A hostess led Li Dong down a hallway to a private room with a wooden plaque that read "Yalan."
She pushed open the door.
There were only two people in the room.
One was President Li, whom Li Dong knew.
The other was a middle-aged man in his forties.
He wore a dark blue cashmere cardigan, a very discreet watchband peeking out from his cuff.
His demeanor wasn’t that of a tech person; he seemed more like someone from investment banking.
When they saw Li Dong enter, both men stood up from their chairs.
President Li approached with a smile.
"Li Dong, let me make an introduction."
He pointed to the middle-aged man.
"This is President Wang, Wang Hai. He’s in charge of the AI division at Beixing."
"The AI Research Institute, the deep learning lab, and the whole large-model project—he’s in charge of all of it."
Li Dong greeted Wang Hai politely.
"A pleasure to meet you, President Wang."
Wang Hai smiled, extended his hand, and shook Li Dong’s.
"I’ve heard a lot about you."
"That a math prodigy has emerged from Yan University’s undergraduate program."
"Seeing you in person today, you’re even younger than I imagined."
Li Dong sighed inwardly.
’I’ve heard that at least twenty times this past month.’
’I’m not even twenty. Of course I’m young.’
Outwardly, however, he remained very polite.
"You’re too kind, President Wang."
The three of them sat down.
The round table wasn’t large, set with only three sets of tableware.
On the wall of the private room hung a piece of running-script calligraphy with the four characters for "Eat Seasonally."
A waiter came in with a cart and began to set out the dishes—Da Hong Pao-roasted squab, slow-cooked soup, and more...
Looking at these expensive ingredients, Li Dong marveled to himself.
’They’re really sparing no expense.’
Once all the dishes were served, Wang Hai picked up his teacup and casually steered the conversation.
"Li Dong."
"Actually, I’m the one who asked President Li to arrange this dinner."
Li Dong looked up, taken aback for a moment.
Wang Hai smiled and explained.
"President Li doesn’t usually get involved in my AI affairs at Beixing."
"But I wanted to meet you in person."
Li Dong nodded without replying, picking up a piece of suckling pig with his chopsticks and putting it in his mouth.
’It’s actually pretty good.’
Wang Hai took a sip of tea and continued.
"After the closed-door meeting, President Li came back and told me about your SNN idea."
"I’ll be frank, Li Dong. Don’t take this the wrong way."
"It’s pretty amateurish."
Chewing on the suckling pig, Li Dong nodded.
’I’ll admit it.’
’My knowledge of AI is superficial at best.’
’So what if I’m a layman?’
Seeing that he wasn’t offended, Wang Hai went on.
"This whole SNN thing..."
"It sounds wonderful, doesn’t it?"
"Spikes, brain-like, a twenty-watt brain, low power consumption, the direction of the future..."
"Every one of those concepts, when you pull them out, is as alluring as a beautiful woman."
"But when you try to apply it in an engineering context, you run into a mountain of problems."
"For example..."
He then repeated the same difficulties with SNNs that President Li had mentioned before.
Li Dong didn’t interrupt.
He just listened while he ate.
Seeing that Li Dong didn’t argue, Wang Hai assumed he was taking it to heart and sighed.
"That’s why no major company, domestic or international, is truly going all-in on SNNs."
"Even if it might really be the future."
"Why?"
"Because a company has to make money, Li Dong."
"We have to pay our employees’ salaries, answer to our shareholders, and have products out in the market."
"No one dares to bet heavily on something with no clear timeline for implementation."
Li Dong already understood in his heart.
’He and Wang Hai were not on the same path.’
’In fact, he wasn’t on the same path as most major corporations.’
’Li Dong liked money, sure.’
’But he felt that academia was something that should remain pure.’
’After all, that feeling was incredible.’
’Once you’ve experienced it, there’s no going back.’
But there was nothing wrong with the Logic coming out of Wang Hai’s mouth, either.
’They had to support their employees.’
’They couldn’t afford not to think that way.’
Li Dong sighed.
’Our philosophies are different.’
’We’re just not on the same page.’
He looked up, a placid smile on his face.
"President Wang is right."
"I really don’t know much about the industry side of things."
Wang Hai completely missed the subtext in Li Dong’s words. Instead, he thought the kid was being receptive.
He smiled and raised his cup, clinking it against Li Dong’s.
"So, Li Dong,"
"this SNN path... it’s fine to treat it as a hobby, but don’t get too serious about it."
"That dimensionality reduction algorithm you have, now that’s the real deal."
"Our deep learning lab has been running it for a week, and we can already see that when it’s applied to the communication layer of distributed training, it significantly boosts the effective computing power of a single card."
He paused and took a sip of tea.
