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

Get ready.

This sentence lingered in Chen Ping's mind for a week.

Li Jianguo didn't specify what he was preparing, and Chen Ping didn't press him for details. Both of them came from officialdom, and they knew that saying seven-tenths of what they wanted to say was enough.

It's here.

On Monday morning at 10:00 AM, the official website of the Provincial Party Committee Organization Department posted a pre-appointment announcement for cadres. The announcement period is seven days, and the list is short with only six people. Chen Pingfang is listed third.

Chen Pingfang, male, born in 1975, is currently the director of the Nanzhou Chipfire Industry Promotion Center. He is proposed to be appointed as a member of the Standing Committee of the Nanzhou Municipal Party Committee and the secretary of the Party Working Committee of the High-tech Zone, and concurrently as the director of the Nanzhou Industrial Energy Coordination Center. His rank will be promoted from the level of a full-fledged division chief to the level of a deputy provincial-level official.

Jiang Fan was the first to see the announcement. When he rushed out of his office, he almost bumped into Zhang Chao, who was carrying a teacup, and spilled half of the tea on the corridor floor.

"Director! The announcement is out!"

Chen Ping was standing by the window flipping through the equipment list without even looking up.

"I saw it."

Jiang Fan was taken aback. "When did you watch it?"

"Just now."

Chen Ping closed the list, walked back to the table, and sat down. The public notice page was still open on the computer, with the text in the middle of the screen, white background and black text.

Deputy Director-General level, member of the Standing Committee of the Municipal Party Committee, and Secretary of the Party Working Committee of the High-tech Zone.

These three titles combined signify that he has entered the core decision-making level of Nanzhou. The High-tech Zone Management Committee oversees more than 1,200 enterprises, whose annual output value accounts for one-third of the city's total.

But when Chen Ping was staring at the screen, he wasn't thinking about those numbers.

He was thinking about whether the resources available in this position were enough to move Song Yue's photoresist project from the laboratory to the mass production line.

After wiping up the tea spilled on the floor, Zhang Chao peeked in.

"Director, a lot of people outside are talking about this. Even the project manager at the construction site has come to ask if it's true."

"The public notice period is not over yet, so don't make a fuss."

"But……"

"Just do what you're supposed to do."

Zhang Chao pulled his head back and closed the door. His low voice echoed in the corridor: "Don't ask anymore. The director said to just do what you're supposed to do."

Chen Ping closed his laptop and rubbed his temples.

The phone lit up.

The governor's secretary's phone number.

"Director Chen, Governor Zhou asked me to inform you that there will be a closed-door meeting next Wednesday in Conference Room 4 of the Provincial Government regarding the layout of the semiconductor industry chain in the province. Governor Zhou hopes you can attend and has reserved 15 minutes for your speech."

The secretary spoke in a very formal tone, but added a less formal remark at the end.

Governor Zhou's original words were to tell Old Chen to be well-prepared and not to be shy.

Chen Ping responded and hung up the phone.

A closed-door meeting lasting fifteen minutes covered the layout of the semiconductor industry chain across the province.

This table is no longer the kind of table that city-level officials should be sitting at.

Chen Ping's phone vibrated again; it was a WeChat message from Lin Xiangdong. He opened the voice message and held it to his ear to listen.

"Old Chen, you must take this meeting seriously. All the attendees are the top officials of provincial departments. Governor Zhou specifically asked for your name not to report on your work, but to draw up a blueprint for the future."

After a two-second pause, Lin Xiangdong added another sentence.

"Tell me as much as you can about that photoresist thing. Don't hold back. The governor wants to hear the truth."

Chen Ping put down his phone and leaned back in his chair.

Drawing up the blueprint.

He worked at the Chipfire Center for almost two years, dealing with specific tasks, whether it was approving funding or monitoring project schedules; every task was truly hard work.

But now someone wants to put him in a higher position.

Standing higher allows you to see further, but it also brings greater pressure.

