Chapter 98 Ye Yuying's recent physical condition...
Ye Yuying's health has deteriorated rapidly recently. The doctor has clearly stated that the surgery must be performed as soon as possible, and Li Song calls almost every day to urge her to hurry up.
She knew that once she flew to Germany, she would be unable to personally participate in the company's operations for at least six months.
Ashera is at a critical juncture. The second-generation exoskeleton testing is entering its final sprint, and the voice model is also about to achieve data closure. She must complete the handover in a limited number of days.
She worked through the night in her office to organize handover documents: R&D schedule, technology verification plan, contract terms with supply chain manufacturers, and the upcoming clinical trial process.
She typed out the annotations on the document one by one, her fingers trembling slightly from long-term fatigue, but she didn't stop.
After finishing each page, she would stop and stare at it for a few seconds, as if she had severe obsessive-compulsive disorder, afraid of missing anything.
*
Inside the café of Redwood Capital, Ye Yuying was seated early and waiting. With the weather warming up, the afternoon light was just right.
A thick stack of documents sat by the window. Ye Yuying looked calm, her cane quietly placed aside, and her shirt collar was buttoned up meticulously.
Feng Ting pushed open the door and entered, his figure efficient, followed closely by his assistant carrying a laptop bag.
Upon seeing her, Feng Ting smiled and said, "Young Ms. Ye, it's been a long time."
"The financing has been in the account for two months now, and I need to report to you on the progress so far." Ye Yuying pushed the documents in front of him, her voice steady, without any unnecessary pleasantries or small talk.
Feng Ting nodded, flipped through the documents, and listed the technical progress, market schedule, and team division of labor one by one, with almost no mistakes.
"You've prepared very meticulously," Feng Ting commented calmly.
“I will be absent for the next six months. The relevant handover work has been completed, the team has passed the adjustment period, and they can now operate independently.”
Feng Ting put down the documents, a hint of hesitation in his smile. "This juncture is crucial for you and your team, isn't it? What investors fear most is founder risk. And aren't you afraid of being sidelined? Will you lose your voice when you return?"
Ye Yuying smiled slightly, the weariness in her eyes replaced by ambition: "Power is not the goal, the result is. My ultimate goal is to launch the product successfully and prove its value. Whether I am the head of Ashera or not is far less important than the product itself."
Feng Ting studied her for a few seconds, tapping his fingers lightly on the table, as if trying to confirm the source of her confidence.
He paused, then said meaningfully, "However, during the six months you were absent, Jiang Yuran's Prometheus was making a full-fledged push for brain-computer interfaces. They are adept at the narratives of the capital market, and if you are not in the spotlight, Ashera can easily be overshadowed."
Ye Yuying remained calm, but her fingertips tightened slightly on the coffee cup: "That's why I have to plan everything in advance."
"Don't worry, the core members of my team will remain the same. R&D will be handled by Lao Wu, marketing will be handled by Ding Chu, and I will only coordinate."
“Very good.” Feng Ting nodded, his expression relaxing a bit. He picked up his coffee cup and took a small sip, and the two entered into a more relaxed conversation. “By the way, why haven’t I seen Ming Du coming to your place lately? Isn’t he your external consultant?”
Ye Yuying's eyes flickered slightly as she pondered whether her relationship with Cheng Mingdu would affect Feng Ting's objective judgment of Ashera.
Taking a deep breath, she ran her fingertips over the cold, hard cover of the folder, her voice low: "He's already helped me overcome a crucial hurdle, so he should get busy with his own things too."
Her answer was ambiguous, but she did not directly state the fact that she and Cheng Mingdu had parted ways.
Feng Ting paused for a moment, then smiled: "No wonder he's been meeting with the founders of several companies lately, the meeting rooms are always in use, and I can't even see him all day. By the way, I heard he's going to meet with someone from Prometheus soon..."
Ye Yuying looked up, her pupils suddenly contracting.
