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

The air conditioning in the conference room was on full blast, but Chen Pingfang noticed that Fang Zhiyuan had a thin layer of sweat on his forehead when he entered.

On the seventh floor of Building No. 3 of the Provincial Party Committee, there was an oval-shaped long table surrounded by twenty chairs. On the table were uniform white porcelain teacups and folders, and a place card stood in front of each seat.

Governor Zhou sat in the middle, flipping through the documents in his hand without looking up.

Chen Pingfang was seated in the third chair from the right at the long table. To his left sat Liu Mingyuan, the deputy director of the Provincial Department of Industry and Information Technology, and to his right was an empty seat. Fang Zhiyuan sat opposite Chen Pingfang, across the entire table.

Five minutes before the meeting began, Fang Zhiyuan's secretary, Zhou Heng, carried a stack of bound materials and distributed them to each seat. The materials had blue covers and the title read: "Discussion on the Rationality of the Technical Threshold of the Provincial Industry Standards Alliance."

Chen Ping opened the book and scanned the first three pages.

The entire article argues that the technical parameters set by the standards alliance are too high, making it unaffordable for small and medium-sized enterprises to upgrade, which could lead to the hollowing out of regional industries. The data cited are all from the self-reported materials of the three chemical companies in Guangling, and the values ​​of COD, ammonia nitrogen, and total phosphorus are exactly the same as the numbers scrolling on the three electronic screens that Chen Ping saw with his own eyes in Guangling.

38.2, 37.8, 38.5.

Chen Ping closed the materials and placed them on the right side of the table.

Governor Zhou coughed, and the meeting room fell silent.

"Today's coordination meeting has only one thing to do—the implementation plan for the industry standards alliance. Both Nanzhou and Guangling have their opinions, so let's put them on the table and make them clear. Comrade Fang Zhiyuan, you go first."

Fang Zhiyuan stood up and placed his hands on the edge of the table.

"Governor Zhou, distinguished leaders, let me first state my position. Guangling fully supports the province's general direction of promoting industrial upgrading."

After pausing for two seconds, he changed the subject.

"However, the current draft technical specifications of the standards alliance have serious exclusivity issues. Of the 27 core technical parameters set in the draft, 19 directly correspond to the technical system of the Nanzhou Chip Fire Center. In other words, this is not a standards alliance for the entire province, but a standards alliance for Nanzhou alone."

Fang Zhiyuan took a pen out of his pocket and tapped it twice on the materials in front of him.

"The industrial and information technology systems of Guangling, Yichang, and Jingzhou have conducted a joint survey. According to the threshold of the current draft, more than 60% of the chemical companies in the three cities will be excluded from the alliance. These 60% of companies contribute 40% of the province's total basic chemical raw material production capacity. Once the standard alliance is implemented, the raw material supply chain will be disrupted, and Nanzhou's own semiconductor production line will also have to shut down."

Fang Zhiyuan glanced at Chen Pingfang, but didn't stop.

"I'm not against standards. What I oppose is replacing industry consensus with one party's opinion. Guangling has already submitted a request to the Provincial Department of Industry and Information Technology to establish its own standards system, which is in line with the actual situation of local industries. This is the pragmatic approach."

As I sat down, the chair leg scraped against the floor.

Governor Zhou turned to Chen Pingfang.

"Comrade Pingfang, what do you say?"

Chen Ping did not stand up.

"I'd like to respond to Mayor Fang's point about exclusivity."

He pulled a document out of his briefcase; it had a blue plastic cover, the same color as the one Fang Zhiyuan had given him.

"The 27 core parameters in the draft standards alliance did not originate from the Chipfire Center. They are the result of joint research by three institutions: the Institute of Chemistry of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the National Semiconductor Quality Supervision and Inspection Center, and the Provincial Academy of Environmental Sciences. The research report was submitted to the Provincial Department of Industry and Information Technology last November, with the number 2023-工信-技标-0047. Director Liu should remember this."

Liu Mingyuan, deputy director of the Provincial Department of Industry and Information Technology, glanced at the documents in front of him and nodded.

Chen Ping turned the document to the fourth page and pushed it to the middle of the table.

"Mayor Fang just mentioned the environmental impact assessment data of three chemical companies in Guangling. I also have a set of data here for you to take a look."

Jiang Fan stood up from the back row and distributed the printed materials to each seat.

「天盈化工、华鼎新材、绿洲科技，三家企业去年提交的环评报告，COD排放浓度分别标注为38.2、37.8、38.5毫克每升。氨氮分别是4.1、3.9、4.2。」

Chen Ping's finger tapped on the data bar.

