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

Professor Sun Zhixue left, and his words made the atmosphere a bit awkward.

After seeing Chen Pingfang off, Jiang Fan's excitement hadn't subsided when his brows furrowed again. "Director, what Old Sun said about the environmental impact assessment..."

"It's nothing." Chen Ping said calmly, glancing back at the brightly lit factory with a deep look in his eyes. "I'll handle anything. You just focus on the technical aspects, and leave the rest to me."

Back in his office, Chen Pingfang didn't rest. He took out the black-covered notebook from the leather briefcase Lin Yaodong had given him.

My finger traced across the yellowed pages, stopping at a name—Qian Wenhua, Director of the Environmental Impact Assessment Division, Jiangbei Provincial Environmental Protection Department.

In the remarks section, Lin Yaodong's handwriting was forceful: "Zhao Yongnian (former Party Secretary of Nanzhou)'s university classmate, promoted by Zhao. This person is very good at interpersonal relationships, highly skilled in his work, and also very resourceful."

Chen Ping closed his laptop, leaned back in his chair, and closed his eyes.

Sure enough it was him.

Zhao Bo has fallen, but the people behind him are still there. These people don't dare to act forcefully now, so they want to use the rules and legal procedures to deal with us.

……

The next morning, the sun was shining brightly.

Three vehicles bearing the license plate "Jiangxi A" and the words "Environmental Inspection" quietly drove into the Xinhuo Industrial Park and parked directly in front of Factory Building No. 3.

The car door opened, and seven or eight uniformed staff members stepped out. Leading them was a man around fifty years old, with a square face, wearing black-rimmed glasses, and a serious expression—it was Qian Wenhua.

Upon receiving the news, Zhang Chao rushed over and stood at the factory gate with a forced smile, saying, "Gentlemen, this is..."

Qian Wenhua pushed up his glasses, didn't even look at Zhang Chao, and directly took out a document from his briefcase, waving it in front of him: "The Provincial Environmental Protection Department's Enforcement Team received a report from the public that your No. 3 factory building was expanded without environmental impact assessment approval and that it was conducting high-pollution-risk chemical experiments. We are conducting a surprise inspection in accordance with the law."

Qian Wenhua's voice wasn't loud, but every word made Zhang Chao's heart skip a beat.

Reported by the public? Who would believe such nonsense!

Inside the factory, the engineers who heard the commotion stopped what they were doing and gathered around, looking somewhat uneasy. Jiang Fan's face darkened, and he quickly walked to the door.

"Director Qian, this is a renovation of an old factory building. The sewage treatment facilities are all from before and meet the standards," Jiang Fan explained.

"Meets the standards?" Qian Wenhua sneered. A young man behind him immediately took out a handheld air quality detector and waved it at the factory entrance. The device immediately sounded a piercing alarm.

"Chief Engineer Jiang, you're a technician too, the instruments don't lie, do they?" Qian Wenhua pointed to the rapidly rising values ​​on the instrument. "The concentration of volatile organic compounds in the air is seriously exceeding the standard. Based on this alone, I can make you stop work immediately for rectification."

Jiang Fan's face flushed instantly, his lips moved, but he couldn't utter a word.

In their rush to save time, they didn't take many proper precautions. Plus, the experiment involved using special chemical reagents, so it's normal for some odor to leak out. Normally, this wouldn't be noticeable, but now, with professional equipment, it becomes evidence.

"Everyone, stop working immediately, seal up the equipment, and await further instructions." Qian Wenhua waved his hand and gave the order directly, his tone resolute.

Several law enforcement officers were about to rush in.

"Wait a minute."

A calm voice came from behind the crowd.

Chen Pingfang arrived at some unknown time. He was wearing a simple white shirt, with his hands in his pockets, and slowly walked over.

Chen Ping first glanced at Jiang Fan and the senior engineers, whose faces were grim, nodded to them to reassure them, and then turned his gaze to Qian Wenhua.

"Director Qian, right?" Chen Pingfang smiled, as if the tense atmosphere had nothing to do with him. "We will fully cooperate with the enforcement inspection. However, you said we expanded without environmental impact assessment approval. Isn't that conclusion drawn too early?"

Qian Wenhua looked at the young man in front of him, who wasn't much older than his son, and sneered inwardly. "Young punk, does he think he can do whatever he wants in Nanzhou just because he's appointed by the province? Today I'll show him who's in charge here."

