Praise You
The driver was already waiting downstairs in the morning.
After getting up and washing up, Chen Yanxia looked around the simple house. Before leaving, she suddenly hugged Ye Yuanyin. "See you next time."
Ye Yuanyin didn't know how much of last night's conversation she had heard, nor was she sure if this farewell could be considered a final one. However, since the bond between people was so shallow, she felt she should at least say what she wanted to say. Even if they never saw each other again, at least it would be one less regret.
"I don't think running away is the best solution. If there's really no other way, why not talk to your mom or your brother?"
"My mom is too busy to care about me, and my brother, a grown man, doesn't understand my feelings at all." Si Nixia remained calm and asked, "You've lived on campus before. When you encounter conflicts or problems, do you go home and complain? No, right? You don't complain because you don't want to worry your family. And I don't want to talk because our relationship isn't that deep. Anyway, thanks, Xiaoye. Because of you, I wasn't very sad last night."
Ye Yuanyin felt guilty and sad. Last night, she had said she would never see her again. Putting herself in her shoes, she thought it was shameful that an adult could treat a child so cruelly.
"Jixia, I'll take you down."
"No."
Chen Dixia turned and left. She watched the girl walk away. Life seemed like one farewell after another.
*
The next day when he went to the company, Maha asked Ye Yuanyin to help him answer a few questions.
He brought up the main interface of the healing software he'd developed and showed it to her. Two flames, bright yellow and indigo, intertwined. The animation faded, and beneath the deep blue starry sky, a vast golden wheat field blossomed in the wind. The perspective shifted, revealing a small boy of seven or eight years old, amidst the rolling wheat fields, accompanying a frog roughly his own size as it leaped off into the distance. He leaned over, grabbed a handful of mud, and tossed it. The software and Kingzone's name appeared, his face brimming with childlike innocence and joy.
Maha paused and asked her, "Remember this tactile system I told you about last time? It simulates children's movements and responds accordingly. But I don't know what basic movements are like. For example, if a boy grabs a handful of mud, how will his fingers move?"
Ye Yuanyin pulled out a piece of pottery made by her mother from her canvas bag. It was a cup she had brought to drink water from. She placed her fingers on the rim of the cup and imitated the motion of kneading the pottery. "Just like this—"
As she pressed and rubbed in circles, "Your fingers will feel the granularity of the soil surface, just like the hairs on the tips of wheat ears."
Maha watched her movements, quickly tapping away at the code. "Then I'm going to make the vibration motor simulate this rustling rhythm. But how many of the phones in the village are smartphones? I remember three years ago, most of the elderly used candy-bar phones... I'll have to remember this. If I want to test this, I'll have to ask the boss to buy a batch of smartphones and tablets. Do you smell the money burning through?"
Ye Yuanyin smiled and asked him intuitively: "Can't you express it with lines?"
"What do you mean?" Maha was very interested.
Ye Yuanyin pulled out a few sheets of paper from the printer at his workstation. She drew a few lines with loops on them with a pen and asked, "What is this?"
"What a tangle of threads."
"But Zhizhi said that it was the little yellow dog in the village playing hide-and-seek with the stars."
"Wait, wait!" Maha interrupted her repeatedly, holding his head with both hands. "Lines represent specific patterns, but patterns are represented by lines. Clouds are short lines, and stars are long lines... I'm dizzy, I'm dizzy. What should I do? This means that after the child draws a line, the AI will turn it into clouds and stars?"
Ye Yuanyin couldn't help him solve the technical problem, so he could only kindly remind him, "What I mean is, sometimes your touch design might not be as precise as the inner reaction of the lines."
"You're quite good at saving money for your boss." Maha teased her, a rare moment, before he fell into deep thought again. "Well, how do you judge a child's emotions through their drawings?"
"Most of the time, I ask the child. If they can't articulate it, I'll look at the colors used. For example, when they're happy, the colors are bright, while when they're sad, they're dark. Sometimes, I also make inferences based on the positions of the people in the painting—for example, someone you like stands closer, while someone you dislike stands further away. Of course, the examples I've given are very simple; sometimes, more complex situations arise, and children deliberately hide their true thoughts."
"Drawing? Intuitive?" Maha scribbled circles on the paper, scratched his hair a few times, and then asked with wide eyes, "Can colors represent emotions?"
He wrote quickly on the paper, put a single arrow after AI, colored the lines into blocks, and then used clumsy techniques to draw a cloud. But the outline of a dog was too difficult for him. Maha couldn't draw it, so he wrote the word "dog" next to it.
