Chapter 5 — Reborn From A Call

I turned off the phone, pushed open the laboratory door, the code on the screen was still waiting for me. Outside the window is a sunny April day in Edinburgh, sunlight filtering through the sharp peaks of Gothic buildings, falling on my keyboard. My life was finally on track. And all of this has just begun.9Google's acquisition negotiations came faster than expected. The next semester had just begun, professor Tran Duy Minh called us into the conference room, with a serious look on his face that I had never seen before. "Google officially made a purchase offer, our multilingual emotion recognition project is valued at twenty-three million pounds." A series of cold air inhalations rang out in the conference room. The professor looked around, his eyes landing on me. “Khuong Hu, you are the main developer of the core algorithm module. According to the contribution ratio, your stock dividend is about one million two hundred thousand pounds.” My mind was blank for three seconds. One million two hundred thousand pounds. Converted to yuan, more than ten million. I was twenty years old, sitting in a conference room in a foreign land, hearing a number that was enough to change my life. The doctoral student patted my shoulder: "Khuong Hu, very good." I smiled and said nothing. In my head, the urgent voice of my future self appeared late at night more than a year ago. "My twenty-two year old self, please, don't delay yourself any longer for anyone." This time, I did not disappoint her. Don't depend on yourself either. News of the purchase spread quickly. The official page of the University of Edinburgh posts thematic articles. The headline is “College student participates in project acquired by Google, setting record for youngest core member of the academy”. The article has my name and photo. Wearing a lab coat, standing in front of the server room, smiling confidently and leisurely. This article was republished by domestic technology media. It was later reposted by the official account of the old school. After that, appeared in the status lines of Lam Chau and To Uyen. Tieu Chau sent me a screenshot, in the voice message laughing until he almost lost his breath: "Khuong Hu, you should see it quickly! You're on the official account of your old school!" "The comment section is full of praise for you! There's also someone who mentioned Lam Chau's name and asked him if he regrets it!" "Lam Chau put a status line that only saw three days ago ha ha ha ha!" I can enter the house." I heard this news and felt strangely calm. From the moment I pressed the "confirm admission" button. Our lives went in two completely different directions. That evening, a strange number called. At first I didn't want to hear it, but the registration number displayed was the city of our university. After a bit of hesitation, I answered the phone. "Hu Hu, it's me." It was Lam Chau's voice. Much older than a year ago, carrying a fatigue and cowardice that I had never heard of on him. "I saw the news." He said, his voice dry. "I don't know what to say." I remained silent, waiting for him to continue. "I know I don't have the right to say these words, but I really regret it." His voice began to tremble. "I was blind that year, I shouldn't have treated you like that." "Lam Chau." I interrupted him, my voice calm as if reading an experiment report. "What do you want to say by calling?" The other end of the line was silent for a long time. Then he said something that made me feel both wild and sad: "Can we still start again?" I laughed. Not joking, but actually finding it funny. "Impossible." I hung up the phone and dragged that number to the block list. Outside the window is

Edinburgh night scene, thousands of brightly lit houses stretching among the hills, the shadow of the castle in the distance quietly towering under the moonlight. I stood in front of the window, suddenly wanting to return a phone call to myself. Tell her, you did it. 10Five years later. I was twenty-five years old, standing on the top floor of an office building in London's financial district, with a panoramic view of the Thames River outside the ground-level window. Google's stock dividends plus profits from Thinh Nguyen fund became the first capital for me to start my business. I founded my own AI investment firm, focusing on incubating and investing in early-stage technology projects. The first year, investment in three projects, two projects increased five times. The second year, the company's valuation exceeded one hundred million. The third year, my name appeared on Forbes' list of Europe's elite under thirty. Twenty-five years old, starting a business with nothing, assets exceeding hundreds of millions. Everyone says I'm a genius, lucky, the darling of my time. No one knows, all of this started with a phone call from the future. That afternoon, I finished processing the final investment proposal in the office, my assistant knocked on the door and walked in. "Boss Khuong, there is someone downstairs who wants to see you, without an appointment." "Who?"