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Sun Yiqiu arrived at the company early the next morning.

He didn't wait for Wu Kezhi and Lin Yuming to come to work; he simply placed his resignation letter on Wu Kezhi's desk and then turned and left.

Wu Kezhi went to Rihuan Biotechnology today.

The matter has been resolved. Dr. Li and I have reached a temporary agreement. The issue of the anonymous letter has been settled, and the listing review committee should be able to pass it smoothly.

But Wu Kezhi was far from at ease.

Sitting in the conference room of Rihuan, looking at the ruddy-faced management team, Wu Kezhi felt only disgust.

By the time Wu Kezhi and Lin Yuming returned to the company, it was almost noon.

"Where's Yiqiu?" Lin Yuming noticed that Sun Yiqiu's workstation was empty.

Wu Kezhi walked to his desk and saw the resignation letter.

Upon opening it, one could see Sun Yiqiu's handwriting inside:
"Mr. Wu, Manager Lin: I'm resigning. My time in Group Four was the happiest period of my life. Leaving is a common occurrence in this world, but we're not good at saying goodbye, and neither am I. So, all I can say is thank you. Sun Yiqiu."

Lin Yuming snatched the letter, read it, and stamped his feet in frustration. "This kid! Has he gone mad?!"

He immediately took out his phone to call Sun Yiqiu, but the phone was switched off.

I tried calling again, but the phone was still off.

"What exactly is Sun Yiqiu trying to do?!" Lin Yuming slammed his phone on the table. "Resign now? Wouldn't all our efforts be wasted?"

Wu Kezhi didn't speak. He looked at the letter and understood that Sun Yiqiu was doing it on purpose.

Sun Yiqiu knew he was being used as a bargaining chip and didn't want to put Wu Kezhi in a difficult position or go against his conscience, so he chose to leave.

“No matter what the outcome, he will leave,” Wu Kezhi said in a low voice. “This child… is too sensible.”

After calming down, Lin Yuming's eyes reddened: "But...but didn't we agree to shoulder this together? How could he..."

Just then, Lin Yuming's phone rang.

It turned out to be an email sent by a friend overseas on his behalf; they had finally obtained evidence of data fabrication by Rihuan Bio.

Lin Yuming opened the email and handed it to Wu Kezhi: "Boss, look. At least half of Rihuan's clinical trial data over the past three years is fabricated. Their products haven't passed any proper testing at all."

Wu Kezhi's hands trembled as he looked at the evidence.

"What...what do we do now?" Lin Yuming asked.

Wu Kezhi remained silent for a long time, then took out two resignation letters that he had written long ago from the drawer, one for himself and one for Lin Yuming.

"Now that Yi Qiu is gone, we have nothing to worry about. Let's go to the celebration banquet at Rihuan and show the evidence to Qu Zhonghui."

"Boss, have you thought this through?" Lin Yuming looked at him. "If we make such a scene, we won't be able to stay at Jin Chen anymore, and our reputation will be ruined in the entire industry."

"If we can't stand it anymore, then we'll leave." Wu Kezhi stood up. "People from Group Four, we'll die standing up."

"Okay! At worst, we can go to Suning; I'm sure they won't look down on us."

"So what if they dislike it! We can start our own businesses."

……

The celebration banquet for the Japanese Globe was held at a five-star hotel, and it was a very grand affair.

Qu Zhonghui was chatting and laughing with someone while holding a wine glass when he saw Wu Kezhi barge in, and his face darkened.

"Mr. Wu, what brings you here?" he asked in a low voice. "Didn't we agree that this matter was resolved?"

Wu Kezhi ignored him, walked directly onto the stage, grabbed the microphone, and said, "Excuse me, everyone. I am Wu Kezhi from Jinchen Capital, and the person in charge of the listing project of Rihuan Bio."

The entire room fell silent, and all eyes were on him.

Wu Kezhi presented the evidence: "Our investigation revealed serious falsification of clinical trial data from Rihuan Bio over the past three years. Their products have not passed proper testing and pose significant safety risks. I hereby formally apply to terminate Rihuan Bio's IPO application."

A gasp rippled through the crowd.

Qu Zhonghui rushed onto the stage, his face turning pale with anger: "Wu Kezhi! Are you crazy?! Do you know what you're saying?!"

