Ye Shaohua didn't sit on the sofa; instead, she leaned against its edge, balancing her laptop on her legs. Her slender fingers moved across the keyboard with nimble dexterity and astonishing speed, leaving almost a trace of afterimages for those nearby to see.
She was dressed in ordinary casual clothes, her face free of heavy makeup. Normally unassuming, she became dazzling whenever her fingers touched the keyboard, compelling people to avert their eyes.
Not only was Ye Ke stunned beyond belief, but even the previously irritated Gu Jingyan couldn't help but turn his gaze to Ye Shaohua. His dark eyes shimmered with a bright light.
After typing in the code, Ye Shaohua wished she could whistle in triumph, were it not for the fact that she was in the hall.
She squinted slightly and hit the enter key. Immediately, a 100% progress bar appeared on the computer screen, the universal sign of success.
In other words, not a single symbol was incorrect in all the code Ye Shaohua had input.
Gu Jingyan lifted his eyes, his gaze burning with intensity as he looked at Ye Shaohua. He was, in fact, from an Imperial City laboratory, blessed with exceptional coding talent. You could say his sole interest in life was programming.
In the original story, it was Ye Ke's talent in IT that caught Gu Jingyan's eye.
Now, witnessing the outstanding Ye Shaohua, he stood up excitedly, "Perfect! Absolutely perfect!"
He was well aware that this particular program was exclusive to him, meaning it was impossible for Ye Shaohua to have seen it beforehand. The only possibility was that Ye Shaohua was a photographic memory genius perfectly suited for programming.
Ye Ke's face had become rigid to the extreme. If possible, she would have preferred Ye Shaohua never returned to the Ye Family.
However, reason triumphed over her envy. More than anyone, she understood Gu Jingyan's personality, so she had approached him through Fu Jiachen. She never imagined this moment would nearly amount to making a bridal gown for Ye Shaohua.
Still clinging to a shred of rationality, Ye Ke fiddled with the corner of her clothing, "Sister, didn't you only learn how to play Go at our grandfather's house? I never heard you knew coding."
"I never learned," Ye Shaohua set the laptop on the sofa and picked up her water cup again. At Ye Ke's words, she smiled, "But I have a good memory, the kind that never forgets."
As she was about to head upstairs, Gu Jingyan stepped forward, intent on stopping her. His eyes were still shining, "Miss Ye, I'm Gu Jingyan, a member of the Imperial City research institute. I would like to formally invite you to join our organization. Trust me, you're a natural at this."
Gu Jingyan wasn't surprised to hear of her photographic memory in other areas, but this was coding, with no discernible patterns, just complex sequences, and still, Ye Shaohua managed to type all that code flawlessly!
Such terrifying talent was unheard of to Gu Jingyan, and he could only imagine how bright a star she would be in the programming world!
Gu Jingyan's hands were trembling with excitement.
What he didn't anticipate was Ye Shaohua's immediate rejection upon hearing his offer.
Gu Jingyan was taken aback and wanted to say more, but Ye Shaohua pulled at her collar and headed upstairs, nonchalantly leaving him with three words, "Not interested."
She didn't know that after those three words, Ye Ke's anxiously suspended heart finally settled.
Yet, when she saw that Fu Jiachen's gaze also drifted upstairs, seemingly lost in thought, Ye Ke's head throbbed with sudden pain.
Gu Jingyan initially planned to chat with Ye Ke, but at that moment, his phone rang. Glancing at the number, his face turned grave, and he quickly excused himself and hurried off after a brief goodbye.
Fu Jiachen, caught off guard, had never seen Gu Jingyan like this before. What kind of person could make such a call, evoking that expression from someone of Gu Jingyan's status?
But he didn't dwell on it, as his attention shifted to Ye Ke's pale face, "Ake, Ake, what's wrong with you?"
Just then, Ye Ke finally opened her eyes, and for some reason, Fu Jiachen felt her gaze was much more world-weary than before.
Ye Ke looked at Fu Jiachen, seemingly startled for a moment, and after a long pause, she spoke, "Jiachen, our engagement was arranged by our parents before I was even born. Back then, my father's business wasn't as big, and it should have been my sister who was betrothed to you."
"What are you talking about?" Fu Jiachen's brow furrowed deeply upon hearing Ye Ke's words.
However, Ye Ke didn't want to elaborate to Fu Jiachen at that moment. Claiming tiredness and needing to rest, she went straight upstairs, leaving Fu Jiachen to depart full of suspicion.
Upstairs, Ye Ke stood by the window, watching Fu Jiachen's retreating figure. Her gaze flickered, and after a long while, she laughed, "Reborn, I've actually been reborn…"
Reborn before everything had happened.
Right then, the butler knocked on her door, "Young Lady, the mistress says she won't be coming back tonight and asks you and the young lady to eat first."
Remembering the butler's words, Ye Ke recalled Ye Shaohua, her half-sister from the same father. In her past life, when Ye Shaohua returned to the Ye Family, everyone looked down on her, and Ye Ke himself never took her seriously, effectively ignoring her. Yet, who would have expected the low-profile Ye Shaohua to become a national Go champion and marry into the Gu Family, securing the position of a high-ranking official's wife?
The entire Ye Family came to rely on Ye Shaohua, while Ye Ke, once acclaimed as a talented lady of Ning City, failed to make it into the national laboratories and ended up marrying Fu Jiachen, living an average merchant's life in Ning City.
But now she was reborn, ten years in the past, just as Ye Shaohua had returned. At that time, Ye Shaohua hadn't taken the college entrance exam, hadn't gone back to Go, and had no ties with the Gu Family.
With this thought, Ye Ke smiled. The timing was perfect; she could connect with the Gu Family before Ye Shaohua did.
At the moment, the most important thing was to dissolve her engagement with Fu Jiachen.
Her memory was exceptionally clear after being reborn; she remembered almost every significant event that would happen in the next few years, including programming projects that would become globally popular, financial fluctuations, and several rapidly growing commercial giants.
Although Ye Shaohua had claimed to have a photographic memory, which was different from her previous life where she hadn't shown any notable prowess in programming, Ye Ke was not afraid.
She had the world's head start and would have top-notch software from ten years in the future. How could Ye Shaohua's memory compete with the achievements of the Hacker Alliance's ten years of research?
Ye Ke knew her era had arrived. In this day and age, no one could produce software programming techniques that surpassed those she would soon reveal.
She would use these to gain entry into the Imperial City laboratory and expand the Ye Family globally. She aspired not only to be Mrs. Gu but also to stand at the pinnacle of the world, truly earning the title of a genius.
As for Ye Shaohua, Ye Ke clenched her fists; in this lifetime, with her here, Ye Shaohua would not only be barred from marrying into the Gu Family, but she wouldn't even let her touch Go ever again!
Ye Shaohua, without Go, without the Gu Family, what do you have to fight me with?