Chapter Summaries

Su Wenyan invited the executives to share Yi People–style cured pork, while Mo Jingchun and Candy enjoyed a more lavish meal. Later, Candy struggled to get the remote so she could watch cartoons, and Xu Pengfei’s thoughts of cured pork made Li Wanning tease him.

• Su Wenyan invited Xia Xiaomin, Xu Pengfei, and the other executives to her dorm for lunch and warned them not to tell the boss.
• Xia Xiaomin and the executives gathered to eat Su Wenyan’s cured pork, while Mo Jingchun arrived with three carloads of people and shared a lavish lunch with Candy.
• Candy fed a piece of cured pork to Baozi, then asked Mo Jingchun where they would go to play and ended up staying home.
• Candy tried to get Mo Jingchun to change the channel to cartoons, eventually fell asleep on his lap, and woke to find the remote beside her.
• Xu Pengfei thought about buying more cured pork as Li Wanning teased him for staring into space.

Su Wenyan and Li Wanning learned that the cured meat was sold out, while Li Na persuaded Li Yuanfang to come home for dinner despite his fear of Old Master’s cane. At the school, Teacher Wang warned the music teacher that her planned song could upset Mo Xiaoxue, and Mo Jingchun agreed to attend the family’s Qingming ancestor worship.

• Su Wenyan learned that no cured meat remained to buy and thought fondly of sending two pieces to Old Master.
• Li Na teased Li Yuanfang about being beaten with the cane and convinced him to come home for dinner to eat cured meat.
• Teacher Wang noticed a song in the music teacher’s lesson plan and warned her that it could hurt Mo Xiaoxue, whose parents were absent.
• The music teacher removed the song from her lesson plan and later destroyed the page to avoid upsetting Mo Xiaoxue.
• Mo Jingchun agreed to attend the family’s Qingming ancestor worship and asked Xia to clear his schedule from the 13th to the 16th next month.

Mo Jingchun agreed to arrange an internship for Zhou Yaling and turned her request into a broader university recruitment effort at Candy Technology. The chapter ended with Zhou Yaling sharing the news in her class group, where students eagerly discussed the opportunity.

• Candy asked Mo Jingchun when Zhou Yaling would return, and he said she would be back in about two months.
• Candy told Mo Jingchun about her kindergarten music and drawing competitions, and she decided to skip drawing and cheer for Xiang-er.
• Zhou Yaling called Mo Jingchun to ask him to arrange an internship and have Candy Technology attend her school's recruitment fair.
• Mo Jingchun told Xia Xiaomin to organize recruitment for up to five hundred interns and arrange for a recruiter to visit Zhou Yaling's school.
• Zhou Yaling shared the recruitment news in her class group, prompting excitement among students seeking work at Candy Technology.

Mo Jingchun’s Candy Technology recruited interns through a simple test, while Zhou Yaling’s classmates reacted to the unexpected hires. On the way home for the Ancestor Worship ceremony, Mo Jingchun helped with a road accident and learned that Zhou Xing’s family had started a successful recycling company.

• Zhou Yaling’s roommates revised their résumés, but she insisted that Candy Technology’s hiring would depend on test results.
• Mo Jingchun’s company announced five hundred internship openings, and three students at Zhou Yaling’s school received offers, including a male early childhood education student.
• Mo Jingchun traveled home with Candy for the Ancestor Worship ceremony, but their car stopped because of an accident in heavy fog.
• Mo Jingchun told the others to rescue the injured, and the group helped clear one lane after the occupants of the first two cars were hurt.
• Mo Jingchun greeted Zhou Xing and learned that his family’s recycling company was doing well; he remembered that the woman who had apologized to him was Liu Youqi.

Mo Jingchun and Candy joined the Mo family’s ancestral rites at a bamboo grove, where the family gathered to honor their ancestors and pray for blessings. As the ceremony began, Mo Jingchun stayed beside Candy and waited with Uncle before paying his respects.

• Mo Jingchun and Candy ate a bland hot pot meal with the others, who fought over the tripe.
• Zero woke Mo Jingchun and Candy at seven, and Mo Jingchun promised to buy Candy corn pancakes when they returned to town.
• Mo Jingchun and Candy set out for the ancestral rites, where Uncle asked him to bring the Celebration Firecrackers up first.
• Mo Jingchun led Candy and the fireworks through the bamboo grove to the Mo family’s ancestral site, a patch where no bamboo grew.
• As the drums sounded and the crowd began kneeling and praying, Mo Jingchun covered Candy’s ears and waited beside Uncle before joining the rites.

