The richest man started taking advantage of loopholes after joining Alibaba.

On the afternoon of his return to Hangzhou from Beijing, Lin Che opened the entry and exit inquiry system.

He slept for more than an hour on the high-speed train and arrived at Hangzhou East Station at 2 pm.

He didn't go to the headquarters of Weiguang; instead, he went back to his residence, took a shower, and changed his clothes.

I arrived at the office at 3:30, dealt with two emails, and then opened my browser.

This was the first time he had proactively checked his passport's progress; previously, he would have his assistant check it once a day.

But today he wants to see it himself.

Enter the application number and wait for the page to load.

When the page popped up, his finger was on the mouse.

The status bar has changed.

It is no longer "processing".

The three gray characters disappeared, replaced by three new black characters, one size larger than "Processing".

"Rejected".

Below is a line of small, gray text that states the reason for the rejection.

"After review, your application does not currently meet the acceptance criteria. Please consult your local immigration department for details."

Lin Che looked at the line of text.

"Does not meet the current acceptance criteria."

It's not "incomplete materials" or "incorrect information," it's "temporarily non-compliant."

He had seen this wording in the news before, usually in reports on the entry and exit management of a specific group of people.

He looked down.

There is an information box at the bottom of the page with the title "Approval Information".

There are three lines in the approval information.

First line: Date of acceptance.

He knew this, at the end of October.

Second line: Approval completion date.

He saw a number.

The approval completion date is December 7th.

December 7th.

He ran through the timeline in his mind.

The first meeting, that informal meeting in the teahouse, took place on December 9th.

The second meeting, 607, took place on December 12th.

The third meeting, the one with Shen Nan, took place on December 14th.

The processing date for the passport rejection is December 7th.

It was two days earlier than the first meeting.

He stared at the date for a long time.

December 7th.

That day he was in Hangzhou, working at the headquarters of Weiguang.

In the morning, I processed the preliminary materials for the NMPA inspection, and in the afternoon, I confirmed the progress of the Chengdu stamping with He Wei.

There was also a video conference with the Beijing branch in between.

His schedule was packed that day, with every item being a regular job.

He knew nothing that day.

But on that day, somewhere he didn't know, in some system, someone pressed a button.

The result of that button was: Lin Che's passport renewal application has been rejected.

The decision was made on December 7th, but the first informal contact was arranged on December 9th.

Close the door first, then knock.

This order is not accidental.

He closed the browser and leaned closer to the back of his chair.

The office lights were on, and outside the window was the sky of Hangzhou in mid-December. Winter had already arrived, and it was getting dark around four o'clock.

He picked up his phone and sent a message to Shen Nan.

"Your passport has been rejected."

Shen Nan's reply came quickly.

What were the reasons for the rejection?

"Does not currently meet the application requirements."

Shen Nan remained silent for a while.

What is the approval date?

Lin Che typed six words.

December 7th.

Shen Nan's replies were delivered at longer intervals than before.

About a minute later.

A minute is a long time in a WeChat conversation, especially for someone like Shen Nan who types very fast.

"Number Seven."

A few more seconds passed.

"Two days earlier than the time at the tea house."

Lin Che did not reply.

Because what Shen Nan said was exactly what he was thinking.

The rejection was not the result of the meeting.

The rejection occurred before the meeting.

This means that a decision had already been made at a higher level before the person entered the tea room and before he said "formal communication."

Before he presented the timeline and 92.3%, Lin Che's travel restrictions had already been adjusted.

A meeting is not the starting point.

The meeting was part of the process.

The starting point was much earlier, when the approval completion button was clicked on December 7th.

He put his phone on the table.

The screen was lit, and Shen Nan's chat window was still open. The last message was "Two days earlier than the time at the teahouse."

He did not close the chat window.

A few minutes later, Shen Nan sent another message.

"If your passport application is rejected, you need to reapply through the local immigration office."

"However, the window staff usually do not proactively explain the specific reasons for using the phrase 'not currently meeting the acceptance criteria.'"

"If you ask them, they'll most likely tell you to wait for further notice."

Lin Che replied with two words.

"knew."

He knew Shen Nan was telling him something.

The door is closed.

It's not locked, it's closed.

A closed door is not the same as a locked door.

The locked door has a key; you can open it if you find the key.

A closed door has no key; when it's opened is decided by the person who closed it.

Those who closed the shop had already made their choice on December 7th.

He can't leave the country now.

I cannot go to Singapore to see the progress of equipment docking at the African SPV.

I cannot go to the United States to handle any matters related to the Ark Foundation.

You cannot go to any place that requires a passport to reach.

He was left in the country.

It wasn't detention or restriction of personal freedom; it was just that my passport renewal application was rejected.

An administrative action, a change in the state of a system.

Quiet, clean, no one notified him, no one explained.

He stood up and walked to the window.

The sky outside the window was half dark, and the office buildings in the distance were already lit up, their densely packed windows emitting a warm yellow light.

Several cars were coming and going in the parking lot downstairs, their taillights drawing red lines in the twilight.

The people behind those windows are working overtime, having meetings, and handling their daily tasks.

Unbeknownst to them, someone in this building had just discovered that they could no longer leave the country.

There's no need to know.

He returned to the table and sat down.

On the table is a to-do list for the NMPA inspection; tomorrow is December 15th, the inspection day.

He has completed all the items on the list.

The self-inspection report and compliance audit in Hangzhou have all passed, the signatures in Beijing are complete, and the last two items in Shanghai were completed yesterday.

Three cities, three complete sets of materials.

There are still none in Chengdu.

The signature system has not been restored to this day, and the Chengdu branch cannot submit its self-inspection report.

Chengdu. Passport. Meeting.

Three lines, three directions, but from the same source.

He didn't think any further.

He opened his email and sent a message to He Wei.

"The NMPA will be checking tomorrow. For the materials from Chengdu, please mark them separately as 'In the process of being signed and stamped, expected to be submitted later.' Don't leave that blank."

After sending the email, he glanced at the calendar on the table.

December 14th.

The circle for December 15th on the calendar is still there, with a short horizontal line he drew next to it.

He picked up his pen and drew a small cross in the place where December 7th was.

December 7th.

Approval completion date.

Rejection date.

That day he didn't know.

The pen was put down, and a small cross appeared on the calendar, almost invisible unless you looked closely.

But he knew it was there.

On December 7th, from that day on, his world shrank a little.

He closed the calendar, turned off the computer, and stood up.

The desktop is clean; emails are processed, lists are checked, and there's an extra cross on the calendar.

Before leaving, I picked up the bottle of mineral water on the table, unscrewed the cap, and took a sip.

It's not Baishui Mountain, it's Nongfu Spring, the kind we always keep in the office.

The water was at room temperature, neither cold nor hot.

He put the bottle back, picked up his coat, and turned off the light.

The motion-sensor lights in the corridor came on, casting his long shadow across the light gray floor.

He walked to the elevator and pressed the down button.

The elevator arrived, the doors opened, and it was empty.

He went inside and pressed 1.

He glanced at his phone as the elevator doors closed.

Shen Nan sent another message.

"I'll put together a follow-up plan tonight and send it to you tomorrow."

He replied with a single word.

"good."

There's an NMPA inspection to deal with tomorrow.

There's also the CCPS Operations Weekly Meeting the day after tomorrow.

Life goes on.

There was just one door that was closed.