Even my teeth are not as white as others

Lin Yuan ultimately had no choice but to seek out his mentor.

Fortunately, with the start of the new semester approaching, Professor Zhang had already returned to school and was working as usual.

Lin Yuan had originally planned to meet his mentor the next day, as it was already late after returning from Senior Brother Liu's place. However, Professor Zhang readily told Lin Yuan to come to his office after dinner.

Since his mentor had said so, Lin Yuan naturally agreed happily.

Thus, he could only stand Xia Ye up.

— —

Upon receiving Lin Yuan's message, Xia Ye immediately felt a wave of disappointment. She then promptly informed Song Xiaoxiao.

"Xiao Xiao, Lin Yuan rescheduled our meeting for tomorrow. You don't need to rush back."

"That's interesting, he's even playing hard to get," Song Xiaoxiao naturally had nothing good to say.

— —

When Lin Yuan entered his mentor's office, he unexpectedly found another student inside.

"Come, come, Lin Yuan, have a seat quickly," Professor Zhang enthusiastically pulled a chair over for Lin Yuan.

"Let me introduce you two, this is Lin Yuan, and this is Gu Xuan."

Gu Xuan had already stood up with Professor Zhang and greeted Lin Yuan warmly, "Hello, Lin Yuan. I'm Gu Xuan, we share the same mentor."

Lin Yuan instinctively responded, "Hello."

Gu Xuan was very handsome, exuded an air of composure and generosity, and even had some characteristics of a young idol—his skin looked better than many girls'.

Even without considering his appearance and attire, just his perfectly white and neat teeth showed that he must come from a good family.

"You two, please sit down."

Professor Zhang took a deep drag from the cigarette in his hand, then stubbed it out in the ashtray.

Because he had just stood up and then sat back down in a different spot, the ashtray was a body's length away from Professor Zhang. The moment Professor Zhang made the motion to extinguish his cigarette, Gu Xuan had already picked up the ashtray and held it with both hands to receive it.

Lin Yuan, on the other hand, sat there like a dazed fool, not moving at all. He didn't even realize he should offer the ashtray, and even coughed loudly several times due to the secondhand smoke.

"Ah," Professor Zhang had an apologetic expression, "I just can't quit this smoking addiction, I'm truly sorry." After speaking, he stood up, intending to open the window wider.

But Gu Xuan had already darted to the window, getting there first. Seeing this, Professor Zhang sat back down on the sofa.

"Lin Yuan, you mentioned earlier that you were looking for me because of a computing power issue."

"Yes, ... *cough cough* ~ ~" Lin Yuan still coughed lightly twice; someone who doesn't smoke really can't stand the smell of secondhand smoke.

"I wanted to ask you if it's possible to borrow the computing equipment in the department. I looked for Senior Brother Liu during the day, and the machines they put together themselves aren't powerful enough for me."

"Not enough computing power?" Professor Zhang was very confused, "What are you trying to compute? Hao Tuan Company should have computing equipment, right?"

"The company did provide me with an A100, but the computing power is still insufficient."

"What big talk, you're complaining an A100 isn't enough?" In fact, Lin Yuan's tone at this moment was indeed as grand as the secondhand smoke Professor Zhang exhaled. "Then those old junk machines of Senior Brother Liu and his group certainly aren't enough for you. But what exactly are you trying to compute?"

"I... I'm trying to iterate on Good Group's food delivery routing and dispatch algorithms. The food delivery data is too vast and complex; one A100 simply can't process it all." To give his mentor a convincing reason, Lin Yuan had no choice but to confess what he was working on.

"Why would you think of touching the core algorithms of food delivery?" Routing and dispatch algorithms indeed fall within the scope of food delivery's core algorithms. Professor Zhang didn't understand why Lin Yuan, an intern who hadn't even officially enrolled yet, would tackle such a tough problem. Professor Zhang subtly expressed that Lin Yuan might be overestimating himself.

"Because the internship there is actually quite boring. There's no development work, just testing, endless testing, and writing documents and reports. I was idle anyway, so I found something to do for myself."

Lin Yuan tried to humble himself, interpreting his actions as merely out of interest. As for his actual goal, that was naturally to become an IT big shot and get promoted with a pay raise.

"I see..." Professor Zhang pondered for a moment, "Originally, when I told you to go for an internship, it was just to broaden your horizons and learn more about the IT industry. I was afraid you'd fall behind others from the start. It's rare that you haven't wasted time and have this perseverance to do things well."

Lin Yuan understood what his mentor hadn't finished saying.

