HPDBC Chapter 24 The End of the Year is Approaching
Chapter 24 The End of the Year is Approaching
In the last two weeks of December, Zuo Cheng finished up all the tasks at hand.
The minor revisions to the top-journal paper only took four days. The two reviewers had fewer than ten comments in total, mostly minor issues such as adding data explanations and modifying the format of figures and tables. Yu Ying revised six comments, Zuo Cheng revised four, and Chen Hao ran a supplementary simulation. The three of them finished everything in an afternoon in the lab.
I received a reply via email five days after submitting the revised draft.
"Dear authors, we are pleased to inform you that your manuscript has been accepted for publication in..."
They've been hired.
The *Journal of Signal and Information Processing* is a top-tier journal in the field of signal processing, ranking among the top three in impact factor. The first author is Ying Yu, the second author is Cheng Zuo, and the corresponding author is Zhiyuan Lin.
When Yu Ying sent a screenshot of the acceptance email to the group chat, Zuo Cheng was having lunch in the cafeteria. He looked at the email, a slight smile playing on his lips, then put his phone away and continued eating his braised beef noodles.
Looking at his expression, Zhang Lei said incredulously, "Brother Cheng, your paper was accepted by a top journal, and this is your reaction?"
"Of course I'm happy," Zuo Cheng said, picking up a piece of beef. "But this paper, from discovering the coupling effect to submission to acceptance, took more than three months. The excitement has already passed. Now it's just a natural outcome."
Zhang Lei shook his head, muttered "Why pretend to be calm?", and then ate his rice with gusto.
Lin Zhiyuan was even happier than Zuo Cheng. When he saw the acceptance letter in his office, he took off his reading glasses and wiped them for a full half minute before sending Zuo Cheng an unusually long message—in essence, the quality of the thesis far exceeded his expectations, he had recommended Zuo Cheng's graduation thesis to the college for provincial outstanding graduation thesis evaluation, and hoped that Zuo Cheng would seriously consider pursuing a doctoral degree directly.
Zuo Cheng already had plans for further education, but now was not the time to discuss it. He replied to Lin Zhiyuan with a brief thank you message, saying he would talk to him in detail after the winter break.
A notification popped up in my mind that the side quest "Academic Summit" had been completed.
[Side Quest Completed: Academic Summit]
[Top Journal Paper Accepted (Exceeding Target: Review Period Shorter Than Expected)]
[Unlocking the Blade: Advanced Signal Theory ✓]
[Points +10 (Extra Bonus +2, Total +12)]
Current points: 53
Current blade count: 8/???
Fifty-three points. Eight leaves.
Zuo Cheng already had a considerable amount of points, but he had no intention of squandering them. Phase Four awaited him during the winter break: six weeks to develop a space-to-ground link solution. He would likely need a large number of points for emergencies—replicating key technologies, materializing experimental equipment, or exchanging them for funds to resolve unforeseen problems. The more points he had, the greater his margin for error.
Mid-December is the final exam week.
For him, a reborn individual, the undergraduate final exams were not stressful at all. Zuo Cheng's knowledge reserves far exceeded the scope of the exams. He spent three days reviewing the key points of several courses, and easily finished all the exams on the day of the exams. When the results came out, he scored above 90 in every subject.
However, Zhao Kai encountered a minor incident during exam week.
After the final exam for digital signal processing, Zuo Cheng came out of the exam room and ran into Zhao Kai in the corridor. Zhao Kai looked unwell, clutching a broken pencil in his hand.
"Brother Cheng." Zhao Kai called out to him, his expression complex, not with his usual sarcastic tone, but more like an awkwardness stemming from not knowing how to act. "Is your company... still hiring?"
Zuo Cheng glanced at him.
Zhao Kai's postgraduate recommendation spot changed last month—the lab supervisor he applied to was suddenly transferred to another university, and the spot was revoked and redistributed; Zhao Kai didn't get it. Now he faces the choice of either taking the postgraduate entrance exam or finding a job, and the fall recruitment season is almost over.
"There are no hiring plans at the moment," Zuo Cheng said calmly, without any hint of gloating or insincerity. "However, you can keep an eye on the campus forum. Studio 402 occasionally posts technical outsourcing needs, paid per project. You can take on projects if you're interested."
Zhao Kai opened his mouth as if to say something, but in the end he only managed to squeeze out two words: "Thanks."
He turned and left, his back view shorter than Zuo Cheng remembered.
Zuo Cheng watched his figure disappear at the end of the corridor, feeling no sense of satisfaction or revenge. Zhao Kai's predicament wasn't because of Zuo Cheng; it was because he hadn't chosen his own path. And Zuo Cheng wasn't a saint—he wouldn't deliberately make things difficult for Zhao Kai because of his past behavior, nor would he make exceptions for him out of pity.
They provided a way out; they were more than kind and righteous in doing so.
Winter vacation officially began on December 20th.
Before leaving school, Zuo Cheng took care of a few last things—he handed over the recent business arrangements of 402 Technology to Liu Wei, returned the laboratory equipment to Professor Lin, confirmed the division of labor for remote collaboration during the winter break with Chen Hao, and sent Fang Ze the technical update document for the Blue Bay Communication base station embedded platform.
Finally, he went to the library and sat for ten minutes in the window seat that Yu Ying often sat in.
She had gone home the day before. Before leaving, the two had a meal in the cafeteria, talking entirely about the follow-up promotion plans for their papers and their research directions after the start of next semester. There were no ambiguous words exchanged, but Zuo Cheng noticed that she looked back once as she left.
Just one glance.
He didn't chase after them.
Now she sits in her usual spot, with a gray winter sky outside the window. The sycamore trees have long since lost their leaves, leaving only bare branches.
Zuo Cheng took out a copy of "Advanced Numerical Analysis" that he had forgotten in his desk drawer and found a line of Yu Ying's handwriting on the title page—it was her notes index, the handwriting was neat and tidy, and there was a small arrow symbol at the end, like some kind of personal habit mark.
He glanced at it for two seconds, then put the book back where it was.
Then he got up and left to catch the train on the 26th of the twelfth lunar month.
The train was a green-skinned hard-seat train, a fourteen-hour journey to his hometown county. Zuo Cheng could afford a sleeper berth or even a high-speed train, but he deliberately chose a hard seat—in his previous life, he always took this train home, swaying and rocking all night, with endless wilderness and the occasional flash of small station lights outside the window. This feeling made him feel like he was still the person who came from that small county, no matter how far he had traveled outside.
The train carriage was packed with people heading home for the Chinese New Year. The air was stuffy, filled with the smells of instant noodles and orange peels. Zuo Cheng huddled in a window seat, wearing headphones and resting with his eyes closed.
He wasn't asleep. His mind was racing with the schedule for winter break.
I arrived home on the 27th of the twelfth lunar month, carefully studied my father's medical examination report on the 28th, spent the Lunar New Year at home from the 29th to the 3rd of the first lunar month, set off for Huaxia City on the 4th, and reported to Lanwan Communications on the 5th to begin my internship.
The satellite-to-ground link channel estimation scheme was completed in six weeks.
Stage Four. The final stage of the main quest chain.
Once you cross that threshold, the "Communications Engineering" branch will be illuminated. The technology tree will then undergo its first evolution.
He opened his eyes and looked out the car window at the dark, desolate landscape flashing by. In the distance, there were scattered lights of a village, like pieces of gold scattered on a black velvet cloth.
Almost home.