The nighttime atmosphere was completely different from these past days of confrontation. No more heated arguments, no more agitated crowds. The surroundings were so quiet that only the chirping of insects and the sound of machines working in the workshop inside could be heard. Supposedly, with no idle people around and only the principals from both sides face to face, this was the best time to sit down and negotiate. Liu Jun thought so too. But after seeing the desperate and intense gazes of the deceased’s parents in the darkness, Liu Jun finally realized his naivety. Could parents who had just lost their son be comforted with a few words? Putting himself in their shoes, what the deceased’s parents might need more now was an object to hate. And since he, Liu Jun, was unwilling to admit he was responsible for the accident, unwilling to admit he was an object that could be hated, naturally, there was no foundation for communication between him and the deceased’s parents.

Liu Jun silently stared at the deceased’s parents for a while, said “take care,” and stood up to leave. Behind him was a relieved security guard. From the security to Qian Hongming, not one person approved of Liu Jun talking with the deceased’s parents.

Soon, Qian Hongming’s call came to Liu Jun’s mobile phone. “Liu Jun, I don’t recommend you face them directly at this time. They’re currently in an emotionally agitated period. Even from a tactical standpoint, you should avoid their sharp edge and wait until everyone has accepted the facts. Talking then would be more convenient.”

“I didn’t talk. Because I realized they couldn’t possibly admit their son, as an adult who didn’t know self-protection, was seeking his death, and I also couldn’t possibly admit that I, as a factory owner, must fulfill the protective responsibilities of a kindergarten teacher. So even when emotions calm down in the future, we’d have nothing to talk about. I can only approach this from a humanitarian angle and do something for the deceased’s parents.”

“Liu Jun, sometimes I’m a bit puzzled – do you need to find clear reasons for everything, even things like eating frequency and walking pace?”

“Me? How’s that possible? Am I such a pedantic person?”

“You shouldn’t be, but today you gave me the feeling of being like a serious child, finding reasons for everything from administrative absence to confrontation with the deceased’s family. But isn’t that just how the world is? Did you only discover this today?”

Liu Jun blurted out, “Yes!” But after hanging up, he realized he wasn’t wrong either. His difference from Qian Hongming was that Qian Hongming had experienced various administrative failures and human coldness at a young age when his parents were seriously ill, and now he was too lazy to even mention them. But he was different. It showed that heaven was fair – the heavenly net was vast, sparse, but nothing slipped through. No one could escape the evolutionary process.

This week was simply Liu Jun’s ordeal. Seeing his engineers enthusiastically dismantling his broken car, Liu Jun couldn’t muster interest in participating. He could only use his computer-like brain to calculate the costs of every enterprise link, trying to win meager profits through further process optimization and cost compression to pay high-interest loans and make up for the huge economic losses caused by the death accident. His original plan to lower selling prices, seize the middle market, and expand production capacity was now impossible to realize. His funding plan had once again missed the bank due to the accident, and he could only wait in constrained torment.

In his困顿, Shen Huadong came to visit on Saturday. After Shen Huadong followed Liu Jun on a tour of both workshops, he said somewhat puzzledly, “I’m in the textile industry. I used to think your industry’s so-called advancement was shown by hardly seeing anyone when you entered. Today I learned you also need so many people watching the machines.”

Liu Jun looked sideways, acting suddenly enlightened: “After watching for so long, that’s the conclusion you reached. OK, I understand what you came for. On my perfectly good Saturday date time, you deliberately came to hold me back.”

“Is my conclusion wrong? Hehe, but aside from being anxious and angry, give me one reason to refute it.”

“My difference from you is that the people who truly operate machinery and equipment in my company aren’t in the workshop. Those standing by the equipment are people managing the equipment. And in your case, you know best. My current goal is to lower the human-machine ratio as much as possible through scientific and reasonable allocation. What about you? At most, you can increase output per unit of human-machine ratio.”

When they walked out of the workshop, Shen Huadong was horrified to see a group of people surrounding his car. Their expressions suggested they wanted to devour his car alive, and it wouldn’t be wronging them to say so. He took the opportunity to change the subject: “What do those guys want to do?”

“They dismantled my car, and their hands are itching. Lucky you delivered yourself to our door.”

Shen Huadong looked in the direction Liu Jun pointed and indeed saw a pile of dismantled car parts under the shed over there. Of course, he didn’t believe those people would dismantle his car, but still couldn’t help asking: “What’s the result when a bunch of mechanical engineers dismantle a car? Will they turn your Jetta into a Boeing?”

