Chapter Summaries

Ji Ting and Ji Yanzhi tried to end their relationship, but Ji Yanzhi collapsed after walking away. When Ji Ting cared for him, he admitted that he had reached out despite their rift, and Ji Yanzhi confessed he regretted pushing him away.

• Ji Ting explained that he could no longer trust Ji Yanzhi with his vulnerabilities, and Ji Yanzhi reluctantly agreed to let him go.
• Ji Yanzhi left in tears, collapsed, and lost consciousness before reaching the hospital.
• Wang Mian helped Ji Yanzhi and brought him to the Laboratory's lounge, where Ji Ting returned with the doctor's medicine.
• Ji Ting said he had instinctively reached out to Ji Yanzhi despite their problems and asked whether he still stood by his choice.
• Ji Yanzhi embraced Ji Ting and admitted he regretted pushing him away because he feared Ji Ting would hate him.

Ji Ting agreed to try being together with Ji Yanzhi, on the condition that Ji Yanzhi focused on getting better. As they reconciled, Ji Ting explained his plans to move beyond conventional lithography and silicon chips.

• Ji Ting accepted Ji Yanzhi’s apology and agreed to try being together if Ji Yanzhi followed the doctor’s advice and recovered.
• Ji Yanzhi took his medicine, then followed Ji Ting to his office so he could rest while Ji Ting worked.
• Ji Yanzhi encountered Pork Knuckle, who blamed him for Ji Ting grounding the little one.
• Ji Ting lay down beside Ji Yanzhi and explained his preliminary simulation for quantum-tunneling transistors and his plan to develop carbon nanotube vertically stacked transistors.
• Ji Yanzhi supported Ji Ting’s research plans and offered to buy whatever equipment and materials he needed.

Ji Ting and Ji Yanzhi discussed the Miniature Lithography Machine and Shili’s plans for its own chips, while Ji Yanzhi learned that Ji Ting had been the communication chip all along. After Director Chang reported that the machine’s parts were ahead of schedule, Ji Yanzhi received news about Hu Xiaohua’s failed suicide attempt in prison.

• Ji Ting and Ji Yanzhi discussed Shili’s chip plans and agreed that Wang Bin and the others could return to the group after the Miniature Lithography Machine was assembled.
• Ji Ting revealed that he had been the communication chip, and Ji Yanzhi realized Ji Ting had heard his private remarks about him.
• Director Chang reported that the machine’s parts were on schedule or early, allowing assembly to begin that week.
• Ji Yanzhi learned from Team Leader Sun that Hu Xiaohua had tried to kill herself in prison and was now paralyzed on one side after a cerebral infarction.

Ji Yanzhi visited Qin Zaiye in custody and offered him a novel in exchange for a meeting with either his father or Ling Xi. The chapter ended with Qin Zaiye facing Ji Yanzhi’s offer to let him see Ling Xi if he read the book.

• Ji Yanzhi learned that Qin Zaiye’s mother had suffered a stroke and asked Team Leader Sun to arrange a visit.
• Ji Yanzhi and Ji Ting agreed to go on a date during their next time off.
• Ji Yanzhi visited Qin Zaiye at the State Security Bureau and taunted him about the Qin family’s downfall and Ling Xi.
• Ji Yanzhi gave Qin Zaiye the novel “Out of Control, Lost in Love” and said Qin Mingzhong had something important to tell him.
• Ji Yanzhi offered to arrange a meeting with Ling Xi if Qin Zaiye read the novel.

Ji Yanzhi learned that Ji Ting had defended him at Crane Garden and thanked him for their future together. He then met Cheng Yingyu and her manager, hinting that he knew about Cheng Yingyu’s connection to his father as he began confronting them.

• Ji Yanzhi left Team Leader Sun early and heard that Ji Ting had taken responsibility for the damage at Crane Garden.
• Ji Yanzhi watched surveillance footage showing Crane Garden wrecked and Ji Zhenting shaved bald, then concluded that Ji Ting’s AI assistant Pork Knuckle had caused the destruction.
• Team Leader Sun said the authorities had not identified the culprit and that the incident would eventually fade away.
• Ji Yanzhi thanked Ji Ting over the phone, and Ji Ting reassured him that they had a future together.
• Ji Yanzhi met Cheng Yingyu and her manager, Deng Lu, and implied that Cheng Yingyu had often served the same tea to his father.

Ji Yanzhi confronted Cheng Yingyu about her role in his mother’s death and used the return of Ji Feilan and Ji Ruolin to force her to speak. Cheng Yingyu denied wanting his mother dead, but Ji Yanzhi ended by threatening to destroy her.

