Qin Yu had a friendly conversation with Jiang Chengxuan, but when he turned around, he noticed that the two people who had been standing behind him had already reached the door. He quickly rushed after them.

“Meng Jie, Lu Ge, wait for me, wait for me!”

The two of them stopped when they heard him, and Meng Suihuan turned to smile at Qin Yu, thanking him as well.

“I just heard your Lu Ge mention that you contributed a lot to the development of the new phone. I originally wanted to give you a small gift, but then I thought you’d probably prefer a red envelope instead.”

“When the bonuses are distributed at the end of the month, I’ll personally give a red envelope to everyone in your team.”

Qin Yu was a true money lover, and when he heard there would be a red envelope, his heart bloomed with happiness, shouting, “Meng Jie is the best!” “I love Meng Jie!”

“Is it really that exaggerated?” Meng Suihuan said, watching him, looking like he’d won a few million in the lottery.

“Yes!” Qin Yu nodded vigorously, then complained, “Lu Ge bought a lot of Big Brother’s phones for experiments to integrate the chips and phones. He borrowed all my savings! I’ve been eating instant noodles with him at school recently. It’s been so miserable~”

“Ah?”

“Aren’t you getting a regular research fund from the company? Why didn’t you use that?” Qin Yu glanced at Lu Linshen and weakly asked, “Lu Ge, now that things have mostly settled down, can I tell Mentor Meng the truth?”

Meng Suihuan asked casually but realized that there seemed to be more to this situation than she thought. Before Lu Linshen could react, she glared at them and said, “Don’t forget, we signed a contract. I have the right to know about everything the company does. Qin Yu, tell me exactly what happened.”

“Remember, not a single detail should be missed. Got it?”

The truth finally came out from Qin Yu, who hesitated and stammered. It turned out that ever since he learned that the company was short of over 20 million in cash before the listing, Lu Linshen had been hiding it from her. He hadn’t taken any of the research or other expenses on time, except for what was necessary to keep the team running. This had been going on for several months, and she had no idea.

Meng Suihuan immediately became furious. “Lu Linshen, are you out of your mind? You need to spend money on research and investment at the start. What are you going to do if you delay the chip research progress like this?”

“I’ve calculated—” Lu Linshen tried to argue, but before he could finish his sentence, he was interrupted by a barrage of scolding.

“Don’t think that just because you have some ability, you can do whatever you want. The company has rules and regulations. If everyone acted like you, what would be the point of having rules in the first place?”

“Are they just for decoration?”

“…”

Meng Suihuan continued scolding him for a while before finally calming down. “You need to write a self-criticism when you go back. Bring it to me later.”

“Okay.” Lu Linshen agreed, then slowly spoke again. “I’ve carefully calculated the team’s expenses during this time and made adjustments to the research schedule. So this decision won’t affect the team’s projects…”

Meng Suihuan rolled her eyes at him. “So, should I not scold you, but instead praise you?”

Lu Linshen: “… No need. I just wanted to tell you that I didn’t make this decision on a whim. It was made after careful evaluation and consideration.”

Seeing this, Qin Yu quickly added, “Meng Jie, I can vouch for this. Lu Ge calculated ten full pages and discussed the feasibility with us for days. After getting everyone’s agreement, he arranged it this way. It wasn’t impulsive!”

“So, can we not make Lu Ge write a self-criticism?”

“Mm.” Meng Suihuan nodded. “Since everyone in your team is aware of this, let’s all write the self-criticism together.”

Qin Yu: “…”

Should he have kept his mouth shut?

“Now that the company has successfully gone public, and with our smartphone research ready to be launched soon, the other projects you’ve put aside can be restarted according to schedule. As for the funding, you can go to finance to collect it yourself.”

“By the way, Lu Linshen, you’re coming with me to Feiyun Group tomorrow. I need to discuss the specific details of our collaboration with CEO Chen. After all, you’re more familiar with the chip technology.”

Although they had reached a consensus with Feiyun Group before, the specific details of the collaboration hadn’t been finalized. Now that the smartphone project was officially on track, it had to be resolved soon.

“Tomorrow?” Meng Suihuan looked at him in confusion. “What’s wrong? Do you have other plans?”

Lu Linshen shook his head. “No, I just think it’s happening too quickly.”

“How is it too quick?” Meng Suihuan smiled lightly. “We’ve been researching smartphone chips for so long. CEO Chen has asked me so many times. If it weren’t for being busy with the company’s public listing, we would have finalized this already.”

Lu Linshen thought for a moment and then spoke honestly, “Feiyun Group has nearly twenty years of experience in the mobile phone industry, and their chip manufacturing expertise is unmatched. The only reason we have the opportunity to collaborate with them is because we have core technology they don’t have. If they acquire this technology in the collaboration, then…”

Lu Linshen didn’t finish his sentence, but Meng Suihuan clearly understood his implication.

“You’re worried that the collaboration is just a ruse, and their real goal is to steal our technology?”

Lu Linshen’s eyes darkened. “This is just my guess.”

A sudden silence fell between them, and the atmosphere became a bit tense. Just then, Qin Yu, who had just returned from a phone call, overheard part of the conversation and jumped in aggressively.

“Lu Ge, is that little bastard Shen Jin trying to steal our technology again? He really can’t change his ways—he stole our website’s core data back in the day and launched it before us. Now, he’s trying to steal our smartphone chips. Don’t stop me, I’m going to block him and deal with him once and for all—”

Lu Linshen scolded him, “Lao Qin, enough! I told you not to bring this up. You’ve already forgotten?”

