Cheng Liao's thesis defense took place at the end of June. Her thesis was titled "The Lack of Journalistic Ethics in the Development of the News Industry Over the Past Twenty Years."
Cheng Liao chose this seemingly humanitarian yet difficult-to-approach topic because on the day of topic selection, she was stuck in traffic. By the time she made it back to school, her classmates had already picked the easier topics.
They took the easier paths, leaving her with no path to take.
The defense went relatively smoothly, but during the graduation photo session, someone suggested tossing their graduation caps into the air. As fate would have it, the edge of a cap fell and hit Cheng Liao on the neck, causing so much pain that she almost popped her eyes out. The photographer, of course, captured this exact moment, creating a piece of black history she would never want to revisit.
After the ceremony, a classmate invited Cheng Liao out. This classmate had already signed with Huayao Mobile and was currently working in the publicity department.
"Huayao Mobile is collaborating with 'Ultimate Challenge' for a special episode, and your ex-boyfriend will be there too."
Ever since Cheng Liao returned to school, people kept asking her about her "boyfriend." Annoyed, she hinted to everyone that she and Sheng Jingchu had broken up.
She regretted saying that. "Boyfriend" sounds better than "ex-boyfriend."
"Ultimate Challenge" is a quiz show produced by Jiangcheng TV, and Cheng Liao had heard a bit about Huayao Mobile's special episode. Huayao had just released a new phone, promoting features like image stabilization, high-speed data processing, and fingerprint recognition.
To make the show more exciting, the producers had invited Sheng Jingchu.
A special guest? Cheng Liao couldn’t figure out what Huayao Mobile had to do with Go. Could it be that they had designed a Go app?
Showtime also received an invitation to participate in the live broadcast, but such public appearances were always left to the department's star, Linda.
Still, it was a good opportunity to see what it was all about, so Cheng Liao happily agreed.
The show was live at 8 PM.
Cheng Liao hadn't contacted Sheng Jingchu for a few days, guessing he was probably busy. She had never seen him post on his social media.
In contrast, Cao Xihe, also a Go player, would post over ten updates a day, and he insisted that Cheng Liao like each one. She was so annoyed that she almost blocked him.
As an insider with Huayao, the classmate arranged for Cheng Liao to have a seat near the front. After pulling her into her seat, the classmate couldn’t help but check on her psychological state.
"About to see your ex-boyfriend again—feeling a bit complicated?"
"Not really," Cheng Liao replied nonchalantly, "Just a little guilty. After all, I was the one who broke up first."
The classmate paused, unable to suppress their curiosity: "Why did you break up, anyway?"
"Ah," Cheng Liao said, flipping through the materials provided by the organizers, "That's a long story."
Just then, a WeChat message popped up on her phone. It was from Sheng Jingchu—
"We broke up?"
Cheng Liao looked around but didn’t see him.
Her lie had been exposed by the person it was about, and she was so embarrassed she wanted to find a hole to crawl into. After hesitating for a moment, she replied:
"Breaking up can also mean saying goodbye. I was referring to us parting ways in Hangzhou."
Sheng Jingchu responded:
"Then why am I your ex-boyfriend?"
Cheng Liao decided to continue making things up:
"Because you're the guy sitting in front of me."
Just after sending the message, Sheng Jingchu turned around to look at her from the front row.
He was wearing a white T-shirt, his hair cut a bit shorter, revealing a patch of blue at his temples. His expression remained as calm and indifferent as ever.
Her classmate immediately greeted him enthusiastically, "Hello, hello!"
Sheng Jingchu slightly nodded, "Hello, I'm the ‘male friend sitting in the front row’ who Cheng Liao 'said goodbye to in Hangzhou.'"
The classmate was utterly confused, glancing between Sheng Jingchu and Cheng Liao, signaling for her to explain.
Cheng Liao pointed to the stage, "Oh look, the show is about to start!"
"Ultimate Challenge" is one of Jiangcheng TV's flagship programs, consistently ranking among the top three most-watched shows on satellite channels. The host was Chen Duanyang, a star host of Jiangcheng TV.
The competition was divided into three rounds, each corresponding to one of Huayao Mobile's three new features: image stabilization, high-speed processing, and fingerprint recognition.
The contestants were to challenge the intelligent system of Huayao Mobile.
Chen Duanyang came on stage and introduced the two invited contestants: one was skilled in image analysis, the other in multitasking.
After introducing the two, Chen Duanyang continued, "And our special guest today, Mr. Sheng Jingchu!"
Sheng Jingchu stood up and walked to the stage, and fans in the audience began screaming his nickname, "Tianyuan."
Is he a contestant too? Cheng Liao couldn't figure out what Sheng Jingchu had to do with fingerprint recognition.
The competition began—
Two nearly identical video clips were shown on the big screen, with three subtle differences. The contestants had to find all three differences in the shortest time possible.
The computer randomly selected an action scene lasting about three minutes.