Professor Zhang was concerned because Lin Yuan came from Tangcheng Institute of Technology. During the entrance interview, Lin Yuan had been criticized by Dean Li for his thin undergraduate resume. Professor Zhang was worried that Lin Yuan, coming from a small place, might have a limited perspective, which was why he specifically told him to go to a big company to see more during the summer vacation.

Lin Yuan hadn't expected his mentor to have this additional consideration for him. He immediately felt a surge of gratitude in his heart, "Thank you for your concern, Teacher."

"Hey~~, since I've taken you in, I naturally can't ignore you. Tell me, how much computing power do you need?"

"An A100 to start, preferably an H100 GPU. No upper limit, the more the merrier."

"Haha~~, you're like Han Xin leading his troops, aren't you?"

Lin Yuan looked embarrassed and laughed along. Computing power, who would ever complain about having too much? It's like money.

"This is very difficult to arrange. I'll think of a way for you later."

"Okay, then I'll thank you first, Teacher."

"Why be so polite with your own mentor? Come, you two get acquainted. Gu Xuan, he transferred from Zijin University's Mathematics Department. He's the first in total entrance score for this major."

"Wow~~" Lin Yuan couldn't help but exclaim. Zijin University's Mathematics Department, first in total entrance score. This was a true, bona fide academic genius.

Good family background and good at studies. Lin Yuan deeply felt the unfairness of fate at this moment.

Professor Zhang then turned to Gu Xuan and said, "This is Lin Yuan, I briefly introduced him to you before. It's not easy for him to have made it all the way here. He has an unyielding resilience."

Gu Xuan nodded frequently as he listened, "Indeed, it's not easy at all. I should learn more from him in the future."

"Not at all, not at all." Gu Xuan's words made Lin Yuan feel embarrassed.

Professor Zhang continued, "You two will be in the same research group in the future, so you must collaborate more. Especially Gu Xuan, when needed, you are capable, so do more and contribute more."

"Teacher, I will share the burden with Lin Yuan, please rest assured."

Professor Zhang then chatted with the two for a while longer, finally using his age and fatigue as an excuse to let them go back.

"Would you like me to drive you back?" Gu Xuan thoughtfully asked as he was leaving.

"No need, I'll just nap for a bit and drive back myself."

Lin Yuan caught an extra piece of information—Gu Xuan, he even had a car.

As Lin Yuan and Gu Xuan exited, Gu Xuan gently closed the office door.

"Where do you live? I'll give you a ride." Gu Xuan seemed very enthusiastic.

"No need, no need." Lin Yuan waved his hands repeatedly, "I live in the school dormitory, it's just a few steps away."

"Then I'll give you a ride."

"Really, no need."

"Come on, it's no trouble."

Lin Yuan couldn't resist the other party's enthusiasm and finally got into his car.

Lin Yuan sat awkwardly in the passenger seat, not even knowing to fasten his seatbelt until the other party reminded him.

The ambient lighting in the car was splendid. Before getting in, he saw the large three-pointed star. He only recognized that the car was a Benz; he knew nothing else about it.

Lin Yuan instinctively realized that this car was not cheap, so he sat like a well-behaved elementary school student, not daring to make any extra movements, fearing he would dirty the interior.

Before long, the car arrived at the dormitory building. After thanking him, Lin Yuan finally managed to get out.

The disparity in all aspects with Gu Xuan naturally made Lin Yuan feel somewhat ashamed; he even realized his teeth weren't as white as Gu Xuan's. Aside from being a cheat, compared to him, Lin Yuan seemed truly useless.

But Lin Yuan was still grateful to Professor Zhang.

Because Professor Zhang was clearly worried that Lin Yuan, coming from Tangcheng Institute of Technology, might have a gap in learning ability compared to others. That's why he specifically called over an academic genius like Gu Xuan late at night, in order to privately establish a sense of camaraderie between them as fellow disciples, so that Gu Xuan could help Lin Yuan more.

Lin Yuan was also very grateful to Gu Xuan. He was so excellent in all aspects, yet still approachable.

Alas, this night cast a veil over Lin Yuan's heart.

Back in the dormitory, Lin Yuan immediately opened his laptop. Frustration ignited his desire to fight; he seemed to have no reason not to work hard.

Such a night was clearly sleepless, and he had no mind to deal with anything else. Perhaps he should browse some open-source projects.

He then casually placed his phone on the table.

There was a message notification on his phone.

Lin Yuan subconsciously thought it was from Xia Ye.

He wondered what was wrong with that girl's brain; she always liked to chat with him for no reason.

Lin Yuan unlocked his phone and saw that it wasn't from Xia Ye, but from his mentor.