Song Yunhui’s home was full of distinguished guests, so Liu Jun sat for a while and then took his leave. Song Yunhui personally saw him out and asked about the progress of East Sea No. 1. Liu Jun had always wanted to ask Song Yunhui how he had persisted at East Sea Group for so many years, but in the end, he didn’t ask. He thought about how Song Yunhui often praised him for sticking to his principles, and he suspected that was the answer. But sticking to principles was easier said than done – with so many temptations around and so few promising prospects ahead, how much spiritual motivation did one need to persist with one’s principles?
Cui Bingbing also had many friends and clients to pay New Year visits to. Liu Jun drove her around everywhere until they had emptied the car trunk of gifts before returning home at midnight. Of course, most of these gifts were just passing through like wandering immortals. When Liu Jun, this individual entrepreneur, saw the stream of gifts flowing into Cui Bingbing’s hands, he was amazed. Someone like him, an individual entrepreneur, might receive a few symbolic small gifts worth hundreds of yuan, and overall, it was more outgoing than incoming. Unlike Cui Bingbing, who could give and take, with considerable surplus, and could even pass gifts on to Liu Jun to give to others. These days, without gifts, you’d be too embarrassed to go out and meet people.
From the beginning of spring, the heat of the real estate market suddenly spread. Not only did house buyers feel the heat, but even those who didn’t want to buy houses, faced with huge real estate advertisements in newspapers and home buyers queuing overnight at real estate showrooms, unconsciously began paying attention to real estate. At this time, a story about an old Chinese lady and an old American lady buying houses was circulating widely. Many people’s thoughts, even if they hadn’t been moved by the introduction of bank mortgage loans a few years ago, were now jolted by the story of the two countries’ old ladies buying houses.
However, the overall heating of the real estate market did not drive up the local second-hand housing agency market accordingly, which was somewhat beyond Qian Hongming’s expectations. After the discussion, the siblings decided to stick with their original model of colluding with property sales inside and outside to earn commission fees. But Qian Hongying couldn’t break into Shen Huadong’s property projects no matter what. When Qian Hongying herself wanted to buy several units as investments, despite pulling many strings, she couldn’t book good, small units. Finally, it was Qian Hongming who, under his name, had Liu Jun help ask Shen Huadong for one unit.
Qian Hongying was different from her brother. After laying down her burdens these past few years, she had also made quite a bit of money. After opening the agency company with her brother, to maintain appearances, she took over the BMW 3 Series that Qian Hongming had bought years earlier. Qian Hongming felt that the car was already too old and advised his sister to buy a new one, with the company paying for it rather than her paying out of pocket, but Qian Hongying refused – she was reluctant to spend. Money was too hard-earned, and the habit of frugality had taken root in her heart – how could she change it overnight? Sometimes when going out, she even felt sorry for the BMW’s fuel consumption and would rather take public transportation. Last year, with her own company, her income increased greatly, but her spending on food and clothing didn’t increase much. Her brother encouraged her to give him her money to trade futures and lend money, but Qian Hongying still chose the investment she was most familiar with: buying houses.
Having worked in this industry for so many years, she was familiar with every aspect. Besides competing for street-front shops, she tried to buy small units. Developers generally didn’t want to make small units in pursuit of profit, so whenever a property opened, the first to be snapped up were always the small units under 90 square meters. Qian Hongying specifically found ways to buy this type of small unit. Company-invested small units were sold when prices rose, while her investments weren’t urgent – she made good mortgages for long-term holding, slowly paying off loans while simply decorating and renting out the houses. Money rolled very smoothly in her skilled hands.
Qian Hongying had quite a few friends, and there were suitors around her. Even her brother had tried to introduce men to her, but she wasn’t enthusiastic about marriage and even somewhat avoided it. She couldn’t figure out whether, if she were to live with someone long-term, she could hide a part of her history from that person, or whether she could hide it at all. If that shameful secret leaked out, what would be the result? Qian Hongying didn’t want to think about anything related to secrets, so she simply remained single, which also followed the general trend. These days, it was said that anyone with a career was called a strong woman, and strong women couldn’t get married – with so many difficult cases, she wasn’t one more.
At work, she was at ease. A woman with money and leisure inevitably learned yoga, danced ballet, studied flower arrangement, and practiced calligraphy. Although she was getting older, her temperament became increasingly graceful and elegant. When she went out with her brother Qian Hongming, they were often mistaken for a couple.
In May in the south, flowers were already blooming magnificently. An industry friend invited Qian Hongying to Northeast China to eat dumplings made with newly marketed Spanish mackerel. Qian Hongying received the invitation on the first day and hit the road with a backpack the second day. Early in the morning, she finally snatched a taxi from office workers and rushed to the airport, barely making it through security at the last moment. Knowing she didn’t need to run anymore, she calmly walked quickly to board the plane. Of course, there were no good seats left. Qian Hongying obediently walked to the back rows and saw that in her row, a fat man was napping by the window, and a seemingly young man sat in the middle, turning his head toward the window to read materials by natural light. She thought, quite a diligent working person.
Qian Hongying had just opened her luggage compartment when someone below asked: “Do you need help?”
“Thank you, it’s not heavy.” Qian Hongying thought how rare it was today to meet a good person when going out. She threw her backpack into the luggage compartment, closed the door, and lowered her head with a smile, wanting to express her gratitude again. But when she looked at the person who had looked up at her, her expression changed immediately. What a narrow path for enemies – it was Liu Jun.
According to the contract, Tengfei was to conduct the first phase technical briefing to Mr. An’s company in May and apply for the second phase funding. Since Liu Jun understood all the details of East Sea No. 1’s development anyway, and applying for second phase funding could only be done by himself, he simply flew over alone to do both things together – fast and economical. Unexpectedly, he ran into the person he least wanted to see on the plane.