In an instant, she regained her composure, took a sip of coffee, and said softly, "He has his own technological plans, which is not something I should be concerned about."
Feng Ting didn't notice the difference in her tone, taking it as her usual calmness: "However, I've looked into brain-computer interfaces a little. Although they're a hot topic, mass production and widespread adoption still seem somewhat utopian."
The conversation lasted for more than an hour. Feng Ting took away the handover materials she had prepared and stood up with satisfaction: "President Ye, you are as reliable as ever. Get some rest. When you come back, our cooperation will continue."
"OK."
After he left, a corner of the coffee shop suddenly became quiet.
Ye Yuying leaned back in her chair and let out a long breath. Her back had been tense for over an hour, and now that it was relaxed, her chest felt strangely empty.
She picked up her coffee cup, only to find her hand trembling slightly. A little bitter liquid spilled from the rim of the cup between her lips and teeth. She didn't wipe it away, letting the bitter taste spread. Cheng Mingdu, Prometheus, Jiang Yuran—these names overlapped in her mind again and again.
She couldn't tell anyone about this absurd state of mind.
She suddenly felt extremely tired.
The cane stood beside the table. She reached out to steady herself, but her movements were slower than she had imagined; it felt as if all the strength had been drained from her arm. She gritted her teeth and stood up, maintaining her composure.
Her slender figure, pale complexion, and strained back were reflected in the floor-to-ceiling mirror of the coffee shop.
She picked up the file bag and walked outside. Sunlight shone on her shoulders, but she felt that every step was incredibly heavy.
The bitter taste of the painkiller under the tongue spread throughout the mouth.
*
Aside from the building where Redwood Capital is located, Ye Yuying hailed a taxi and prepared to return to the company.
It's rush hour right now, and the ride-hailing app on the screen keeps spinning, showing that there are still 25 customers waiting in line ahead of us.
Ye Yuying switched to another location, hoping to hail a ride as soon as possible.
"Yu Ying?"
A familiar yet unexpected voice came from the side.
She turned to the side and saw Lin Zhiyan walking out of the building next door. His suit jacket was casually draped over his arm, and his eyes still held the tension from the daytime meeting, but they softened noticeably when he saw her.
"What a coincidence." He walked over quickly, his smile carrying a hint of genuine surprise. "What are you doing around here?"
"I just met with an investor," she replied casually, her voice betraying her weariness.
Lin Zhiyan noticed, but didn't press the matter. Instead, she said, "I'm on my way to see one of our high school teachers. I haven't seen her in years. Want to come along? She taught you back then too."
"Who is it? Should we ask beforehand?" she asked.
"You'll know when we get there, it's okay."
Ye Yuying was taken aback. She wanted to decline, but then changed her mind. However, she realized that she didn't have much time left in Jiangcheng, so she decided to catch up with her old friends.
Considering it was rush hour and the commute back to the company would be congested for a long time, I nodded and said, "Okay."
They drove together to a quiet restaurant, bathed in warm, retro lighting, creating a tranquil and nostalgic atmosphere.
As Ye Yuying entered the private room, before she could even adjust to the light, she heard a gentle, familiar female voice call out with a smile, "Zhiyan, you're here."
Then, the sound paused slightly.
Ye Yuying looked up and saw Ling Nanshuang, whom she hadn't seen for many years. She was still dignified, wearing an elegant long dress. The gentle temperament in her eyes was almost the same as when she was explaining things in the art studio back then.
Now, however, she has become a woman with a clearer temperament and a more subtle sharpness in her eyes.
Ling Nanshuang's gaze swept between the two, her smile unchanged but with a subtle scrutiny: "This is... Yuying, isn't it? It's been so many years."
"Hello, Teacher Ling." Ye Yuying nodded slightly, her tone polite but distant.
Lin Zhiyan casually introduced, "Yu Ying and I just bumped into each other downstairs, so we came over together."
