And so, on what should have been a pleasant Saturday, Lin Yusen called me to the company at nine o’clock. After having a bowl of noodles at Tongdexing, he dragged me back to his house for what he called a “study session.”
Lin Yusen was serious about this—that was my first thought when I saw the mountain of company documents on the desk. But wasn’t this pile of materials a bit excessive?
I silently accused him with my eyes.
Lin Yusen feigned innocence: “I just asked Little Dai to bring some materials over. I don’t know why he brought so much.”
Hmph~ They were clearly in cahoots, and now he was trying to pass the blame.
Of course, I wouldn’t submit so easily. After casually flipping through a couple of pages, I commandeered his computer to play games. When I got tired of that, I ran to the courtyard to watch the grass grow and play with stray cats.
It was Saturday, for heaven’s sake! Who wants to work except for people like him who find joy in it?
But when you have someone so diligent beside you, you start feeling guilty after playing for too long. Especially when this person, while claiming to be just keeping you company while studying, has downloaded a bunch of games and bought lots of snacks for you…
So after enjoying Auntie Chen’s sumptuous lunch, I finally sat down obediently at the desk.
He had an especially wide desk where we sat facing each other, making it feel just like we were a college couple studying in the library.
Wait, come to think of it, should I thank Lin Yusen for helping me make up for my regret of not having dated in college?
My thoughts were wandering when the study supervisor looked up at me. I quickly lowered my head—focus, focus!
I first skimmed through the materials Little Dai had brought and finally chose to start with the company’s historical financial reports.
These days of attending meetings and visiting factory areas hadn’t been wasted. I learned a lot about the industry and the company’s situation. Looking at financial reports now, I have a clear understanding in my mind and can truly comprehend what the numbers represent, unlike before when numbers were just numbers.
After finishing a pot of fruit tea, I went through all the historical financial materials. I couldn’t help but sigh.
Lin Yusen was getting a book from the bookshelf when he heard me. He turned around and asked, “What are you sighing about?”
“Well, it seems the company’s situation isn’t what it used to be.”
“And why is that?”
I didn’t answer him immediately.
I realized that standing in different positions gives you completely different perspectives. Before, I was just a new employee, and my thoughts were limited to what was immediately around me. Last year’s bonus was good, so I thought the company was doing well. But recently, because of frequently attending meetings and visiting workshops, what I heard and saw gradually shifted my thinking toward industry patterns and future trends.
Combined with the reports I just read, I could see that even before Lin Yusen came last year, the company had been declining. The fact that we had a decent year last year was largely because after he came, he quickly recovered several outstanding payments through various means.
Lin Yusen was still waiting for my answer, so I briefly said, “It’s the overall environment like you mentioned in the meetings. Previously, our products were mainly exported to Europe and America, but because of the financial crisis and anti-dumping investigations, orders from those markets have sharply decreased. The whole industry is struggling to survive, and staying alive until spring comes is the priority.”
Suddenly, a question occurred to me, “Then why is the company expanding under these circumstances? This was initiated after you came, right?”
“Yes,” Lin Yusen nodded, “Counter-cyclical expansion is a common strategy, you should have learned about it in college.”
“Ah, right. The professor mentioned the semiconductor industry case.” His reminder made it click.
Seeing that I understood, Lin Yusen said no more and returned to his seat with his book.
I pulled over a bag of snacks and thought while eating. Counter-cyclical expansion is a common strategy to grab market share during downturns, but it’s all based on extreme confidence in the future market. Thinking about how he repeatedly expressed his optimism about the photovoltaic industry in meetings, and looking at the mountain of materials beside me, I suddenly felt overwhelmed.
“Lin Yusen, do you want me to manage Shuangyuan in the future?”
“Not entirely,” he looked up from his book, “I mainly want you to find what you enjoy.”
Huh?
“The joy of fully immersing yourself in something and accomplishing it is incomparable. Are you sure you don’t want to try? If you don’t like it, you can do something else, or nothing at all.”
