After breaking up with my boyfriend, I made a fortune and rose rapidly in my career.

Chen Ping walked steadily down the stairs step by step.

Professor Sun Zhixue has dedicated his life to the research of semiconductor materials and is a leading authority in this field in China. Such a pure scholar would never, for no reason, travel to Nanzhou in the middle of the night to meet a graduate student.

The lights were dim in the lobby on the first floor of the management committee building.

An elderly man with graying but neatly combed hair stood with his hands behind his back, looking up at the newly hung planning map on the wall. Standing next to him was a man in his fifties, wearing glasses, looking very refined, and carrying a briefcase.

Hearing footsteps, the old man turned around.

Upon seeing Chen Pingfang, a smile broke out on his serious face: "Pingfang, it's been years, you've become much more composed."

"Teacher, what brings you here?" Chen Ping walked up quickly, his tone very respectful.

"I came to see you, and also to check out this huge project you've started." Sun Zhixue patted Chen Pingfang's arm with considerable force. "I heard you've made a huge mess of things. As your teacher, I had to come and see just how big this mess is."

The words were a joke, but the concern in his eyes was genuine.

"Let me introduce you," Sun Zhixue said, pointing to the man beside him. "This is Wang Tong, an expert from Beijing who has extensive research on the industrialization of semiconductors."

"Director Chen, I've heard so much about you." Wang Tong pushed up his glasses, extended his hand, and smiled politely, but his eyes held a scrutinizing look.

Chen Ping shook hands with Wang Tong, said nothing more, and said directly, "Teacher, Expert Wang, it's so late, why don't you go and rest first, and I'll take you on a tour tomorrow?"

"No, thank you." Sun Zhixue waved his hand, glanced at his watch, and said, "Time is precious, let's do it now. I'd like to go take a look at your... equipment that came back from overseas."

Chen Ping's eyes flickered.

Now, let's get to the main point.

……

Factory Building No. 3 was brightly lit.

Inside the massive factory, the disassembled core components of the lithography machine lay quietly. Jiang Fan was leading a group of senior engineers, with an average age of over fifty, in a heated discussion around a spectrometer.

Everyone was wearing work clothes stained with oil, their expressions focused, their eyes bloodshot yet full of spirit.

When Chen Pingfang led Sun Zhixue and Wang Tong in, the lively atmosphere seemed out of place with the two guests in suits.

"Engineer Jiang, you've worked hard." Chen Ping stepped forward.

"Director!" Jiang Fan looked up, saw Sun Zhixue behind Chen Pingfang, paused for a moment, then became excited, "Professor Sun... Professor Sun? What brings you here!"

The semiconductor industry is small, and Jiang Fan clearly knows this big shot in the field.

Sun Zhixue nodded, but his gaze fell on the rudimentary equipment and harsh environment, and his brows furrowed deeply: "Ping Fang, you...you're conducting research and development under these conditions?"

Wang Tong, standing behind him, looked on with surprise and even disdain. He muttered, "These conditions are so bad that they can't even guarantee a basic cleanroom environment, let alone reverse engineering. It's utterly ridiculous."

The sound wasn't loud, but in the quiet factory, it was enough for several elderly engineers nearby to hear.

The elderly people's expressions changed, and they stopped what they were doing.

Chen Pingfang remained expressionless, simply stating, "The conditions are a bit lacking, but our people are the best in the country. Engineer Jiang and his team have been working tirelessly these past few days, and have already analyzed most of the material composition of the equipment."

"Oh?" Wang Tong clearly didn't believe it. He walked up to the spectrometer, glanced at the dense data on the screen, and a slight smile appeared on his lips.

"Director Chen, I'm not doubting your team's dedication," Wang Tong adjusted his glasses and said in an expert's tone, "but passion alone isn't enough for scientific research. In the semiconductor industry, the most important thing is the technological roadmap. As far as I know, the technical architecture of this device is already from the previous generation, and major international manufacturers already have better solutions. The return on investment for you to spend so much effort reverse engineering a technology that is about to be phased out is too low."

