Building a Sci-Fi Empire: Starting with Cold Nuclear Fusion

Around 9 p.m.

In the residential area, Chen Yuan got out of the Audi, waved goodbye, and said, "Minister Zhao, thank you."

Zhao Peng, in the driver's seat, waved his hand. "No need to be polite. Go upstairs early and get some rest these next couple of days. I have important business to attend to on Monday, which may be related to a new project. I'm going back now."

Chen Yuan said "Goodbye" and watched the car leave.

This afternoon, their project team, led by Zhao Peng and Wang Kai, had a team-building activity, and then went to a five-star hotel for dinner in the evening.

Chen Yuan originally wanted to take a taxi back, but just as Lao Qin said, Zhao Peng valued him a lot, so he personally drove him back.

In addition, Chen Yuan did not expect that Zhao Peng would reveal to him on Monday that there might be a new project before parting, even though Lao Qin was not sure if there would be a new project.

It's clear that Zhao Peng values ​​himself exceptionally highly.

This filled Chen Yuan with enthusiasm, and he was also looking forward to the new project, hoping to achieve more results so that he could be promoted to a permanent position more quickly.

Take the elevator up.

Back home, Chen Yuan first took a shower, then lay comfortably on the bed and chatted with A Yu.

He typed, "Are you asleep? I just got back from team building."

Ah Yu replied quickly, "Not yet, how was the team building activity?"

Chen Yuan said, "It's great. My colleagues are very welcoming, and I've gotten to know them quite well. There's something I'd like to talk to you about."

Ah Yu said, "What is it? Tell me."

Chen Yuan thought for a moment and said truthfully, "Our project team just completed a research and development project, and everyone received a bonus. I received 80,000 yuan, and after taxes, I still have a little over 70,000 yuan left. I'm thinking about whether to use this money to buy a car, since it's quite troublesome to take the bus to work every day."

Ah Yu supported this, saying, "Buying a car is a good idea. That way you can sleep a little longer every day and won't have to get up early to wait for the bus."

Chen Yuan said, "Seventy thousand is enough to buy a car, but I don't want to buy a cheap one, and that's all the money I have..."

There was no immediate reply; they're probably busy with something.

About two minutes later, Ah Yu finally replied to the message: "I don't know what kind of car you like, but if you have 70,000 yuan to buy a car, you don't necessarily have to pay in full. You can make a down payment of 50,000 or 60,000 yuan and buy a car worth 150,000 or 160,000 yuan. With a three-year term, the monthly payment won't be much, probably only 2,000 or 3,000 yuan. Your job is quite stable now, so a car loan of 2,000 or 3,000 yuan a month won't be a problem. If you want to buy a better car, I personally think it's not necessary at this stage. After all, you haven't been working for long, and you'll only be using a car for transportation."

Chen Yuan thought A Yu made sense. Since it was a means of transportation and not a status symbol, why buy something too expensive?

He replied, "Okay, I'll listen to you. Once I have a stable job and more savings, I'll consider buying a better car."

As Chen Yuan spoke, he did some calculations. His current basic salary was over six thousand yuan. With various bonuses and allowances, after paying taxes and social insurance and housing fund contributions, he could take home about seven or eight thousand yuan a month.

If the car loan is two or three thousand a month, you can still save four or five thousand.

Four or five thousand seems like a good amount, but he needs money for food and other expenses, so he might not have much left over each month.

This made Chen Yuan even more eager to become a full-time employee as soon as possible, since the salary would be one or two thousand more, which would improve his quality of life.

Originally, he had made great contributions to the 1175Ah battery cell project and was qualified to be promoted to a permanent position, but due to Zhen Yuhan's actions, he is temporarily unable to be promoted.

Chen Yuan couldn't help but recall Zhen Yuhan's hypocritical face, and inexplicably felt a sense of disgust.

There's a saying that goes something like this: "Obstructing someone's path to wealth is like killing their parents."

Zhen Yuhan's actions affected Chen Yuan's chances of getting a permanent position, causing him to receive one or two thousand yuan less in basic salary each month. It's no wonder he dislikes her.

"It seems I can only hope that the new project will produce some results."

Chen Yuan knew that if he wanted to be promoted to a permanent position as soon as possible, he had to make some outstanding performances.

Although his early promotion would make Zhen Yuhan lose face, why can't I be promoted early if I have the ability?

He didn't care about Zhen Yuhan's character, nor did he care whether her uncle was the company's vice president.

……

Two days passed in the blink of an eye.

On Monday, Chen Yuan arrived at the company early as usual.

Maybe I'm a bit early, there aren't many people in the office right now.

Surprisingly, Zhen Yuhan, who hadn't been seen for several mornings, was there.

In the past, Zhen Yuhan would have greeted Chen Yuan when she saw him. Perhaps because Chen Yuan was ahead of her, she not only didn't greet him after seeing him come in through the door, but even turned her head away, pretending not to see him.

Chen Yuan noticed the situation, walked to the seat without making a sound, put down his tool bag, and greeted him normally as usual, "Good morning, Lao Zhen."

Upon hearing this, Zhen Yuhan pretended to have just learned of Chen Yuan's arrival, turned her head, and said with a forced smile and a hint of sarcasm, "Good morning, Engineer Chen."

Literally, there's nothing wrong with what he said, since Xiaoyun also calls Chen Yuan "Engineer Chen".