“But in the meetings, when you were giving everyone that motivational speech about how the photovoltaic industry is crucial for the country and has the opportunity to lead globally, wouldn’t I be committing a terrible sin if I messed it up?”
“What motivational speech?” Lin Yusen laughed, “Don’t worry about that. China is huge with talented people everywhere. If we don’t succeed, someone else will. We’ll just make less money, it won’t have much impact.”
What??? How can someone make slacking off the sound so grand?!
“Do you want me to be successful or not?” I was confused. Why was he encouraging me to study one minute and then supporting my decision to slack off the next?
“Either is fine, but Xiguang.” He pondered, “You played the role of a foolish young lady so convincingly at the Sheng family that they all believed it. Wouldn’t it be a shame not to do something and prove them wrong? Conversely, if you lay low, cultivate your abilities, and then emerge brilliantly, making them realize they’ve been fooled all along—wouldn’t that be interesting?”
Wow~ That would be super interesting!
I imagined the Sheng family’s dumbfounded faces and suddenly felt motivated enough to read ten tons of materials.
“Continue, continue, no more talking.”
I immediately grabbed a new document from the mountain of materials and started reading. Lin Yusen chuckled softly and immersed himself in his world as well.
An hour later… I began to think that impressing the Sheng family wasn’t that important…
An hour and a half later… I started wondering, what right did the Sheng family have to be my motivation? They weren’t worthy at all!
I secretly glanced up at Lin Yusen. He was concentrating on neurosurgery materials, occasionally making notes on the manuscript beside him. The setting sun quietly cast a bit of light through the window, his hair falling across his forehead, time seemed to flow very slowly… I suddenly wanted to put aside work and just watch him for a while, resting my chin in my hands.
But would I get scolded?
Sigh…
Was he my boyfriend or my supervisor?
I was quietly complaining in my heart when Lin Yusen, as if hearing my thoughts, suddenly looked up and asked, “Can we talk now? What do you want to say?”
I immediately perked up, “Nothing really, just wanted to ask how your thesis is going. Also, have you decided which direction you want to develop in?”
I swear I was just asking casually, but Lin Yusen actually put down his work and enthusiastically told me a lot, roughly as follows—
Since he was financially supported, he didn’t need to worry much about income, so he had many options, such as the high-end medical equipment industry, basic scientific research combined with teaching, or further studies in internal medicine.
His professor hoped he would do research at a university, which he was interested in, but he was also very interested in the high-end medical equipment industry.
I knew that many large medical devices were imported, but only today did I learn that the import ratio was as high as ninety-something percent. These expensive imported devices led to high medical costs, with much of the medical insurance money going into foreign companies’ pockets. Meanwhile, domestic medical device companies started late and faced various pressures limiting their growth, developing very slowly.
After hearing all this, I felt each direction was meaningful and asked with concern, “Have you made your decision then?”
“Not yet. I won’t leave Shuangyuan’s situation in the short term. As for the future…” Lin Yusen wore a deeply troubled expression, “It feels like every industry needs me, I’m really in too high demand.”
Me: “…”
They say men are different people before and after falling in love, it seems true. But am I already wearing rose-colored glasses for him? How could I find this version of him witty and cute?
Lin Yusen was dissatisfied with my speechless expression and raised his eyebrows to ask, “What did I say wrong?”
This expression was because I thought something was wrong with myself!
“Everything’s right, everyone needs you so much.” I humored him.
“Thanks for the affirmation, what about you?”
Me? What about me?
I blinked, my brain slowly processing before finally realizing—was he flirting with me?! I uncertainly asked, “Aren’t we studying? Is it time for dating class now?”
Lin Yusen: “…”
Well…
What happened next won’t be described…
Let’s just say, Mr. Lin isn’t such a person with strong willpower after all~
Not so special!
On the way back that night, Lin Yusen summarized his excellent first half of life, “It seems my previous outstanding achievements were entirely due to not dating. You’re too distracting.”
