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

Saturday, light rain.

The misty drizzle blends together, creating a picturesque scene reminiscent of an ink painting, a truly breathtaking sight in the Jiangnan region.

Chen Yuan got up early and washed up.

Around 10 a.m., he arrived at the entrance of the residential area and waited, as Ayu would drive over to pick him up later.

Having received his project bonus yesterday, Chen Yuan has been thinking about how to treat himself.

After careful consideration, he finally decided to buy a watch he had always wanted to own – an Omega Sedna 18K gold watch.

Chen Yuan had liked this watch for a long time. Before, he didn't have the money and could only admire pictures of it online. Now that he had some money, he naturally wanted to satisfy his desire.

Yes, this watch costs over 80,000.

While I was thinking, an old Audi A4 pulled up in front of me.

The car window rolled down, and Ayu called out, "Pine Cone, have you been waiting long? It's raining outside, hurry up and get in the car, don't get wet and catch a cold."

Chen Yuan opened the car door, folded his umbrella, sat in the passenger seat, and replied, "It didn't take long. You look beautiful today."

Ah Yu wore a bright red long dress. On most people, this might look vulgar, but she was different. She had a good figure and was beautiful, so this outfit was not only not vulgar, but also eye-catching.

Chen Yuan felt that she was even more beautiful today than the last time they met.

Ah Yu was very pleased and said, "You have such a sweet tongue, I like it."

Chen Yuan teased her, "Do you like me, or do you like it when I praise you?"

Ah Yu pretended to be clueless and said, "Of course I like it when you praise me."

Chen Yuan chuckled, "Alright, I'll praise you more often from now on."

"Good girl." Ah Yu started the car and asked, "Where to?"

Chen Yuan pointed in the direction of the new district, "Meiluo Center."

The new district of Metro and Izumiya are connected, so you can not only buy watches, but also stroll around with Ayu and have lunch together.

Ah Yu navigated on her phone, "Okay, I'll give you the gift when I leave."

Mentioning this, Chen Yuan asked with great interest, "Still keeping it a secret? Tell us, what gift is it?"

Ah Yu kept everyone in suspense, saying, "I won't tell you now, but you'll find out later. I promise you'll like it."

Chen Yuan said sweetly, "I like all the gifts you give me, but let me make this clear beforehand: I won't accept anything too expensive."

Ah Yu smiled mysteriously, but said in a calm tone, "It's not valuable, don't worry."

The two chatted incessantly along the way, while the rain outside gradually intensified.

Before long, we arrived at our destination.

……

New District, Metro Center.

Chen Yuan and A Yu had just taken the elevator from the underground parking lot to the first floor.

Ah Yu asked, "Shall we go up for a stroll? It's a bit early for lunch now."

Chen Yuan pointed ahead and said, "Want to buy some things and come with me?"

Ah Yu said, "Okay."

The two walked side by side, but did not hold hands like they had done on Guanqian Street last time.

A moment later, we arrived at the entrance of the Omega boutique.

Chen Yuan stopped. "Let's go in and take a look."

Ah Yu looked up, her expression changed slightly, and she reached out to pull Chen Yuan, "Omega watches are so expensive, let's not go in."

Chen Yuan blinked and said, "Are you playing the role of my wife, telling me not to spend money recklessly?"

"Pah!" Ah Yu spat. "Who's your wife?"

Chen Yuan laughed and said, "So you won't let me in?"

Ah Yu hesitated for a moment, then changed her tune and said, "Okay, okay, let's go in."

Without thinking much, Chen Yuan took A Yu's hand, which she had just taken, and led her into the store.

As soon as I entered, a female sales assistant approached me and said, "Good morning, sir/madam. How can I help you?"

Chen Yuan went straight to the point: "Do you have the Sedna-18K gold Zodiac series in stock?"

Upon hearing this, Ah Yu, who was standing to the side, showed a hint of anxiety on her face.

The saleswoman said, "Yes, let me show you. Please come with me."

Chen Yuan led A Yu to the counter.

The female sales assistant greeted the female clerk inside.

Immediately, the female clerk asked Chen Yuan and A Yu to wait a moment and then took out the watches.

She placed the 18K gold watch with a blue polished ceramic bezel in front of Chen Yuan and introduced it, saying, "This watch comes with a blue rubber-lined leather strap and is powered by the Omega 8900 Master Chronometer movement. The beauty of the movement is clearly visible through the domed, scratch-resistant sapphire crystal case back. You'll definitely look very handsome wearing it."

Chen Yuan stared at the watch and said, "Thank you, may I try it on?"

The saleswoman said, "Sure, feel free to try them on."

Ah Yu's expression grew increasingly unnatural. She hesitated several times before finally remaining silent.

Chen Yuan's attention was focused on his watch, and he didn't notice Ah Yu's condition.

He picked up the watch, slipped it onto his left wrist, fastened it, and then held his arm in front of Ah Yu, asking, "Does it look good?"

"It looks good." Ah Yu nodded, then seemed to want to say something, but ultimately didn't continue.

Chen Yuan looked at the watch on his wrist and liked it more and more. He immediately made the decision: "Okay, how much? Swipe..."

Before she could finish speaking, Ah Yu became extremely anxious and quickly tugged at Chen Yuan's arm, "Pine Cone!"

Chen Yuan looked over, puzzled, and asked, "What's wrong?"

Ah Yu was extremely helpless, so she leaned close to his ear and whispered, "The gift I prepared for you is this watch, but don't buy it."

She deliberately didn't say anything before because she knew Chen Yuan wouldn't accept overly expensive gifts, so she planned to give them to him when he left, so that Chen Yuan wouldn't be able to return them later.

To her utter surprise, Chen Yuan actually came to the boutique to buy a watch. Seeing that he was about to pay, she couldn't sit still any longer and revealed the truth.

what?

