After seeing off Mr. An, Liu Jun had no time to go home for dinner. He bought several pieces of bread on the way and munched on them as he rushed to the football field. A group of friends from the car forum had arranged to play against the travel forum’s football team. With sports facilities scarce in the city, they had finally managed to book an evening slot for the weekend. Even though it was drizzling, Liu Jun and his friends had to brave the elements. Cui Bingbing brought Liu Jun his jersey, agreed on the time to meet after the match, then slipped away with her newly purchased DSLR camera to borrow books from Jiali. She had recently followed her husband’s lead by registering on the forum Liu Jun frequented, but after wandering around, she eventually settled on the food section. She had originally thought that with her worldly experience and superior cooking skills, she would easily outshine everyone on the food forum. However, after posting photos of a few dishes she had made, without even waiting for others to reply, she had already realized with embarrassment that her photography skills were terrible. With her dull, lifeless photos alone, she could never convince anyone of how delicious her food was. So Cui Bingbing thought of Jiali, who loved taking pictures everywhere with that huge camera, and the Qian family’s book collection also included photography books.
Cui Bingbing had originally wanted to cheer for Liu Jun, but she was usually very busy and only had a little time on weekends to develop her hobbies. She figured that the car forum was full of playboys with plenty of beautiful women cheering them on, generating wild hormones, so she didn’t need to squat on the sidelines and dampen Liu Jun’s spirits. Just like when she stared at the TV watching bodybuilders’ six-pack abs, Liu Jun would also give her space. She had always convinced herself to give each other sufficient freedom, though she had to endure a bit of jealousy.
Cui Bingbing was gently and patiently taught by Jiali for a full hour. Only after her memory card was filled with dozens of photos of Xiao Suihua did Cui Bingbing finally let Jiali go and drive back to the football field to pick up Liu Jun. Having never had substantial contact with Jiali before, just casual conversation, Cui Bingbing had looked down on Jiali for being content as a housewife. However, after being patiently and meticulously taught by Jiali for an hour, starting from the principles, Cui Bingbing realized that the knowledge in Jiali’s mind was not simple – it was a combination of solid engineering and dazzling artistry, just like how Liu Jun, that stubborn engineer, actually had great musical sensibilities, while she, a liberal arts person, could… cook.
Carrying a sense of regret for Jiali’s talent being like pearls before swine, Cui Bingbing arrived at the football field right on time. The match was still in fierce battle, and it was still raining, but the players could be seen getting weak in the legs – after all, they were all amateurs. Looking at the scoreboard, the pampered young masters of the car forum had lost to the backpackers by two goals. Cui Bingbing huddled under her umbrella, looking for her husband. Despite all the players being covered in sweat and mud, completely disheveled, Cui Bingbing could find Liu Jun, whom she had been feeding until he got a bit chubby, with her eyes closed – this was called telepathy. What made her happy was that Liu Jun quickly sensed her presence too and waved at her. Cui Bingbing observed in all directions, her face still wearing a sweet smile, but her eyes glanced toward a woman nearby, standing alone with an umbrella. She had a strong feeling that when Liu Jun had just waved at her, that woman had given her several sharp looks.
Cui Bingbing was never one to be trifled with. Since alarm bells were ringing in her heart, she straightforwardly went over and sat face to face with that woman. This was a beautiful woman – big eyes, small mouth, well-maintained, expensively dressed, and most dangerously, she looked familiar. But even more dangerous was that the beauty seemed to recognize her, giving her one cold look and completely ignoring her. Cui Bingbing’s alarm bells rang even louder as she carefully memorized the beauty’s features before walking far away.
After a while, the match ended. Cui Bingbing watched Liu Jun gather with his teammates to talk, then shake hands with the backpacker team, fool around for a bit, then walk over listlessly, covered in stinking sweat, mud, and rainwater. Cui Bingbing had just said “Congratulations on losing by two goals” when Liu Jun suddenly accelerated, sprinting over to embrace Cui Bingbing in a bear hug, playfully wiping his dirty palms all over the back of her clothes. Cui Bingbing laughed uncontrollably, unable to move while being held, twisting her face this way and that, screaming to prevent Liu Jun from getting close to her.
After the two had finally fooled around enough, Cui Bingbing looked for that solitary woman with the umbrella, but she had long since vanished without a trace. She told Liu Jun about this particular woman, and Liu Jun immediately frowned upon hearing her description. Yu Shanshan? Coming specifically to watch him? After all these years, acting crazy again. Shen Huadong also came over listlessly, having held back from mentioning Yu Shanshan’s presence at the match. Only when they got in the car did he give Cui Bingbing a rough outline of the situation. Only then did Cui Bingbing suddenly understand – this was the beauty she had encountered at the supermarket before, whom she had angered into leaving. She hadn’t expected that beauty to still be paying attention to Liu Jun. Cui Bingbing looked gloomily at her husband, who, even when exhausted, still looked down on her driving skills and refused to hand over the steering wheel. This man had too many romantic entanglements.
