And that change was exactly what He Liuzhang wanted to see.

"We basically have enough to convict him. Group Leader Wang will report to you on this matter." The primary person in charge of investigating Vice Factory Director Lin at the machine tool factory was Group Leader Wang, with Yue Yihan in a supporting role.

His main duties were on the battlefield; he only helped with investigations like this when he had the time.

That was why Yue Yihan hadn’t been assigned as the lead investigator.

While Yue Yihan was speaking, He Liuzhang had been watching the traitor’s expression, and sure enough, he saw shock on the man’s face.

Seeing this, He Liuzhang was now basically certain that he and Vice Factory Director Lin from the machine tool factory were traitors from the same organization.

"Alright, I understand. You’re dismissed. Go get some rest."

"Yes, sir."

After Yue Yihan left, He Liuzhang turned to the traitor in the interrogation room. "You heard everything we just said, didn’t you?"

The traitor remained silent, not about to answer He Liuzhang’s question.

He Liuzhang didn’t get angry at the lack of response.

The man’s every action was within He Liuzhang’s expectations. The more he refused to speak, the more certain He Liuzhang became of his own suspicions.

"Don’t think that just because you’re not talking, we don’t know anything. Once we have Vice Factory Director Lin from the machine tool factory, he’ll bring the whole network down with him. Your testimony is no longer important."

He Liuzhang’s tone was mild, a complete contrast to Yue Yihan’s.

But the milder he was, the more unnerved the traitor became.

’He knew full well that He Liuzhang had deliberately asked Yue Yihan that question for him to overhear.’

’He Liuzhang was telling him that the military knew far more than he imagined and that he wasn’t particularly important.’

’Now that they had evidence, he wasn’t walking out of this interrogation room.’

’Whether he talked or not made no difference to the military.’

Even so, the traitor clung to a sliver of hope. ’What if?’

’What if they didn’t actually have any key evidence?’

Seeing that the traitor still had no intention of speaking, He Liuzhang gave a slight nod to the adjutant guarding the door and then stepped out of the interrogation room.

The adjutant closed the door, leaving the traitor in the windowless interrogation room.

The room was plunged into darkness, and the atmosphere became incredibly oppressive.

The traitor sat silently in his spot, holding out against the military.

After leaving the interrogation room, He Liuzhang put the man out of his mind. The guards at the door would inform him of any developments.

At that moment, Yue Yihan was waiting for him in his office.

"Your leave seems to have been very relaxing." When He Liuzhang returned to his office, he found Yue Yihan lost in thought.

Moreover, as he mused, a sweet smile played on his face.

He Liuzhang had been young once, too, so of course, he understood what that smile represented. He had spoken up just to tease Yue Yihan.

Yue Yihan snapped back to reality. "Yes, it was very relaxing."

He Liuzhang grunted with amusement but didn’t press the topic.

He walked over to his desk and sat down before looking at Yue Yihan. "We’ll handle this traitor. There’s another matter that needs your attention. Yu Huo’s parents—there are problems with their background."

As he spoke, He Liuzhang took a file from his desk drawer and pushed it across to Yue Yihan.

At the mention of Yu Huo, Yue Yihan’s expression darkened immensely.

’If possible, he’d rather not hear that name ever again.’

"Her nominal father isn’t her biological father. Her real father is a businessman from Japan..." He Liuzhang’s expression grew grim as he spoke.

He had investigated Yu Huo’s family back then.

Of course, for a seven- or eight-year-old girl from a family that favored sons over daughters, he certainly wouldn’t have used military resources for the investigation, which was what gave her an opening.

After Yu Huo’s capture this last time, he had used the military’s full resources to investigate everything.

And that was how this information came to light.

It turned out she was of mixed heritage!

"Understood. I’ll investigate it thoroughly." Yue Yihan opened the file, sat down across from He Liuzhang, and read it from cover to cover before pushing it back across the desk.

He only needed to memorize the file’s contents; the rest could be dealt with later.

"He’ll be coming in person for the Autumn Trade Fair. My contacts reported back that he’s very interested in the cellular phones from Changning’s factory. He might want to cooperate with Changning on them in the future."

Yue Yihan frowned at the mention of cellular phones.

"They aren’t even widespread in our own country yet..."

"It will take time for them to become widespread here. It’s not a huge problem if foreign countries start using them before we do." He Liuzhang was already quite satisfied.

After all, as the director of a factory under Chuncheng’s jurisdiction, Xie Changning had already sent their military region several pagers.

Specifically for keeping in contact.

The last time, abroad, they could only send messages of up to five characters. Now, it had been expanded to ten!

This was all thanks to Xie Changning!

Having these pagers was so much more convenient than landline phones!

"Alright, I understand."

Yue Yihan walked out of He Liuzhang’s office.

’If he was coming to the Autumn Trade Fair, he would definitely try to work with Xie Changning. They could use the opportunity to learn more about him.’

’Of course, Yue Yihan would also tell Xie Changning to be extra careful with him.’

’After all, the man was no good.’

-

In the days Yue Yihan was away, Xie Changning was even busier than she’d imagined. She was adding production lines, expanding manufacturing, developing new products, and adapting the pagers and cellular phones to be more user-friendly for the domestic market.

All of this required time and talent.

As a result, Xie Changning became an object of both love and hate for all the leaders in Chuncheng.

The leaders were all terrified of Xie Changning calling or contacting them.

Unfortunately, despite their wishes, Xie Changning wouldn’t let them off the hook, contacting the leaders whenever she needed something. Among them, Director Zhao suffered the most.

Of course, his was a joyful suffering.

Xie Changning had personally delivered two pagers for him to "test run," asking him to provide feedback later on.

Having received the pagers, Director Zhao was now working with great vigor.

Whenever Xie Changning ran into a problem, she would go to him, and Director Zhao would step in to help handle it.

Thus, processes that should have taken two months to be approved were now all finalized in less than half a month, thanks to Xie Changyi and Director Zhao pulling strings in the background.

The expansion of the chemical factory was underway, the pager production line was on its way, and prototypes for the cellular phones were in development...

The only vexing issue was that the foreign containment of China was still ongoing.

Whenever Xie Changning wanted to get her hands on some "equipment," she had to work day and night completing tasks in her personal space, which would then repair and upgrade old, broken parts for her.

Xie Changning didn’t dare to be too obvious about it, only taking things out a little at a time.

Otherwise, she would be seen as a freak by the rest of the world.