Ling Nanshuang nodded, but her gaze lingered on Ye Yuying for a moment longer. That moment seemed to carry some indescribable meaning.
Ye Yuying knew what she was seeing through her.
After a few pleasantries, Lin Zhiyan was called out by a phone call, leaving the two of them alone in the room.
In the brief silence, Ling Nanshuang picked up her teacup and asked softly, "Have you been in frequent contact with Mingdu lately? I heard he's been very busy these past few years. Is he seeing someone else?"
Ye Yuying looked up at Ling Nanshuang in the dim light and realized that Ling Nanshuang had not forgotten Cheng Mingdu all these years.
Ye Yuying's heart tightened, her fingers gripping the cold metal of her cane. She pursed her lips, feigning nonchalance, and said in a low voice, "I don't know."
"Could you subtly inquire for me? I found a job at an art gallery in Jiangcheng, actually I was thinking..." She smiled wryly yet elegantly, half-jokingly, "to see if I could bump into him in Jiangcheng someday."
Ye Yuying felt inexplicably nervous, her palms were sweating, because she had something to hide.
More than ten years ago, she knew that the Cheng and Ling families intended to form a marriage alliance, but Cheng Mingdu and Ling Nanshuang failed to reach an agreement at the time. Later, after she entered Rongcheng No. 1 High School, she discovered that Ling Nanshuang had given up a high-quality job in Singapore to become a part-time art teacher at such a high school.
Much later, she learned that Ling Nanshuang had been secretly in love with Cheng Mingdu for some time.
Ye Yuying carefully concealed her feelings at the time, feeling that Cheng Mingdu deserved such an elegant young lady from a prestigious family, while at the same time hoping that they would never meet again...
She had many selfish motives in this matter.
Ye Yuying took a deep breath, adjusted her mindset, and said, "Yes, he will go to art exhibitions when he has time, and he also has many paintings and auction items stored at home."
Ling Nanshuang forced a disappointed smile, "Is that so..."
Not long after, Lin Zhiyan returned.
Ye Yuying stood up almost immediately, making an excuse to go to the restroom, her movements somewhat hurried.
She stopped in front of the bathroom mirror, splashing cold water on her face, the wet water sliding down her cheeks.
She looked at herself in the mirror; her face was pale, her lips thin, and her eyes held a suppressed panic.
She felt she had made a mistake once again.
When Ling Nanshuang mentioned Cheng Mingdu so unguardedly, with a touch of girlish sentimentality, she realized that she had been scheming in this matter.
The meal didn't touch on any other emotional topics; everyone talked about their memorable classmates from back then, creating a relaxed atmosphere for reminiscing.
When the party ended, Lin Zhiyan went to pay the bill, and Ling Nanshuang and Ye Yuying walked out of the private room side by side.
As the voices in the corridor faded into the distance, she suddenly lowered her voice, her tone carrying an almost undisguised sincerity: "If it's convenient for you... could you ask him for me? How... has he been all these years?"
Ye Yuying's heart tightened suddenly, her fingers tightening around the cane, and she forced a smile: "Yes, I will."
As soon as she finished speaking, she almost impatiently headed for the exit, avoiding Ling Nanshuang's gaze.
*
In the top-floor conference room of Baiyue Capital's headquarters, Cheng Mingdu sat upright at one side of a long table, calmly watching the projected image.
Sitting opposite them were two core executives of Prometheus—CEO Jiang Yuran and CTO Wei Heng—with a partner from Baiyue Capital acting as the matchmaker.
The meeting has lasted for more than an hour, during which both sides have conducted detailed discussions on the next steps of strategic cooperation in brain-computer interfaces.
Jiang Yuran spoke eloquently, his rhetoric carrying the persuasive power of the capital market: "President Cheng, our product has entered closed-loop testing and we expect to obtain clinical trial approval within six months. If Baiyue can enter the market at this time, it can not only share the R&D risks but also gain an edge in the front-line capital narrative."