“I understand perfectly well.” Wu Kezhi looked at him. “President Qu, Rihuan cannot be listed on the stock exchange. Otherwise, it would be harmful to people.”

"You..." Qu Zhonghui gritted his teeth, "Do you know how much Jin Chen will lose if Rihuan fails to go public? At least five hundred million!"

“We can’t gamble with investors’ money or patients’ lives,” Wu Kezhi said firmly.

"Fine, fine!" Qu Zhonghui sneered. "Wu Kezhi, you've got guts. But you need to think this through. If you insist on doing this, don't even think about working in the investment industry anymore. I have a hundred ways to make sure you can't stay in this circle."

"Then give it a try." Wu Kezhi said without fear. "I, Wu Kezhi, do things with a clear conscience. The people of Group Four will die standing up."

He then threw the evidence on the stage, turned around and left, with Lin Yuming following closely behind.

The listing of Rihuan Bio was completely aborted, and its reputation was already ruined afterward.

……

The next day, the news spread...

Rihuan Bio's IPO failed, and Jinchen Capital withdrew its application.

Even more shocking is that Qu Zhonghui, the managing director of Jin Chen, has resigned.

When the internal company email was sent out, everyone was stunned.

Mr. Qu has been with Jin Chen for so many years, how could he just leave like that?

Qu Zhonghui walked up to Wu Kezhi and said meaningfully, "Kezhi, it's better for me to leave than for you to leave. I believe that listing Rihuan would bring greater benefits to Jinchen, but since that's not possible, we should keep someone as talented as you. You are more important to Jinchen than I am to it. My departure is an opportunity for you, and I hope you can do better than me."

These words sound grand, but anyone with eyes can see that Qu Zhonghui was forced out.

The incident involving Rihuan has become too big a deal; someone has to take responsibility.

"President Qu, I just want to ask you one last question."

"what?"

Do you still remember that intern, Ma Xiyuan?

"Enough! Wu Kezhi, Ma Xiyuan committed suicide because of depression, it has nothing to do with you or me."

"It seems you are still the Qu Zhonghui I remember. It's such a pity that Ma Xiyuan committed suicide by jumping off the building."

"Wu Kezhi, I think this is all you'll ever be! A coward who'll forever live in the past."

"..."

Then, Qu Zhonghui left Jin Chen Capital indignation, thus ending his grudges with Wu Kezhi.

Wu Kezhi was essentially paying tribute to the Ma Xiyuan of the past in his heart, since the responsibility should have originally been borne by Qu Zhonghui.

……

At this point, Wu Kezhi's treatment at Jin Chen Capital was completely different.

The soon-to-be-departed HR director, Gao Yue, personally waited for him at the elevator entrance: "Mr. Wu, Mr. Li would like to invite you to his office."

"okay, I get it."

Li Shensi has now taken over Qu Zhonghui's position and sits in that large office.

Upon seeing Wu Kezhi, he immediately flashed his signature fake smile. "Old Wu, have a seat. Chris just called and praised your handling of the Rihuan matter. He suggested that you take over as the head of the New Business Department."

Wu Kezhi didn't sit down. Instead, he took out his resignation letter and placed it on the table: "President Li, I'm here to resign."

Li Shensi was taken aback: "Why? You're currently in your prime..."

“I guess Sun Yiqiu’s resignation is related to you, isn’t it?” Wu Kezhi interrupted him. “When you asked him to play chess and said those things to him, weren’t you just trying to get him to leave voluntarily so that I wouldn’t have any concerns?”

Li Shensi remained silent.

After a while, he said, "Old Wu, I'm doing this for your own good. Sun Yiqiu is too straightforward. Keeping him in Jin Chen won't do either of you any good. Letting him go is to protect him."

“Then I thank you for your kindness,” Wu Kezhi said, “but I also have my own choices. I have a clear conscience about what happened with Rihuan. But I can’t use Sun Yiqiu as a bargaining chip. So, I’m leaving.”

After saying that, he turned and left.

As they reached the door, Li Shensi suddenly said, "Old Wu, if you need any help at Ningyuan Capital, feel free to contact me anytime."

Wu Kezhi paused for a moment, then walked away without turning back.

……

Zhou Qingyu stopped Wu Kezhi in the corridor: "Old Wu, are you really leaving? Everyone's saying that you saw through Chris and Li Shen's plan to get rid of President Qu a long time ago, so you chose the right side. But I know you, you're not that kind of person."

