Chapter 33.1

Translator: Hua

Nie Yandong had a few words with Shen Yijin, seemingly wanting to introduce the few people behind him to president Shen one by one.

However, Shen Yijin said that the time was inconvenient and he had other things to do. Those few people were very sensible, saying that they would make an official visit to president Shen next time, and did not continue to disturb them.

The group dispersed, and Jing Xun was naturally taken inside by Shen Yijin to eat.

In order to prevent them from being disturbed, Shen Yijin also chose a private room.

Today they ate Cantonese cuisine. The dishes they ordered were mainly light and healthy, which was very suitable for dinner.

While eating, Jing Xun was asked how his final exam was going.

He replied: “The last course was completed today.”

Shen Yijin: “So Xiao Xun is about to have a vacation?”

Jing Xun said: “There is nothing else after the exam, which is equivalent to vacation. But the group project will take two or three more days to wrap up.”

Shen Yijin said, “Okay.”

Jing Xun asked: “What’s the matter, sir?”

Shen Yijin said: “It’s nothing, just thinking about Xiao Xun’s vacation, where shall we spend our vacation.”

Jing Xun: !

Mr. is taking him on vacation!

That’s great. Jing Xun’s recent plan was to travel around and see the world when he was free.

“Okay.” Jing Xun said with a smile, “Then we will leave when Mr. is free?”

“Mm.” Shen Yijin said.

Then he consulted Jing Xun’s opinion and asked him where he wanted to go.

But Jing Xun, who had never traveled except for the competitions, naturally wanted to go everywhere.

So Jing Xun said, “Anywhere.”

The young man had a pair of almond-shaped eyes overflowing with crystal clear light. A happy expression plastered on his face.

Shen Yijin couldn’t help but look at him more.

President Shen said: “I got it.”

Then, the two people talked about scientific and technological issues that were of mutual interest. Shen Yijin also asked Jing Xun about the progress and situation of the project development team.

According to the content of the confidentiality agreement, Jing Xun didn’t tell Shen Yijin what program development he was doing.

Shen Yijin didn’t ask either.

But it was okay to discuss this topic a little bit. 

What’s more, all Shen Yijin asked him were questions such as “Have you learned anything”, “Was it fun”, “do you want to continue doing this kind of project next time” and so on.

Jing Xun answered one by one.

There were just some problems that made Jing Xun tangled up.

For example, the question “Have you learned anything?”

In fact, he really didn’t learn anything. It wasn’t that participating in the project itself was meaningless, but that Jing Xun’s original starting point was too high to learn anything here.

But he couldn’t tell Shen Yijin that…..

It was not a matter of being modest. This was mainly a question of whether others could believe it.

Even if he believed it, how should he explain to sir that what he knew was far beyond the original owner’s ability?

But to really say in front of Shen Yijin that he did learn something and deliberately hide his ability, Jing Xun felt that this was not good…..He always felt that he should be frank with his partner.

Unexpectedly, just when Jing Xun was struggling about what to say, Shen Yijin suddenly said: “Xiao Xun is very smart. You are gifted with a photographic memory?”

At this time, Shen Yijin was drinking soup.

The white porcelain spoon was held in his hand. Mr.’s movements looked extremely elegant, but it was also carried with a touch of gentlemanly casualness.

Jing Xun couldn’t help blinking.

“…Sir, you could tell?”

“Mmm.” Shen Yijin: “You read those books in the study very quickly.”

Jing Xun: “……”

In the past few days, Shen Yijin occasionally came home very late, so Jing Xun stayed at home alone and would read a book if he had nothing to do.

The books in Mr. ‘s study, especially the row of computer-related books, were indeed almost turned over by him.

The book he finished reading would be returned to the original position of the bookshelf, but basically every day when Shen Yijin returned, the book in Jing Xun’s hand was different.

So… That’s how Mr. noticed it?

But it didn’t matter if he knew it.

“Sir, how can you know everything? You are amazing!” Jing Xun couldn’t help boasting about Shen Yijin again.

Shen Yijin heard the words and paused with the hand holding the spoon.

Many people have praised him since he was young, but it seemed that no one had praised him like the young man….it was simple and straightforward.

It made him feel different again.

Seeing the full smile overflowing on the youth’s lips, the corners of Shen Yijin’s tight lips also slightly lifted up.

He said, “Xiao Xun is more powerful.”