Qin Yu looked around. Since they had left later and walked slowly, they were now a good distance from the main group. It was just him, Lu Ge, and Meng Jie, so he muttered, “There’s no one else around.”

“Even if there’s no one else, you still have to be careful.”

“Lu Ge, I didn’t mean to. I’m just so angry. Why did they steal our stuff and not face any consequences, yet they turn it around and blame us? And everyone believes them!”

“Do you think beating up Zhou Fan and his team would solve this problem?” Lu Linshen didn’t get angry, his tone unchanged as he asked, “Did you forget the time you fought with them and nearly got expelled? Don’t you ever learn? Are you planning to drag this to the police station this time?”

Perhaps the mention of the past hit a nerve, and Qin Yu’s anger immediately deflated. “So we’re just going to let them bully us?”

“No, I’ll make them pay.” Lu Linshen shook his head firmly, his gaze sharp and cold. “I will get back everything that belongs to us—the honor and justice will be ours.”

“Fine, since it’s your face, Lu Ge, I’ll hold back for now.” Qin Yu squeezed his fist tightly, speaking in a playful tone, “But once I get my revenge, I’ll make them pay.”

With that, he waved his fist dramatically, but unfortunately, his elbow hit Meng Suihuan.

“…”

The atmosphere suddenly became awkward.

“Are you okay?” The first to react wasn’t Qin Yu or Meng Suihuan, but Lu Linshen, who quickly steadied her.

Seeing this reaction, Qin Yu snapped back to reality and quickly pulled his hand back, looking apologetically at Meng Suihuan. “Meng Jie, I got carried away. I didn’t mean to hurt you, did I?”

Meng Suihuan had been quietly observing the situation, not expecting Qin Yu to suddenly swing his fist, let alone have it hit her. Perhaps due to a bit of resentment, the impact on her shoulder was rather strong, and she still felt a dull pain. But when she saw Qin Yu’s sincere and apologetic expression, she took a deep breath. “I’m fine. It’ll pass soon.”

Afterward, she noticed that her arm was still being supported by someone. She glanced sideways at Lu Linshen and repeated, “I’m fine.”

To her surprise, his hand didn’t let go and continued to support her firmly.

“Lu Linshen, could you please let go? It was just a light bump. This feels strange, like you think my arm is broken…”

Upon hearing this, Lu Linshen quickly realized that his previous behavior had been a bit excessive. He hurriedly let go of her, almost as if he had been shocked, and his gaze wandered elsewhere. “…Hmm.”

Seeing his vague, embarrassed look, Meng Suihuan couldn’t help but smile slightly. If it weren’t for the fact that she still had something to ask him and there was another person around, she would have seized the opportunity to tease him. She sighed in her mind, thinking that she would have to wait for the next time.

Adjusting her mood, she looked at Lu Linshen. “Earlier, Qin Yu mentioned something about the website being stolen. What happened?”

Although she had some background knowledge, when reading, she usually just skimmed through the content, remembering only the key points, and couldn’t retain the finer details.

Lu Linshen didn’t hide anything and explained the situation briefly. Back when the internet era was just starting, Lu Linshen had come across a foreign website by chance. Realizing that there was no similar platform in the country, he got Qin Yu and the others involved in researching it. He was incredibly talented and had the reference of a foreign site. After nearly half a year of work, they managed to replicate the site. However, before they could launch it, a fellow student from the same school created a similar website and published it first. At first, they didn’t make much of it—just a little frustrated—but it wasn’t something they could claim ownership of, and if they could do it, so could others.

But later, they discovered that the other party’s code and data were identical to theirs, and that’s when they realized something was wrong. When they went to confront Shen Jin and others to seek justice, they were accused of copying the idea, and it even reached the principal’s office. In the end, the matter was left unresolved, as the other party’s evidence timeline was earlier, so Lu Linshen and his team couldn’t win the argument. They were also labeled by the school and the community.

Lu Linshen looked at Meng Suihuan seriously. “At the exchange event, I had planned to explain all of this to you, but you… didn’t follow the usual approach. Later, I tried to find the right opportunity, but I never managed to bring it up.”

Meng Suihuan clearly remembered her first meeting with Lu Linshen. At that time, she had seen him as nothing more than a clear opportunity for profit, not really interested in anything else. Her only goal was to recruit him. As for the rest of their interactions, the dynamic between them had been one of two things: either she was dominating him, or she was flirting with him.

Meng Suihuan coughed lightly. She wasn’t keen on revisiting the past.

“It’s fine. Even if you had explained everything to me at the time, I would have still signed with your team.”

Lu Linshen’s gaze tightened. “Why?”

This was a question he had always wanted to ask but hadn’t. Finally, with this opportunity, he could ask what had been on his mind for so long.

Meng Suihuan answered naturally, “Why else? Of course, it’s because of you—”

Bang.

In that instant, Lu Linshen felt like his heart was a wild beast breaking free from its chains, frantically racing and unable to stop. He had thought of many possible answers, but he had never imagined she would say something like that.

Because of him. She chose their team because of him.

As he processed this answer, he couldn’t help but smile broadly, his lips curving up.

The next moment, he looked at Meng Suihuan with complete seriousness, his eyes filled with emotions he couldn’t conceal.

“Suihuan, I’m surprised and so grateful that you chose me. I’m really thankful that you—”

“Chose me.”