On the Eve of the Press Conference

On the day of his discharge from the hospital, a heavy rain fell over the capital.

Pei Ningxue pushed Chen Zhi in his wheelchair onto the nanny van and dropped him off at the underground garage of the Wanliu Residence, not even bothering to go upstairs with him.

"The garage passcode hasn't changed. Wheel yourself up," Pei Ningxue said, standing outside the car door under a black umbrella.

"Wife, are you just going to leave like this?" Chen Zhi sat in the wheelchair, his left leg in a cast and his upper body wrapped in bandages, looking at her pitifully.

"What else? Stay and watch you perform your face-changing tricks?" Pei Ningxue pulled the car door shut. "Solve your own problems. It's none of my business."

"Beep, beep, beep—"

When Chen Zhi tried calling again, the line was already busy. When he sent a WeChat message, a red exclamation mark appeared.

This woman was true to her word; she really was washing her hands of him.

However, Chen Zhi also understood that Pei Ningxue was giving him time to clean up the mess left from that night in Jiangcheng. After all, he still owed Lin Wanwan and Li Zhiyi a massive explanation.

Over the next few days, Chen Zhi simply turned his duplex apartment in Wanliu Residence into the temporary headquarters for Deep Space Technology.

Dai Damai shuttled back and forth between the company and the apartment every day, carrying stacks of documents.

That afternoon, Chen Zhi was leaning back on the sofa, reviewing the engineering prototype's UI design sent by Huang Zhang.

The doorbell rang.

"The door is unlocked, come on in." Chen Zhi didn't even look up, assuming it was Dai Damai coming to report on work.

Since Pei Ningxue left, he had been handling everything personally and had yet to find a suitable replacement.

The door was pushed open. The footsteps were light, completely unlike Dai Damai's usual bustling commotion.

Chen Zhi looked up.

Li Zhiyi stood in the entryway, holding a thermal soup container. Her hair was slightly messy, indicating she had rushed over in a hurry.

Seeing Chen Zhi leaning on the sofa with his left leg propped up high and his upper body wrapped like a mummy, Li Zhiyi stood frozen in place, her eyes turning red.

"Hey, hey, hey, why are you crying?" Chen Zhi quickly put down his tablet and tried to sit up straight, but ended up pulling on his fractured ribs. He gasped in pain, "Hiss—"

Li Zhiyi was terrified. She quickly ran over, clumsily trying to support him but afraid of touching his wounds. Her hands hovered in mid-air as her tears fell even harder.

"How did you... how did you get hurt this badly?" Her voice was trembling.

"It's fine, it just looks scary. It's really just superficial wounds." Chen Zhi grabbed her wrist and gave it a gentle squeeze. "Stop crying, you won't be pretty if you keep crying."

Li Zhiyi sniffled and held Chen Zhi's hand in return.

This was the first time Chen Zhi had seen any emotion on her face other than meekness and timidity.

It was genuine anger.

"Who hit you?" Li Zhiyi bit her lip. "Is someone bullying you?"

Chen Zhi froze for a moment.

He couldn't exactly tell her that he had jumped off the third floor of the Peking University Academic Affairs Office to make Pei Ningxue stay.

That would be like asking for a death wish.

"I just... wasn't paying attention while crossing the street and got hit by some blonde-haired punk riding a modified scooter." Chen Zhi lied effortlessly. "The kid was going too fast, and I couldn't dodge in time."

Li Zhiyi was so angry her chest heaved violently.

"Did you call the police? Did they catch him?" she asked urgently. "You can't just let this go. He has to pay for your medical bills, and he needs to be held legally responsible!"

Looking at her righteous indignation, Chen Zhi couldn't help but chuckle.

"It's already been handled. The police took him in, and he paid all the compensation." Chen Zhi held her hand back and gently pulled her towards him. "But, Zhiyi, I was really touched by your fierce, husband-protecting look just now."

Li Zhiyi's face flushed red.

She pulled her hand free from Chen Zhi's grasp and lowered her head to grab a tissue from the coffee table to wipe her tears.

"You're in this state, and you're still not being serious," she muttered softly. "I heard from others that you were sick, so I went to the company to find you, but the receptionist said you were working from home..."

She opened the thermal container she had brought, revealing a milky white bone broth inside.

"You need to drink more bone broth for a fracture." Li Zhiyi scooped out a bowl and carefully brought it over to Chen Zhi. She took a spoonful, blew on it to cool it down, and then offered it to his lips. "Have some."

Chen Zhi obediently opened his mouth.

This treatment was simply incredible.

For the next half month, Li Zhiyi simply took a leave from work and ran over to Wanliu Residence every day.

Buying groceries, cooking, simmering soup, and helping Chen Zhi wipe his body.

She was like a fairy tale snail maiden, taking care of Chen Zhi with meticulous attention to detail.

While enjoying Li Zhiyi's close personal care, Chen Zhi also had to deal with Lin Wanwan, who was far away in Jiangcheng running her schedules.

Lin Wanwan's schedule was packed lately. Su Man had gotten her a spot on a big-budget music variety show, and she had to record late into the night every day.

Upon learning that Chen Zhi had gotten into a car accident and fractured his bones, Lin Wanwan cried her eyes out over the phone, clamoring to break her contract with the production crew and buy a flight back to the capital to see him.

