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

Chen Ping stared at the line of text on the screen for five seconds, then pressed the lock screen button and tossed his phone into the glove compartment.

Fang Zhiyuan.

It came faster than expected.

The car turned onto the main road, and Chen Ping didn't touch his phone again. The storage compartment vibrated again, but he didn't look at it.

Back at my place, I took a shower and tossed and turned in bed. At one in the morning, a message popped up on WeChat.

University classmates' group chat.

"Twenty years! This Saturday night, at the Nanzhou Dingfeng Hotel, those who don't show up will have to drink three cups!"

The person who sent the message had the nickname "Old Squad Leader Xu Desheng" and their profile picture was a photo of a golf course.

Chen Ping scrolled through the chat history and found that the group had already exploded with more than twenty people signing up.

Chen Ping scrolled up and saw a promotional poster for a real estate company pinned to the top of Xu Desheng's WeChat Moments: Desheng Real Estate, ranked among the top three in Nanzhou.

He didn't reply to the message, put his phone face down on the bedside table, closed his eyes, and went to sleep.

Saturday evening at 6:30 pm.

The private room at Dingfeng Hotel was on the third floor, with a sign that read "Songfeng Hall". Chen Ping was wearing a dark gray polo shirt, and he didn't bring a briefcase, only a mobile phone.

Pushing open the door, I saw that fifteen or sixteen people were already seated on both sides of the long table.

Xu Desheng was the first to stand up. He was dressed in a sharp suit, and the gold buttons on his cuffs jingled under the light. He was 1.75 meters tall, and his belly was twice as big as it had been twenty years ago, but his hair was still meticulously styled.

"Lay it flat! It's finally here!"

Xu Desheng walked around the table to greet Chen Ping, patting him on the shoulders with both hands, quite forcefully.

"Old squad leader, your entourage is getting bigger and bigger."

"Not at all, we're all old classmates, just have a casual meal." Xu Desheng led Chen Ping to the main table. "Come, sit next to me."

Chen Ping glanced around the table. Moutai, red wine, lobster sashimi, and a custom-made place card with gold lettering in front of each seat.

Chen Pingfang's name card reads: Chen Pingfang, Nanzhou High-tech Zone.

The job title was not specified.

After sitting down, a fat man wearing gold-rimmed glasses across from Chen Ping raised his glass and shouted.

"Pingfang, I heard you went to the High-tech Zone? The management committee?"

"Yeah, just arrived."

"That's a great place! My cousin's company is in the High-tech Zone; they deal in environmental protection equipment."

Chen Ping picked up his teacup and clinked it against his. "I'll go check it out sometime."

After a few rounds of drinks, the decibel level in the private room doubled.

Xu Desheng put his right hand on the back of Chen Ping's chair, leaned closer, and his face was filled with the smell of alcohol mixed with cologne.

"Lie flat, I have something to tell you."

Chen Ping picked up a piece of green vegetable with his chopsticks without turning his head.

"That plot of land on the south side of the second phase of the High-tech Zone is planned for commercial facilities, right? I've seen the public notice; it's 300 mu."

Xu Desheng smiled, took out a business card from his suit pocket, and pushed it towards him. The business card read: "Chairman of Desheng Real Estate Group."

"We at Desheng have been in Nanzhou for twelve years, and we've done all kinds of projects, from commercial complexes to office buildings and talent apartments. We have the capability to take on the commercial facilities for the second phase."

Chen Ping placed the business card on the table, his hand still holding chopsticks.

"Old squad leader, the land use designation for the south side of Phase II hasn't been finalized yet. The Municipal Planning Commission's intention is to develop industrial support facilities."

Xu Desheng's smile faded slightly. "Industrial support facilities? Someone has to build them too."

"The project will still be built. But the direction has changed, and the bidding conditions are different. The industrial support requirements stipulate that the R&D ratio of the enterprises entering the project should not be less than 30%, which does not apply to purely commercial complexes."

Xu Desheng picked up his wine glass, took a sip, and then knocked it against the edge of the table with a loud thud.

"Put it flat. We've been classmates for twenty years, I'm not going to mince words. Name your terms."

Chen Ping put down his chopsticks and turned to face Xu Desheng.

"Desheng, I didn't set these conditions. The industrial plan was approved by the province, and the land use boundary was drawn by the municipal planning commission. If you really want to do projects in the high-tech zone, follow the bidding process, and no one will stop you. But I can't talk to you about land at this table."

Xu Desheng opened his mouth slightly, and several classmates who were listening intently lowered their heads to eat.

The chubby man with wire-rimmed glasses across from them tried to smooth things over. "Come on, let's drink, let's stop talking about work!"

Xu Desheng clinked glasses with his cup but didn't mention the land acquisition again. He stirred the food on his plate with his chopsticks, but didn't put any in his mouth for a long time.

During the meal, Chen Ping glanced at the other end of the table and saw a person sitting at the very end who barely spoke throughout the entire meal.