However, anyone who heard Zhen Yuhan's tone in the office knew that this "Engineer Chen" was not sincere, but rather had a hint of sarcasm in his voice.

Chen Yuan wasn't stupid; he could naturally understand the implication.

He responded with a forced smile, saying insincerely, "It's no fun calling me 'buddy.' I'm just a little ahead of you, it's not like we're worlds apart. You don't need to be so polite with me."

Zhen Yuhan was stung by those words, her face instantly turning ugly. She snorted coldly and turned away, not responding to Chen Yuan at all.

His uncle is the company's vice president, and he himself is a PhD who returned from overseas and has worked for a large foreign company. Naturally, he has his own pride. Now, he is being outdone by Chen Yuan, who has no background, only a bachelor's degree, and doesn't even have the qualifications of an assistant engineer. He was already very uncomfortable, and now he couldn't even win an argument with Chen Yuan. Of course, he couldn't give him a good look.

Zhen Yuhan had made up her mind that she would definitely find an opportunity to teach Chen Yuan a lesson and show him what he was made of.

That's just how he is. I can make empty promises to you, and I can make sarcastic remarks to you, but you can't treat me the way I treat you, otherwise I'll get very upset.

In short, Zhen Yuhan is a hypocrite. He thinks he is the best and everyone should revolve around him, especially Chen Yuan, who joined the company at the same time and has a lower educational background than him.

Chen Yuan had no idea what Zhen Yuhan was thinking.

Or rather, even if he knew, he wouldn't care.

I'm already far ahead, so why should I care what someone who's not as good as me thinks?

The two fell silent, as if they had broken ties at that moment and were about to engage in an invisible competition.

A few moments later, other colleagues started arriving at work one after another.

Chen Yuan greeted Lao Qin, Xiao Yun, and others, and chatted for a few minutes about the project team.

Afterwards, Zhao Peng, Wang Kai, and other senior and middle-level leaders from the department came over and called a morning meeting.

The group of people all stood in line.

With his hands behind his back, Zhao Peng looked at everyone and said, "The 1175Ah battery cell project has been successfully completed. The original project team should have been able to relax for a while. However, we recently received a new customized order, which was actively sought out by a large state-owned enterprise. The board of directors attaches great importance to this business. Therefore, I am thinking of setting up a new project team as soon as possible to overcome the technical challenges of this customized order."

Old Qin raised his hand and asked, "Minister, may I ask what technology needs to be developed for this customized order?"

Chen Yuan, Xiao Yun, Zhen Yuhan, and the others were all very concerned and listened attentively.

Zhao Peng didn't hide anything, "Oh, a nuclear battery."

Old Qin said speechlessly, "Although our battery technology is top-notch in the industry, we don't know much about nuclear energy. Nuclear battery research and development is probably..."

"yes."

"We haven't been involved in this area before."

"Isn't this forcing a duck onto a shelf?"

Lu Zhen, Guo Ning, Wang Meiyan, and other members of the original 1175Ah battery cell project team were all discussing it over there.

Zhao Peng gestured for everyone to be quiet, and then said, "The client has also taken this into consideration, so they have invited nuclear energy experts from Beijing to work with us to overcome the difficulties in nuclear battery technology. We only need to be responsible for the battery technology, and the nuclear energy experts will handle the rest."

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief when they heard that Galaxy Corporation didn't need to worry about nuclear energy; otherwise, it would have been asking too much of them.

"Alright, let's talk about the manpower for this new project."

Zhao Peng reached out, and Wang Kai, who was next to him, handed him the list.

He glanced down before saying, "Because this project is a collaboration with a large state-owned enterprise, I plan to have Zhu Yun personally take charge of the project, with Qin Shoucheng as his deputy, and Lu Zhen, Guo Ning, Wang Meiyan..."

He rattled off a long list of names, probably more than thirty people.

Some of them were from Chen Yuan's previous project team, but not all of them, about half of them.

After all, the 1175Ah battery cell project is not yet completely finished. It will need to go through several rounds of testing and trial production, so some manpower must be reserved.

In addition to the more than 20 people transferred from the original 1175Ah battery cell project team, there were also more than a dozen people from Zhu Yun's new mentor project team. It wasn't all of them, but rather a group of elite personnel who were transferred out.

Although many names were mentioned, Chen Yuan and Zhen Yuhan were not called out.

Chen Yuan felt a sense of doubt. Last Friday, Zhao Peng specifically told him about a new project, but his name wasn't on the list today.

Zhen Yuhan had no expectations of joining the new project, since he and Chen Yuan were still in their probationary period.

He was initially quite worried that Chen Yuan would be selected.

They've made such great contributions in recent days, so it's only natural that they were selected for the new project team.

To his delight, however, Chen Yuan was not on this list.

What does this mean?

This means that although Chen Yuan has just made a contribution, he may not be able to make another contribution in the short term.

They're back to square one.

Just as Zhen Yuhan was secretly pleased.

Zhao Peng, who had just finished submitting the list, suddenly asked, "Chen Yuan, did you get your lab access permit?"

Chen Yuan hurriedly replied, "I just received it last week."

Zhao Peng grunted in agreement, "Alright, since you have a lab access pass, you can join the new project team too."

Upon hearing this, Zhen Yuhan, who had been secretly laughing, froze instantly, and her gaze towards Chen Yuan was once again filled with jealousy.