Chapter Summaries

After the United States accused Huaguo of stealing lithography machine data and threatened new tariffs, Huaguo announced sweeping countermeasures at the United Nations meeting and revealed that its independently developed 0.55 NA lithography machine would enter mass production next year. Ji Yanzhi then posted Shili Technology’s announcement of the country’s first EUV lithography machine.

• After Li Tianhua confessed, the U.S. side fabricated evidence and announced new tariffs on Huaguo and three other countries while demanding talks within forty-eight hours.
• Ji Ting and Ji Yanzhi watched the United Nations meeting with the Shili Six, where the U.S. representative accused Huaguo of stealing AL Company’s lithography machine data.
• Huaguo’s deputy representative announced retaliatory tariffs and restrictions on mineral exports to the United States.
• When the U.S. representative tried to interrupt, Huaguo’s deputy representative revealed that Huaguo’s 0.55 NA lithography machine had passed validation and would begin mass production next year.
• Ji Yanzhi posted on Shili Technology’s official account that Huaguo had its first EUV lithography machine.

Huaguo announced sweeping countermeasures against U.S. companies, and Zhao Qi tearfully reflected on the injustices he had endured. After Ji Ting struggled with the spicy food Wang Bin had bought, Wang Bin admitted that he had always liked his ex-boyfriend, Wang Mian.

• Huaguo's deputy representative announced antitrust investigations into Google, NVIDIA, Intel, and Apple in response to U.S. sanctions.
• Zhao Qi recalled being smeared and harassed over his work at Kesheng and said he had never expected to see this day.
• Ji Ting's mouth burned after he ate spicy braised food, so Ji Yanzhi fetched milk and helped cool his face.
• Ji Yanzhi asked who had bought the food, and Wang Bin admitted he had chosen it because Wang Mian liked devil-hot flavors.
• Wang Mian asked whether Wang Bin still liked him, and Wang Bin said he had always liked him.

Wang Bin explained that he had ended his relationship with Wang Mian because he could not afford the life Wang Mian’s parents hoped for, and Wang Mian angrily left after hearing his reasons. Ji Ting then teased Ji Yanzhi about his own attempt to win him back, calling it “Chasing His Wife to the Barbecue Stand.”

• Ji Yanzhi locked the office door so Wang Mian and Wang Bin would talk, but Wang Bin agreed to let Wang Mian leave.
• Wang Mian accused Wang Bin of abandoning him without an explanation when they broke up.
• Wang Bin revealed that he had left because he could not afford the rent, travel, and time with Wang Mian that Wang Mian’s parents asked about.
• Wang Bin said he now felt able to face Wang Mian’s parents as Shili’s Chief Scientist, but Wang Mian cursed him and stormed out.
• Wang Bin ran after Wang Mian, and Deng Luqing explained the phrase “Chasing His Wife to the Crematorium” to Ji Ting.
• Ji Ting asked Ji Yanzhi whether winning him back had felt like being cremated, then called his pursuit “Chasing His Wife to the Barbecue Stand.”

Ji Ting agreed to visit the Sixth-Generation Fighter’s flight tests, while Ji Yanzhi reluctantly accepted that he would be away for three days. When Ji Ting returned to the Old Residence, representatives from several military commands competed to invite him, and Shen Lin made the first formal offer before the Eastern Theater Command’s Political Commissar interrupted.

• Ji Yanzhi took Ji Ting out for barbecue, learned that Ji Ting usually limited himself to eating until half full, and urged him to eat full meals at breakfast and lunch.
• Ji Ting told Ji Yanzhi he planned to inspect the Sixth-Generation Fighter’s flight-test data and promised he would be gone for three days.
• The next morning, Ji Ting called Director Chang to arrange an early visit to the fighter tests, then went to the Laboratory Building to calibrate equipment.
• The butler told Ji Ting that several military guests had arrived at the Old Residence to see him and were taking digs at each other.
• Shen Lin invited Ji Ting to observe the Sixth-Generation Fighter’s flight tests on behalf of the Southern Military Region, but the Eastern Theater Command’s Political Commissar interrupted.

