fictionpage Chapter 1152: A Polite Refusal
Chapter 1152: A Polite Refusal
A week later, in the afternoon, Huang Ze was busy in the computer room as usual.
Here he has his own independent workspace, which is not very big, but enough to hold the equipment and materials he needs. Of course, all of this is only because the school is concerned about his father.
While he was focused on his work, he suddenly heard someone knocking on the door.
He assumed they were Hu Zhidong's students, his seniors, and said without looking up, "Please come in."
The door was pushed open from the outside, and a girl's voice came through: "Huang Zeji, are you busy?"
Huang Zeji looked up and saw a girl from the next class named Zhou Ruotong. He had seen her a few times during his major classes. Many boys in the School of Computer Science and Technology voted her the most beautiful girl in the school. However, Huang Zeji didn't think much of it and didn't think the girl was particularly outstanding. In his opinion, no girl in the school could compare to Sister Xuanxuan in terms of looks.
Huang Ze asked, "I'm a bit busy. Is there anything I can help you with?"
Zhou Ruotong walked in, holding a book in her hand. "I have a programming assignment I'm having trouble with, and I'd like to ask you for help. I wonder if you have time?"
Seeing that he had come to ask for advice, Huang Zeji didn't think much of it: "Then please sit down. What's the question?"
Zhou Ruotong sat down on the chair next to him, opened the book, and pointed to a certain place: "It's this. I wrote a program according to the requirements in it, but it won't run. I don't know what's wrong."
Huang Zeji glanced at it casually; it was a question about data structures, and the difficulty wasn't too high.
He then took the storage disk from Zhou Ruotong, set up a safe zone on his computer, isolated the storage disk, and ran the code written by Zhou Ruotong in the safe zone. After watching it for a while, he helped her debug it.
Zhou Ruotong sat beside him, watching him operate the machine while asking questions from time to time.
Huang Zeji explained the reasons to her while modifying the code, and before they knew it, more than an hour had passed.
"Alright, now try running." Huang Zeji gently pushed off with his leg, and the ergonomic chair slid backward, making room for him.
Zhou Ruotong stepped forward and ran the program again. The screen displayed the correct result, and she was overjoyed: "It really works! Thank you, Huang Zeji!"
Huang Ze replied calmly, "We're all classmates, helping each other out is fine, no need to thank me."
After taking the storage disk from Huang Zeji, Zhou Ruotong hesitated for a moment before asking, "Huang Zeji, are you free tomorrow or the day after? I'd like to treat you to a meal as a way of thanking you for your help."
Huang Zeji politely declined the invitation, saying, "No need, it's just a small favor, and I have to go home this weekend."
After saying that, he went back to doing his own thing.
Zhou Ruotong's smile froze for a moment, but she quickly recovered: "Okay then, let's make an appointment again when you have time later."
After saying that, he took the book and left the computer room.
Huang Zeji kept his attention on the computer screen. He had finished running a new algorithm, and the output was better than he had expected, which made him particularly happy.
He checked the time; it was almost six o'clock. He had promised his mother he would come home for dinner tonight. He packed his belongings, slung his backpack over his shoulder, and headed out of the school gate.
The taxi took him to the entrance of an alley near his home. After paying, he walked less than 20 meters down the alley and unlocked the gate with his magnetic card.
Huang Ruiying returned earlier than him and was playing with Xiao Bayue in the yard.
"Brother!" The little girl had sharp eyes. As soon as she saw him, she abandoned her sister Huang Ruiying and ran towards him.
Huang Zeji hugged her tightly, teased her for a bit, and then asked Huang Ruiying, who was walking towards him, "You're back pretty early!"
"You're the one who came back late, okay? What time is it? Mom is so biased. She won't let us eat if you don't come back, and now August and I are starving." Huang Ruiying's tone was a bit exaggerated, but that was the only way to show her dissatisfaction with her mother's favoritism.
Of course, she could only say this in front of her brother, because her brother would definitely not tell on her.
Huang Zeji didn't respond to her comment. It was always like this; he was used to it and knew how to deal with his sister's complaints.
Huang Ruiying then brought up another matter: "Brother, are there any girls pursuing you at your school?"
Huang Zeji didn't want to discuss this with her: "Are you hungry?"
"Tch!" Huang Ruiying gave her brother a disdainful look.
Huang Zeji carried August into the house, while Huang Ruiying continued to nag behind him: "Brother, you're too honest. You need to be careful with girls these days. They're all so shrewd! If they know you're both talented and wealthy, they'll go to great lengths to win you over."
Huang Zeji turned around and handed August to his nagging younger sister, then went to the tea room on the first floor. Huang Ruiying saw that her brother had gone to the tea room, so she didn't follow him in. Instead, she went to tell her mother that her brother had returned.
Having a house that's too big isn't a good thing either; it's incredibly difficult to find someone. Huang Ruiying was thinking about whether to give everyone in the family a walkie-talkie so that they could be reached with a simple call if needed.
Huang Xiaochuan was drinking tea in the tea room while watching the news. Since the establishment of the family office, there have been far fewer trivial matters, and he has had more free time.
Seeing his son come in, he pointed to the seat opposite the tea table: "You're back! Have a cup of tea with me."
Huang Zeji sat down, picked up the tea tray in front of his father, and poured himself a cup.
Huang Xiaochuan asked with concern, "How have you been at school lately? Is everything going smoothly?"
Huang Zeji picked up his cup and took a sip: "It's alright, there's been some progress, but we're still some distance from the final goal." He didn't go into too much detail because he knew his father didn't understand his profession.
Huang Xiaochuan nodded, not pressing the matter further, but instead changing the subject: "I've heard that quite a few girls have been very interested in you lately, and they keep coming to see you?"
Huang Zeji looked at his father speechlessly: "Dad..."
Huang Xiaochuan smiled and said, "I heard it from Professor Hu and Lao Shen when I was having dinner with them the other day. I'm telling you, your mother knows about this too, and she'll definitely ask you about it later."
Huang Zeji said somewhat helplessly, "We're just ordinary classmates, and besides, I don't have any such thoughts right now."
Huang Xiaochuan looked at his son and said to him seriously, "I won't interfere too much with your love life, but remember this: when you meet someone you feel you can spend your life with, don't hesitate. Of course, character comes first, and appearance comes second. You can't stay young forever, but you can stay virtuous for life."
Huang Xiaochuan picked up the plum blossom cup from the Twelve Flower Goddess Cups and took a small sip. This set of Twelve Flower Goddess Cups, which originated from the Kangxi era, was something he had bought from Hong Kong. It is said that this set of cups has increased in value several times over. Last year, a set of such cups was auctioned for a sky-high price of HK$1.35 million. Yet, he was using these twelve cups to drink tea, changing one cup each month according to the month. It was November now, so he was using the plum blossom cup.
He continued to tell his son, "Also, your focus right now should be on your studies and your career. As for other things, just let them take their course."
Huang Ze then hummed in agreement.