America 1982

Under the bright sunshine, Sophia got out of the car with a smile on her face and stood on Stanford's Sunset Boulevard. She turned around a few times with light steps, and then looked at Tommy who got off the car: "Stepping onto Stanford's land, it seems like Immediately I returned to that time, and I felt my whole body relaxed. The speed of time passing is really shocking. It has been six years since I left Stanford, and it has been almost three years since you graduated."

"When people remember the past, they always deceive themselves subconsciously, selectively delete some memories, and then beautify some memories. For example, you, my dear Ms. Sophia, the time you remember, if I remember correctly, was neat and tidy at that time. Tiandu was yelling at me, asking why I didn't pay you, and saying you were tired of working part-time at Actor." Tommy sat down on the front of Sophia's girly pink sports car, and walked out from there. He took out a cigarette from the pocket of his floral shirt, lit it, and said with a smile:

"Friendly reminder, it is precisely because of this boring period that makes you gnash your teeth and get extremely bored, and make money that many people will never make in their lifetime, that you can come back to beautify your memories in a very idle and boring way. Think about it, if you didn't I kindly picked you up. What are you doing now? Maybe you are working part-time and busy taking the judicial certificate, or you have passed the judicial examination and are working as an assistant in a law firm or a remote county prosecutor's office. You do it every day. Not to mention beautifying memories, I don’t even have time to change sanitary napkins, so I can only put another pad on top of the old one in a hurry..."

"Tommy~ can't you give me some room for imagination?" Sophia stopped remembering the good old days, frowned slightly, and interrupted Tommy in disgust.

Tommy held the cigarette in his mouth and raised his hand and waved it a few times in the direction of the Stanford campus, and then continued: "This is a fact. Delia's life was like this when she first entered the law firm as a female lawyer. She was ordered around by her boss. I didn’t even have time to change my own thing, so I had to go buy Trojan, erotic underwear for the other party and the prostitute.”

In the distance, a girl with very neutral makeup and clothing saw Tommy waving, and then drove a golf cart towards the two of them.

Sophia hesitated, but finally couldn't hold it back and retorted: "Then why don't you give me an example of Otilia? Otilia told me that her job at that time was very easy."

"Girl, because her father had assets of 400 million at that time, and her boss was her godmother." Tommy straightened up from the front of Sophia's sports car, smiled at the approaching golf cart and opened his arms to greet it.

The person who came was a member of the Stanford University fraternity ONE. The student organization that Susan founded with Tommy's financial support at Stanford University is now very famous. Although it cannot be compared with those large fraternities that have been in existence for decades, it is They are no longer those unknown people who were established this year and disbanded next year.

"Good morning, Tommy, thank you for showing up, allowing me to be kicked out by my tutor again, driving this thing to take you around the campus, hurry up and get in the car, there is still a lot of work waiting for me." The neutral girl sat down He greeted Tommy coldly from the driver's seat of the golf cart, then tilted his head and motioned for the two of them to get in the car.

Tommy got on the golf cart and introduced this cool girl with short hair dyed silver to Sophia: "Quinn Bates, a 1988 graduate of Stanford University, the first vice president of ONE fraternity, majoring in computer science. He comes from a small place in the countryside, his family is extremely poor, and he is very ambitious. He is exactly the same as me except that he doesn’t like ineffective communication, his chest is flatter than mine, and he doesn’t have a golf club.”

"One more thing, Susan and I slept together, but you didn't." The cool girl named Quinn replied to Tommy without looking back.

"Well, that's cool. Hi, I'm Sophia." Sophia greeted the other party, and then lowered her voice to Tommy: "Normally, you wouldn't know such a high-quality talent, and I feel like the other party doesn't want to know you either."

"She had no choice. She shared a mentor with me. At the same time, she was the only woman in my mentor's working team at Stanford at this time, and she was also the one with the lowest academic qualifications. Although she didn't look feminine, as you can see It looks like she doesn’t have breasts, but she is indeed a woman. My mentor has been instilled in him a habit by his mentors since high school, that is, why the work team always retains a female member, because she looks good and can help. Everyone pours coffee and runs errands.”

"So..." Sophia blinked in confusion: "Is this why I am the only female colleague among your colleagues?"

"No, there are some differences. You don't need to look good. It's just running errands." Tommy laughed.

Sophia said dissatisfiedly: "I will resign when I go back. Anyway, I have earned enough money to retire and enjoy life."

