“Thank you, Sister Ren, thank you, Sister Maomao, thank you, Miss Yang.” Seeing this, everyone burst into laughter. Liu Jun also joined in with a few “hehe” laughs. After chatting for a few more minutes, Qian Hongming and Liu Jun returned to their table. As soon as Liu Jun sat down, he said: “Didn’t that Mrs. Yang just now suffer from the universal disease of married women loving to play matchmaker? There’s no Chinese characteristic in this matter. Hongming, please help me refuse such things in the future. Early refusal hurts feelings less than late refusal.”

“Many people hope to have more choices and be more proactive. Besides, Miss Yang’s conditions are quite good in all aspects.”

“She’s not beautiful!” Liu Jun didn’t want to discuss it further and changed the subject. “Hongming, actually, Chinese characteristics still can’t be ignored—I experienced this deeply today. Tomorrow my father will take samples to negotiate business, and I plan not to go with him to avoid breaking conventions. Including after the business is settled and father needs to arrange production, I’ve also decided just now not to participate. I can’t waste my limited energy getting mixed up in an outdated system, trying to improve chronic ailments that have persisted for thousands of years. I’m not a god. I’m prepared to carry out my work in parallel with my father’s work. As you said, we can induce the outdated system to spontaneously abandon old rules and bad habits. That’s settled then.”

Qian Hongming found this reasonable, but he vaguely felt something was wrong somewhere, making it difficult for him to express support or opposition.

Liu Jun saw Qian Hongming’s hesitant, troubled expression and laughed heartily: “I’m doing this based on a theoretical foundation. Some difficulties we don’t necessarily have to solve—we need to calculate the cost of solving them. If the cost is too high, why not bypass the difficulties? The road ahead doesn’t necessarily have only one choice.”

“Theory is theory…” But Qian Hongming still couldn’t articulate his reasons for feeling alarmed. He just felt something was wrong somewhere. At this moment, his phone rang. Seeing it was his sister’s number, his heartbeat accelerated even more. The siblings had just met yesterday, and according to routine, his sister wouldn’t have such high contact frequency. Sure enough, his sister’s urgent voice came through the phone: “Come quickly, Dad is dying.”

“Liu Jun, you pay the bill. My father has a problem.” Qian Hongming jumped up and left, almost charging recklessly. He accidentally crashed into a decorative railing and was in so much pain holding his hip that he couldn’t straighten up for a while. Seeing this, Liu Jun called the waiter, slapped down one hundred yuan, and rushed out after him, just catching Qian Hongming at the car door.

“You sit in the back, I’ll drive for you.”

“No, Liu Jun, don’t get involved in this. Get out of the way quickly.”

“You’re not in the right state.” Liu Jun, being strong and robust, forcefully pushed Qian Hongming aside and seized the driver’s seat. “Less talk, quick, give me directions.”

Qian Hongming said no more, went around to the passenger seat, and watched Liu Jun seamlessly almost drift the car around corners and speed onto the main road. Seeing a red light in the distance, Liu Jun casually asked: “Should we run the red light?”

“Don’t.” Qian Hongming clenched his left fist, pressing it tightly against his lips, his eyes full of tension. Half was for his father’s safety, half was for Liu Jun’s driving speed. Almost as soon as the green light came on, the car “roared” forward, leaving even a parallel taxi far behind them. Qian Hongming felt the kind of G-force usually experienced on airplanes. Only such speed could match Qian Hongming’s anxious frequency.

Soon, the car arrived downstairs at the Qian family home. Qian Hongming rushed upstairs to carry his father down, while Liu Jun slowly got out of the car, only then feeling that something was wrong all over his body: after many years, he was seeing Qian Hongying again. Qian Hongying also saw him. But everyone immediately turned their heads and busied themselves; no one said a word, creating an abnormal quiet, extremely abnormal quiet. After settling the father in, Qian Hongming returned to the passenger seat and said softly to Liu Jun: “You don’t need to drive so fast now, it seems…”

Liu Jun didn’t respond and still sped away.

At the hospital, before the car had fully stopped, Qian Hongming said nothing, opened the car door, picked up his father, who had become skin and bones, and headed straight for the emergency area. But Qian Hongying stumbled out of the car door without following, sitting down heavily on the car hood, exhaustedly hanging her head, and covering her face.