Mo Jingchun and his family visited the Mo family graves, where Candy made a wish and was frightened by a leech. Meanwhile, researchers analyzing Martian soil discovered amino acids, and Chen Xihe’s team faced the implications of possible extraterrestrial life while sealed inside the Research Institute.

• Mo Jingchun and Candy kowtowed at the family graves, and Candy wished for endless food and safety for herself and her brother.
• Mo Jingchun, Candy, and their relatives climbed the mountain to maintain the graves, where Fei Yan removed a leech from Candy’s foot.
• Candy refused to join Mo Jingchun’s next day of grave visits, but Mo Jingchun was bitten by a leech while continuing alone.
• Researchers detected amino acids in Martian soil samples, prompting the Research Institute to seal itself off and cut communications.
• Chen Xihe told the researchers they had to confront the discovery and considered whether the amino acids came from Mars or a meteorite.

After Amino Acid was found in Martian soil, Chen Xihe and the researchers considered why humanity had never encountered aliens and agreed that the South Heaven Gate Project must be accelerated. As Chen Xihe’s health continued to decline, he urged Li Qianqian to graduate and suggested she could work with Mo Jingchun.

• Chen Xihe argued that the Martian discovery supported the likelihood of extraterrestrial life, and the meeting questioned why humans had never seen aliens.
• The Old Man outlined possible explanations, including aliens secretly observing humanity, humanity being among the first intelligent civilizations, interstellar protection, and the Dark Forest Law.
• Chen Xihe called for the South Heaven Gate Project to advance more quickly, and the meeting agreed amid fears of meteorites and extraterrestrial threats.
• After the meeting, Li Qianqian supported her exhausted teacher, Chen Xihe, as they left the research institute.
• Chen Xihe told Li Qianqian to prepare her thesis and graduate that year, then suggested she could follow Mo Jingchun if she did not want to take on students.

Mo Jingchun and Candy joined the Mo family’s ancestor worship ceremony in a bamboo grove, where the gathered relatives prayed and paid their respects. The ceremony was underway as Mo Jingchun stood aside with Candy, waiting to kneel.

• Mo Jingchun, Candy, and the others shared a bland hot pot before night fell.
• Zero woke Mo Jingchun and Candy, and Mo Jingchun promised to buy Candy corn pancakes when they returned to the county town.
• Mo Jingchun and Candy drove to the ceremony site with fireworks and firecrackers, then carried them up the mountain path.
• Mo Jingchun showed Candy the unusual clearing in the bamboo grove where the Mo family’s ancestral grave stood.
• The relatives gathered to tend the graves, burn joss paper, kneel, and pray as the drums sounded, while Mo Jingchun covered Candy’s ears and waited nearby.

Mo Jingchun and Candy paid respects at the Mo family graves, where Candy was frightened by a leech on her foot. Meanwhile, scientists discovered a “Source of Life” amino acid in Martian soil samples, leaving the institute sealed as they considered what the finding meant.

• Mo Jingchun and Candy kowtowed at the graves and wished for safety and plenty of food.
• Mo Jingchun, Candy, and Third Uncle climbed to the summit to tend the family graves, where Fei Yan removed a leech from Candy’s foot.
• Candy refused to go out the next day, while Mo Jingchun continued visiting graves and got bitten by a leech himself.
• Chen Xihe and twenty-two other scientists gathered after repeated tests confirmed a familiar amino acid in the Martian soil samples.
• The Research Institute sealed itself off and cut communications as Chen Xihe and the scientists discussed the discovery’s potential implications for extraterrestrial life.

Amu and Sha Hong planted precious seeds in their vegetable patch, while Mo Jingchun helped Li Xuanyu revise her thesis and Xiao Huihui wandered around. At the kindergarten, Candy and Xiang-er prepared for the next day's competition and greeted Xiao Huihui outside the newly reinforced entrance.

• Amu and Sha Hong planted seeds in their vegetable patch, and Amu told Sha Hong that education would give them a way out.
• Mo Jingchun reviewed Li Xuanyu's thesis, showed her how to fix its formatting and references, and asked her to bring back a final draft the next week.
• Mo Jingchun asked Zero to open the elevator for Xiao Huihui, who then startled Baozi at the foot of the osmanthus tree.
• Candy and Xiang-er decorated the kindergarten for the competition, and one of their balloons burst while they were inflating it.
• Candy and Xiang-er welcomed Xiao Huihui at the kindergarten entrance, where an extra railing kept him from going inside.

