Shen Siyao’s eyes glinted with ice. How could she still look so light and unaffected, as if nothing had happened? She gave a cold laugh, and after the handshake, pulled out a tissue from somewhere and wiped her hand.
The gesture was genuinely hurtful, but Jiang Yi didn’t seem to mind. Zhou Zhengguang was no fool. Watching Jiang Yi lose face, he glanced at President Shen and asked, “Do you two know each other?”
Shen Siyao crossed her arms and denied it: “We don’t.”
Jiang Yi’s lips parted slightly. Hearing her words, she paused for a long moment before withdrawing her hand. “Mm.”
The temperature in the room seemed to drop a couple of degrees, sending an inexplicable chill through everyone.
Seeing the cooperation sink into an eerie atmosphere: “Xiao Zhou should have shown everyone around just now. If President Shen has any questions, I can answer them for everyone from here on.”
Zhou Zhengguang remembered that someone from President Shen’s team had mentioned they only had one hour, he hadn’t had a chance to remind President Jiang yet.
Shen Siyao’s lips curled, her voice cold and flat, like a basin of cold water being splashed: “If this is the level your company is at, then there’s no need for a partnership.”
Jiang Yi’s expression remained calm as she absorbed the mockery. But when it came to Aurora, she could still speak with authority. Business and personal matters shouldn’t be conflated. Even if she had done some things wrong in the past, that was no reason to dismiss Aurora. “If President Shen has any dissatisfaction with Aurora, you can point it out and I’ll answer for everyone.”
Her voice was somewhat strained: “But if it’s because of me personally, I apologize to President Shen. Still, I hope we can keep business business and personal matters personal.”
It sounded like mockery. Shen Siyao sneered: “Personal matters? Jiang Yi, as if you qualify.”
If her earlier attitude had merely been lukewarm, the hostility rising up now without warning was plain for anyone with eyes to see, there was clearly some rift between the two of them.
Jiang Yi’s face darkened for an instant. Every sentence felt like a stab to her heart, condemning her actions. But if she could do it all over again, she would still make the same choice.
Shen Siyao gave her no chance to dwell on it. Impatiently, she pointed at random at someone from the back of her team: “Cheng Le, tell her.”
A woman of average looks but with piercing, torch-like eyes stepped forward. Cheng Le stated plainly: “If all Aurora has to present is material that already exists in the bid documents, then I’m sorry, Aurora’s AI Recombination Module is only a matter of time. I’m confident that within three months, our team can replicate an equivalent. There’s no need for a partnership.”
A company focused on growth must always keep pace with the times. Baige didn’t mind having one more partner, but she had to admit she was somewhat disappointed by this visit, it was all hollow show. Even if a few designs were eye-catching, it wasn’t enough to make them willing to invest in a partnership.
Jiang Yi’s expression turned odd for a moment. So it really wasn’t about personal matters, she had been petty-minded. She looked at Zhou Zhengguang: “You didn’t take them there?”
There? Without Vice President Jiang’s instructions, how could he possibly have the clearance? Besides, his grasp of that technology was nowhere near as effortless as hers, he’d been cramming at the last minute, only to have it seen through long ago. He was suddenly filled with shame.
The people behind Shen Siyao looked at Jiang Yi with light in their eyes. They were Baige’s most elite team, and while Aurora was merely a newcomer, the technology it held in its hands and its steady growth over these past few years had not escaped their notice.
To be honest, before meeting Jiang Yi, they had indeed shared Assistant Cheng’s opinion. But listening now could there be something they had failed to see?
Jiang Yi offered her apology: “I’m very sorry for taking up everyone’s time. Shen, please give me another half hour. Next, please follow me, I’d like to show everyone something different.”
Shen Siyao’s eyes were unreadable as she studied the woman before her, one who could bend or stand firm as the moment demanded, as if nothing could ever truly disrupt her thoughts or plans. She really was no different from these cold, lifeless robots, was she. Irritably, she said, “Why should I trust you?”
Jiang Yi suppressed the inexplicable bitterness welling up in her heart, and when she lifted her gaze again, it was calm as still water: “Because I’m going to show you all our latest development, the Aurora Gen 3.”
The only models on the market were Aurora 1 and Aurora 2, which were acclaimed abroad but had never opened a single channel domestically. If Baige seized the first-mover advantage in the market, it could obviously rise to even greater heights.
Everyone waited for Shen Siyao’s word. Shen lifted her chin and put on her sunglasses. Without saying whether she believed or not, she said stiffly, “Then let’s have a look.” In her high heels, she swayed ahead.
Shen Siyao was certainly angry inside and wanted to make Jiang Yi unhappy, but she knew her every word and action represented Baige, and she would never actually joke about something like this. To be honest, she was genuinely surprised, she had thought Jiang Yi had been avoiding her all these years.
She had never imagined they would run into each other today. The account between them was far from settled.
A trace of a smile settled in Jiang Yi’s eyes. This proud, prickly display overlapped perfectly with that shadow from the past.
Cheng Le kept her eyes respectfully lowered, silently pushing the schedule back by forty minutes. Shen’s meaning was clear, and she had granted an extra forty minutes: “Jiang Yi, please lead the way.”
