"Mr. Xu, are you trying to push me to Tenglong Real Estate?"

Looking at Xu Jia, who had no sign of joking at all, Xiao Qiang spoke in disbelief.

"Be careful with your wording, not 'push'! I'm just suggesting. Of course, if you don't want to leave, you're still a hero at Hengda Real Estate. But... as I said, the space for you to show your skills at Hengda has become very limited. If you still have aspirations and want to achieve more, honestly speaking, Hengda may no longer be the best option for you! Tenglong Real Estate, on the other hand, might provide a better opportunity for you. Or rather, Ye Chen... he could help you achieve even more!" Xu Jia spoke seriously.

Xiao Qiang fell silent.

Indeed, if anyone knew the limited development space at Hengda Real Estate, it was her, the Vice President.

Hengda Real Estate today could easily be described as falling apart. Not only was further development uncertain, but even in terms of finances... whether multiple properties in different locations could be completed on time was in doubt.

She didn't know the exact financial situation of Hengda Group, but the real estate division was already facing multiple crises.

The strategic investments had shifted toward the Jinzhong Village project.

Though Hengda Group's decision to develop the Jinzhong Village project in such a critical moment was essentially an act of overestimating itself, it still had to put on a big show. After all, the Jinzhong Village project was a demonstration of Hengda Group's strength, and at this moment, Hengda needed to flex its muscles to quell the rising rumors and use the Jinzhong Village project as a booster to stabilize investor confidence in the stock market.

In this context, Hengda Real Estate was already in a desperate situation. It might appear prosperous on the surface, but once it collapsed, it would fall straight into hell.

And as the Vice President, Xiao Qiang knew that her life would not be easy when that time came.

"Without pushing you, think it over carefully! But, to be a little selfish while aiming for a win-win, I hope you'll join Tenglong Real Estate and build a bridge of goodwill between me and Ye Chen!"

Looking at Xiao Qiang's silence, Xu Jia smiled.

Without waiting for a reply, he waved his hand. "Let's end it here for today. You should think about it carefully. I'll be alone here for now."

With that, he walked to the expensive massage chair and lay down.

He activated the switch.

With Xu Jia closing his eyes, the massage chair hummed to life.

Xiao Qiang glanced at the business legend, slightly bowed her head, and silently walked out.

Shanshui Jian

After entering the study, Ye Chen immediately cleared his mind of distractions.

He focused on reading the project plan for a chip from the Jiangzhou Semiconductor Research Institute.

The document was extensive, but Ye Chen had no intention of quickly flipping through it. Instead, he read it line by line.

At the same time, memories of the "Shenxing II" project from his past life began to resurface in his mind.

After all, in his previous life, when China had become a technological powerhouse, the entire history of technological development had been meticulously recorded.

This included the Shenxing II project, which took up a large portion of the record.

What Ye Chen had to do now was to check if there were significant discrepancies between the current Shenxing II project plan and the records from his past life.

The entire night passed.

Ye Chen remained in the study. His little daughter, Ye Youyou, had considered bringing her father a cup of coffee, but seeing how absorbed Ye Chen was, Chen Yino stopped her, then quietly brought in a cup of coffee and a cup of hot water herself.

Finally, Ye Chen's eyes left the project plan for the 7nm chip.

By then, the coffee and hot water on the side had already cooled.

The project plan was now filled with Ye Chen's notes in pen.

These notes were based on the summaries of the development process of the Shenxing II chip in the historical records of his past life.

The notes were enough to help avoid many detours in the research direction, saving both time and funds.

Moreover, once the annotated project plan was returned to the semiconductor research institute, it would surely shock the experts and engineers. Although the annotations were not related to the technology itself, they would open up a new path for the research direction, much like a breakthrough that would give them a moment of enlightenment.

However, because the notes were not related to the technology itself, Ye Chen felt safe writing them. If he had made annotations on technical breakthroughs, it would have been hard to explain.

In his past life, the 7nm chip technology took over three years to develop, excluding the time lost due to funding issues. It was almost three years! With enough funding and fewer detours, the technology could be conquered in two years, becoming a real turning point for domestic chip development. As for the funds, even with fewer detours and using every penny wisely, it would still require at least 20 billion RMB.

Looking at the annotated project plan, Ye Chen took a sip of the now-cold coffee and murmured to himself.

However, his concern wasn't about the investment.

It was about Qin Xuan.

In his past life, Qin Xuan had tried to escape with key data at the last moment. Would he follow the same path this time?

But this question clearly had no answer, as human nature was unpredictable.

He didn't even know what had caused Qin Xuan to take that path in his previous life.

So worrying about it now seemed unnecessary.

"Forget it!"

He sighed.

Ye Chen couldn't afford to delay the chip project because of Qin Xuan. Moreover, he couldn't remove Qin Xuan from the research team. After all, Qin Xuan had delivered the Shenxing II project plan to him, and he was the son-in-law of Yan Huanli, so it was impossible to remove him without a solid reason.

Furthermore, even in his previous life, Qin Xuan had only defected at the final stage of development, so he didn't need to worry about that just yet.

He took out his phone.

He found the contact number for Li Yuange, the Executive Director of Tenglong Technology.

Ye Chen dialed it.

It rang for nearly twenty seconds before being picked up.

"Mr. Ye, is there an emergency?"

As soon as the phone was answered, Li Yuange spoke.

"It's not an emergency," Ye Chen instinctively replied.

"If it's not an emergency, do you realize this is a very impolite thing to do?" Li Yuange responded, clearly confused.

"What?" Ye Chen froze.

"It's 2:41 AM right now! For an older, unmarried woman, this is crucial sleep time!" Li Yuange explained.

"2 AM?" Ye Chen had been so absorbed in reviewing the Shenxing II project plan and recalling the details with his enhanced memory that he had completely lost track of time.

He looked at his phone and realized it was indeed past 2 AM.

"Oh, okay, then you should sleep first," Ye Chen said, slightly embarrassed, and hung up the phone.