Consider it a favor to repay the newspaper tower.

As the event draws to a close, the works of each class are basically complete.

Although Meng Yihe thought Cui Xuyue's class's "City of the Future" might be full of flaws, it was full of childlike fun and imagination in terms of color and creativity.

The organizing teachers began to organize the selection and take photos.

Many families took photos in front of their artwork, and laughter and cheers filled the stadium.

"Brother! Brother Meng! Let's take a picture together!"

Cui Xuyue's face was flushed, and beads of sweat still clung to her forehead as she excitedly pulled Cui Yu and Meng Yihe to stand in front of their artwork. Cui Yu smiled naturally, put his arm around his younger brother's shoulder, and looked at Meng Yihe.

Meng Yihe's body visibly stiffened for a moment.

He wasn't used to such public occasions that involved emotional expression, let alone taking photos. He instinctively wanted to back away.

"Come on, Director Meng," Cui Yu said, his voice tinged with amusement.

"Is this a way to commemorate our half-day of 'technical collaboration'? Otherwise, Xuyue will cry."

Cui Xuyue cast a pitiful look at just the right moment.

Meng Yihe looked at the two somewhat similar faces before her, both wearing expectant expressions. The words of refusal circled on her lips, but ultimately remained unspoken.

He reluctantly moved forward half a step, standing on the other side of Cui Xuyue, with a child between him and Cui Yu.

The teacher raised the camera.

"Snap—" The photo freezes.

In the photo, Cui Xuyue is smiling brightly, holding her brother's hand with one hand and Meng Yihe's clothes with the other.

Cui Yu smiled easily and naturally. Meng Yihe, on the other hand, looked straight ahead, her brows furrowed slightly as if she had just completed a difficult task, but the lines of her mouth seemed a little softer than usual.

The event ended, and the crowd began to disperse.

"Thank you, Brother Meng, for today!"

Holding his "Best Creative Award" certificate, Cui Xuyue thanked Meng Yihe with satisfaction.

Meng Yihe nodded in response.

Cui Yu ruffled her younger brother's hair: "Alright, you've got your prize. You still have to catch up on your homework when you get home."

He turned to Meng Yihe, his tone returning to its usual cadence.

"Let's go, Director Meng? I'll take you home."

...

The mass production phase of the "Galaxy" project was not without its challenges.

Just as things were getting on track, a thorny problem quietly emerged: three consecutive batches of "stardust" material products all showed the same type of internal stress lines at the final non-destructive testing stage.

Although it did not lead to product scrapping, it severely affected the rate of superior products.

The problem is bizarre and persistent.

Meng Yihe immediately led his technical team to the front line, checking all possible production parameters, equipment status and raw material batches, and even recalibrating the testing instruments, but they still could not find the exact source of the stress lines.

It's like a ghost on the production line, elusive and hard to spot.

Cui Yu keenly sensed something unusual.

While supporting Meng Yihe's technical investigation, he also secretly instructed Zhao Lei to launch an internal investigation, focusing on screening personnel who had recently been in contact with core production processes, especially those with questionable backgrounds or whose recent behavior was unusual.

Under pressure, clues were indeed discovered.

A newly hired operator working in the raw material pretreatment stage recently received a small but tempting remittance from overseas into his account.

Further surveillance revealed that he had repeatedly and briefly left his post during night shifts when no one was around, behaving suspiciously.

Cui Yu did not alert the enemy.

He instructed the technical team to deliberately tweak a trivial process parameter in the next batch and spread rumors that "a suspected problem has been found and will be verified."

Sure enough, that night, the operator once again slipped away from his post and attempted to send a message to an anonymous external number, but was apprehended on the spot by security personnel who were already waiting.

The interrogation quickly yielded results.

Dingsheng Capital contacted him through layers of disguised intermediaries, promising him a large sum of money to add a special nano-scale catalyst powder to a container of raw materials at a specific time and stir it. This catalyst would cause extremely subtle local stress changes during subsequent high-temperature and high-pressure processing, leading to difficult-to-detect internal defects. The purpose was to delay Xinghai's mass production schedule and disrupt product consistency.

Having obtained the confession and evidence, Cui Yu sneered.

Ji Nan is desperate.

He handled the aftermath swiftly and decisively: those who needed to be dismissed were dismissed, and those who needed to be handed over for legal proceedings were transferred. At the same time, all potentially contaminated raw materials were quickly replaced, and management and monitoring of the production area were strengthened.

After learning the truth, Meng Yihe's face turned icy cold, and she only said one sentence to Cui Yu: "It's impossible to guard against."