Ji Ting weighed offers from four theater commands while the representatives tried to recruit him over lunch. He leaned toward the Central Theater Command because it was close to home, but after leaving Ji Yanzhi a gift, he asked Chef Liu how to cook sugar.

• Representatives from four theater commands competed to recruit Ji Ting, and he admitted that he held a grudge against the Eastern Theater Command over Qin Zaiye.
• The representatives offered Ji Ting reasons to choose their commands, including proximity to home, test-flight data, food, and Shen Lin’s family connection.
• During lunch, Ji Ting spoke about his work and his brother, explaining that he and Ji Yanzhi had argued badly several times when they were younger.
• Ji Yanzhi advised Ji Ting to choose the Central Theater Command if he had decided, or Shen Lin’s Southern Theater Command if he was still unsure.
• Ji Ting told Ji Yanzhi he had left him a gift, then returned to the dining room and asked Chef Liu how to cook sugar.

Ji Ting chose to accompany Shen Lin to the Southern Theater Command, where he reviewed the Sixth-Generation Fighter’s test data and identified areas for improvement. As Ji Yanzhi treasured Ji Ting’s childhood photo and gummy candies back home, General Li discovered Ji Ting was studying classified schematics for a U.S. military engine.

• Ji Ting chose Shen Lin’s invitation and promised the other four theater commanders he would visit their facilities, then accepted snacks and vitamins packed by the butler.
• Ji Yanzhi returned to the Old Residence, read Ji Ting’s affectionate letter, and found a childhood photograph and strawberry gummies modeled after Ji Ting.
• Ji Ting arrived at the Southern Theater Command, reviewed the fighter’s test data, and credited the improved interconnectivity system to the engineers’ work on military chips.
• Ji Ting examined the fighter’s carrier takeoff and landing performance and continued discussing engine schematics with the team late into the night.
• Shen Lin told General Li that Ji Ting was studying an engine other than the J-36’s, and General Li saw schematics and recent simulation data for the U.S. military’s NGAD engine.

Ji Ting explained that the American engine blueprints matched data he already knew and outlined how Huaguo could use its Detonation Engine. He left General Li and Shen Lin stunned by revealing that the Seventh-Generation Fighter would use a Nuclear-Powered Aircraft Engine.

• Ji Ting explained that the American engine design sacrificed balance for thrust and would likely be scrapped when the NGAD Project restarted.
• General Li compared Ji Ting's blueprints with classified records, and Shen Lin agreed to keep Ji Ting in the theater of operations for a few more days.
• After working through the night, Ji Ting went to breakfast, where Shen Lin brought him to General Li's office for a meal.
• Ji Ting told General Li that the blueprints and documents were American designs he already remembered from his previous world.
• Ji Ting said Huaguo could use its stabilized Detonation Engine to improve the Sixth-Generation Fighter and later aircraft, but the Seventh-Generation Fighter would use a Nuclear-Powered Aircraft Engine.

Ji Ting watched the J-36 successfully activate its Plasma Stealth Layer and break through the thermal barrier, then decided to stay at the base to inspect the Detonation Engine. After admitting to Ji Yanzhi that he had wanted an excuse to see him because he missed him, Ji Ting asked whether he could remain away a few more days.

• Ji Ting confirmed to General Li and Shen Lin that he was proposing a nuclear-powered aircraft engine, and the group headed to the base center for a test.
• Ji Ting watched Aircraft 01 deploy the Plasma Stealth Layer and break through the thermal barrier as its readings showed the systems working successfully.
• Ji Ting examined the J-36 after it landed and asked General Li to let him inspect it closely once it had cooled.
• Ji Ting told General Li and Shen Lin that he wanted to return to Jing City, but explained that he had promised Ji Yanzhi he would be back within three days.
• Ji Yanzhi rejected Shen Mu Lan's attempt to persuade him to let Ji Ting stay, then received a call from Ji Ting asking to remain at the base to inspect the Detonation Engine.
• Ji Ting admitted that he wanted an excuse to return to Ji Yanzhi because he missed him.