The classmate sitting next to Cheng Liao had some knowledge of the image analysis expert: "I saw him on a CCTV show once. He can accurately state the number of frames in a video, super impressive!"
The contestant seemed a bit nervous. After watching the clip, he hesitated for a moment before pressing the answer button.
52 seconds, 1 minute 38 seconds, 2 minutes 21 seconds.
All correct, but unfortunately, he was 30 seconds slower than the system.
Even so, the audience was already excited. Though the system was created by humans, human speed could never compare to that of a machine.
The second competition was designed to showcase Huayao Mobile's high-speed processor, which was said to use world-class technology to ensure the phone's fastest running speed even when multitasking.
In simple terms, no lag even when running multiple apps.
The second contestant was also quite impressive, having once set a Guinness World Record.
The show required the second contestant to listen to a song while memorizing a random list of words, then repeat both the list and the lyrics.
To increase the difficulty, the show translated a foreign folk song into Chinese to ensure the contestant had never heard it before.
The translation of the lyrics was so awkward it could be considered the most incomprehensible ever.
The second contestant accurately repeated the lyrics but got the word sequence wrong, losing to the system.
The audience was a bit disappointed, and the aunt behind Cheng Liao kept muttering, "This is just making things difficult for people."
The third contestant was Sheng Jingchu.
Huayao Mobile's fingerprint recognition technology wasn't just limited to unlocking the phone; it could also be used to open apps and launch browsers. Even if the phone was lent to someone else, privacy could still be protected.
Chen Duanyang invited audience members to come up. A group of enthusiastic fans raised their hands, and Chen Duanyang selected nineteen people, leaving one last spot. She paused for a moment, then focused on Cheng Liao’s row.
"Let's have the young lady in the pink shirt in the second row come up."
Cheng Liao turned to look at her classmate, who could no longer hold back and gave her a nudge, "She's talking to you."
Oh, right, she had changed into a pink shirt before heading out.
But she hadn’t raised her hand—was Chen Duanyang doing this on purpose?
Cheng Liao slowly made her way to the stage, entered her fingerprint into a machine, and then descended along with the other nineteen audience members.
Chen Duanyang invited Sheng Jingchu to observe for five minutes while the program overlapped the twenty fingerprints in pairs and then mixed those ten overlapped fingerprints with two hundred other overlapped fingerprints.
The screen displayed ten fingerprints per row, with a total of twenty-one rows.
Cheng Liao stared intently at the screen, but soon it felt like a kaleidoscope spinning endlessly before her eyes.
She rubbed her aching eyes and couldn’t help but mutter, "Who came up with these rules? They're really twisted."
The competition officially began—
Sheng Jingchu had a tablet in his hand, synced with the large screen, allowing him to tap on the fingerprints.
First row, fourth fingerprint—highlighted.
Then, the system's corresponding fingerprint on the large screen was also highlighted.
Third row, eighth fingerprint—highlighted again.
…
Before long, he indicated that he had completed the task, just as the system was finishing the eighth fingerprint.
Time taken: 52 seconds, with 100% accuracy!
Cheng Liao’s classmate jumped up in excitement and elbowed her hard, "Are you out of your mind?"
Cheng Liao glared at her, "No personal attacks!"
Her classmate shook her arm vigorously, "If you’re not out of your mind, why did you break up with him?"
Cheng Liao gave a sheepish smile. At that moment, Sheng Jingchu looked over from the stage, and their eyes met. She puffed up her cheeks, made a fox-like face, and mouthed, "Good luck!"
Chen Duanyang quieted the buzzing crowd, "Shall we increase the difficulty?"
The audience shouted in unison, "Yes!"
The system then mixed the ten fingerprints into a set of five hundred fingerprints, but Sheng Jingchu still outpaced the system, quickly and accurately identifying the ten fingerprints.
"Looks like our 'Tianyuan' is still unbeatable," Chen Duanyang said with a smile, "Shall we make it even more challenging?"
"Yes! Yes!"
In the third round, the competition first displayed the photos taken of the twenty audience members while recording their fingerprints, then mixed those twenty photos with two hundred others. Sheng Jingchu was tasked with matching each mixed fingerprint to the two corresponding faces.
How could anyone possibly do that? Cheng Liao fumed inwardly on Sheng Jingchu's behalf.
The competition began again—
Sheng Jingchu focused for a moment, then selected the corresponding audience members for the first set of mixed fingerprints.
Then the second set.
And the third.
…
When he reached the last set, after selecting two photos, he indicated to Chen Duanyang, "There’s a fingerprint missing here. The last set should have three people’s fingerprints."
Chen Duanyang was taken aback, "You mean…"
"I mean, the last set appears to be a combination of two people's fingerprints, but it's slightly different from the other nine sets. It actually includes part of a third person’s fingerprint."
He pointed to the screen, "But that person isn’t among the twenty audience members."
The audience erupted in astonishment.
Chen Duanyang looked a bit confused and suggested, "That doesn't quite follow the rules. Do you need to reconsider?"