He looked at Sun Zhixue: "Mr. Sun, don't you agree? We should invest our limited funds and talent in more promising technological directions. For example, the third-generation semiconductor materials project that the provincial capital is planning—that's the future."

It turns out they came as a lobbyist for that project in the provincial capital.

Sun Zhixue frowned, seemingly persuaded as well. He looked at Chen Pingfang and said in a serious tone, "Pingfang, what Expert Wang said makes sense. I know you have ambitions, but we can't work in isolation; we need to understand the technological trends in the world."

The atmosphere suddenly froze.

Jiang Fan and a group of veteran engineers stopped what they were doing and looked at Chen Pingfang nervously.

Chen Ping didn't look at Wang Tong, nor did he immediately answer his teacher.

He slowly walked up to the machine, reached out, and gently stroked the cold metal casing.

He turned around, his gaze sweeping over everyone present before finally settling on Wang Tong's face.

"Expert Wang, you're absolutely right."

Chen Pingfang's voice was calm, but this calmness made people feel uneasy.

"You understand these business terms better than I do: return on investment, technological approach, international trends. But you seem to have forgotten one thing."

His voice suddenly rose, breaking the silence in the factory.

"More than a hundred years ago, when foreign warships sailed to our doorstep, they were also using the previous generation of steam engines and ironclad ships. In their eyes, weren't our broadswords and spears less efficient? Shouldn't they have been eliminated even more?"

"We're not doing this to make money, nor to follow any trend!"

Chen Ping pointed sharply at Jiang Fan and the elderly engineers with white hair beside him, his voice filled with anger.

"It's all for them!"

"For these engineers who have dedicated half their lives to this place, wanting to build machines that are truly Chinese, so that they can stand tall in their old age!"

"It's also for the sake of our country's high-tech industry, so that we won't have to be begging or have to depend on others anymore!"

"This equipment is outdated, obsolete! But it's the only thing we can get our hands on, the only thing we can take apart and understand part by part! It's our textbook, our starting point!"

Chen Ping took a step forward, staring intently at Wang Tong, and asked, word by word, "Expert Wang, I only have one question for you: how much is dignity worth? In your input-output ratio table, what number should be filled in for the industrial dignity of a nation?"

The entire factory was deathly silent.

Wang Tong's face instantly turned a deep purplish-red, his mouth agape, unable to utter a single word.

Sun Zhixue stood there, his body trembling slightly, his eyes filled with shock, and his face showing some embarrassment. He looked at his students, at the elderly engineers with red eyes, and felt that he was a somewhat ridiculous teacher.

Just then, an old engineer who hadn't spoken until now suddenly spoke up in a hoarse voice next to Jiang Fan.

"Expert Wang, I know you. Last year at the project review meeting in the provincial capital, you were a strong advocate for importing the second-hand ASML production line from the Netherlands. Is that the third-generation semiconductor materials project you mentioned?"

Wang Tong's face turned completely white in an instant.

All eyes were on him.

Chen Ping's lips curled into a cold smile.

Everything became clear: Professor Sun Zhixue had been used as a pawn.

"Lay it flat..." Sun Zhixue's lips trembled as he tried to say something, but his face burned and he couldn't utter a single word.

Wang Tong couldn't stay any longer. He glanced at Chen Pingfang in a disheveled state and practically ran away.

The factory has returned to quiet.

Sun Zhixue sighed deeply, walked up to Chen Pingfang, his face full of guilt: "Pingfang, teacher... I'm sorry."

"Teacher, you're exaggerating," Chen Pingfang said, his tone softening. "You're just overly concerned."

Sun Zhixue shook his head, said nothing more, and just took a deep look at the simple yet hopeful factory before turning and walking out.

As he reached the door, he suddenly stopped. Without turning around, he spoke in a soft but weighty voice:

"Lie flat. Be careful of the provincial environmental protection department. Someone is investigating the environmental impact assessment report for your No. 3 factory."