Having figured it out, the matter was just that simple. But even though he understood it clearly, his heart still felt uncomfortable—no one likes to hear the sound of hopeful bubbles bursting.
However, Liu Jun harbored a vague worry in his heart. Mr. An’s abnormal attitude, which was out of sync with his company’s situation, made Liu Jun suspect his role in Mr. An’s chess game. He further combined his years of observations since returning to the country to speculate about Mr. An’s next move. Without much hesitation, he didn’t mind the trouble and called Mr. An again, tentatively suggesting that his company was establishing a second-tier factory and was purchasing equipment in large quantities. High-quality second-hand equipment was their first choice. If Mr. An was financially tight and needed to sell equipment, he was willing to pay a fair price and guaranteed immediate cash payment, promising not to delay anyone, especially not Mr. An. Liu Jun heard Mr. An laugh over the phone, saying he was very appreciative of his friend’s help in times of need, but currently wasn’t considering selling assets. When the day came that he truly couldn’t hold on anymore, he definitely wouldn’t be polite about it. Liu Jun could tell that Mr. An had no intention of considering selling machinery and equipment. Over there, the company couldn’t even pay wages anymore, and many workers’ families couldn’t afford the essential winter heating fees. If this wasn’t being unable to hold on, what was? When would it count as being unable to hold on and ready to sell assets?
Throwing a stone to test the path—what mattered was the sound the stone made when it hit the ground. Mr. An’s reaction further confirmed Liu Jun’s certainty about Mr. An’s next chess move. On Sunday, he went to the new house for DIY work again. Cui Bingbing carried the child along to join the fun. Cui Bingbing loved the feeling of the whole family being together. While Liu Jun worked on the special corrosion-resistant screws for kitchen and bathroom ceiling installations, he explained his concerns about Mr. An to his wife. Cui Bingbing wasn’t surprised by this—Mr. An’s little schemes had been commonplace locally for years. So many small and medium-sized state-owned enterprises had undergone restructuring this way. The former heads of state enterprises would smoothly transform into current private enterprise bosses, with seamless transitions and no obstacles whatsoever.
Working in the bank, Cui Bingbing was well-versed in corporate affairs. She gave Liu Jun a very targeted example. For instance, a certain pharmaceutical company that originally belonged to the state had patiently sustained losses for three consecutive years, losing so much that key personnel jumped ship. When the enterprise seemed to be hanging by a thread, it suddenly underwent restructuring—restructuring that followed trends and won popular support. Still the same leader, still the same team, yet that very year, they turned losses into profits, achieving great profits that made the key personnel who thought they had wisely jumped ship deeply regret their decisions. Looking back, it turned out that the leader had patiently been transferring assets over those three years, step by step, dragging the enterprise into becoming a burden on the municipal government’s mind. However, after the establishment of local State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commissions in 2004, such incidents became less frequent and more covert.
The example Cui Bingbing mentioned was exactly what Liu Jun had been considering. He laughed, “But when my father took over Yuejin Factory, that factory was genuinely losing money.”
“Well, you don’t need to clear yourself of that, haha. Your phone—Dongdong is looking for you.”
After listening to Shen Huadong’s phone call, Liu Jun looked at Cui Bingbing with a puzzled expression: “That bachelor doesn’t know what scheme he’s plotting. He says he wants to bring a girlfriend who’s a Chinese language teaching assistant at the university to meet friends. He says I’m someone who looks honest, reliable, and suitable for family life, which would prove that his circle of friends consists of good people, making him a good person too. He also insisted that we absolutely must not call him by his full name, but must call him Dongdong.”
“What’s this about? Fooling outsiders—that’s not right. I won’t cooperate with him, brother.”
“Cooperate with what? Can I cooperate, brother?” A voice came from outside the open door. Liu Jun turned to look and was surprised to see Qian Hongming’s whole family visiting unexpectedly. Though it was the weekend, Qian Hongming dressed casually at home, but Liu Jun could tell at a glance he was wearing Purple Label Ralph Lauren. In contrast, Jia Li dressed cleanly and simply, truly casual for home, and Xiao Suihua wasn’t dressed very luxuriously either. Upon entering, Xiao Suihua headed straight for little sister Dandan, very carefully using her little finger to touch the baby’s small face. Dandan usually hated having people touch her, but she was perfectly content with little children’s caresses. Even though Xiao Suihua’s touching lacked technique—grabbing at eyebrows and beard indiscriminately—she didn’t get annoyed, and even danced with her hands and feet, laughing happily.