This time Liu Jun spoke very practically: “A good mechanical engineer must be well-informed to be able to draw analogies and inferences in future designs, bringing design ideas to hand readily. The process of dismantling cars is one of constantly discovering new problems, raising questions, and solving questions. Done well, the design principles of a car’s transmission might be applied to the transmission parts design of other equipment tomorrow. Next month I’ll also lead them to visit an exhibition in Shanghai, still to broaden horizons and gain knowledge.”

“It seems cultivating research personnel is a long-term project – not only using them but also nurturing them. Just like how we cultivate fashion designers. We acknowledge genius exists, but we’re more convinced that genius is unreliable. I’ve recently been working hard to promote systematic and regular training plans for talent. Outsiders think our manufacturing industry is mindless work, but we’re very scientific, it’s just…” Shen Huadong hesitated before saying: “It’s fine to tell you – our manufacturing industry has been muddied by those township and private enterprises. Even talent awareness is inferior to the old state enterprises.”

Liu Jun said in surprise: “Aren’t you and I essentially both township and private?”

“But don’t you think we’re already very different from the first generation of entrepreneurs? We have high starting points and broad knowledge, which determines that our way of obtaining profits should be different from that of first-generation entrepreneurs with low starting points. We don’t rely on exploitation – we use intelligence.”

Liu Jun couldn’t help but compare the profit models of Qianjin Factory and Tengfei in his mind, and had to agree with Shen Huadong’s view. So he unconsciously led Shen Huadong to what he considered the heart of Tengfei: the R&D center. Shen Huadong was again surprised to see the large room that meticulously displayed humanistic consideration, seeing engineers who were still immersed contentedly in the R&D center during Saturday rest time, enjoying the fresh air from the air conditioning. He suddenly said: “A friend of mine very progressively installed central air conditioning and ventilation systems in his hundred-plus square meter house, all electric rather than the natural gas we used abroad. He said that for just that little area, his monthly heating electricity bill in winter was over ten thousand yuan. Here you have…”

“Impossible.” Sun Gong, who had been sitting on the sofa basking in the sun, suddenly interrupted Shen Huadong. “Household electricity meters have a rated current of 10 amps, maximum current of 40 amps. Our country’s voltage is constant at 220 volts, which means that household appliances combined can only reach just under 10,000 watts of power. Even if that household’s air conditioning plus ventilation system ran at full 10,000 watts power for twenty-four hours, you can calculate how many kilowatt-hours could be used in a month and what the total electricity bill would be. Impossible to exceed ten thousand.”

Shen Huadong stubbornly dredged up middle school physics in his mind. Liu Jun was already laughing out loud, introducing Sun Gong to Shen Huadong. With embarrassment on his face, Shen Huadong simply stopped calculating and changed the subject: “If I said the same thing at Shi Yiji, would I encounter the same opposition so quickly?”

“Mr. Wang is a senior in our industry, but he might give you face. Although Shi Yiji is said to have lost a large number of talents, in my eyes, it’s still a place where dragons and tigers hide – plenty of talent.”

“Screw, let’s speak honestly – do you think the current state of such a place where dragons and tigers hide is reasonable?”

“I’ll only tell the netizen Drift King who deals with screws and nuts, not Shen Huadong who is one of Shi Yiji’s shareholders: wasteful!”

“Director Dong’s strategy is also wrong?”

“Your shareholders’ policy decisions are wrong – you can’t blame Director Dong for that. I heard your shareholders’ attention isn’t focused on Shi Yiji, don’t value Shi Yiji’s meager output that can’t be used for speculation, and even drain blood from Shi Yiji…”

“No, you’re wrong. No capitalist would ignore a huge asset. A stable production base is the best expression of credibility for a group. We value Shi Yiji highly.”

Liu Jun looked at the agitated Shen Huadong strangely: “You value it highly, so why did you hand Shi Yiji entirely over to Yang Xun, who doesn’t understand enterprise management? Lucky you found Director Dong.”

“Do you think Director Dong can drive the entire enterprise?”

Liu Jun thought about it and shook his head: “I’m still in the exploratory stage regarding enterprise management. But I always feel the comparison between shareholders and professional managers is like biological mothers versus stepmothers. Biological mothers consider the child’s entire life, but stepmothers are different after all. Are you thinking of replacing Yang Xun to manage Shi Yiji?”

Shen Huadong raised his finger to his lips, making a silencing gesture to Liu Jun. Liu Jun walked to a secluded place before laughing: “So you fear Yang Xun.”

Shen Huadong laughed heartily but refused to respond to Liu Jun’s provocation. Liu Jun hadn’t expected Shen Huadong wasn’t the dandy he appeared to be – he had plenty of tolerance.