Chapter 58 A Warm Season, a Bet on a Diamond

As Xu Aida recalls, during the surgery at the end of October, Liang Siyu served as the first assistant for the first half and performed well.

To her surprise, he came home that night, took a bath, and didn't sleep for most of the night.

At that moment, he leaned against the headboard, typing an email on Xu Aida's phone: "[Sorry, there's been an unexpected situation; I need to cancel my yoga class on Saturday morning...]"

The email was sent in a flash. He put down his phone, touched her face, and said with satisfaction and a smile in his eyes, "Alright, problem solved. I told you, you should have cleared your schedule for Saturday."

Xu Aida kept his eyes closed, not wanting to speak. He had seven or eight hours of primate surgery today, and although he was only an assistant for the first half, he had been standing by the operating table watching the second half.

She had assumed he would rest for the night, like in her past life. Unexpectedly, because she lost track of time during her video conference with Nielsen discussing algorithms, and he caught her, he pulled this stunt. How petty of him…

Forget it, everyone who can work as a surgeon is a monster with excessive energy.

She turned over and looked for a side-lying pillow; she definitely didn't want to get close to Mr. Monster tonight.

He hugged me from behind, his warm hands covering my skin: "Is this better? Go to sleep first. Once you're asleep, I'll apply a warm compress for you, gently, so as not to wake you."

She gave a low hum: "Oh, right, I left the donation check you promised on your desk. I'll be flying to Seattle over the Christmas holidays; there's a new project in Nelson. It's just part of my job."

He kissed her gently: "Okay, okay, go to sleep."

Of course, even earlier than Christmas is Thanksgiving, a warm holiday for family reunions.

Xu Aida is continuing her EMDR treatment and feels good; the rhesus monkey is recovering even faster than her.

"Remember the monkey we operated on? Yes, I have to stay and take care of it."

Liang Siyu made tea while video chatting with his mother, Claudia. This Thanksgiving, it was his turn to stay behind to work in the animal room—especially taking care of the monkey that had just had surgery a month ago.

“Yes, Ada is also staying on campus. We only have four days off, and the travel time to and from California is too tight. She won’t be home until Christmas.”

"Thanksgiving dinner? I'm thinking of tortilla chips with guacamole, and a Netflix marathon."

"Just kidding, I'm going to try making a herb butter roasted chicken, yes, according to Thomas Keller's recipe."

He chatted and laughed with his mother, and the video call ended with them saying "I miss you" to each other.

He gently pushed open the bedroom door.

Xu Aida was leaning against the headboard, her face slightly flushed, her voice sweet and clear: "Don't laugh at me, it's just pumpkin soup, I don't believe I can't make it well! Mom, don't listen to Dad!"

She glanced at him standing at the door, said a few words hastily, and waved goodbye to the person across the street.

He handed her the mug: "Why are you in such a hurry to hang up? I'm not going to appear on camera without permission."

She took the chamomile tea: "I'm just afraid you'll hear about my dark past."

He smiled and shook his head, sat down on the edge of the bed, and reached out to touch her forehead.

"It's all over now." She tossed her hair.

They went to get their flu shots together yesterday. She had a slight fever last night, but it was better this morning.

His expression was still a bit serious: "Don't go swimming these next couple of days, take a few days off."

"Don't just talk about me, you need to take good care of yourself too," she replied slowly, taking a sip of tea.

"Me? I get vaccinated every year and haven't caught a cold in ages." He didn't seem to care, and pulled her arm over to check her heart rate on his watch.

She obediently cooperated, but inwardly she thought, "Hmph, in my past life, you were the one with mild pneumonia after the flu, while I'm perfectly fine this winter."

However, thinking of the accidental infection last year, she shrank back and didn't dare to speak out completely.

Xu Aida's Thanksgiving cooking attempt was, unsurprisingly, another failure; she burned the pumpkin soup.

But Liang Siyu hadn't really expected anything from her anyway; after all, she couldn't even connect the wires properly in a physics experiment in middle school. Pumpkin soup? That was way too much.

Liang Siyu's French-style roasted chicken was a great success, proving that his preparations over the past three days, including marinating for 6 hours and air-drying for 24 hours, were worthwhile. The final product had crispy skin and tender meat, making it a true champion among roasted chickens.

