Once We Lived in Nanjing

The autumn night sky in the Northern Hemisphere is somewhat desolate, with only the Autumn Quadrangle overhead, Fomalhaut on the southern horizon. As the temperature drops, the stars seem to become dimmer and more dismal. The teacher once taught Ban Xia to recognize those famous constellations; Andromeda and Pegasus together form the Autumn Quadrangle, with Fomalhaut in the autumn southern triangle. But she can't remember any more than that, nor can she find them. It's not like summer when the air is clear and crisp on a midsummer night, and one feels as if they can see endlessly into the distance. The famous Summer Triangle glistens overhead, and there were meteor showers in summer; the Perseus meteor showers in August are one of the biggest meteor showers of the year. The teacher said that in this era there are no more fireworks, but it's suitable for watching meteors.

"Have you seen fireworks?" Ban Xia asked.

"I have," Bai Yang answered, "Who hasn't seen fireworks?"

"Have you seen a meteor?" Ban Xia asked again.

"No," Bai Yang snorted, "With all the light pollution we have, you can't even see the stars, let alone meteors."

The French plane trees are turning yellow far and wide, and the girl has put on long sleeves and pants for the nineteenth autumn she's lived through. During the day, Ban Xia carried a bag and bow and arrow, pushed her bike, and rode through the wide boulevard of Zhongshan Gate, with dead leaves rustling down overhead.

Whether there are people or not, the leaves still fall year after year.

To address the problem Ban Xia is facing, Bai Zhen and Wang Ning once again urgently review the situation and the next day pull in Huawei experts for a video conference - it's working hours for them on weekends anyway.

The expert comrade thought for a while and said not to worry, I will write a document for you.

Half an hour later, he sent the document. Bai Zhen and Wang Ning huddled together and read it for a long time before deciding to ask the other party for a documentation manual.

Half an hour later, the documentation manual arrived. Bai Zhen and Wang Ning huddled together and read it for a long time again before deciding to ask the other party for a manual of the documentation manual.

Separated by twenty years of time, they can't communicate with BG4MSR face to face, and without the most effective means of communication, any small problem may become an insurmountable barrier - especially when the other party is a total newbie. It's like teaching a monkey to use a typewriter and expecting it to type out Shakespeare's complete works. Both Bai Zhen and Wang Ning were worn out, and so was Ban Xia, but everyone knows the importance - it's a task that must be completed.

By Sunday night at midnight, Bai Yang had lost count of how many times he had failed. There were so many problems it was like a tangled ball of yarn that not only was it disorganized, but he also couldn't figure out where to start untangling it. He was almost out of patience, yet the other side was still gritting their teeth and persisting.

"Swing a hammer and flatten all this stuff! Smash it!" Bai Yang said, "A big hammer for eighty, and a small one for forty! One hammer solves a thousand worries!"

"Xiao Yang, you can't just give up, persistence is victory," Wang Ning shouted from the living room, "Comfort that girl's emotions! Steady her, we can't let all our efforts go to waste now."

"She hasn't broken down yet, but I'm about to!" Bai Yang yelled, "Who invented C language? If our system can't run successfully, he'll be the culprit of world destruction! A sinner of all mankind!"

"You'd be tormented even more if you used assembly language," Wang Ning said. "How's it going on BG4MSR's side?"

"Mildly manic," Bai Yang replied, "Scratching the wall with her fingernails."

"Steady her! Calm her down! Tell her to hang in there, victory is just around the corner!" Wang Ning said, "We can't fall on the last step to victory!"

"Yes, persistence is victory!" his father echoed, "After success, she can watch whatever she wants!"

"Xiao Yang, tell her that after the success, she can watch whatever she wants! We'll even film her naked..."

"Slap!"

That was the sound of the father slapping "C#: From Novice to Demon" on Old Wang's face.

"Slap slap!"

That was the sound of the mother slapping "C#: From Novice to Demon" on both the father and Old Wang's faces.

"Slap slap slap!"

That was the sound of Bai Yang clapping.

"private... int[] Filter_10Khz... (int[] Data)."

"statusChart1.Value = re 10(i);"

Ban Xia typed rapidly on the keyboard, her fingers furiously hitting the Enter key. At this moment, she was like a master of computer Enter-key pressing, no one in the world could hit the Enter key faster than she could.

Even the monkeys on Zhongshan Gate Boulevard might be better at programming than her, but surely they couldn't beat her Enter-key pressing speed.

"Start up!"

The girl crisply hit the Enter key.

Error.

"Start up!"

Error.

"Start up!"

Error.

After days of consecutive failures, even the indomitable Huawei communication experts have broken down. From Saturday until Wednesday, Bai Zhen and Wang Ning have been asking for documentation manuals, manuals of the documentation manual, and manuals of the manuals of the documentation manual every day, until finally the comrade expert says sorry bro, I'm not skilled enough to handle this mess, I'll recommend a big shot to you, go find him. So, he resolutely threw his colleague into the fray — Bai Zhen and Wang Ning pounced on him like hungry tigers spotting a lamb.

Bai Yang couldn't recall how many times he had failed along the way, but Ban Xia remembered very clearly—if counting from Sunday evening at 10:40 until today at 12:30 AM, over four nights, they had failed a total of thirty-three times.