“A’San, stop just thinking random thoughts and help me think about this: I’ve never given anything to Mr. Song, but with this Mr. An, should I give something or not? My mind keeps coming back to this whenever I have a free moment.”
“Did Mr. An drop any hints?”
“No, we’ve only met twice, both times in public with many eyes watching. Even if anyone wanted to hint at something, there was no opportunity.”
“Give! Giving is the normal state of affairs. Mr. Song is abnormal – he’s a sage. Even if Mr. An refuses, at least you’ve expressed your intentions.”
“There’s another problem here. In this collaboration, the main credit goes to Mr. Song. Today, when Mr. An and I were discussing a clause in the agreement about future research results sharing, he asked me who would benefit more from just this clause alone. I immediately had an epiphany – he benefits more. You can imagine, if East Sea No. 1 goes into production smoothly and Mr. An’s products pass smoothly under Mr. Song’s oversight, you can watch – very soon, Yellow Sea No. 1, South Sea No. 1, and others will quickly follow suit, following the vine to find Mr. An. Moreover, as Mr. Song told me before, unless necessary, their large state enterprises are unwilling to cooperate with private enterprises – they can’t bear the responsibility or risk. Plus, between state enterprises themselves, there are already thousands of connections, making it easy to establish relationships. You can imagine that the vast majority of the future market will be occupied by Mr. An and his company. If I want to get rich, I must find another path and switch products.”
“Even so, the result of Mr. An’s decision is to put national money into your pocket for your personal use. But when this project succeeds and Mr. An’s company makes money, that money goes into the national treasury, and he only draws a salary.”
“Yes, the nature is different. Under these circumstances, how much should I give?”
Although Cui Bingbing had transferred from the Big Four banks to a joint-stock bank, she was still in banking after all, handling money as a financier, but she wasn’t very familiar with this kind of situation, so she immediately prepared to call Liu Shitang. “Uh, you haven’t thought about it yourself, have you?”
“I’m planning to give a watch, over 100,000 yuan.”
Cui Bingbing thought to herself that, relative to the investment amount, 100,000 yuan wasn’t nearly enough. Sure enough, Liu Shitang immediately rejected this on the phone, saying that a 100,000 yuan watch was only enough to test the waters, and told Liu Jun to act quickly and establish his sincerity early. At this critical juncture, he absolutely must not act like a big shot.
“Sigh, the more we talk, the more it sounds like prison-worthy behavior. I’ll go to Hong Kong tomorrow, starting with the watch – what if he’s like Mr. Song? Then… I’ll play it by ear.”
“Those who kill and burn wear golden belts, while those who build bridges and roads leave no corpses behind. Have you thought about the upper limit?”
“Let Mr. An suggest it. Don’t worry, it’s not like I haven’t done this before. Tomorrow, help me handle the bridge-building and road-paving business. Do you have time? My advisor from university, who always thought highly of me and wanted me to follow him for direct master’s and PhD studies, is bringing several graduate students to our R&D center tomorrow to do experiments. Help me receive them – it needs to be taken very seriously. I’ve already arranged accommodation and meals…”
“Is this related to East Sea No. 1? Or is it building bridges and roads for East Sea No. 1?”
“Pure charity. Our R&D center’s equipment, looking across the nation right now, isn’t weak. I need to help my advisor, an academician, who has to seek help everywhere just to experiment. The internal competition in the department is fierce. Supposedly, the annual budget is no less than our investment in the R&D center, but it’s not being used well, and their facilities aren’t as good as ours. I have a compilation of papers published by our department last year – quite a number, but squeezing out the water, there’s less real substance than what we produce. My advisor is just leading the team for a visit, but you must find a way to keep him here. I’ll be back soon and plan to talk with him about… making this place a free graduate research base for them. With support from Mr. An’s side, I shouldn’t be strapped for cash in the coming years, so I can consider giving back, just setting a few more pairs of chopsticks for meals.”
“In short, Master Liu spends money freely and gives gifts in a steady stream. Hey, if that beauty from earlier were your wife, would you still entrust such glorious and arduous tasks to your wife?”
“Don’t mention her to me. I get the shakes whenever I see a pure and innocent woman now.”
Liu Jun learned through friends that Yu Shanshan’s marriage hadn’t fallen apart, which put his mind at ease. But from now on, if the car forum had any group activities, he wouldn’t dare register publicly even if beaten to death. He felt that Yu Shanshan was lurking and spying on him in the car forum. Cui Bingbing was greatly relieved to see this.
