Chapter 70

Finally, she was almost catching up with the crowd. Ye Jing's face was flushed with an alluring blush. She could feel the heat radiating from Jia Hongjian's back and the firmness of each step he took. She felt a ticklish sensation deep in her heart, as if a kitten was scratching and tickling her. However, at that moment, she suddenly saw a one-armed, chubby middle-aged man in the crowd turning his head to look at her with a surprised expression, as if he had seen Li Mochou turn into a gentle housewife!

Ye Jing's face turned bright red all at once. She hurriedly patted Jia Hongjian's shoulder and, before he could ask, quickly jumped to the ground. Jia Hongjian turned his head in surprise and saw that the previously mischievous Ye Jing now looked like a child who had done something wrong, hiding behind him and peeking at someone. Following the girl's gaze, he saw that a one-armed middle-aged man was also looking at him. The man's appearance somewhat resembled Dao Ge from "Crazy Stone," with a fierce look and an empty right sleeve, making him look like a gang leader.

"Is this man... not the girl's... man?" Jia Hongjian thought to himself, while smiling and nodding at the one-armed man. Of course, he didn't really think Ye Jing was being kept by the man or anything. He guessed the man was probably her father.

The man, who seemed to be Ye Jing's father, smiled strangely and looked at Jia Hongjian for a while before nodding and turning away as if nothing had happened. Jia Hongjian found this quite strange. Usually, parents would be concerned if they saw their daughter getting so close to a boy they didn't know. Why did this uncle seem so unconcerned?

"Jia... Hongjian, I'm going over there..." Ye Jing, hiding behind Jia Hongjian, suddenly said with a red face, looking like a young lady caught in a secret rendezvous with her lover by her family, blushing shyly. "Yes, is that your father?" Jia Hongjian asked. "Yes..." the girl nodded, her face still red. However, she didn't go directly to her father but stood in front of Jia Hongjian, hesitating about something.

"What's wrong?" Jia Hongjian asked curiously. The mischievous girl suddenly puffed out her cheeks, her mouth forming a pout like a bun, and she glared at Jia Hongjian. "Pretending to be dumb! What about your contact information? Do I have to ask you for it myself?"

Puff! Jia Hongjian hadn't expected the girl to be so direct. He smiled and searched for a pen, but couldn't find any paper. "Write it here..." the girl extended her hand, showing her white, tender palm. Jia Hongjian didn't hesitate and wrote down all his contact information on her palm, even including the phone number of the shared phone on the first floor of his dormitory.

After writing, the girl seemed to want to give her contact information to Jia Hongjian too, but after thinking for a moment, she decided against it. "If I call you from overseas and you dare not answer, you're dead! I'll turn the whole of Shanghai upside down to find you!" the girl said fiercely, but she herself was amused by the threat, as if it were a lover's playful warning.

Watching the girl walk towards her family with a reluctant look, Jia Hongjian found his father. Jia Gang turned his head and saw his son walking beside him, feigning calmness, he asked, "Did you do it? Is it done?" "Yes, it's all done," Jia Hongjian nodded.

At that moment, a middle-aged man suddenly shouted, "The experiment is about to start, everyone pay attention!" Hearing this, the crowd, which had already gathered near the finish line, stopped chatting and focused. The man, seeing Wang Hongcheng nod, walked to the finish line with a large gun and fired a bright red flare into the sky.

Then, three Beijing 212 Jeeps at the starting line slowly started moving, maintaining roughly the same speed and driving side by side towards the finish line. As almost everyone was fully focused on the three Jeeps, Jia Hongjian, feeling relaxed, sensed someone watching him. He turned his head and saw Ye Jing nearby. Her face was still flushed, and when she saw Jia Hongjian looking at her, she stuck out her tongue cutely and made a face at him.

The three Jeeps soon reached the end of the track, but they didn't immediately start the fuel consumption test. Instead, they circled around and entered the second track for further testing. After a long time, so long that Jia Hongjian couldn't remember how many laps the Jeeps had run and was even yawning out of boredom, the three Jeeps finally reached the true finish line!

A group of officials who had been chatting in small groups an hour ago now crowded around the three Jeeps like ordinary people. Soon, the fuel consumption data of the three Jeeps was announced. The first to report was the rightmost control Jeep. "Report! The fuel consumption of Car No. 1 is 5 kilograms!"

Next was the middle Jeep, "Report, the fuel consumption of Car No. 2 is 2.2 kilograms!" Finally, the leftmost Jeep, "Report, the fuel consumption of Car No. 3 is 1.7 kilograms!" "The experiment was very successful! The fuel-saving effect is very significant!" "Car No. 2 saves 56% of fuel! Car No. 3 saves 66%!"

"Great!" The crowd of officials burst into enthusiastic cheers and applause, as if this experiment had truly proven that China had invented a new way to utilize energy. In the crowd, only Ye Jing and Jia Hongjian were secretly smiling, while even Jia Gang and others looked surprised and disbelieving.

