A Magnate's Grand Proposal

The next morning, Ethan Yuwen received some materials on meditation from Professor Feng. After reading a few chapters on the theoretical aspects, he decided to practice while continuing to study the theory.

Dressed in loose, comfortable clothing, Ethan sat cross-legged in the center of his living room floor. He played a guided meditation track on his phone, following the instructions to gradually adjust his breathing. As his breath fell into rhythm, his body began to relax. At first, a flurry of thoughts swirled in his mind, but they slowly settled down like dust.

Soon, the ambient noises seemed to disappear, and Ethan found himself in a familiar state—like being in a zero-dimensional space where he couldn't perceive anything around him, not even his own body. He decided to add a one-dimensional element, envisioning an infinite line running through his consciousness. Following Anna Noelle's guidance, he gave this line a width, allowing it to expand infinitely into a two-dimensional plane.

On this plane, Ethan projected an image—Sophia Yi. Here, he could freely admire her every gesture, her every smile. A mischievous thought crossed his mind: he projected an image of himself into this scene. Together, they walked hand in hand across a field, her hair dancing in the wind, their silhouettes framed by the glow of the setting sun.

Just as Ethan was indulging in this blissful fantasy, the image of Sophia suddenly turned to him and said, "You're supposed to be practicing controlling your consciousness through meditation, and here you are wasting time on something so trivial. If you like her, just go after her. Stop fantasizing." The voice, however, was Anna's.

Startled, Ethan snapped out of his meditative state and back into reality. Annoyed, he stood up and pointed at the ceiling. "Anna, unless I call for you, don't just appear in my consciousness whenever you please!"

Ethan thought to himself, "Am I completely exposed in front of Anna? Do I have no privacy? Can she just pop into my mind anytime and know exactly what I'm thinking? This is really unsettling."

But Anna was right—if he liked Sophia, he should pursue her! However, when it came to courting women, Ethan was clueless; otherwise, he wouldn't have been single for so long.

He pulled out his phone and searched, "How to confess to the girl you like."

After scrolling through suggestions for a while, Ethan was at a loss. The online advice was either too embarrassing to say aloud or too sleazy for him to consider. In the end, he had to turn to Gaolan for help.

He dialed her number. "Hello, Gaolan? What are you up to?"

"What's up, Ethan? Need help asking my cousin out again?"

"Gaolan, are you my mind-reader? I can't hide anything from you."

"Did you forget, Ethan? I'm the Sherlock Holmes of our lab! But sorry, I'm on a date with my boyfriend today, so I can't help. You'll have to figure this one out on your own."

"Alright, I'll give it a shot."

Ethan paced around his apartment before deciding, all or nothing, tonight he would confess to Sophia Yi! After making up his mind, he sat down on the sofa and summoned Anna...

A serene salt lake, the water as still as a mirror, reflecting the clouds and distant mountains. The lake, sky, and mountains melded together at the horizon. Under a sun umbrella sat a beach chair, occupied by a woman in a bikini, wearing sunglasses...

Ethan quickly turned his face away. "Anna, what are you doing? Don't try to seduce me! I'm really working hard on my meditation. Soon, I'll be able to assist you as a volunteer in your research. There's no need for all this."

"Haha, you're so amusing," Anna laughed. "So, what's up?"

"I'm going to confess to Sophia tonight. Can you create a romantic setting for me? Nothing too over-the-top, just something special."

"No problem," Anna chuckled.

"Alright, now send me back."

Ethan contacted a ticket scalper and bought two of the best seats for the New Year's Eve symphony concert, then hurried to the mall to pick out an engagement ring.

He entered the Cartier store on the first floor of the mall. The sales associate greeted him, "Good evening, sir. Are you looking for something specific?"

"I'm proposing to the woman of my dreams tonight. It has to be perfect—help me choose."

"Do you have a price range in mind?"

"No, just show me the best."

"Please have a seat. I'll be right back."

The associate was overjoyed—tonight, they had a big spender. Before long, she returned with a ring. "Sir, this is our latest design and the pride of our store. The band is crafted from 18K white gold, set with five pear-shaped diamonds totaling 1.45 carats, and 18 round brilliant-cut diamonds totaling 0.86 carats..."

