The next day, Deng Xiaoqi went to Starlight with great enthusiasm.

She left the plans for the outing entirely to Lin Miaomiao to discuss with CEO Jiang.

She wanted to practice with Starlight's vocal coach for a while.

This was to ensure she could showcase the right tone and breath control during the recording.

Last night, Deng Xiaoqi and Lin Miaomiao had chatted all the way.

They walked all the way from Huaihai Road to Country Garden before Deng Xiaoqi took a taxi back to Binjiang Garden in Pudong.

Lin Miaomiao felt like her worldview was somewhat shattered.

Her best friend was rushing to become Brother Cheng's fifth or sixth woman, yet she couldn't bring herself to talk her out of it.

Or rather, she didn't actually find anything wrong with her friend's logic.

This left Lin Miaomiao very puzzled; where exactly had things gone wrong for her to have such thoughts?

Was it because Brother Cheng was truly that good?

Ever since this thought entered her mind, Lin Miaomiao had been feeling quite irritable.

For the next few days, Chen Cheng stayed at Huaihai Road.

During the day, he acted as a nanny at zen's R&D center, and at night, he enjoyed himself at Huaihai Road.

He didn't know who arranged it, or if the women had discussed it among themselves.

Every night, three of them would come to Huaihai Road for dinner.

Chen Cheng was happy to see it happen and naturally didn't say much.

Today, Ye Zhenzhen and Qin Shi were there, and Lucy said she would come by later.

After dinner, Chen Cheng, Ye Zhenzhen, and Qin Shi went out to walk the three Cats.

The Huaihai Road area was lush with trees, making it very suitable for evening strolls.

Qin Shi walked ahead cheerfully, leading Orange, Dan Dan, and Cat.

Ye Zhenzhen held Chen Cheng's arm, talking as they walked.

"I'm planning to go out on my own."

"What?"

Chen Cheng was stunned for a moment by Ye Zhenzhen's words.

Ye Zhenzhen stopped and looked at Chen Cheng with a determined gaze, "I said, I'm planning to resign from the research institute and strike out on my own."

"Setting up your own lab and starting a business?"

Ye Zhenzhen nodded, "To be my own boss. Since I'm spending my own money on experiments anyway, I might as well work for myself."

Chen Cheng resumed his pace and continued walking, asking, "Do you have a direction yet?"

"AI drug discovery~"

Ye Zhenzhen stated her idea without hesitation.

"Using AI to evaluate targets, predict drug efficacy, and even generate drug molecules."

Chen Cheng smiled, "That's a very good track."

After saying that, he made a joke, "It seems our Zhen Zhen has recently cleared her Ren and Du meridians."

"Ren and Du meridians?" Ye Zhenzhen paused, "Maybe. I have indeed felt smarter over the past six months."

"Especially my memory; there's a significant improvement compared to last year."

"Before, I'd often forget the data in papers after reading them. Now, after reading something a few times, it's hard to forget what I've memorized."

The corners of Chen Cheng's mouth curled up slightly. With her progress on Photographic Memory exceeding 60%, how could her memory not improve?

Chen Cheng smiled, "The only way I can help you is with money."

Ye Zhenzhen shook her head, "No!!! Regarding money, I've discussed it with Old Ye, and he'll support me with 50 million as an angel round of financing."

Saying this, Ye Zhenzhen chuckled, "Actually, I want you more."

Chen Cheng's face immediately fell, and he shook his head, "No way. I'm already too busy as it is; I'm not going to join some wretched pharmaceutical company of yours."

Ye Zhenzhen had read his papers and knew Chen Cheng's current strength in the AI field.

However, the second generation of mining tycoons was truly impressive.

When others started businesses, they had to beg and plead with investors everywhere just to raise a few hundred thousand or a few million.

Ye Zhenzhen, on the other hand, just had to ask, and Old Ye prepared 50 million for her.

"..."

Ye Zhenzhen hadn't expected Chen Cheng to have such deep resentment.

In fact, this resentment all came from that damned code.

Now, Chen Cheng felt like he was tied to the chariot of the AI large model.

He couldn't even get off if he wanted to.

He had originally intended to take advantage of a few opportunities to make a fortune in the stock market, earning enough money for the rest of his life.

