tkworld Chapter 41 A Phone Call
Chapter 41 A Phone Call
One evening in mid-January, Su Chen finished his work for the day and prepared to leave the office.
While he was packing his things, he saw his phone screen light up—a missed call from a number labeled "Mom".
Su Chen paused for a second.
This number calls once a week, usually on Sunday night. Today is Thursday.
Calls at unusual times mean something's wrong.
Su Chen called back.
"Hello, Mom."
"Xiao Chen, did I disturb your work?" A gentle, middle-aged woman's voice came from the other end of the phone, with a hint of cautious probing.
"No, I just got off work. What's up?"
"It's nothing serious... It's just that your uncle mentioned it when he came over a couple of days ago, saying that your company seems to be doing quite well now? He saw some reports online."
Su Chen paused slightly. The long article from Hardcore Innovation had spread more widely than he had expected—even his relatives back in his hometown had seen it.
"Hmm, it's alright. Much better than before."
"That's good, that's good." The mother's tone revealed an undisguised relief, but she was also afraid of appearing too concerned and making her son uncomfortable. "Are you... coming back for the New Year?"
Su Chen remained silent for two seconds.
New year.
Nearly ten months have passed since his rebirth, and he has not returned "home" even once.
After inheriting this body's identity, Su Chen maintained a polite yet distant attitude towards the body's mother. He knew he wasn't the original "Su Chen" and was afraid that getting too close would reveal his true identity—besides, he genuinely didn't know how to play a role he had never had before.
In his previous life, Su Chen was an orphan who grew up in an orphanage without parents or siblings.
In this life, Su Chen has a mother who lives alone in his hometown—a small town in Hunan.
After the original owner's father passed away, he left behind shares in Hongyuan. The mother never inquired about the company's affairs, only calling once a week to confirm that her son was still alive.
This attitude of not disturbing, not questioning, and not demanding left Su Chen with a complicated feeling—as if he owed something, but didn't know how to repay it.
"I'm coming back," Su Chen said. "I'll be back for the New Year."
There was a brief silence on the other end of the phone.
"Really?" The mother's voice clearly fluctuated, but she tried hard not to appear too happy.
"Really. I'm going back two days early."
"Then I'll tidy up your room beforehand... I'll prepare whatever you like to eat."
Su Chen opened his mouth. He didn't know what the original owner of this body liked to eat.
"Do anything, anything is fine."
"How can that be? You haven't been back for almost a year." The mother's tone carried a slight hint of reproach, but mostly barely suppressed joy. "Alright, alright, I'll prepare everything myself. Just come back when the time comes."
"good."
After hanging up the phone, Su Chen sat at his desk without moving.
It was evening in Shenzhen in January, and darkness fell early. In the distance, the streetlights in Longhua District were already all lit.
In his previous life, he didn't have the concept of "going home for the New Year." After the orphanage closed, he entered society, and for him, the Spring Festival was just a holiday—there was no home to go back to, and no one was waiting for him.
Now someone is waiting.
Su Chen leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes for a while.
He wasn't sure if he could play the role of "son" well. But he decided to give it a try.
After all—this body's mother has been waiting for almost a year.
One afternoon in late January, Su Chen received a phone call from an unknown number.
"Excuse me, are you Mr. Su Chen, CEO of Hongyuan Intelligent?"
"It's me. May I ask who you are?"
"I am Chen Hongyuan from the College of Engineering at South China Agricultural University. My research focuses on plant protection machinery and precision agriculture."
Su Chen quickly searched his memory—South China Agricultural University's College of Engineering ranks among the top five in the domestic agricultural machinery field. And "precision agriculture" is precisely the core application direction of plant protection drones.
"Hello Professor Chen. May I ask what brings you here?"
"I recently saw the article about you on Hardcore Innovation Network. To be honest, I don't usually pay much attention to business reports. But your crop protection line caught my attention—especially the flight path coverage algorithm for irregularly shaped fields."
Su Chen sat up slightly.
"I've been researching agricultural machinery for thirty years," Chen Hongyuan said in a steady voice, speaking slowly and with the characteristic phrasing of a scholar. "In recent years, I've shifted my focus to agricultural drones. The biggest bottleneck I've encountered is flight control—the general-purpose solutions on the market perform poorly in actual farmland operations, especially in the irregularly shaped fields of the hilly areas in the south."