“Then we’ll make the fence even tighter,” Cui Yu replied. “Besides, we’ll settle this score with her sooner or later.”

However, before they could catch their breath, Meng Yihe's private phone rang again.

The word "Mother" flashing on the screen made his brow, which had just relaxed slightly, furrow again. He walked to a relatively quiet corner to answer the call.

“Xiao He… Mom knows I pushed you too hard before… It was my fault…” Ye Chunhan’s voice choked with sobs.

"But things are really too difficult at home right now..."

She cried even harder: "To make matters worse... the Chen family, I don't know where they heard about these troubles, and their attitude has changed... They were so polite before. But today, they were being manipulative, saying something like, 'If the two families were closer, they might be able to help mediate these little things'..."

"This is clearly taking advantage of our misfortune and forcing us to take a stand!"

“Your father… he’s always been strong-willed, how could he stand such humiliation? He was so anxious and angry that his blood pressure spiked in the middle of the night last night, he felt dizzy and fell. Although it’s nothing serious, the doctor said he needs to rest and can’t be subjected to any more stress…”

“Xiaohe, Mom knows you don’t like hearing this… but Mom really doesn’t know what to do now… You’re our only son… Please have pity on your parents and stop being so stubborn, okay? Even… even if you just go through the motions with the Chen family for now, just to give the family a breather…”

He then proceeded to cry and plead his case.

This is more damaging than any previous instance of strong pressure.

Meng Yihe held the phone, remaining silent for a long time. On the other end, her mother's soft sobs continued.

After finishing his work, Cui Yu walked over, intending to discuss the next steps with Meng Yihe, but saw that Meng Yihe had his back to him, his shoulders tense, so Cui Yu stopped. Although he hadn't heard everything, he caught some fragments of words.

This phone call came from that family again.

He could roughly guess that his earlier slight "reprimand" had triggered a chain reaction. However, the Chen family's opportunistic pressure and Meng's father's sudden outburst of anger were beyond his expectations and control.

He watched as Meng Yihe finally hung up the phone in silence, but he remained standing there without turning back, as if he were firmly bound by an invisible shackle.

A complex mix of emotions welled up in Cui Yu's heart.

His original intention was simply to keep Meng's parents preoccupied for the time being, but he never expected things to develop to this point, especially with the Chen family taking advantage of his vulnerability and Meng's father's health problems.

This was not his original intention.

He stepped forward, without teasing or pressing for answers, and simply handed over a cup of freshly brewed green tea, his voice lower than usual: "Are you alright?"

Meng Yihe slowly turned around, took the teacup, her fingertips icy cold.

He didn't look at Cui Yu; his gaze was fixed on a point in the void.

After a long pause, she almost muttered to herself, "Sometimes, I really feel tired." Her voice carried a genuine weariness that came from letting her guard down.

Cui Yu looked at Meng Yihe's lowered gaze and slightly pursed lips.

After a brief silence, Cui Yu's voice rang out, directly pulling the conversation from the emotional quagmire back to the practical issues: "What exactly are the troubles at home? What stage has the tax audit reached? What is the basis and amount of the client's claim? And what specific conditions has the Chen family put forward?"

Meng Yihe seemed to be brought back to her senses by his overly rational reaction.

The expected polite words of comfort or helpless sympathy did not appear.

This direct approach to the core issue provided a point of reference for his chaotic thoughts.

Meng Yihe took a deep breath.

He struggled to reassemble the tearful messages from his mother's phone call, trying to present them as objectively as possible: "Regarding taxes, it seems they're tracing back some old debts from a few years ago; I don't know the details. A client is claiming… apparently it's about a delayed delivery of a previous contract, and the claim amount is substantial. The Chen family…"

He paused, his brows furrowing even more deeply.

"It implies that if a marriage is arranged, they can help resolve these issues."

"Understood." Cui Yu nodded, his face expressionless, but his brain was already working at a rapid pace.

"Tax debts, as long as there are no inherent problems and the procedures are followed correctly, will at most cause some trouble. For client claims, take legal action to clarify responsibilities; pay what is due and not a penny more than what is not due. As for the Chen family—"

He sneered, his tone clearly filled with disdain.

"To kick someone when they're down is a low-level tactic."

His analysis was calm and clear, instantly untangling a tangled mess into several actionable steps.

“You don’t need to be distracted by these things,” Cui Yu said to Meng Yihe with certainty.

“The mass production of ‘Galaxy’ has just gotten on track, and any technical error could be magnified. That’s your core battleground right now. As for things at home.”