"If you're not joking, can you leave me a phone number?" Quinn, who was driving, still looked like that, but after hearing Sophia's words, he asked.

"Of course, so you are willing to introduce me to a new job?" Sophia responded happily, looking at Tommy showily, silently opening her mouth and mouthing to Tommy:

See, bastard, I'm not worried about losing my job if I leave you.

"No, I mean, I want to introduce a few fraternity alumni to apply for the position you vacated." Quinn gave an answer that almost drove Sophia crazy:

"Although this bastard is as misogynistic as our mentor, the old guy, and has given me the urge to strangle all the team members with cables many times, but I must admit that they are excellent, and I must learn as much as possible before killing them. Their nourishment.”

Sophia couldn't help but poke her head to the front row and looked at this cool girl sideways: "You can change your tutor, why do you have to endure their discrimination? Or why don't you complain to the school about gender discrimination? The school will not condone them, the law school My classmates will also be willing to stand up for everyone.”

"Because they are strong enough to make me work hard to hypnotize myself and ignore the discrimination. The school will also condone them because they are strong enough. If I complain, I will be transferred. If it is serious, I will be compensated. If they study at another university, they will be retained by Stanford University. I even think that if the law school causes trouble for such trivial matters, Stanford can cancel the law school." Quinn looked at the fork in the road ahead and asked Tommy:

"Go to see the old guy directly, or go to ONE to see the other little Tommy fruits that are still growing? Let me remind you, the old guy is losing his temper and scolding the unlucky guy on the long-distance phone until he is bloody."

"Is the SSD okay? If possible, I would like to go to the SSD and have a drink first. Maybe by the time I finish drinking, the professor will have calmed down." Tommy heard his professor losing his temper and simply asked about the situation of the SSD.

Quinn took out a cigarette and held it in his mouth, then grabbed a Zippo and scratched it against his fair thighs on his denim hot pants, letting the Zippo light up a flame. He lit the cigarette with the flame and took a puff before continuing. said:

"They probably don't have time to entertain you today. They are busy working with the BDP Golden Society to hold a veterans' charity donation competition to see who can raise more donations. Several SSD members working in the supercomputing center have asked the old guy for leave. Participate, I think you may be more interested in the Blonde Society, because I heard from those SSD guys that the Blonde Society’s fundraising method is a big breast giveaway.”

"The Golden Club has not made any progress. It cheats every time with this dirty selling trick, relying on its body to trick men into donating money. With a minimum donation of ten dollars, you can go in and see your breasts... After watching it for so many years, men have long been tired of it. Yes." Tommy said with disdain after hearing what Quinn said.

After a few more seconds, he said to Sophia: "Remind me to go to BDP before six o'clock in the evening. I...either want to see the young girls playing tricks, or I simply want to donate ten yuan to improve the current situation of the veterans."

"You can donate it to SSD." Sophia glanced at Tommy and reminded her knowingly.

Tommy turned his head and looked at the Stanford campus scenery outside: "Isn't that a waste of ten dollars? If you go to the Golden Club, you can at least get warm hospitality from many young girls for ten dollars. What can I get with ten dollars at SSD? A bunch of idiots handed me, an alumnus, a beer and then wrote their names in the register to say thank you? They wouldn't say a word to me during a competition like this. No matter how much money I donate, as an alumnus, It will only be counted as a donation of ten yuan. Do you expect those bastards to give me a smile for ten yuan?"

"So, do you want to go to ONE? Some of those first-generation Stanford students should still have an impression of you and regard you as an idol."

"Forget it, let's wait until Susan finds out the bad things about those actors and come back when she has time. She founded ONE, not me." Tommy shook his head:

"Go to the Stanford National Supercomputer Applications Center to meet the professor directly. The last time I saw him was last year, when Jason and I were invited to attend the dinner where the Board of Directors of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineering (IEEE) honored him as an academician and life member."

"Stanford National Supercomputer Application Center? What institution is that?" Sophia asked in surprise when she heard this long list of names.

As a student who graduated from Stanford, she had no impression of this seemingly huge institution, and she had only graduated five or six years ago.

"How long has it been since you returned to Stanford?" Quinn asked, holding a cigarette in his mouth.

Sophia said: "Six years? After graduating from law school, I went to places like New York and Los Angeles to work for Tommy as his stand-in to ensure that he could continue to complete his studies at Stanford."

