128: Chapter 128 Going Home

"Give the suitcase to me, I'll help you put it up there."

The nearby Zhao Yang smiled and spoke while looking at Zhao Shiyu.

"Thank you," Zhao Shiyu thanked him politely.

Watching Zhao Yang lift the suitcase onto the luggage rack, Zhao Shiyu sat down in the window seat.

After stowing the luggage, Zhao Yang naturally sat down in the seat opposite Zhao Shiyu. At this moment, Zhao Shiyu hesitated for a moment before finally asking, "Zhao Yang, recently that... Zhao Yang who published the TIP paper, is that you?"

As soon as these words were spoken, the air in the carriage seemed to freeze for a second.

As a top student from the Department of Computer Science at Tsinghua University, Zhao Shiyu knew all too well the weight of those three letters—TIP.

That was a top-tier journal in the field of image processing, a publication that even her current mentor found difficult to get a paper into.

A while ago, the news was everywhere, saying that a freshman from Beijing Forestry University named Zhao Yang had published in TIP.

Her first reaction was that it was someone with the same name.

After all, the Zhao Yang in her memory, while smart, had definitely not reached such a monstrous level. Moreover, Zhao Yang was studying Biology; how could he possibly publish in a top computer science journal?

But could there really be such a coincidence?

So, right now, Zhao Shiyu finally couldn't help herself and asked Zhao Yang.

"It's me."

Zhao Yang nodded, his tone flat.

Zhao Shiyu's beautiful eyes instantly widened, and her usual cool reserve vanished completely.

"It really is you?!"

She couldn't help but raise her voice.

"That paper, 'Group-based Sparse Representation'? Editor's Choice??"

"Yes, it's me," Zhao Yang confirmed again.

"This... how is it possible?" Zhao Shiyu murmured to herself, feeling her worldview being shaken. "Aren't you studying Biology? And we've only just started learning C language in our freshman year, how could you possibly..."

"Self-taught."

Zhao Yang spoke with a smile.

"I'm quite interested in algorithms, so I read some books in my spare time."

"Read some books..."

Zhao Shiyu gave a bitter smile. During her half-year at Tsinghua University, she had seen too many geniuses, so she had always worked very hard. But even with all that effort, let alone a top journal paper, she had only just mastered the sophomore-level material for her undergraduate courses.

Yet her old classmate had just read some books and then published in a top journal?

For the rest of the journey, Zhao Shiyu completely lost the coldness she'd had over the summer. She was like a curious baby, constantly asking Zhao Yang about the details of that paper and his understanding of sparse coding.

Zhao Yang casually answered Zhao Shiyu's questions.

"So that's how it is... using SVD for dictionary learning, this line of thinking is so ingenious."

Zhao Shiyu listened intently, and the look in her eyes as she watched Zhao Yang held a deep sense of admiration in addition to her surprise.

At this age, nothing makes the opposite sex's heart flutter more than a hardcore intellectual crush.

"Zhao Yang, can we add each other on QQ?"

Before getting off the train, Zhao Shiyu proactively took out her phone, her face carrying a hint of expectation.

As the top scorer of the College Entrance Examination in Changcheng and ranked in the top ten of the entire province, although Zhao Shiyu's family situation wasn't great, the scholarships from various companies and the government were enough to allow her to live a decent life.

Looking at her phone, it seemed to be just a second-hand candy bar phone, but it was enough to prove that her current life should be quite alright.

Zhao Yang felt a bit sentimental; sometimes, good grades really are a trump card!

Seeing that Zhao Yang didn't speak, Zhao Shiyu explained further.

"In the future, if I have questions about algorithms, can I consult you?"

"No problem."

Zhao Yang also took out his phone and accepted her friend request.

The train slowly pulled into the station.

Watching Zhao Shiyu drag her suitcase away, looking back every few steps, Wang Ming's eyes held a smile as he nudged Zhao Yang with his elbow. "Not bad, Brother Yang, even the school beauty proactively added you. It seems the world really has changed; it's not just about money, you need brains too."

Zhao Yang smiled and shouldered his bag. "Let's go, time to go home."

The station exit.

The cold wind was biting, but Zhao Yang's heart was warm.

From a distance, he saw a middle-aged couple standing outside the guardrail.

His father wore a somewhat old leather jacket and held a cigarette, craning his neck to look inside. His mother wore a thick scarf and held a thermos, clearly afraid her son would be cold.

The moment she saw Zhao Yang come out, his mother's face instantly blossomed into a smile, and she waved her hand vigorously. "Yang Yang! Over here! Over here!"

Zhao Yang walked over quickly.

"Dad, Mom."

"Oh! It's good you're back, good you're back!" His mother immediately took the bag from Zhao Yang's hand and looked him up and down. "Have you lost weight? Oh my, how do you seem taller? And sturdier?"

At this time, Father Zhao saw Wang Ming standing next to Zhao Yang.

"Ah Ming! How is it, is life in Yanjing okay?"

Father Zhao smiled slightly and asked Wang Ming.

"It's pretty good! Uncle Zhao, Auntie Liu."

Wang Ming smiled and greeted Father Zhao and Mother Zhao.

"Your parents didn't come to pick you up?"

Mother Zhao's gaze also turned to Wang Ming.

"Why don't you take our car? I'll have your Uncle Zhao drive you home!"

Mother Zhao said to Wang Ming with a smile.

"No need, Auntie. I'll just take a taxi. It's so cold outside, I'm heading home now! I'm off, Brother Yang! Goodbye, Uncle and Auntie!"

With that, Wang Ming turned and left with a smile.

Father Zhao and Mother Zhao watched Wang Ming's retreating back.

"That child."

Mother Zhao said with a smile.

His father took the suitcase from Zhao Yang's hand.

"Let's go, let's go home and eat."

Sitting in his father's Santana, which had been driven for many years, and looking at the familiar streets outside the window, Zhao Yang felt a long-lost sense of peace.

Outside, he was a financial tycoon worth over a hundred million and a genius youth who shocked the academic world.

But at home, he was just the son of Zhao Jianguo and Liu Fang.

Dinner was sumptuous. Braised pork ribs, stir-fried yellow beef, spicy chicken... all of them were Zhao Yang's favorites.

At the dinner table, his parents didn't ask about his grades at school; they only asked how life was, how the food was, and whether the blankets and heating were warm enough.

His mother just kept putting food on his plate, chattering about trivial household matters: Auntie Wang's son next door failed the civil service exam, the small shop downstairs changed owners, this winter was too cold, the freezing rain in the surrounding areas caused traffic problems, and the price of vegetables was a bit expensive...

His father didn't say much, only reminding him once, "If you don't have enough money to spend, just say so. We still have some at home."

Listening to these trivial ramblings and eating the food his mother made, Zhao Yang was filled with emotion.

The warmth of home was something that couldn't be replaced anywhere!

After finishing dinner, Zhao Yang returned to his room.

The room was very clean, obviously cleaned often by his mother. His high school textbooks and exercise books were still laid out on the desk.

Zhao Yang sat at the desk and turned on his desktop computer.

Although he was home, Zhao Yang didn't plan to rest; he still had many things to do.

He extracted the twin prime distribution blueprint from his system space and began typing into a document.

He wanted to use this winter break to organize this paper.