Then he would stop.

Buy some houses, some land, and live a retired life.

But the system rewarded him with over a million lines of some damned code.

In a moment of excitement, he created zen ai.

Not only had he already poured nearly three billion US dollars into it.

But it had also freaking tied him personally to zen ai.

Whenever the R&D team encountered an unsolvable problem, he, the person who understood the model best, had to step in.

Rather than a reward, it was more like torture.

He couldn't even accompany Anna while she was pregnant.

Now, since Anna was a foreigner and couldn't come to China, she could only video call Chen Cheng every couple of days.

Ye Zhenzhen thought for a moment, "Then being a consultant should be fine, right?"

"A consultant is fine, I can do that." Chen Cheng felt a sense of relief.

Being a consultant meant that if they had a problem they couldn't solve, they'd come to ask him. Whether he solved it or could solve it would depend on his mood.

The corners of Ye Zhenzhen's mouth curled up, "That's more like it."

Chen Cheng chuckled, "Fifty million is a bit small-scale. Since you're starting late, you need to go big and move fast."

"How about this: I'll invest another fifty million for you in the name of my private investment company."

"Also, just a heads-up, Jingtai and Recursion, two early starters in the industry, have both been raising funds lately. And the scale of their financing is very large, around 300 million dollars each."

Ye Zhenzhen was a bit tongue-tied, "That much?"

Chen Cheng nodded, "In frontier fields right now, various investment funds and giant corporations are pouring in massive amounts of money without hesitation."

"If you want to stand out, you have to find a niche to penetrate."

"If needed later, you can have some deep cooperation with zen."

"There will be a lot of repetitive work on large models, so there's no need to waste time re-developing those parts."

"You can also use zen's data center; just pay the standard fees."

The corners of Ye Zhenzhen's mouth curled up, "That's exactly what I meant when I said I wanted you. Hehe, aren't I clever?"

Chen Cheng: "..."

"For zen ai's Series C and D rounds, I will raise funds on a large scale and distribute shares."

"In the future, I might not be the only one with a say in zen."

Ye Zhenzhen was stunned, "Aren't you not short of money? Why distribute the shares?"

Chen Cheng shook his head helplessly, "A family-owned company cannot become a global enterprise."

"And I need allies. Once zen's products are released, there's a high probability of facing sanctions."

"Cutting off the chip supply is a small matter; the real issue is banning my products from being listed overseas."

"This would directly affect the market share of zen's future products and, consequently, its valuation."

"So, this cake must be shared, and it must be shared generously enough to attract heavyweight allies."

"It just so happens that I can also sell some shares during the Series D round to recoup some of the initial investment."

Ye Zhenzhen rubbed her forehead, "Starting a business is so complicated."

Chen Cheng chuckled. This was complicated?

"Do you have a plan for your personnel?"

Ye Zhenzhen nodded, "I've spoken with a colleague from Stanford; he's willing to return to China and start the business with me."

Chen Cheng suddenly thought of someone, "Your idol, Professor Yan Zhengyi, will likely return to China."

Saying this, Chen Cheng chuckled, "However, your little temple might be too small to house such a great Buddha."

Ye Zhenzhen gave him a huffy glare, "How on earth did you convince Professor Li Fei to be your Chief Scientist?"

The corners of Chen Cheng's mouth curled up, looking very proud, "Personal charm. Your brother here is a genius."

Ye Zhenzhen: "..."

"Don't disbelieve it; it really was personal charm. Otherwise, why do you think I'd want to pursue a PhD under her?"

"Her condition for endorsing me was that I had to pursue a PhD under her and become her student and apprentice."

"You know how it is in academic circles; they love that whole mentorship and lineage thing."

"This way, when zen's products are released, it'll bring credit to Professor Li as well."

Ye Zhenzhen was even more speechless, huffing, "Little Orange, you really are lucky."

"Not to mention having so many girlfriends devoted to you, even a lady in her forties or fifties..."

"Hey, hey, hey~ Ye Zhenzhen, stop right there."

"Isn't that slandering someone's reputation? You can't just talk nonsense."

"I know!"

"What? You've provoked so many women, and I'm not even allowed to be a little sarcastic with you?"

Chen Cheng was suddenly at a loss for words: "..."