Curiosity killed the cat. Yang Xun patiently waited for the dinner in Song Yunhui’s private room to end, standing in a corner to secretly observe. He naturally saw Liu Jun. He saw that the person who had dined with the non-drinking Song Yunhui for over two hours was Liu Jun—the person he could never have imagined. Yang Xun’s face immediately changed color. He had previously learned from Yang Li that Liu Jun had a good relationship with Liang Sishen, but had only thought it was an ordinary acquaintance. Yang Xun was most wary of Liang Sishen. Although he had harbored deep hatred for Liu Jun over the financial losses, he could only rein in at the cliff’s edge. But today, Liu Jun met privately with Song Yunhui for over two hours. Yang Xun knew Song Yunhui was someone who rarely engaged in dinner socializing, so the relationship between them required some thought. Yang Xun couldn’t even guess how these two people came together.
What amazed Yang Xun even more was that he followed them out and saw the two continue talking in the parking lot.
Their conversation was quite simple. Song Yunhui said very sincerely to Liu Jun, “I’m just someone from the business world. Although state-owned, I’m still just an enterprise. My endorsement doesn’t carry that much weight—don’t take it too much to heart.”
Liu Jun was already very moved by this point and hurriedly said, “I stopped thinking that way long ago. I’m very sorry for misunderstanding you before, Director Song. There’s another issue…”
The two stood in the parking lot and talked for a few more sentences before parting. Liu Jun got in his farm truck, Song Yunhui jumped into the car his driver had brought, and they each went their separate ways. Only then did Liu Jun think about how he had previously disdained those common people on TV who got so excited when shaking hands with leaders. Today, he too had been moved by Song Yunhui’s approachable manner and genuine talent. Moreover, Song Yunhui’s high perspective and far-reaching vision had resolved many doubts he had harbored from past observations and current thoughts. Tonight, he almost wanted to bare his heart to Song Yunhui. Through Song Yunhui’s guidance, on his way home, he came up with many new ideas for new product development.
But before Yang Xun could see the two part ways, he received a call from Liang Sishen. Liang Sishen said cheerfully on the phone: “Out socializing again? Drinking and carousing every day, leaving two children for your wife to handle alone—that’s not good.”
Hearing Liang Sishen’s relaxed attitude, Yang Xun quietly put away his suspicions and laughed: “Are you finally free to call after coaxing Keke to bed?”
“Yes, that little monkey. I don’t know where he gets so much energy every day. Yang Xun, I need to ask you a favor.” Liang Sishen didn’t play the game of asking Yang Xun to agree before saying what it was about. Instead, she said straightforwardly: “I once readily withdrew from my shares without interest. I want you to return the favor now by withdrawing from Haoyuan’s shares. Tomorrow I’ll have my secretary deliver a check to you—you can fill in the amount yourself. I’ll also bring the relevant documents for you to sign. Will you agree?”
“Why?” Yang Xun immediately thought of tonight’s meeting between Song Yunhui and Liu Jun. But if something had happened, according to Yang Li’s hint, Liang Sishen should have already proposed ending their relationship.
“No other reason. I’ve always opposed Sister Wei’s partnership with you. Yang Xun, you’re an excellent businessman, but you’re not a good partner. Now, I thank you for giving Brother Wei and Sister Wei a leg up and helping them establish a foothold here, but the cooperation must end here. Of course, you can protest to Song and veto my proposal. But I hope you’ll settle this privately with me—I want to burn bridges behind me.”
The more straightforward Liang Sishen was, the more speechless Yang Xun became. He had a long criminal record in front of Liang Sishen and seriously lacked confidence. He could only smile apologetically: “This is too sudden. I’m not prepared at all. Let me think about it, think about it…”
“Fine. In any case, I’ll send the check tomorrow, and you can fill it out yourself. Compared to your other businesses, the restaurant has a low cost-performance ratio. You’ve mentioned this many times before, and I’ve ignored it countless times—that’s unfair to you. As for Song… you’d better not make things difficult for me.”
Yang Xun had a strong urge to rush out and grab Song Yunhui, but listening to Liang Sishen’s phone call, he didn’t dare move a toe, watching helplessly as Song Yunhui drove away. Still, he said with a forced smile, “I still want to ask why. It can’t possibly be just the reasons you mentioned.”
“Only these reasons. Yang Xun, when have I ever lied to you? Choosing a partner means endorsing each other. You’re too slippery and cunning. Haha, I can’t endorse you, and I don’t want to be endorsed by you. That’s why I’ve always opposed your cooperation with Sister Wei.”
“Running a restaurant is different from running a company—there are many more aspects to deal with. You’d better ask Sister Wei’s opinion.”
“After ending our cooperation, if I have trouble and ask for your help, you won’t refuse, will you?”
“Of course, of course. Besides, where in this city would you need my help? So many people want to help you, but can’t.”