Xu Aida exclaimed in amazement, "Ned, this is Michelin level!"

He modestly replied, "It's all thanks to Keller's recipe. By the way, let's go to Per Se next time; that's the perfect taste from a Michelin-starred chef."

Looking into his bright, sparkling eyes, she chuckled to herself.

That look in its eyes is a bit like that of the rhesus monkey. It looks just like that when it's waiting for its banana reward after completing the experiment—calm on the surface, but its true thoughts are laid bare.

They shared the dessert duo that Claudia sent: caramel apple pie and pecan pie.

As Liang Siyu ate his pecan pie, he recalled a funny incident from his childhood.

“Oh, Dad really likes this, but it’s the kind with bourbon in it. Ed went to the kitchen and stole two pieces. I took one bite and felt like throwing up, but he forced me to swallow it, saying he didn’t want to clean up the pie I threw up.”

Xu Aida laughed so hard she couldn't stand up straight; her first time drinking alcohol was much better than this.

"The year Alan graduated from high school, his mother allowed him to have a few sips of champagne on Thanksgiving. He let me sneak a small sip when his mother wasn't looking."

“You were only in ninth grade then!” He frowned slightly.

"Luckily, Alan isn't as rigid as you." She pouted. "Besides, speaking of which, Ed was even more irresponsible, wasn't he? What grade were you in back then?"

He stiffened slightly, and after a few seconds of silence, reluctantly answered, "Third grade."

He took another bite of pecan pie. "However, that Christmas holiday, his mother punished him by making him work in the orchard for two weeks, helping Mr. Anderson prune the fruit trees and tidy the cellar. Ed didn't want to see apples for a whole year afterward."

They all burst into laughter. Xu Aida took a sip of tea to moisten his throat and said, "Next time I'll share this with CC and see if she knows about it."

This Thanksgiving holiday was warm and fulfilling. In early December, Xu Aida and Liang Siyu presented their first sEMG paper at the NIPS conference in Montreal.

Xu Aida looked at many familiar faces from his previous life and recalled his brief encounters at the academic conference. He had an indescribable feeling; everything was so similar, yet so different.

On the third day of the conference, instead of listening to the reports, she wandered around the hardware exhibition area for a long time.

She first went to NVIDIA's booth to look at their current chips, and then looked at a lot of hardware from startups.

She meticulously searched for various hardware options suitable for offline tasks involving neuroprosthetics, learned about their technical specifications and future product plans, and also added many people on WhatsApp.

Whether they stay in the United States or go to Hangzhou together in the future, she will prepare for her entrepreneurial plans.

However, after this trip, her biggest takeaway was that the hardware costs in North America are simply incomparable to those in the Yangtze River Delta region.

Liang Siyu attended a workshop on brain-computer interfaces. Most importantly, he noticed that the moderators were two professors from the Department of Functional Neurosurgery at UCSF, which presented an excellent opportunity for exchange.

During the tea break, he took the initiative to go over and chat with the professors about his thoughts on monkey brain surgery. Sure enough, they were all very friendly.

He optimistically estimated that if they maintained some email contact, they should have some impression of him if he needed to apply for away game rotation.

When he found Xu Aida after the meeting, he saw her hugging and saying goodbye to a female engineer. At first, he felt relieved—this time there were no other men around.

But after listening to Eleanor's stories all night, he felt that it was better to be a man, at least he could be jealous in a legitimate way.

After skillfully steer the conversation toward the chip industry, Xu Aida finally stopped talking about Eleanor's startup and started discussing NVIDIA, expressing her optimism about the gaming chip giant's performance in the field of machine learning.

She swirled her wine glass: "Ned, do you need to adjust your investment account? I suggest you heavily invest in NVIDIA stock. The CUDA architecture will become the cornerstone of AI, and the market will definitely realize this by the end of next year or the year after at the latest."

He does have a private stock account, but the amount of money is not large, and he usually entrusts it to his family office for management.

He didn't have much time to delve into these things, but he would occasionally listen to Ed and Nathan talk about their investment insights.

