Chapter 20: Processing the Visa

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Zhou Yun glanced at the time and realized it was too late to go now; he would have to wait until tomorrow.

Early the next morning, he arrived at the Canadian Visa Application Center in Hangzhou, carrying various documents and materials.

He arrived early, and there weren’t many people in the hall.

“Number B027, please proceed to window 3,” the staff announced.

Zhou Yun looked at the number in his hand—B027.

The Canadian Visa Application Center in Hangzhou was outsourced, so the staff were all Chinese, mainly responsible for collecting materials and inputting information.

“Hello,” Zhou Yun greeted politely as he handed over the required documents.

The staff nodded, took the materials, carefully examined them, and entered the information into the computer.

After asking a few questions, Zhou Yun answered truthfully.

“All your documents are quite complete, but I notice you’re going abroad to attend an academic conference?”

“Yes, is there a problem?”

“I noticed there isn’t an invitation letter from the conference in your materials.”

“That’s because the conference organizers need time to finalize the results, so the invitation letters haven’t been issued yet.”

The staff nodded. “Personally, I trust you, but since this is an outsourced visa center, the real review isn’t done here. Without an official conference invitation letter, there’s a chance your application might be rejected. We’ve encountered this situation before.”

“Is that so? But all my other documents are complete. Could they really reject the visa just because of one invitation letter?”

The staff looked a bit helpless. “Not necessarily, but it’s possible, especially for Canadian visas...”

“Please wait a moment.” Zhou Yun was encountering this issue for the first time and decided to consult his professor.

[Professor, the staff here said that without a conference invitation letter, the visa might be rejected.]

In his office, Deng Yonghua, who was writing materials, glanced at his vibrating phone.

Seeing Zhou Yun’s message, he frowned slightly, as if recalling some unpleasant memory.

He snorted coldly and replied.

[Don’t worry, submit it as it is. If it’s rejected, I’ll handle it.]

These foreigners really think their country is a prize everyone wants, huh? As if everyone is eager to stay there.

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After receiving the message, Zhou Yun put down his phone and nodded to the staff.

“Submit it as is. How long will it take approximately?”

“All right. Without expedited service, it takes about a month for a decision. Expedited processing requires an additional fee and takes one to two weeks. Would you like to expedite?”

“No, a month is fine. I can wait.”

Hopefully, everything will go smoothly.

...

In the lab, Zhou Yun was writing code.

Though the sequence prediction model was initially complete, to put it into practical use he needed to write a full system. Since returning from the visa application, he had been busy with this task. With AI assistance, it took him three days to nearly finish it.

Calling it a system was a stretch—it was essentially a script that predicted the real-time trends of gold ETFs and executed trades based on thresholds Zhou Yun set. Since gold allowed T+0 trading, there was room for frequent operations, known as “doing T.”

Excluding fees, although each trade only earned a fraction of a percent in profit, the program’s automatic trading frequency was much higher than normal, allowing for a considerable daily return.

The exact amount was untested as the program was new, but past simulated trades showed a success rate above 90%. Whether it earned much was another matter, but it was certainly stable.

“Senior, the program is ready. Do you want to try it out?”

He had promised them earlier, but since money was involved, they agreed not to share it externally, accepting full responsibility for gains or losses. Zhou Yun even added encryption to the program so only the version he provided could run.

He would never make this program public, not even a paper version would be uncensored.

At this stage, he wasn’t generous enough to share his money-making method except with a few senior students who had helped him.

“Great! This means no more daily losses,” one exclaimed.

“Send it over, send it!” others eagerly said.

A few senior students were excited, especially Qiu Yan, who often lost money.

Although there was a verbal agreement, since they hadn’t known each other long, Zhou Yun had hired someone to draft a confidentiality agreement for some legal binding.

“Here’s a confidentiality agreement. I hope everyone understands.”

They were momentarily stunned but quickly caught on.

“Understood, understood. When money’s involved, seriousness is warranted.”

Without hesitation, they all signed it.

On the second floor, the weekly meeting of the Computer Science Department was underway. As vice dean, Deng Yonghua was naturally present.

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“With finals approaching, everyone must adhere strictly to exam discipline. The president emphasized this repeatedly at the recent meeting. Please remind your students to avoid any cheating!”

“Also, teachers should expedite project acceptance and promptly report any outstanding research achievements, especially those undergoing promotion reviews. Please take these matters seriously.”

Dean Lin scanned the room and nodded slightly before looking at Deng Yonghua beside him.

“Deng, I heard your group recently submitted a paper to NeurIPS?”

“Yes, we just received reviewer comments and have already responded.”

Dean Lin raised an eyebrow in surprise. “Weren’t the scores very high? Why reply so quickly? Wouldn’t it be better to review and check more thoroughly?”

“The student felt it was fine and responded. This paper was independently completed by the student. I only helped polish the paper a bit. Since he’s confident, I have no objections.”

Though Deng Yonghua spoke calmly, the other teachers sensed a note of pride.

It was as if he was saying: My student is so capable, he doesn’t even need my help.

Dean Lin smiled. “Independent work? Looks like our department has found a gem!”

“Indeed, he completed it entirely on his own.”

“That’s impressive! The university won’t hesitate to support such a talented student. Have you applied for research grants?”

“Yes, we have.”

“Good. For gifted students like this, the university will invest heavily. If you face any difficulties, let me know—I’ll find a way to help. Also, the freshman representative for this year’s orientation hasn’t been decided yet. Why not ask the student’s opinion?”

“Thank you, Dean. I’ll ask Zhou Yun.”

Today’s meeting certainly added to Deng Yonghua’s prestige.

Other teachers looked at him enviously. Though they had heard rumors, hearing Deng openly acknowledge it was different.

Why couldn’t they find such students?

But it also sparked some ideas, especially among teachers who hadn’t recruited enough students.

Since there was a talent like Zhou Yun among this year’s freshmen, maybe there were others?

Their demands weren’t high—they didn’t need NeurIPS papers, even a CCFA publication would be acceptable, even a modest one.