"Thank you." Wu Kezhi patted him on the shoulder. "As long as you have a clear conscience, that's enough."

"So where are you going next?"

“Ningyuan Capital,” Wu Kezhi said, “is going to work with Suning.”

"Suning? Is that even a good idea? Don't end up getting yourself into trouble later?"

"Given my current situation, which investment bank would dare to hire me?" "This..."

"Moreover, Suning is a man who truly gets things done, and I believe he can achieve great things."

……

That afternoon, Wu Kezhi, Lin Yuming, and Sun Yiqiu met in the president's office of Ningyuan Capital.

When Sun Yiqiu saw them, his eyes immediately reddened: "President Wu, Manager Lin, you..."

"Stop talking nonsense." Lin Yuming put his arm around his shoulder. "We'll be colleagues again from now on, aren't you happy?"

Su Ning walked over, smiling, and said, "Welcome to Ningyuan, all three of you. Your department will be called the 'Key Projects Team,' and you'll be directly in charge of me. The first project is already ready."

He handed over a document, which Wu Kezhi opened and was stunned: "The photoresist project?"

“Yes.” Suning nodded. “China has always relied on imports for photoresist, which is a bottleneck area. We have the technology, and we have ‘invited’ an expert from abroad who provided a complete technical solution. Ningyuan Capital can invest. Now we need to select a site to build a factory and strive to achieve a production capacity of one million tons by the end of next year.”

"A technical expert?" Sun Yiqiu asked curiously. "Who is that?"

"That's a secret," Su Ning smiled. "All you need to know is that the technology is real and the plan is feasible. The next step is execution."

Looking at the thick project plan, Wu Kezhi felt a long-lost excitement welling up inside him.

This is what he wants to do: to do real business, to develop technology, and to do something truly useful for the country.

Instead of the backstabbing and fraud that plagued Jin Chen's IPO, they were forced to engage in such activities.

"President Su, we'll take this project." He said firmly.

“Okay.” Su Ning nodded. “Then it’s up to you guys.”

The sunlight outside the window is just right.

The four people stood in the office, looked at each other, and smiled.

From Jinchen to Ningyuan, from intrigue to hard work.

They faced many difficulties on this path, but finally got on the right track.

And now, a new journey has just begun.

Photoresist project, one million tons of mass production...

These goals sound ambitious, but they are confident.

Because they know that this time, they are not fighting for anyone's personal gain.

……

Suning acted quickly.

Once the photoresist project was finalized, Afu was immediately instructed to arrange for technical experts to be "in place".

Three days later, a middle-aged man named Zhao Liming appeared in the conference room of Ningyuan Capital.

He looked to be around fifty years old, dressed in a simple jacket and wearing black-rimmed glasses. He didn't talk much, but when he did, he used technical jargon.

Wu Kezhi, Lin Yuming, and Sun Yiqiu were all present.

Suning introduced: "This is Dr. Zhao Liming, our photoresist technology expert. He previously worked in a top semiconductor laboratory overseas and recently returned to China."

Zhao Liming nodded as a greeting, then got straight to the point: "The core technology of photoresist lies in its formulation and process. I have a complete formulation system and process flow here, which can achieve domestic substitution and the performance indicators are no less than those of imported products."

He then opened his laptop and pulled up a bunch of data charts: "This is the basic formula, this is the improved formula, and this is the optimization scheme for different process nodes. It has been verified in the laboratory stage, and the yield rate has reached over 95%."

Wu Kezhi looked at the complex data and was somewhat shocked.

Although he didn't understand the technical details, he could tell that Dr. Zhao was very professional and well-prepared.

"Dr. Zhao, may I ask which laboratory you worked in before?" Lin Yuming asked.

"I can't disclose that," Zhao Liming said casually. "We've signed a confidentiality agreement. But you can verify the technology. I can provide a portion of the formula first, and you can have a third-party lab test it. The results will speak for themselves."

This attitude is very practical; the fact that technical experts are willing to accept verification shows that they have confidence.

Sun Yiqiu asked in a low voice, "President Su, Dr. Zhao's background... is there no problem?"

"Don't worry," Su Ning said. "I personally oversaw the process. The technology is genuine, and the people are reliable. You don't need to ask any more questions."

In fact, Zhao Liming is a highly realistic AI robot created by Afu, equipped with the most advanced photoresist technology database in the space world.