After each failure, they would enter a checking phase, confirming everything from hardware to software one by one. The girl's patience and confidence were gradually drained away, leaving only inertia. Facing the error messages on the monitor, she'd roll around on the floor and scratch the walls in frustration, then sit back down obediently to type on the keyboard. After days of continuous failures, in Ban Xia's mind, programming was no longer a technical job but a prayer and luck affair. Before running any code, one should light incense and bathe, it would be best to sacrifice a chicken or a sheep to the computer, recite spells, and beg the God of Programming to show mercy.

"Heaven above, the computer below, O God of Programming, please hear my prayer," Ban Xia stood straight in the room, cleansed her hands and face, serious and earnest, with eyes closed and palms together, "I, Ban Xia, pray to you, hoping that you will bless my code to run successfully without errors. Dear Teacher, if your spirit roams in heaven, please find the God of Programming. If it is unwilling to show mercy, please help it to be merciful, Amen, Allahu Akbar, Amitabha Buddha, Infinite Heavenly Venerable."

"One bow—!"

Ban Xia bowed toward the monitor and motherboard on the table.

"Two bows—!"

Ban Xia bowed again toward the monitor and motherboard.

"Three bows—!"

Ban Xia gave a final bow to the monitor and motherboard.

Then she walked step by step to the desk, sat upright, held her breath, slowly raised her hands with meticulous care, and then gently pressed the Enter key.

After a few seconds of silence, loud cheers erupted in Bai Yang's headphones.

"Success! We did it—! Success success success success—ful!"

They succeeded.

Bai Zhen and Wang Ning suddenly stood up in the living room, very excited.

"How did she do it?" Bai Zhen asked, "How did she manage it?"

"She said she found the knack," Bai Yang replied.

"What knack?"

Bai Yang hesitated for a moment, "Before running it, you should pray, chant spells, and make three bows."

Ban Xia believed she had mastered the critical trick to programming: pray to the God of Programming and then bow three times to the computer. So, in the next process of software transmission, she would pray and bow in her room before each step. Bai Zhen and Wang Ning felt a toothache watching her do this, but it wasn't right to disagree, especially since it wasn't a new thing for internet companies to hire masters to bless their servers.

By the time all the software was transferred and the Super Space-Time imaging transmission system was set up, it was already 1:30 AM.

Everyone decided to conduct the official test tomorrow night, which conveniently was when Bai Yang had time to go out and take photographs.

"We had an agreement, right? Confucius Temple, Xinjiekou, and the Qinhuai River, not one can be missed!" Ban Xia let out a long sigh of relief, very happy.

"Not one will be missed; I will spend all day tomorrow taking pictures for you!" said Bai Yang, "Whatever you'd like to see, I'll photograph for you! Let you take a good look at this world."

The next day, Bai Yang woke up earlier than usual, yawning as he walked out of the bedroom. His dad was watching 'Morning News' on CCTV13 in the living room.

"Yesterday afternoon at 14:35, Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center successfully launched a Long March 6 launch vehicle..."

Bai Yang glanced at the TV, then flopped into a chair. His dad sat across the table, drinking soy milk, "What's your plan for taking the pictures today?"

"I'll take a batch of photos in the morning, noon, and evening, comprehensively displaying Nanjing's scenery from all directions, all the time, from every angle," Bai Yang said. "How's that?"

"Not bad, make it look good; you're representing the human world."

So, on his way to school in the morning, Bai Yang took a small detour, cycling through laneways, noting that photography wasn't just about capturing tourist spots; ordinary life made for a great subject too. Bai Yang felt a little pride in his idea—he had no idea that he could possess a photographer's and artist's talent! So he photographed commuters rushing to work, breakfast stalls with long queues, and students like himself heading to school.

By noon, he and his friends He Leqin and Yan Zhihan wandered to Xinjiekou, Confucius Temple, and Xuanwu Lake, taking pictures non-stop along the way—of buildings, pedestrians, and buses. He Leqin and Yan Zhihan were curious about his actions, wondering why Bai Yang was acting like a tourist today; what was there to photograph? They could practically navigate the route with their eyes closed.

Bai Yang didn't explain, just focused on snapping photos.

Yan Zhihan pulled He Leqin aside and whispered, asking if Bai Yang had fallen into an online romance. Was he taking photos for his girlfriend?

How would I know, replied He Leqin.

After a full day, Bai Yang was satisfied, with hundreds of photos in his phone ready to be sent to BG4MXH.

But the unexpected occurred.

Or it would be fair to say that everything was unexpected.

At 10:30 PM, Bai Yang burst with excitement up to the eighth floor, pulled out his keys to open the door, "I'm back—"

His voice cut off abruptly.

The living room was packed with people; when Bai Yang opened the door, all eyes turned towards him, and he immediately recognized the face of the man sitting on the sofa. Wearing a black long-sleeved sweatshirt and jeans, with tortoiseshell glasses, weary and a bit haggardly thin—he knew that face all too well, his dad's old classmate and friend, the associate professor of physics at Nanjing University who had been missing for days without a trace, Zhao Bowen, had finally returned.