As the old saying goes, "No one strikes a smiling face."


    In this situation, both Stewart and Charlene had no choice but to politely shake Thorne''s hand.


    Once the introductions were over and everyone had taken their seats, Stewart''s phone started ringing-it was an urgent call from work. Something hade up that required his immediate attention.


    After Stewart finished his greetings with Thorne and Mr. Windsor, Charlene noticed the tension in his expression. She leaned in, voice lowered, and asked, "What''s wrong?"


    Stewart gave her shoulder a reassuring squeeze, bent close, and murmured, "Don''t worry. I''ve got it under control."


    Charlene rxed at his words, her concerns eased for the moment.


    The others at the table watched the quiet exchange between them the way they spoke in hushed tones, the genuine care in their eyes. More than one person found themselves quietly admiring the closeness of their rtionship.


    Coy and Josh exchanged nces, then both looked over at Thorne.


    Most people at the table had no idea, but they knew exactly why Thorne had appeared at this dinner: it was because of Charlene.


    Yet when they nced at him, they couldn''t quite read his expression, nor could they guess what he might be thinking.


    Stewart soon excused himself and left, but the dinner carried on.<fn3004> Readplete version only at find·novel</fn3004>


    After the orders were ced, the conversation gradually shifted to the future coboration between the twopanies.


    It was then that Thorne looked at Charlene and interjected, "I''m particrly


    interested in the third point of yourtest proposal-the heterogeneous


    architecture. If you can fully implement it, both the sensor chips and end devices will see major performance gains."


    He continued. "Of course,


    implementation won''t be easy. For


    example, the programming is extremelyplex the


    "As for the programmingplexity," Thorne went on, "you mentioned in the proposal that you n to use Al-driven code partitioning. But that technology still isn''t mature, and could introduce a host of new issues. Wouldn''t you agree?"


    Earlier, when Thorne had imed to have read the new proposal, several senior engineers from The


    Henderson Group''s tech department had quietly assumed he was just being polite. Now, as he referenced specific details, it dawned on them-Thorne really had read the whole thing.  s


    Charlene was a little surprised herself.


    Thorne was here representing The Henderson Group, so when he raised questions, she had no choice but to respond. "You''re absolutely right it''s a real concern. But if we hit bottlenecks at that stage! can promise you ess torge sca


    challenges with toolchain


    integration, we..."


    s


    Since Thorne seemed genuinely interested, Charlene exined at length, going deep into their technical strategy.


    As she spoke, Thorne kept engaging with her, debating and exploring ideas. "This technology still hasn''t broken through in high-reliability system development. Are you nning to approach it with an alternative method, or..."


    Their discussion grew more animated, bouncing ideas back and forth.


    Listening to them, watching the easy confidence in Thorne''s replies, even Coy, Josh, and the senior engineers from The Henderson Group realized something: Thorne already had a clear vision for the project''s future direction.


    And what''s more, Charlene''s solutions aligned perfectly with his own.


    It was only then that Coy and Josh understood why, back in the office, Thorne had been able to grasp the entire proposal just by ncing at a few keywords.


    And why, after reading it in full, he''d smiled that knowing smile-—and made a point of joining the tech team''s dinner tonight.


    As this dawned on them, they looked over at Thorne, watching the way he nced at Charlene, the subtle smile beneath his thoughtful gaze. Without a word, they both lowered their eyes, lost in their own thoughts.