He paused, as if making a perfectly natural decision.

"I'll handle it."

Meng Yihe suddenly looked up at him, a hint of surprise and confusion flashing in her eyes:

"You'll handle it? How will you handle it?"

This has completely gone beyond the scope of colleagues or ordinary friends.

“I have my own way.” Cui Yu didn’t explain in detail, but gave him a calm look. “At least, it can speed up the process and make some opportunists behave themselves.”

"I guarantee that I will not use any illegal means or methods that will make things difficult for you."

Meng Yihe looked at him, her lips moved as if she wanted to refuse, but she couldn't find a reason.

Reason told him that Cui Yu was the best person to resolve these messes quickly and efficiently, allowing him to temporarily escape from this quagmire of family pressure.

But emotionally, accepting such a heavy "help" that went beyond the bounds made him feel uneasy.

"Why?" Meng Yihe finally asked, her voice hoarse.

Cui Yu met his probing gaze, a very slight smile playing on her lips. The smile carried her usual teasing tone, yet also a hint of unfathomable seriousness: "Is this how you repay Director Meng for condescending to go to the school last time to help build that paper tower?" The reason was light and even somewhat absurd.

The noise outside the office seemed to be shut out.

Meng Yihe looked at Cui Yu.

The other person's gaze was calm, without pity or charity.

Finally, he squeezed out a single syllable from his throat with extreme slowness: "Okay."

This is a tacit agreement, a compromise, and an unprecedented trust in entrusting troubles in the private sphere to others.

“Deal. Then, ‘Galaxy’ is completely yours.” Cui Yu didn’t say another word about the Meng family and turned to leave.

...

Cui Yu's actions were efficient and precise.

Instead of directly and rudely interfering with the investigation or forcing the client to withdraw the lawsuit, he adopted a more tactful approach that avoided future problems.

Through reliable connections, he enlisted a senior tax expert to act as a third-party consultant and "accidentally" have an informal exchange with the auditors in charge of Meng Ling's company.

During the discussion, the experts objectively analyzed the practical difficulties and potential risks of tracing back to long-standing issues. They subtly suggested that getting too bogged down in minor details might not be the optimal solution, guiding the other party to focus on more efficient and compliant verification methods.

This is not about putting pressure on people, but rather about providing a more professional perspective.

Regarding that client claim, Cui Yu instructed his legal team to quickly intervene. After careful analysis, they discovered significant flaws in the client's claim, which even constituted suspected extortion.

Cui Yu instructed her legal team to take a tough stance, not only explicitly rejecting unreasonable claims but also preparing to countersue the opposing party for commercial defamation and unfair competition. The powerful legal deterrent and clear chain of evidence instantly dampened the opposing party's arrogance, and their attitude began to soften.

As for the Chen family, Cui Yu handled the situation more skillfully.

He did not have direct contact with the Chen family.

Instead, it was through a business partner who was in competition with the Chen family that the Meng family was seemingly unintentionally revealed the minor troubles the Meng family was currently facing, as well as the Xinghuan Group's "attention" to Meng Yihe and her family.

This attention has been deliberately interpreted as a signal of implicit protection and potential alliance.

The news quickly reached the Chen family through a roundabout route.

Their attempt to exert pressure and take advantage of the situation instantly became awkward and extremely risky. For a marriage alliance that might not even happen, they risked offending both the troubled Meng family and the powerful figure at the height of Xinghuan's influence.

It was clearly an extremely unprofitable deal.

The Chen family's attitude immediately underwent a subtle change, shifting from their previous aggressive stance to observation and silence, and their previous hints that "a marriage alliance could help" were no longer heard.

All of these operations were carried out silently underwater.

Cui Yu didn't even specifically inform Meng Yihe about these developments, only mentioning them very naturally when the two discussed work.

"Just cooperate with the normal procedures regarding your tax matters, there shouldn't be any major problems" or "The legal department is handling that claim client, and there will be a result soon."

Meng Yihe is not stupid.

He could sense that his mother's recent phone calls contained significantly less crying and anxiety. Although she still reminded him to consider marriage, it was no longer the desperate tone that placed the burden of the family's survival on his shoulders.

He understood that this was Cui Yu's doing.

Meng Yihe was used to relying on himself for everything. This powerful intervention and solution from the outside left him somewhat bewildered. But he didn't say anything, simply keeping these thoughts to himself and instead focusing all his energy on the mass production breakthrough of the "Galaxy" project.

Perhaps, success in one's work is the best response to this "help".