Afterword: The Girl's Small Happiness

Li Shiyan felt like she had always been living in the shadows of those two people.

They had obviously graduated from the same high school and attended the same university, but in just two or three short years, a massive gap had formed between them.

"What's wrong? You're not even enjoying your food," Xia Yanchun nudged Li Shiyan and leaned over to ask.

"It's nothing, nothing, nom nom nom..."

Li Shiyan was just feeling a tiny bit sentimental.

Mainly, she was lamenting the fact that her two friends were just too outstanding.

Even though she was ranked at the top of her major, had won awards in prestigious competitions, and was specifically chosen by teachers to participate in various contests, she still felt inadequate in front of these two.

First was Shen Nian. In the second semester of his freshman year, he specialized in large models. He was frequently taken by professors to attend speeches by so-called industry bigwigs and was highly favored by the faculty. By the second semester of his sophomore year, Shen Nian had leveraged open-source models on the market to independently develop a simple large model of his own.

During the first semester of his junior year, with the help of experts in his major at the school, Shen Nian's simple large model became more refined and earned the appreciation of the college leaders. Shen Nian took the initiative to contact the college leadership and obtained their approval. With the endorsement of the college and relevant teachers, Shen Nian's large model saw its first application, integrating into the university's official website, using it as a pilot program.

Originally, it only had a function for looking up information. But after his improvements, when someone wanted to search for materials, they only needed to enter the query into the corresponding text box. Once the system was authorized, it would automatically list the relevant documents and information, simplifying many tedious processes.

It was smarter than the built-in AI of major apps on the market today.

The server costs were entirely covered by the university. Shen Nian was a one-man army, taking on the vast majority of the work by himself. He hardly seemed human.

Although the university's support could not be ignored, the lion's share of the achievement undoubtedly belonged to Shen Nian.

To be precise, Nanjiang University acted more like an investor providing financial and technical support; the copyright of the AI still belonged to Shen Nian.

He was incredibly amazing!

Then there was her Bestie.

Both she and Xia Yanchun majored in AI security, but Xia Yanchun was a bit more capable. In the early stages of Shen Nian's large model, she had provided him with a lot of help.

Even now, Xia Yanchun was working with Nanjiang University's information security department to handle the security of the entire large model.

Besides that, Xia Yanchun had also participated in quite a few competitions...

If she had to rank the three of them in terms of capability, it would probably look like this:

Shen Nian > Xia Yanchun > Herself.

Both she and Xia Yanchun were left far behind by Shen Nian...

Sigh, even though she had won the second prize in the "C4-AI" competition, she still fell way short in front of Shen Nian.

She felt that if given a little more time, Shen Nian would build a proper, fully functional large language model from scratch, and perhaps even compete for market share with various commercial AIs.

Shen Nian's current large model had innovation, technical realization, and practical application value. If he entered a competition, he was ninety-nine percent guaranteed to win the grand prize.

"Are you in a bad mood? You seem really off today," Xia Yanchun still couldn't help but worry about Li Shiyan.

She didn't want a depressed Baby Shiyan; she wanted her happy, energetic Bestie.

"No, it's just that I think everyone is so amazing," Li Shiyan blinked.

"Hehehe, well, we are all working hard after all."

Li Shiyan shoveled two large mouthfuls of rice into her mouth, belatedly realizing that Shen Nian, sitting across from her, was almost finished eating!

So as not to make them wait for her later, Li Shiyan ate at the speed of light, her cheeks puffing out slightly.

She recalled what Shen Nian had told her during their freshman year.

Don't compare yourself to the amazing people, that way you won't suffer from internal friction.

After balancing her mindset for a good while, Li Shiyan happily finished her meal.

She wouldn't compare herself to Shen Nian, since she couldn't beat him anyway.

As for Xiaochun, although there was a slight gap, they both focused on AI security, and she wasn't doing too badly herself. Maybe soon the tables would turn, and her academic grades would surpass Xiaochun's.

"Can you two hurry up?" Shen Nian had finished his food early on and was resting his chin on his hand, waiting for the two of them.

One ate slowly, and the other ate even slower. Especially the little loli girl, who had been sitting there for ages and still had half a bowl of rice left. How ridiculous.

If it were him, he would already be on his second bowl.

"You're the one eating too fast!" Xia Yanchun never tolerated Shen Nian's complaints.

"Uh, okay, okay, whatever Chunbao says goes."

"Let's take our time eating, Shiyan. No rush."

"I'm almost full," Li Shiyan said softly.

"I'm almost done too."

...

After having lunch together, it was time for a midday nap.

Although she was also a day student, Li Shiyan didn't have a single dorm room. Most of the time, she would rest outside by herself drinking milk tea, or go home to sleep.

However, there were a few times when Xia Yanchun would sneak her into her single dorm room to take a nap together.

Having a Bestie was just awesome!