Shen Yijin still wanted to say something, but at this moment, Jing Xun’s cell phone rang suddenly.

Jing Xun glanced at the caller ID, it was senior sister Chu Qiao.

“Hello?”

“Xun Xun!” Chu Qiao’s anxious voice came through the phone: “Come back, something happened!”

Jing Xun: “?”

When Jing Xun hurried back to school, the laboratory building was brightly lit and everyone was there.

Not only the group members and teaching assistants, but the security guards and other students who were attending classes in the building also came. They heard the commotion and came to see what was going on.

Of course, irrelevant people were isolated outside the laboratory door. It was not easy for Jing Xun to finally push the crowd away and return to the lab. 

In the laboratory, everyone’s expressions were very solemn. Seeing him enter the room, senior sister Chu Qiao was the first to rush up.

“Junior Yan, you are finally back!” Chu Qiao’s face was very bad, and she looked panicked.

“You were still here when I turned off the computer just now, right? You saw that, I didn’t do anything except shut it down, right? The three of us were together all afternoon. It’s impossible for anyone to copy the program, right!”

Jing Xun was caught by Chu Qiao, and she shook his clothes. Seeing the other party’s panic, he couldn’t help comforting her: “Senior sister, please calm down first and talk slowly.”

Just now, senior sister Chu Qiao briefly explained the situation to him on the phone– the program that the project team had been working on for nearly two weeks, that is, the program they took over this afternoon, had an explicable trace of being copied.

The most taboo thing for program developers, especially new program development, was data leakage in the research and creation stage.

There had been more than one such case in the past: company A’s new research and development products were stolen by peers, and the peers introduced the products to the market first, causing company A to lose the opportunity, patent, and money.

This kind of knowledge theft happened very frequently, and various software development companies had to repeatedly increase their efforts in strengthening their confidentiality work.

From the investor to the R&D team, they all valued the confidentiality of the product.

For this reason, each newly created program would be set up with a small program in the development and creation stage, and the complete work log would be automatically recorded on it, as well as the number of times the project had been copied and other related information.

Prior to this, the number of times that this program was copied was one, which was the one copied by the teaching assistant as a backup.

And now, it was clearly written on the computer screen that the number of copies had been changed to two.

This small program responsible for recording related information was a dead program, and no one could tamper with it.

The change from one to two meant that their program information had been leaked.

Jing Xun walked to the front of the computer, tapped a few buttons, and called up the time of copying—6:53 pm.

It was indeed not long ago.

At this time, Jing Xun should be about to leave.

Senior brother Hou and senior sister Chu Qiao had not left yet, but the computer was indeed turned off. Jing Xun has paid special attention to them.

“Have you checked the surveillance video?” Jing Xun asked.

“Checked it.” Hou Dongyu said gravely, “We were all in the classroom at that time…”

“No, even if we were still in the classroom, we had designated it to be turned off at that time, and no one touched this computer!” Chu Qiao said.

Hou Dongyu sighed: “Of course we didn’t do anything, but the location of the surveillance camera… indeed couldn’t capture the computer screen…”

So there was no way to verify that they had actually turned off the computer at that time.

At that time, the three of them were just around the computer. Whether anyone had reached out to perform any operation, the surveillance camera located in the corner could not fully capture the image.

But despite this, Jing Xun still wanted to see the surveillance.

“What else are you looking at? Our team worked overtime to make the program, and you stole it! That’s good, the investor  specified that the program code should not be disclosed in advance. Everyone’s hard work was all in vain! “

There was a problem with the program causing the first group members to be in a bad mood, so their speech would inevitably be harsh.

Someone said: “Anyway, it’s the responsibility of your second group. You have to give us an explanation.”

Even the teaching assistant who usually looked extremely gentle couldn’t control his mood: “Now it’s time for you to quickly hand over the copied program before the information is leaked, and then apologize to the investor! I have reported this matter to Professor Huo. After a while, the professor will rush over, and he will come forward to conciliate with the investor. I believe that as long as the information has not been leaked, the investor might not investigate this matter….”

Chu Qiao: “But didn’t we say that we didn’t do it!”

She had a violent temper, and couldn’t help but burst out at the moment.

A member from the first group said, “Who did it if you didn’t do it? It’s so funny. The program stayed in our group’s laboratory for more than a week without incident. It happened as soon as it was handed over to your group. How else do you want to explain?”

“No, everyone calm down first.” At this time, Peng Yutong in the crowd spoke up.