Ye Yuanyin looked at it and couldn't help laughing, "Your painting is full of stories."
Maha patted his head and suddenly shouted, "I get it! No wonder my boss always scolds me, now I understand! Lines aren't important, and neither is the brush used. Even if I can't draw well and write, can't you still understand what I mean? The key is how to use blocks of color to express children's inner thoughts, and how to use AI to let children tell their inner stories? This can help parents or institutions develop auxiliary treatment plans."
The screen filled with codes flickered, and he pulled her, asking her questions and answering her questions, as if he was preaching.
Ji Quan came over just before getting off work in the afternoon.
At that time, Ye Yuanyin was receiving a cup of warm boiled water from the tea room. Through a layer of transparent glass, Ji Quan stared at her and smiled, then symbolically knocked on the door of the tea room.
"Busy?"
Ye Yuanyin turned around and saw that she had tucked her light gray-blue shirt into her dark gray wide-leg suit pants, with the tip of her high heels showing. She had a tall figure, bright facial features, a slender waist, and looked very energetic.
"What's wrong?"
"Nothing. The boss sent me to coordinate the project progress. I've been so busy at Shen's these past few years that I almost forgot I was still a member of this project team."
Ye Yuanyin took out another paper cup from the cup holder and asked, "What would you like to drink?"
Ji Quan raised his eyebrows and was not polite to her at all. "Coffee, thank you."
An hour later, Chen Dian suddenly arrived.
All the project team members stood in the office, waiting for the boss's arrival with excitement and anticipation.
The project team, formed three years ago, had mostly left due to Kingzone's decline. The newer hires had only heard of Dian Dian'an, but had never met him in person. They were filled with curiosity and admiration for this handsome, powerful, and legendary figure who had turned the tide, eager to see his immortal form.
Maha asked Ji Quan, "Are you here to test the results or to express your condolences? Why are you doing a surprise attack?"
Ji Quan just smiled and said nothing, then casually said, "Don't worry, he just came by to listen. He has other social engagements tonight."
Everyone else breathed a sigh of relief after hearing this. Assistant Ji's words were more valuable than an imperial edict. After all, she was the person closest to the boss, and her every word and action represented the boss's will. She had the capital to be over-interpreted.
The elevator chimed, and Chen Dian emerged. He was dressed in a well-tailored navy blue suit. He stood tall and straight, like a pine tree on a rock. His gait carried an aura of someone who could swallow the vastness of the world and step a thousand peaks. He was a man of few words, and his demeanor was very dignified.
Some female employees were already whispering, "Oh my god, he's so handsome."
As she walked past Ye Yuanyin, Secretary Ma, who was following behind her, nodded slightly and smiled at her politely.
Everyone sat down in order around the conference table. Zhang Chang reported on the current progress and concluded, "Thanks to Xiaoye, I figured out a very important point this morning. If all goes well, we can enter the testing phase around early July."
Yan Dian'an's eyes rested on her for a moment before he looked away. He said in a friendly manner, "Does any other member want to speak? I'd like to hear everyone's opinions."
Everyone present reported on the progress of their work in the areas they were responsible for. Ye Yuanyin also spoke, but since she joined late, she only briefly shared her views on a few areas of doubt.
Chen Yan turned around and asked Ji Quan, "Do you have anything else to tell me?"
Ji Quan smiled and said modestly, "I don't dare to take the responsibility. I am also always learning. I just have a question and I would like to ask Miss Ye for advice."
She suddenly called names, pointed at a few places on the PPT with a red laser pointer, and said, "I'm still skeptical about using emotional art to deeply apply brain science."
Everyone's eyes were focused on Ye Yuanyin, including Chen Yan'an. She looked at Ji Quan and asked, "Which aspect are you referring to?"
"Here," Ji Quan drew another circle with the red laser pointer. "Don't you think this data is strange? How could an AI-generated healing animation make the amygdala in an autistic child more sensitive? Three years ago, when we did individual tests, do you remember that child named Xiao Ruan? The treatment seemed to have no effect. During the test, she actually banged her forehead against the tablet over ten times. How do you explain that?"
Maha said awkwardly, "Assistant Ji, we can't negate all our efforts based on the failure of one case, right? Art, after all, is an emotional endeavor; it can't encompass all rational realms."
"If there's even a tiny bug, with thousands of users reporting back, it's a fatal blow to us," Ji Quan said. "We're throwing money into R&D, not just playing house with others."