Today was another day of napping together.

The sun outside was baking hot. It was still late summer and autumn was approaching, but early autumn in Cinan was no different from June. It wouldn't start cooling down until at least November.

"So cool..." As soon as Li Shiyan entered the dorm, she took off her shoes and put on her slippers to go take a shower, acting just like she was at home.

"I should have bought a drink on the way back," Xia Yanchun pouted. "I'm going down to the vending machine to get something to drink. Shiyan, do you want anything?"

"I want a bottle of orange juice."

"Okay."

Xia Yanchun bounced out of the room. Li Shiyan was left alone in the dorm. She washed her face and then rolled around on the bed.

There was nothing more comfortable than mooching off her Bestie's air conditioning on a hot day.

Before long, Xia Yanchun opened the door carrying two bottles of orange juice.

"So refreshing..." Li Shiyan twisted off the cap and took a big gulp. Who could understand the pure bliss of a cold drink on such a hot day?

"Why are you drinking so fast?"

"I'm thirsty."

Xia Yanchun then went to wash her face, getting ready for their nap.

The bed wasn't big, but it was enough for two people to sleep on. If they had to run all the way home just for a midday nap, it would be way too much trouble.

She was so smart to have demanded a single dorm room when negotiating conditions back in the day.

Xia Yanchun hummed smugly.

"By the way, Xiaochun, are you and Shen Nian both doing a combined Master's and PhD?"

"Hmm... no."

"Huh?"

"Barring any special circumstances, Shen Nian and I are both doing a direct PhD."

"!!"

So amazing...

Li Shiyan's big, dark eyes sparkled brightly.

The light from her eyes was practically shining onto Xia Yanchun's face.

"What's with that look..."

Xia Yanchun poked her forehead, applying a little force to push that sparkling gaze right back.

Anyone who didn't know better would think Li Shiyan was a pitiful little cabbage.

She was only slightly weaker when compared to herself and Shen Nian. After all, she was ranked at the top of her major, plus she had a second prize in a prestigious competition. Her competitiveness was maxed out, so a Master's or PhD would definitely be no problem for her.

The difference was that for one, the supervisor initiated contact, and for the other, the student had to initiate contact with the supervisor.

Perhaps the poke hurt, because Li Shiyan started covering her forehead to stop her from poking.

Li Shiyan felt a bit gloomy.

Although she was a bit envious of Shen Nian and Xia Yanchun, she wasn't doing too badly herself. Smart people don't let overthinking consume them. During the meal, she had only stressed over it for a brief moment before burying her head and focusing on her food for the rest of the time.

Since things had come to this, she might as well just sleep!

Li Shiyan happily pulled the blanket over herself.

However, having just had an icy drink, falling asleep immediately wouldn't be easy.

Not feeling too sleepy yet, Li Shiyan stared blankly at the ceiling, her mind wandering back to the past.

Before she knew it, the three of them had been good friends for six years.

If possible, it would be best if they could be friends for a lifetime.

Feeling a bit nostalgic, Li Shiyan looked at Xia Yanchun and smiled softly. Xiao Chun, let's find some time to go back and visit our high school.

Hmm? Why the sudden urge to go back?

Just to reminisce! I'll be making my grand entrance in my senior alumni form!

Pfft... Xia Yanchun's eyes curved into a smile. Then let's go back together. We can buy some fruits or something, and I'll drive Shen Nian's car to take you there.

Hehe, h-how about we just take a taxi...

Don't you trust my driving skills? When I went back to my hometown for the holidays, I drove on the highway the whole way.

Xia Yanchun puffed out her small chest, humming proudly.

She was no longer the little girl who was too scared to drive.

She had evolved into a veteran driver with three years of experience, perfectly capable of driving herself and confident enough to hit the highway!

Really... I don't even dare to drive. I haven't touched a steering wheel since I got my license.

I was like that at first too. You just need to practice and build up your courage, but the prerequisite is that you need a car you can actually drive out.

I have one at home! It's decided then, I'm going to practice driving so I can drive myself around! Xiao Chun, you have to accompany me while I practice, okay?

Sure, I'm a veteran driver after all. Xia Yanchun grinned.

Li Shiyan lay flat on her back, feeling incredibly pleased.

Academically, she was busy with competitions and furthering her studies; in her personal life, she was busy practicing her driving. In her spare time, she could even visit her high school teachers. Li Shiyan didn't feel overwhelmed by the busyness; instead, she found it very fulfilling.

Her good friends from high school remained just as formidable after entering university. Being in the same class as her greatest Bestie, watching her Bestie become more and more amazing while she herself made steady progress, Li Shiyan really loved this feeling.

The midsummer sunlight filtered through the curtains, making one feel drowsy.

Li Shiyan felt a soft, warm feeling in her heart.

Only by calming one's mind can one truly enjoy life's little moments of happiness.