Liu Jun left company matters to his father, and Luo Qing left personal matters to his wife and headed to Hong Kong for shopping. How could he possibly buy just one watch? From the first business deal with state enterprises since returning to China, he had already learned from his father that when it comes to greasing palms, it must be comprehensive, taking care of both big and small ghosts. Watches, digital products, cosmetics – he carried back a whole box like a traveling trader. Even if he couldn’t use everything this time, he would certainly need it in the future. This was a country with a long-standing tradition of etiquette.
When he returned to discuss the research-based matter with his advisor, the situation had changed dramatically from three years ago. Three years ago, the company had a thin foundation and small scale, needing to spend a lot of money to unilaterally beg the alma mater to lend its name, helping to mix and get a high-tech enterprise signboard. Now the situation had changed – the alma mater needed him more, and he was happy to add icing on the cake to the high-end R&D center. So they could sit down and negotiate fairly and reasonably. He would provide the venue, equipment, accommodation, and meals, contributing money and effort, while the alma mater would officially establish a plaque at his R&D center, using his center as a graduate training base. Qian Hongming laughed at Liu Jun, saying the purchase price for this golden signboard was a bit too high. Liu Jun also knew the money invested was enough to make a pure gold signboard, but just as Song Yunhui’s continuous support had given Liu Jun his current foothold in high-end products, he also had an obligation to give back his share to society. Moreover, if there were naturally talented materials among his junior fellow students, he would naturally have the advantage of being first to benefit.
Of course, when it came to Mr. An’s territory, Liu Jun couldn’t possibly be so proactive. Mr. An finally returned from Beijing, and Liu Jun immediately flew over uninvited to serve him diligently. Liu Jun wasn’t good at flattery and sweet talk – his speech was rather too straightforward – but he had plenty of topics and wasn’t lonely among technical personnel. However, since Mr. An had been away from home for many days, mountains of work were waiting to be processed. Liu Jun waited for three whole days. During this time, although he discussed contract details with relevant personnel, everyone’s eyes were fixed on the top boss, Mr. An. What could have been decided in one day was dragged out for three days. Liu Jun didn’t smoke himself, but had already bought four cartons of soft Zhonghua cigarettes to distribute like scattered flowers. But having witnessed Mr. An’s absolute authority, Liu Jun naturally kept his gift bag tightly sealed – except for cigarettes, everything else was off the table. He wasn’t the free-spending Master Liu after all. However, he still treated people to meals, eating together for three days straight, daily alcohol tests – the Northeast people’s drinking capacity was indeed no empty boast.
Three days later, he was finally led alone into Mr. An’s office. This office, compared to Song Yunhui’s, was inferior both in area and interior decoration, which seemed to hint at the difference in rank between these two general managers. Of course, it was much better than Liu Jun’s – his office was only fifteen square meters, differing from other colleagues only in having an attached bathroom. When Liu Jun entered, Mr. An was loudly instructing someone in the inner room to wait a moment. Liu Jun hesitated briefly, then took out the watch and placed it in a conspicuous position on Mr. An’s desk.
Mr. An indeed came out from the inner room shortly after, immediately spotting the watch box on the desk. “Colleagues all say your personality doesn’t resemble a southern private business owner, ah, now it does. Did you put this on the desk?”
So Liu Jun’s behavior of not giving gifts and only distributing cigarettes had been interpreted as not resembling a southern private business owner. Liu Jun quickly smiled and said, “Yes, just a small watch. I don’t know how to thank Mr. An for giving me this opportunity. It’s a small token of respect. All our research personnel had already thought we had no chance with East Sea No. 1. As the person in charge, I felt very ashamed of their talents. Fortunately, Mr. An appreciates us…”
Mr. An looked at Liu Jun with a pair of sharp eyes, smiling, staring until Liu Jun felt nervous, not knowing if he had been too clever for his good. Fortunately, Mr. An waved his hand in time to stop Liu Jun from continuing, opened the watch box to admire it himself, saying: “Good watch, good price.” He picked up the watch, tried it on his wrist, then took it off, put it back in the box, and handed it to Liu Jun. “Little Liu, take the watch back. I don’t want it.”
“Mr. An, I have no other intentions. I especially flew to Hong Kong to pick this up for you. It’s a very simple watch – only industry insiders like us in machinery can discover its beauty. I think Mr. An would like it. Please accept it, Mr. An.”
Mr. An coughed lightly and said: “Put it away quickly, or if someone comes in and sees it, it won’t look good. Let’s talk about the contract. What you discussed, I’ve looked at it, basically that’s the idea…”
Under Mr. An’s constant meaningful glances, Liu Jun dejectedly put the watch back in his bag and listened to Mr. An discuss the contract. Because the gift hadn’t been given, Liu Jun felt very uneasy. Even when Mr. An called in legal affairs to arrange immediate contract signing, Liu Jun still felt things were going suspiciously well. Things that go too well always violate natural laws – Liu Jun almost suspected whether this contract, which he had discussed via fax with lawyers, might have loopholes.
