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

After the rust flakes fell off, the car engine outside the iron gate started, leaving two shallow tracks on the gravel road before gradually disappearing into the distance.

Chen Ping turned his gaze away from the steps and took out his phone.

Qin Yu has sent three encrypted messages, all of which are about Qian Bo.

Qian Bo stood by the iron gate for less than five minutes when Zhao Deshan's men presented the second approval document, and his legs went weak. Two uniformed staff members helped him into another car without uttering a sound.

What happened after that day progressed even faster than Chen Pingfang had anticipated.

The special investigation team for Zhang Jingru's case was directly supervised by the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, with the provincial discipline inspection commission assisting in its execution. The three micro-sized pieces of paper were sent to Beijing for forensic examination, confirming the handwriting, the age of the paper, and the contents of the records. The investigation uncovered a twenty-year ledger, revealing over three hundred instances of illicit transfers of benefits involving seventy-four serving or retired officials.

On the third day after the list was issued, the deputy head of the Criminal Investigation Corps of the Provincial Public Security Department was taken away for questioning.

On the fifth day, two deputy directors of the provincial procuratorate's anti-corruption bureau were simultaneously suspended from their duties to undergo investigation.

On the seventh day, the presiding judge of the First Criminal Division of the Provincial High Court voluntarily confessed to the problem and wrote an eleven-page written statement.

On the same day Qian Bo was arrested at the Department of Industry and Information Technology, his secretary, two deputy directors, and a chief clerk from the Science and Technology Department were all taken away from the office building by provincial discipline inspection officials. Others stood in the corridor with teacups, watching from the doorway; no one dared to ask questions, and no one dared to leave.

Chen Ping sat in his office and pulled up all the project approval documents that Qian Bo had handled, going through them one by one.

Three days later, the position of Executive Deputy Director of the Department of Industry and Information Technology was vacant, and Qian Bo's traces were completely erased from every filing cabinet.

At the Party Group meeting, Chen Ping placed the revised Corefire Phase II implementation plan on the table and looked around.

No one objected.

One month later, in Lin Yuanzhou's laboratory in Nanzhou High-tech Zone.

When Chen Ping opened the door, Lin Yuanzhou was standing in front of the whiteboard drawing a circuit topology diagram, with the cap of his marker pen in his mouth and his hands covered in red ink stains.

"Did it work?"

Lin Yuanzhou spat out the pen cap and patted the ink stains off his hands.

"Not only did it succeed."

He turned around and picked up a small chip sample, about the size of a fingernail, from the control panel, placing it in Chen Ping's palm.

"The original design had three redundant modules, which we cut completely and replaced with our self-developed low-power architecture. The yield rate is four percentage points higher than Veridian's original design."

Chen Ping held the chip up to the light to examine it, then flipped it over.

What about intellectual property rights?

"It's all rewritten. The architecture, instruction set, physical layout—not a single line of code is copied. We call it the 'Chipfire Standard,' and the patent application materials were submitted last week, totaling forty-seven items."

Lin Yuanzhou wiped the sweat from his forehead and grinned.

"Director Chen, this thing is ours now."

Chen Ping put the chip back into the anti-static box, closed the lid, and without saying anything nice, just patted Lin Yuanzhou on the shoulder with considerable force.

Ten days later, in the executive meeting room of the provincial government.

Liu Mingyuan sat in the main seat, a document stamped with an official red seal spread out in front of him. Those present included the vice governor in charge, the director of the Development and Reform Commission, the director of the Science and Technology Department, and Chen Pingfang.

Liu Mingyuan opened the document but did not read from the prepared script.

"The Central Commission for Discipline Inspection has already determined the nature of Zhang Jingru's case, so I won't repeat it. But there is one thing that must be made clear on this occasion."

His palm rested on the document.

"From discovering clues to locking down core evidence, and finally closing in, the Provincial Department of Industry and Information Technology was the main driving force behind this operation. Comrade Chen Pingfang withstood the pressure in an extremely complex situation, connecting the technical and anti-corruption lines, demonstrating exceptional judgment and execution capabilities."

There was a three-second silence in the conference room.

