Chapter Summaries

Ji Yanzhi persuaded Ji Ting to give the six men three chances to meet his standards, then the group stayed overnight at the Manor and questioned Ji Ting about his plans. Ji Ting revealed that he intended to build a HyperNA lithography machine capable of producing 0.2-nanometer chips, leaving them stunned by the scale of the project.

• Ji Yanzhi asked Ji Ting to give Wang Mian and the other five men three chances, and Ji Ting agreed.
• Ji Yanzhi shared Ji Ting's quilt and gave him a long explanation of how pillow talk could help him persuade Ji Ting.
• The next morning, Ji Yanzhi found all six men waiting downstairs, watching Ji Ting with surprise.
• After breakfast, Zhao Qi asked whether they could build a miniature high-precision lithography machine.
• Ji Ting said AL Company's latest-generation machine had reached 0.55 NA and proposed building a 0.7 NA HyperNA machine to mass-produce 0.2-nanometer chips ahead of schedule.

Ji Ting began planning a 0.7 NA lithography machine with Director Chang while Ji Yanzhi worried that the project would keep them apart. Ji Ting arranged for Ji Yanzhi to receive high-level laboratory access, leaving him able to visit whenever he wanted.

• Ji Yanzhi drove several researchers to work, and they eagerly offered to finish their duties so they could study with Ji Ting.
• Ji Ting went to the 13th Institute and told Director Chang he planned to build a 0.7 NA lithography machine.
• Liao Kai reported that the paternity test results could arrive the next day, and Ji Yanzhi ordered him to deliver them to Team Leader Sun for Ji Shize.
• Ji Ting returned home late, ate soup Ji Yanzhi had saved for him, and explained that Director Chang had approved his request to give Ji Yanzhi high laboratory access.

Ji Yanzhi pressed Ji Ting to reconsider his feelings, then proposed moving the Laboratory to the group's unused Linhu Conference Center. Ji Ting agreed to the plan, and Ji Yanzhi arranged an outing for them, leaving for their date after Ji Ting complimented his formal outfit.

• Ji Yanzhi asked Ji Ting whether he was sure he did not like him, but Ji Ting avoided giving a direct answer.
• Ji Yanzhi proposed using the underground floors of the Linhu Conference Center as a secure Laboratory, and Ji Ting approved the plan.
• Ji Yanzhi asked Ji Ting to go out with him on Saturday, but Ji Ting initially refused and could not name a place he wanted to visit.
• Ji Yanzhi insisted that Ji Ting choose somewhere and prepared for their outing the next morning in a bespoke suit.
• Ji Ting praised Ji Yanzhi's elegant appearance, and Ji Yanzhi took his hand as they set out on their date.

Ji Yanzhi and Ji Ting visited the place where Ji Ting had grown up before heading to Rongqing Park, where Ji Ting tried to learn whether Ji Yanzhi liked holding hands with him. The outing ended with Ji Ting reaching for Ji Yanzhi’s hand and asking him directly.

• Ji Yanzhi changed into Ji Ting’s too-small black outfit so their clothes would look more alike.
• Ji Ting took Ji Yanzhi to the Agricultural Bureau Family Compound, where he had lived with his aunt, and described his childhood routine there.
• Ji Yanzhi suggested visiting the bun shop from Ji Ting’s childhood, but Ji Ting declined and asked to buy snacks instead.
• Ji Ting guided Ji Yanzhi to Rongqing Park, where they realized neither had visited a park on a school outing before.
• Ji Ting held out his hand for one of the snack bags, then asked Ji Yanzhi whether he liked holding hands with him.

Ji Yanzhi and Ji Ting visited Rongqing Park and went boating together, where Ji Ting recalled how his aunt had once tried to take him boating. Ji Ting realized that love deepened when people could tell one another, “I need you.”

• Ji Yanzhi promised Ji Ting he would always remember to hold his hand as they explored Rongqing Park.
• Ji Yanzhi and Ji Ting rented a yellow duck pedal boat and set off across the lake.
• Ji Ting’s thoughts about Ji Yanzhi’s ankles made Ji Yanzhi spray out his drink and cough.
• Ji Ting explained that Aunt Yu had once taken him to the park, but he had declined to go boating because he thought it cost too much.
• Ji Ting recalled that his aunt had later brought him back to the park, and realized she had wanted to spend money so he could enjoy himself.
• Ji Ting told Ji Yanzhi that he now understood the deeper feeling between people who gave to each other: “I need you.”

Ji Yanzhi and Ji Ting grew closer during a date, and Ji Yanzhi realized Ji Ting had asked him to buy research equipment because he wanted to feel needed. When people at a matchmaking corner approached them, Ji Yanzhi declared that Ji Ting was his boyfriend and the person he wanted to marry.

