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

He Zhicheng knelt for a full twelve seconds before Chen Pingfang finally spoke.

"Stand up."

He Zhicheng used the table legs to push himself up, his legs still trembling.

Where are the original copies of these three guarantee letters?

"One copy was in Sun Zhaohui's safe, and the other copy was held by the company."

Chen Ping folded the copies neatly and stuffed them back into the envelope.

"Before tonight, submit a complete list of the three companies' names, guarantee signing dates, and corresponding project numbers to my office. After submitting it, go back and write a self-criticism, then wait for the organization's interview."

He Zhicheng took two steps back, opened the door, and went out.

As the footsteps faded in the corridor, Chen Ping locked the letter in the drawer, leaned back in his chair, and picked up his phone.

Lin Yuanzhou's text message was still displayed in the notification bar.

"The first batch of silicon carbide samples has a 100% yield rate."

He glanced at the time: 7:40 PM.

The fingertip hovered on the screen for three seconds before dialing.

It rang twice, and then the other end answered.

"Yuanzhou, is he still in the lab?"

"304, just finished the last set of data verification." Lin Yuanzhou's throat was dry, the kind of dryness that would crack if he spoke continuously.

Have you eaten yet?

There was a pause on the other end.

"I forgot."

Chen Ping hung up the phone, picked up his coat, and walked out.

Jiang Fan followed.

"Director, where are we going?"

"You go back first."

Jiang Fan opened his mouth, handed over the car keys, and didn't follow any further.

Chen Ping drove his own car, turned right after exiting the gate of the High-tech Zone Management Committee, and drove south along Jianshe Road for 800 meters before stopping in front of a roadside stall without a sign.

The stall was set up on the sidewalk, with a large aluminum pot on a gas stove, the soup bubbling and the aroma of beef bones spreading with the steam.

The proprietress was chopping cilantro on the cutting board when she looked up at him.

"I want two bowls of beef noodles, with extra meat and scallions."

"Do you want it spicy?"

"One bowl should be spicy, one bowl should be non-spicy."

Chen Pingfang knew that Lin Yuanzhou didn't eat spicy food, and this habit of his had never changed.

The proprietress put the noodles in two large bowls, covered them with plastic bags, and handed them to him. Chen Ping placed the bowls on the passenger seat, then turned the car around and drove towards the Corefire Phase II project.

He went up to the third floor of the laboratory building and saw that only the light in room 304 was still on.

Pushing open the door, he saw Lin Yuanzhou squatting on the ground, leaning against a device, holding a pen in his hand, and a notebook in front of him.

Chen Ping walked over and placed the bowl of beef noodles on the worktable.

Lin Yuanzhou raised his head and took a sniff.

"Is it beef noodles?"

"The old place, the one you loved to eat at in college, with big chunks of beef shank."

Lin Yuanzhou stood up from the ground, his knee making a crisp sound as it caught in his trouser leg. He walked over, picked up his chopsticks, took a sip of soup, and his shoulders slumped down by half an inch.

Chen Ping moved an experimental stool to the opposite side, peeled open the plastic bag of his bowl, and picked up a mouthful of noodles.

The two ate for five minutes without saying a word.

The only sounds in the laboratory were the chopsticks hitting the rim of a bowl and the faint hum of the ventilation ducts.

Lin Yuanzhou stuffed the last piece of beef into his mouth, chewed it twice, and put down his chopsticks.

Lay it flat.

"Um."

"I crossed out the 100% yield rate myself on the day the solution was demonstrated."

Chen Ping put down his chopsticks.

"I remember. You wrote four words next to it: 'Too idealistic.'"

Lin Yuanzhou took the pen out of his pocket and twirled it twice on the table.

"When I came out today, I stared at the screen of the testing machine for a full three minutes, and my legs were weak. Not because I was excited, but because I was afraid. I was afraid that the data would be inaccurate, afraid that the equipment would drift, and afraid that it would fall down during the verification."

He turned the pen to his fingertips and stopped.

"It was checked four times later. All four times it was 100% accurate."

Chen Ping didn't reply, and waited.

Lin Yuanzhou looked down at the empty bowl and traced a circle with his finger along the rim.

"Do you know what my situation was like when I left Huazhong Microelectronics?"

Chen Ping put down his chopsticks and placed his hands on his knees.

I've heard some of it.

