Shao Chengzhi sat opposite Ling Ran, and saw Ling Ran slowly stirring the coffee with a stainless steel spoon, and the milky milk and dark brown coffee fused in circles. Ling Ran didn't speak, her eyelids drooped, her long eyelashes trembled slightly, there was a faint flush on her snow-white skin, and there was a smile on her delicate lips. Shao Chengzhi seemed to see that Ling Ran had a bright hook in his heart, and this hook just hooked himself, and he was willing, without regrets or complaints. The only problem is that Shao Chengzhi has no experience in dealing with this kind of scene, and he really doesn't know how he can jump onto this thief ship.

Ling Ran gently adjusted the coffee with a small spoon, then half-raised her eyes, turned her face slightly (so that Shao Chengzhi could stare at her picturesque long eyebrows and beautiful nose bridge), and looked at Shao Chengzhi obliquely, and then slowly raised the coffee cup with an elegant posture and took a sip, and said softly: "You go on blind dates with other girls every month, does Wang Xia know?"

"Of course, all friends know. Shao Chengzhi couldn't help but smile secretly in his heart when he saw Ling Ran pretending to be so obviously pretending, but his demeanor was natural, "However, they also know that I am picky and difficult to find a suitable one, so they wishfully think that I will never find it." ”

"Are you so picky? The doctor of the famous school is not young and beautiful enough, and the daughter of the builder is not mature and enchanting enough. Why, you're looking for Chelsea Clinton. What do you have about yourself? Are you rich, powerful, or good-looking?" Ling Ran deliberately spoke in Mandarin with a southern accent, her voice fluctuating in a tactful tone and a long end note.

Shao Chengzhi couldn't help but smile: "I, a child from the countryside, nothing special." I have no money, I have no power, what do you think? What do you think? Men, with a good-looking face, can't be used as a bank-line-card brush, tall and mighty but can't be used as a door panel, and sweet words can't be used as food. ”

Ling Ran laughed: "Cut, that means what you want, then you still have to pick." ”

"Well, that's not what I said. Although I am only a male toad at the bottom of the well, it does not mean that my ideal is to marry a female toad like me. I was doing inteship at Microsoft, and I had the privilege of having lunch at the same burger restaurant as Bill Gates, and if it weren't for his daughter's young age, I would have wanted to go for it. ”

Ling Ran sneered: "In this way, even Gates' daughter is not worthy of you." ”

"Don't dare, don't dare. Well said, well said. Shao Chengzhi said modestly without changing his face, "Without a male leprosy-clam-toad with lofty ambitions like me, the swan is also lonely." ”

Ling Ran was angry and funny - it was easy to say, and her face was really thick: "You work at Microsoft?"

"No, I was in 2004, and in 2005 I spent two years of summer doing inteship there, and when I graduated at the end of 2005, Microsoft gave me an offer with an annual salary of 70,000 yuan, which is the lowest one among all the company's offers. Of course, the main reason is not the salary and benefits, but the fact that Microsoft's main business direction does not match my major and interest direction, so this company is really not attractive to me. ”

Ling Ran was stunned by Shao Chengzhi's head-splitting information in just a few sentences: "At the end of 2005, the United States (workplace) was still very sluggish, especially for IT, there was almost no opening (job recruitment), did you get several offers? The starting salary of 70,000 yuan is still the lowest!"

Ling Ran went abroad in 2002 and witnessed the overall recession of the US economy after the bursting of the IT bubble in the United States in 2001, especially in the IT industry. It is a myth that a computer science student wants to find a job in the past few years, how many Chinese students dare not graduate because they can't find a job, and they have been studying for 7-8 years for a doctorate, and how many international students who have been working have to apply for Canadian immigration because they have been laid off and cannot maintain their status, but they can't find a professional job after immigration, and they work in supermarkets and restaurants with a master's and doctoral diploma in North America. In this case, this Shao Chengzhi still has intership to do, and he got a bunch of offers after graduation, and he can still pick and choose, and he can still be afraid of the salary

Looking at Ling Ran's surprised appearance, Shao Chengzhi smiled, full of confidence: "I graduated from H (California Institute of Technology, ranked first in the United States in engineering for several consecutive years), and my major is cybersecurity. This direction is still very hot (hot) even if the global IT recession is very hot. ”

Ling Ran was stunned: "Oh, you're from Caltech? Wow, people can't look good, you were so perverted when you were an undergraduate." Ling Ran graduated from the National People's University of China, but her grades were mediocre, so she knew best what it was to stand out in a prestigious school with a lot of elites and apply for a full scholarship for CIT, the most popular major in the school. That is to say, you have to be at least in the top three among a group of perverts who are in the top ten in the province in the college entrance examination, and you can't be more perverted, only the most perverted.