Me: *smile*
When we reached the parking lot, I resolutely sent him away. If he accompanied me to the dormitory, who knows what else he’d blame on me?
I quickly washed my face, brushed my teeth, and climbed into bed. Looking at the time, it was already eleven o’clock. I closed my eyes ready to sleep, but just couldn’t fall asleep.
At times like this, being alone in a dormitory felt a bit lonely. I wanted to grab someone to talk to about many, many things. If only I lived with Yin Jieyu.
After thinking back and forth, I boldly sent my mom a message, “Mom, are you asleep?”
Soon after, Mom called directly, “Why aren’t you sleeping yet? Where did you go playing with Lin Yusen? You’ve only been back to Wuxi once since the New Year.”
“Working overtime, every week.” This was the absolute truth. I didn’t give her a chance to ask more questions and took the initiative, “Mom, I feel like you didn’t raise me very well. Look at Lin Yusen, he’s only a few years older than me but knows so much more. When talking with him, I often seem very slow.”
Mom wasn’t angry and politely asked me why I thought so. I took the bait and chattered on and on.
After listening, Mom expressed some approval for Lin Yusen, then said mildly and restrainedly, “Is it possible that it’s a matter of individual aptitude?” ??? That’s too much! How could she attack me personally like this?
What’s worse, she gave an example, “Look at Sheng Xingjie, he’s been by Old Master Sheng’s side since childhood, but you can’t see anything promising about him either.”
I couldn’t believe it: “Mom, how could you use Sheng Xingjie as an example? I must be much more promising than him.”
Mom doubted: “Really?”
“Of course it’s true, just wait and see! I’m just getting started!”
Mom remained skeptical, “We’ll see in a couple of years. By the way, your father might not agree to Sheng Yuan giving Shuangyuan’s shares to Lin Yusen.”
Mom casually dropped this bombshell news.
I suddenly sat up in bed, “What do you mean? What does this have to do with him?”
I had already told Mom everything that happened at the Sheng family dinner, with Lin Yusen’s permission of course. However, I hadn’t mentioned Lin Yusen’s matters or his plans to change careers.
“I know transferring shares to a third party requires approval from half of the shareholders, but why doesn’t he agree?” I jumped out of bed and paced around, really not understanding, “Mom, can’t you intervene in this matter?”
“According to the divorce agreement, I can’t intervene.”
“Why is he doing this? Does he think Lin Yusen won’t manage the company well and will harm his interests?”
“You’ll know when he comes to find you. Director Nie came to ask my opinion, wanting to make me an ally.” Mom gave a cold laugh and said, “Xiguang, I have a suggestion, see if you can do it.”
“What?”
Mom said calmly: “Get your father’s Shuangyuan shares as well.”
“Ah?” I was somewhat surprised, “But didn’t you tell me before not to take a penny from Dad?”
I had firmly remembered this and never violated it.
Mom said quietly: “Taking small amounts is meaningless, it would only make him feel comfortable and gradually feel less indebted to you. But for the big assets that should be yours, you shouldn’t miss out on any of them. You haven’t asked him for a penny all these years, so if you make any requests now, he will do his best to make you happy, understand?”
I understood, and only then realized that years ago when Mom told me not to take any money from Dad, it was out of such considerations. Somehow, my emotions became a bit low, and I responded rather listlessly.
Mom sighed, “Husband and wife can be the closest or the most distant relationship, let alone your father and me. Xiguang, Lin Yusen sounds very good now, but your father was once very good too… I hope you understand that no matter how much you love someone, you should always take some precautions, and keep a fortress in your heart. Of course, Mom hopes you’ll never need to retreat to that inner fortress.”
“Mm.”
My eyes felt sour as I listened.
But Mom laughed, “You say you’re better than Sheng Xingjie, but he emerged victorious among so many competitors. As an only daughter, if you can’t even get your father’s Shuangyuan shares, don’t look down on others in the future.”