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

The red paper scraps were blown by the wind to Chen Ping's feet. He didn't look down, but handed the phone back to Han Zhiming.

"Get a copy of Zhong Mingyuan's resume."

"Whose file are we looking for? We don't have access to the provincial cadre database."

"We don't use the database. His name is on the list of attendees at the Chipfire project matchmaking meeting. We also pull out the list of companies submitted by Sichuan Province and compare the actual controllers and related relationships of each company."

Han Zhiming paused for a second, then turned around and ran back to the car to rummage through his file folder.

Zhao Weiguo strolled over from the factory gate, his safety helmet tucked under his arm, his face still beaming with the excitement of successfully igniting the fire.

"Secretary Chen, aren't you staying for dinner tonight? The cafeteria just killed a fish~"

"Some other time. Mr. Zhao, does Huaxing New Materials have any downstream customers in Sichuan for its sputtering targets?"

Zhao Weiguo rubbed his chin.

"Jinjiang Microelectronics, from Chengdu. They discussed purchasing intentions with us last year, but nothing came of it."

"Why was it left unresolved?"

"The sputtering target they requested had rather specific specifications, requiring authorization of Corefire 2.0's underlying process to be compatible. At that time, 2.0 was not yet finalized, so we couldn't make a commitment."

Chen Ping wrote down the name, patted Zhao Weiguo on the shoulder, and got into the Passat.

On his way back to the management committee, Han Zhiming propped his laptop on his lap and pulled out the list of companies to be connected with for the Chipfire project.

"Director, there are a total of fourteen companies reported by Sichuan Province, and Jinjiang Microelectronics is ranked first. The legal representative is Shen Changlin."

What is the relationship between Shen Changlin and Zhong Mingyuan?

Han Zhiming tapped a few keys on the keyboard and brought up the business registration information.

"The second largest shareholder of Jinjiang Microelectronics is an individual named Zhong Min."

"Who is Zhong Mingyuan?"

"I checked some public reports. At an entrepreneurs' symposium in Sichuan Province last year, Zhong Mingyuan and Shen Changlin were at the same table. There's a group photo, and the woman standing to Zhong Mingyuan's left is labeled in the report as 'the sister of Zhong Mingyuan's wife, Zhong Min'~ No, that's reversed. Shen Changlin is Zhong Min's brother-in-law."

Han Zhiming looked up.

"Zhong Min is Zhong Mingyuan's younger sister. Shen Changlin is Zhong Mingyuan's brother-in-law."

Chen Ping leaned back in his chair and tapped his thumb twice on the armrest.

Zhong Mingyuan unilaterally halted the five-province alliance's cooperation, claiming that "core patents cannot be controlled by others," yet his brother-in-law's company was ranked first on the Sichuan cooperation list. Jinjiang Microelectronics wanted the underlying license for Chipfire 2.0, but Zhong Mingyuan blocked the cooperation window.

This isn't about leaving the league; it's about negotiating.

If the suspension lasts for three months, and Jiangsu Province becomes anxious and makes concessions, relaxing the conditions for authorization at the lower level, Jinjiang Microelectronics will be the first to reap the benefits.

Using the public's prestige to pave the way for their own people.

"Han Zhiming, help me look something up."

"Please speak."

"Has the provincial procuratorate transferred any supplementary materials regarding the flow of funds in Gao Ran's case?"

Han Zhiming rummaged through his briefcase.

"Yes. I received it last Friday, but I haven't had time to sort it yet."

He pulled out a file folder containing three photocopies, with the red seal of the Provincial Procuratorate printed at the top.

Chen Ping scanned the text line by line under the reading light in the car. While cooperating with the investigation in prison, Gao Ran confessed to the flow of a "shadow fund"—transferring through three offshore accounts and ultimately ending up in four domestic corporate accounts.

The third account is held by the Rongcheng Jinjiang Branch of the Chengdu Public Security Bureau. The account holder is Jinjiang Microelectronics Technology Co., Ltd.

Amount: 3.2 million.

Chen Ping turned the copy over to the back, where a line of small characters was marked in pencil in the blank space. It was a note from the person in charge at the Provincial Procuratorate: "The purpose of this fund is yet to be investigated, but it is suspected to be an intermediary fee for the transfer of Corefire 1.0 technology."

The car was parked downstairs at the management committee building.

Chen Ping didn't get out of the car. He spread the three-page copy on his lap and looked at it again.