Chen Ping didn't continue thinking about it. He opened the drawer, took out his notebook, and wrote down the "Four-City Collaboration Plan for the Semiconductor Industry Chain in the Province" on a blank page.

Once the pen touched the ground, he wrote for forty minutes without stopping.

From the selection of upstream chemical raw material bases to the supporting facilities for midstream photoresist production lines, and then to the connection with downstream chip manufacturing enterprises, each link corresponds to the city's industrial foundation.

Nanzhou is responsible for tackling the core technologies, which is readily available.

Guangling has a chemical industry cluster, which can serve as a source of raw materials.

Jiaxing has a solid foundation in precision manufacturing, making it suitable for equipment manufacturing.

Donghu's proximity to the sea gives it a natural advantage as a logistics and foreign trade hub.

The four cities form a chain, which together create a closed loop.

After writing the last word, Chen Ping put down his pen and flipped back to the first page to read it through again. The framework was in place, but each step required coordination from the provincial level.

That's why Governor Zhou wanted to hold this meeting.

That's why he was needed to draw this picture.

Thinking of this, Chen Ping closed his notebook, got up, and left the office.

In the corridor, Jiang Fan and Zhang Chao were squatting next to the printer changing ink cartridges. When they saw him come out, they both stood up straight.

Is Song Yue here?

"He stayed in the lab building all day and didn't come out."

Chen Ping nodded and walked towards the laboratory building.

Pushing open the door to the third floor, the corridor was filled with the smell of reagents. Song Yue's laboratory was at the very back, the door half open, with light leaking out from the crack.

Chen Ping didn't knock and went straight in.

Song Yue squatted in front of the testing equipment. His white coat was wrinkled, and there was a piece of tape stuck to his back, it was unclear how long it had been there.

"Old Song."

Song Yue turned around, his eyes were very red, but he was in good spirits. Chen Ping had seen him in this state several times before, and each time it meant that the experiment had made progress.

"You've come at the perfect time."

Song Yue pulled a report from the worktable and handed it over.

The report had only three pages with the lab's internal stamp on the cover. Chen Ping opened the first page, glanced at the table, and then stopped at the second page.

Song Yue leaned closer and poked his finger on the graph.

"EUV light source power stability test, continuous operation for 720 hours, the fluctuation rate is controlled within 0.3 percent."

Chen Ping looked up at Song Yue.

"What does this mean?"

Song Yue rolled up his sleeve, revealing red marks on his wrist from the reagent burns; the wounds had already scabbed over.

"This means that, in theory, we have obtained the core technology of domestically produced lithography machines."

The laboratory was quiet for a few seconds, with only the sound of the testing equipment running.

Chen Ping closed the report and tucked it under his arm.

"I'll take this report to the provincial capital."

Song Yue was taken aback. "The provincial capital?"

"Next Wednesday, there will be a closed-door meeting on the layout of the semiconductor industry chain across the province, chaired by Governor Zhou."

Song Yue opened his mouth but couldn't say anything. After a long while, he finally managed to utter a sentence.

"Then you'd better be clear. If this thing can be mass-produced, the entire domestic lithography machine supply chain will have to be reshuffled."

Chen Ping didn't reply and turned to walk out.

I stopped at the door.

"Old Song, the tape."

"What kind of tape?"

"On your back."

Song Yue reached behind him, ripped off the piece of tape, and grinned.

As Chen Ping walked out of the laboratory building, the night wind swept over him, lifting a corner of his suit jacket.

He glanced down at the report tucked under his arm; the four red characters "Internal Documents" on the cover stood out prominently under the streetlights.

On the eve of leaving for the provincial capital, this three-page report contained 720 hours of data.

Chen Ping switched the report to his left hand, took out his phone, and opened the memo app. He added a line below the outline of his speech at the closed-door meeting.

The core light source technology verification for domestically produced lithography machines has been completed.

He hovered his finger above the screen and deleted those words again, finally changing them to three words.

It is ready.