"Well, I had to. I was admitted to the Department of Computer Science of Tsinghua University with the third place in the province. I could have been admitted to the Department of Physics at Tsinghua University, but I wanted to compete for the top spot in the provincial college entrance examination, not to pick a major - at that time, I didn't know what majors were good or bad, and whether they were popular or not. More than ten years ago, in the county middle school of our small county, there was almost no possibility of access to computers. Shao Chengzhi explained: "But that year, there was a private boss in the province who contributed 20,000 yuan to reward the top student in the provincial college entrance examination, and 20,000 yuan 12 years ago, even if the money of every household in the entire village was collected, it was impossible to make up this huge amount." The tuition and living expenses of the four years of college did not add up to that much money, and the family could still use the extra money to build a house and buy farm tools, so I was ambitious, and I was determined to get the third place in the overall score with a difference of 5 points. This is the only time in my life that I have failed, but the lesson is extremely profound, the consequence of not being able to excel in the college entrance examination is that I have to study hard for the next four years, because there is a big gap between the first and second places in the whole grade, and I have to rely on the scholarship to have the book, tuition, food, living expenses for the summer vacation, and the travel expenses to go home for the New Year during the winter vacation. ”

"It's so tragic. Ling Ran couldn't help laughing: "Tsinghua University's undergraduate score is the first, wow, it's really shameless." Is this still human? ”

"Of course not, it's livestock. Shao Chengzhi smiled at Ling Ran, "I didn't know how terrifying it was until I went in." In particular, the results of a semester are not like the college entrance examination, which is finalized, but a mess of big exams and small exams, and homework are all together. In the case of similar IQ, in the end, it is completely a contest of time, physical strength, and perseverance. For this scholarship, I went from the dormitory to the cafeteria for 4 years, and I didn't look at the bulletin board, and I really didn't dare to waste a second. ”

Ling Ran stuck out his tongue at Shao Chengzhi and grimaced: "yes, there is a day when college bullies can only get the first place by studying to death." ”

Shao Chengzhi's heart moved, but he couldn't, so he could only smile at Ling Ran: "There's no way, the reality is too cruel." My hair is small, I am at the same level as my middle school, the 6th in the liberal arts in the province in the college entrance examination, and I was admitted to the Foreign Affairs University of Peking University, and the result is 30 people in the class, 6 college entrance examination champions, and he is the 6th in the province, which is the bottom of the college entrance examination in the class. Later, his academic performance was also the bottom of the class, because he liked social activities, campaigns, speeches, student unions, and almost didn't even get mixed up with the qualifications of the graduate school, but he was a man of the hour, and when he graduated, he actually took the title of an outstanding graduate, and the certificate had four big words written on it: excellent character and learning. So he went to the Beijing Municipal Government to be the pillar of the country."

Ling Ran couldn't help laughing out loud: "The student union cadres who graduated from the Foreign Affairs University of Peking University are not the pillars of the country." ”

"Well, he is. I can't. As soon as I graduated with a master's degree, I went to US imperialism. Shao Chengzhi has never said so much to a girl in the past, "My professional direction is cybersecurity. Actually, I didn't really get into computers until I was in college, but I was particularly interested in online viruses. In my first month of college, I broke the magnetic card phone in front of the dormitory, so that everyone could make a free long-distance call by inserting a meal card - but I didn't get a penny of benefits myself, and I didn't have a phone at home, so who should I call. ”

Ling Ran sighed: "Why don't you break the bank ATM, let everyone insert a meal card and withdraw money at will." ”

Shao Chengzhi couldn't help but smile, leaned closer, and whispered, "If I really want to do this, I can, but I don't have to commit crimes." I'm applying for a green card right now, and if I take my time, I can break into the USCIS database, check how my case is doing, and I can change their decision, but any attack will leave a trace, and I'll definitely get a green card anyway, so there's no need to do that. ”

Ling Ran smiled: "Wow, this is so awesome, so is the person sitting across from me now the future, the world's first-class cyber security expert, or a potential cyber criminal who will be wanted by the FBI?"

Shao Chengzhi retracted his body: "Well, that's the right question. Many of the world's top cybersecurity experts have worked as cyber hackers when they were young and reckless, and many cyber hackers wanted by the FBI have opened cyber security companies and made a fortune after they are released from prison. ”

"That is, they must have a prosperous business, and the company is equivalent to hiring a thief to prevent thieves. Ling Ran smiled.

