The divorce comeback system arrived right after I was born.

Chen Zhi watched as Pei Ningxue put her phone back into her bag.

"My dad is coming to Beijing next week." Pei Ningxue took a deep breath. "He said he wants to see what I've been up to."

Chen Zhi reached out and tucked her hair, which had been ruffled by the river breeze, behind her ear.

"We'll talk about next week's issues next week," Chen Zhi said calmly. "Let's go back to the hotel first."

1:25 PM.

The sky over Shanghai was gloomy.

In a river-view room at the Bulgari Hotel, Pei Ningxue sat on the sofa, holding a tablet computer in her hand. The screen was full of annotations she had circled in red pen.

"Li Bin's legal team is truly capable," Pei Ningxue sneered.

Chen Zhi picked up the tablet and glanced at it.

NIO has indeed removed the "technology iteration lock-in", but replaced it with something called "priority iteration rights".

"On the surface, it looks like a concession, but it's actually more vicious." Pei Ningxue pointed to the few lines of small text on the screen, "They demand to be three months ahead of other car companies in obtaining the upgrade package for each generation. A three-month time difference is enough for them to establish an absolute first-mover advantage in the terminal market."

Pei Ningxue pointed out three hidden pitfalls in succession.

"First, NIO has the right to review the technical document summaries for each iteration. This means they know our next move in advance."

"Secondly, if we fail to deliver the replacement package within the agreed time, they can claim breach of contract and demand huge technical compensation. This is called putting delivery shackles on us."

"Third, the right of first refusal automatically continues upon contract renewal. There is absolutely no exit mechanism."

Pei Ningxue leaned back on the sofa and rubbed her temples.

"In the long run, signing this agreement will effectively tie Deep Space Technology to their fate."

After listening, Chen Zhi did not rush to refute.

He put down his tablet and walked to the floor-to-ceiling window. A huge cruise ship was slowly passing by outside, and the deep sound of its horn penetrated the soundproof glass and entered the room.

"We went astray from the very beginning," Chen Zhi suddenly said.

Pei Ningxue looked up at him.

Chen Zhi turned around and put his hands in his pockets.

"Negotiating pre-installation contracts with each car company is essentially fighting a war on someone else's turf." Chen Zhi reviewed the situation clearly. "Each car company has its own interests. Even if we fight to the bitter end with NIO today, delete these clauses, and sign the contract, what about tomorrow? Tomorrow, Li Auto and XPeng will line up to negotiate, and they will still use exclusive clauses or priority rights to blackmail us."

"Deep space technology will be dragged into an endless quagmire."

Pei Ningxue frowned: "Then what do you want to do?"

"The real way to sell shovels isn't to go around pushing them one by one." Chen Zhi walked to his desk, pulled out a chair, and sat down. "It's about building a shovel supermarket, where everyone comes to buy from me. Prices are transparent, conditions are uniform, and nobody can get special treatment."

It was exactly 2 PM.

Chen Zhi glanced at the time, picked up his phone, and dialed a number.

Pei Ningxue thought he was going to call Li Auto, since Chen Zhi had personally announced at the negotiating table that there would be a video conference with Li Auto at 2 pm that afternoon.

The call was connected.

"Mr. Wang, I am Chen Zhi from Deep Space Technology."

Pei Ningxue was stunned.

Considering the current landscape of new energy vehicles, a name instantly flashed through Pei Ningxue's mind: BYD!

"Yes, we won't discuss exclusive pre-installation. Deep Space Technology is not tied to any single automaker."

"We aim to build an 'AI driving open platform.' All automakers will have equal access, with tiered pricing based on usage and installation volume. Deep Space Technology will only act as a technology supplier."

"The first batch of seed customers only need to do one thing: at the industry summit next month, jointly announce their intention to connect and set the industry standard."

There was a moment of hesitation on the other end of the phone.

A deep, steady male voice drifted over, asking the most crucial question: "So what did NIO say?"

Chen Zhi smiled.

"I haven't responded to NIO's terms yet," Chen Zhi said casually. "If the platform framework is set, NIO won't be the one negotiating with me."

"They'll be the ones chasing after people applying for access."

The phone hangs up.