"The flight route planning scheme you mentioned in your report, if the data is accurate, then it precisely solves a problem that our lab hasn't been able to solve for three years."
Su Chen made a judgment in his mind—this professor wasn't there to be polite; he was there to verify something.
"Professor Chen, the data is accurate. The prototype has already completed multiple rounds of field testing in Hunan. If you are interested, I can arrange for you to come to Shenzhen to see our technical solution, or we can visit you in Guangzhou."
"No need to travel back and forth," Chen Hongyuan said. "There's a new agricultural machinery technology seminar in Guangzhou next week, and I have a presentation to give. If it's convenient for you, come and attend, and we can talk in person."
"When?"
"Next Thursday morning. In the academic lecture hall of the Engineering College of South China Agricultural University. Attendees will include people from the Provincial Department of Agriculture, representatives from several large-scale farmers, and two or three agricultural machinery companies. They're not large in scale, but they're all people who genuinely get things done."
Su Chen quickly assessed the situation in his mind.
This wasn't a commercial event—it was an internal academic seminar. There weren't many attendees, but each one was a key player in the crop protection field.
If HY-AG's flight control solution can gain the approval of an expert of Chen Hongyuan's caliber in such a setting, its significance far exceeds any commercial media report—because it represents a dual endorsement from both academia and agricultural applications.
More importantly, Chen Hongyuan has been researching agricultural machinery for thirty years. The farmland operation data, crop models, and spraying standards accumulated in his laboratory are invaluable resources that Su Chen could not obtain in the virtual disassembly laboratory.
If a long-term technical cooperation relationship can be established with Chen Hongyuan, the productization speed of HY-AG will be greatly accelerated.
"Professor Chen, I will definitely be there."
"Okay. Bring your flight route planning proposal with you then, and it would be best if you could demonstrate it live. I'd like to see actual data, not just a PowerPoint presentation."
"No problem. I'll bring a prototype and complete test data."
"Okay. See you next Thursday."
After hanging up the phone, Su Chen immediately went to the technical department.
Zhang Lei and Xiao Chen are debugging the new firmware version of HY-AG.
"Zhang Lei, we're going to Guangzhou next Thursday. There's a plant protection technology seminar at South China Agricultural University, and Professor Chen Hongyuan invited us to attend."
"Chen Hongyuan?" Zhang Lei raised an eyebrow. He had clearly heard the name before, "The Chen Hongyuan who does precision agriculture?"
"Yes. He's very interested in our flight path planning algorithm. We need to bring a HY-AG prototype for a live demonstration."
What content will be demonstrated?
"Full coverage spraying of irregularly shaped fields. Using real farmland coordinate data, flight paths are planned and executed on-site. This allows the experts present to witness the results firsthand."
Zhang Lei thought about it.
"Time is a bit tight. The prototype still has a few minor stability issues—its correction speed in crosswinds of level three or higher is still a little slow. If it's windy on the day of the seminar…"
"Is a week enough time to resolve this?"
Zhang Lei gritted his teeth: "That's enough. Xiao Chen and I will work overtime to finish it."
"Great. This seminar is very important to us—if Chen Hongyuan approves of our plan, it's equivalent to receiving endorsement from both academia and agricultural applications. That's more effective than any media coverage."
Zhang Lei nodded and immediately turned around and returned to his workstation.
Su Chen watched his retreating figure, then glanced at the few young engineers in the technical department who were working with their heads down.
Six people.
Six months ago, there were two people.
This team is still small, young, and has a lot to learn. But they have already built a prototype agricultural drone that successfully flew in a rice paddy in Hunan.
Next week, they will take this machine to a group of professors who have been researching agricultural machinery for decades, and use actual flight to prove that Hongyuan's flight control solution is not just numbers on a PowerPoint presentation—but a technology that can actually be implemented in muddy fields.
Su Chen returned to his office and added a line below "Q1 Core Objectives" on the whiteboard:
January 26 – South China Agricultural University Seminar.
Then he sat down and turned on the virtual disassembly lab.
The technical teardown of the Mavic Pro has been underway for nearly a month. He needs to complete the teardown before the seminar, because after returning from Guangzhou, he and Zhang Lei will need to fully dedicate themselves to the architecture design of the F3.
There's never enough time.
But Su Chen had already gotten used to this rhythm.
From the very first day of his rebirth, he has been racing against time.
It's been ten months. He's still running.
And the path ahead is becoming clearer and clearer.