Secretary Ma thought, Ji Quan has been too arrogant lately. The boss is not a fool, can't he hear that she is complaining about him using his power for personal gain?
Sure enough, Chen Yan looked at her sullenly. Just as he was about to speak, he heard Ye Yuanyin say, "I can explain."
Maha kept winking at her, thinking, what's there to explain? AI can only analyze and infer based on the existing database. It can't transcend the control of the data to automatically generate its own thoughts. So why not just acknowledge the bug and then think about how to solve it?
"Xiao Ye," he called her, "I'll improve it after the meeting."
A hint of hidden red slowly seeped into her fair face, and Chen Yan slowly said, "I'd like to hear Miss Ye's opinion."
She looked at him gratefully, then quickly turned away. "The day before the test, Xiao Ruan's divorced mother sent a message to her, saying she wanted to take her back to the city to live with her. Xiao Ruan wanted to perform well and desperately needed recognition. Her emotional agitation might not be caused by the healing animation, but could also be due to the emotional fluctuations deep within her heart."
Ji Quan asked: "Do you have data to support this?"
"No," Ye Yuanyin said honestly, "I'm just telling you another possibility. Is AI just cold data? Is art just damn romanticism? What era is this? Shouldn't we still have a single-minded bias towards either this or that?"
"If you don't believe that emotional art creation can touch children's hearts and temporarily heal their inner wounds, then why did you join this project? If you don't join this project because you believe in the power of art healing, then who are you joining? And what are you joining this project for?"
"We're throwing money into research and development, not just playing house with others, right?"
Ye Yuanyin's words were like a rising tide, pushing up in waves. Ji Quan felt like she was being pushed to the edge of a cliff. If she said she didn't believe him, it would be like telling Chen Di'an that she had selfish motives. If she said she did, it would be a disguised proof that her previous question was directed at her.
"Manager Ji, I'm waiting for your answer." Ye Yuanyin thought, who doesn't know how to be aggressive? Just to gain the admiration of the opposite sex, must she force the same sex into a desperate situation to be considered a victory? She can also have such a victory. "Can't you answer my question?"
The young people present were impressed by the new art therapist, thinking that she was really brave and seemed to be eager to leave KZ.
Ye Yuanyin felt bored after asking and smiled faintly, "Maybe you also need some time to heal your heart. After all, being busy means your heart is dead, you need to save it."
She gave Ji Quan a way out neither too hard nor too soft, and even though he was ashamed and angry, he still went along with it.
Chen Yan Anwei smiled inconspicuously, wondering who would dare call her weak and vulnerable? She only appeared quiet and reserved on the surface. If anyone crossed her inner line, she would fight for what she deserved, and she would say nothing.
He arranged the follow-up work, and it was already more than half an hour past the end of the working day. Ji Quan also gently reminded him that it was time to leave for the evening social event.
At this time, Ye Yuanyin's phone vibrated. Because You Jing had sent her several messages and had not replied, she simply called her directly to remind her.
Due to meeting etiquette, she hung up the phone and sent him a message to explain.
Chen Yan pondered for a moment, then looked up at everyone in the conference room, smiled gently, and asked, "Do you have any other plans tonight? Should I organize a dinner so everyone can get to know each other?"
"Great." It was a rare occasion for the boss to treat the team, and the team members all looked very happy.
"I have other things tonight... Sorry, Mr. Shen." Ye Yuan looked around in embarrassment, clasped his hands together and raised them to his forehead, apologizing to everyone: "Sorry everyone, I did have an appointment with someone tonight."
Everyone sighed again, saying that the young lady was so bold that she didn't even give the boss face.
Chen Yan'an's dark eyes looked over. At first glance, it looked like a sea of clouds running wildly, but after a closer look, it was clear and bright inside. "Next time, you will be the host."
Ye Yuan was short of money, and he was provoked by him but he was absolutely unwilling to give in. He met his gaze and looked back, "Okay."
Secretary Ma was listening and nearly vomited blood. He was worried about how his boss would end up.
However, Chen Yan smiled slowly, with a hint of spring and autumn in that smile: "Unfortunately, I have plans tonight. Let's make it tomorrow night. I have time."
"..." Ye Yuanyin always felt that she had fallen into a trap, but she couldn't be sure. All the eyes waiting for her confirmation were focused on her. She couldn't prevaricate anymore and could only bite the bullet and say again, "Okay."
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
