Where the Lights Grow Dim

Song Wanning returns to Shanghai from Beijing, hoping to interview her childhood friend Lu Jingchuan and make a documentary about semiconductors for ordinary viewers. She never expects that “Brother Chuanchuan,” who used to protect her when they were children, has become the most unapproachable man in Zhangjiang: cold, taciturn, and willing to stand her up without a second thought. At their very first meeting, he publicly stops her from entering the core process area. The more she tries to enter his world, the deeper she is swept into an uncontrolled storm: As the verification lead at a manufacturer of equipment for a 12-inch production line in Zhangjiang, Lu Jingchuan is under immense pressure. Critical equipment is stuck in the final three-month verification window before customer introduction. Yield is out of control, parameters are drifting, repeatability tests are failing, the customer is applying pressure, and his team is on the verge of collapse. Her own attempt to shift her social media content in a new direction is running into one obstacle after another. Her family is pressuring her to marry, her partners are demanding she cut her losses, and the gentle, polished surgeon Shen Xuwen chooses this moment to offer her an engagement ring. Only after Lu Jingchuan pushes her away and publicly disowns her does she learn the truth: it isn't that he doesn't care about her. He has already received an ultimatum: he needs heart surgery immediately, or he could die at any moment. But the equipment hasn't passed verification and the project isn't finished. He can't afford to fall. And with her so close, he fears dragging her down with him. An engineer risking his life to see the equipment verification through. A woman who knows she'll be hurt, yet still wants to tell the world the truth on his behalf. During their three-month countdown, they reunite, misunderstand each other, stand together, and then fall apart, before finally facing life and death side by side. When the documentary airs and the project finally clears its verification window, everyone thinks they've won, but Lu Jingchuan collapses just past the finish line.