But the moment Shen Siyao turned her head and glanced at her as if in passing, the curve of Jiang Yi’s lips had already flattened into a straight line.
And now, her ex-girlfriend had become her rival’s boss. Yet securing this partnership with Baige was extremely important for Aurora. Just as Song Niannian had said, if she wanted to gain a firm foothold in the domestic market, she had no choice but Baige so this was a battle fought with her back against the wall.
As for Baige, even if it didn’t choose her, there were other R&D tech companies it could still evaluate. Even if she had the technology, it would be cracked sooner or later. Jiang Yi’s goals had never been limited to what was right in front of her.
Cheng Le took in the emotions of both women, lost in thought.
The heavy doors were opened by a white-gloved supervisor, and humanity’s smallness played out in that very moment. Jiang Yi stood at the front, pointing at the row of massive robots modeled on the human form, all gleaming white: “Since the Aurora brand first appeared, the data market it has swept across has shown clear big-data evolution and trends, it has been climbing steadily since June of this year.”
Like everyone else, she wore an Anoxic Protective Suit, her voice sounding from within it: “This next item is our soon-to-be-released household robot, the Aurora 3. As everyone knows, today’s household devices come with voice recognition along the lines of a certain Du or a certain Mi tech company but this model not only covers every command, it can also carry out a whole range of tasks based on the commands its owner enters: laundry, cooking, mopping, tidying the house, and even daily grocery shopping, commuting, and picking up and dropping off the kids.”
It was more refined than the previous model, and its body was much smaller as well, giving it an overall silhouette far closer to a human figure.
Cheng Le’s interest was piqued. She knew people abroad were already using household robots, but those were Aurora 1, round, spherical bodies, nothing like this third generation that looked so “human.” Her own company was in fact developing a similar product, but its technology was nowhere near as reliable as Aurora’s specialized research on this patent. And the casing of this model was made with Chemical Fiber Tech-Line. “Vice President Jiang, could you demonstrate how to operate it?”
Jiang Yi saw everyone’s attention converging on her that was precisely what she had intended. “Of course.” She reached out and pressed the button at the back of Aurora 3’s head. With a “beep,” the robot lifted its head and looked at her, scanning and registering her iris pattern.
At once, its eyes turned round and plump, curving into two arcs as though it were smiling: “Holle, hiya everyone, I’m Aurora 3!”
Jiang Yi spoke: “Aurora 3, from now on your name is Baymax.”
“Yes, Master. My name is Baymax. What are your orders?”
Jiang Yi thought for a moment, pulled up a street dance video on her phone, a fairly difficult one and held it before Baymax’s eyes. A scanning line swept over it, and in under twenty seconds the robot reproduced the dance almost one-to-one.
It drew a crowd of onlookers. Next, Jiang Yi personally demonstrated how to operate Baymax, how to register an Iris-Pattern Chip, how to make external payments, and other functions, one machine bound to one master. Confidence shone in her eyes, though whenever her gaze happened to meet a certain pair of eyes, she couldn’t help but dart away. Shen Siyao’s gaze followed her every explanation, undercurrents lurking deep in her eyes.
The demonstration ended there. Jiang Yi felt as though her throat were about to go up in smoke, she hadn’t paused for a single moment, all to prove that the Aurora 3 stood at the very forefront of technology in its field. If Baige could help Aurora seize the market’s first opportunity, then Aurora would certainly be willing to show sincerity in both attitude and price.
Cheng Le and the others were left in admiration, and their impression of this Vice President Jiang was refreshed to a whole new height. Truthfully, when they had first met setting aside the sight of Vice President Jiang clutching a bowl of instant noodles, so utterly down-to-earth, just standing there in silence, judged by her eyes alone, she seemed like a piece of ice that had never thawed since the beginning of time. Yet the gentleness, composure, and confidence in her every gesture dissolved that barrier perfectly, as though it had all been an illusion. She was also exceptionally skilled at closing the distance between people; every one of her movements seemed precisely measured, just right.
Cheng Le silently gave her a high mark in her heart: not to be underestimated. All the more, she hoped that in the future the two sides would be friends rather than enemies.
If her own President Shen was the cold-outside, warm-inside type, then this Vice President Jiang, judging from her many years of observing people, was absolutely the warm-outside, cold-inside type.
Zhou Zhengguang watched, dumbfounded. He knew Vice President Jiang was formidable, but every time she stood nearby, she seemed like nothing more than a clueless youngster serving tea and water, even though she was also an outstanding talent recruited from outside, quite renowned at other companies.
But he had to admit: the Vice President Jiang before him, at this very moment, could draw everyone’s gaze to her, impossible to ignore. That was an irreplaceable kind of charisma.
Zhang Tingting also stood by, quietly listening in, recording the robot’s data fluctuations on her drawing tablet. As a data R&D specialist, she was obligated to rigorously control every detail besides, occasions like these were always a chance to grow.
With sharp eyes, she handed over a bottle of water. Jiang Yi took it and smiled at her.
A sharp gaze came flying over without warning.