"Alright, this one looks great. Wrap it up, I'm in a hurry."

"Sir, the price for this ring is..."

Before she could finish, Ethan had already tossed his credit card onto the counter.

The sales associate didn't dare say more. She quickly processed the payment, her hands trembling slightly as she entered the amount.

With the ring in hand, Ethan returned to his car and called Sophia. "Hello, Dr. Yi? It's Ethan Yuwen."

"Hi, Ethan. What's up? You sound a bit out of breath."

"I managed to get two tickets to the New Year's Eve symphony concert, and I was hoping you could join me. Do you have time?"

"That sounds wonderful! Those tickets are hard to come by. I'd love to go."

"Great! Let's meet at the concert hall at 7:30."

Ethan glanced at the time—less than two hours to go. He dashed back into the mall to buy a new suit and shoes.

By 7:30 p.m., Ethan was standing at the entrance of the concert hall, holding a large bouquet of roses. Before long, Sophia Yi appeared, walking towards him. Tonight, she wore a long-sleeved mermaid gown, draped with a mink shawl—seven parts elegant, three parts alluring. Ethan stepped forward and handed her the bouquet.

After the concert, Sophia was in high spirits as they chatted and walked out of the hall together. When they reached the steps outside, Ethan stopped, pulled out the ring, and dropped to one knee. Opening the ring box, he said, "Sophia Yi, I care for you deeply. Will you marry me and be my wife?"

At that moment, a series of fireworks burst into the sky in the distance. Sophia turned to watch as six hot air balloons appeared, each one lit up with a letter, spelling out, "Sophia Yi, I love you."

The suddenness of it all caught Sophia off guard. The fireworks continued to bloom above, their light refracting off the diamond ring, creating a dazzling display. People around them turned to watch, their faces filled with envy.

Moved to tears, Sophia laughed and cried at the same time, wiping her eyes as she said, "I didn't expect you to go all out like this. What if I said no?"

"If you said no, I'd have the fireworks shoot those balloons down," Ethan replied with absolute sincerity.

This made Sophia laugh again. "Alright, for the safety of those people in the balloons, I'll say yes."

Ethan stood up and slid the ring onto Sophia's finger, saying, "Your presence has rewritten the story of my life." They embraced tightly as the surrounding crowd broke into applause.

==================

**After the New Year's holiday, Ethan Yuwen returned to work in high spirits.**

He had barely sat down in his office when Gao Lan knocked and entered. "Ethan, you're something else! When you make a move, you really make it count!"

"What's got you all excited?" Ethan leaned back in his chair, replying casually.

"What's got me excited? You're acting like nothing's happened, but you've made headlines!" Gao Lan said, shoving her phone in Ethan's face. "The headline reads: 'New Year's Proposal Wows the City!'"

Ethan chuckled. "A life milestone, after all—it had to be done in style."

"Tsk, tsk, Ethan, your style is truly something else—over-the-top, flashy, romantic. Sure, it might be cliché and a bit lacking in taste, but no woman could resist that! Ah, my cousin is so lucky. I'm tempted to break up with my boyfriend now; he'll never be able to give me such a romantic proposal." Gao Lan pretended to swoon dramatically.

"You shouldn't have such fickle thoughts."

"And that big diamond ring you gave my cousin—it's just gorgeous. That whole setup must have cost you a fortune. I bet you're the one who won the lottery! Come on, give me some hush money." Gao Lan continued to tease.

"The ring cost money, sure, but the fireworks and balloons were free—friends helped out," Ethan said, with a slight smirk, knowing only he understood the full truth of that statement.

"Yeah, right. What kind of friend is that generous? Give me my hush money!"

"You'll have to ask your cousin for that. I've handed over all my assets to her."

"No way! My cousin really hit the jackpot. Alright, I'm off to cry in a corner." Gao Lan waved dramatically and left the office.

After she left, Ethan chuckled and decided to take advantage of the quiet moment to practice his meditation. He moved his chair back, took off his shoes, and sat cross-legged, playing his guided meditation track.

Inhale... exhale... As he followed the rhythm of his breathing, his body relaxed, and his consciousness entered the zero-dimensional space, then expanded into the first and second dimensions.

