King of Technology: A Fresh Start in 1983

That evening, as Zhang Wei entered his home, he saw He Fan looking at him with a smile.

"What's wrong? Why that expression..."

He Fan chuckled: "A letter arrived..."

"Whose is it? Is it Shu Nan's?"

"No, Shu Nan's letters are always in small envelopes, this time it's a big envelope," He Fan continued, keeping everyone in suspense.

"From a school?" Zhang Wei immediately tensed up. "Which university?"

He Fan said slowly and deliberately, "Don't rush, let's talk about the terms first. You should at least offer something in return, right?"

"I don't need much, just that hot pot place outside our yard..."

"No! It's only right for landlords to collect mail for their tenants; I've never heard of charging a separate fee for that."

"Hey Zhang Wei, make yourself clear. Are we landlord and tenant?"

"It's only right for the tenant to pay rent. I've never heard of someone living there for over four years without paying a single penny."

"You said you wouldn't charge me rent, how come you went back on your word..."

He Fan interrupted Zhang Wei, glaring at him angrily: "That's because I didn't treat you as a tenant, much less as my own landlord."

Zhang Wei immediately stretched out his hand: "Alright! Let's keep things separate. Hand over my letter first, okay?"

He Fan tilted his head and sized up Zhang Wei: "Why did I find a brother like you? Wasn't it just so you could do me a favor?"

"A bowl of braised pork belly with baked wheat cake would be fine too! Why are you being so picky?"

"You old miser, it's such a waste of your talent that you never did business in your life."

After He Fan finished speaking, he turned around and went back to his room, pulling a large envelope out from under the covers.

Seeing this, Zhang Wei's heart raced, and he withdrew his outstretched hand, no longer daring to accept it.

He paused, then pointed to the envelope: "Which university is it?"

"Cornell," He Fan said calmly.

"Cornell? Also in New York State!" Zhang Wei exclaimed.

He Fan glanced at the address on the envelope: "That's right, Ithaca, a small town near New York City."

"I've never been to the United States, and even if I wanted to, I couldn't."

"It should be not far from downtown New York City, probably about the distance from Tiananmen Square to Tsinghua University."

Zhang Wei's palms were sweating, and his voice trembled slightly: "Do you think they were accepted or rejected?"

"Hmm... I reckon if I get rejected, it'll just be a thin sheet of paper, but this letter looks pretty thick."

"Fine, you can take it apart for me, you're lucky... Hey, don't tear it with your hands, carefully cut it open with scissors..."

Just as He Fan was about to pull out the few sheets of paper from the envelope, Zhang Wei hurriedly said to him, "Wait! Just look at the first one, you don't need to look at the whole thing."

"Just tell me, what's the first letter of the first sentence? Is it C or T?"

Hearing Zhang Wei say this, He Fan solemnly covered most of the letter with his hand, slowly moving it aside bit by bit: "It's C!"

"Haha, I did it! I finally got my acceptance letter! Cornell wants me!"

Zhang Wei lunged forward without hesitation, snatched the letter from He Fan's hand, and stared at it closely: "It really is! The first sentence is 'Congratulations!'"

"If it starts with 'Thank you,' it's definitely been rejected."

"That's great news! I'll congratulate you too, you and Shu Nan will be reunited soon," He Fan said to Zhang Wei with a smile.

Zhang Wei walked quickly to the world map hanging on the wall and soon found New York State in the United States.

Unable to contain her joy, she exclaimed, "Cornell University is in Ithaca, which shouldn't be far from NYU Tandon's Brooklyn campus. This is truly a blessing from heaven!"

After saying that, Zhang Wei turned to He Fan and said, "I'm sorry about earlier, I was in a hurry, please don't..."

"I'll treat you to hot pot with lamb. Invite Zhan Yiling and Zhao Lin too..."

He Fan interrupted him with a laugh: "Hey! I was just kidding."

"Logically, we should be happy for you, and for you and Shu Nan."

"But now that you're really leaving, why can't I be happy at all? I feel a little reluctant to see you go..."

After saying that, He Fan's face was filled with dejection and blankness.

Zhang Wei, immersed in joy, didn't hear what He Fan was saying at all.

He had returned to the world map, his eyes still fixed on it, his fingers gesturing across it…

He Fan couldn't help but smile wryly, then raised his voice and asked, "Hey, so what are your plans for the next step?"

Zhang Wei was slightly taken aback, finally being pulled back to reality from his beautiful daydreams.

After a moment of contemplation, he countered with, "He Fan, tell me, is it easier to get a passport without quitting your job, or is it easier to get one after quitting?"

"You've come to the right person."

He Fan couldn't help but recall his past experience applying to study abroad, and continued, "No matter what method we take, we have to talk to Teacher Li first..."

"There are only two possible outcomes: either they'll agree to let you apply for a passport, or they'll agree to let you resign, right?"

Zhang Wei, without receiving confirmation from He Fan, continued, "I think President Chen will let me go..."

...

The next morning, Zhang Wei took the opportunity of getting hot water to visit Li Mingyuan's office twice.

The door was closed both times, and there was no one inside.

Li Mingyuan and Zhou Yuguang share the same office.

Chen Jianghe hasn't returned from Shenzhen yet, so he can only look for them.

As the afternoon was drawing to a close, Zhang Wei walked to Li Mingyuan's office door again and finally heard voices coming from inside.

He nervously recited his prepared lines silently once, then breathed a sigh of relief and stood at the door.

Inside the room, Li Mingyuan and Zhou Yuguang were excitedly discussing something.

As soon as Li Mingyuan saw Zhang Wei, he immediately called out, "Xiao Zhang, what's up? Come in quickly."

Zhang Wei walked in stiffly and stood next to the desk.

Before Li Mingyuan and Zhou Yuguang could speak, he said in one breath, "Engineer Zhou, Teacher Li, I'm here to resign."

"I have received an acceptance letter from Cornell University and I plan to pursue a master's degree there, or I may directly transfer to a doctoral program."

"I, Shu Nan, have been waiting for me over there for several years. Please approve my application, teachers."

After saying that, he placed his resignation letter on his desk.

Zhang Wei's sudden action caught Li Mingyuan and Zhou Yuguang off guard.

Li Mingyuan was the first to snap out of his daze, and he slammed his fist on the table in anger.

"Xiao Zhang, why resign? Can't we just let Shu Nan graduate with her master's degree and come back?"

"Hey Lao Li, don't be in such a hurry!"

Zhou Yuguang stood up, pulled Zhang Wei to the sofa, and pressed his shoulder to make him sit down.

Then he went over and closed the door, saying, "Xiao Zhang, which university did you just mention?"

Cornell University.

Zhou Yuguang nodded: "I visited that school when I was a visiting scholar."

"It's a good school, and a good place. Ithaca is beautiful, and Cornell University is located on a hilltop..."

At this point, he immediately turned to Li Mingyuan and asked, "Hey, Lao Li, do you remember what I told you when I first came back that year?"

...