Chapter 237: Good News

Chapter 237: Chapter 237: Good News

Everything was progressing according to plan. Preparations for Million Dollar Baby entered the final sprint. Hilary’s boxing training at the club improved daily, her punching power and rhythm increasingly reflecting Maggie’s resilience.

Robert De Niro would occasionally step in to guide her, refining the details of their scenes together. Morgan Freeman also confirmed his participation as the supporting character, Eddie, finalizing the main cast.

Time slipped quietly into July. The Los Angeles sun grew scorching, and Irene’s life gained a steady sense of relaxation.

Since her last visit to Robert’s private club, she had naturally become a lifetime member thanks to her father’s status as a founder.

Hilary’s training room had been moved directly to the club. With professional coaches and De Niro’s guidance, her progress was rapid. Meanwhile, Irene herself had unexpectedly fallen in love with shooting.

In her spare time, she would change into protective gear, enter the shooting range, put on noise-canceling headphones, and grip the cold body of the gun. Aiming at the bullseye and pulling the trigger, the bullet would whistle out.

The moment it hit the target with precision, that pure sense of accomplishment allowed her to temporarily set aside the burden of being a director, finding great physical and mental relaxation.

This afternoon, Irene finished her shooting practice and drove back to her residence. She had just changed into loungewear when her phone suddenly rang. The caller ID showed Mark Zuckerberg.

"Irene! I’ve developed it! You have to come and see!" On the other end of the line, Mark’s voice carried uncontrollable excitement, even sounding a bit incoherent, as if long-suppressed emotions had finally burst forth.

Irene held the phone, stunned for a full two seconds before reacting.

Half a year ago, she had mentioned the concept of a social network to him over the phone—a platform where young people could share their lives and connect with one another, which would later become FACEBOOK.

At the time, she was just using her memories from her past life to casually point out a few core logics. She hadn’t expected Mark to truly take it to heart and develop it at such an astonishing speed.

"Really?!" Irene’s tone was also tinged with a bit of unbelievable joy. "How’s the effect? Are the interface and functions all ready? Is it convenient for me to come over now?"

"Of course it’s convenient! I called you because I want you to be the first one to give feedback on-site!" Mark’s voice betrayed an urgent expectation.

"This platform contains those ideas you mentioned back then. Without you, I might still be taking detours!"

"Wait for me! Send me the address, I’ll buy a ticket and fly over right away!" Irene said without hesitation.

She knew the potential of FACEBOOK all too well. This wasn’t just a social platform. It was a future giant that could leverage global traffic. She had to get to New York immediately to see the finished product with her own eyes and pave the way for future cooperation.

After hanging up the phone, a text message notification sounded immediately. The address Mark sent was his temporary studio in New York.

Irene immediately dialed Vera’s number, her tone urgent yet clear: "Vera, book two tickets for the fastest flight to New York for me and Chen Shiyu right away. Business class is fine. Also, notify Chen Shiyu to bring his laptop and meet at my place in half an hour. There’s an urgent matter to handle."

Since being recruited by her, Chen Shiyu had always been engaged in entertainment-oriented work. Irene had previously asked him to learn about internet architecture, and over the years, there had been some results.

Bringing him along this time was firstly to let him participate in this platform from the start, and secondly to prepare for subsequent investment or cooperation.

"Okay, Boss, I’ll handle it right away!" Vera’s response was always crisp and efficient.

After hanging up, Irene walked quickly into the study and pulled out the notes she had taken during her discussion with Mark half a year ago from a drawer.

User profiles, social closed-loops, propagation logic—she wanted to take these ideas to New York to help Mark refine this product that was about to change the internet landscape.

Half an hour later, Irene walked out of the house carrying a simple suitcase. Chen Shiyu was already waiting downstairs. The two drove to the airport. Los Angeles was brilliant with lights in the night. Irene looked at the passing neon lights outside the window, her heart full of anticipation.

It was already 10 PM when Irene and Chen Shiyu arrived in New York. JFK International Airport was still brightly lit, with a constant stream of travelers coming and going, no longer showing the tension and sensitivity of the 9/11 era.

Mark’s temporary studio was hidden in an old office building in Brooklyn. The moment the door opened, the light from a room full of computer screens made one’s eyes dazzle. Seeing Irene enter, Mark immediately came forward as if presenting a treasure.

"Come look!" He pulled Irene to the main screen, his fingers tapping the keyboard rapidly.

"This is the social platform I made. For now, it’s called THEBOOK!"

The screen lit up, and a simple blue interface popped up: the registration entry was clear and concise, users could upload avatars, fill in personal profiles, add friends, and share their daily lives on a dynamic wall.

Mark explained while demonstrating:

"The real identity authentication and friend relationship chains you mentioned have all been implemented. I’ve already uploaded this software to the campus network and conducted small-scale testing at my current high school, Exeter, and several other famous high schools like Brearley, Dalton, and St. Paul’s. Registered users have already exceeded ten thousand!"

Irene’s gaze was fixed intently on the screen, her fingertips unconsciously moving with the cursor’s trajectory.

In just half a year, Mark had not only turned the concept she had casually mentioned into reality but had also made it so complete. The interface was simple but not crude, the operational logic was smooth, and especially the features of real-time friend updates and campus community classification accurately hit the needs of young users.

"This is amazing, Mark." She turned to look at him, her eyes full of genuine surprise.

"This is much better than I imagined. You’ve not only implemented the core functions but also captured the essence of social interaction: connecting real people."

"It’s all because your suggestions were so useful, Irene. In fact, most of the credit for achieving this effect goes to you." The young Mark’s face showed a bit of shyness upon hearing such praise.

"Don’t belittle yourself. Without you, no matter how many ideas I had, they would just be talk on paper." Irene immediately switched to professional mode, pointing at the screen to offer suggestions:

"However, there are a few details that can be optimized. For example, the sorting of the dynamic wall—currently, it’s in a random order based on posting time. Can it be changed to prioritize friend interactions? Content with more interaction should be ranked higher to increase user stickiness.

Also, it lacks an interest group function. Young people want to connect with those who share common hobbies besides just classmates. This part can be added."

She paused and then added: "In addition, a filtering function for tags like ’school, major, interests, common hobbies’ can be added to user profiles to make it easier to precisely find the people they want to know.

The current search function is too singular. It only allows searching by name, which isn’t efficient enough."