Zhang Heying and Li Qianye were particularly happy to see their relationship deepen. Li Qianye replaced their weekly meetings with "talk times", where the couple each took turns with Pei Yueran or Li Chuanmo and spent some time discussing with them.
Li Qianye almost always talked about relationships with his son. Li Chuanmo had heard so much about romance, how to properly date, how to understand your own feelings and the importance of being proactive, that he wondered why his father had not yet published a book on the subject by now.
Li Qianye was a true professional.
With his mother however, Li Chuanmo was almost always at the recieving end of tirades. The first meeting they had together, Zhang Heying lambasted him about how he was the one delaying her from having a daughter-in-law and becoming a grandmother for the second time.
Li Chuanmo: "...."
Madam Li, aren't you getting ahead of yourself?
Li Qianye mostly talked about random topics with Pei Yueran—about life, work and the experiences and lessons he had learnt over time. She enjoyed their time together very much.
On her part, Zhang Heying took on the role of a confidant to Pei Yueran, learning more about her and showing genuine interest in her as a person. She also gave advice whenever they spoke about love and romance, sharing and drawing lessons from stories of her own relationship with her husband.
Pei Yueran was always looking forward to their time together. She sincerely felt drawn to Zhang Heying, this elegant matriarch that sometimes looked like a demure young lady, while at other times behaved like a strict, no-nonsense Lady of the house.
She had become a motherly figure to her.
The days passed by in that fashion, until some weeks later.
They were working as usual in the study when Li Chuanmo's phone rang.
It was Jiang Philip, and he was calling because there was a problem with the software they were developing.
*****
The day was going swimmingly for Jiang Philip at first. His morning toast did not burn, his investment in the stock market was appreciating, and best of all, his mother had not sent another barrage of texts threatening him to settle down and give her grandchildren.
The day was his day of good fortune. Or so he thought.
Until his computer started sending alarm signals to his phone. By the time he rushed into his computer room, he could see a huge red sticker on the monitor, signalling that his firewall had been breached.
He shouted a swear word as he started to tackle the attacker. His computer had been hacked, and it was not a small breach of security. Viruses kept popping up one after another.
The software that was on the verge of release had been hacked, and he was exploding with frustration. He and Li Chuanmo had been fixing every vulnerable part of the software, and it was almost perfect.
Now they had been dragged backwards.
He didn't want to think about the adverse effects this event would have on the company and on Li Chuanmo. He knew about the issue with the Board of Directors and the fact that they would not let go of any chance to question Li Chuanmo's competence.
He eventually eliminated all the viruses and started repairing the firewall, but the damage had been done by then. The information had been stolen.
He called Li Chuanmo immediately he had a chance catch his breath.
"Mo, our software has been attacked. And it's a serious attack this time."
Li Chuanmo went rigid for a moment before springing into action.
"Have you blocked the attacks now?"
"Yes. I'm also trying to repair the firewall. More than that, the main problem is what the hacker would do with the stolen information. I wanted you to be prepared. Maybe they are planning something as we speak.
"Don't worry about that. We will handle things as they come. For now, let's repair the firewall and fix any bugs."
Pei Yueran could hear most of the conversation and she was very worried. She knew he had poured so much into the project, so it pained her to know that they had run into problems.
He gave Pei Yueran a look, and she nodded in understanding. They suspended the project they were working on, and Li Chuanmo started working on the firewall as well.
Just as they finished repairing it, Gong Anwei called from the company. The news of the software being hacked was all over the internet, and the reporters have been calling the company non-stop in order to confirm the information.
He was calling to ask if they should schedule an urgent press conference. Li Chuanmo told him to hold off on scheduling any until he gave express orders. He was working on fixing the damage and didn't want to be disturbed.
The firewall was repaired and strengthened after a few hours, but Li Chuanmo turned to the problem of the stolen information itself.
He had a number of guesses concerning who the attacker was, but his topmost guess was very worrying.
If it was the person he was thinking, then they had to modify the software as soon as possible, because he was sure that there will be several pirated versions of it on the market soon.
That person usually hacked for fun, but he might have been contacted to do this by an insider, which would be devastating for the company.
He and Jiang Philip had a tacit understanding of the severity of the situation, so they worked nonstop. Fortunately, Li Chuanmo already had plans of changing some parts of the software, as he had been inspired by the recent events.
The AI technology —to be released under the brand name GOLEM— was a multifunctional technology that was essentially created to work as an individualized personal assistant.
The original version was fundamentally a chat bot that could hold adept conversations with users and obey voice prompts and commands, no matter how complicated. This was the version that had now been hacked.
It was not that there were no similar technology apps on the market, but the degree of accuracy was incomparable. In addition, the level of secrecy that enshrouded the GOLEM increased the anticipation for it and made competitors desperate.
In actual fact, the main reason Li Chuanmo kept it so tightly under wraps was because he was not satisfied with the product so far. He felt something more could be done, but he lacked that last piece of inspiration.
Since Pei Yueran's accident and need for care however, he had gotten a few more ideas.
Now was the time to put them into action.
Li Chuanmo shared his ideas with Jiang Philip and Pei Yueran, who was still with him in the study.
Basically, he wanted them to shift focus from the accuracy of the software and rather emphasize the advantage of its multifunctionality. He also wanted them to increase the range of functions.
Instead of just holding conversation and obeying voice prompts, he proposed that they make it able to analyze the information given and proffer professional solutions to problems —health issues especially, and be able to respond to the mood of the user.
It was not yet a reality at the time Pei Yueran was attacked, but once it got on the market, he hoped many people would benefit from it.