Chen Zhi tried his best to persuade her, even using the excuse that the breach of contract penalty would be a hundred million, before finally managing to pacify her.

To put Lin Wanwan at ease, Chen Zhi had to unfailingly make three video calls a day to report that he was safe.

Before picking up each call, Chen Zhi had to perform an extreme series of maneuvers.

"Zhiyi, help me grab that baggy hoodie. Yes, the black one."

Chen Zhi struggled to pull the hoodie on over himself on the sofa, completely covering his bandage-wrapped upper body, and then grabbed a throw pillow to hide his cast-bound left leg.

Only after confirming that no flaws could be seen through the camera did he press the answer button.

Lin Wanwan's bright and captivating face appeared on the screen. She had just taken off her makeup and was wearing a face mask, with a hotel room in the background.

"Chen Zhi, does your leg still hurt today?" Lin Wanwan leaned closer to the screen.

"It stopped hurting a long time ago. The doctor says I'm recovering incredibly fast, and I should be able to run around in a few days," Chen Zhi bragged without batting an eye.

Beside him, Li Zhiyi, who was cutting fruit, paused her hands and turned to glance at him.

Chen Zhi hurriedly winked at her frantically.

"That's good." Lin Wanwan breathed a sigh of relief, then began to complain again. "This production team is so torturous. We record until two or three in the morning every day, and Sister Su Man won't even let me have late-night snacks, saying I'll get bloated."

"When you get back, I'll take you to eat at your favorite copper pot hot pot place," Chen Zhi coaxed her with a smile.

"It's a deal! Pinky promise!"

Hanging up the phone, Chen Zhi let out a long sigh of relief.

Li Zhiyi walked over carrying the sliced apples, poked a piece with a toothpick, and offered it to his mouth.

The chaotic romantic bloodbath from that night in Jiangcheng had been forcibly halted by Pei Ningxue's sudden departure, but Li Zhiyi definitely still had doubts in her heart. Yet, she didn't ask anything; she just silently stayed by his side.

Time flew by, and in the blink of an eye, it was the eve of the press conference.

Over the past half month, the online public opinion surrounding Deep Space Technology had fermented to a boiling point.

Fanned by internet water armies, Moss's image in the eyes of ordinary netizens had plummeted to rock bottom.

Various labels like capital scam and fake PPT presentation were slapped onto Deep Space Technology.

This was exactly the effect Chen Zhi wanted.

To suppress first in order to elevate later.

The harder they were pressed down, the more fiercely they would bounce back.

At eight o'clock in the evening.

The doorbell of the Wanliu Residence rang.

Dai Damai rushed in hurriedly, clutching a black combination briefcase in his arms.

"Mr. Chen! It is done!"

He placed the briefcase on the coffee table and entered the password.

With a click, the case popped open.

Inside quietly lay two white smartphones.

It featured Meizu's proudest white panel design, with the screen occupying the entire front.

"The prototype is finally built!" Dai Damai picked up one of the phones and handed it to Chen Zhi. "Moss has been perfectly integrated into the system. Next up is the software adaptation."

Chen Zhi took the phone and pressed the power button.

The screen lit up. There was no tedious startup animation, just a profound blue starry sky background.

"Moss," Chen Zhi said to the phone.

The starry sky on the screen instantly swirled and converged into a blue point of light.

A gentle voice came from the speaker.

"Hello, I am Moss."

No internet connection was needed, nor was there a need to open any application.

Moss had already become the brain of this phone, taking over everything.

Chen Zhi connected to the network and casually issued a command.

"Moss, help me check the exact time and location of Qiandu's press conference tomorrow morning."

In less than a second, a neatly organized table popped up directly on the screen.

"Query successful. The Qiandu 'AI Developer Conference' will be held tomorrow morning at 9:30 AM in Hall B of the National Convention Center. The keynote speaker is Qiandu's Vice President, Li Mingyuan." Moss's voice was steady and clear.

Dai Damai's eyes lit up brightly beside him.

"As expected of Moss. I have a feeling this will be a world-changing phone, just like the iPhone 5."

"This is just a basic operation." Chen Zhi placed the phone back into the briefcase and turned to look at Li Zhiyi, who was washing dishes in the kitchen.

"Zhiyi, help me take out that suit and iron it."

Li Zhiyi dried her hands and walked out. Looking at Chen Zhi's leg in a cast, her face was full of worry.

"Are you really going to the venue tomorrow? The doctor said you absolutely cannot move around."

"There are some things I don't feel at ease leaving to others." Chen Zhi patted the armrest of his wheelchair. "Damai, you will push me up there tomorrow."

Dai Damai nodded vigorously.

"By the way, Brother Zhi, Qiandu scheduled their press conference in Hall B of the National Convention Center, and ours is in Hall A. This is clearly them trying to go head-to-head against us. Moreover, they have invited hundreds of mainstream media outlets, while on our side..."

"We have Yinfu Tiaodong's network-wide live stream push, what are we afraid of?" Chen Zhi sneered. "This is the era where traffic is king. Those traditional media outlets are not even as influential as marketing accounts."

"No wonder Qiandu has not been successful for so many years. Their thinking is still stuck a decade in the past."