Just then, a flight attendant came by, and both simultaneously asked to upgrade their seats, but unfortunately, the plane was fully booked today. Liu Jun was so depressed that he fell silent, wondering whom to switch seats with. But he was sitting in the middle and couldn’t move. Qian Hongying also thought about switching seats, but being flustered and confused, she couldn’t think of the right words, so she simply closed her eyes and sat quietly, out of sight, out of mind. Liu Jun was depressed for a while and could only read materials again, but now he couldn’t concentrate at all and had to put the materials back in his bag and close his eyes to pretend to sleep. But who could fall asleep? Moreover, Liu Jun thought about the more than two-hour journey and sitting like an old monk in meditation the whole time – it would be deadly. He began to sympathize with those important people in live TV broadcasts of solemn meetings, some even wearing thick ethnic costumes indoors in warm rooms.
Who knew Liu Jun fell asleep?
Hearing even breathing beside her, Qian Hongying breathed a slight sigh of relief and dared to move her hands and feet to find a comfortable position. The plane had long since risen above the clouds, and the cabin was completely bright. Qian Hongying carefully glanced at the person next to her, never expecting that this former kid had also aged, with a slight frost at his temples. She couldn’t help thinking of her brother Qian Hongming, whose hair was now more white than black. Dyeing it black made it look even stranger, so when the weather got a bit warmer, he simply shaved his head bald. Unless others got close and looked carefully, they really wouldn’t notice the white stubble. These people were all very worried, and not just a little worried.
Qian Hongying sighed and desperately tried to think about other things, but wasn’t very successful. Her mind was chaotic, always turning to those past events. No one wanted to do things against their conscience. In earlier years, she told herself that the worst person was Liu Shitang, the one committing sins was surnamed Liu, and she was just surviving. But on the day her father was sent to the hospital, Liu Jun put a suit jacket over her cold and exhausted body. Just that small impact of the jacket on her shoulders shattered the shell of resentment in her heart. Searching her conscience, she indeed owed Liu Jun, she indeed did things that violated heaven’s principles. But facing mistakes directly was painful. Fortunately, the blow of her parents’ deaths provided cover. During that period, she suffered through life and death, unable to confide in anyone, only able to suffer alone. With her brother’s silent support, she finally emerged and lived on, filling her life with work.
Qian Hongying sat restlessly for more than two hours, and even the nearby passengers could see her agitation. When she felt the plane descending, she finally gathered courage and pushed Liu Jun awake beside her. Seeing Liu Jun look at her with sleepy eyes, Qian Hongying immediately said three words clearly: “I’m sorry.” Seeing Liu Jun’s confused face, not understanding, she didn’t care anymore. Just saying those words was her statement. She didn’t expect any gesture of reconciliation from Liu Jun – that was impossible. She just needed to say it.
The plane happened to land, and Qian Hongying immediately got up to get her bag, took it, and walked forward unsteadily.
Liu Jun blinked several times before waking up, looking at Qian Hongying’s back. He thought he had heard “I’m sorry” – what did that mean? Poor Liu Jun’s just-awakened mind was stuck in traffic for quite a while, stuck until the plane stopped, before he thought: no forgiveness. He hated himself for falling asleep and not being able to immediately retaliate, letting Qian Hongying strike a pose. Although his former German girlfriend had once bluntly said that the most bastardly thing in this matter was his father, the second most bastardly was fate, and the third most bastardly wasn’t even Qian Hongying, but society, and the Qian parents who struggled on the death line yet couldn’t bear to burden their underage children with life’s heavy responsibilities. Young Qian Hongying’s helpless sacrifice to support her family back then, from another perspective, was also a victim – how strong must a little girl be to endure silently for so many years? But Liu Jun understood the reasoning, too. The problem was, facing his mother’s suicide, how could he be rational, how could he be calm? He had suffered for years before he could let go of his father and forgive Qian Hongming, but for Qian Hongying, there was no forgiveness.
Liu Jun felt very stifled. Walking out of the domestic arrival gate with a dark face, he unexpectedly saw someone holding a sign to meet him – sent by Mr. An. Liu Jun had to think about the important mission of this trip and quickly suppressed his depression, put on a smile, and greeted the person who came to meet him. With Mr. An being so polite, Liu Jun instead worried about the arrival of the second payment.
The driver was also very polite to Liu Jun, constantly asking whether Liu Jun could successfully develop East Sea No. 1, saying the company currently had no flagship products and was all waiting for East Sea No. 1 to support the facade. Liu Jun was puzzled and said: “Your technical strength is very strong. How could you have no flagship products?”
The driver smiled as if it were natural: “We’re no longer being supported by the state. Without orders given by the state, we can’t compete with companies like yours. Making the same product, our costs are just higher than yours. Where are they higher? We have so many people to support. What you can do with one person, we need four or five people to do. How can that work? No matter what the technical department develops, it can’t support all of us. Mr. An said that the products you develop will only be made by our company domestically in the future, and can sell for big money. Is that right? Our whole company is now counting on you.”
Liu Jun originally wanted to say, Can’t you have one person do one person’s work? But then he thought about it and shut his mouth. He could dump all the workers from his father’s former factory to Yang Xun without leaving one behind, precisely because those people couldn’t do the work at today’s Tengfei. But Mr. An couldn’t dump them – these workers were all permanent employees who had to be supported, and older people couldn’t be diverted to the tertiary industry. But only one-fourth to one-fifth of the people could operate new equipment. Even if Mr. An had superhuman abilities, he was powerless. Liu Jun began to understand some of Mr. An’s actions.