Chapter 16 Asking for Advice Thursday afternoon, in the laboratory on the third floor of the Science and Technology Museum.
Thursday afternoon, in the laboratory on the third floor of the Science and Technology Museum.
Shen Shutong appeared on time, clutching her notebook. She was dressed in a shirt and jeans, her long hair tied into a ponytail, looking very fresh and neat. The lab wasn't crowded, and Fu Jingchuan sat alone by the window, still in front of the two computers, their screens filled with complex codes and charts.
Shen Shutong did not disturb him directly, but found a seat that was neither too far nor too empty, sat down, turned on his computer, and started to get busy - processing data, running models, and occasionally frowning and thinking.
She could sense that Fu Jingchuan glanced up when she came in, and then... he seemed a little absent-minded? His eyes would occasionally move away from the screen, sweeping towards her as if unintentionally.
After about a quarter of an hour, Shen Shutong seemed to have encountered a problem. He made a soft "tsk" sound, tapped the table unconsciously with his fingers, but his eyes were looking out the window, obviously thinking.
"Let's try using the Bayesian method to process that variable first."
A cold voice suddenly sounded beside him.
Shen Shutong seemed to have just noticed him. She turned her head with just the right amount of surprise and realization on her face: "Student Fu? What a coincidence. You are here too?" There was a sly smile in her eyes.
Fu Jingchuan stood beside her desk. "Yeah," he replied, his eyes fixed on her screen. "Data processing stuck?"
"It's a bit tricky. The sample size is too large, and the noise interference is serious." Shen Shutong generously displayed the screen and quickly operated a few times. "You see, the traditional filtering method is not effective. The Bayesian method you just mentioned..."
Fu Jingchuan leaned over and tapped a few commands on her keyboard, bringing up a program interface. "This library function is more suitable for processing high-dimensional financial data," he explained, his voice closer. "The parameter settings can be more aggressive."
His actions were quick and his thinking was clear, and he solved the bottleneck that had been bothering Shen Shutong for a long time in just a few moves.
"I see!" Shen Shutong exclaimed sincerely, "Thank you, you've been a great help, otherwise I might have spent the whole afternoon here."
Fu Jingchuan stood up and took a sip of coffee: "It's just a piece of cake." But he didn't leave immediately.
Shen Shutong followed suit and pulled out a USB drive from his bag. "By the way, regarding the emotional variable simulation you mentioned last time, I tried to make a preliminary extended model based on the framework you gave me, but introduced some behavioral economics indicators. Could you help me see if there are any problems?"
Fu Jingchuan was obviously a little surprised. He took the USB drive, inserted it into his computer, and quickly browsed through it. He read it quickly and his eyes were focused. After a few minutes, he said, "The weight setting of the third part is a bit idealistic."
"Insufficient real data support?" Shen Shutong reacted immediately.
"Yeah. But the idea is very novel." Fu Jingchuan added: "When did you do it?"
"Just in these two days. I can't stop the inspiration." Shen Shutong smiled happily, "Besides, I don't want to be unable to keep up with your pace during the next discussion."
"I usually debug programs here on Friday nights." He suddenly said something without any context, then picked up his cup, turned around and walked back to his seat.
Chen Shutong watched him return to his seat, a sudden realization dawning on him. Oh? You'll be there Friday night, too? Is this... a different kind of invitation?
She didn't respond immediately, but simply returned to her work, her efficiency greatly improved. The lab was quiet, with only the clatter of keyboards and the occasional click of a mouse, a subtle atmosphere flowing silently between the two of them.
Time passed quietly and the sky outside the window gradually darkened.
Shen Shutong stretched and moved her neck, preparing to pack up and leave. She looked at Fu Jingchuan, who was still immersed in his work.
She walked over and tapped lightly on his desk.
Fu Jingchuan raised his head, his eyes still filled with concentrated thinking.
"I'm leaving now, Mr. Fu." Chen Shutong said with a smile, "Thank you for today. I'll go back and revise the model."
Fu Jingchuan nodded: "Be careful on the road."
Chen Shutong turned around and took two steps when he suddenly remembered something and turned back: "By the way, I heard that the cold brew at the "Code Cafe" at the South Gate is very good, especially suitable for staying up late and refreshing. Maybe we can try it on Friday night?"
After saying that, she didn't wait for Fu Jingchuan's reaction. She smiled, waved her hand, and left the laboratory with light steps.
Fu Jingchuan watched her disappear through the doorway for a long moment before he averted his gaze. He glanced at his computer screen, but for the first time, he found it difficult to concentrate. He picked up his phone, opened the browser, and silently searched for the location and hours of "Code Cafe."
…
The Science and Technology Museum seemed emptier than usual on Friday night. Only a few energy-saving lamps were on in the corridors, and most of the laboratories were dark. Only the one at the end of the third floor still had light.
Fu Jingchuan sat in front of his computer, the lines of code on the screen scrolling rapidly, but his attention was not as fully focused as usual. The coffee beside him had gone cold, and he glanced at the time in the lower right corner of the screen - 8:17 pm.
