The next day, Liang Sishen received the materials Liu Jun had sent over. Living up to her promise, she took time to carefully review Tengfei Company’s financial situation over the years and the VC’s plans for Tengfei, making notes. Such company data was rarely seen. At first, she thought there might be problems with the financial data Liu Jun provided, but the reports came from professional firms, indicating the data was correct. When her husband came home, she asked if Tengfei was like a big-headed baby—very bright-minded but poor at physical activities. From the data, she could see that over the past year or so, the big-headed baby’s body had been gradually strengthening, possibly due to the market-savvy friend Liu Jun mentioned joining the company.
Song Yunhui smiled knowingly: “Liu Jun is technically oriented. Many factories that started lower than him have surpassed Tengfei in scale over the years. Liu Jun could be considered unsuccessful. However, he has a very good reputation in the industry. Besides saying he can’t manage business, no one has anything bad to say about his products.”
Seeing him with such an advanced and large-scale research institute, I initially thought the industry behind him must be quite substantial. I never expected—never expected—just two factories. No wonder he loves cars so much yet only drives a joint-venture Audi. His enterprise reminds me of those European small and medium companies that, though not large in scale, possess top-notch expertise. That VC has sharp eyes, knowing this company’s sales can expand. But can the big-headed baby run fast?”
Song Yunhui thought for a moment: “He’s also getting impatient? I think his current way of living is quite good—stable, solid, and every step he takes, he can control himself. If he introduces capital, can he still be in charge? For this kind of distinctive enterprise…”
Liang Sishen pulled out a report and spread it in front of her husband: “Look at his cash flow statement. Sucked dry by your Donghai No. 1.”
“Oh no, I forgot about this. Every time his prototype runs, it costs tens of thousands, and running it every few days would drain him dry. Did he complain to you?”
“That wasn’t his meaning. He wants to introduce venture capital to solve his urgent needs. Think of a way to help him. He’s a desperately hungry person now—any food that comes to his door makes his eyes glow green, not caring if what he swallows is toxic or harmful.”
Song Yunhui looked at the report and called his secretary, asking to immediately clarify Mr. An’s situation. After hanging up, he explained: “The biggest difficulty in this matter is having Mr. An in the middle, and Mr. An’s side is very troublesome. Whatever I want to do depends on Mr. An’s situation and attitude. Unfortunately, Liu Jun’s financial strength is too poor. Otherwise, if I had directly assigned it to Liu Jun initially, there wouldn’t be so many complications. I could easily solve the slightly insufficient parts by having the bank designate a loan to him, but his strength is too far behind.”
“Uh, if it were me, I’d also desperately seek VCs. What’s there to consider? First, expand scale—in China, GDP means opportunity.”
Soon, Song Yunhui’s secretary called to report that Mr. An hadn’t come to work for two days, but there were company rumors that Mr. An might be under investigation. Song Yunhui couldn’t help saying: “Eh, wasn’t it said to be settled two months ago? This is fatal.” He immediately called Liu Jun to come over for urgent consultation. At this point, what designated loan could he talk about? If he designated a loan to Liu Jun now, in a few days, Liu Jun might go in for investigation, and he’d be implicated and suspected of irregularities.
Liu Jun didn’t know why Song Yunhui called him over. Cui Bingbing laughingly said, perhaps Mrs. Song, after reading the materials, planned to steal the VC’s love—wasn’t Mrs. Song also in a similar business? Liu Jun thought this made sense and excitedly rushed to the Song house for the meeting. If the very business-savvy President Song got involved, then regardless of VC or PE, he wouldn’t need to consider anything and could just agree. But seeing Song Yunhui was like a bolt from the blue.
“Anyway, I’m departing for Germany the day after tomorrow. I’ll pack more luggage.” After being depressed for a while, Liu Jun finally said this.
“Arrange your work quickly. But my suggestion is you don’t need to avoid the storm—that would give people an abnormal feeling instead.”
“I… will consider it.” Liu Jun was momentarily at a loss. “President Song, please don’t worry about the Donghai No. 1 segment research work. This is now the lifeline of everyone in the research center. Even without anyone urging them, they’ll continue…”
Song Yunhui coughed to interrupt Liu Jun: “You don’t need to hide. As long as you ensure you deliver qualified products to me on schedule, I’ll protect you.”
Liu Jun stared at Song Yunhui for a while, understanding. “Thank you very much, President Song. I’ll cancel this trip to Germany.”
“Better not to go. Even if you went, you wouldn’t be in the mood to enjoy it. Better to go later.” But Song Yunhui still couldn’t rest assured: “Will this affect your capital chain?”
“More or less it will, but as long as I’m around, it can always be solved.”