When legal affairs took the contract out for stamping, Liu Jun nervously listened to the office door close gently. He thought to himself that the contract was already signed, so he must use sweet words to get the watch delivered. With such a big technical cooperation contract, and Mr. An consistently treating him courteously as a scientist, if he couldn’t even give away a watch, he would be suspected of having an idiotic brain. Based on intuition, Mr. An wasn’t like Mr. Song – Mr. Song was never so polite to him normally. Mr. Song’s attitude toward him was clear – treating a junior he appreciated.
But Mr. An went back to the inner room again. When legal affairs were efficiently completed and the stamping and returned, Mr. An finally came out wearing casual clothes. “I’ve worked hard for nearly half a month on this trip. Come, play golf with me – my hands are itching.”
“I… don’t know how.” Liu Jun only now regrets not learning golf. Qian Hongming had earnestly educated him back then, telling him to treat golf like cigars, like vintage wine, as a tool for high society networking, but he wouldn’t listen, unwilling to waste time on this sport that didn’t consume much physical energy.
“If you don’t know, just come along to relax. Tonight I’ll treat you to Bohai Bay seafood, see how it differs from the seafood in your area. You’re a scientist, so I won’t ask you to drink.”
Liu Jun was dazed by Mr. An’s kindness and followed him downstairs to get in Mr. An’s Audi A8. Seeing that Mr. An didn’t use a driver, he quickly volunteered. While driving, Liu Jun always felt that Mr. An was observing him, scrutinizing him, though he didn’t know why. Mr. An asked about his relationship with Mr. Song from East Sea, and Liu Jun answered truthfully, repeatedly expressing his great admiration for Mr. Song.
Mr. An said that although he and Mr. Song were university classmates from the same year, their ages differed by more than a full twelve-year cycle. He was from the “old three classes,” and by graduation was already over thirty, truly racing against time to work, so busy he couldn’t care for his family or children, making his children suffer many grievances with him. He asked if Liu Jun had met Mr. Song’s children and where Mr. Song’s children were studying. Liu Jun answered truthfully, though not in too much detail – besides, he didn’t know much.
Mr. An, seeing that Song Yunhui was giving Liu Jun exceptional support, knew this was not a casual relationship. He thought Liu Jun couldn’t possibly know only that little, so he smiled and said: “You have a scientist’s temperament, speaking so cautiously, very tight-lipped.”
Liu Jun smiled and said, “I only know this much. Mr. An’s son should be about the same age as Mr. Song’s eldest daughter, right? Has he taken the college entrance exam?”
“Ah, it’s a long story.” It turned out that Mr. An was usually busy with work and rarely had time to supervise his son’s homework. Although his wife had a powerful family background, her education level was ordinary, and she didn’t know the right methods for supervising studies, thus delaying his son’s academic foundation. When Mr. An realized the college entrance exam was approaching and tried to focus on his son’s studies starting from the first year of high school, it was already beyond salvation. Considering China’s abnormal college entrance exam system, they sent their son to study in Australia, where he was currently almost finished with his second year of university. Once he started talking about his son, Mr. An also became chatty.
“Studying abroad is tough. When I studied abroad in my early years, I could still make money doing projects for my boss, but undergraduates going abroad mostly can only work and study part-time.”
“Yes, don’t look at me sitting in good cars and eating at good restaurants here, but that’s all public expense consumption. Every time my son comes home, the way he eats…”
Hearing this, Liu Jun suddenly had an inspiration and quickly said: “Mr. An, we can’t let children suffer no matter how hard things are. How about Mr. An gives me the address in Australia, and I’ll fly over there directly to see the young brother. I have German citizenship, so border crossings are convenient.”
Mr. An finally reluctantly agreed and gave Liu Jun his son’s address in Australia. Only then did Liu Jun’s heart settle. Getting out of the car, he followed Mr. An to learn golf with peace of mind, then unceremoniously joined Mr. An for a meal of Bohai Bay seafood. There was fresh abalone steamed with salt, fresh sea cucumber served cold – Liu Jun ate with great joy. The contract was signed, Mr. An was privately taken care of, and the big stone in his heart was completely removed.
Returning home, after consulting with his father and wife, Cui Bingbing personally handled the matter, exchanging a large sum of US dollars, taking a small portion in cash for overseas travel, and putting the larger portion on a card. Of course, they didn’t forget to bring that watch to give directly to young Mr. An. On the other side, the East Sea No. 1 project at the R&D center was fully launched, with all center personnel going all out and everyone fully committed.