Super God-Level Top Student

Cheng Xuyang was still pondering why the young man's gaze did not seem focused on him when the girl beside Qiao Ze had already started warming up the atmosphere, "The dishes can be served now; Qiao is half an hour later than usual for dinner today; he must be hungry."

"Right, it's indeed time to serve the dishes, Zhou, go and let them know, we don't want to keep our honored guest waiting," Zheng Luhua said with a smile.

"Hmm," the person from the school office stood up and walked out of the private room.

A rapid succession of actions almost made Cheng Xuyang forget what he was about to say.

He had rehearsed the scenario of meeting Qiao Ze many times in his mind, but never imagined it would be like this.

It felt to him as if Qiao Ze and this young lady were truly just here to have a meal.

Soon, Cheng Xuyang's thought was confirmed.

Because the dishes were served quickly, clearly they had been prepared in advance.

While Cheng Xuyang was still politely refusing to drink with the school's leadership, he noticed that the young girl had already filled Qiao Ze's plate.

Everyone knew their role.

Sensing something was off, Cheng Xuyang took the initiative and said, "Qiao Ze, how about a coffee or tea after dinner?"

Qiao Ze, who was eating quietly, glanced at Cheng Xuyang but didn't utter a word.

Instead, the girl beside him lifted her head with a sweet smile and said, "Uncle, Qiao doesn't talk during meals. But he definitely won't have time tonight; he's been discussing a problem with a professor from Yanbei University. They've been arguing all afternoon, and until now, neither has persuaded the other. I guess they'll continue tonight."

Then Cheng Xuyang saw Qiao Ze silently nod his head and continue to eat quietly.

He didn't even need to switch to public chopsticks to pick up dishes.

Because the girl beside him, while talking to him and not eating much herself, was diligently serving the dishes into the silent young man's bowl.

Cheng Xuyang took a deep breath and, before he could say anything else, President Zheng beside him beat him to it and asked, "Su Mucheng, which professor from Yanbei is Qiao Ze discussing the issue with?"

His tone seemed a bit awkward; Cheng Xuyang instinctively turned his head and noticed that the vice president's face seemed to carry an inexplicable sadness.

"I didn't ask, but I only know the professor's last name is Zhang, right? Let me think, is it Zhang Hongcai?" Su Mucheng tilted her head and looked at Qiao Ze.

Qiao Ze nodded again.

"Hmm..." Zheng Luhua turned to Xu Dajiang.

But Xu Dajiang did not meet Zheng Luhua's eyes and stood up enthusiastically, lifting his cup.

"Cheng, I'll first toast you with tea in place of liquor on behalf of the School of Mathematics' students to thank Apple Inc. for its support of our Xilin education," he said.

"I dare not, I dare not!" Cheng Xuyang lifted his tea cup and took a small sip.

"Haha, eat, eat, please don't be shy, Cheng," they said.

"Xu is really too kind," remarked Cheng Xuyang.

Although interrupted by Xu Dajiang, Cheng Xuyang only felt even more frustrated.

For the first time in his life, he felt so powerless.

The very person he needed to see was indeed present, but he found it incredibly difficult to engage in conversation with the young man.

Of course, Cheng Xuyang did not think it was his fault.

Even a mute can make some noise.

But since Qiao Ze entered the private room, not to mention he hadn't spoken a single word, he hadn't even made a sound, and no one else seemed to find this odd.

Even with the dignity of a president, who clearly could have asked Qiao Ze directly to get the answer, they chose to ask the girl next to Qiao Ze instead.

What's more important, Cheng Xuyang genuinely felt he might have come at the wrong time.

He could sense the odd atmosphere at the dining table.

Especially when the conversation turned to Qiao Ze's academic exchange with professors from Yanbei University.

Isn't this supposed to be a good thing?
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All these students from Xilin University of Technology are now able to engage in academic exchanges with professors from Yanbei, and yet, why do the university leaders all have constipated expressions?