But he looks just like a real person; he breathes, sweats, thinks, and even rubs his hands because the air conditioning is too cold.

As for its origin?

Afu has fabricated a complete resume: a PhD from a prestigious overseas university, work experience in a top-tier laboratory, and returning to China for family reasons... All the background information can withstand verification.

……

Once the technology was in place, the funding also came quickly.

Ningyuan Capital made its first investment of 500 million yuan as seed funding.

With funding, company registration and organizational structure can be completed quickly.

The new company is named "Hanxin Materials" and registered in Zhangjiang High-Tech Park, where it will enjoy tax benefits and policy support.

The shareholding structure is very clear: Ningyuan Capital holds 60%, Jianguo Group holds 30%, and the technical team, represented by Zhao Liming, holds 10%.

Suning serves as chairman, Wu Kezhi as general manager, and Lin Yuming and Sun Yiqiu are respectively responsible for operations and project follow-up.

The next step is the most crucial one – site selection and factory construction.

Photoresist production has special requirements for factory buildings: cleanrooms, constant temperature and humidity, shockproof and anti-static facilities, and strict environmental protection standards...

And it's best to be close to downstream customers, chip manufacturing plants.

Wu Kezhi and his team traveled to several places.

I first visited Suzhou Industrial Park. The supporting facilities are complete, but the land price is too high and the environmental approval is strict.

I also looked at Hefei, where there are chip factories like Changxin Memory, but its geographical location is remote, making it difficult to attract talent.

Finally, they chose Wuxi.

“Wuxi has several chip manufacturing plants, including Huahong Semiconductor,” Zhao Liming said during his inspection. “Moreover, it has a mature chemical industrial park with complete environmental protection facilities and a well-developed supply chain.”

More importantly, the local government of Wuxi is very interested in this project.

The head of the city's investment promotion bureau personally received them, saying, "Photoresist is a weak point in our country. If you can make it work, we will fully support you. Land, taxation, and talent introduction are all negotiable."

After several rounds of negotiations, it was finally agreed that Huaxin Materials would acquire a 200-mu industrial land plot in Wuxi New District at a price 30% lower than the market price, and would enjoy a "three-year exemption and three-year half-reduction" tax policy, meaning that corporate income tax would be exempted for the first three years and reduced by half for the following three years.

“These are good conditions,” Wu Kezhi said at the briefing. “The budget for factory construction is about 200 million yuan, equipment procurement is 300 million yuan, and the remaining 300 million yuan will be used as working capital. Mass production will be completed by the end of next year. Time is tight, but we should be able to do it.”

"What about the equipment?" Suning asked. "Can China provide the photoresist production equipment?"

“Most of it is fine,” Zhao Liming said. “Mixing vessels, reaction vessels, filters, and filling lines—these domestically produced equipment are sufficient. Only a few high-precision testing instruments need to be imported. I have contacted suppliers in Germany and Japan, but they are not willing to sell them.”

"No problem! I'll handle these high-precision testing instruments."

"This……"

"Don't worry! The goods will arrive within a month." Suning made the decision. "In addition, the factory site will be in Wuxi. Mr. Wu, you are in charge of signing the agreement with the local government. Manager Lin, you will oversee the factory design and construction. Yi Qiu, you will cooperate with Dr. Zhao to prepare for the recruitment and training of the technical team."

"understand!"

……

Everything is progressing at a rapid pace.

However, the industry is filled with curiosity and skepticism about this suddenly emerging "Huaxin Materials".

A new company is making photoresist? And they want to start mass production next year? Are you kidding me?
Some colleagues whispered among themselves, "I heard the boss is a rich second-generation heir, just burning money for fun."

Some speculated: "The technical experts were poached from overseas, so they might actually have some skills."

But Suning doesn't care about these opinions.

He knows what he's doing.

With the technical support of Space World, the financial support of Ningyuan Capital, and a pragmatic team like Wu Kezhi, they have the company's strengths.

There's almost no doubt that this project will be a success.

Once successful, Huaxin Materials will break the foreign monopoly and fill a domestic gap.

This is not just a business, but a battle, a battle that must be won.

And now, the battle cry has been sounded.

However, after hearing about Suning's large investment, Su Jianguo couldn't help but feel worried, as he knew all too well the difficulties in achieving breakthroughs in photoresist.

...(End of chapter)