Pei Ningxue leaned back on the sofa and stared at Chen Zhi's profile for a long time.

Pei Ningxue couldn't help but smile.

But she immediately wiped the smile off her face and switched back into CFO mode. She walked to the desk, pulled out another chair, sat down, and picked up a sheet of paper and a pen.

"The idea is good." Pei Ningxue drew three circles on the paper, "but there are three practical problems in implementing it."

"First, a platform needs credibility. At least three to five top-tier automakers need to announce their integration at the same time. Right now, you've only contacted BYD."

"Secondly, NIO gave us a deadline of 1:30 PM, and it's already 2:10 PM. If we don't respond, it will be seen as a breakdown in negotiations, so we need to stall them gracefully."

"Third, building an open platform of this level requires an astronomical investment in servers and bandwidth in the early stages. At our current rate of development, you need to be prepared to make trade-offs."

Chen Zhi looked at the three circles on the paper and gave the solution for each one.

"The first issue is to reach out to senior executives of three or four Chinese automakers with overseas operations, leveraging their international reach. The demand for Chinese AI technology in overseas markets is more urgent than in China."

"For the second question, you should send an email to NIO right now, using official language, saying that Deep Space Technology is evaluating a broader cooperation framework and will provide a formal proposal within a week. Neither reject nor accept it, just pass the buck back to them."

Chen Zhi tapped the third circle twice with his finger.

"As for the third question."

Chen Zhi raised his head and looked into Pei Ningxue's eyes.

"Using the policy support from Beijing Infrastructure Investment Co., Ltd. as leverage, we applied to the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology for pilot qualification for the 'National Open Platform for Intelligent Driving'."

It was evening.

After a full afternoon of intensive strategic review, Pei Ningxue finally came to an end, slumped onto the table, and sighed.

Chen Zhi walked around behind her, placed his hands on her shoulders, pressed his thumbs on the acupoints on both sides of her cervical spine, and kneaded them with some force.

"Hiss—" Pei Ningxue snorted, "Be gentle."

"It's an old Chen family secret massage technique, so bear with it," Chen Zhi said, while lightening the pressure on his hands considerably.

The phone on the table vibrated.

Dai Dama's WeChat message popped up.

[Dai DaMai: Boss, Zhou Mingyuan from NIO just added me on WeChat privately through our alumni network. He said he'd like to find some time for a personal technical exchange.]

Chen Zhi glanced at the screen.

NIO's VP of Technology privately contacted Deep Space Technology's CTO. The implication was clear: Zhou Mingyuan had been completely won over by Moss, and even though business negotiations were still ongoing, the technical recognition was already secured.

Chen Zhi typed a reply with one hand.

[Chen Zhi: Maintain a window for technical communication, but absolutely no information regarding Moss's key details should be revealed.]

Pei Ningxue turned her head and glanced at the message on his phone screen, nodding with great satisfaction.

It's 9:30 p.m.

On the highway to Hongqiao Airport, the rear seat partition of the Alphard was raised, and there was only a faint background noise from the high speed inside the car.

Pei Ningxue leaned on Chen Zhi's shoulder and closed her eyes to rest.

Chen Zhi lowered the brightness of his phone screen.

A voice message popped up on WeChat, sent by Lin Wanwan.

Chen Zhi opened the voice message and converted it to text.

[Lin Wanwan: Chen Zhi, when are you coming back?! I finished recording the new song and wanted to let you hear it first! Sister Su Man said you're on a business trip, you didn't... bring someone else with you, did you? (crying) (feeling wronged)]

Chen Zhi stared at the words on the screen, his fingers flying across the keyboard.

[Chen Zhi: Why bring anyone else? Your mind is full of reports and contracts. Tomorrow we're going back to Beijing, I'll take you to Haidilao.]

After sending the message, Chen Zhi glanced at his side out of the corner of his eye.

Pei Ningxue's eyelashes trembled slightly.

The rhythm of her breathing remained unchanged.

Whether he was truly asleep or pretending, Chen Zhi calmly locked his phone, put it back in his pocket, and adjusted his posture to make Pei Ningxue more comfortable.

Two hours later.

The plane landed smoothly at Beijing Daxing International Airport.