"Not just some." Lin Yuanzhou's throat was dry again. He picked up the bowl, finished the rest of the soup, and put it back.

"The silicon carbide epitaxial layer project was a project I spearheaded. It took me two and a half years, but after the data came out, my authorship was changed. The first author was the dean's doctoral student, and I was listed fourth. Two and a half years of work, and I was listed fourth."

The metal legs of the experimental stool scraped slightly on the floor.

"I went to talk to the dean, and the dean said that the authorship of collaborative research projects was the result of a comprehensive evaluation, and that I should consider the overall situation. I said that this was not a collaboration, but data that I obtained by spending more than 900 hours in the clean room by myself."

Lin Yuanzhou put the pen back into his breast pocket.

"The transfer order came down the next day, and I was transferred from the core laboratory to the equipment maintenance group."

Chen Ping remained silent.

"My wife—my ex-wife—filed for divorce after that. Her exact words were, 'Following a forty-year-old man who's still repairing equipment for others, there's no end in sight.'"

As Lin Yuanzhou spoke, his hand rested on the rim of the enamel bowl, his thumb rubbing back and forth along a small crack on the bowl's surface.

"What she said isn't entirely wrong."

Chen Ping stacked the two empty bowls together and pushed them to the corner of the table.

"Yuanzhou, when I asked you to come to Nanzhou, I only told you about the technical direction and equipment conditions, and I didn't say anything else."

Lin Yuanzhou raised his head.

"Now that the numbers are out, there are some things we can talk about."

Chen Ping took out a piece of A4 paper that had been folded twice from the inside pocket of his coat and unfolded it on the worktable.

"The High-tech Zone is promoting a 'Scientists' Apartment' plan. The building on the east side of the Chipfire Phase II project has 18 floors and 40 units. You are first on the first allocation list."

Lin Yuanzhou stared at the paper but didn't reach for it.

"I will take care of the housing and staffing for any additional members of your team that you plan to expand. I have already coordinated with Liu Mingyuan regarding the channels at the Provincial Department of Human Resources and Social Security. We will use the special talent introduction program, which will not be restricted by the length of service required for professional titles."

Chen Ping pushed the paper in front of Lin Yuanzhou.

"You focus on your technical work. I'll handle the logistics, staffing, and finances."

Lin Yuanzhou looked down at the paper, pressing his thumb along the edge for a long time.

Lay it flat.

"Um."

"The year I graduated from university, you also treated me to beef noodles."

Chen Ping was stunned for a moment, then reached out and picked up the enamel bowl, turning it around in his hand.

"Back then, a bowl cost three yuan and fifty cents."

"It's gone up to eighteen now."

The two sat facing the empty bowl for a few seconds, then Lin Yuanzhou suddenly stood up and walked to a row of old equipment racks in the corner of the laboratory.

That row of shelves contained old stuff moved from Huazhong Microelectronics: spare parts for lithography machines, obsolete spin coater control boards, and several scrapped vacuum pumps, all piled up at the bottom of the shelves collecting dust.

Lin Yuanzhou squatted down and pulled out an anti-static bag from the side compartment of a vacuum pump at the bottom.

The bag was opened, revealing a 2.5-inch portable hard drive with a severely worn casing and a faded label. The handwritten number on the label was blurred, with only the last three digits remaining: "074".

"I found this while I was sorting through old equipment."

Lin Yuanzhou placed the hard drive on the worktable and pushed it toward Chen Pingfang.

"I tried taking the computer; the entire hard drive was encrypted with AES-256, and I couldn't open it without the key. But I could see one layer of the file directory, and there was a folder on the outermost layer whose name wasn't encrypted."

Chen Ping picked up the hard drive and flipped it to the label side.

"What's the name?"

Lin Yuanzhou lowered his voice and glanced left and right. The laboratory door was closed, and there were no footsteps in the corridor.

"The folder is named 'SiC-Veridian-NDA'. Veridian is the internal code name for that American semiconductor equipment company, and NDA stands for Non-Disclosure Agreement."

Chen Ping picked up the hard drive and touched the label on it with his fingers.

Who signed the purchase order for this batch of used equipment?

"I've seen the purchase order; it was signed by Yan Qinghua."

The lab fell silent. Chen Pingfang's face darkened. He didn't say anything more, but simply picked up the hard drive, flipped it over, and placed it face down on the table, holding it down with one hand.