We agreed not to date, so why are you crying now that I've become the richest man?

At 7:35 a.m. on Friday morning, dormitory 417 was in a flurry of activity.

Ye Chen had arranged his schedule last night to rush to Zhangjiang early this morning to check out the actual machine. However, when he woke up this morning and checked his phone, he found that class monitor Lin Xiao had sent three urgent notices in the class group, emphasizing that the professor would personally check attendance for the 8 a.m. advanced mathematics class. The college was strictly enforcing academic discipline, and no one was allowed to ask for leave without a special reason.

He obtained the college's special approval for flexible attendance by taking advantage of the pilot program for the computer lab management system. Usually, no one would care if he missed most elective courses and regular courses. However, the failure rate for advanced mathematics was high, and the professor who taught it was always serious and rigorous in his studies. He should try to attend such basic courses as much as possible. There was no need to use his privilege as a get-out-of-jail-free card. After weighing the options, Ye Chen changed his trip to Zhangjiang to the afternoon. Now, he had finished washing up, changed into a white shirt and jeans, picked up his coat, and was ready to go downstairs.

Sun Haoyu was stuffing half a loaf of bread into his schoolbag to study advanced mathematics, Lu Wenbo was scratching his hair in front of the mirror, Chen Zhiqiang was squatting by the table tying his shoelaces, and Ye Chen had just walked to the door when his phone vibrated in his pocket.

Ye Chen scanned the caller ID; the call was from Chen Wei, the technical director of Xingchen Software.

He gestured to Sun Haoyu and the other two, indicating that they should go to the cafeteria and buy him some breakfast to reserve a seat in the teaching building. Then he went downstairs alone to the flower bed outside the dormitory and pressed the answer button.

"Hey, Old Chen."

The sound of keyboard clicks filled the receiver; Chen Wei's voice was hoarse from staying up all night, but his tone was filled with excitement.

"Mr. Ye, the first batch of gray-scale interfaces for Green Bean Pod's PC client has been successfully tested. We started rolling out the service at 2 AM. They added a recommended entry point from Star Market to the client upgrade page and mobile connection window. After users confirm authorization, they can directly complete the installation and initial activation."

Ye Chen walked a few steps forward along the flower bed.

"How's the data?"

"It's much higher than expected. From 2 a.m. until now, the Green Bean Pod channel has added 136,000 effective devices. The traffic from the forum and the two games is still growing. Five minutes ago, the total number of installations nationwide just exceeded 560,000."

The domestic Android phone market is still in its early stages, and various internet companies are still vying for entry points in computer browsers and security software. Xingchen Market has already secured 560,000 mobile phone screens.

"What is the server load? After new traffic is switched in, are there any slowdowns or lags on the distribution nodes?"

"It's running normally. As per the plan you provided, we increased the bandwidth by 40% in advance, and load balancing was enabled on both the East China and South China nodes. The peak download speed hasn't even exceeded 70% yet."

Chen Wei paused for a moment, and then heard the soft sound of papers being turned over in the receiver.

"Mr. Ye, there's another matter we need your advice on. When we were screening the test software library provided by Green Bean Pod, we found that 37 single-player card games, wallpaper apps, and e-book apps contained hidden deduction codes. Although users would check the SMS permission when installing the software, it would send subscription SMS messages privately after the software started, deducting five to fifteen yuan from their phone bill each month."

Ye Chen stopped in his tracks.

"How do you explain the mung bean pod part?"

"The business manager has already verified that this batch of software comes from several value-added service channel providers in Guangdong Province. They pay three yuan for each valid installation, and will also return 20% of the subsequent deductions. Green Bean Pod received more than 400,000 yuan in revenue sharing from them last month. Those channel providers contacted our business team this morning and are willing to add another 10%, on the condition that they are kept on the installation recommendation list."

"Remove them from the candidate pool, ban all accounts, eliminate all online access points, hand over malicious code samples to the security team for archiving, and archive scanning records, software versions, and channel communications together. Then send a written list to Green BeanPod, requiring them to remove the content simultaneously."

Chen Wei paused for two seconds, then responded.

"Understood, I'll take care of it right away."

Ye Chen started walking again, passing through the dormitory area, and the outline of the first teaching building appeared outside the shadows of the trees.

"Old Chen, what the Android market lacks most right now is trust. When users download software, they still have to worry about being charged extra, getting crashed, and having their contacts stolen. Xingchen was able to acquire 560,000 devices in a few days, but installation efficiency only accounts for half of that. The other half comes from the clean reputation given by JiFeng.com and users. These software programs can bring in hundreds of thousands of yuan every month. Keeping them will indeed make the bandwidth bill look better, but as long as someone installs software through Xingchen Market and is charged ten yuan without their consent, the credit we have built up will be damaged. What we want to seize is the mobile phone entry point for tens of millions of Android users in the future. Anyone who wants to exchange short-term income for software with hidden charges should go to other platforms to make money. Xingchen will not take this business."