• Ji Yanzhi worried about whether Ji Ting's aunt would approve of him, and Ji Ting teased him before promising to speak well of him.
• Ji Yanzhi realized Ji Ting had asked him to fund research equipment despite being able to obtain it elsewhere because Ji Ting wanted him to feel needed.
• Ji Yanzhi and Ji Ting finished their pedal-boat ride, took photos together, and headed off to find food.
• At a matchmaking corner, strangers mistook Ji Yanzhi for a single man and tried to set him up with their daughters.
• Ji Yanzhi took Ji Ting's hand and announced that Ji Ting was his boyfriend and the person he wanted to marry.

Ji Yanzhi took Ji Ting to a private dining room after declaring their relationship in front of the older men and women, and Ji Ting learned the paternity test confirmed Ji Shize was the biological father of both children. Ji Yanzhi chose not to confront Ji Shize, leaving with Ji Ting to enjoy their cream puffs at home.

• Ji Ting pulled his hand away after Ji Yanzhi publicly claimed they would not go back, but agreed to go to dinner with him.
• Ji Yanzhi invited the Confidentiality Bureau colleagues to eat at a private dining room, where he introduced Ji Ting as his younger brother.
• Ji Ting revealed internally that he had once attended a state banquet after receiving the August 1 Medal, shocking Ji Yanzhi.
• Ji Ting tried to refuse Auntie Zhou’s cream puffs, but Ji Yanzhi arranged to take some home for them.
• Liao Kai reported that DNA results supported Ji Shize being the biological father of both children, and Ji Yanzhi decided not to visit him.

Ji Ting received the state's finalized team of leading researchers and gave Director Chang a device containing 12,569 component drawings for the miniature lithography machine. The researchers gathered in Ji Ting's underground laboratory, where he set strict standards and introduced chips whose purpose remained unexplained.

• Ji Ting met Director Chang, reviewed the list of leading scientists, and learned that Director Chang would oversee the project.
• Ji Ting gave Director Chang a device containing specifications for 12,569 manufacturable components, leaving him moved by the prospect of building a miniature lithography machine.
• Twenty-six researchers arrived at Ji Ting's underground laboratory, signed confidentiality agreements, and changed into lab coats.
• Ji Ting showed the researchers how to place two chips against their heads and told them to avoid careless mistakes.
• Ji Ting told the six Shili researchers that Ji Yanzhi had secured them permission to make three mistakes, embarrassing them.

Ji Ting used advanced analysis and holographic teaching technology to train the scientists in lithography, while Ji Yanzhi struggled with missing him. The chapter ended with Ji Yanzhi quoting a poem about regretting urging a husband to pursue success.

• Ji Ting showed the scientists a reverse-engineered analysis of AL Company's 3nm lithography machine and announced plans to study it before developing HyperNA lithography for mass-producing 0.2nm chips.
• Director Chang assigned the scientists to twelve departments, and Ji Ting told him he would teach every department at once.
• Ji Ting appeared as a hologram in all twelve laboratories and explained that the scientists' wafers enabled real-time communication and lesson review.
• Shen Mu Lan asked Ji Yanzhi whether Ji Ting might let the southern military region test the modified Huojin-6 missile during upcoming joint exercises.
• Ji Yanzhi revealed that he had not seen Ji Ting in five days and quoted a Wang Changling poem about regretting urging one's husband to seek success.

Ji Yanzhi visited the Laboratory to pass Shen Mu Lan’s request to Ji Ting and received equipment that let him speak with Ji Ting’s AI Avatar. Ji Yanzhi told the Avatar that he missed Ji Ting and wondered whether he was being too greedy to hope he might be an exception to Ji Ting’s devotion to research.

• Ji Yanzhi went to the underground Laboratory to find Ji Ting, but learned Ji Ting was overseeing Group C’s experiment.
• Director Chang gave Ji Yanzhi a projector and two chips that would let him see and converse with Ji Ting’s AI Avatar, and Ji Yanzhi asked him to pass along Shen Lin’s situation.
• Ji Yanzhi returned to his office, told Shen Mu Lan he had relayed the request, and dismissed him.
• Ji Ting left Group C’s lab after receiving a notification and enabled a connection to Ji Yanzhi’s device.
• Ji Yanzhi spoke with Ji Ting’s Avatar, said Ji Ting had not called in five days, and asked whether he was too greedy to hope he might be an exception.

Ji Yanzhi returned from his business trip eager to see Ji Ting, but found that Ji Ting had gone to lunch with someone else. He called to tell Ji Ting he was back, only to meet a cool response.