Ethan projected two circles and a square onto the two-dimensional plane. Then, he gave the plane an upward dimension, stretching one circle into a cylinder, the other into a sphere, and the square into a cube. These three-dimensional objects remained transparent.

He continued extending the upward dimension infinitely and then jumped into the three-dimensional space he had created. He gave the objects a granite texture; immediately, they took on the appearance of granite, cold and hard to the touch.

Next, he created a table, a chair, a car, and a building. Ethan examined the details of these objects closely, touching their surfaces and listening to the sound they made when tapped. Everything felt so real that it was impossible to detect any flaws.

Satisfied with his practice, Anna Noelle suddenly appeared. Fortunately, this time she wasn't dressed in a bikini but in a regular business suit. "Are you happy with the fireworks and balloon show I designed for you?"

"Heh, yeah, it had the desired effect. But it was a bit over-the-top, not quite in line with my usual low-key style. You know, you could have just projected the whole scene into our minds. It would have been just as effective and more eco-friendly."

"Clearly, you don't understand women at all. Seeing something yourself and having others see it too—that kind of vanity and satisfaction can't be compared."

"You're right. If it's only in your mind and not confirmed by others, it loses some of its reality."

"What I really want to tell you is that your current meditation practice is headed in the wrong direction. You don't need to focus on creating objects. Your priority should be to familiarize your consciousness with every cell in your body, achieving a unity between mind and body. This way, when your consciousness leaves your body, it will continue to function normally and won't just shut down."

"Got it. I'll adjust my practice accordingly."

After finishing his meditation, Ethan's phone suddenly rang. It was the institute's vice president, Shi Kun. Ethan quickly answered, "Hello, Vice President Shi."

"Ethan, if you're not busy, come to my office. I need to discuss something with you."

"Yes, sir. I'll be right there."

Shi Kun was the vice president in charge of administration and finance at the research institute, someone with whom Ethan had little interaction. This sudden request made Ethan wonder whether it was good news or bad.

When Ethan arrived at Shi Kun's office, he was offered a seat and a cup of tea. "I heard your research team made a breakthrough recently. Congratulations! You've lived up to my expectations."

"Thank you, sir. It's all thanks to the collective effort of the entire team. I only played a small part," Ethan replied modestly.

"A train runs fast when the engine's strong. Without the support of the institute's leadership, your work wouldn't have had the same direction," Shi Kun said with a bureaucratic tone.

"Yes, that's the most important factor. My awareness isn't as high as yours, sir. I often miss the key points in my summaries," Ethan flattered.

"Well, after careful consideration, I believe your achievements deserve recognition from the institute's committee. We should issue a commendation and inform the entire institute. This will boost morale and encourage further success."

Ethan quickly stood up. "Thank you, sir. We'll continue to work hard."

"On another note, although I've been in a leadership role for many years and haven't been directly involved in research, my heart still belongs to science. So, I have a suggestion: I'd like to lead your project team in publishing a paper under my name in an international journal. This would elevate our institute's standing in the global scientific community and contribute to our country's prestige. What do you think of my suggestion?" Shi Kun asked, sipping his tea as he awaited Ethan's response.

"Sir, your suggestion is excellent. However, if we publish our results in an international journal, we'll need to disclose all our research data to allow peers to replicate our findings and verify their authenticity. Since our project has only yielded preliminary results and isn't ready for patent protection, releasing this data would allow others to bypass our failures and conduct deeper research based on our work. It would put them on an equal footing with us..."

"Alright, there's no need to explain further. I understand. Take some time to think about it," Shi Kun interrupted impatiently.

Feeling dejected, Ethan left Shi Kun's office and returned to his own with a grim expression. He knew exactly what Shi Kun wanted: to claim his team's research results for himself, something Ethan's team would never agree to.

Gao Lan entered Ethan's office and noticed his sour mood. She hesitated before asking cautiously, "Ethan, what's wrong? You look upset."

Ethan slammed his hand on the desk. "Stop calling me that at work! And who said you could come in without knocking? Get out!"

Startled, Gao Lan stuck out her tongue, then quickly left the room.