Cheng Mingdu nodded slightly: "I have reviewed your algorithm architecture. The idea is good, but the mass production stage is still a weakness. My suggestion is not to emphasize the vision alone, but to first solve the practical problems of computing power consumption and hardware redundancy."
Jiang Yuran smiled, a hint of pride and confidence flashing in his eyes, yet he remained polite: "That is precisely why we hope to cooperate with you."
Cheng Mingdu did not answer, and the atmosphere became tense for a moment.
Baiyue's partner tactfully smoothed things over, saying, "Let's stop here for today; we'll finalize the details later."
*
After the meeting ended, Cheng Mingdu washed his hands and went to the tea room to get some water.
As he pushed open the door, he heard a low conversation coming from inside.
They were two of Prometheus's middle-ranking officers, his entourage who had just been present.
One person scoffed: "In the end, Ashera is just a half-baked team. That Ye Yuying shouldn't think she can rest easy just because she found Chishan as her backer."
Another person chimed in, "Exactly. Has Feng Ting lost his mind? He actually dared to give her a second round of funding. She's been crippled for all these years, and we've never seen her actually wear her own products while walking around. How are we supposed to talk to investors about implementation?"
"Haha, that's true. What's the point of a tech company that makes exoskeletons if the founder can't even stand up straight?"
"Yes. In the end, she was just a female founder who relied on cultivating relationships to get by."
Laughter echoed in the cramped tea room, tinged with undisguised contempt.
Cheng Mingdu stood at the door, his fingers clenched, and pushed the door open and went in, his eyes as cold as ice.
A sudden surge of suppressed agitation welled up in his chest, and he reached out and pushed the door open.
The laughter in the tea room stopped abruptly.
The two were stunned, their expressions embarrassed.
Cheng Mingdu glanced at them indifferently, his eyes sharp: "What were you talking about just now? What 'cripple'?"
The air froze instantly.
Their expressions changed simultaneously.
“Mr. Cheng…” one of them stammered, sweat beading on his forehead, “We…we didn’t mean anything by it, it was just a casual remark…”
"Just saying?" Cheng Mingdu's eyes darkened, his sharp gaze intimidating. "If you dare to spread rumors, I'll immediately have Jiang Yuran come and listen to him in person."
The two exchanged a glance and panicked.
“It’s not a rumor!” The other hurriedly waved his hand, his voice trembling slightly. “This… was said by President Jiang himself. President Jiang was also in their circle of students studying in Germany back then. He said that Ye Yuying was in a very serious car accident while studying in Germany. Her leg injury is a sequela from that time. We… we’ve only heard about it, we wouldn’t dare to make it up!”
The first person echoed, "We absolutely did not make things up, much less deliberately spread rumors about her!"
Cheng Mingdu stared at them, his gaze sharp as knives, his thin lips pressed tightly together, saying nothing.
A heavy sense of oppression filled the air.
A few seconds later, he coldly withdrew his gaze, his voice devoid of warmth: "Watch your mouths. Prometheus cannot afford the price of rumors and insults."
The two men turned pale, dared not say a word, and hurriedly left.
He was the only one left in the tea room.
His chest felt as if something heavy was pressing down on it, a mixture of uncontrollable anger and dull pain. He hated their flippant tone, and he hated himself for only now piecing together the truth.
The force in his eyes still lingered from when he stared at them, but he suddenly felt that what he should really face was the loneliness and the blade she had endured through her years of struggle alone.
If he hadn't overheard it by chance, would he have remained in the dark? Why had she never told him? Was it because she didn't trust him, or because she didn't want him to share the burden?
Cheng Mingdu closed his eyes briefly, trying to suppress his surging emotions, his thin lips pressed into a thin line.
Reason told him that now was not the time to lose control, but the impulse in his heart that almost tore him apart had nowhere to go.
He stared silently at the reflection of the coffee machine in the break room, which cast a cold, hard, yet shadowy image on his face.
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