"In the past five or six years, there may have been little change for other universities, but at Stanford, especially in the computer science major, the changes can no longer be described as astonishing. The National Supercomputer Applications Center was supported by a grant from the National Science Foundation of the United States in 1987. Initiated by leading professional universities, it is a national scientific research institution. This institution exists to discover and conduct research on the foundation of wide area networks and the World Wide Web, and to improve and guide the development direction of future computer systems. There are only five in the entire United States and two in California. , one is located at the University of Southern California, and the other is located at Stanford." Quinn introduced to Sophia while driving:

"Tommy didn't tell you this?"

Sophia shook her head: "After graduation, he was busy renovating his house and setting up a TV network. He rarely talked to people about his previous campus life at Stanford."

"Before he graduated in 1987, or during the four years he studied at Stanford, he participated in a lot of computer and Internet-related research work at Stanford University, otherwise he would not have enjoyed the treatment of me coming to pick him up." Quinn's lips curled up Got warped:

"So you don't know that his and my mentor is Winton Cerf, right?"

"Do I need to know?" Sophia looked at Quinn seriously and asked, "I mean, I really don't know."

Quinn had a smile on his face: "No, not everyone knows him, but the only topic I use to brag to outsiders is that I work at Stanford University and am a student of Winton Cerf and his team. member."

Sophia looked at Tommy in confusion, and Tommy explained:

"Our mentor, Winton Cerf, graduated from Stanford University with a major in mathematics. He is now a tenured professor of computer science at Stanford University and more than a dozen other universities. He is the kind of genius in the true sense. A genius in high school. As a high school student, he was invited by NASA to participate in the software development work related to the F-1 engine in the Apollo program. In 1974, he wrote the world's first TCP protocol. He is respectfully called The Father by those of us who are latecomers, the father of the Internet. ."

"Quinn is an undergraduate student. She is asked by him to fetch coffee and run errands every day. This is a trivial task that she derides as sexist. It is a job that countless doctoral students from other prestigious universities cannot ask for, so she has actually been showing off that she is very favored. , not everyone is qualified to pour coffee for Professor Joseph, do you understand?"

Sophia was not too shocked when she heard the name of the other party's mentor. She was already immune to most gossips. After all, she personally participated in the establishment of Tommy Actor Company in college, and she also heard Otilia and Stephen talk about soup. This bastard Mi served as the interim prime minister of a country when he was in high school, forcing the United States to pay debts.

After spending too much time with the asshole, another high school student’s legendary experience of participating in the American Apollo program to help program the engine does not sound so incredible.

But she asked Quinn suspiciously:

"He doesn't have a high degree of education. He only has a bachelor's degree in computer science. I mean, why didn't that genius professor choose a graduate degree or a Ph.D.? Why choose Tommy? His grades are excellent, but his ranking is not number one."

"He just said that I was the woman with the lowest academic qualifications around my tutor. What he didn't say was that before he graduated, he was the man with the lowest academic qualifications around his tutor." Quinn flicked the ashes from his cigarette, held the steering wheel with one hand, and leaned on the back of the chair. said:

"A higher degree is certainly better, but it is not a necessity at Stanford University. You know Jason, right? Jason didn't even get a diploma, but that doesn't prevent many Stanford professors from accepting his employment to conduct related research work."

"We're here." After Quinn finished speaking, he motioned for Sophia to look at the buildings ahead.

Sophia looked over and saw several buildings with red and gray exterior walls in front of them. They looked no different from the red scientific research buildings commonly seen at Stanford University.

Over there, Quinn had parked the golf cart along the roadside, then took out a work permit from the armrest box and threw it to Tommy: "Put it on, so you don't wander around and get caught by the guards and waste my time." Go and explain to them that in the two years since you graduated, the guards have been replaced and the security level is now the same as that of the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center. Don't expect them to know you."

Sophia glanced at the work card that Tommy took in his hand. It was very simple in shape and had a photo of Tommy Hawke when he was younger a few years ago. The following is an introduction to his identity:

Tommy Hawke, a researcher at Stanford's National Center for Supercomputer Applications.

Issued by: Winton Cerf, Chief Director of the National Center for Supercomputer Applications, Stanford.

Standing in front of the voice interactive screen set up outside the gate of the five-story building, Tommy Hawke, wearing a floral shirt, beach shorts, and flip-flops, put on his work ID, took off his sunglasses, and showed his face to the screen. A bright smile: "Hello, Stanford family, I'm home."