• Ji Ting and Ji Yanzhi discussed Ji Yanzhi’s absence and his feelings for Ji Ear before their connection ended.
• Ji Yanzhi returned from D Country and arranged for newly delivered equipment to be taken to the Laboratory so he could see Ji Ear.
• Shen Mu Lan asked Ji Yanzhi to attend dinner with his family, but Ji Yanzhi refused and headed to the Laboratory.
• Director Chang told Ji Yanzhi that Ji Ting had gone out to lunch with someone else.
• Ji Yanzhi called Ji Ting and said he had returned from his business trip, but Ji Ting only asked whether he needed anything.

Ji Yanzhi watched Ji Ting share lunch with an unfamiliar young man, then found Ji Ting indifferent when he called and asked whether to attend dinner with Shen Mu Lan's family. At Shen Mu Lan's home, Ji Yanzhi nearly revealed their arrangement to Shen Lin, but Shen Mu Lan stopped him; Ji Yanzhi admitted he wanted to see Xiao Ting, though he believed Xiao Ting did not want to see him.

• Ji Yanzhi saw Ji Ting part with a smiling young man and ordered Fang Jie to return to the secretaries' office instead of investigating him.
• Ji Yanzhi called Ji Ting and asked whether he should go to dinner as Shen Mu Lan's boyfriend, and Ji Ting told him to go ahead before ending the call to deal with work.
• Ji Yanzhi arrived at Shen Mu Lan's home, where Shen Lin welcomed him and asked why Ji Ting had not come.
• Ji Yanzhi began to tell Shen Lin the truth, but Shen Mu Lan grabbed his hand and took him to his childhood bedroom.
• Shen Mu Lan accused Ji Yanzhi of wanting to go home to see Xiao Ting, and Ji Yanzhi said Xiao Ting did not want to see him.

Ji Yanzhi accompanied Shen Mu Lan to face Shen Lin, then spoke with Shen Gongda, who urged him to clear up his relationship troubles. Feeling lonely afterward, Ji Yanzhi drank with Fu Cheng and was brought home, where Ji Ting confronted Fu Cheng about drinking with him.

• Ji Yanzhi told Shen Lin that Shen Mu Lan had lied for his sake, and Shen Lin sent him to keep Shen Gongda company.
• Ji Yanzhi explained Ji Ting's lithography machine project to Shen Gongda, who praised both brothers and advised Ji Yanzhi to speak up before problems became more tangled.
• Ji Yanzhi left the Shen home, drove aimlessly, and decided to eat before returning to his empty house.
• Ji Yanzhi ran into Fu Cheng at a club, where Fu Cheng ordered food and persuaded him to drink wine.
• Fu Cheng and the driver helped the intoxicated Ji Yanzhi out of the car, and Ji Ting confronted Fu Cheng about drinking with him.

After Ji Yanzhi got drunk, Ji Ting brought him home and looked after him through the night, where Ji Yanzhi drunkenly admitted that he sometimes hated him. The next morning, Ji Yanzhi woke beside a bare Ji Ting, assumed they had slept together, and begged forgiveness and a chance to take responsibility.

• Ji Ting took Ji Yanzhi from Fu Cheng and asked why he had been drinking; Fu Cheng admitted they had shared a meal and Ji Yanzhi had drunk too much.
• After Fu Cheng left, Ji Ting found Ji Yanzhi missing from bed and spent the night helping him back upstairs, retrieving him from the pool, and carrying him to the couch.
• Ji Yanzhi grabbed Ji Ting's wrist and said he sometimes hated him, and Ji Ting replied that he knew.
• The next morning, Ji Yanzhi woke beside a bare Ji Ting and realized he could not remember what had happened after leaving the club.
• Ji Yanzhi apologized, said he had not meant to force Ji Ting into anything, and promised to accept any punishment if Ji Ting would not leave him.

Ji Yanzhi learned that while drunk he had destroyed Ji Ting’s clothes, then watched security footage revealing that his anger came from feeling neglected and worthless. Ji Ting asked whether Ji Yanzhi truly wanted him to leave or was only pretending not to want him because he feared he could not have him.

• Ji Ting explained that alcohol did not excuse sexual misconduct and told Ji Yanzhi to ask Uncle Yang why he had slept in a tank top and shorts.
• Uncle Yang told Ji Yanzhi that he had thrown Ji Ting’s clothes downstairs while drunk, and gave him a USB Drive from Ji Ting.
• Ji Yanzhi watched footage of himself tearing and throwing Ji Ting’s clothes, then accusing him of caring about everyone except him.
• Ji Ting told Ji Yanzhi that he had no value to him, but explained he had returned because Ji Yanzhi had asked him to come home every ten days or two weeks.
• Ji Yanzhi told Ji Ting to leave, and Ji Ting asked whether he truly wanted him gone or was afraid he could not have him.

Ji Ting tried to care for the drunk Ji Yanzhi, but their conversation exposed misunderstandings about their feelings and the time they were apart. Ji Yanzhi confessed his jealousy and resentment, leaving Ji Ting to hear how deeply his indifference had hurt him.

