41: Chapter 41 The Dinner

If strangling people weren't illegal, Wang Shuo would really want to strangle the pretentious jerk in front of him, stuff him under the bed, and stage it as a traffic accident.

Just because you have handsome genes, you can be this arrogant?

Just because you have a prominent family background, you can treat picking up girls like it's nothing?

You second-generation bachelors, how are we first-generation bachelors supposed to live with this!

Huh? Come to think of it, it seems I actually have something in common with this second-generation bachelor in front of me.

How satisfying.

"If you came here to show off, you've already achieved your goal, so please turn left and head out." Wang Shuo raised his cup, gesturing for him to leave.

"I'm not finished yet." Chen Cheng looked at Wang Shuo, his eyes filled with intense resentment.

Wang Shuo felt a chill run down his spine.

"Stop, hold it! Number Four, the psychological counseling session ends here for today, I have things to do." Wang Shuo quickly stood up, picked up his phone, and pointed to the message that had just arrived on the screen.

"Look, I really have something to do, I have an appointment, I can't turn it down, I'm leaving!"

He pulled the door open, ignoring the little sisters eavesdropping outside, and rushed downstairs, covering his face.

Behind him, Chen Cheng shouted: "Tomorrow night at eight, Shangri-La Hotel, my treat!"

"Alright! Got it!"

Only after leaving the dormitory did Wang Shuo have time to wipe his sweat. With lingering fear, he glanced back at the dormitory, only to see Chen Cheng looking at him from the balcony with a face full of resentment.

Wang Shuo immediately focused straight ahead and quickly left Chen Cheng's line of sight.

"This guy is acting really weird today."

Turning the corner, Wang Shuo muttered to himself and checked the message Chen Xin had just sent.

The message was just two words: "At the gate."

If it were anyone else, they would probably be confused by these two words, but Wang Shuo, who knew Chen Xin's personality well, shook his head helplessly and walked toward the school gate.

Sure enough, as soon as he stepped out of the school gate, he saw Chen Xin standing quietly by a black commercial vehicle at the gate.

He walked up to Chen Xin: "Why are you here?"

Chen Xin said indifferently: "Get in."

Just as annoying as always, this girl, she needs to be taught a lesson.

Thinking is one thing, but listening is another. After all, she has two bodyguards behind her. If a real fight broke out, he probably wouldn't be a match for them; a wise man knows when to submit.

Wang Shuo curled his lip and got in the car with disdain.

However, as the car started and merged into the traffic, he finally seemed to remember something.

"Damn, my takeout!"

...

Although the takeout wasn't important, it had still cost him dozens of RMB. Wang Shuo still felt a bit of heartache; it was all money. If he had known this would happen, he would have just topped up some forum currency; at least that would hold some value.

Too bad...

"Miss Chen, where are we going?" Wang Shuo turned his head and asked Chen Xin, who was quietly looking at the scenery outside the window.

"Shangri-La Hotel." Chen Xin replied: "My father wants to see you."

"Oh, so it's your father..." Wang Shuo's eyes widened suddenly: "What? What did you say? Your father wants to see me!!!"

"This... Miss Chen." Wang Shuo suddenly became a bit uneasy: "I just remembered I ordered takeout, can you change the route and take me back?"

Chen Xin lifted her eyes and gave him a look.

"Fine." Wang Shuo gave up.

A moment later, he continued to probe: "I mean, Miss Chen. Is it really okay for us to go see your parents like this...? My mom has taught me since I was young to respect the old and love the young, and to be filial to elders."

Seeing Chen Xin's gaze again, Wang Shuo dodged it and said: "I mean... should we buy some gifts or something?"

Chen Xin's brows gradually furrowed.

"Just pretend I didn't say anything."

Wang Shuo wisely shut his mouth.

Half an hour later, at the entrance of the Shangri-La Hotel.

When Wang Shuo walked into the magnificent hotel lobby under Chen Xin's guidance, he could only sigh in amazement. The huge lobby was intricate and complex; if it weren't for Chen Xin's guidance, he probably wouldn't even have been able to find the banquet hall.

"Miss Chen, you're here." The lobby manager on the side was very polite: "Mr. Chen has been waiting for a long time, please come this way."

