"We’ll have to find another way to get you your money."
"This breakthrough for Huaxuan, for the National Power Group, has nothing to do with you. Understand?"
Li Dong stared at Lin Wei for a few seconds.
He opened his mouth, about to ask ’Why?’, but halfway through, he swallowed the question.
Because he already understood.
The strategic value of something like the 2.1 algorithm was likely even greater than he had imagined.
Huaxuan was trying to cleanly remove him from the narrative of this strategic production line.
It wasn’t for any other reason but to protect themselves.
"I understand." Li Dong nodded lightly and looked up at Lin Wei.
"So, what exactly is this ’appropriate way’ you mentioned?"
Lin Wei smiled.
"You’ll know by the end of the year."
He didn’t explain further.
Li Dong did some quick math in his head.
It was April now, and the end of the year meant December. That was still about six or seven months away.
’Six or seven months... Can Xiaohai, that 4.2 million yuan piece of equipment, handle the computational load during that time? It should be able to, right?’
So, Li Dong said.
"Alright."
"Then I’ll be counting on you, President Lin."
As the atmosphere relaxed, Li Dong remembered the process sheet in his backpack.
He opened his bag, pulled a photocopy out of a manila envelope, and pushed it toward Lin Wei.
"President Lin, there’s one more thing I’d like to trouble you with. Could you see if Huaxuan can make this?"
Lin Wei reached out and took the process sheet.
His brow furrowed slightly as he flipped through it.
The apex tolerance of the needle tip’s geometry, the thickness of each layer in the PtIr–SiO2–Au coaxial stack, the sub-nanometer symmetry requirement for the end face, the boundary conditions for subsequent use at 30K in an ultra-high vacuum under a synchrotron radiation beamline...
Every single item pushed the upper limits of Huaxia’s current micro/nano-fabrication capabilities. Most didn’t just push the limits; they blew right past them.
Lin Wei finished the last page and looked up, a peculiar expression on his face.
"Li Dong, what is this for?"
Li Dong answered honestly.
"It’s for a project a professor from our university’s School of Chemistry is working on. The existing equipment in the country can’t achieve this level of precision. There are a few machines abroad that can, though."
"The problem is, the data has to be sent out, and all the raw data has to be handed over to them. What we’d get back would be a sanitized version, which is useless for our project."
"So we were out of options, and I thought of Huaxuan Technology, as the lea—"
He was about to lay on the "industry leader" flattery when Lin Wei waved a hand.
"Stop. No need to suck up."
He lowered his head, quickly scanned the process sheet again, then looked up decisively.
"We can do it."
Li Dong: "?"
’So direct?’
"Well... then I’ll be counting on you, President Lin."
Lin Wei looked at him with a smile.
"It’s no trouble. We’ll be charging for it."
Li Dong: "???"
"President Lin?" he asked tentatively.
"With our relationship... you’re still going to charge?"
Lin Wei looked at him very seriously.
"Li Dong, what relationship does Huaxuan have with you?"
Li Dong froze for a second, then immediately understood.
’Right, right, right. No relationship. Absolutely no relationship.’
He nodded immediately.
"Right, right, right. You should charge. You absolutely should."
Li Dong secretly added in his head, ’Besides, it’s not my money. Teacher Wu’s research group has more funding than they know what to do with. I’m just helping them spend a chunk of it. Why wouldn’t I be happy to do it?’
Seeing that he’d caught on, Lin Wei couldn’t help but smile.
He said no more, pulling the process sheet toward himself. Then he took out a pen and drew a few small circles on several pages.
Li Dong didn’t quite understand what the circles meant. He had assumed that when Lin Wei said, "We can do it," it meant Huaxuan could simply free up its production line and get it done.
However, what he didn’t know was that for Huaxuan to make this needle for him, they weren’t following a normal "customer processing" procedure at all.
Just as Lu Mingyuan had said, their entire production line simply didn’t have an interface for this kind of "non-standard small job."
But because the request came from Li Dong, Lin Wei had agreed.
Even if it meant Huaxuan would genuinely have to set up a separate line just for this needle, Lin Wei still agreed.
Lin Wei put the process sheet away and looked up.
"Anything else?"
Li Dong took stock. The money issue was settled, and there was progress on the needle.
Then he shook his head and said.
"That’s all."
"You might be done, but I’m not."
As Lin Wei spoke, he seemed uncharacteristically a little embarrassed. He cleared his throat.
"I have a professor over at Fudan University. He asked me to see if you have time to go over and give a lecture."
Li Dong heard this and didn’t even hesitate.
"Sure."
He agreed so readily that it was Lin Wei’s turn to be surprised.
’That easy?’
He coughed.
"Well... is tomorrow convenient?"
Li Dong thought for a moment.
"It is. I happen to be spending the day in Shanghai with my uncle, so I can go over tomorrow."
Lin Wei nodded.
"Alright then, I’ll have someone from Fudan University come pick you up."
Li Dong didn’t refuse. In fact, he was secretly delighted.
He loved giving lectures. He loved seeing the bright, clear eyes of the students in the audience.
At the thought, he actually started to look forward to it.
"Well, I’m off, President Lin. I’m going to go find my uncle."
Lin Wei nodded. He didn’t mention a single word about Dongyang Hardware or Li Yang.

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