Ji Yanzhi reflected on how Ji Ting’s patience and affection had shaped their relationship, then told him he missed him. At the military base, Ji Ting examined the Detonation Engine while visiting researchers questioned his ability, and their leaders confronted them for disparaging him.

• Ji Yanzhi told Ji Ting that he felt Ji Ting had patiently accepted and influenced him, and the two said they missed each other.
• General Li welcomed Ji Ting’s decision to remain at the base while a Detonation Engine arrived from the design research institute.
• Ji Ting reviewed the engine’s test data and simulations for two days, then spent the third day working alone in a laboratory.
• Several researchers dismissed Ji Ting’s aerospace expertise, prompting Director Chang, Shen Lin, and Ji Yanzhi to confront them.
• Deputy Director Tang identified Lü Xin as a member of Institute 601, while Ji Yanzhi asked Shen Lin to record the other researchers’ names and went to find Ji Ting.
• Director Chang reprimanded the researchers and explained that Ji Ting’s true specialties included military technology and physics.

Ji Yanzhi found Ji Ting in the laboratory, reunited with him, and asked him to leave the research base and return home. Ji Ting agreed, and as they packed, Ji Yanzhi teased him about the “Little Ear gummies” he had once given him.

• Ji Yanzhi tracked Ji Ting to the third laboratory and watched him work until Ji Ting noticed him and embraced him.
• Ji Yanzhi told Ji Ting he had missed him, and they kissed before Ji Yanzhi asked him to come home.
• Ji Ting agreed to leave the base without asking why, and they went to the dormitory to pack.
• Director Chang warned General Li that Ji Yanzhi would not let the researchers’ insulting remarks go unanswered, then an aide reported that the two Jis were leaving.
• While packing, Ji Ting praised the snacks Ji Yanzhi had brought, and Ji Yanzhi reminded him of the “Little Ear gummies” he had once given him.

Ji Yanzhi prepared to take Ji Ting back to Jing City, but they learned that Lü Xin had presented a supposedly new Detonation Engine proposal. Ji Ting recognized Lü Xin and two colleagues as the men who had accessed his research and taken his design, leaving Ji Yanzhi convinced they had stolen his work.

• Ji Yanzhi admitted he had worked overtime to free a day, and he and Ji Ting prepared to leave for Jing City.
• General Li failed to persuade Ji Yanzhi to stay, while Director Chang and Shen Lin also decided to leave after the incident went unresolved.
• Tang Lu arrived to report that Lü Xin had presented a proposal to improve the Detonation Engine, so Ji Yanzhi took Ji Ting to the Exhibition Center.
• At the conference, Ji Ting identified Lü Xin and two other men as people who had accessed his research and secretly taken a scan of his graphene-layer self-repair design.
• Ji Ting explained that the stolen scan was obsolete because he had developed a replacement proposal, and Ji Yanzhi deduced that the men had stolen it to evade punishment and gain recognition.

Ji Ting confronted Lü Xin and his colleagues after they presented stolen research as their own, exposing gaps in their claims and demanding details about the technology. The presentation ended with Ji Ting asking how they had developed a component that depended on rare-earth elements whose processing method would not be developed for another two years.

• Ji Ting arrived with Ji Yanzhi and learned that Lü Xin and two colleagues planned to present research they had stolen.
• Lü Xin presented a self-repairing graphene coating and claimed it increased combustion efficiency by 400%.
• Ji Ting challenged Lü Xin to explain the coating’s rare-earth elements, and Lü Xin eventually named europium.
• Ji Ting used Pork Knuckle to reveal that Magnetofluid-Assisted Shockwave Focusing was essential to the claimed efficiency increase, but absent from Lü Xin’s materials.
• Ji Ting asked Lü Xin which rare-earth elements were needed to optimize the technology, pressing him to explain how the team had developed it so early.