"If it's not a problem with the rules, then there was an issue when mixing the fingerprints." Sheng Jingchu looked up at the screen, "I've made my selection."
There was a moment of silence in the studio, quickly followed by a low murmur of debate among the audience.
Meanwhile, the system had also completed its response.
Chen Duanyang spoke quietly to the director through her earpiece, her face showing admiration.
"This was a little prank by the organizers—the last set of fingerprints was indeed a combination of three fingerprints."
Sheng Jingchu won the third round.
If the audience had been excited during the first two rounds, by the end of this round, they were completely stunned.
Cheng Liao’s classmate pinched her arm so hard that tears nearly fell.
"Look, look!"
Cheng Liao winced in pain, "Let go, ow, ow, let go."
Chen Duanyang asked the audience, "Was that amazing or what?"
Everyone replied in unison, "Amazing!"
"Is there anyone better than him?"
The audience fell silent, and after a few seconds, a few people yelled, "Who could be better than him?"
Chen Duanyang took the opportunity to promote Huayao Mobile.
"There’s only one Mr. Sheng, but you can have a Huayao phone anytime. With image stabilization, your smile shines brighter; high-speed processing, you can work and play without interruption. Fingerprint recognition, ensuring your privacy is safe."
After the broadcast ended, Cheng Liao walked out of the venue with her classmate. Just before reaching the door, she turned back to glance at the stage, where Chen Duanyang was still talking to Sheng Jingchu.
Some people are just born to be in the spotlight, whether it’s the six-year-old who amazed Jiang Chunlai and Xie Hanzhou, the prodigy who made a stunning debut at sixteen, the mysterious man who calmly analyzed everything at the police station, or the professional Go player who remained composed in the Chess Sage Tournament.
No matter the time or place, he always exudes confidence and control.
Is it because of his extraordinary talent? Did that child who watched the barges go by along the canal ever imagine growing into such an exceptional person?
Gabriel García Márquez once said that he wrote "One Hundred Years of Solitude" just to make his friends proud of him.
And Sheng Jingchu once said, "Cheng Liao and I are friends."
When he said this, Cheng Liao thought it was to distance himself from her. But now, at this very moment, she suddenly realized just how precious the word "friend" truly is.
She pressed her hand to her heart, feeling a rush of warmth and pride.
On the way, Sheng Jingchu sent a WeChat message:
"Where are you?"
Cheng Liao replied:
"On my way home. Did you need something?"
Thinking it was about the "breakup" misunderstanding, she quickly apologized:
"I was just messing around with my classmate. I’m sorry, I’ll be more careful in the future and won’t hold you back."
To ensure her tone was sincere enough, she added a few kneeling anime emojis begging for forgiveness.
He replied:
"I was going to give you a ride home."
Not a word about the breakup! Cheng Liao sighed in relief, happily clutching her phone to her chest.
Then another message came in:
"Why do you have a scar on your right index finger?"
How did he know there was an injury on her right hand? Cheng Liao thought for a moment before realizing—it must have been during the show when he memorized her fingerprint.
Knowing it would take too long to type out the response, Cheng Liao decided to send a voice message instead:
"When I was in elementary school, we had to prepare bouquets for the sports day. The teacher asked us to wrap crepe paper around tree branches ourselves. While I was peeling the bark off a branch, I accidentally cut myself with the knife. There was so much blood that I thought I might bleed to death. I even left a bunch of last words with my deskmate, telling her to take care of my most treasured set of 36 colored markers. But as it turned out, I didn’t die and was back to running around by the end of the school day."
Cheng Liao is left-handed, so she uses the knife with her left hand, which is why the injury is on her right hand.
Sheng Jingchu listened to the voice message while sitting in the car. Xiao Qi was driving up front. He didn’t like using earphones, so the audio played out loud. Xiao Qi chuckled as he listened, "Cheng Liao sure has a lot going on in her head."
Sheng Jingchu quietly replied:
"Did it hurt?"
Cheng Liao responded with an animated emoji of a grimacing face:
"It did hurt, but the worst part was afterward—my deskmate insisted on fulfilling the 'will.'"
Leaning back in his seat, Sheng Jingchu felt the strain on his memory after such intense mental exertion. Yet, when he closed his eyes, he could still see Cheng Liao’s fingerprint vividly in his mind—a circular pattern, which the elders called a "斗" (dou).
Pressing lightly on his slightly throbbing temples, he asked Xiao Qi, "Any good movies out lately?"
By now, Cheng Liao had been interning at Showtime for over three months, but there had been no word on her permanent position. She had asked HR several times, but they kept telling her to be patient, that it was being processed.
She had gathered a lot of material for a project on Cao Xihe, staying up several nights in a row to edit it into a video, which she then proudly handed over to her team leader. But by the end of the workday, there was still no feedback.
Unable to sit still any longer, Cheng Liao decided to go ask the team leader directly.
The team leader just gave an indifferent "Oh" and a response that nearly made her spit blood: "I haven’t watched it yet."
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