Chapter 238 Still the Same Taste
Su Yuanshan couldn't help but grit his teeth.
President Xi really didn't treat other people's girlfriends with any special care...
Even if Su Yuanshan didn't know much about the internet, he understood perfectly well what lay behind "Internet Hyperlink Analysis"—this was the core technology of search engines, their very foundation.
Back then, Li Yanhong had returned to China with hyperlink analysis technology and founded Baidu, crushing all competitors and even forcing Google to withdraw from the Chinese market.
The slogan "Baidu understands Chinese better" wasn't just marketing hype—Baidu really did understand.
Setting aside Baidu's later controversies, before the firewall went up, it was the only domestic search engine that could go toe-to-toe with Google in terms of technology.
And at the heart of it all was Li Yanhong's hyperlink analysis patent, which was actually filed a year before Google's famous PageRank.
(Side note: Zhou Hongyi, founder of 360, once said in a GeekPark conference: "Back then, my technology was better than Google's. You might not believe it...")
Seeing Su Yuanshan frown and inhale sharply, Ye Rudai immediately guessed that he had realized just how difficult this project would be.
She thought for a moment and said,
"Actually, since last year when I first started getting into web development, I've been thinking about moving toward foundational internet technologies."
...
Although they had stayed in touch all this time, they weren't like some young couples who needed to be glued together 24/7.
Especially Su Yuanshan—he had been busy and exhausted during the first half of the year. Most of their calls had been him venting and her quietly listening, occasionally cheering him up with little stories from campus life.
Which meant... Su Yuanshan genuinely hadn't known that Ye Rudai had shifted her ambitions toward internet technologies.
In her previous life, she had focused on C/C++ and databases.
"Why did you think of going into internet tech?" Su Yuanshan asked, glancing at the file again. "You have a real talent for programming."
"President Xi said that programming, at its core, is just the use and mastery of a tool-language. It's too engineering-focused—it doesn't showcase the true spirit of an outstanding IT professional," Ye Rudai said, her eyes curving into a smile.
"And besides, you kept saying the internet is the future.
So I thought... I'd put in some effort there."
"President Xi's views are a bit crooked," Su Yuanshan chuckled, glancing toward the Pandora Lab hidden among the trees.
"He thinks everyone can be like him—ruling whatever field he touches."
"But I do think there's some truth in what he said. For example..."
Ye Rudai paused, glanced around carefully, then whispered,
"Modern large-scale commercial software requires so many lines of code.
Everyone's just coding according to assigned tasks...
It's like working on an assembly line."
"I don't really like that."
After saying it, she looked a little guilty.
"Was that offensive?"
"Haha, no.
Actually... your analogy is pretty spot-on."
Su Yuanshan laughed.
"Building an application and building a house are basically the same thing.
Small apps can be made by one person; big systems require armies."
"Just coding isn't particularly remarkable.
But during the coding process, countless tools, inspirations, and solutions can be born—
these 'wheels' are the true legacy left by outstanding programmers."
Su Yuanshan spoke with a rare seriousness:
"President Xi's IQ is so high, his starting point so elevated, his mind so brilliant...
of course his view of the world is different."
Ye Rudai looked at Su Yuanshan's thin face and clear eyes.
A strange feeling welled up in her heart.
This guy...
Even someone like President Xi admired him.
Biting her lip lightly, she said softly,
"Don't be so modest in the future.
Otherwise, I'll just keep admiring you more."
"Dummy..." Su Yuanshan laughed gently and reached out to ruffle her hair, then casually grabbed her hand.
He felt her fingers stiffen for a moment—then she quickly tightened her grip around his, her palm growing hot.
She turned her head away hastily, but her reddened earlobes betrayed her.
Still...
Even though time had been reset and life restarted, holding Ye Rudai's hand still felt like holding his own.
...
Ye Rudai spoke softly again:
"President Xi said that back in April, two Ph.D. students from Stanford—David Filo and Jerry Yang—founded a giant web directory called Yahoo.
Their technology is based on an old system originally used for FTP search called Archie.
It's really crude."
Su Yuanshan squeezed her fingertips lightly and nodded.
"And recently, with the explosion of the World Wide Web, someone developed a web crawler to integrate with indexing programs—you know about web crawlers, right?"
"Yeah," Su Yuanshan said with a laugh.
"Usually called spiders or crawlers—automated programs that fetch webpages."
Ye Rudai glanced at him and pouted slightly.
"You know everything! This stuff just came out!"
"Eh, just been paying attention to internet stuff.
That's all."
Su Yuanshan thought to himself,
Not only do I know this, I even know you have a mole under your ribcage, you prefer sleeping on your left side, you like stealing blankets at night, you're not afraid of being tickled but you can't stand your neck being touched...
"Anyway," Ye Rudai continued,
"I think that as the internet grows, and as webpages multiply, being able to accurately find the content you need will become crucial.
So the ability to immediately locate relevant information—that's going to be key."
"I totally agree," Su Yuanshan said.
"But..." he hesitated, frowning slightly.
"Right now, China's internet ecosystem is too immature.
There aren't enough websites or data samples to analyze."
"And accessing foreign networks is too slow."
"That's why President Xi suggested that after developing my algorithm,
I should do a one-year exchange program in the West.
He said he could help arrange something with UPenn."
Ye Rudai blinked at him.
"What do you think?"
Su Yuanshan lowered his head slightly, looking at their intertwined fingers, and smiled.
"Just a year. No big deal.
You're not going anywhere."
Ye Rudai breathed a tiny sigh of relief, then smacked his hand lightly.
"Who said I'm tied to you?"
Su Yuanshan froze for a second—then burst out laughing.
"Say it again in dialect," he teased.
"...Not tao to you yet," she muttered shyly.
"Exactly!" Su Yuanshan grabbed her tightly, pulling her into his arms.
He gently breathed in the scent of her hair and laughed out loud.
"This is exactly the feeling I missed."
Ye Rudai struggled a little but, after hesitating for a second, she finally gave in—
then pinched him hard at his waist.
"Ugh... yep. Still the same feeling."
—Indeed.
Even though their identities had changed, even though life itself had rebooted...
She was still the same wife who would roar and bluff and pounce at the slightest provocation.
Not even her little catchphrases or habits had changed.
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