“In a while, Shen Huadong is bringing his girlfriend. He wants us all to call him Dongdong, not use his surname. It seems he just fell in love at first sight with a girlfriend and is very nervous about her attitude. The girlfriend has a gentle personality, so he’s trying hard to create an atmosphere, pretending to be a good young man who built himself up from nothing. Hongming, take off your watch—it’s too flashy. Wife, take off your ring—look, Jia Li isn’t wearing one either.”
Everyone laughed as they removed their luxury items, but they also had no intention of letting the pretending-to-be-innocent Shen Huadong off the hook. Soon, Shen Huadong arrived with a girl with clear eyes named Qu Wei. However, Qu Wei was no longer young—probably close to thirty—and her temperament was completely incompatible with Shen Huadong’s, though she bore some resemblance to Jia Li. Seeing Qian Hongming made Shen Huadong somewhat nervous, and he hurried over to shake hands and exchange pleasantries. Qian Hongming understood and said, “We brought A’Jun some discs, so this engineer won’t just look at blueprints every day without appreciating art.”
Only then did Shen Huadong relax. “Don’t ask for a scolding—A’Jun will chase after you with lectures about how art can be quantified, saying what he does is rational art.”
“Hehe, someone really can hold grudges.” Liu Jun laughingly explained to everyone, “Last time I argued with Dongdong, saying that art and aesthetics can all be quantified. When the debate reached its climax, I brought out the golden weapon of aesthetics: the golden ratio. Look, do you find this person’s lines pleasing to the eye? That’s precisely because this person’s upper and lower body proportions conform to the golden ratio. This shows that although people’s aesthetic judgment seems emotional, when statistically analyzed, it follows patterns that can be summarized into a numerical value. Dongdong lost a meal over this, and he’s been holding a grudge. This petty person.”
“You’re the one making false accusations first. Comrades, that day A’Jun took off his belt to eat at my expense—he devoured one Australian red lobster sashimi, two servings of Australian large abalone sashimi. I was wondering how he wasn’t afraid of getting diarrhea when he took it upon himself to order a portion of black pepper red wine grilled Australian lamb chops, saying it would neutralize the previous two sashimi dishes. His eating manner was ferocious. Bingbing, don’t laugh—I warn you to tie up his big mouth before bed in the future, so he won’t dream of grabbing your arm and gnawing on it like something.”
Everyone knew Shen Huadong’s financial capacity and knew this meal wouldn’t bankrupt him, but his teaching assistant girlfriend, Qu Wei, looked astonished. Only Qian Hongming kindly added, “After eating this meal, Dongdong had to eat pickled vegetables for a month.”
Shen Huadong immediately realized he had revealed something inappropriate in his words, and he was grateful for Qian Hongming’s reminder. “Not just pickled vegetables—I lived on borrowed money for that month.”
Cui Bingbing also caught the problem and laughingly changed the subject: “Engineering students think strangely. I never understand—look, even the discs borrowed from Hongming are quantified: ‘Seven Samurai,’ ‘Seven Deadly Sins,’ ‘Rhapsody in August,’ ‘Ten Minutes Older.’ Hongming, you understand him.”
Qu Wei finally spoke after entering: “Excuse me, after you finish watching, may I borrow them for a week? They’re all excellent films.”
“Take out your phone and record my home number. When you have time, you can come to my house with Dongdong to get discs. My wife Jia Li has collected many original discs, many of which are very niche—you might like them.” Qian Hongming’s attitude was amiable, and his words were thoughtful, truly helping Shen Huadong win over Qu Wei. When Qian Hongming was saying the phone number, Shen Huadong also took out his phone to record it. Liu Jun noticed and smiled secretly—courting a girlfriend cost quite a bit; even his phone had been upgraded to mid-range quality.
“My classmate and close friend is Dongdong’s close friend too. Why wait for some future free time? Everyone’s free today. You two call a taxi at the door and go to Hongming’s house together. I won’t accompany you—when our Dandan starts crying and fussing, her voice is loud and would disturb you all.”
“Uh, I drove the company car, no need to call a taxi.” Shen Huadong patted Liu Jun, then patted Qian Hongming’s shoulder. Seeing that Qian Hongming was very agreeable to him bringing his girlfriend over, he finally relaxed. For the first time ever, he felt Qian Hongming was a good person—very loyal, very considerate and attentive.