He took out his phone and did a quick search: "It's already gone up quite a bit this year, are you still bullish on it?"

She took a sip of her non-alcoholic cocktail: "Let's make a bet, it might pull back early next year, but by the end of the year it'll definitely come back up, maybe even double."

Looking at her rosy cheeks, he suddenly thought of a joke: "Okay, if I lose, but make money from stocks, I'll give you diamonds as a prize, how about that?"

This was certainly not a proposal; he knew she wasn't ready. But if he made some money, picking out a brooch or something wouldn't be bad, would it?

Xu Aida paused slightly, then nodded slowly, smiling as if a teacher had received a good assignment.

She said, word by word, "Okay, the yellow diamond set in the bezel."

Anyway, that engagement ring belonged to her in her past life, and it belongs to her in this life too.

"What did you say?"

Liang Siyu froze completely, the stock chart still lit up on the screen, the green lines stretching upwards like branches.

This isn't right, this isn't the script he envisioned!

Shouldn't it be a lighthearted mockery? She would laugh and say, "You wish! You're getting a good deal and then acting innocent."

He would shrug and assure her that he remembered his promise on Long Island and that he would be a man who could put her at ease.

He hurriedly put down his phone, almost knocking over the water glass in front of him. He quickly steadied the glass and stared intently into her eyes.

She rested her chin on her hand; the bar lights were dim, and her eyes shone like mysterious obsidian.

Is this Ada's playful joke? Or is she serious?

“I didn’t drink, Ned. I’m telling you, that diamond you prepared last year, just wait to lose it to me.”

She raised an eyebrow slightly, her eyes narrowed, and suddenly added, "No, actually that originally belonged to me. You need to think of another prize."

He grabbed her hand: "Ada, are you serious?"

For the first time, he felt his voice trembling, his palms cold, and his arms and fingers shaking uncontrollably.

As she smiled and nodded, he felt a surge of heat rush to his head. He grabbed her shoulders and kissed her cheek.

He knew they were sitting at the bar, and the kiss was just a light touch, but his fingers were tightly gripping her shoulders, unable to relax. When he looked up, he met the bartender's smiling gaze.

An idea flashed through his mind, and his voice was low but filled with barely suppressed excitement: "I would like to invite everyone here to have a drink."

The bartender smiled knowingly and was about to raise his hand to announce that someone was treating when Liang Siyu quickly added, "Dude, no need to make a fuss. I just hope that everyone can share a little happiness."

“Of course, a covert operation.” The bartender lowered his voice. “Congratulations to you both, and best wishes for your happiness.”

Xu Aida turned his head to look at Liang Siyu. This guy's eyes were too bright, and there was even a lot of fine sweat on his forehead and neck.

She took a tissue and gently wiped his face twice, but he grabbed her hand.

He looked at her and grinned foolishly, then suddenly lowered his head and kissed the back of her hand.

She smiled helplessly, just in time to see the couple next to him raising their glasses in a toast—they must have overheard Ned and the bartender's conversation.

She blushed slightly, withdrew her hand, and nudged him again. They raised their glasses together and smiled as they returned the toast.

She took a sip of her cocktail and glanced back at the bar. Although she didn't know who was treating, the guests all wore surprised smiles, creating a small ripple in the room.

“Ned, I’m not kidding.” She paused. “But I’m not saying you can bring that little box with you next time we go to a nice restaurant.”

She didn't look him in the eyes, but stared at his chin.

"I know, I know, let's take it slow."

He looked intently at her. "It's still a night to celebrate, Ada. Thank you."

He wasn't discouraged; in fact, it was progressing much faster than he had initially expected. They were moving towards a future together, and nothing could be more precious than that.

"It's snowing!" someone suddenly shouted.

In December in Montreal, a biting wind howled outside the window, and fine snow fell softly. The small ripples in the bar turned into even louder cheers.

Their happiness is not much different from that of others.

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Author's Note: This chapter hints at the reason for Ned's career change; the next chapter will reveal the answer.

I'm completely out of drafts now, I'm so nervous, but thankfully it's almost over.

Just a heads up, I'll be taking a week off after the main story is finished before I start updating the side stories.