“Okay, okay!” Xue Zhiqin’s mouth twitched when he heard Xu Qiang’s words, but he still put on a smile and responded repeatedly.

Xue Zhiqin knew about Xu Qiang’s exorbitant demands, and today he experienced it firsthand.

Although the financial situation of CZ City is indeed good, one hundred thousand yuan is not a small amount. If it were not for the success of the previous new feed cooperation project, he would not have paid any attention to Xu Qiang.

Afterwards, the two chatted briefly and Xu Qiang left the mayor’s office.

At noon that day, Xu Qiang and He Yonghong took a bus back to Shanghai.

As soon as the two arrived at the dormitory, Liu Siying appeared at the door.

“Xu Qiang, where have you been these days?” Liu Siying asked with a frown.

“I’m sorry, I went to Changzhou for business this time and I was in a hurry. I didn’t find you at school…” Xu Qiang explained.

“Last Tuesday, the Fifth Ministry of Machine Building notified you to report to BJ immediately. It’s been over a week. Why did you just come back…”

“The Fifth Ministry of Machine Building asked me to go to BJ!?” Xu Qiang’s eyes suddenly lit up when he heard this.

“Yes, I called Dean Chen, but he couldn’t find you. I don’t know where you went.” Liu Siying looked worried, and then said, “Maybe Minister Zhang wants to talk to you about something important this time.”

“What else could it be? I guess it’s time to start a new project.” Xu Qiang smiled and continued, “I wanted to accept the 8702 project before, and I’ve been writing a paper for it for more than a month. It must have passed the paper evaluation…”

“Xu Qiang, could you please not take that project…” Liu Siying said, biting her lower lip when she heard that.

“Xu Qiang is a technician. If you don’t let him take the project, wouldn’t that destroy his job?” He Yonghong, who was standing by, immediately interjected when he saw this.

“But that project is too dangerous… The research and development of high explosives is very difficult and dangerous. Even an explosives expert like Professor Xu can have accidents. We should not take it over.”

Liu Siying was obviously worried about Xu Qiang’s safety, because she knew that Xu Qiang had never developed a similar product before, and if she took over rashly, the risk would be too great.

Liu Siying could help Xu Qiang and suffer with him, but she really couldn’t worry about Xu Qiang every day.

“Explosives? You said you wanted to develop explosives?” He Yonghong was also surprised at this time. He jumped up from the bed and said, “Xu Qiang, let’s not make such a fuss. This thing is really deadly. If we are not careful, we will die right away…”

It is obvious that He Yonghong is also quite afraid of explosives.

He used to work in the Air Force ground crew department and witnessed the process of aerial bomb target shooting with his own eyes. That earth-shaking scene will be unforgettable for him forever.

Moreover, the high explosives used by the army are much more powerful than ordinary explosives. Their storage and transportation require extremely strict procedures. You know, a palm-sized piece of high-energy explosives is enough to blow down a villa. Within a certain distance, there is no room for survival at all.

“You don’t have to say anything, I am confident about this project…” Xu Qiang said.

“But……”

“If we want to stay in Shanghai for a long time, we have to give something…” Xu Qiang paused, then continued: “If the department lets me take over this project, I will have to negotiate the terms with them. This time I must ask them to build a special research institute for me in Shanghai. Once this is settled, we can do more things…”

From the very beginning, Xu Qiang volunteered to undertake the 8702 project for the sake of the Shanghai Research Institute.

The reason why Xu Qiang cares so much about this research institute is not because of the funding, equipment and office space provided by the ministry, because if Xu Qiang wants to do experiments, the laboratory at the School of Mechanical Engineering will be sufficient, and there are both equipment and staff. The First Ministry of Machine Building has given Xu Qiang many privileges.

Xu Qiang’s real goal is to serve as the head of the Shanghai Research Institute. What he wants is power and the resources that this power can mobilize, including the purchase of chemical raw materials, priority use of imported equipment, and a steady stream of talent support. With these, Xu Qiang can mobilize a large amount of resources, whether he is developing products for himself or purchasing large quantities of scarce chemical raw materials in the name of the institute, thus laying the foundation for his career.

As for the risks involved in the development of a new generation of high explosives, they are nothing to Xu Qiang, because he has already mastered the synthesis of this explosive and the basic process of mass production, so there is no need to take risks in conducting repeated experiments, and he can produce finished products in a short period of time.

In order to continue some of the “privileges” brought to him by the project, Xu Qiang was particularly careful and did not use the most advanced CL-20 explosive product he had, but chose the third and fourth generation transition products “CL-01” and “CL-02”. These two transition products alone can allow the entire high explosive project to continue for several years, just like the previous transition process from aramid paper to aramid cloth.

But Xu Qiang would never tell these things to anyone else.

“Xu Qiang, why don’t you reconsider it…” He Yonghong said at this time.