Is this watch the gift you gave me?

Chen Yuan had told A Yu before that he liked this watch, but he never expected that she would buy it for him.

He had only met Ah Yu three times, how could he have imagined that she would buy him such an expensive watch?

Chen Yuan was a little flustered. He took off his watch, returned it to the clerk, and pulled Ah Yu out of the store.

Outside, in the hallway.

Chen Yuan frowned and said, "Didn't I tell you not to buy expensive gifts?"

Ah Yu argued, "You secured me the human trial qualification for the cochlear implant from Connolly, which will bring in a reward of fifty or sixty thousand. I don't want that money; I'll just buy you the watch you said you really liked before."

Chen Yuan knew the other party wanted to repay him, but the watch was simply too valuable.

He felt sorry for the other party for spending so much money, saying, "A watch costing over 80,000 is too expensive. I won't accept it. You need to return it to me."

Ah Yu said, looking aggrieved, "I've already bought it, and you're asking me to return it? Don't you like it?"

"No, I really like it." Chen Yuan said honestly, "This watch is too expensive. Although you earn seven or eight thousand a month as a senior assistant at the company, this watch costs ten months' salary. How can I bear to accept it? Earning money is not easy, and I don't want all the money you work so hard to earn to be spent on me."

"Are you feeling sorry for me?"

Ah Yu raised her head and smiled happily.

Chen Yuan rolled his eyes and said, "Stop grinning and take the watch back, you hear me?"

Ah Yu's smile faded, and she said earnestly, "Pine Cone, don't worry about it. I might be richer than you think. Just listen to me this once, and accept it, okay?"

Ok?

Are you richer than I thought?

Chen Yuan asked doubtfully, "With such a low salary, how could you possibly have so much money?"

After a moment of silence, Ayu finally decided to tell the truth: "My family has a little money. My parents run a home textile business, and they give me tens of thousands of yuan in pocket money every month."

Chen Yuan was stunned. "Huh? How come I've never heard you mention this before?"

He knew that Jinghai Home Textiles was very famous, and there were indeed many bosses who made a fortune in the home textile business, but he never expected that Ayu's family was one of them.

Ah Yu countered, "Do you want the truth, or a lie?"

Chen Yuan said, "We agreed to be honest with each other, so I definitely want to hear the truth."

Ah Yu said, "My dad said that my hearing isn't very good, and if others know that my family is a bit rich, they might use that as an excuse to get close to me, and they won't be sincere with me. So he doesn't let me flaunt my wealth in public."

That's true. As the saying goes, wealth should not be flaunted, otherwise it will easily attract covetousness.

Take a recent news story as an example: even foreigners know that they should eat only daughters from the Yangtze River Delta region who have no descendants.

In a situation like Ayu's, if others knew that her family was very wealthy, they might actually approach her with ulterior motives.

Chen Yuan asked in surprise, "Since your father forbade you to tell me, why did you tell me? Aren't you afraid I have ulterior motives?"

"You wouldn't," Ah Yu said confidently. "When we first met, you still owed me a favor after learning about my hearing impairment, which shows you're a very good person, genuinely kind to me, and wouldn't have any ulterior motives. So please accept my small token of appreciation later, okay?"

Chen Yuan thoroughly enjoyed this strong sense of trust, but the watch was indeed very expensive, and he wanted to refuse, "I can't..."

Ah Yu put her index finger to his lips, pleading pitifully, "Please don't refuse, okay? You've done so much for me, let me do something for you too, okay? Please?"

Chen Yuan was somewhat bewildered by her actions and coquettishness, and no longer had the thought of refusing her.

He gently took Ah Yu's hand from his lips, looked at her with doting eyes and said, "Okay, I won't refuse this time, but you can't buy such expensive gifts next time."

Ah Yu happily replied, "Yes, ma'am!"

Seeing her lively appearance, Chen Yuan couldn't help but smile.

In his memory, Ayu had always been a steady and well-mannered girl, far from being lively and cute.

Unexpectedly, after spending time together, the other person showed a completely different side of them.

He knew that he had truly entered Ah Yu's heart.

Afterwards, the two strolled around the mall for a while.

Around noon, they had lunch at an urban romance restaurant called "Jin Haihua. Xiao Ai" upstairs.

……

It was past noon when I came out of the mall.

At this moment, with the rain pouring down, it's clearly not a suitable time for sightseeing.

"This car looks old, probably quite a few years old. You were still in school when you bought it, right? I don't think you would buy a used car, and with tens of thousands of yuan in pocket money every month, you couldn't possibly not afford a new car. So, besides this car, do you have other cars?"

"Um... there are other ones. This one is for the company, and the other one is for everyday use."

"Wow, so you were wary of me, afraid I'd find out you're rich?"

"No, no, the car's bumper had a problem and it was taken to be repaired, so I wasn't deliberately hiding anything, Pinecone, don't overthink it."

Ah Yu changed the subject, asking, "Where are we going now?"

Chen Yuan, glancing down at his watch, didn't think much of it and casually said, "Nowhere's suitable to go in this weather. How about coming to my place for a while?"

He didn't think much of it when he said it, but as soon as it left his mouth, he immediately realized what he had said.

My words seem to carry a sinister meaning.

At least to outsiders, it certainly sounds like that intention.

For a moment, he nervously turned his head to look, afraid that Ah Yu might be overthinking things.

Surprisingly, Ah Yu didn't seem to think much of it and readily agreed, saying, "Okay, that's perfect, I don't like running around either. We can sit down and have a good chat later."

what?

Did Ah Yu really agree to come home with me?

While Chen Yuan was surprised, his mind began to wander, wondering if there would be an opportunity for them to do something intimate and further develop their relationship when they were in the same room later.