"The pollution discharge data of three chemical companies of different sizes, with different processes and product lines have an error margin of no more than 2%. Moreover, all three reports were issued by the same intermediary agency, Hengda Environmental Assessment. The actual controller of Hengda Environmental Assessment is the son-in-law of the former deputy director of the Guangling Environmental Protection Bureau."

The sound of someone flipping through documents in the meeting room stopped.

Fang Zhiyuan withdrew his hand from the table and placed it on his knee.

Chen Ping continued.

"I visited these three factories in Guangling last week. The outer wall of the reactor on the first production line of Tianying Chemical was severely corroded, and the flange joints were leaking. The drainage ditch of the tank area was blocked, the sediment was black, the surface was oily, and it smelled sour and pungent. The COD emission concentration under these conditions could not possibly be 38 milligrams per liter."

He pulled another file folder out of his briefcase.

"This is the test report from the Provincial Environmental Science Research Institute last Thursday, based on samples taken from the drainage ditch outside the Tianying Chemical Plant area. The measured COD concentration was 127 mg/L, exceeding the provincial standard by one and a half times. The measured ammonia nitrogen concentration was 12.6 mg/L, exceeding the standard by two times."

The report was slammed onto the table, the sound echoing in the conference room.

Fang Zhiyuan's back was pressed against the back of the chair, his legs didn't move, but the toe of his left shoe lifted up slightly and then fell back down.

Governor Zhou took the test report, flipped through a couple of pages, and placed it in his own folder.

Chen Ping didn't give Fang Zhiyuan a chance to interrupt.

"Mayor Fang proposed that Guangling establish its own standard system. I would like to ask everyone to take a look at the COD emission limit of this 'Guangling Standard' - 80 milligrams per liter. This is 60 percent more lenient than the current provincial standard. If this standard is approved, Tianying Chemical will not even need to make any changes; it will be qualified directly."

No one spoke in the meeting room.

"Are the standards for the alliance high? Yes. But this threshold isn't set by Nanzhou; it's determined by both industrial development and environmental protection red lines. The photoresist production line in the second phase of the Chipfire Center has purity requirements for upstream chemical raw materials down to the ppb level. Using substandard raw materials, the yield rate drops directly from 92% to below 40%. The loss for one line exceeds 20 million per month."

Chen Ping leaned back in his chair.

"If we follow the 'Guangling standard,' we won't be able to maintain the yield rate of photoresist in the whole province, nor will we be able to meet the environmental protection red line. This is not a matter of technological hegemony, but a matter of bottom line."

Governor Zhou put his pen down on the table, looked up and glanced around.

"Comrade Fang Zhiyuan, is there anything else you'd like to add?"

Fang Zhiyuan's Adam's apple bobbed slightly.

"I'll go back and verify the test report."

"No need to go back to verify."

Governor Zhou reopened the test report and pressed his finger on the official seal of the Provincial Academy of Environmental Sciences.

"This report is the official test conclusion of the Provincial Academy of Environmental Sciences and has legal effect. The environmental impact assessment fraud issue of the three companies in Guangling will be investigated by the Provincial Department of Environmental Protection after the meeting, and Guangling City must fully cooperate."

Governor Zhou closed the folder and leaned back in his chair.

"The implementation plan for the standards alliance was finalized today. It will be based on the joint demonstration by the Institute of Chemistry of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the National Semiconductor Quality Inspection Center, and the technical parameters will not be reduced. The three-year transition period will be retained, but the annual assessment nodes during the transition period must be clearly defined. Guangling will unconditionally cooperate with the technical standards system led by Nanzhou."

"Meeting minutes will be distributed to all departments before the end of the workday. Meeting adjourned."

The sound of chairs being pushed back echoed throughout the room. Fang Zhiyuan was the first to stand up, and Zhou Heng went over to help him gather the materials. The two walked quickly toward the door. As they passed Chen Pingfang, Fang Zhiyuan paused for a moment, but did not stop or turn around.

Chen Ping watched the figure in the navy blue jacket disappear around the corner of the corridor.

Liu Mingyuan walked around to Chen Pingfang's side, lowering his voice.

"Lie it flat. How much stuff do you have left?"

"Everything that needed to be taken out has been taken out."

Liu Mingyuan patted Chen Pingfang on the shoulder, asked no more questions, and followed the crowd out the door.

Jiang Fan helped Chen Ping put away his briefcase, and the two entered the elevator.

The moment the elevator doors closed, Chen Ping felt a jolt in his pocket.

I took out my phone; a text message. The number's location was Jiaxing.

"Secretary Chen, Han Zhengke, the supplier of precision equipment in Jiaxing, has been taken away. Three of the equipment orders involved are for the second phase of Xinhuo project."

From Su Qingwan.

The elevator numbers jumped from seven to six, and Chen Ping's thumb hovered above the screen, not locking it for a long time.