Wang Hongcheng, with a high and mighty expression, was about to turn and leave. Jia Hongjian quickly caught up, "Master Hongcheng! Can I ask a question?" Jia Hongjian's face showed an excited and curious expression, like an admirer.

"Which unit are you from? The Wang Research Institute does not accept questions!" One of Wang Hongcheng's followers shouted fiercely before he could answer. "It's fine..." Wang Hongcheng smiled faintly and said in a high and mighty manner, turning his head and looking at Jia Hongjian with a haughty expression, "What is it? What's your question?"

Ye Jing quickly walked to Jia Hongjian's side; she didn't want to miss this "first-class seat"! Such a good show should be watched from the best position! Jia Hongjian glanced at Ye Jing and then, with a look of admiration mixed with a bit of caution, asked, "Master, I am from Shanghai Tencent Technology Company, I am Ding Lei, a technician from the NetEase Technology Group. I want to ask, Master, if the car only uses water-based fuel without the catalyst component, will it still have the same fuel-saving effect?"

"Hmph!" Wang Hongcheng looked at Jia Hongjian as if he had asked a ridiculous question, like a child asking why the sun is round. He glanced at Jia Hongjian and reluctantly explained, "Use your half-baked brain to think. If it had the same effect, why would I design the catalyst component? Idiot!"

Hearing Wang Hongcheng's harsh tone, Ye Jing's eyebrows raised, and she was about to lose her temper! Jia Hongjian took a small step forward, his left hand secretly holding Ye Jing's hand to calm her down. At the same time, he maintained a humble and admiring expression and continued to trap Wang Hongcheng, "Oh, right! Master is a master! Then, Master, if only water-based fuel is used without the catalyst component, what would be the approximate fuel-saving efficiency?"

Wang Hongcheng snorted and explained impatiently, "There would be no fuel-saving effect at all! Haven't you learned basic chemistry? Without a catalyst, how can a chemical reaction occur? Even if it does, the efficiency would be extremely low!"

"Oh... I see, thank you, Master." Jia Hongjian seemed satisfied like a schoolboy. As Wang Hongcheng coldly snorted and turned to leave, Jia Hongjian, while secretly scratching Ye Jing's palm to signal her, took two small objects from his pocket. "Master, then I want to ask, why, before the test, when I removed the catalyst components from Car No. 2 and Car No. 3, did they still show significant fuel savings? Is it because your water-based fuel can work without a catalyst, or... did you tamper with the fuel yourself?"

Jia Hongjian's sudden loud question froze the entire venue! Wang Hongcheng stopped in his tracks, his expression frozen, and the previously excited officials' smiles and excitement also froze. For a moment, the area around the finish line was so quiet that a pin could be heard dropping! Ye Jing excitedly held Jia Hongjian's left hand tightly, her face flushed, unsure if it was from the excitement of exposing the fraud or from holding hands with a boy in public.

Wang Hongcheng slowly turned his head, looking at Jia Hongjian with a fierce expression. He stared at the two small objects in Jia Hongjian's hand for a few seconds, then at Jia Hongjian's eyes, filled with hatred and malice. "Hmph!" He coldly snorted and turned to walk away quickly.

"Yeah! Gotcha! Caught you red-handed!" Ye Jing shouted excitedly, jumping and bouncing as if she had participated in a major project like the "Two Bombs, One Satellite." She didn't even realize she was still holding hands with Jia Hongjian in public, shaking his hand and bouncing around excitedly.

However, when she turned to look at the officials who had been cheering for Wang Hongcheng, she saw a variety of expressions on their faces. Some were still surprised, some were shocked and looking at her and Jia Hongjian, but more were turning away with sinister expressions.

Seeing those sinister faces, Ye Jing suddenly quieted down. She had a strange feeling that it was as if the exposure of the fraud and the embarrassment they had caused never existed, never happened. Why weren't these people questioning Wang Hongcheng? Why did they look like they were the ones being embarrassed? Could it be... they were in cahoots with Wang Hongcheng?

The mischievous girl suddenly shivered, feeling as if she had touched something she shouldn't have known... Even the hand she held with Jia Hongjian started to grip tighter subconsciously.

"It's okay, don't scare yourself," Jia Hongjian gently comforted the girl. "They probably supported this project too much. Now, seeing the possibility that they were deceived, facing the fact that a high-ranking official like themselves was tricked by a semi-literate with only a fourth-grade education, and the possibility of being called a fool by their subordinates, they can't be happy..."

Yes! Reborn Jia Hongjian understood the Chinese political system better than the young girl Ye Jing! In the 21st century, even though the internet had become a platform for public opinion, local government leaders still clung to old methods. Even when exposed, they would stubbornly try to cover up the issue to save face, only admitting it when they had no other choice. This was something internet users were all too familiar with.

This was a characteristic of the Chinese political system! Regardless of responsibility, when it came to face, some officials would first try to bury their heads in the sand, pretending nothing had happened to avoid losing face. How they handled the issue privately was another matter.

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