• Ji Ting urged Ji Yanzhi to take medicine, but Ji Yanzhi slipped away while he fetched water and went to the pool.
• Ji Yanzhi drew Ji Ting into an embrace and said he was happy Ji Ting had returned, while Ji Ting asked why he had never visited him at the Laboratory.
• Ji Ting reminded Ji Yanzhi that he had granted him the Laboratory's highest access privileges as a sign that he wanted to see him, and Ji Yanzhi struggled to understand.
• Ji Ting carried Ji Yanzhi back to the Main Building despite pain in his injured hand.
• Ji Yanzhi said he had accepted Ji Ting's rejection but could not bear seeing someone else gain Ji Ting's attention, then admitted that he sometimes hated him.

Ji Yanzhi regretted his drunken behavior and tried to make amends while Ji Ting explained why he had seemed distant. Ji Ting reassured him that he would keep caring for him, leaving Ji Yanzhi both chastened and touched.

• Ji Yanzhi arranged new clothes for Ji Ting and learned from Director Chang that Ji Ting had worked through the previous day without eating.
• Ji Ting woke in the afternoon, and Ji Yanzhi promised not to drink beyond his limits.
• Ji Ting answered Ji Yanzhi’s questions, explaining that he had expected Ji Yanzhi to visit and had been too exhausted to talk warmly.
• Ji Ting said he had stayed awake to monitor Ji Yanzhi after he fell asleep drunk, and refused to sign a liability waiver because he was willing to take responsibility.

Ji Ting and Ji Yanzhi discussed how they handled hurt feelings and began talking honestly about their difficult relationship. Ji Ting asked Ji Yanzhi to share his emotions as they arose, and Ji Yanzhi was moved by his promise to learn how to respond.

• Ji Yanzhi joked that Ji Ting indulged him, and Ji Ting explained that bringing up unresolved feelings was not the same as dwelling on the past.
• Ji Ting teased Ji Yanzhi about crying the previous night, and Ji Yanzhi carried him toward the bathroom to erase the evidence.
• Ji Ting told Ji Yanzhi that his controlling behavior and harsh words had made their relationship difficult at first, while Ji Yanzhi admitted they had started badly.
• Ji Yanzhi brought Ji Ting an elaborate breakfast in bed, but Ji Ting moved to the sofa and ate until he was full.
• Ji Ting explained that his Asperger syndrome shaped his emotional responses and asked Ji Yanzhi to tell him how he felt in the moment, as long as he was sober.
• Ji Yanzhi said no one had ever offered to understand him that way, and Ji Ting told him they could become each other's world.

Ji Ting told Ji Yanzhi about his past blind dates, reassuring him that Ji Yanzhi was the only one willing to love him. When Ji Yanzhi asked about Ren Jinyang, Ji Ting explained their suspicious first meeting and revealed he had been on his way to see Ji Yanzhi.

• Ji Ting admitted he had gone on three blind dates in his previous world, and Ji Yanzhi reacted jealously.
• Ji Ting told Ji Yanzhi that all three dates had ended because the other people felt he was not suited to romance.
• Ji Yanzhi arranged for new clothes to be put in Ji Ting's walk-in closet after having thrown out his old clothes.
• Ji Ting suggested they go swimming, but Ji Yanzhi instead demanded to know about the man Ji Ting had eaten with.
• Ji Ting identified the man as Ren Jinyang, a Shili UI Department intern, and recounted that Ren had pursued his contact information after Ji Ting returned his lost phone.
• Ji Ting said he had left the Laboratory to go to the Central Building to see Ji Yanzhi on the third day of Ji Yanzhi's business trip to D Country.

Ji Ting and Ji Yanzhi discussed how to handle Ren Jinyang, then Ji Ting focused on inspecting lithography-machine components and arranging AI chips for research institutes. Ji Yanzhi brought lunch to Ji Ting’s laboratory, but their meal was interrupted when six colleagues arrived to join them.

• Ji Ting told Ji Yanzhi that Ren Jinyang had installed a monitoring program on his phone, and Ji Yanzhi persuaded him to hand Ren over to Team Leader Sun at State Security.
• Ji Yanzhi accompanied Ji Ting to work and promised to join him for lunch.
• Ji Ting inspected the first batch of lithography-machine components, recorded fifty-six types that failed quality requirements, and agreed to prioritize the 13th Institute for AI chips.
• Ji Yanzhi brought lunch to Ji Ting’s laboratory, and Ji Ting left work on schedule to eat with him.
• Wang Mian, Zhao Qi, Wang Bin, Deng Luqing, and two other colleagues arrived carrying bowls and chopsticks to join Ji Ting and Ji Yanzhi’s lunch.