Song Yunhui accepted the paper and only then let Liu Jun leave. But Liu Jun left dejectedly – he hoped Song Yunhui would grab him and identify him as the only treasure who could complete the project, promising sufficient resources to let him experiment freely. Unfortunately, he wasn’t. He thought glumly that this opportunity might have brushed past him. He was frustrated at not being able to get involved in such an exciting project. After all, this project had Donghai’s financial investment and ready downstream customers waiting to receive the goods – the external conditions were extremely favorable, while all the shortcomings came from himself. Himself!

Liu Jun snorted forcefully through his nose, and when he looked up, he discovered that he had somehow mysteriously returned to Song Yunhui’s office building. But what did he want to say to Song Yunhui? Did he dare write guarantees like other enterprise managers? Liu Jun fell silent for a while, then slunk back to the parking lot. But Song Yunhui saw this scene and called Liu Jun’s mobile phone, asking quite amiably: “Want to do it?”

“I want it so much. But my heart is willing, but my strength is insufficient.”

“You could bring in investment capital for equity participation.”

“I’ve had this kind of thought before, but in conversations, most investors have a quick-success mentality and oppose my large investments in R&D. If funding holders learned I was directing funds toward Donghai No. 1, I suspect no one would dare invest.”

“If you have new plans, tell me immediately.”

Song Yunhui’s attention encouraged Liu Jun to some extent. Returning to Tengfei required passing through the city center. He sent a text message to Cui Bingbing suggesting dinner together, but received no reply. So he sent another message saying he would wait at a certain restaurant during a certain period, rain or shine, but still received no reply. Liu Jun sat alone in the restaurant, slowly eating dinner, watching the door the entire time, but never saw that figure who was called plump in the past and now called fat in today’s nationwide pursuit of thinness. He could only pay the bill and dejectedly send another text message explaining he had already left. Not hearing from Cui Bingbing for several days made Liu Jun somewhat panicked. But he was unwilling to chase after Cui Bingbing inexplicably and overturn his previous statements. So let time solve the problem again.

Returning to the R&D center villa, he saw that the Caiju Building to the east still had lights on. He was accustomed to this – company R&D personnel arriving late and leaving early was routine, but he still walked over to take a look. He saw it was Tan Gong and Little Ke, along with four others, gathered around a whiteboard drawing, erasing, and discussing intensely. In the deep quiet of night, Liu Jun could hear clearly from outside the door – they were talking about Donghai No. 1 matters. At this moment, Liu Jun felt like a villain, that kind of old fogey with fossilized thinking. When his colleagues were working overtime for free, contributing to Donghai No. 1, what was he, who claimed daily that technology was his life, doing? He was stifling his colleagues’ passion.

Liu Jun stepped back a few paces, hesitated for a while, then walked inside. He saw the rough draft ideas everyone had worked out – naturally, the parts that Tan Gong and the others could handle. When Liu Jun was carefully reviewing, several people around him watched eagerly, hoping that although Liu Jun verbally denied it, his heart was wavering. Therefore, when Liu Jun looked up, he met these eight eyes full of expectation. Liu Jun was speechless. Under everyone’s stare, he could only look again at the drafted ideas. After repeating this several times, he ultimately couldn’t make a sound and finally shook his head and left. He felt everyone’s gazes burning through his back as he fled in defeat.

After a while, Sun Gong called to comfort him: “Manager Liu, Little Tan told me about it. We all know you’re in a difficult position and don’t want to put additional pressure on you. Don’t overthink it – this matter depends on fate, and the company’s fate just hasn’t arrived yet.”

“I’m calculating how to operate it… sigh…”

Sun Gong consoled him for a long time before hanging up. But Liu Shitang called to inquire, asking if he still remembered those two small foundry owners who were forced out by the industrial zone management committee director, having Liu Jun guess how much those two small bosses might be worth.

Liu Jun was feeling irritated and casually said, “Five million.”

Liu Shitang laughed: “I knew you’d guess wrong – even I misjudged. One of them just bought all the penthouse units of a nice residential complex – eight units total, with a 50% down payment. Tell me, how much would that cost…”

Liu Jun sensitively asked: “Are you with that someone again? Did she tell you this?”

“Nonsense. This afternoon, I ran into his wife at the securities company VIP room – her hands were also ink-black. The husband runs the factory, the wife trades stocks. Calculating this way, their assets are more than five million. You wouldn’t have thought it – such a dirty little factory like a turtle has such high output.”

“Dad, are you teaching me that I’m investing too much in R&D?”

“I don’t oppose your investment, but I oppose excessive investment.”

“If I reasonably arrange cash flow and guarantee normal factory production…”

“Don’t deceive yourself – it’s impossible. You get what you pay for. Don’t think you’re an immortal who can conjure things with your eyes closed. I see you’ve been stuck in a rut these past few days. How about this – go play for a few days, relax, completely forget about Donghai No. 1. I’ll watch the company for a few days.”

Liu Jun didn’t hesitate and agreed immediately. He’d been facing difficulties both internally and externally recently and needed to arrange time to relax. He looked at a map of China for a long time, his gaze falling on the west. He sent Cui Bingbing a text message asking if she had time recently to go to Xinjiang, wondering if she wanted to cross China’s largest desert together. As usual, no reply. Cui Bingbing was determined that replying meant compromise – she couldn’t obediently compromise under Liu Jun’s few text message baits without getting any explanation.

Liu Jun decided to go all in, pulling out a packing list and sending it to Cui Bingbing’s email. This distraction reduced his inner guilt considerably.