The cold brew at the "Code Cafe"? He remembered that place, not far from the South Gate, with a minimalist industrial style. It was said that students often stayed up all night coding there.
Just then, the door of the laboratory was gently pushed open.
Shen Shutong poked his head in, holding two paper bags in his hands, with a cunning glint in his eyes: "Hey, classmate Fu, are you still debugging the program?"
Fu Jingchuan's fingers holding the mouse tightened slightly, but his face remained calm. He only said "hmm" lightly, as if her appearance was completely expected.
Chen Shutong walked in and very naturally placed one of the paper bags on his desk. "Here, thank you for your help last time. Their cold brew is really good, and this sea salt cheesecake is said to be their signature dish."
Fu Jingchuan glanced at the coffee and delicate cake in the paper bag, then looked up at her. She had changed into a loose sweater today, and her hair was draped softly over her shoulders, adding a touch of gentleness compared to her neatness during the day.
"Thank you." He took the coffee.
Shen Shutong pulled up the chair next to him and sat down, pulling out his computer and cup of coffee. "You're welcome. Actually... I've hit a snag with my own model, and I thought Mr. Fu might be free Friday night and give me some pointers."
She blinked, her tone half joking and half serious, cleverly giving each other a way out.
Fu Jingchuan inserted a straw and took a sip of iced coffee. "What's the problem?" He turned sideways and looked at her screen.
Shen Shutong immediately opened a complex financial forecasting model and pointed to a section of an iterative algorithm. "I always have trouble setting the convergence conditions here. The iterations are either too fast and lose accuracy, or too slow to produce results within the specified time. I've tried several conventional optimization methods, but none of them worked well."
Fu Jingchuan looked at the code carefully, frowning slightly. This was indeed a difficult problem, involving the efficiency optimization of the underlying algorithm.
"There's nothing wrong with the gradient descent method you're using, but your step-size adjustment strategy is too conservative." He pondered for a moment, tapped a few times on the keyboard, and pulled up an obscure paper. "Take a look at this, a paper from last year's NeurIPS conference. They proposed an adaptive step-size algorithm that might give you some inspiration. But..."
He paused, as if organizing his words to explain the complex concept.
"But the core idea of that paper is to dynamically adjust the second-order derivative of the loss function, right?" Shen Shutong immediately responded, his eyes shining. "I've read that paper! But I think their method may get stuck in local optimal solutions for non-convex optimization problems. I'm wondering if we can combine the idea of Monte Carlo random sampling to break out of it..."
She talked incessantly, even taking Fu Jingchuan's notebook and quickly writing down a few mathematical formulas and her ideas on it.
Fu Jingchuan looked at her in surprise. He hadn't expected her to not only have read that cutting-edge paper, but also to offer such profound, even critical, insights. Her ideas, while bold, weren't fanciful, and even hinted at a direction he'd been pondering recently.
For a moment, he was attracted by her idea and joined in: "Introducing random sampling can indeed increase the probability of escaping the local optimum, but the computational overhead will increase dramatically, unless..."
"Unless we can find an efficient sampling strategy!" Shen Shutong excitedly took over the conversation, "I'm trying to use an improved solution based on importance sampling, you see..."
Their heads were almost touching, as they engaged in a heated discussion over the formulas on their screens and notebooks. The coffee sat aside, gradually getting warm, and the cake was forgotten.
Finally, they worked together to find a promising optimization direction. Shen Shutong breathed a sigh of relief: "Great! That's the idea! Fu Jingchuan, you're amazing!"
Fu Jingchuan looked into her glowing eyes, and something in his heart was touched. He rarely met someone who could keep up with his thinking and even inspire him with new ideas.
"You're pretty good too," he praised sincerely. "That importance sampling idea is really clever."
The lab suddenly fell silent. The two men stood close together, their eyes locked, a unique, ambiguous tension hanging in the air.
Shen Shutong looked at his face so close to her, and her heartbeat inexplicably accelerated. She suddenly noticed that there was a little bit of cheese foam on the corner of his mouth, which he had accidentally rubbed on while eating cake.
As if possessed by a mysterious force, she chuckled, stretched out her finger, and gently brushed the corner of his lips very naturally.
"You got something on you, Fu." She withdrew her hand, and her fingertips seemed to still feel the slightly warm touch of his skin.
Fu Jingchuan froze instantly.
He turned his head sharply, staring at the screen, his fingers tapping unconsciously on the keyboard, trying to hide his sudden panic.
"…….Thanks."
Shen Shutong looked at his slightly red ears and his pretending to be calm profile and chuckled.
She picked up the lukewarm coffee and took a sip. "You're welcome. Looks like I'll not only have to discuss issues more often in the future, but I'll also have to remind you to pay attention to your image, Mr. Fu."
Fu Jingchuan didn't look back, but just said "hmm" softly again.
The laboratory fell silent again, but a tacit and thrilling atmosphere had quietly grown and surrounded them.
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