He was very thin, with unkempt, messy hair. He wore a plaid shirt that looked like it had been washed many times; the color was faded, and the cuffs were frayed. There was a wine glass in front of him, but he hadn't touched it since the beginning, only drinking plain water.

Lin Yuanzhou.

Chen Pingfang remembered this person. He was always first in the materials science department exams, and later went to the Chinese Academy of Sciences for postgraduate studies. After completing his doctorate, he joined a research institute specializing in military industry. Chen Pingfang thought for a moment. Lin Yuanzhou wasn't completely silent in the group chat; he would occasionally pop up and chat for a bit, saying that he was working on a project about some kind of special alloy, but the funding was being cut every year, and the lab was about to close down.

Chen Ping stood up with his wine glass in hand, walked over to Lin Yuanzhou, and pulled up a chair to sit down.

"Yuanzhou, it's been a long time."

Lin Yuanzhou then looked up at him, clearly startled. His face was much thinner than before, and his cheekbones were very prominent.

"Lie flat. You...you still remember me."

"You always get first place in exams, how could anyone forget you?"

Lin Yuanzhou chuckled dryly, tracing the edge of the water glass with his finger.

"Don't even mention it. The institute laid off a bunch of non-tenured staff last year, and my research group is down to just two people. The funding hasn't been approved, and the equipment is outdated and can't run high-precision experiments."

"Which direction?"

"High-temperature sintering process for silicon carbide-based composite materials".

Chen Ping paused for a moment. Silicon carbide. One of the core directions of the second phase of the Chipfire Center is the industrialization of third-generation semiconductor materials, and silicon carbide substrates are a key component.

"Yuanzhou, what stage has your technology reached?"

"The lab validation has been successful, but pilot-scale production requires equipment and funding, which the research institute can't provide. I've personally advanced over 100,000 yuan, and my credit cards were maxed out last month."

As Lin Yuanzhou spoke, his hands were tucked under the table, and black powder was embedded in his fingernails—the color of silicon carbide powder.

Chen Ping took out his phone from his pocket, found Jiang Fan's number, and sent a message.

"Print out a copy of the application form for the second phase of the Chipfire pilot platform and send it to me tomorrow."

After sending the message, Chen Ping turned back.

"Yuanzhou, come to the High-tech Zone to see me next Monday. Bring your technical report and experimental data. The pilot plant for the second phase of Chipfire has just been built, and the equipment and site are ready, along with start-up funds."

Lin Yuanzhou held his water glass in mid-air, his wrist trembled, and water spilled onto the tablecloth.

"Are you...are you serious?"

"Industrialization requires your technology, and you need a platform. This is a perfect match."

Lin Yuanzhou's Adam's apple bobbed twice. He put the water glass on the table and rubbed his knees with both hands.

After a long pause, he blurted out, "I thought I was just here to have a meal."

Chen Ping patted Lin Yuanzhou on the shoulder, stood up, and returned to the main table.

Halfway there, the fat guy with gold-rimmed glasses was introducing Chen Pingfang to some of the new students.

"It's him, from the High-tech Zone."

A female classmate who had come all the way from the provincial capital whispered, "What level is the management committee again?"

The chubby man with gold-rimmed glasses waved his hand. "The director of the management committee, I guess, is at least a division-level official."

A student who had been scrolling through his phone in the corner suddenly looked up, stared at the screen, and read aloud.

"Wait a minute... Chen Pingfang, member of the Standing Committee of the Nanzhou Municipal Party Committee and Secretary of the Party Working Committee of the High-tech Zone. This was just updated on the municipal government's official website this afternoon. Standing Committee member, isn't that... a deputy director-general level official?"

The sound of chopsticks clinking in the private room stopped abruptly.

Xu Desheng's hand, holding food, hung suspended in mid-air. The fat man with gold-rimmed glasses kept his mouth open, forgetting to close it. Several students at the end of the table turned their heads simultaneously, as if pulled by the same thread.

Xu Desheng was the first to react. He put the chopsticks on the plate, picked up the bottle of Moutai again, and personally filled Chen Ping's glass with it.

"Lying it flat, you're being too modest."

The hand that was pouring the wine trembled slightly.

Chen Ping picked up his glass. "We're all old classmates, let's just drink."

The party ended at 9:30.

As Chen Ping walked out of the hotel lobby, his cell phone rang in his pocket.

The caller ID showed Guangling, and the number was exactly the same as the text message.

Chen Ping answered the call.

"Secretary Chen, this is Fang Zhiyuan." The voice on the other end was deep. "I see that Secretary Chen is very interested in the provincial standards alliance project. Guangling also has some ideas. I wonder if it would be convenient for Secretary Chen to come over and discuss it in person."

Chen Ping stood under the hotel porch, the night wind blowing in through the gaps in the revolving door.

"Mayor Fang, you're too kind. When?"

There was a pause on the other end of the phone.

"I'll send a car to pick you up the day after tomorrow."