The young lobby manager gestured for them to follow while leading the way.

Wang Shuo noticed that he seemed to be secretly observing him.

Could there be something wrong with his clothes? Wang Shuo looked down to examine himself; there was no problem, he hadn't put anything on inside out, and his pants fit well.

Then it must be... that he had become more handsome?

Wang Shuo took advantage of the space while walking to quickly observe himself in the reflective decorations on both sides.

Hmm... apparently not.

While puzzled, they had already covered a considerable distance.

"We have arrived at the Hankou Hall." The lobby manager opened the door: "Miss Chen, please come in."

Inside the hall, dozens of huge banquet tables were arranged neatly. The massive crystal chandeliers on the ceiling, the gorgeous petal-shaped wallpaper, and the gilded ornaments made the entire hall look exceptionally luxurious.

And in such a huge, luxurious banquet hall, at this moment, there was only a Middle-aged man sitting at the table in the very center, with some tableware and dishes set out.

Wang Shuo was suddenly a bit stunned; sure enough, the happiness of the rich is just this extravagant.

Renting out an entire banquet hall just to book one table for a meal—if this isn't extravagant, what is?

Looking at his own wallet again and thinking about his balance, Wang Shuo felt struck; nothing could be more discouraging than this kind of blatant flaunting of wealth.

"You're here?" The Middle-aged man looked at Wang Shuo and the others as they walked to the table and nodded slightly: "Please, sit."

Then he said to the waiter beside him: "You may serve the dishes."

Wang Shuo wasn't sure if he should sit, but Chen Xin had already sat down beside the Middle-aged man.

He secretly despised it in his heart, but since he was the only one standing in the entire hall, it seemed a bit strange, so Wang Shuo quickly pulled out a chair and sat down.

"Sit closer." The Middle-aged man smiled and pulled out the chair beside him, saying: "You are the only guest today, no need to be too reserved."

What he said... so you rented out such a big venue and made it so high-class just to flaunt your wealth to me alone?

Wang Shuo muttered in his heart, but still sat in the seat next to the Middle-aged man.

"Nice to meet you. Let me introduce myself, my name is Chen Zhongxuan." The Middle-aged man smiled: "Chen Xin is my daughter."

"I already know, Uncle Chen." Wang Shuo nodded reservedly: "My name is Wang Shuo, Wang as in the surname Wang, Shuo as in sparkling."

"I already know that too." Chen Zhongxuan smiled very gently: "After today, I reckon no one in the Machining Center industry won't know the name Wang Shuo."

What does that mean? Wang Shuo was a bit puzzled and secretly glanced at Chen Xin, but Chen Xin didn't react.

"What's wrong?" Seeming to see Wang Shuo's confusion, Chen Zhongxuan smiled: "Wang Shuo, you don't know yet?"

Should I know?

"The system that Wang Shuo designed..." Chen Zhongxuan said slowly: "It truly... opened our eyes!"

Wang Shuo immediately felt his face flush. He wished there was a crack in the floor for him to crawl into; it was truly embarrassing to the core. He had been flirting with someone's daughter right in front of the parent, and it had been watched by who knows how many people. This was really... He couldn't help but rack his brains, trying hard to recall if he had done anything excessive in the Easter egg, or added any excessive phrases.

After some effort, Wang Shuo secretly breathed a sigh of relief. Aside from adding an intelligent feedback algorithm, a few small pranks, and designing a few childish texts, he hadn't done anything, so why was he so nervous?

Why does it feel like the sense of having done something bad to someone's daughter and being caught by the father-in-law?

"It's the first time we've realized that China's programming design can actually reach a world-leading level, and it's the first time we've tasted the feeling of being one step ahead of others."

"Come, young friend Wang Shuo." Chen Zhongxuan raised his glass to Wang Shuo: "I'll toast you!"

Wang Shuo was a bit flattered and quickly picked up his glass, saying: "Uncle, you are too polite. It should be me toasting you. My mom has taught me since I was young that elders come first."

"Haha, what a good 'elders come first,' but in my opinion, there are no elders today, only two friends who wish they had met sooner! Come, young friend Wang Shuo, don't be polite, drink!"