• Ji Yanzhi showed Cheng Yingyu photographs of her with a child and revealed that Ji Feilan and Ji Ruolin were returning from Switzerland, prompting her to dismiss her agent and ask what he wanted.
• Cheng Yingyu admitted she had children with Ji Shize and said she had been an unknown actress who lacked the power to resist him.
• Ji Yanzhi pointed out that Ji Feilan and Ji Ting were both born in November twenty years earlier, then named Xu Jiezhen as the person who had warned his mother about another illegitimate child.
• Cheng Yingyu suggested Ji Yanzhi’s mother had helped fuel Xu Jiezhen’s hatred by refusing to aid the bankrupt Ling family.
• Ji Yanzhi accused Cheng Yingyu of wanting his mother dead, but she denied it and demanded proof.
• Ji Yanzhi said he needed no evidence to crush Cheng Yingyu and warned that doing so would be easy.

Cheng Yingyu rejected Ji Yanzhi’s offer to trade her children for Ji Shize, confident that wealth and power mattered more than love. Ji Yanzhi and Ji Ting went to meet Ji Zhenting, where Ji Ting admitted he had cut the old man’s hair.

• Cheng Yingyu taunted Ji Yanzhi about losing his place in Shili and revealed that her children also had the Ji surname.
• Ji Yanzhi offered to return Cheng Yingyu’s children if she disappeared with them and released Ji Shize, but she refused and said she missed Ji Zhenting.
• Ji Ting arrived to find Ji Yanzhi, and the brothers left together to see Ji Zhenting, leaving Cheng Yingyu behind.
• At Nanyuan Airport, Ji Zhenting angrily asked why the brothers had come, and Ji Ting calmly told him he had cut his hair.

Ji Yanzhi and Ji Ting confronted Ji Zhenting as he welcomed Cheng Yingyu’s children, Ji Feilan and Ji Ruolin, into the Ji Family. Ji Ting ended the dispute by declaring that he and Ji Yanzhi were taking Shili, leaving Ji Zhenting to face their decision.

• Ji Yanzhi defended Ji Ting’s haircut of Ji Zhenting, and Ji Ting refused to offer him another.
• Ji Zhenting welcomed Ji Feilan and Ji Ruolin, while Ji Yanzhi challenged his decision to acknowledge Cheng Yingyu’s children and accused her of contributing to his mother’s death.
• Ji Feilan tried to appeal to Ji Ting by calling him an illegitimate child, and Cheng Yingyu taunted Ji Yanzhi about his affection for Ji Ting and Lin Qing.
• Ji Ting reminded Ji Zhenting that he had ignored his warning, then calmly declared that they were taking Shili.

Ji Ting and Ji Yanzhi left the Ji family and planned to spend the day together, but Ji Ting was called back to the Laboratory to inspect lithography-machine components. After the research team was ordered back to their old jobs, Ji Ting promised them places on the future Carbon Nanotube Chip project, while Cheng Yingyu plotted to expose Ji Yanzhi and Ji Ting’s relationship.

• Ji Ting took Ji Yanzhi away from the Ji family, and they discussed why they had come to see Cheng Yingyu’s children.
• Director Chang called Ji Ting back to the Laboratory to inspect and calibrate the newly arrived main-unit components, canceling their dinner plans.
• Ji Yanzhi served dumplings at the Laboratory, where Wang Mian and the others received orders to return to their former posts.
• Ji Yanzhi told the six researchers to comply with the orders, and Ji Ting promised them places on the future Carbon Nanotube Chip project.
• Cheng Yingyu called her agent Deng Lu and asked about using promotional accounts to publicize Ji Ting and Ji Yanzhi’s private relationship.

Cheng Yingyu arranged a smear campaign against Ji Yanzhi and tried to distract the Jiang family by claiming he had a boyfriend. Instead, a hacker exposed evidence of promotional accounts’ industry dirty work under Cheng Yingyu’s name, leaving the marketing companies ready to drag her down with them.

• Cheng Yingyu recruited promotional accounts and told Bai Yanxue that Ji Yanzhi was romantically involved with a young man, hoping to turn the Jiang family against him.
• After returning from the Laboratory, Ji Ting found Ji Yanzhi asleep and shared their new bed, while Pork Knuckle briefly emerged from the screen and quietly returned.
• A hacker disabled the promotional companies’ devices and displayed screenshots exposing their past smear campaigns and other misconduct.
• Screenshots, recordings, and videos spread across the internet under posts titled Cheng Yingyu, and celebrity studios responded with legal notices.
• The marketing companies realized Cheng Yingyu’s manager had paid them to publish the material and decided to take Cheng Yingyu down with them.