However, the others didn't give him much time to think, Xu Dajiang took the lead, and soon everyone else followed suit.

Whether drinking alcohol or tea, they each offered a toast.

Cheng Xuyang could only keep lifting his teacup, engaging in the routine pleasantries.

Finally, after everyone had offered a toast, Cheng Xuyang keenly noticed Qiao Ze had put down his chopsticks.

Does that mean he's finished eating?

So Cheng Xuyang decided to cut through the mess without worrying about the fact that it was at a crowded dining table, and said directly, "Qiao Ze, on behalf of Mr. Tim Cook, I extend a sincere invitation to you to become the scientific advisor for our Transformer large language model division. If you're interested, we can discuss the terms at any time."

The chaotic noise immediately quieted down quite a bit.

Which made Qiao Ze's voice stand out even clearer, "Not interested."

Cheng Xuyang watched Qiao Ze, waiting for a moment.

Upon realizing that Qiao Ze didn't intend to speak further, he felt somewhat stunned.

At that moment, he probably understood why Xilin University of Technology insisted on the money being in the account first before they allowed him to meet with Qiao Ze.

Obviously, if the twenty million was just to hear those three words, Cheng Xuyang couldn't forgive himself.

"Qiao Ze, you may not fully understand my meaning. This scientific advisor position could be part-time. You can continue with your studies. We can construct any language lab you deem necessary according to your requirements. Your responsibility would only be to help our engineers with some questions and to give them some guidance."

"This may not even take up much of your time, and here you'll get everything you can imagine. Respect, tolerance, value, and even the capacity to create... Whatever you need, we will do our utmost to provide it."

Qiao Ze nodded and replied, "Oh, not interested."

Su Mucheng couldn't help but laugh and say, "Hey, Uncle, don't try to persuade Qiao Ze. Yu has already made the offer that you just did, and let me tell you secretly, when no one was looking, Yu brought a contract with the salary section blank, for Qiao to fill in whatever figure he wants, but it was still refused."

Qiao Ze glanced at Su Mucheng beside him, who had half a bowl of rice left, then shifted his gaze away, his mind self-absorbedly pondering the content of the debate he just had with Zhang Hongcai.

Cheng Xuyang was momentarily stunned, looking at Qiao Ze, realizing that the youth's gaze had lost focus once again, not knowing what he was thinking about, and couldn't help feeling a bit frustrated.

"Let me tell you a secret, Qiao privately told me that he believes Apple will definitely not be able to compete with Youwei in the future. The reason? You don't have the experience of surviving adversity. Simply put, you've not been sanctioned.

This leads to your engineers only needing to consider the world's most advanced supporting technologies, and it also diminishes a lot of innovative drive because sticking to the status quo is enough to keep you well-fed."

"However, Youwei, or I should say, all Huaxia semiconductor-related companies constrained by technology, is different. Their engineers, under technology embargoes, must find alternative ways, using outdated equipment to seek alternative technical solutions to compete in performance with products under the most advanced process technology."

"Once Huaxia makes up for its shortcomings, applying the technical solutions developed through these alternative paths to new products, there will be a qualitative leap in improvement. So, it's not time yet to worry about that. Wait until that time comes, and then Apple will truly feel the pain."

"Though I don't really understand these things, Qiao's previous judgments have all been correct, so I think his judgment this time is also correct. However, Qiao doesn't like to talk too much in front of others, so I'm saying all this on his behalf. Whether you believe it or not is up to you."

Su Mucheng said cheerfully.

She liked this feeling.

These words weren't something that Qiao Ze asked her to say; they were just a casual comment he made when discussing this lunch meeting earlier today.

But Su Mucheng thought it sounded pretty cool, so she just decided to embellish it a bit for the Apple uncle to hear.

After all, if she told him exactly what Qiao Ze had said, she was afraid that the uncle across from her wouldn't understand.