Chapter Four: The First Money—and the Patent Is Not for Sale

Three days after the fire, two documents lay on the conference table at Hengchuan Precision. The first was a forensic report. All sixty-seven laboratory notebooks formed an unbroken record. The three material samples shared an origin with Qiyao Battery's current formula, and Gu Minglan's signed custodial inventory was authentic. The second was a collection notice. Unless Hengchuan paid eight million yuan in electricity bills, taxes, and equipment-preservation fees by six that evening, the factory would be sealed again. “The good news is worth thirty billion,” Jiming said, handing Yanqiu coffee. “The bad news only costs eight million. Unfortunately, creditors don't accept good news.”