Ji Ting exposed Lü Xin and his accomplices for stealing his research and announced penalties for their academic misconduct. Afterward, he handed Institute 603 a tested solution for the Detonation Engine before leaving for Jing City with Ji Yanzhi, who was stunned to learn that marriage registration had been discussed.

• Ji Ting confronted Lü Xin and the other two men, condemned their theft, and said he would report them to higher authorities, barring them from National Projects for twenty years and reclaiming their research prize money.
• Ji Yanzhi brought Ji Ting a coat outside the conference hall and teased him about becoming his student and secretly admiring him, but Ji Ting said it was too late for him to study physics.
• Secretary Zhang from Institute 603 met Ji Ting, who offered a Storage Device containing a three-part solution to the Detonation Engine's problems; he had tested the first two parts, while the third still needed testing.
• Ji Ting let Director Chang decide how to handle the Storage Device and said he was returning to Jing City with Ji Yanzhi for the New Year.
• Director Chang told Ji Yanzhi that his grandfather had been delighted when he heard the two could register their marriage, leaving Ji Yanzhi stunned.

Ji Ting revealed that the certificate he and Ji Yanzhi would obtain was a marriage certificate, and the two confessed their love as they discussed getting married. On the flight home, Ji Ting told Ji Yanzhi they would have to wait two years before they could register their marriage, leaving Ji Yanzhi asking why.

• Director Chang passed off the marriage certificates as health certificates, and Ji Ting later told Ji Yanzhi the truth.
• Ji Ting said he had agreed to marry Ji Yanzhi so they could become immediate family in the eyes of the law, and he confessed that he loved him.
• Ji Yanzhi told Ji Ting that he would love him even if Ji Ting did not love him, and Ji Ting said they were lucky to love each other.
• Shen Lin drove Ji Ting and Ji Yanzhi to the airport and invited them to visit during the New Year, mentioning that Shen Mu Lan's family had arranged a blind date for him.
• On the plane, Ji Ting told Ji Yanzhi that they could not get their marriage certificate for another two years, and Ji Yanzhi asked if marriage had a cooling-off period.

Ji Ting and Ji Yanzhi discussed waiting two years to marry before returning to Jing City, where Ji Ting reviewed test data for his aerospace research. Ji Yanzhi woke from a vivid dream in which Ji Ting used him for his genes and took their child, then clung to the quilt and insisted he would take the child with him.

• Ji Ting told Ji Yanzhi that he was too young to marry, and Ji Yanzhi asked him to promise they would register as soon as he was old enough.
• After arriving in Jing City, Ji Yanzhi ordered his secretary to cut off cooperation with any company that hired Lü Xin and the other two dismissed from the Aerospace Engineering Institute.
• Director Chang called Ji Ting about test results for the third layer of his composite solution, and Ji Yanzhi made him finish dinner before he went to review them.
• Ji Ting worked on the research in the bedroom while explaining his fuel injection system to Ji Yanzhi, who fell asleep beside him.
• Ji Yanzhi dreamed that Ji Ting had used his genes to have a child and planned to leave with the child, then woke up and declared that he would take the child with him.

Ji Yanzhi recounted a dream in which he and Ji Ting argued over a baby, prompting them to imagine having a child together. When Ji Yanzhi worried about how two men decided who was top or bottom, he secretly called Shen Mu Lan for advice and asked whether there was scientific research on the subject.

• Ji Ting teased Ji Yanzhi about his dream, and Ji Yanzhi described arguing with him over taking away their baby.
• Ji Yanzhi and Ji Ting discussed what their hypothetical child might look like and whether they wanted children.
• Ji Yanzhi asked Ji Ting if he knew about what happened when two men were together, but Ji Ting mistook top and bottom for their household status.
• After Ji Ting returned to work, Ji Yanzhi called Shen Mu Lan and asked how he had chosen to be the active partner.
• Shen Mu Lan explained that people generally had a sense of their preferences, which could change, and dismissed Ji Yanzhi's request for scientific literature.