Liu Mingyuan pushed the document to the center of the table.

"The Provincial Party Committee has approved it. The Provincial Department of Industry and Information Technology will take the lead in integrating semiconductor industry resources across the province and launching the 'Yangtze River Delta Semiconductor Industry Collaborative Development Plan'."

He raised his head and looked at Chen Pingfang.

"The person in charge is Chen Pingfang."

Chen Ping stood up, nodded, and sat back down without saying anything further.

After the meeting, someone patted him on the shoulder in the corridor to congratulate him. He responded to each person and quickly went downstairs.

At 6:30 pm, along the Nanzhou Riverside Trail.

Chen Ping stood by the railing for ten minutes before Su Qingwan finally came out from behind the sycamore tree at the intersection.

She changed into a beige trench coat, tied her hair back, and handed over one of the two hot drinks she was carrying.

"I heard. Congratulations."

Chen Ping took the cup, but didn't drink it; he just screwed on the lid.

"And you?"

Su Qingwan leaned against the railing, holding a paper cup in both hands to warm them.

"The newspaper approved it."

Chen Ping paused for a moment as he unscrewed the cap.

"Special correspondent, providing long-term coverage of the development of China's high-tech industries. I have full autonomy in choosing topics and there are no time limits."

She turned her head to the side, and the river breeze blew a few strands of hair onto her cheek.

"So, I'm not leaving."

Chen Ping unscrewed the lid and took a sip. The scalding coffee burned his tongue, but he didn't make a sound.

"Your actions will become increasingly significant, affecting a wider range of people." Su Qingwan tapped her fingers twice on the rim of her glass. "You need someone who can tell the truth to the public."

Chen Ping placed the cup on the railing, braced himself against the iron railing, and watched as the lights of the cargo ships on the river lit up one by one.

"it is good."

In short, it was decisive and efficient.

Su Qingwan didn't say anything more. The two of them stood side by side by the railing, the river wind blowing into their trench coat collars, and neither of them moved.

At 9:17 p.m., Chen Ping's phone rang.

The number is registered in Beijing, and the caller ID shows "Zhou Zhengqing".

His university advisor.

"teacher."

"Lie it flat, are you done?"

Zhou Zhengqing's voice has always been loud and clear; even at over seventy years old, he has more energy than many young people.

"Just finished up."

"I've heard about Zhang Jingru." Zhou Zhengqing paused for two seconds, not lingering on the topic. "I have something important to discuss with you."

Chen Ping leaned against the car door, took out a cigarette, but didn't light it.

Do you still remember your senior brother, Gu Weizhen?

Chen Ping's hand, holding the lighter, froze in mid-air.

Wei-Chen Gu. A PhD in Electrical Engineering from MIT, he went to Silicon Valley after graduation and served as chief architect for twelve years at one of the world's top three chip design companies. Industry rumors suggest he is the primary inventor of two of the three core patents related to the 7nm process node.

"Remember."

"He contacted me recently," Zhou Zhengqing said, his speech slowing down. "He wants to go back to China."

Chen Ping put the lighter back in his pocket, but didn't light the cigarette.

"But he has a lot of concerns. Having been overseas for too long, he has no idea about the domestic industrial environment, policy climate, or personnel relationships. In particular, the things he holds are very sensitive, and if he returns, the US will be watching him very closely."

Zhou Zhengqing coughed and lowered his voice.

"I told him about your situation. He wants to talk to you."

The phone hangs up.

Chen Ping opened the car door, got into the driver's seat, and turned on his phone. Zhou Zhengqing had sent him a document, which contained Gu Weizhen's resume and a list of papers published in the past five years.

He flipped through the pages one by one, until he reached the last page and stopped.

Gu Weizhen published a preliminary research paper on 3-nanometer GAA architecture in IEEE last year, which has been cited over 400 times. The acknowledgments section of this paper did not mention the name of his company.

This person is already preparing to leave.

Chen Ping exited the file, his thumb hovering over the dial button for two seconds.

Bringing down Zhang Jingru only clears the ground beneath our feet.

The real battlefield is across the Pacific Ocean.

My thumb dropped, and the dial key lit up.