Prof Liu went quiet for a few seconds before he replied. “Since the authorization agreement gives Liu Qian’s students the right to discuss their research at the academic level, let’s just sign it. This is no big deal.”

In reality, Prof Liu knew what Wei Yong was trying to do. He simply did not want to offend the institute for the sake of an authorization agreement. If he did the institute the favor now, he could get into their good books in the future.

Qi Hui smiled when Prof Liu gave his approval. He acknowledged reverently before hanging up the phone.

Before long, he quickly went back to the private room.

“How did it go?” asked Wei Yong unhurriedly as he watched Qi Hui take a seat.

Qi Hui smiled and retrieved the official department stamp from his briefcase. “Prof Liu gave me the green light to sign this. Let me get right to it then.”

The assistant glanced at Wei Yong knowingly. Sure enough, his boss was right.

Qi Hui quickly imprinted the official stamp on the last page of the paperwork.

The form was a duplicate, so Qi Hui handed one copy to Wei Yong’s assistant. After chatting briefly with Wei Yong, he paused and spoke as though he was bringing up some random subject. “Oh yes. I hear DO Corporation has taken an interest in the system.”

Wei Yong was about to say goodbye and leave, but he swallowed his words the moment he heard what Qi Hui said. He asked in surprise. “How did DO Corporation know about the system?”

Qi Hui picked up his coffee and took a sip. “I’m not sure either. They probably want to use it on their gen four robots.”

Wei Yong knew that DO Corporation was working on their 4th generation robots as well since the company had previously partnered with the institute.

Qi Hui glanced at Wei Yong and asked. “Why didn’t the company reach out to the institute? I thought you knew about this, Mr. Wei.”

Wei Yong smiled calmly and replied. “I genuinely haven’t heard about it yet.”

Qi Hui did not harp on the subject. He raised his hand to check his watch. “Mr. Wei, I know you’re a busy man, so I don’t want to hold you up.”

Wei Yong contemplated briefly before he stood up. “In that case, I’ll be on my way. Talk again.”

“Sure thing.” Qi Hui nodded and stood up.

Wei Yong waved his hand and stopped Qi Hui from walking him out and quickly left the cafe.

Qi Hui watched from behind until Wei Yong disappeared out of sight. He did not leave immediately and sat down instead.

He reached his hand out and picked up Liu Qian’s authorization agreement. He looked at it deeply before he smiled sinisterly as he ripped it into shreds.

**

After getting into the car, Wei Yong went into deep contemplation, thinking about Qi Hui’s words. Moments later, he raised his head and said to his assistant, “I want you to go to the Intellectual Property Office and talk to Secretary Wang.”

The assistant glanced through the rearview mirror. “Aren’t you going Mr. Wei?”

Wei Yong acknowledged softly and said, “I’m heading back to the institute. Hand the paperwork to Secretary Wang and tell her to settle the patent application as soon as possible. I want it done in half a month.”

“We have all the paperwork we need for all stages of the application review. I’m sure we can settle the application quickly.” The assistant had a lot of experience applying for patents, so he knew what he was doing.

Wei Yong narrowed his eyes and said, “Just get it done asap.”