While Liu Jun was preparing for the Xinjiang trip, Qian Hongming brought his wife and daughter, retracing the mountain village path to find Aunt Fu. In this almost isolated place, every household that had people home generally left their doors wide open without precaution, as if outsiders could step right in. Only Aunt Fu’s house had its door closed. Qian Hongming wasn’t sure if anyone was inside, but as soon as he knocked, the wooden door almost immediately opened to reveal an upright old woman whose expression contrasted sharply with the bright spring sunshine outside.

Jiali couldn’t help but tightly hug the serious Xiao Suihua. Qian Hongming acted as if nothing was wrong: “Hello, Auntie, sorry to disturb you. My daughter is seeing tomatoes growing on branches for the first time. May we pick a ripe one? I originally wanted to learn from the People’s Liberation Army and put ten yuan under a stone, haha, but I was afraid you might not see it and think someone stole them, getting angry for nothing.”

Qian Hongming’s words were gentle, his manner elegant, and his attitude sincere, making it impossible to guard against him. Aunt Fu’s vigilant face relaxed slightly as she said flatly: “City children haven’t seen these things. If you like them, go ahead and pick – they’re not worth much money anyway. They’ll just rot if we can’t finish eating them.”

“How can you bear to let such good tomatoes rot? Can’t you take them to the market to sell? Besides, this place has clear mountains and clean water without pollution, exactly the green environmental protection that’s advocated nowadays. Is it because it’s too far from the market?”

“Yes, a few tomatoes wouldn’t even cover the round-trip fare. Go ahead and pick-pick as many as you want, but don’t pick the unripe ones, they’re bitter and won’t ripen at home.”

Qian Hongming thought this Aunt Fu was quite nice – she was generous, unlike some people who immediately raise prices when they hear someone wants tomatoes, trying to profit wherever possible. He thanked her and walked with Jiali and Xiao Suihua, all smiling, to the yard beside the house. Aunt Fu still watched the family somewhat vigilantly. She could see they were high-class people, and from the way the man showed consideration for the elderly and poor, she could tell he was well-educated. Seeing the little girl holding a freshly picked tomato with both hands and singing happily, a trace of a smile appeared on Aunt Fu’s face.

Jiali took photos of the tomatoes and little yellow flowers with her camera, snapping pictures left and right. Qian Hongming cleaned the ripest tomato, took out his Swiss Army knife to cut it, and Xiao Suihua eagerly ate the first bite. He also tasted a small piece and said to Aunt Fu: “Very delicious, much better than what we usually buy at the market – very fresh and sweet. Tomatoes should taste like this. Auntie, did you choose a good variety?”

“What you eat in the city is all forced to grow big in greenhouses, not like here, where I removed the plastic covering early. When you grow things for yourself to eat, why rush them to grow so fast? Just wait slowly for the sun to ripen them before eating.”

“Auntie, your vegetables, peppers, and cucumbers must also be delicious. May I pick some of those too? They’re all good things you can’t even buy in the market. Auntie, you name a price.”

Aunt Fu saw that the family truly liked the vegetables she tended in her spare time and refused to accept money, no matter what, feeling quite proud inside. Under Aunt Fu’s guidance, Qian Hongming picked two full plastic bags of vegetables, left one hundred yuan, and left. Aunt Fu chased after him to return the money. Qian Hongming said he’d come to pick again next time, also saying he’d taken a fancy to Aunt Fu’s free-range chickens. The hundred yuan could stay with Aunt Fu – if it was too much, they’d make up the difference, if too little, they’d add more – there would be many opportunities in the future. Aunt Fu chased Qian Hongming’s car but couldn’t force the money back on him. Watching the family warmly say goodbye and drive away in a cloud of dust, Aunt Fu was touched and thought: birds of a feather flock together – the whole family was good people, even the child was so well-mannered and polite.

After they’d gone far, Jiali praised her husband for his quick wit in knowing how to skillfully use the surrounding environment. When a person’s soul is wounded, if others simply give charity, that person might not necessarily accept it. Even if others don’t say “Hey, come eat,” it can still hurt the recipient’s pride. But Qian Hongming seized upon Aunt Fu’s small achievement to sing high praises, then sent the money in a genuinely sincere purchasing manner, making the other party feel much more at ease. Only someone who truly wants to do good would be so targeted and patient in designing charitable methods, not only preventing the recipient from feeling ashamed but inspiring pride in the recipient’s heart. Jiali liked her husband’s breadth of mind. She was just someone who could think of things, while her husband was someone who could put thoughts into action – only this made him more worthy of respect.

Qian Hongming didn’t take credit, just saying that walking through the marketplace daily, speaking human words to humans and ghost words to ghosts, such trivial skills weren’t worth a smile. Back in the city, he distributed some vegetables to several friends, who all appreciated his thoughtfulness. A family of three plus a housekeeper ultimately couldn’t eat so many vegetables. He also gave a package to Liu Jun, explaining the whole process and telling Liu Jun not to interfere from now on – all actions should follow orders to avoid spoiling things. He planned to approach Aunt Fu step by step with patient persistence, first dissolving the wariness in Aunt Fu’s heart, then acting according to circumstances later, ideally inspiring Aunt Fu’s initiative. He also told Liu Jun that Aunt Fu wasn’t bad, just had taken an extreme approach. You can’t write a person off permanently – you have to give people chances.

Liu Jun was very grateful and quite admired Qian Hongming’s patience. Only a true brother would have the heart to help him handle such seemingly minor matters so thoughtfully.