Episode Summary
Liu Jun, facing financial ruin, receives help from his friends Lu Huadong and Qian Hongming. His relief is short-lived as he is detained and questioned over his connection to the corrupt An Xinhua. After being cleared, he gets a lifeline with a potential government loan, recommended by Song Yunhui. However, this opportunity is immediately threatened by the discovery that a competitor, Beiyuan Group, has likely stolen his R&D data and is attempting to usurp his partnership with Donghai Group, forcing him into a desperate race to publish his results before he loses everything.
Spoiler Alert
"Created in China" Episode 25: A Friend in Need and a Looming Betrayal
The episode kicks off with Liu Jun wrestling with his company's dire financial situation. He's baffled when his acquaintance, Lu Huadong, secures a substantial loan that Tengfei, Liu's own company, couldn't. He quickly deduces it's because Lu is in the far more profitable real estate business. While Lu can't act as a guarantor for Liu Jun, he offers a personal loan of two million to help him out. Just as relief begins to set in, another two million arrives, this time from his close friend Qian Hongming, who couldn't bear to see Liu struggle alone. Liu Jun is deeply grateful but grows concerned when he learns Qian is involved in high-risk private lending, a warning Qian confidently brushes aside.
Meanwhile, Liang Sishen and Lu Huadong tour the Tengfei factory. Lu is thoroughly impressed, remarking that despite being a small enterprise, its research and development center is truly top-tier. After a technical briefing from Engineer Sun, Liang Sishen grasps the complexity of Liu Jun's work and finally understands why the influential Song Yunhui holds him in such high esteem.
The plot takes a dark turn when Song Yunhui informs Liang Sishen that An Xinhua, a key figure, has vanished from his post without a word. Liang's immediate thought is that he's either fled or is being investigated by the authorities. Her fears prove prescient when police officers arrive at Tengfei and take Liu Jun into custody for questioning about his association with An Xinhua.
Detained for a full day and prevented from contacting his frantic wife, Cui Bingbing, Liu Jun steadfastly maintains his innocence, insisting his relationship with An was purely professional and technical. The next day, to his family's immense relief, he is cleared and released. Song Yunhui feels a pang of guilt over the incident, as he was the one who introduced the two, and An's extensive crimes nearly implicated the innocent Liu Jun.
That night, Cui Bingbing comforts her shaken husband. She reveals Song Yunhui's nickname: the "Non-stick Pan," a moniker earned for his habit of quickly cutting ties with anyone who becomes a liability, no matter how close. She advises Liu Jun to put the incident behind him and focus on his own work.
Taking her words to heart, a re-energized Liu Jun returns to the factory. His spirits are further lifted when Liu Shitang brings fantastic news: the government has approved a special loan program for small businesses. The catch is that the company must produce a national-level patent by the end of the year. For a tech-focused company like Tengfei, this is a manageable task, but the application requires a recommendation from a person of influence. Liu Jun immediately thinks of Song Yunhui.
Song agrees to help and even suggests that Liang Sishen lend her expertise to the factory. However, he also delivers a grave warning. The new head of the rival Beiyuan Group, a Mr. Tian, has contacted him directly. Tian claims that the restructured Beiyuan can now handle all the necessary R&D itself, a clear move to push Tengfei out of its crucial partnership with the Donghai Group.
Song Yunhui suspects that Tengfei's proprietary research has been leaked and stolen by Beiyuan. He tells Liu Jun he is now in a race against time: he must officially announce his research findings before the end of the year, or Donghai Group will almost certainly abandon him for Beiyuan. When Liu Jun relays this to Cui Bingbing, she astutely observes that a man like Mr. Tian, who swoops in at the last second to snatch the fruits of another's labor, is a dangerous and formidable foe.