"But implementing it across different domains requires optimization and adaptation to current frameworks."
"In that regard, our engineers are definitely no match for you."
"I heard from President Li that you rejected his offer."
"How about this..."
"What do you say to becoming an algorithm consultant for our Beixing AI Research Institute?"
"You don’t have to come into the office, and your name doesn’t have to be officially listed."
"You can continue your studies at school as usual, and we’ll set up a direct channel to you. If we have questions, we’ll ask you directly."
"As for the pay..."
Wang Hai looked at him.
"You name your price."
Li Dong was in the middle of picking up the last piece of shrimp and pomelo peel from the plate.
It was worth several hundred yuan; he couldn’t bear to let it go to waste.
He popped it into his mouth, finished it slowly, and then put down his chopsticks.
"President Wang."
He glanced at President Li again.
"President Li."
"Thank you both for thinking so highly of me."
"But to be honest..."
"I’m just a student."
"With a bit of an interest in mathematics."
"I did create the algorithm, but if you want me to optimize it, adapt it, and implement it across other industries..."
"I told President Li this last time as well."
"I’m really not cut out for it, and I don’t have much interest in it either."
Li Dong’s tone was actually very sincere as he said this.
He wasn’t lying.
He genuinely had no interest in heading in that direction.
He could spend a whole afternoon in a seminar room with Professor Penrose because he loved pure academia.
But this dinner in front of him was a completely different matter.
Li Dong already felt that...
’Today’s dinner was a waste of time.’
Hearing Li Dong’s clean and decisive refusal, the smile on Wang Hai’s face faded slightly.
A thought flashed through his mind.
’This kid...’
’He doesn’t know what’s good for him, does he?’
’For someone of his status to personally invite a freshman to be an algorithm consultant was already a huge show of respect.’
’And this kid just turns it down flat, without even naming a price?’
The atmosphere in the room suddenly became a little awkward.
President Li quickly raised his wine cup with a smile to smooth things over.
"Old Wang, Li Dong is still a student, after all."
"His studies are his main priority right now."
"This collaboration isn’t urgent. There will be opportunities in the future."
Then he turned back to Li Dong.
"Come on, Li Dong, try this Seven-Fortune Crispy Chicken. It’s Jia Quan’s signature dish. They’re the only ones in the entire Capital City who can make it taste like this."
Li Dong played along and picked up a piece.
’It really was delicious.’
But he had truly lost his appetite for this meal.
He stayed for another ten-odd minutes, making small talk about things like, "How are things at your university lately?"
Li Dong put down his chopsticks and glanced at his watch.
"President Wang, President Li, I’m sorry."
"I have an 8 AM class tomorrow, so I need to head back to school."
"Thank you both for the meal."
Wang Hai didn’t get up. He just raised a hand, a slightly forced smile on his face.
"Alright, you go on back."
President Li walked him to the door of the private room, patted his shoulder, and said nothing.
As soon as the door closed, Wang Hai picked up his cup and drained the remaining half-cup of tea.
Then he sighed.
"Old Li."
"Hm?"
"You know, these academic types..."
Wang Hai set his cup down on the table, his voice low.
"They still look down on us businessmen."
"Everyone says that old hierarchy of scholars, farmers, artisans, and merchants is ancient history."
"But from what I can see, nothing’s changed."
President Li sighed as well.
He didn’t respond to that.
After a few seconds of silence, he changed the subject.
"By the way, Old Wang, you should connect with Old Luo later."
"The advertising department wants to talk to your AI team. They want to see if their ad-serving model can be integrated with your recommendation system."
Wang Hai nodded, his expression softening a bit.
"Got it."
In the car back to Yan University, Li Dong’s mind was on the dinner he just had.
To be honest, aside from the fact that the food was excellent, he hadn’t gained anything else from the meal.
He had already heard all of Wang Hai’s points from President Li on the day of the closed-door meeting.
Hearing them again was meaningless.
Li Dong rubbed the bridge of his nose.
’I need to attend fewer of these dinners in the future.’
If he wanted to understand the latest industry developments, he could just read papers from top conferences.
If he needed to consult someone, he could go to Teacher Gao, Teacher Tian, or Teacher Liu.
Those people talked about academics.
People who talk about academics and people who talk about business just don’t see the same things from the very beginning.
He made a decision in his heart...
’From now on, I’ll turn down these kinds of meetings if I can.’
Just as he was putting this episode behind him...
His phone suddenly vibrated.
It was a message from the Cyan Dragon Study Group.
After he had @’d Newton last time, Newton hadn’t responded.
Now, he had finally replied.
[Isaac Newton]: His Excellency, University Research.
[Isaac Newton]: What is it?

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