Building a Sci-Fi Empire: Starting with Cold Nuclear Fusion

The dust has settled.

The matter of Chen Yuan's future has come to a close.

Ultimately, the Institute of Plasma Physics won with an annual salary of 5.63 million, research funding of no less than 50 billion, and a promise to help recommend Chen Yuan for membership in the Chinese Academy of Sciences after he achieves significant research results.

Although a recommendation application does not guarantee selection, the Institute of Plasma Physics is affiliated with the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and Li Nian's confidence in making such a statement suggests that he is likely confident in helping Chen Yuan become an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

The others were very disappointed, but their circumstances were not as good as others', so what could they do?

Finally, those who lost the competition all performed the proper courtesies before getting up to take their leave.

Xin Long, Zhang Shulin, Liu Wei, and others are the same.

When this group left, the expressions on their faces were noticeably more interesting than those of the others.

They were absolutely certain they could have gotten Chen Yuan, this genius, but unfortunately, they missed out due to some of their own reasons.

The feeling of missing out made Xin Long, Zhang Shulin, Liu Wei, and others regret and blame themselves.

A moment later, only Chen Yuan, A Yu, Li Nian, and Li Nian's assistant Wang Zhenzhen remained in the room.

With fewer people around, Ah Yu was finally able to catch her breath.

Chen Yuan could clearly see A Yu sitting on a chair at a dining table not far away, breathing slightly.

Clearly, Ah Yu was exhausted after being busy since the afternoon, and the two of them hadn't even had dinner yet.

While feeling apologetic, Chen Yuan was even more determined that he would never let down this well-educated, gentle, and virtuous girl in the future.

At this moment, Li Nian said, "Mr. Chen, our vice president has been on his way for a while and should arrive in one to two hours at most. If it's inconvenient for you, how about we sign the contract tomorrow?"

Chen Yuan glanced at A Yu and said, "Well, that's fine. Some details in the contract can't be explained in just a few words. Let's sign it tomorrow."

"Okay." Li Nian instructed, "Although we won't cheat you, just to be on the safe side, you'd better have a lawyer come over tomorrow."

Chen Yuan could see the other party's sincerity. "Understood. What time do you want to see me tomorrow?"

Li Nian smiled and said, "Anytime is fine, whichever is convenient for you."

Chen Yuan thought for a moment and said, "How about 10 a.m.... never mind, 2 p.m., is that okay?"

Li Nian agreed, "Okay, I'll talk to the vice dean later and book a high-end business venue so we can discuss the details tomorrow."

Chen Yuan waved his hand and said, "No need for extravagance. If you don't feel embarrassed, come to my house instead."

Li Nian said, "No problem."

Afterwards, Chen Yuan escorted the two to the elevator, watched them get off, and then returned.

Home.

Chen Yuan noticed that A Yu's face was somewhat pale.

He closed the door behind him and stepped forward, asking with concern, "You don't look well. Are you sick?"

"No, no," Ah Yu shook her head and said, "I'm probably a little tired, I'll be fine after a rest."

Chen Yuan squatted down in front of her and said apologetically, "I feel really bad for keeping you busy all day."

"Silly boy, what are you saying?" Ah Yu said sensibly, "There are so many guests today. You have to talk business and greet them. How can you manage? I don't have much to do, so I'll just treat it as exercise. Don't think of it that way, okay?"

Her gentleness was like a spring breeze, warming Chen Yuan's heart.

He reached out and took Ah Yu's hand, saying softly, "Are you hungry? I'll order takeout."

Ah Yu asked with concern, "Do you usually eat takeout?"

Chen Yuan said helplessly, "I was too busy with work before, so I could only order takeout. I would cook when I had free time on Saturdays and Sundays."

Ah Yu said, "You can cook? Don't laugh at me, I've never even made scrambled eggs with tomatoes in my life."

It's perfectly normal for boys in the Yangtze River Delta region (Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and Shanghai) to know how to cook while girls don't.

If someone visits a friend's home in the Jiangsu, Zhejiang, or Shanghai area, they are very likely to see the male host cooking.

Chen Yuan had a sudden inspiration and said, "How about we skip the takeout and I just cook you a couple of dishes to try?"

Ah Yu pointed to the kitchen and said, "It looks like there's no food. Can you make me some noodles?"

Upon hearing this, Chen Yuan suddenly laughed, "Okay, I'll make you some noodles."

Ayu didn't react at first, stood up and asked in bewilderment, "Why are you laughing for no reason?"

Chen Yuan led A Yu by the hand toward the refrigerator, blinked, and said, "Oh, I've thought of something happy."