Not only did she speak, she also walked out and came to the central position where the first group was opposed to the second group. She said, “Everyone should calm down first. I believe there must be some misunderstanding in this matter.”

People from the first group said: “Yutong, do you still speak up for them at this time? If we don’t force them to tell us who stole the program and sell it to, we’re all finished!”

“Yeah. It’s because no one is getting any benefit out of it, that’s why I don’t think they did it.”

Peng Yutong blinked and said: “We all know what this project means for everyone’s future resumes. Even if someone buys this program at a high price, I believe that Chu Qiao and the others won’t ruin their own future like this.”

After she said these words, everyone thought it made sense.

But in turn, more people also pointed their eyes in Jing Xun’s direction.

——This project was very important to everyone.

Except for one person.

“Yan Jingxun? Is it you?”

“I think something is wrong, Hou Dongyu and Chu Qiao are not that kind of person…”

“Yeah, what you said makes sense, we also refer to this project to enrich the resume, but he doesn’t need it…”

“Even if he needs it, money is definitely important. He is only a junior this year. What can’t he do with that large sum of money? Graduate students can skip the exam directly! Like us, we are all tied to this field. We can only do this in our life.”

“I think you had a point. In terms of motivation, it was indeed junior Yan…”

“No, it can’t be junior Yan.” Chu Qiao stood up at this moment.

The surveillance camera couldn’t explain the problem, but she and Hou Dongyu were both at the scene at the time. The computer was turned off. Even if Yan Jingxun wanted to copy the code, he had no chance.

Hou Dongyu also said: “I’m sure that the computer was turned off. At that time,  there was no sound from the computer chassis.”

“Then the three of you were accomplices, right?” The group of people cut off his words in advance.

“Perhaps Yan Jingxun made the copy in advance?” Peng Yutong said: “As long as the computer system time is changed, the time on the program monitoring system will change accordingly. Chu Qiao, Hou Dongyu, have you three been working together all the time? During the whole afternoon, when the two of you were not in the classroom or not paying attention to the computer?”

“……”

Chu Qiao and Hou Dongyu looked at each other.

Waiting to run the data was tedious, and they all looked at their phones halfway through the day, as well as slipping around the room and looking out the window.

And they all had gone to the bathroom.

Think of it this way ……

“No.” Chu Qiao said, “I still don’t believe junior Yan can do such a thing.”

Hou Dongyu agreed with her statement: “Yes, and it’s not like we hadn’t looked at the computer this entire time. It takes at least ten minutes to copy the entire code. No matter who it is, there’s not enough time.”

“Are you sure?” Peng Yutong: “Have you checked the number on the software monitor when the computer was turned off? Was the number still 1 at that time?”

“……”

Peng Yutong: “If you still can’t find the thief, and you can’t recover the stolen program…you need to know what the consequences will be.”

“……”

There was a brief silence in the laboratory.

The door of the laboratory was closed, but people outside could still hear the argument inside, and the discussion could not help but rise and fall one after another.

Therefore, everyone’s eyes fell on Jing Xun, who had been quiet throughout the whole ordeal.

After a short silence, the teaching assistant took the lead and said: “Student Yan, do you have anything to say?”

Jing Xun swept his eyes through the entire laboratory, and saw that no one else was talking before he spoke: “Since the time on the program monitoring system can be manipulated by changing the computer time, it can no longer be used as evidence to explain any problems.”

He spoke in a steady voice, with a gentle tone and clear articulation, but his tone was not slow.

Judging from his appearance, the most suspicious person was actually the calmest person in the entire room.

“Then what do you want to say?”

A group of seniors immediately said with heavy emotion: “The program has not been copied at the time of the handover. No matter what, the copied program is in your second group!”

“I don’t deny this.” Jing Xun said, and couldn’t help looking at the teaching assistant: “So I want to look at the surveillance.”

……

“Then show him.”

The members of the first group said: “Yes, let him see it, so that some people would stop denying their wrongs.”

“But is it more time-consuming to do so? Has he sent out the information? “

“Should have been sent away long ago, the project designation was leaked, and we are finished.”

“This is not our responsibility, our work has been completed, I believe… I believe the professor will not blame us…”

Faced with all kinds of accusations and speculations, Jing Xun didn’t answer nor did he make any rebuttal throughout. He only said politely after the teaching assistant opened the monitor for him, “Thank you, teacher.”