"Well, there's a shortage of cybersecurity engineers right now. In our industry, we generally work in the company for a few years, and after accumulating some experience, even if the level is not good, we will come out to open our own company, compile anti-virus software, install firewalls for the company, etc., and make money easily. Shao Chengzhi said, "However, my situation is special. I don't make that kind of one-size-fits-all antivirus. My project at CIT was funded by the United States, which was to carry out comprehensive maintenance of a specific mainframe computer system, clean up the garbled code, and repair vulnerabilities to prevent it from being attacked by hackers. For example, the US missile defense system, the Federal Reserve's central computer system, and the trading system of the New York Stock Exchange. In my five years at CIT, I have published a total of 11 joualpapers (professional journal papers) and five patents with my name on them."

This time, Ling Ran was really surprised: "11 joualpapers, 5 patents." Oh my God, you can apply to be a faculty. (University professors, who generally have lower salaries, but stable jobs, are generally the first choice for Chinese students)

"I had a facultyoffer, and the University of California gave me an offer. ”

Ling Ran smiled: "Brag." You haven't even done it, how can you just do faculty. (In the United States, in general, to apply for a university teaching position, you must first have two years or more of postdoctoral qualifications)

Shao Chengzhi stopped and looked at Ling Ran silently for a few seconds, took out his mobile phone, opened it, began to flip through his email, and then handed it to Ling Ran: "Whether you are qualified or not, it's not up to me to decide, the world will use its judging criteria to review your strength." ”

Ling Ran glanced at the email quickly, speechless.

Shao Chengzhi continued: "This offer from the University of California used to make me very entangled, and I knew that being a faculty and getting a tenured position (the United States has a tenured professorship, which is the only tenured position in the United States) is the American dream of Chinese students. However, the offer given to me by the University of California is more than 50,000 a year, and the offer I am now given by this company is 90,000 a year, which is almost double the difference, and I can't resist such a price difference. ”

Ling Ran nodded: "I can't resist either, a difference of 5% is enough for an old beauty to change jobs." ”

"Another important reason is that I am not interested in teaching, I am not very talkative, I am asked to teach others every day, and I have to guide students, my head hurts to think about it, and I am also tired of doing theoretical research, I have lived this life for 10 years, and I have lived enough. Shao Chengzhi said, "I think I prefer to do practical projects in the company, accumulate experience, and seek development after a few years." ”

"Are you starting your own company?"

"Hmm. Shao Chengzhi was noncommittal, his face was expressionless, "I'm not making that kind of general-purpose antivirus software, this kind of work can be done after graduating from a bachelor's degree, at most a master's degree can be done, and I don't need it." I work on large computer systems, and the barriers are relatively high. I haven't thought about it yet. ”

Ling Ran knew, she asked recklessly, the two had just met, and Shao Chengzhi didn't want to lie to her about this issue, nor did he want to elaborate on it. Ling Ran hurriedly smiled softly at Shao Chengzhi: "You know yourself best, and you will definitely choose the path that is most suitable for your own development." ”

Ling Ran's pandering was too obvious, Shao Chengzhi couldn't help laughing, but he still appreciated her deliberate flattery in his heart: She appreciates me, and she is courteous to me.

Shao Chengzhi hesitated for two seconds and told the truth: "Well, after working at the company's headquarters in Silicon Valley for a year, I was sent back to China. Because there are not many people in China who can do this kind of large-scale computer system security defense, the headquarters sent me to be the group leader (project leader), and I was paid 10,000 US dollars. This three-year assignment is a very good opportunity for me, because the company has provided me with a good platform to do business with some large companies in China during these three years, and I will gain experience and network. But after three years, if I am recalled by the headquarters, I will generally be promoted again, and if I don't want to go back to the United States, the treatment will be localized (localized, that is, the salary and benefits should be taken according to the standards of the Chinese branch), so after three years, whether to return or stay, whether to continue in the company or seek another development, depends on the situation, and it is difficult to predict now. ”

CIT graduated, and got a few high-paying offers in the depression of the entire industry, and was promoted to group leader after working for one year, Ling Ran completely understood, no wonder the director of the network center department wanted to introduce his sister-in-law to Shao Chengzhi so enthusiastically, even if Shao Chengzhi repeatedly refused, he had to meet them, because the director and Shao Chengzhi were both peers and business dealings, Shao Chengzhi's ability, he couldn't be clearer, Shao Chengzhi's future, whether he returned to the United States or stayed in China, was actually looming