Chapter 1313: Past Events Like Smoke

Seeing the excitement on He Yuanjiang's face, Ye Chen hurriedly explained, "I'm sorry, Professor He, I didn't graduate from Stanford."

He Yuanjiang asked in confusion, "Then how did you know that the redwood tree I drew is the one on the Stanford University emblem? If you didn't have a deep understanding of Stanford, you shouldn't be able to remember the pattern on the emblem so clearly, right?"

Ye Chen did not hide it and said earnestly, "My mother did indeed study at Stanford back then. When I was a child, I was fortunate enough to accompany her to visit Stanford."

"So that's it!" He Yuanjiang nodded slightly. "I see you are only twenty-seven or twenty-eight this year. Your mother's age should be about the same as mine, right?"

Ye Chen nodded. "When I was born, my mother was twenty-six. Thinking about it, she would be fifty-four this year."

He Yuanjiang pondered for a moment and said, "Fifty-four, that is one year younger than me. It is very likely that we were in the same class, or in the classes just before or after mine. May I be so bold as to ask, what is your mother's name? Perhaps we even know each other!"

Ye Chen hesitated for a moment, and said with some sadness, "My mother passed away many years ago. It is better not to mention her name."

As soon as Ye Chen finished speaking, He Yuanjiang was already dumbfounded!

He looked at Ye Chen, so shocked that his voice trembled, and asked, "Ye Chen... you have the surname Ye... then your mother, is her surname An?!"

Ye Chen could not help but be stunned, and exclaimed, "Professor He knew my mother?!"

He Yuanjiang suddenly became excited and said, "Are you really Chengxi's child?!"

Hearing the two words "Chengxi" suddenly, Ye Chen's eyes were instantly filled with tears.

An Chengxi was his mother's name.

This name had been in his heart for many years, but for so many years, this was almost the first time Ye Chen had heard someone mention it.

His mother's surname was An, the An of peace, health, and happiness.

And the two words "Chengxi" in her name were taken from a sentence in Sima Qian's *Records of the Grand Historian: Biographies of General Li*: "Peaches and plums do not speak, yet a path forms beneath them."

Its literal meaning is that peach trees and plum trees do not speak, but because they bloom with beautiful flowers and bear sweet fruits, people spontaneously and actively walk to them, and a path is trodden beneath them.

Its true meaning is to metaphorically describe a person who is sincere and self-disciplined enough, and possesses a flawless character, so they will naturally move others, attract others, and be loved and admired by people.

Because Ye Chen's mother was the eldest daughter of his grandfather, and also the most favored one, the old master had high hopes for her, which is why he gave her such a profound name, An Chengxi.

As soon as He Yuanjiang saw the tears in Ye Chen's eyes, he immediately confirmed his guess. He stepped forward, grabbed Ye Chen's hand, and said with red eyes, "Ye Chen, the two of us met more than twenty years ago! At that time, you were still very young. Your mother took you to Stanford and Silicon Valley, and my wife and I accompanied you the whole time. However, there were many other people accompanying you at that time, so you might not have much of an impression of me."

As he spoke, he suddenly thought of something and said excitedly, "My wife even held you back then! Do you still have any impression of that?"

Ye Chen shook his head and said apologetically, "I'm sorry, Professor He, it's been too long, I really don't have any impression."

As he spoke, he asked, "Professor He, were you and my mother classmates?"

"Yes!" He Yuanjiang nodded and said with emotion, "We were classmates for several years, and the relationship between us was also very good. When I was pursuing my wife back then, it was your mother who helped me deliver the love letter."

Ye Chen asked curiously, "Professor He, can you tell me about my mother? I know nothing about her experiences before she married my father."

He Yuanjiang sighed, "Your mother was a big celebrity at Stanford back then! Not only was she the Chinese female student with the best grades in the history of Stanford University, but she was also the president of the Stanford Chinese Students Association and the initiator of the Stanford Internet Venture Capital Fund. Many of the top high-tech companies that are now in full swing in Silicon Valley were all started step-by-step with your mother's funding back then..."

Speaking of this, He Yuanjiang could not help but sigh, and said with a bit of melancholy and regret, "Your mother was truly a powerful woman who dominated both Stanford and Silicon Valley back then..."

"Not only was she beautiful, elegant, and knowledgeable, but her personal ability was extremely strong, and her family's strength could be described as wealthy enough to rival a nation!"

"The key is that I have only seen your mother in my life who was so wealthy, yet could be so hardworking and create such huge achievements..."

"Back then, all of our Chinese classmates, including those self-righteous white classmates, were overshadowed in front of your mother..."

Speaking of this, He Yuanjiang sighed, "Back then, there was a saying circulating at Stanford that among the many entrepreneurial elites in Silicon Valley, at least one-third of the men were your mother's admirers. This sentence sounds like an exaggeration, but in that era, your mother's name was almost known to everyone in Silicon Valley. Everyone respected her and admired her very much."

Ye Chen was actually hearing about these things regarding his mother for the first time.

When his mother was studying at Stanford and investing in Silicon Valley, Ye Chen had not yet been born.

And after Ye Chen was born, his mother gradually became his father's helpmate. Therefore, in Ye Chen's memory, his mother was not the image of a business elite.

Moreover, Ye Chen knew very little about his mother before he was born. His mother was low-key and never talked to him about these things.

Now hearing what He Yuanjiang said, Ye Chen was also very interested and asked, "Professor He, do you know anything else about my mother?"

He Yuanjiang said earnestly, "That would be too much... three days and three nights wouldn't be enough to finish..."

Speaking of this, He Yuanjiang's expression could not help but dim, and he sighed, "After your mother had the accident in Jin Ling back then, dozens of us from the alumni association chartered a plane overnight to rush to Jin Ling to find you. I was among them at the time, and many of your mother's classmates from Stanford back then also came together. Although I am a native of Jin Ling, I mobilized all the connections I could mobilize in Jin Ling at that time, but I couldn't find your whereabouts."

"Later, more than 300 of us from the Stanford Alumni Association, as well as nearly 100 of your mother's close friends in the Silicon Valley venture capital field, worked together to search for your whereabouts all over the world. We searched for ten full years, but there was no result. Where have you been all these years?"

Ye Chen did not expect that after his parents had the accident, his mother's classmates and friends had actually searched for him for ten years.

While moved, he could not help but sigh and say, "Professor He, actually, I have been in Jin Ling all these years."

After saying that, Ye Chen explained to He Yuanjiang about Tang Sihai hiding him in the welfare institute.

He Yuanjiang could not help but sigh, "I really didn't expect that you had been in Jin Ling all along..."

Ye Chen asked him, "Professor He, do you know my father?"

He Yuanjiang shook his head and said, "When your father was dating your mother, he never had any contact with us. We only knew that your father was the young master of the Ye family in Jingcheng, but we didn't know more details. When your parents held their wedding in Jingcheng, my wife and I were originally planning to come to attend, but something happened in the United States at that time, so we had to change our plans temporarily."

As he spoke, he could not help but sigh, "The United States and Huaxia are too far apart after all. If I remember correctly, after your mother returned to the country with your father to get married, until she had the accident in Jin Ling, I only saw her three times in total. The last time was when she took you to Stanford..." ===== CHAPTER 1314 =====