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

Eh!

Hey, Minister Zhao, what are you doing?

Chen Yuan was speechless, thinking to himself, "I'm so sleepy and someone's just offering me a pillow, don't mess things up!"

He was anxious and just hoped that Zhao Peng wouldn't interfere.

Unfortunately, Zhao Peng had already intervened.

All of the dozen or so people present immediately turned to look at Zhao Peng.

Vice President Zhen frowned and said, "Old Zhao, what are you saying? I'm suspending him with pay, not firing him. His original salary and benefits will be paid as usual. Why are you getting so worked up?"

Zhao Peng retorted bluntly, "Hmph, didn't you hear what I said? Xiao Chen is the core of our collaborative project with Liyao. If he's suspended with pay, how can the project continue?"

Vice President Zhen said bluntly, "Didn't he already produce the design drawings? If you still can't proceed with the project based on the design drawings, I'll have to question the technical competence of the R&D department."

Zhao Peng retorted angrily, "A design blueprint is just a design blueprint. Even if I gave you a nuclear fusion design blueprint, could you build a nuclear fusion reactor? Some technical aspects are only understood by the designer!"

On the surface, it seems that Zhao Peng did not want Chen Yuan to be suspended with pay simply to avoid affecting the project's progress.

In fact, anyone could understand that he was protecting Chen Yuan in this way.

Once the employee is suspended with pay, and the nuclear battery project achieves results, the allocation of bonuses becomes much more flexible.

It's not unusual for someone like you who is on leave with pay not to receive the project team bonus.

Zhao Peng didn't want Chen Yuan to design the nuclear battery but be discarded after being used and not receive the bonus he deserved.

Therefore, he had to speak up no matter what.

Similarly, Vice President Zhen did this to give Chen Yuan a warning, to make him understand who ultimately decides whether or not he receives the bonus.

The bonus for this project is very high. It was initially set at two million, but after Zhao Peng strongly requested it from the board of directors, an additional one million was added, bringing the total bonus to three million.

Just as Vice President Zhen had previously discussed with Chen Yuan in the cafeteria, it was not impossible for Chen Yuan, as the core of the project, to receive one-third of the total bonus, which was one million.

In other words, if Chen Yuan is suspended from his post with pay, he may really miss out on a huge bonus of one million!

Chen Yuan naturally understood this principle and knew what Zhao Peng and Vice President Zhen were thinking.

So, does he care?

Everyone likes money, and it would be best to get a bonus, but he doesn't care if he doesn't.

Chen Yuan's heart was no longer with Xinghe Company. He only stayed because of the special "bond" between him and Zhao Peng. Now that Vice President Zhen had done this, it gave him a reason to leave.

I left passively, not intentionally to hurt Zhao Peng's feelings.

So even if he doesn't get the bonus, Chen Yuan won't care too much.

He is now focused solely on getting into the research and development of cold fusion and controlled nuclear fusion as quickly as possible.

Vice President Zhen said calmly, "I understand your feelings, but rules and regulations are rules and regulations. He may be suspected of violating the non-compete agreement. If he continues to work, there is a possibility that more company secrets will be leaked. Minister Zhao, if you have any questions about my decision, you can raise your objections with the CEO or the board of directors. If they say that Xiao Chen must stay at his post and bear the responsibility for the potential leakage of more company secrets, I will definitely obey the order and will not suspend Xiao Chen with pay. Otherwise... I will act according to the rules. Please don't make things difficult for me."

it is good!

Vice President Zhen, what you said is absolutely right!

Chen Yuan's eyes grew brighter and brighter; he really wished he could leave the company immediately.

Zhao Peng was speechless. Vice President Zhen was indeed acting in accordance with the rules and regulations, so what could he say?

He took a deep breath and stubbornly declared, "If anything goes wrong with the nuclear battery project, I'll definitely make you pay!"

Vice President Zhen said with a forced smile, "I don't believe a project can't function without someone."

Zhang Qing and a dozen others shared this view.

Xinghe Company's success as a leading new energy development company in the Yangtze River Delta is not due to any one individual, but rather the result of collective efforts.

Similarly, does a project become impossible without someone?

Most importantly, Vice President Zhen, Zhang Qing, and the others all knew that Lu Li had already solved the most difficult part of the entire project.

