over a decade, and he's still giving away his own shares as rewards to his employees. He deserves a thumbs up!"

"The country should award him and set him up as a role model!"

"..."

Xu Fengyin let the children practice on their own, then walked over to Chen Guiliang to look at his phone and couldn't help but complain, "Are you just bored, grinning like an idiot at the comments praising you online?"

"I'm bored, I don't know what to do," Chen Guiliang said.

Xu Fengyin said, "Let's think about where to go for winter break."

Chen Guiliang said, "How about taking the kids skiing in Northeast China?"

Tao Xue turned her head and said, "That's a good idea!"

Chen Guiliang stretched and stood up, looking out the window and saying, "When did it start snowing so much?"

Xu Fengyin said, "It snowed all night last night and only stopped this morning."

Chen Guiliang walked outside the music room and shouted to Bian Guanyue inside, "Stop studying and come out to build a snowman!"

Several little kids who were practicing drawing immediately put down their paintbrushes upon hearing this.

"Let's build a snowman!"

"Dad, I want to have a snowball fight."

"I'll go get a carrot to make a nose for the snowman."

"Hat, hat, even a snowman needs to wear a hat."

"..."

The children, carrying various items and dressed, rushed to the garden and ran and frolicked in the snow.

Tao Xue was the most playful and quickly became one of the children, playing and frolicking together.

Xu Fengyin then taught the children how to build a more beautiful snowman.

Bian Guanyue was very worried, afraid that the children would catch a cold, or that they would overheat and sweat from playing too much. She kept asking them if they were cold and if their vests were sweaty.

Chen Guiliang moved a stool over and sat there quietly to admire it, as if he were looking at a world-famous painting.

(End of this chapter)