Ji Ting reassured Ji Yanzhi that he had passed their trial relationship, while their growing closeness was interrupted by work. As Shili prospered, Ji Ting secretly arranged a surprising project for Ji Yanzhi and prepared to help him with questions about their intimate life.

• Ji Yanzhi asked whether he had passed his trial period with Ji Ting, who reassured him that his feelings had always outweighed any standards.
• Ji Yanzhi teased Ji Ting while he worked, and Ji Ting agreed to make up for the interruption later.
• A Saudi purchasing delegation signed a forty-billion contract with Shili, and the company’s booming demand left Ji Yanzhi’s schedule booked through the following April.
• Ji Ting asked Uncle Yang to demolish the unused riding grounds and build a house from plans on a USB Drive, keeping the project secret from Ji Yanzhi.
• Pork Knuckle said Ji Ting’s own surprise plan was more memorable than its proposals, and Ji Ting revealed he had bought a book to answer Ji Yanzhi’s questions about same-sex roles.

Ji Ting tried to make himself seem less perfect after Pork Knuckle suggested that Ji Yanzhi felt insecure beside him. He explained his plan to Ji Yanzhi, who asked whether requesting an hour-early departure was meant to be an unreasonable demand.

• Pork Knuckle told Ji Ting that Ji Yanzhi sometimes felt insecure because Ji Ting was too perfect as his partner.
• Ji Ting went to Ji Yanzhi's headquarters for dinner, but learned that Ji Yanzhi had left for a business dinner, so he ate with his security officers and waited.
• Ji Yanzhi returned and heard that Ji Ting had refused Wang Mian's request to visit the Laboratory.
• Ji Ting asked Ji Yanzhi to leave work an hour early and explained that he had been trying to give himself flaws to ease Ji Yanzhi's pressure.
• Ji Yanzhi asked whether Ji Ting's request to leave work early was intended as an unreasonable demand.

Ji Yanzhi and Ji Ting discussed their relationship and made plans to spend New Year’s Eve together. Ji Yanzhi brought Ji Ting to Cloud Perch Retreat, revealing it would be their private home for future New Years.

• Ji Yanzhi reassured Ji Ting that his anxiety about losing him did not make him feel insecure, then suggested they go home together.
• Ji Yanzhi arranged for the Manor staff to leave for the holiday, and he and Ji Ting decided to spend New Year’s Eve alone before visiting Ji Yanzhi’s family on New Year’s Day.
• Ji Yanzhi and Ji Ting reminisced about their first New Year together and the first time Ji Ting had sincerely called him Big Brother.
• Ji Ting learned that the State Security Bureau escorts carried guns, and Ji Yanzhi asked him to keep the guards with him whenever he went out alone.
• Ji Yanzhi took Ji Ting to Cloud Perch Retreat and told him it would be their home for New Year, belonging to the two of them alone.

Ji Yanzhi and Ji Ting explored the new home they had bought together, then spent New Year’s Eve cooking and celebrating as a couple. Ji Yanzhi took Ji Ting out on a motorized tricycle to see the fireworks, and Ji Ting accepted with a radiant smile.

• Ji Yanzhi explained that he and Ji Ting each owned half of their new house, bought with Ji Ting’s patent fee, and invited him to help design it.
• Ji Ting and Ji Yanzhi planned features for the house, including a waterfront deck and an illuminated star map in the pool.
• On New Year’s Eve, they cleaned the house, unpacked ingredients sent by Ji Yanzhi’s uncle, and made dumplings and other dishes together.
• Ji Ting and Ji Yanzhi shared a New Year’s Eve dinner and toasted one another with nonalcoholic sparkling champagne.
• After dinner, Ji Yanzhi took Ji Ting outside on a small motorized tricycle to see the fireworks, and Ji Ting happily agreed.