Liu Jun remained sitting in the driver’s seat, staring blankly at this enemy before him. A devil was jumping in his heart. He restrained himself repeatedly before moving his hand toward the handbrake. After a long while, he sighed, pulled out the car keys, hesitated for a moment, walked over to place the keys in Qian Hongying’s palm, then turned and walked away.

After walking a few steps, Liu Jun’s chaotic mind realized that Qian Hongying had been sitting in the back seat with Qian’s father the whole time. From her appearance, Qian’s father might be beyond saving. He shouldn’t have looked back, but he did, and in that glance, he saw that Qian Hongying, who was also skin and bones, was wearing only a thin sweater on such a cold night and seemed to be shivering in the night wind. Liu Jun’s heart softened. He took off his suit jacket, walked back a few steps to hastily drape it over Qian Hongying’s shoulders, then quickly fled like avoiding a plague god, jumping into the nearest taxi.

Qian Hongying was shocked, looking up blankly at the taxi’s taillights gradually disappearing into the distance, but she had no strength to react, still not moving toward the emergency room. The suit jacket on her shoulders had already brought some warmth to her cold heart.

Strength finally returned to her body bit by bit. Qian Hongying slowly walked to the emergency room and, as expected, saw her brother standing dazed in the corridor outside the emergency room door.

“Gone?”

Qian Hongming didn’t answer, turning his face toward the room where their cold father lay on the hospital bed. The siblings looked inside together, neither saying a word, but neither shedding a tear. For almost ten years, they had been preparing for this moment day and night, but when it finally arrived, they felt only complete numbness and total exhaustion.

People flowed back and forth around them, pushing them inch by inch toward the wall. They already knew clearly what to do next, but both had empty eyes without focus. The fluorescent white light made their faces colorless.

At the other end of the city, Liu Jun stared with wide eyes, his hands trained on the piano, hammering the keyboard like wind and rain. But when the mouse clicked “send,” he realized this home wasn’t connected to the internet. He stared at the long letter written to his girlfriend and pounded the dining table thunderously. He deeply regretted how he could have done such a heartless, brainless thing tonight—it was as if he were possessed. Now his only outlet was to confide in his girlfriend, but this avenue was also blocked. He didn’t use the phone because on the phone, he would only say stoically that it was a nice, cool autumn day. He sat holding his head for a long time, then resolutely stood up, rushed out the door, and ran around the residential complex at night.

Yang Li was returning home late when she happened to see Liu Jun running past the main entrance. Slightly tipsy, she laughed happily, convinced that Liu Jun was a simple and talented big boy. Just now, Ren Xia’er had mentioned that Liu Jun was quite good, but a big boy—where was the masculine appeal?

Yang Li’s heart was particularly drawn to the other man’s eyes, which had suppressed panic earlier. Such eyes seemed familiar in the depths of her heart. What was that man’s name? She hadn’t paid attention earlier. She rummaged through her bag for the business card received at the bar. Qian Hongming—hehe, not a very clever name, and also with an unimpressive status. Yes, where were there still people for her to look up to admiringly? She extended her middle finger to gently flick away the teardrop at the corner of her eye. Her high heels struck the concrete floor of the garage, each sound lonelier than the last. Even loneliness was like lotus roots with trailing threads, trying to hold hands with fading echoes, desperately lingering behind Yang Li.

That night, many people suffered from insomnia.

Yang Li’s eldest brother, Yang Xun, hearing about such a young man with a clean background, specifically put down his work at hand and came to Shi Yiji to personally investigate. When someone announced the arrival, he stood at the office door, examining Liu Jun with eyes that had seen countless people while receiving the first copy of Liu Jun’s newly printed business card.

Liu Jun also sized up the man before him, not understanding why this boss would mobilize such forces to receive him. Was it for his sister, Fourth Miss Yang? Liu Jun saw that Yang Xun had sharp eyes set in deep sockets, a build of less than five foot seven but full of explosive power—clearly a person with vigorous energy and tough methods.

After the two entered the office and exchanged brief pleasantries, Yang Xun felt he had already figured out this almost transparently clear Liu Jun’s temperament and character. He made a phone call to summon Chief Engineer Mr. Wang to accompany Liu Jun to the workshop to see the equipment. Yang Xun expected that Mr. Wang, in his fifties with extremely senior qualifications, would be displeased with this arrangement, which would give him another chance to understand Liu Jun’s character.