With the design drawings and related technologies, how could the project possibly have problems?

As expected, Vice President Zhen emerged victorious in his clash with Zhao Peng.

Ultimately, Chen Yuan was suspended with pay.

After the decision was made, Vice President Zhen, Xiao Zhou, Zhang Qing, and the others dispersed.

Zhao Peng looked at Chen Yuan with a guilty expression and said softly, "Xiao Chen, I'm sorry."

Chen Yuan knew what he meant; it simply meant that he had failed to protect himself.

He smiled and said, "Minister Zhao, you don't need to blame yourself so much. At worst, I'll just quit. If this place doesn't want me, there are plenty of other places that will."

"Don't think like that," Zhao Peng said firmly. "I won't let him succeed. Don't worry, I'll find a way to help you!"

Chen Yuan: "..."

do not!

Please!

Don't even think about trying!

Chen Yuan prayed inwardly, truly hoping that he wouldn't miss such a good opportunity to leave the company.

Of course, he couldn't say these words aloud. He just pretended to express his gratitude, then went back to his office to pack his things and left first.

When leaving, Chen Yuan parked the car at the gate.

He turned his head and looked at the four characters "Star River Company" with a complicated expression, but finally sighed and drove away.

He had already made up his mind. Once he left, no matter what happened next, he would never go back to work here.

……

Half a day passed in a flash.

At 2:00 PM sharp, a large number of people gathered in Laboratory No. 6.

Today marks the first test and verification of the nuclear battery project.

Because this project is a collaboration with Liyao, Xinghe Company attaches great importance to it. Therefore, the people present at the scene are not only Zhu Yun, Zhang Shulin, Lao Qin and Ding Yang from the project team, nor are they Zhao Peng, Wang Kai and other people from the R&D department. Rather, nearly half of the company's senior management are here.

Vice President Zhen, CEO Xu Tianming, Board Secretary Huang Yu, and other bigwigs all came.

Including the project team and R&D personnel, there were probably sixty or seventy people on site.

It is currently undergoing testing and verification.

Mr. Xu stood there without saying a word.

The expressions of Vice President Zhen and Zhao Peng on either side were completely opposite.

Vice President Zhen's expression remained unchanged, as if nothing had happened that day.

Zhao Peng's face was rather unpleasant. He had just approached President Xu, but the other party's attitude was ambiguous, leaving him unable to figure out what he meant. He even thought that President Xu was unwilling to help bring Chen Yuan back to the company, which annoyed him.

Why hasn't President Xu made a statement?

To put it bluntly, how could President Xu not know that Vice President Zhen had set up an investigation team?

That's right, Mr. Xu was fully aware of this matter from the very beginning.

There are actually many reasons why he hasn't made a statement yet.

First, there is factional infighting within the company.

General Manager Xu and Vice President Zhen are not from the same faction.

Both sides are waiting for the other to make a mistake so they can gain more benefits for themselves.

Now that Vice President Zhen has made his move, President Xu should naturally observe the situation and find an opportunity to take action against him.

Secondly, Mr. Xu also wanted to know whether Chen Yuan, a technical expert who had just entered the workforce, was easy to handle.

Couldn't Vice President Zhen's move be a way to test the waters?

If Chen Yuan is easy to control, then President Xu will naturally find a way to get him under his control. But if he is not easy to control, he will act as a nice guy afterward, not only appeasing him with practical actions, but also using some special methods to win Chen Yuan over to his camp.

Mr. Xu is a shrewd and calculating person, and he is not as simple as he appears on the surface.

Because of the ongoing struggle, no one in the group of high-ranking officials spoke, and the atmosphere was somewhat tense.

Suddenly, Ding Yang, who was conducting the test, made a "Huh" sound.

Zhao Peng realized something might be wrong and asked, "Xiao Ding, what's wrong?"

Ding Yang pointed to the computer screen and said, "The voltage data is a bit off; it seems too low."

"Hmm?" Zhang Shulin stepped forward and said, "Let me see."

He went to the computer screen, checked the test voltage data, and said, "It's a bit low. It seems like something's wrong. You guys check it out."

At this point, General Manager Xu, Vice President Zhen, Zhao Peng, and others hadn't given it much thought.

After all, testing and verification are meant to identify product problems and then find ways to solve them.

It's normal to have problems, isn't it?