Draining the cup, Wang Shuo smacked his lips; it seemed he could taste the flavor of money.

He was also infected by Chen Zhongxuan's generosity. Being with this person, it seemed he could let his guard down completely. The comfortable feeling made him really forget that the person in front of him was his elder.

If it weren't for Chen Xin sitting here, Wang Shuo reckoned that after two glasses of wine, he would dare to call him brother; after three glasses, he would dare to put his arm around his shoulder; and after four or five glasses... he might even have already acknowledged him as his father-in-law.

"Young friend Wang Shuo." Chen Zhongxuan upgraded his form of address for Wang Shuo and pointed to the dishes that had just been served on the table: "Try it. Whether it's the environment or the dishes, this place is second to none in W City. Especially the dishes—while I dare not say they are the absolute best, they are not far off."

Wang Shuo nodded quickly, while secretly rejoicing in his heart. It seemed that the Easter egg he had made had probably been quietly dealt with by Chen Xin, which allowed Wang Shuo's heart, which had been hanging, to slowly settle.

With his worries put aside, the full table of dishes suddenly felt appetizing, and Wang Shuo tucked in, eating with great relish.

For a while, both the host and the guest were happy.

After they were full of food and wine, Chen Xin left the banquet hall first, leaving only Chen Zhongxuan and Wang Shuo in the entire hall.

"Wang Shuo." Chen Zhongxuan put down his chopsticks and said: "Although Xiner has already told me the process, I still want to confirm it with you again."

"This system, was it really designed and created by you alone?"

"It was made by me alone." Wang Shuo rubbed his head a bit embarrassedly: "But Uncle Chen, if I had known this system was so important, I would have definitely put some effort into making it better. Was it too crude? Did it make your group lose face?"

Chen Zhongxuan felt his face go a bit stiff... he had already driven away the technicians from the Japanese W Company, and it wasn't good enough? He hadn't put in effort?

However, looking at that crude user interface, he reckoned this kid really hadn't put much effort into the design.

It really... made his teeth ache.

Let's change the subject...

"What do you think of W Company's technology...?"

"W Company?" Wang Shuo was a bit stunned, then continued a bit embarrassedly: "Uncle Chen, this W Company... what do they do?"

"Oh, I forgot that you aren't from this industry, haha." Chen Zhongxuan explained: "This W Company mainly deals in precision Tool Presetter business. The Tool Presetter produced by their company is applied on machine tools worldwide, and it can be said that they are at the top in this field."

"Tool Presetter?" Wang Shuo frowned and thought hard for a while. Why was it so familiar?

"W Company not only has amazing achievements in Tool Presetter, but also in CNC control systems. The control systems they design themselves also occupy a considerable share in China."

"Tool Presetter... is it important?" Wang Shuo seemed to finally remember something and asked, coming back to his senses.

"Naturally, it's important." Chen Zhongxuan laughed: "Although I don't have a technical background, when doing business, I still have some understanding of these things."

"All machine tools and Machining Centers on the market now, during initial calibration, re-calibration after a tool crash, and calibration for inaccurate resetting, basically have to rely on a Tool Presetter to determine precision. Without a Tool Presetter, a high-precision machine tool can basically be declared retired from the scope of precision machining and turned into an ordinary machine tool."

Wang Shuo nodded in understanding. A high-precision machine tool becoming no longer precise—that was indeed unacceptable.

"But why use such backward things as Tool Presetter?" Wang Shuo asked, a bit puzzled: "Isn't an integrated self-check program better?"

Tool Presetter, this kind of... backward thing? Chen Zhongxuan finally felt what Chen Xin had felt back then. This kind of technology... is it backward?

However, thinking of the performance of the system provided by Wang Shuo and the experts' evaluation, he had to admit that things like Tool Presetter were indeed a bit backward.

Chen Zhongxuan, feeling his teeth ache a bit, felt that he shouldn't continue to discuss technology with Wang Shuo. When this kid acted serious and pretentious, it felt like there was nowhere to get a foothold.

"Wang Shuo." Chen Zhongxuan straightened his tone and began the main purpose of the day.

"What are your plans for the future...?"