Ah Yu is quite quick with his jokes, "Your wife gave birth?"

puff!

Chen Yuan was amused. "It's really fun being with you."

As he spoke, he opened the refrigerator and took out noodles and some side dishes.

……

We arrived at the kitchen.

Chen Yuan first filled the pot on the left with water and started boiling it. Then he fried an egg in the pot next to it and boiled a kettle of water in the electric kettle.

Ah Yu can't cook, but she helps prepare the bok choy.

Soon, the water boiled.

Ah Yu handed over the noodles, "I'll head back after I finish eating."

Chen Yuan took the noodles, frowned, and said, "Don't leave. I'll take you home tomorrow. Don't overthink it. I don't have any dirty thoughts. It's just that it's getting dark and raining so hard outside. I'm worried something might happen to you on the way."

If he said that normally, he might really have had dirty thoughts, but today he had seen Ah Yu's every move, and he was too busy feeling sorry for her to have any bad thoughts.

Ah Yu hesitated and said, "I believe you don't have any dirty thoughts, but I need to go there early tomorrow to help out at my cousin's wedding."

Chen Yuan put the noodles into the pot. "Let's have dinner, take a shower, and go to sleep. Get up early tomorrow. It's more than an hour's drive from here to Jinghai. I'll drive you there; we should make it in time."

After closing the lid, Ah Yu's conflicted voice came from the side, "Except for company team building, I have never stayed out all night. If my dad calls later, I don't know how to tell him. Never mind, I'll just go home after I finish eating."

Chen Yuan turned to the side, looking earnestly into A Yu's eyes. "Driving at night in this weather is very unsafe. I believe your parents will understand. If you don't know how to explain it, should I talk to them?"

Ah Yu couldn't make up her mind. "I'll think about it some more."

Chen Yuan originally wanted to say domineeringly, "What do you want to think about? Listen to me," but seeing Ah Yu's conflicted look, he ultimately didn't say anything, thinking he should respect her choice.

He naturally didn't want Ah Yu to drive in the rain, but she insisted on leaving, and it wouldn't be right for him to keep trying to persuade her to stay.

Rather than doing that, it would be better to let Ah Yu think it over carefully before making a decision.

During this time, Chen Yuan used the hot water from the kettle to make a simple soup base.

Thirty seconds before the noodles were done cooking, he added the bok choy.

Before long, the noodles were cooked.

Chen Yuan used his chopsticks to pick up the food, and he and A Yu each took a bowl and went to the dining table in the living room to eat.

Ah Yu was starving, and immediately started eating as soon as she sat down.

She swallowed the noodles in her mouth, gave a thumbs-up, and said, "Hmm, not bad cooking, this vegetable and egg noodle soup is delicious."

Chen Yuan, whose emotional value was at its peak, was in a great mood and said, "If you like it, I can cook for you often in the future."

Ah Yu chuckled to herself, "You want me to come a few more times, don't you?"

Chen Yuan chuckled and said, "Of course, I'd love to see you more often."

As they were chatting, Ah Yu's phone, which was on the table, rang.

She glanced to the side, her expression immediately becoming tense.

Ah Yu made a "shh" gesture and whispered, "My dad, I need to go answer this call."

Chen Yuan nodded and said, "Okay."

Ah Yu picked up her phone and walked towards the balcony.

Once she was on the balcony, she pressed the answer button.

The dining table was a bit far from the balcony, and with the rain outside so loud, Chen Yuan couldn't hear anything at all.

He kept glancing sideways, but could only see Ah Yu talking and occasionally nodding; he couldn't detect anything else.

Will Ah Yu stay tonight?

Chen Yuan really hoped she could stay.

He simply doesn't know what the final answer will be.

A moment later, Ah Yu ended the call, opened the glass door, and walked in.

Chen Yuan asked, "How is it?"

Ah Yu feigned ignorance and asked, "What? How?"

Chen Yuan said speechlessly, "What do you think? You agreed with your uncle not to go back?"

Ah Yu sat back down in her chair, surprised, and asked, "Huh? How did you know?"

what?

Are you really not going back?

Upon hearing this, Chen Yuan was overjoyed, never expecting that A Yu would be willing to stay overnight.

Speaking of which, he should thank Xinlong. If Xinlong had accepted him from the beginning, there wouldn't have been so many problems later on, and Ayu wouldn't have been staying with him so late. She probably would have gone home when the rain subsided in the afternoon.

it is good!

Academician Xin, thank you so much.

Chen Yuan was secretly thrilled. If it weren't for Academician Xin, how would he have had the chance to be alone in a room with A Yu late at night?