Liu Jun naturally saw Mr. Wang’s reluctance. Even Old Huang had to be defiant in front of him, let alone Shi Yiji’s chief engineer, who was twice his age—in this industry, every year of experience was precious. Therefore, as soon as they went out, he said very honestly: “I dare not trouble Chief Wang. Please have Chief Wang arrange another engineer to lead the way. Walking around such a large Shi Yiji would be tiring enough.”

“Hehe, no problem. Shi Yiji isn’t just this big—there’s also the suburban branch factory.” Since Liu Jun was so tactful, Chief Wang became calm and peaceful—after all, he was a cultured and refined person. Currently, the city factory uses all old equipment, while the suburban branch mostly uses Japanese imported equipment. Where do you plan to start looking?”

Liu Jun thought for a moment: “Could we start with testing equipment first?”

Chief Wang looked deeply at Liu Jun and led him to a second-floor building covered with vines. Experts know each other with just a gesture. Those in this industry don’t need to inquire about credentials or qualifications—as long as they discuss things point by point, what you understand and to what degree becomes crystal clear to each other, impossible to fake. Coming out of the testing center, Chief Wang completely ignored company rules and even showed Liu Jun detailed views of products currently in production. He already knew that this young man lacked practice but had abundant knowledge and insights, perfectly complementing him.

Yang Xun learned that the old and young had chattered at the suburban branch factory. Beyond surprise, he gained a new understanding of Liu Jun. He had always been extremely troubled by the Shi Yiji factory that came bundled with purchasing the Shi Yiji land plot. He didn’t understand the business, and his partner Shen Baotian, who made clothes, also didn’t understand it. In his family, only Yang Li had studied something somewhat related to machinery, but Yang Li was impetuous and hadn’t wanted to touch machines since graduating from university. He could only explore management with Shen Baotian—at least before land development, he had to keep such a large factory from losing money. But he only had Shi Yiji’s original employees available, most of the capable ones having resigned. He really couldn’t dig out any shining potential from those remaining original employees. Liu Jun’s good interaction with Chief Wang made him think: perhaps outside monks could chant sutras?

Liu Jun followed Chief Wang through the branch factory built under Japanese supervision like a fish in water. He saw very regretfully that several excellent CNC machine tools stood cold and idle. Upon inquiry, he learned that after the Japanese withdrew, Shi Yiji’s technical staff had explored extensively but couldn’t figure out their operational linear relationships. After the original processing ended, they had no choice but to let the equipment sit idle. To restart them would require paying a high price for engineers from the equipment manufacturer to come and adjust them, and the manufacturer refused to reveal its core internal technology. Given that the company didn’t produce high-precision products, the two bosses naturally refused to spend such money to operate these CNC machine tools. Liu Jun witnessed technological barriers firsthand for the first time.

“Shi Yiji has been killed by a bunch of bosses whose hearts aren’t in manufacturing,” Chief Wang said with infinite regret. “But because of this imported equipment, we easily obtained high-tech enterprise certification. Very ironic.”

“Chief Wang, I can’t help but say that regardless, even with these few currently idle, Shi Yiji’s equipment is still overkill relative to current products.”

“But who will lead new product development? Leaders change one after another, determining their thinking to be short-term behavior. They see other industries with higher profits. Who wants to do the foolish work of developing new products—something that’s not necessarily successful but requires high investment?”

“Sad.”

“Yes, very sad. But what saddens me most is that our wages can’t retain young technical talent. I watch them come in, and lead them as they grow up. Although I don’t blame them for being unable to endure loneliness and poverty, every time I sign their transfer or resignation papers, my heart aches. Talent in this industry is different from the computer industry—this industry has no miracles, no leaps. What’s needed is solid, year-after-year accumulation. It takes ten or eight years of accumulation before results emerge, but they all leave before five years. Now it’s not just Shi Yiji—I see that the entire society has a huge gap in mechanical engineers, a gap similar to that during the Cultural Revolution. Tell me, what will we do in the future? Can our country be saved by selling clothes and shoes to foreigners?”

Liu Jun was speechless. He opened his mouth wanting to say something, but first thought of his one-year commitment. He was ashamed to speak in front of Chief Wang.

At this moment Yang Xun called, asking him and Chief Wang to meet at Haoyuan Restaurant.