“I just want to ask you one question. If I take this project, will you help me?” Xu Qiang glanced at He Yonghong and said with a raised eyebrow.

“That’s it!” Xu Qiang laughed and said, “Don’t worry, I have confidence in this project. Safety issues are guaranteed.”

“Xu Qiang…” Liu Siying sighed, but she could do nothing about it. After a long time of dating, she knew that if Xu Qiang was determined to do something, it would be impossible to persuade him. “I’m leaving tonight! Please help me pack my things.” Xu Qiang said to He Yonghong.

“So fast!? We just came back from Changzhou…” He Yonghong was surprised.

“It doesn’t matter. I guess Minister Zhang has been waiting for me. This matter must be settled as soon as possible.” Xu Qiang said.

“I’ll buy the ticket for you, you lie down and rest first.” He Yonghong said.

“Thank you for your help.” Xu Qiang did not refuse and just thanked him.

Just as He Yonghong was about to leave the dormitory, two people suddenly appeared at the door.

“Captain Du, little steel cannon!?”

When he saw who was coming, Xu Qiang couldn’t help but exclaimed.

It turned out that the two people at the door were none other than squad leader Du Xingguo and the little steel cannon Luo Zhongshun who had always been hanging out with Wang Yongsheng.

“You two…” Liu Siying was also surprised to see these two people appear together.

You know, Wang Yongsheng and Xiao Gangpao have been working in the factory all the time. Although Xu Qiang has not had any contact with them since he came to Shanghai, Xu Qiang still recognizes this friendship.

“Brother Qiang!”

As soon as Xiao Gangpao saw Xu Qiang, he became excited.

“What’s going on? Sit down and talk!” Xu Qiang frowned and said immediately upon seeing this.

“Drink some water.” Liu Siying immediately walked to the side, poured a glass of water for Xiao Gangpao and handed it to him.

“Gulp gulp!” Little Cannon took the cup and drank it all in one breath. Then he wiped his mouth and said, “Brother Sheng is in trouble…”

“What happened?” Xu Qiang was suddenly shocked.

“After you left, your friend Liu Jun continued to deliver goods to us, and his business was doing well…” Xiao Gangpao paused, and continued, “Later, a friend of Brother Sheng from another factory didn’t pay back the money he had bought on credit, so we went to collect it, and ended up fighting with them. Two of them were hospitalized after being beaten by us. We were all arrested by the police station at their factory, and the soap sales incident was also reported… Now the factory has expelled him, and he hasn’t come out yet…”

“Then how come you’re okay?” Xu Qiang asked puzzledly.

“Brother Sheng took on the whole thing by himself. We were detained for more than two months and were only released last week…”

“Uh.” Xu Qiang frowned upon hearing this and asked, “How is the person who was beaten? Is it serious?”

“One of them has a serious vision loss in his left eye, and another has two broken ribs…” Little Cannon looked worried, and then said, “Actually, I was pretty ruthless, but they all insisted that it was Brother Sheng…”

“Uh.” Hearing this, Xu Qiang felt a little buzzing.

Fights among young people are common these days, but fights this serious are very rare.

And this matter must be resolved as soon as possible, because if it is delayed until next year, others will not know about it. Xu Qiang only knows some things. If things go wrong, Wang Yongsheng may be directly sentenced to a heavy sentence, which will be fatal!
Although Xu Qiang was a little anxious at this time, he soon calmed down.

“Have you guys looked for the family members of the two seriously injured people?” Xu Qiang suddenly asked after a moment.

Although Xu Qiang is not a law major, he still understands general legal knowledge.

In a case like this, if you can obtain reconciliation from the victim’s family and ask the other party to issue a letter of forgiveness, the court will give a lighter sentence.

“We looked for them. Yang Tao and the other two were watching over a stall at the vegetable market that night, so they didn’t go with us. After the incident, they found the parents of the two men. It took a lot of effort to get a meeting with them, but they asked for 20,000 yuan and threatened that if he didn’t give it, Wang Yongsheng would be jailed for life!” said Little Cannon.

“What a condescending tone! Who does he think he is? He dares to ask for 30,000 yuan!” He Yonghong couldn’t help but say when he heard this.

“Don’t say anything yet!” Xu Qiang said to He Yonghong, and then asked Xiao Gangpao: “So, how did you solve it?”

“My brothers and I have collected less than 4,000 yuan in total. Brother Sheng’s total savings are more than 8,000 yuan. His father also took out more than 3,500 yuan from the family savings and borrowed 1,000 yuan from outside. Sister-in-law gave us 1,500 yuan. That’s the money they prepared for their wedding…” Little Cannon said with a frustrated look on his face, “We are still short of 12,000 yuan. We really have no other choice. Sister-in-law’s family wants to cancel the wedding with Brother Sheng’s family. Everyone in the factory is watching the fun…” (End of this chapter)