When Gao Ran was working on Chipfire 1.0, there was already some transfer of benefits during the technology licensing process. The fact that 3.2 million yuan flowed into Jinjiang Microelectronics shows that this wasn't the first time Shen Changlin had profited from this. Having tasted success with Chipfire 1.0, his appetite would only grow larger with the 2.0 upgrade.

Zhong Mingyuan's decision to halt the deal was ostensibly a struggle for dominance, but in reality, he was waiting for an even bigger bargaining chip.

Chen Ping closed the document and got out of the car.

"What is the name of Han Zhiming, the technical director of Jinjiang Microelectronics?"

"Shen Changlin did it himself."

"No, I'm asking the people who actually do the technology."

Han Zhiming flips through his phone's memo app.

"There's a guy named Tao Yong, the chief engineer at Jinjiang Microelectronics. He was the one who spoke at the Sichuan delegation's technical demonstration meeting for the Chipfire project last month."

What did he say at the symposium?

"He raised a question: If the interface protocol of Chipfire 2.0 is locked to the Sujiang solution, all the existing equipment and production lines of Sichuan enterprises will need to be transformed, costing at least 400 million yuan."

Four hundred million. Chen Ping stopped in the stairwell.

The transformation cost of 400 million yuan is an astronomical figure for Jinjiang Microelectronics. However, if they obtain the underlying license for Chipfire 2.0, they can skip the equipment modification and directly adapt the new protocol to their existing production lines.

This is the real card Zhong Mingyuan holds – not a battle for dominance, but the price difference between 400 million and zero cost.

Chen Ping pushed open the office door, sat down, and took out the technical compatibility assessment report for Corefire 2.0 from the safe.

Turn to page 47, the section on "Risk Assessment for Unauthorized Enterprise Access".

It is clearly stated in black and white that if terminal companies that have not obtained underlying authorization forcibly adopt the compatibility mode to access the Chipfire 2.0 network, their chip yield will be reduced to below 61% due to protocol layer verification deviation, which is lower than the industry's mass production threshold.

Sixty-one percentage points. This figure is tantamount to a death sentence for a chip company.

What is Jinjiang Microelectronics' current yield rate? Chen Ping pulled out the technical summary from the demonstration meeting—78 percentage points, just barely hitting the mass production line. If Chipfire 2.0 is fully rolled out, all products from unauthorized companies will be eliminated from the market.

Zhong Mingyuan can afford to suspend operations for three months. Jinjiang Microelectronics, however, cannot.

Chen Ping turned on his computer and created a new email.

Recipient: Shen Changlin, Jinjiang Microelectronics Technology Co., Ltd.

Subject: Warning regarding terminal compatibility after the upgrade of the Chipfire 2.0 interface protocol.

The main text has only three paragraphs.

The first paragraph states that the Chipfire 2.0 interface protocol will be fully deployed across all provinces by the end of this quarter, at which time the old protocol channel will be permanently closed.

The second paragraph includes a yield rate decay model for unauthorized companies, with data accurate to two decimal places.

The third paragraph ends with the sentence: "If your company needs to understand the specific procedures and time limits for the underlying authorization application, please contact the Jiangsu Provincial Chipfire Project Office."

There were no threats, no hints; every word was delivered in the tone of a technical briefing.

But as long as Shen Changlin understands that attenuation model, he will be able to do the math clearly. After the window closes, Jinjiang Microelectronics' 78% yield rate will plummet below the critical 61% threshold.

Send email.

Chen Ping pushed his chair back half an inch, picked up the now-cold coffee on the table, and took a sip.

Han Zhiming's phone rang.

"Director~"

"How many minutes has it been?"

Han Zhiming glanced at the timestamp.

"Email sent... eight minutes ago."

The phone vibrated again. Han Zhiming looked down at the screen, and when he looked up, his mouth was slightly open.

"The landline of Jinjiang Microelectronics was called to the front desk of the management committee. The front desk transferred the call. The caller gave the name Shen Changlin and specifically asked for you."

Chen Ping put down his coffee cup and picked up the landline receiver.

A middle-aged man's voice came from the other end, his words carrying the characteristic rising intonation of a Sichuan accent: "Secretary Chen, this is Shen Changlin from Jinjiang Microelectronics. I just saw the technical bulletin sent by your office."

He maintained his composure in the first sentence, but lost his composure in the second.

"Have the parameters for this degradation model been finalized? Will the yield really drop below 61%?"