After ending the call, Yang Xun couldn’t catch his breath for a long time. He believed that after Liang Sishen decided to end their cooperation, even if he sought Song Yunhui’s help to salvage it, it wouldn’t last long. Song Yunhui was extremely devoted to his wife—a pillow talk would make him sway like grass in the wind. He just wondered why Liang Sishen made this decision today. Was it really about giving them a leg up until they were stable? This reason made sense. But why didn’t Liang Sishen want Song Yunhui to know about this? Yang Xun was full of doubts, but he couldn’t help silently surveying the entire restaurant. With Liang Sishen’s words spoken, he believed his days of owning this restaurant were numbered. Liang Sishen was no longer the naive girl of years past—he had already experienced her sharpness when buying Shi Yiji. He needn’t harbor false hopes and should just wait to collect the check tomorrow.
However, regardless of whether Liu Jun’s meeting with Song Yunhui today was coincidental, he didn’t dare antagonize Liang and Song, only daring to redirect his anger toward Liu Jun. He could only comfort himself that this restaurant consumed a lot of his energy without much income—he should have abandoned it long ago. Good riddance. But Yang Xun also realized that the restaurant provided him with the shade of a backing tree. The real reason he had invested in the restaurant, Liang Sishen had finally moved to take it back. Liang Sishen ultimately held grudges against him and wouldn’t forgive him so easily. A high-ranking official’s child wasn’t so easy to offend. Yang Xun once again regretted his youthful ignorance.
But fortunately, he, Yang Xun, no longer needed to rely on this shade.
Yang Xun greeted the proprietress Wei Chunhong and went home. He could only accept this reality.
Liu Jun, inspired by his exchange with Song Yunhui, held continuous meetings with the company’s technical staff for three days, proposing new R&D directions. Of course, research and development required investment, and investment meant money flowing like water. Liu Jun splits every penny in half when spending. For budgets submitted by the cashier, he always made painful choices. There were too many places that needed money, but too little money available. He could only postpone his car-buying plans repeatedly, focusing funds on R&D and production.
But every day, unexpected expenses were flowing like water, requiring Liu Jun to rob Peter to pay Paul in raising money. This time, the cashier returned from paying monthly taxes with a notice saying that computerized invoicing was being implemented. All general taxpayer enterprises must configure dedicated computers and printers, install tax software called Aisino Golden Tax, and configure and train financial personnel. In the future, all VAT invoices and tax reporting must be processed using the Aisino Golden Tax software. Liu Jun calculated: the Aisino Golden Tax software plus hardware totaled 3,500 yuan, training fees and annual maintenance fees 1,500 yuan, a dedicated computer configuration about 6,000 yuan, and purchasing a designated Epson LQ-1600KIII printer another 1,000 yuan. For the tax system’s glamorous transformation, Liu Jun had to spend over 10,000 yuan in total.
Businesses had to operate, VAT invoices had to be issued—just like employee files had to be placed with the personnel bureau or labor service center, requiring companies to pay association fees to both places and subscribe to mandatory magazines. For company products to be exported, they also had to pay association fees to both customs and commodity inspection, and subscribe to mandatory magazines. Liu Jun called such fees social costs that couldn’t be avoided. To pay them, enterprises could only tighten their belts.
Because the financial staff’s computer skills were poor, Liu Jun went personally to see how the Golden Tax card was installed and used. Upon seeing it, he was furious—what cost 3,500 yuan was a simple plug-in card and very outdated DOS software. Today, when Microsoft had already released the very user-friendly Windows 98, this DOS software wouldn’t be wanted even if given away for free. Yet enterprises had to pay more than the price of genuine Windows 98 software to accept it, spend large sums on training to use it, and the company installing and training the Golden Tax software had an extremely arrogant attitude, completely unlike doing business. Liu Jun sensed huge corruption and immediately called the anti-corruption hotline published by the discipline inspection committee to complain. But the discipline committee called back the same day to tell him this price wasn’t decided by the local tax bureau, nor could the municipal tax bureau decide it—the pricing came from above. The discipline committee’s attitude was very open and timely. Liu Jun could only respond with “heh heh” and was helpless about the high-priced DOS software obtained through belt-tightening.
The good news was that Qian Hongming, who frequently moved in social circles, called happily to tell Liu Jun that there were rumors that Yang Xun had withdrawn from Haoyuan’s shares. Based on his experience, Qian Hongming speculated that someone like Yang Xun, whether profitable or slightly losing, would try hard to retain his stake in Haoyuan to use as some kind of springboard. Now that he had withdrawn while Haoyuan’s business remained prosperous, it indicated one possibility: Yang Xun had been given the cold shoulder by Director Song. Liu Jun immediately thought of his exchange with Song Yunhui and felt moved. He believed Song Yunhui had originally been deceived by Yang Xun’s smooth talk. Sure enough, now Song Yunhui had taken action. His heart was full of gratitude, showing that there were still many good people in society. Little did he know that Song Yunhui was at this moment awkwardly making post-facto repairs for his wife’s swift and decisive decision.
The equity changes at Haoyuan were naturally also observed by Shen Huadong and his son.