Algorithm system

The instructor’s tricksProfessor Zhang put his glasses back on, tapping the desk rhythmically with his fingers. His gaze had already drifted to the window, which was as black as ink.

”I’m almost 60 this year. I started working in the late 80s, early 90s. That was truly a... a time of scarcity.

Unlike now, everyone wants to lose weight.

Back then, to improve my meals, I often had to buy a few catties of fat and ask the cafeteria cook to render it into lard. I’d keep it in an enamel tin. After getting my meal from the cafeteria, I’d scoop out a spoonful and drizzle some soy sauce on it. It was delicious even with plain white rice.”

Lin Yuan didn’t understand what his mentor’s reminiscences about the past had to do with finding computing equipment. He just listened quietly.

”Later, I... I heard from a senior colleague about a way to improve my meals. Guess what it was.”

Lin Yuan wasn’t familiar with life in the 90s; he hadn’t been born yet. So he casually replied, ”Raise some chickens and ducks yourself?”

”I actually did think about that method back then, but to raise chickens and ducks, you need something to feed them. Many of the chickens and ducks raised by ordinary people back then were let loose in the wild to forage. How could a group of us living in the teachers’ dormitory raise them?

However, if we were really craving something, we would also find the College of Agriculture to conduct joint research.”

Joint research? Lin Yuan imagined it: teaching ducks to write code? And then, because the ducks couldn’t write code, they’d be stewed?

Professor Zhang recalled the past, a faint glow appearing on his face, ”Later, my senior colleague told me we could ’take food from the enemy.’”

”Huh? What do you mean ’take food from the enemy’?” Lin Yuan was confused.

”Back then, many of us young university teachers were future scholars. We still had some opportunities for external exchanges.”

”Going abroad for exchanges?”

”No,” Professor Zhang waved his hand, denying it, ”It wasn’t that easy to go abroad in that era. Embassies and consulates, as well as some foreign-funded organizations, often held events. They would invite us over to discuss academics, and then close the doors to talk about democracy, human rights, and freedom.”

”So?” Lin Yuan seemed to understand something.

”I always went for the tea breaks.” Professor Zhang unconsciously became animated, ”Hey, I’ll definitely take you to some events in the future, and you’ll understand then. Tea breaks are when a group of people have a meeting together, no matter what the reason for the meeting is. You can’t just chat, you have to prepare some food and drinks.

Whether in our country or abroad, there’s a habit of eating and drinking while chatting.”

”So, Teacher, you went just for the food and drinks at that time?”

”Uh... you can’t put it that way. You know, our country was poor back then. Foreign countries were very happy to work on young intellectuals like us. I was disgusted by their brainwashing, and since I couldn’t fight back directly, I just ate to get back at them.

We liked to go in winter, wearing a big coat, which made it easy to bring some things back.”

Lin Yuan weakly interjected, ”Consuming enemy supplies?”

”Exactly, exactly.”

”The Empress Dowager has already paid?”

Professor Zhang slapped his thigh, ”Your summary is spot on!”

”I didn’t summarize it.”

”What? I haven’t told this story to anyone in many years. Those guys back then shouldn’t have spread it around, so how do you know? If you ask Li Youcai, he’ll definitely deny it to death.”

”Ah? Dean Li was also involved?” Lin Yuan asked in surprise.

”Are you kidding? How could he be left out of something like this? You still haven’t answered me, how do you know?”

”I don’t know.”

”Then why did you say you didn’t summarize it?”

”Please wait, I’ll show you something.” A moment later, Lin Yuan opened a video.

”Brothers, it’s time to eat again!” With this shout, Professor Zhang took Lin Yuan’s phone and quickly became engrossed.

A few moments later...

Professor Zhang humorously remarked, ”I didn’t expect our cause to have successors.”

”So, Teacher, you mean for me to apply for computing resources from foreign organizations?”

”Uh... as far as I know, from some unofficial channels, I’ve heard that...” Professor Zhang added enough prefaces, ”certain foreign NGO-like organizations, under the guise of open source and free provision of scientific computing resources, engage in illegal activities of collecting data from other countries. So, as your teacher, I plan to resume my old profession and test the waters for you.”

Lin Yuan hadn’t expected his mentor’s solution to be the ”North America wild-foraging route.” He was even more surprised that after searching fruitlessly, the answer was in a short video he casually scrolled through while relaxing.

But after a brief thought, Lin Yuan felt there was a risk involved, ”Teacher, doing this, after all, has the suspicion of being a grey area, right?” He left out half a sentence: This is much more serious than forging his own admission letter earlier, isn’t it?

”What are you afraid of? A group of us were taken in for questioning by the National Security Bureau back then, and we still passed the organization’s investigation relying on our unwavering loyalty to the motherland and the nation. If you are upright, you don’t need to fear a crooked shadow.”

”You were even arrested?”

”If you walk by the river often, how can your shoes not get wet? But people, as long as they do things, will leave traces. The organization is reasonable and believes in internal democracy. After the investigation is clear, there’s nothing to worry about.”

”And then the teachers continued to freeload?”

”Well... I did as you said, but I always felt that Li Youcai became a bit mysterious after that. I asked him, but he didn’t admit it. But from his sudden change from an academic path to an administrative path later, I feel there’s more to it...”

Indeed, Lin Yuan heard echoes of ”Lurk” in that.

”Yu Zecheng?”

”Something like that. All right, you go back first, I’ll try to look into it.”

So Lin Yuan decided to listen to his mentor and go back to wait for news.

Lin Yuan had checked the price of an H100 GPU on JD.com; it started at around 200,000 yuan. So, the matter of computing equipment was not something Professor Zhang could solve by simply dipping into his own pocket.

Lin Yuan always felt a bit bad about letting his mentor, at his age, do something like this. If he really got caught again because of this, it wouldn’t look good at his age. But Lin Yuan himself was a bit cowardly; he hadn’t thought about doing it himself. He was also afraid of getting into trouble because of it.

”Teacher,” Lin Yuan stopped and walked back, ”How about we just forget about it? I don’t necessarily have to do my project.”

”What? Are you afraid that one day you’ll meet your teacher and me across iron bars?”

Lin Yuan didn’t speak, which was an implicit acknowledgment.

”What are you afraid of? I haven’t been messing around for decades for nothing. You don’t need to worry about me.”

Lin Yuan regretted having come to his mentor for a moment. He couldn’t bear to let his teacher take the blame for a problem he brought up, so he gritted his teeth, ”Teacher, I’ll do it. I’ll go look for these kinds of NGO organizations.”

”You?” Professor Zhang thought for a moment, ”It’s better if I do it, to avoid suspicion. The situation now is different from our time. Back then, those of us who weren’t keen on going abroad had already shown our attitude through our actions. But now it’s different; the situation is more complex. You are still young. Go back.”

”Teacher, you’re old now and can’t take the trouble. I’ll worry, but don’t worry. Even if something really happens, as you said, if you’re upright, you don’t fear a crooked shadow.”

Lin Yuan’s expression was firm. Professor Zhang considered for a while and couldn’t help but nod slightly, ”Alright then, young people should always have some courage. If anything really happens, I’ll vouch for you.”

Soon after, Lin Yuan left his mentor’s office.

He was still a bit bewildered.

Coming back from his mentor’s office this time, it felt like a double script-killing game: North America wild-foraging plus ”Lurk.”