After the large group left, Liu Jun could finally laugh out loud: “Dongdong is completely serious this time.”
“How can you tell?”
“Dongdong has rarely looked at his girlfriend’s expressions when doing things in the past. This time he almost looked once after every sentence, obviously caring very much in his heart.”
“You never look at my expression when speaking—does that mean you don’t care much?” However, Cui Bingbing didn’t want an answer and continued asking: “Qu Wei doesn’t look like the breathtakingly beautiful type Dongdong previously claimed to pursue. At most, she has better skin, more regular features, and quieter mannerisms. But no matter how good her skin is, it can’t compare to someone in their twenties. What does Dongdong care about in her literature?”
“Feminine charm! Qu Wei has that kind of unflappable feminine charm—the kind where if you’re in love, whether in life or death, you’ll be together for a lifetime. It doesn’t matter whether the lover is the wealthy Shen Huadong or the poor Shen Huaxi. Jia Li is the same way—this seems to be an instinct.”
“Is instinct more valuable, or is reason more valuable? My reason tells me that regardless of life or death, I want to be with you. Does this count as lacking feminine charm?”
“People have difficulty finding the rational, so they take the lazy route of seeking the instinctual.”
Cui Bingbing felt these words were insincere, but could only take them with a grain of salt. Because Dandan started fussing, she had to begin dealing with her daughter. After Dandan had eaten her fill and was sleeping in another small room, Cui Bingbing closed the door and came out, saying to Liu Jun: “I’ve been thinking about something. You originally hoped to compete with Mr. An’s company for market share through the Donghai No. 1 project. Now that Mr. An is taking restructuring action, after he succeeds, will you still be able to compete with him?”
“I’m temporarily not thinking about competing for market share. After all, his restructuring has both advantages and disadvantages for me. From now on, they’ll also be a private enterprise and won’t have advantages over me in terms of products entering large state-owned enterprises. Moreover, I believe that given the inertia of the people over there, they may not get on track very quickly. I’m thinking that when Mr. An asked me when I could complete development, he seemed in no hurry, preferring delivery in 2007. Is his restructuring schedule set for 2007? He hopes the research results will be applied after restructuring. Furthermore, very likely, the funding for scientific research cooperation with my company is the last straw that breaks their company’s back. Although their engineers often come over to participate in research and understand progress, this can’t prevent some uninformed people from wild speculation. I might have to bear some responsibility for their restructuring.”
“Doesn’t Mr. An need to give you a heads-up to explain the situation?”
“He holds the power to release the final payment, so he doesn’t need to worry about my cooperation or lack thereof. He regularly audits every account here and knows that my Donghai No. 1 accounts are set up separately, with no discrepancies to be found. He knows that all I have left to do is keep my mouth shut, and I will do that.”
Cui Bingbing exclaimed in shock: “This man is truly a formidable figure.”
“Damn it, always being forced into moral degradation, with lower and lower bottom lines.”
“Hey, don’t say that, don’t say that. If you lead the effort and overcome all difficulties and obstacles to successfully develop Donghai No. 1, that would be an immeasurably meritorious deed. What do minor twists and turns in progress matter? They can all be written off.”
“Procedural correctness is very important. Don’t be nervous—I’m just talking. Right now, I’m too busy pursuing correct results to have time to worry about procedures.”
“You have too many rules in your heart, and you take those rules seriously—you live too tiredly. Unlike Mr. An and his kind, the rules in their hearts are meant to constrain others. That kind of person can become a formidable figure.”
“Is it happy to violate rules and pursue wealth with an internally conflicted heart?”
“Do you have a choice?”
Liu Jun was stunned by the question and immediately awakened. “No.” Now he wasn’t just one person—he was a convener. If his pursuits lagged far behind his colleagues’, if he couldn’t satisfy his colleagues’ pursuits, then the result would be predictable: he would be abandoned. Since he had already chosen to walk this path, there was only one way back—complete abandonment. But could he do that? Liu Jun discovered that his concepts were so neither-here-nor-there, so impractical.
But people were just this neither-here-nor-there. Knowing that an impractical heart was helpless against reality, they still revered that impractical heart, just like Jia Li being kept as a golden bird in a cage by the most practical Qian Hongming, just like Qu Wei being deeply cherished by the worldly-wise Shen Huadong.