Pork Knuckle alerted Director Chang to rumors targeting Ji Ting and Ji Yanzhi, but the authorities had already begun making arrests. Meanwhile, Ji Ting’s team started assembling the main unit under strict security, and Ji Zhenting received orders to seal off the Economic Park in five days.

• Pork Knuckle gave Director Chang evidence of malicious rumors about Ji Ting and Ji Yanzhi, and Director Chang learned that the Confidentiality Bureau was already making arrests.
• Pork Knuckle asked Director Chang not to tell Ji Ting and Ji Yanzhi about the rumors, while the two remained unaware of the conflict.
• Ji Ting began assembling and calibrating the main unit with the Laboratory team as the site was sealed and guarded.
• The authorities took Wang Mian and five others away, while Ji Zhenting was barred from approaching the Linhu Conference Center.
• Ji Zhenting received a classified order stating that the Economic Park would be sealed off in five days and that no Shili employee besides him could be present.

Ji Zhenting was summoned to witness a major Shili Group breakthrough, where Ji Ting unveiled a working 2 nm lithography machine. The successful chip demonstration brought the gathered leaders to tears while Ji Zhenting collapsed in shock.

• Ji Zhenting ordered all Shili Group employees to take the day off after receiving an official notice sealing off Shili and requiring him to remain.
• Five days later, Ji Zhenting was escorted through a heavily guarded Shili Campus to meet senior leaders awaiting access to the laboratory.
• Director Chang announced that the leaders could enter the laboratory and introduced Ji Yanzhi as Shili Group's former president.
• Director Chang introduced Ji Ting as the project's chief scientist, and Ji Zhenting turned pale and nearly fell.
• Ji Ting demonstrated the lithography machine producing a 2 nm chip and explained its performance and technical advances.
• The leaders celebrated Huaguo's achievement as Ji Zhenting convulsively breathed, reached for support, and collapsed.

Ji Ting unveiled a lithography machine that produced 363 flawless wafers per hour, and the leaders began arranging domestic production. Ji Yanzhi asserted that Shili had no claim to the project after dismissing him, while Ji Ting looked forward to spending his month off focusing on their relationship.

• Ji Ting demonstrated that the lithography machine produced 363 wafers in an hour, all of them passing quality inspection.
• Ji Yanzhi declined the offer to take the first 2 nm chip, saying his family already had a treasured possession, and Ji Ting thanked the scientists before heading off to rest.
• Qiao Hansong invited Ji Zhenting to the production meeting after learning he had recovered from fainting, while Ji Ting told Director Chang he planned to focus on his relationship during his time off.
• Ji Yanzhi presented plans for thirty-six defense manufacturers to produce lithography components and said his own technology company would handle assembly.
• Ji Zhenting objected that Shili could assemble the machines, but Ji Yanzhi stated that the project belonged to him and the state, not Shili, since he was no longer its president.

Ji Yanzhi defended Ji Ting against Ji Zhenting’s accusations before officials gathered to decide which institutes would receive the first mass-produced Lithography Machines. Qiao Hansong entrusted Ji Yanzhi with setting the priority order, and Ji Yanzhi left while the officials continued arguing.

• Ji Zhenting accused Ji Yanzhi of mistreating Ji Ting and exploiting his patented technology, but Ji Yanzhi countered by bringing up Ji Shilei’s assault on Ji Ting and the surveillance footage used in court.
• Ji Yanzhi proposed that officials prepare lists of research institutes for the first batch of Lithography Machines, prompting several representatives to compete for priority.
• Ji Yanzhi assured Secretary Liao that the 13th Institute would receive a machine after Director Chang Weimin had arranged it with Ji Ting.
• Qiao Hansong put Ji Yanzhi in charge of determining the order of priority for the Lithography Machines.
• Secretary Liao tried to calm the officials, but Director Zheng revealed that the 13th Institute had already secured a machine through Chang Weimin.
• Ji Yanzhi excused himself to return to Ji Ting, leaving the officials to continue their debate.

Ji Ting and Ji Yanzhi returned to the Old Residence, where they shared affectionate moments and Ji Ting gave Ji Yanzhi white roses. After Ji Ting offered to do something Ji Yanzhi wanted, Ji Yanzhi suggested they go soak in the hot springs together.

• Ji Yanzhi picked Ji Ting up from the Laboratory, and they left before Minister Liang and the others arrived.
• In the car, Ji Ting kissed Ji Yanzhi and told him he liked him most of all, and they shared a lingering kiss.
• At the Old Residence, Ji Yanzhi let Ji Ting sleep and asked the butler to prepare restorative soup for him.
• The next morning, Ji Ting gave Ji Yanzhi a bouquet of white roses, saying that anyone who was loved properly deserved flowers.
• After breakfast, Ji Ting asked Ji Yanzhi what he wanted to do, and Ji Yanzhi suggested they soak in the hot springs together.

