Two days later, Jiang Si took the two little ones to the train station to see Huo Tingzhou off.
Perhaps accustomed to Huo Tingzhou's frequent long trips, the two children were remarkably calm this time, showing no trace of sadness at parting.
As soon as the car pulled into the station square, Suisui and Zhaozhao were already waving their little hands at Huo Tingzhou.
November in the capital was already very cold, and the train station was crowded.
Huo Tingzhou crouched down, tightened the scarves around the children's necks, and kissed each of their little cheeks in turn. "Be good and listen to Mommy after you go back, understand?"
Only after the little ones nodded did he stand up and look at Jiang Si. "It's cold outside. Head back early. I'll return as soon as I finish my business."
Jiang Si nodded. "Alright."
That's what she said, but Jiang Si still watched him enter the waiting room before taking the two children home.
...
After seeing Huo Tingzhou off, life settled back into its usual routine. However, having enjoyed less than two days of leisure, Huo's fourth uncle arrived. He came regarding the facial feature database templates.
Previously, Jiang Si had been busy with the foreign-related hotel project, so these people had been waiting.
Now, hearing that the construction team had entered their winter break and Jiang Si still hadn't given a definitive answer, those people grew anxious.
"My office phone has been ringing off the hook these past few days. They call to ask every other day," Huo's fourth uncle said, having no other choice. "Sisi, think it over. If you have other matters on hand, or want to rest a while longer, I'll help you turn them down. We can discuss it again after the New Year."
Jiang Si thought for a moment and decided to take on the project.
Staying home every day was getting rather boring anyway.
The main reason was also that the client was offering quite a generous sum this time.
Additionally, she wanted to try applying the painting technique her master taught her to the facial feature database templates.
She wondered how much it would improve the results.
Seeing Jiang Si nod in agreement, Huo's fourth uncle acted swiftly, bringing the contract over the very next day.
Seeing the amount on the contract, Mother Huo couldn't help but click her tongue in surprise.
Of course, having seen her daughter-in-law paint, she knew you get what you pay for.
Unable to help much otherwise, Mother Huo could only find various ways to prepare delicious meals for her.
With something to occupy her time, Jiang Si's life became fulfilling again.
Furthermore, all the materials needed for this facial feature database project were provided by the client, saving Jiang Si a lot of trouble.
In the following days, she would unfailingly visit the embassy district every morning to gather information.
Her afternoons were dedicated solely to painting in the study.
Time flew by in the busyness, and in the blink of an eye, over half a month had passed.
Having nearly completed her work and confirmed everything was in order, Jiang Si called Huo's fourth uncle to notify him to come and inspect the paintings.
This was also agreed upon in the contract: the client had paid a fifty percent deposit upfront, with the remainder due after satisfactory inspection.
All payments were settled in foreign exchange, making this deal profitable no matter how you looked at it.
Huo's fourth uncle had full confidence in Jiang Si's abilities.
However, upon hearing that Jiang Si had finished nearly ten days ahead of schedule, the client couldn't help feeling somewhat uneasy.
Before signing the contract, they had specifically inquired and learned that the batch of templates Jiang Si customized for the public security system had taken over fifty days to complete.
Although they had ordered fewer template types this time, with such a significant increase in speed, who knew if she had cut corners or was just being perfunctory with them!
Thinking this, the client representative grew visibly impatient and irritable.
To make matters worse, the translator hadn't arrived yet.
The few people in the meeting room couldn't help muttering a few words amongst themselves.
This custom template order was from Country Y. The two countries had not yet established embassies in each other's capitals at that time, maintaining only a chargé d'affaires level of diplomatic relations.
Perhaps assuming Jiang Si couldn't understand, they didn't deliberately lower their voices.
But they didn't know that Jiang Si's girls' school had always conducted bilingual teaching.
"Sorry to interrupt, but I think I need to offer an explanation." Jiang Si's fluent English quickly caught the others' attention.
"I didn't expect your English to be so good."
The man introduced himself. "My name is George."
"Hello, Mr. George. I am Jiang Si."
Seeing Jiang Si's English was quite good, George also explained the earlier incident. "Apologies, we were just a bit surprised by how much faster the process was this time."
"I understand your concern."
Jiang Si said frankly, "In fact, I could have contacted you ten days later, or found an excuse to deliberately delay for a few days. That would have avoided today's misunderstanding and even made me appear more meticulous and thorough."
George didn't expect her to say that. After a moment's thought, he actually found some truth in her words.
But he was more curious about, "Then why didn't you do that?"
"Because it was unnecessary."
After stating that everyone's time was valuable, Jiang Si got straight to the point. "The faster pace is partly due to lessons learned from the previous project, and partly because I made some improvements this time, experimenting with a new painting technique."
Actions speak louder than words. After speaking, Jiang Si directly presented the completed facial feature database templates.
Immediately after, she placed the set painted the year before last—the one currently used by the public security system—side by side for a direct comparison.
Looking at one alone might not reveal the difference.
But with the two images placed together, the superiority was immediately apparent.
The newly painted one was clearly superior in terms of expression, texture, quality, and three-dimensionality.
As for exactly how it was achieved, Jiang Si didn't elaborate.
Next, she handed the completed paintings to the public security officers.
Whether they were good or not wasn't for her to say; it depended on the practical results.
For this test, besides the staff brought by the Y side, Huo's fourth uncle also randomly selected a few officers from the public security side to participate.
This was actually Jiang Si's own suggestion.
Regarding this, not only were George and his team surprised, even Huo's fourth uncle initially disapproved when he heard it.
After all, with different ethnicities, it's difficult for ordinary people to remember a face at a single glance.
But since Jiang Si insisted, he had to agree.
Fortunately, the final results did not disappoint.
After testing with this new set of facial feature database templates, the Y side achieved an accuracy rate of over 93%.
To their surprise, the Chinese participants using it for testing also achieved an accuracy rate of over 85%.
Consequently, Mr. George promptly settled the final payment that very afternoon.
However, what Jiang Si didn't expect was that this matter also brought her some unexpected benefits.
Following the delivery and implementation of the completed facial feature database templates in Country Y came a flood of praise.
Frankly speaking, when they initially decided to customize this set of templates in China, their motivation was cost-saving.
Having the same set of templates custom-made by a specialist in Country Y would take at least three months.
The required cost would also be several times higher than in China.
The second reason was essentially a matter of diplomatic courtesy.
To put it bluntly, they wanted to owe China a favor.
But no one could have anticipated just how user-friendly this template would be—simple to pick up, convenient, and, most importantly, incredibly effective.
So much so that police officers in Country Y now practically carry a set with them on every case.
As word-of-mouth praise grew, orders began pouring in.
Good heavens, in less than half a month, the Ministry of Public Security had already received over ten letters of intent.
Just as Jiang Si was worrying about how to manage her schedule going forward, Chris showed up bright and early one morning—