Mo Jingchun attended Candy’s kindergarten singing and drawing competitions, but the event was interrupted when he learned someone had used Candy Technology’s intelligent bionic limb to severely injure a person. He returned to the office and ordered the Legal Department to gather evidence against those spreading claims that the limb was a criminal tool.

• Huang Min and her friend watched Mo Jingchun leave for Candy’s kindergarten event with a puppy following him.
• Mo Jingchun praised Candy’s makeup and promised to record her performance before sitting with the other parents.
• Candy’s class won the singing competition, and Mo Jingchun watched Guo Yunxiang’s daughter Xiang-er draw a landscape.
• Guo Yunxiang was restrained by police after injuring someone with an intelligent bionic limb, believing he had acted in self-defense.
• Xia Xiaomin told Mo Jingchun that the injured person was unconscious and online accounts were calling Candy Technology’s limb a criminal tool.
• Mo Jingchun returned to the office and ordered the Legal Department to collect evidence against the accounts.

After rumors portrayed Candy Technology’s intelligent bionic limbs as weapons, Mo Jingchun ordered legal action and cheered up when Candy brought home a certificate. Meanwhile, Xia Country’s staged leak about the South Heaven Gate Project unsettled foreign intelligence officials, and Zhou Yaling began studying management after feeling isolated from her roommates.

• Candy Technology issued a statement defending intelligent bionic limbs and prepared Lawyer’s Letters for self-media accounts spreading rumors, while Mo Jingchun closely monitored the response.
• Candy returned from kindergarten with a Certificate of Merit, and Mo Jingchun had Xia Xiaomin help her put it on the office wall.
• An Intelligence Agency director learned of the South Heaven Gate Project through a deliberately leaked report, while officials at the State Security Bureau discussed the deception and worried about possible alien contact.
• Zhou Yaling felt her roommates had distanced themselves from her, went to the library to study company management, and asked Mo Jingchun for study materials.
• Mo Jingchun saw Zhou Yaling’s message and teased her about whether she had been dumped before offering to have Zero send her the materials.

Zhou Yaling browsed the enormous study materials Zero provided and discovered her roommate studying at the library. That evening, Candy reluctantly gave up her baby bottle, while Mo Jingchun secretly preserved it in his study.

• Zero sent Zhou Yaling a link to browse his massive beginner-level study materials online after she complained that downloading the archive was too slow.
• Zhou Yaling noticed Zero had secretly turned on her laptop camera and complained to Mo Jingchun, who told her to accept Zero's flaws.
• Zhou Yaling saw her roommate studying at the library, then returned to her own studies.
• Mo Jingchun reminded Candy that she had agreed to give up her bottle after finishing the last can of formula, and Candy threw it into the trash while crying.
• After Candy cried herself to sleep, Mo Jingchun retrieved the bottle from the dumpster, cleaned it, and placed it in his study's display cabinet.

Candy struggled with being weaned off formula after Mo Jingchun told her to throw away her baby bottle, and her distraction at kindergarten worried him. Mo Jingchun decided to wait a few days before intervening, while Xiao Huihui and Baozi arrived at his office as rain fell.

• Candy sneaked outside in her pajamas to search the trash for her baby bottle, and Fei Yan brought her inside without telling Mo Jingchun that she had retrieved the bottle.
• Mo Jingchun found Candy washing her hands and gently sent her upstairs to change, then asked Fei Yan whether she had told Candy he had picked up the bottle.
• Candy daydreamed during kindergarten class, and Xia Xiaomin later told Mo Jingchun that the kindergarten had reported her distraction.
• Mo Jingchun explained that he had told Candy to quit formula and throw away her bottle, then asked the kindergarten to wait a few days before taking action.
• Mo Jingchun watched Candy daydream in the kindergarten surveillance footage and considered buying formula again, but decided against it.
• Xiao Huihui arrived at Mo Jingchun's office soaked from the rain, while Baozi arrived completely dry.

Candy returned from kindergarten hungry, while Liu Hailong’s team completed a Graphene Battery prototype and sent it for testing. Candy later encouraged Xiang-er to ask their teacher for food if they were hungry.

• Xiao Huihui splashed rainwater on Mo Jingchun, and Baozi watched from beneath the desk.
• Candy came home hungry, ate grapes and milk, and shared slices of cured meat with Xiao Huihui and Baozi, though Baozi took both portions.
• Liu Hailong removed a Graphene Battery prototype from the machine and sent Xiao He to test its charging, discharging, and safety.
• Liu Hailong urged the researchers to keep investigating ways to improve the battery’s yield rate while they waited for test results.
• Candy told Xiang-er that their teacher could give them something to eat if they were hungry.

