Chapter 7: Senior Brother |
"Xiao Wei, please have a seat." Yu Sheng gestured with his hand.
He appeared to be around thirty-seven or thirty-eight years old. His hair, likely permed, was slightly wavy, fluffy, and quite stylish. He wore frameless glasses, and faint lines from long-term concentration were etched between his brows.
Wei Hongsi sat down on the small sofa to the side. "General Manager Gu, Director Yu."
"Actually, you and I aren't outsiders," Gu Shiming said with an amiable smile. "I was among the earliest batch of doctoral students Professor Zhou supervised, so I can be considered your senior brother. In theory, I should have had a chat with you soon after you joined. Unfortunately, things have been incredibly busy lately, with frequent business trips, so I never found the time."
He looked to be about thirty-five, with neat, short hair, a clean-shaven jaw with sharp lines, and slightly prominent cheekbones that gave him a rather keen, formidable air.
Wei Hongsi nodded with a smile. "My teacher often mentions you."
"Then your relationship is truly close," Yu Sheng also said with a smile. "No wonder Xiao Wei is so outstanding, starting directly at Z4 upon joining. It really is true that a famous teacher produces outstanding students."
Zhiwei Technology's employee ranks were divided into technical positions with a 'Z' prefix and management positions with a 'W' prefix.
For a fresh graduate with a master's degree like Wei Hongsi, a starting rank of Z4 was indeed very high. His prestigious university background contributed, but Professor Zhou's influence was clearly the decisive factor; otherwise, he would likely have been Z3 or even Z2.
"That was just the teacher giving you the key to the door. Your own abilities surpass even that." Gu Shiming paused, then continued, "Regarding that analysis request you handled yesterday, you performed a secondary analysis using your own self-written algorithm model, right?"
"Yes."
"The teacher forwarded your graduation thesis to me. It was exceptionally well-written. I didn't expect you to convert it into a practical application so quickly. That makes it even more impressive."
"You flatter me, General Manager Gu."
Wei Hongsi was somewhat surprised. He had initially thought Gu Shiming was just being polite, but it seemed the other party had genuinely paid attention to his work.
All tasks handled on WD were traceable. These two had presumably reviewed his work from the past two days, but that wouldn't include the data analysis he did on his personal computer.
For Gu Shiming to pinpoint it so accurately, he must have carefully read that graduation thesis.
"No need for modesty. Young people having drive isn't a bad thing," Gu Shiming said with a smile, picking up the teacup on the table and taking a sip.
Yu Sheng then asked, "Xiao Wei, regarding the work you handled this morning, the data from the forward analysis was quite abnormal. What's your take on it?"
"I knew there was a problem with it, but I didn't know how to handle it. I also felt it wouldn't impact the client's request, so I submitted the report first."
"The company will investigate the relevant anomalies. If you have any thoughts, feel free to voice them."
"My opinions are all written in the report. Beyond that, I have no other thoughts."
"That's good. However, there might still be some situations that require your clarification."
"No problem. I can take responsibility for the content of my assigned work."
Yu Sheng nodded with a smile, showing approval, then looked towards Gu Shiming.
"Hongsi, you're better than I was. When I first started working, I couldn't handle these things well at all," Gu Shiming said with a laugh. "Rest assured, with me, your senior brother, here, if you were to suffer any injustice, I wouldn't be able to face the teacher either!"
Wei Hongsi quickly expressed his gratitude. "Thank you for your care, Senior Brother."
Reaching this point, the communication was considered sufficient. Seeing that Yu Sheng and Gu Shiming had nothing further to discuss, Wei Hongsi stood up to take his leave.
Once the office door closed again, Yu Sheng said with a touch of emotion, "General Manager Gu, I've heard your junior brother mentioned several times by people in Department Two. I thought he was a tech geek. Meeting him today, I realize that's not the case at all."
He genuinely hadn't expected the exchange with Wei Hongsi to go so smoothly.
"Don't trust hearsay," Gu Shiming said with a light chuckle, shaking his head. "My teacher has never taken on foolish students, and in recent years, he hasn't personally supervised master's students at all. Do you still think my junior brother is simple?"
He also knew that before Wei Hongsi prepared to join the company, their teacher had specifically called the president to give a recommendation, but there was no need to mention that to Yu Sheng.
"He doesn't seem like a newcomer to the workplace at all, and his technical skills are exceptionally strong," Yu Sheng nodded in agreement. "But that algorithm model he wrote himself, is it better than our standard model?"
"It should be more effective for some specific situations, but its overall efficiency might not necessarily be superior."
"Then, in this case, could it be... our standard model has been cracked?"
"Most likely."
"Then I'll immediately arrange for an iteration."
"Don't rush. It might startle the snake," Gu Shiming said meaningfully. "Those two analysis requests from 'Paradise' ultimately stem from the same matter."
Yu Sheng understood his implication, a look of shock appearing on his face. "You mean... CMS cracked our standard model?"
"That's just my speculation for now, without substantial evidence," Gu Shiming said, raising his wrist to check his watch. "I'm going to see President Ji now. Wait for my message. Several centers will be involved in this matter. We just need to proceed steadily and avoid any slip-ups."
...
Wei Hongsi left the director's office and saw it was already past 1 PM. It was too late to go to the book cafe, so he sat down at his workstation, leaned back in his chair, and closed his eyes to rest.
During the lunch break, the lights in the common office area were off. People were sleeping everywhere, either slumped over their desks or lying down. The dim light made reading impossible, which was also why he disliked staying in the company at noon.
The biggest gain from the conversation just now was perhaps obtaining a promise from Gu Shiming. Whether this promise held long-term weight was hard to say, but in the short term, it should still be something he could count on.
Having a senior brother who was also his direct superior looking out for him should be quite good.
However, he couldn't rely too heavily on such a relationship. In the end, it still depended on his own abilities and how he handled himself. No one liked mud that couldn't be plastered onto a wall; even being blood brothers wouldn't help then.
When work resumed in the afternoon, Wei Hongsi had no specific tasks assigned, so he continued optimizing the proposal he was working on.
The company encouraged innovation. Anyone with a good idea could send it to a designated email address; it was said the president would review them personally. If an idea was adopted, the proposer would receive a corresponding reward.
Since his official onboarding, he had been marginalized by He Feng, never included in team projects, and assigned very few tasks.
The main reason He Feng didn't favor him was likely the rank issue. He Feng had worked at the company for nearly seven years to rise from Z2 to Z4, only having a W1 supervisor position over Wei Hongsi, this newcomer. Naturally, He Feng found him grating no matter how he looked at him.
Wei Hongsi was well aware of this. To avoid appearing too idle and being misunderstood as slacking off, he used his spare time during work to draft a product design concept and sent it to that email address.
Last week, he received a reply asking him to further refine the proposal and prepare to present it to management at an opportune time.
He wasn't sure if this reply came from the president, nor did he know exactly who he would present to. But being more thoroughly prepared certainly couldn't hurt. At the very least, it could still count as a work task.