However, what happened next made the senior executives of Galaxy Company somewhat unsettled.

Lao Qin, Zhu Yun, and other members of the project team conducted a series of checks but still couldn't find the problem.

Not only did they come forward to check, but even Zhang Shulin, a nuclear energy expert, examined it for quite a while and still couldn't figure out why the nuclear battery voltage was lower than expected.

For a moment, everyone on the project team was in an awkward situation.

Mr. Xu keenly noticed the situation and asked softly, "What's wrong?"

Zhu Yun, as the project leader, replied helplessly, "We've checked everything that needs to be checked, but we can't find the problem."

Zhang Shulin, puzzled, asked, "The materials and structure are fine, so why is the voltage lower than expected?"

Mr. Xu's face betrayed no emotion; he simply said naturally, "If you can't find any problems, then let the people who can find problems come and check. The pharmaceutical company is coming to inspect our results tomorrow afternoon. What will they think if you present substandard products then?"

Upon hearing this, Zhao Peng, whose face had been quite pale, looked over in surprise, his gaze becoming strange.

Vice President Zhen, standing to the side, frowned, vaguely realizing that something was wrong.

As expected, Zhu Yun explained, "This nuclear battery technology was developed by Chen Yuan from our project team. He's currently on leave with pay and isn't here, so he can't possibly come to inspect it."

Mr. Xu seemed completely unaware of the situation, feigning ignorance as he asked, "Why was he suspended with pay?"

Zhu Yun pretended to be confused and said, "I don't know. He was in the lab before, but he went out and never came back."

General Manager Xu turned to Zhao Peng and asked, "Minister Zhao, as the head of the R&D department, do you know where Chen Yuan went?"

Zhao Peng had mentioned this to President Xu before, but the other party didn't say anything at the time. It was impossible that he didn't know why Chen Yuan wasn't here, but he knew that there must be a reason why the other party asked this question.

He said calmly, "Chen Yuan took on private jobs, which Vice President Zhen believed might have violated his non-compete agreement, so he was suspended with pay."

"Oh, I see."

Mr. Xu looked enlightened and turned to Vice President Zhen, asking, "Old Zhen, have you collected evidence of Chen Yuan violating the non-compete agreement?"

Vice President Zhen knew that President Xu was about to make trouble, and his face turned very ugly, but he still told the truth: "Not yet."

Mr. Xu asked in surprise, "If there's no evidence, why was he suspended with pay?"

Vice President Zhen explained, "I was afraid he would leak more company secrets, so I suspended him with pay in accordance with company rules and regulations."

Mr. Xu nodded slightly and said, "There's some reason to do that, but now the project has run into problems. The people from Liyao are coming tomorrow. What do you think we should do?"

What should I do?

It seems that the only way to solve the problem is to call Chen Yuan back for inspection.

Otherwise, if the pharmaceutical company representatives come tomorrow, are we really going to show them substandard products?

Vice President Zhen just suspended Chen Yuan with pay, and now he's calling him back? How embarrassing would that be?

If this gets out, people in the company will think that Vice President Zhen's words have no effect, and his influence on the board of directors will be further reduced as a result.

If someone can't even get a suspended leave with pay, what right does he have to talk about having a say in the board of directors?

Because of this, Vice President Zhen's face was extremely grim, but he really had no way to solve the problem of unstable voltage.

The company attaches great importance to this project because it is a collaboration with the large state-owned enterprise Liyao, and if it is successful, it will allow Xinghe Company to open up a new track in nuclear batteries.

If the project failed and the opportunity to cooperate with Liyao was lost because Vice President Zhen suspended Chen Yuan with pay, he would definitely be held accountable by the board of directors. At that time, let alone his voice, he might even be kicked out of the board by President Xu.

Therefore, under the current circumstances, Chen Yuan must be called back.

In other words, it's safe to say that he, surnamed Zhen, has completely lost face!

Vice President Zhen was secretly annoyed. If he had known the project would run into problems, he would never have suspended Chen Yuan with pay so quickly.

Now look what's happened, we have to call them back.

He's so incredibly shameful!

Unfortunately, Vice President Zhen had no idea that Chen Yuan had made up his mind not to return to work at the company.

To this day, he still naively believes that he can bring the person back with just a phone call or a personal visit.