Candy and Xiang-er secretly enjoyed the milk and bread they received while Mo Jingchun’s research team achieved a breakthrough with Graphene Batteries. Mo Jingchun rushed to the Laboratory Building to review the results, and Candy learned that was where he had gone.

• The life teacher gave Candy and Xiang-er milk and bread, which they ate out of sight of their classmates.
• Liu Hailong’s team received experimental data showing their Graphene Battery could charge fully in ten seconds.
• Liu Hailong called Mo Jingchun, who agreed to come review the results and hurried to the Laboratory Building.
• Candy searched for Mo Jingchun after school and asked Zero where he was.
• Zero told Candy that Mo Jingchun was in the Laboratory Building.

Mo Jingchun celebrated a major Graphene Battery breakthrough and told Xu Pengfei to arrange a team dinner and prepare to use OEM factories for production. He took Candy home, where she proudly revealed how she had gotten extra snacks at school.

• Candy grabbed durian-flavored jelly and milk before heading to the Laboratory Building, where Xiao Huihui and Baozi waited outside.
• Mo Jingchun praised the lab team’s work, promised bonuses, and urged them to prepare mass-production technology for the Graphene Battery.
• Mo Jingchun took Candy from the lab and told her to wait while he spoke with Xu Pengfei.
• Mo Jingchun asked Xu Pengfei to treat the team to dinner and prepare to work with OEM factories for the battery’s production line.
• Xu Pengfei told Li Wanning he had a dinner to attend, and she teased him about waiting up with hangover tea.
• On the way home, Candy told Mo Jingchun that she and Xiang-er had gotten snacks from two different teachers, prompting her to seek praise.

After Candy Technology announced a low-cost Graphene Battery, Mo Jingchun fielded calls from manufacturers eager to learn more and secure supplies. As he prepared to head to lunch, another call came from “Bald Senior Sister.”

• Mo Jingchun saw that major phone companies planned flagship launches for the following month and decided to build hype around Candy Technology’s Graphene Battery.
• Mo Jingchun had Xia Xiaomin arrange promotional posts announcing a battery that could charge for ten seconds and play videos for ten hours, with a May 16 event in Huo County.
• Qin Yuzhu called Mo Jingchun, who confirmed the lab had developed a low-cost Graphene Battery and agreed to review information about potential OEM factories.
• President Yu asked Mo Jingchun about the battery, and Mo Jingchun said it would cost about five times as much as a Lithium Battery and discussed supplying Huawei with batteries and expert guidance.
• Mo Jingchun received calls from major manufacturers, including Da Jiang, and then answered a call from “Bald Senior Sister.”

Mo Jingchun arranged an urgent batch of Graphene Batteries for Li Qianqian’s institute and learned that his teacher’s health had worsened. As major powers began a new space race, the United States announced that an old Mars mission had found Amino Acid in Martian soil, leaving Mo Jingchun suspicious that something did not add up.

• Li Qianqian asked Mo Jingchun to arrange Graphene Batteries for her institute, and he agreed to have the lab produce about 10 kg as soon as possible.
• Li Qianqian told Mo Jingchun that their teacher was in poor health and had asked her to graduate and lead her own research team.
• Mo Jingchun asked Zero to monitor news about the sudden space programs launched by major powers, but Zero found no explanation online.
• A rocket exploded shortly after launch at a foreign spaceport, yet researchers were ordered to continue the launch schedule and investigate the failure.
• Zero alerted Mo Jingchun to a United States announcement claiming that a Mars mission decades earlier had discovered Amino Acid in Martian soil.
• Mo Jingchun realized the announcement could imply extraterrestrial life, but then suspected that something was wrong.

Mo Jingchun connected the discovery of amino acids on Mars to a new space race, while the public focused on aliens and the promise of graphene batteries. Old Yu arrived early to secure a contract, and Mo Jingchun brought him to the office, where phone manufacturers’ representatives had already gathered.

• Mo Jingchun reasoned that the Mars discoveries had triggered the space race and doubted the U.S. had found amino acids decades earlier.
• Officials in a Meeting Room were surprised that the public debated aliens and interstellar exploration instead of panicking.
• Huawei postponed the mate90 launch, hinting at a Graphene Battery, and other phone manufacturers also delayed their flagship launches.
• Old Yu waited outside Mo Jingchun’s villa before being invited in for breakfast and reassured that they would sign the contract at the office.
• Mo Jingchun arrived at the office and found representatives already gathered, eager to secure the contract because their companies depended on phone sales.