There was a moment of silence on the other end of the phone, then Chen Wei's reply came quickly.

"Understood. I'll have the security team go through the test database again. From now on, any application that sends private text messages, uploads contacts, or forces pop-ups will be treated as high-risk software."

"We need to draft another clean application agreement, clearly outlining the testing standards, removal rules, and the results of this cleanup. Information regarding distributors should be verified by lawyers first, and only made public within the scope of evidence."

"What are the arrangements from the forum's perspective?"

"Contact the moderator of the JiFeng website to invite them to retest, and try to put the agreement and test report on the top recommendation by noon. This inventory clearance can also be turned into a brand promotion."

Chen Wei chuckled twice.

"Understood. This promotional fee is cleaner than taking their money. I'll arrange it now."

The call ended, and the phone screen showed 7:52.

Ye Chen found Lu Yuan's number, edited a text message, and sent it to him.

"I'll get the official test machine for 'Fruit Warrior' ready this morning. I can't leave this morning, so I'll go over at 2 PM to inspect the base package."

Putting away his phone, Ye Chen strode into the first teaching building, with only a few minutes left before class.

Sun Haoyu, sitting in the back row by the window, was craning his neck to look towards the door. When he saw Ye Chen come in, he quickly pushed the meat buns and soy milk he had just bought from the cafeteria towards him.

"Old Ye, who are you holding a meeting with under the tree this morning? I could see you walking back and forth through the window after I bought some steamed buns. If I didn't know better, I would have thought you were the dean of some department."

Ye Chen pulled out a folding chair, sat down, picked up a meat bun, and took a bite.

"I'm helping a friend with some software stuff. But you, you're holding your calculus textbook upside down. Are you going to answer the professor's question while standing upside down?"

Sun Haoyu looked down at the table and hurriedly turned the textbook around. Lu Wenbo chuckled as he adjusted his glasses, and Chen Zhiqiang also lowered his head and pursed his lips.

"I'm just doing some research on inverse functions in advance, what do you know?"

"Okay, the teacher will ask you to go up and solve the problem in reverse later, and I'll applaud you."

When the class bell rang, Sun Haoyu quickly sat up straight, opened his notebook, and pretended to be serious.

After the two long classes ended, it was 11:30 a.m.

Sun Haoyu closed his notebook and stretched.

"get out of class is over, hurry to the cafeteria, or you won't even get a seat."

Lu Wenbo pushed up his glasses and turned to look at Ye Chen, who was packing his things: "Old Ye, are you going out again this afternoon? Want to grab lunch together?"

Ye Chen glanced at his phone. There was still plenty of time before 2 PM when he went to Zhangjiang. He put his pen back in his pencil case, picked up his coat from the back of his chair, and smiled. "Eat, we'll go after we eat. It won't make a difference if we wait a little longer."

The four of them followed the flow of people out of the teaching building and strolled into the nearby cafeteria. It was lunchtime, and there were long queues in front of each window, with a lot of noise.

The group each carried their trays, swiped their cards to order ordinary home-style meals, and sat down at a newly vacated four-person table by the window.

Sun Haoyu, chewing on his chopsticks, mumbled indistinctly, "Old Ye, I've been thinking about this all morning. I'm going to see a movie with Li Meng on Saturday. How do I look in that black hoodie? Does it make me look slimmer?"

"Come on," Lu Wenbo chimed in, "With your size, no matter what you wear, even a hoodie won't hide it. You might as well just wear a sports jacket; at least that will make you look more energetic."

Chen Zhiqiang chuckled to himself, then casually tore off two tissues and handed them to Sun Haoyu to wipe his mouth.

Ye Chen took a couple of bites of rice, then shook his head with a smile and advised, "Just make sure your clothes are clean and neat, don't wear anything too fancy, and use less hairspray, so you don't look like you just came out of a deep fryer."

Sun Haoyu chuckled and scratched his forehead, then quickly took the tissue and said he would try on the clothes when he got back to the dorm.

The group ate and chatted, finishing lunch in twenty minutes.

As they walked out of the cafeteria, the afternoon sun bathed the ground. At the fork in the road between the dormitory area and the school gate, Sun Haoyu and his two companions waved goodbye and went back to their dormitories, while Ye Chen walked through the crowd to the underground parking garage of an office building off campus.

He changed into a casual suit jacket next to the car, opened the car door, got into the black Mercedes-Benz S600, started the vehicle, and drove towards Zhangjiang.