Ji Zhenting gathered Shili’s directors to reveal that a successful 2 nm Miniature EUV Lithography Machine was developed, but Ji Yanzhi held its patents. The meeting was joined by senior military and research officials, who eagerly turned their attention to Ji Ting and Ji Yanzhi.

• Ji Yanzhi arranged a hot spring outing with Ji Ting, but they paused their plans when Ji Zhenting arrived with all seventeen Shili directors.
• Ji Zhenting told the directors that Shili’s lithography machine was a successfully developed 2 nm Miniature EUV model, not the 7 nm DUV machine they had believed it to be.
• The directors celebrated the breakthrough until Ji Zhenting explained that Ji Yanzhi held all the technology patents, prompting Director Liu to challenge his right to them.
• Senior officials from the Ministry of National Defense, research institutes, and military industries entered the conference room, and Ji Zhenting gave Minister Liang his seat.
• Ji Yanzhi and Ji Ting entered the meeting, drawing the officials’ eager attention toward Ji Ting.

Ji Ting presented advanced carbon nanotube transistor research, while Ji Yanzhi announced compensation for organizations that did not receive a lithography machine. Ji Yanzhi then revealed that Ji Zhenting had recalled Shili’s chief scientists during the machine’s final assembly, and Shili’s board confronted its chairman.

• Ji Ting received applause from the shareholders and presented research on carbon nanotube transistors, 6G, and future chip design.
• Ji Ting withheld his remaining classified data after explaining that he had discovered a scaling factor more critical than gate length.
• Ji Yanzhi offered organizations without a lithography machine an extra researcher slot in Ji Ting’s next experimental project.
• Shili’s board members urged Ji Yanzhi to give Shili a chance, and he revealed that Ji Zhenting had recalled Wang Mian and the other chief scientists during final assembly.
• A board member confronted Ji Zhenting, who accused Ji Yanzhi of abusing his authority for personal gain; Ji Yanzhi replied that Ji Ting would only use his people.

Ji Yanzhi refused to return to Shili, and Sun Biqing threatened to call a shareholders’ meeting to remove Ji Zhenting. Back at the Main Building, Ji Ting asked Ji Yanzhi whether he saw him as an adult, then said he felt Ji Yanzhi had no desire for physical contact with him.

• Ji Yanzhi said he and Ji Ting would start their own company, and Ji Ting agreed without hesitation.
• Sun Biqing warned Ji Zhenting that she would propose a shareholders’ meeting to remove him if he had no solution for Shili.
• Ji Yanzhi refused to return to the group even if Ji Zhenting kept Cheng Yingyu and her sons away.
• Ji Yanzhi sent the directors away and took Ji Ting back to the Main Building, leaving Ji Zhenting waiting in the conference room.
• Ji Yanzhi told Ji Ting not to read work documents during his time off, and Ji Ting asked whether Ji Yanzhi saw him as an adult.
• Ji Ting told Ji Yanzhi that he felt Ji Yanzhi had no desire for physical contact with him.

Ji Yanzhi convinced Ji Ting that his restraint came from a psychological difficulty with physical intimacy, then persuaded him to help him practice. The chapter ended with Ji Yanzhi pulling Ji Ting onto the couch and beginning with a kiss.

• Ji Ting listed the ways Ji Yanzhi avoided initiating kisses, cuddling, and seeing him undressed.
• Ji Yanzhi claimed he was psychologically unaccustomed to physical contact and declined Ji Ting’s suggestion to see a counselor.
• Ji Yanzhi persuaded Ji Ting to guide and grade his attempts at intimacy.
• Ji Yanzhi pulled Ji Ting onto the couch and suggested they start by kissing.

Ji Ting and Ji Yanzhi shared kisses and teased each other before settling into the same bed at the resort. Their conversation turned to the released Shili researchers and the completed Lithography Machine, then Ji Yanzhi claimed he was missing a rib and put Ji Ting's hand on his abs.

• Ji Yanzhi kissed Ji Ting gently, then more intensely, and asked him to score the two kisses; Ji Ting gave them seven and nine.
• Ji Yanzhi booked the resort for the night, and he and Ji Ting agreed to sleep under the same quilt.
• Ji Yanzhi described Ji Ting's distinctive scent, and Ji Ting asked whether the six Shili researchers had been released.
• Ji Yanzhi said the researchers had gone home and that Wang Mian had cursed after learning the Lithography Machine was already assembled.
• Ji Ting questioned Ji Yanzhi's hand inside his pajamas, and Ji Yanzhi claimed he was missing a rib before placing Ji Ting's hand on his abs.