"Director Chen, the facts are right before our eyes." Qian Wenhua pointed around. "Is this a production experiment being conducted? Where is your environmental impact assessment report?"

"Of course we have an environmental impact assessment report," Chen Ping said with a smile.

Chen Ping turned to Jiang Fan behind him and said, "Engineer Jiang, bring out that amazing set of equipment we specially designed for Factory No. 3, and show it to Director Qian and the experts."

Jiang Fan paused for a moment, then his eyes lit up. He nodded vigorously, turned around, and ran quickly into the depths of the factory.

Qian Wenhua frowned, a bad feeling creeping into his heart.

A few minutes later, Jiang Fan and several senior engineers pushed out a metal cabinet about half a person's height. The cabinet was connected to pipes and valves and also had a display screen.

"What is this?" Qian Wenhua asked instinctively.

"Director Qian, experts, please follow me."

Chen Ping didn't answer, but led everyone around to the side and rear of the factory.

Where the sewage outlet should have been was now completely sealed off. In its place was a complex system consisting of a dozen huge metal tanks and a dense network of pipes.

Jiang Fan connected the mobile cabinet to the system and pressed the start button.

hum-

A low, rumbling sound filled the air, and the indicator lights on the system lit up one by one.

"Director Qian, as an environmental expert, you should know that the main source of pollution in the semiconductor research and development process is wastewater, especially cleaning wastewater containing various heavy metal ions and chemical solvents."

Jiang Fan stood in front of the system, his back ramrod straight.

"Our system is completely different from traditional filtration and discharge methods." Jiang Fan pointed to the first tank. "This is our ion exchange and membrane separation unit, which can recover more than 95% of the heavy metals in wastewater and can be reused after purification."

Jiang Fan then pointed to another set of pipes: "This is a photocatalytic oxidation unit, specifically designed to decompose those difficult-to-treat organic solvents. As for the remaining water..."

Jiang Fan walked to the end of the system, where there was an ordinary faucet. He turned on the valve, filled a glass with clear water, and drank it down in one gulp in front of everyone.

"The remaining water undergoes multi-stage reverse osmosis treatment, resulting in a purity level higher than commercially available purified water. It can be directly returned to the production line for use as ultrapure water."

Jiang Fan put down his cup and said loudly, "Our system is officially called the Industrial Wastewater Zero-Discharge Closed-Loop Recycling System. Plant No. 3 was designed without any discharge outlets. Since there are no discharges, where does the pollution come from?"

The scene was deathly silent.

Qian Wenhua and the experts he brought were stunned, staring blankly at the equipment in front of them, their minds blank.

Zero emissions?

This is theoretically feasible, but the cost is too high and the operation is unstable; currently, only a few top-tier laboratories in a few countries possess such technology. How could a dilapidated state-owned enterprise factory possibly produce something like this?

"As for the air..." Chen Ping broke the silence, "All our lab benches are equipped with independent exhaust gas absorption devices, which are connected to the main ventilation system of the factory. Before being discharged, the exhaust gas undergoes activated carbon adsorption and chemical neutralization. Director Qian, the data you just measured should be a little residual gas that escaped when we opened the doors for ventilation. If you don't believe me, you can go into the factory now and measure it at any workstation."

Qian Wenhua's face changed several times, finally turning deathly pale.

He knew he had made a mistake today; the other side was far too well-prepared technically.

All the prepared accusations are untenable in the face of zero emissions.

Chen Ping walked up to Qian Wenhua with a smile on his face, but his eyes were cold.

"Director Qian, our Chipfire project is a national strategy. We also treat environmental protection as a national strategy. You don't need to worry about that."

After saying that, Chen Ping glanced at his watch.

"Is the inspection finished? If so, we need to continue working. After all, we signed a performance-based agreement; even a day's delay results in significant losses for the country. I wonder if the Environmental Protection Department can bear this responsibility?"

"Let's...go."

Qian Wenhua squeezed out two words through gritted teeth and hurriedly left with his men.

Several environmental monitoring vehicles drove away quickly.

In the back seat of one of the cars, Qian Wenhua clenched his fists so tightly that his knuckles turned white. He slammed his fist into his thigh with a dull thud.

"This Chen Pingfang leaves no loopholes whatsoever."