Liu Jun later had no interest in talking. After sitting for a while, he took his leave. After driving for a while after leaving, he dejectedly stopped by the roadside. He had thought Mr. An had escaped trouble after the Spring Festival commotion, but unexpectedly, it still wasn’t settled. Just from that period of investigating Mr. An, people immediately came to trouble him. He estimated he’d be found again in a few days. People say crimes deserve punishment, but his crime came too unjustly, too passively.
After Liu Jun left, Liang Sishen was surprised by her husband’s behavior. This person, known as the mainland non-stick pan, agreed in one breath to protect Liu Jun, showing how important the Donghai No. 1 project was in Song Yunhui’s heart. However, Song Yunhui explained that he understood Liu Jun’s bribery matter—that kind of forced bribery was an indescribable tangle. Fortunately, he had always had good credibility and no financial dealings with Tengfei, so nothing would happen. But he worried about Liu Jun’s already strained capital chain, which would inevitably affect the progress of research work.
For Song and Liang, Liu Jun’s little matter was truly like a dragonfly skimming water, stirring up ripples. Besides losing a very good local guide when going to Germany, everything else had little impact. But even this smallest impact wasn’t an impact—Song Yunhui just needed to make a phone call, and German locals would be waiting at the airport. However, for Liu Jun, the person involved, the situation was completely different. His mood was very low, anxiously waiting for unknown knocking sounds while worrying about damage to the company from potential harm to his reputation if he were detained for investigation.
But when Cui Bingbing saw her husband enter with a dark face, she said firmly, “With President Song’s word, as long as you don’t go to prison or get a criminal record, nothing matters. You just need to control your mouth—go in saying nothing, knowing nothing. When you come out, you’ll be a legendary hero. These days, those who haven’t been in for investigation several times don’t count as entrepreneurs, and those who go in without talking come out with more respect and trust. Society is like this—you don’t need to worry about anything.”
“Don’t take it for granted. We still have to deal with banks, state-owned large companies, and administrative approval units of all sizes. If I leave such a ‘good’ reputation, they’ll have psychological barriers to seeing me in the future. You don’t know that some things, as long as they put on official airs, assume the worst.”
“Hehe, as long as you’re a strong warrior, they’ll only favor you more. If you don’t believe it, let’s wait and see. Besides not being able to go to Germany to play, nothing else has changed. Eat what you want, sleep when you want, relax. Don’t panic yourself. In short, know nothing when asked.”
“What if Mr. An confesses himself?”
“That’s Mr. An confusing things, remembering wrong. Anyway, it has nothing to do with you. You’re clean as a whistle, pure as a newborn baby. Tomorrow I’ll arrange for you to meet a friend, a famous hero in the industry, to hear his experience. You now have two major advantages: first, foreign citizenship; second, the unfinished Donghai No. 1. Donghai No. 1 is such a big project that President Song bears huge responsibility—not only accountable to those above but also to Hong Kong shareholders. If it fails at your stage and there’s no one to take over, wouldn’t he fight to the death to protect you? He’s protecting himself. So relax, completely relax.”
Liu Jun shook his head: “Stop comforting me, sister. This is crime—crime! Society hasn’t become tolerant enough to condone crime.”
“Only people who haven’t seen the world foolishly think you’re committing a crime. Who in this world doesn’t know what you’re doing? No one expects entrepreneurs like you to be innocent little rabbits. Don’t worry about what those clueless people think—what they think will never concern you. Unless… you can’t think it through yourself. But what’s done is done.”
Liu Jun continued shaking his head: “I’m not that innocent. But I don’t know what’s bothering me. A’San, if I go in, take Dandan to your mother’s for a few days. According to President Song, he won’t let me stay in too long.”
Cui Bingbing gave her husband a withering look: “You think I’m Jiali? If you go in for a few days, I’ll take leave for a few days to specifically hold down the fort at Tengfei for you. Hmph, I’ve never played the boss’s wife role—this time I must enjoy it. Maybe I’ll just usurp your boss’s position. Here, let me make you some sugar water to calm your nerves.”
Liu Jun followed Cui Bingbing into the kitchen: “I’m not afraid, I’m annoyed.”
“Normal, normal. If you weren’t annoyed, you’d be Liu Bei. You know I most hate Liu Bei, that wretched man who’s always tearful. But isn’t there a sacred, motherly broad embrace here? Whatever’s annoying you, just say it.”
Liu Jun was both amused and exasperated: “A’San, can you accompany me in sighing deeply? Your calmness makes me feel very stupid.”
“It’s true. Since I started my career, I’ve already welcomed several seniors who went in for various reasons. The first time, I was nervous around them and quite contemptuous of them. Later, my moral concepts became weak because everyone mixes this way, more or less, cutting corners. Even mothers have to bribe kindergarten teachers hundreds at a time, let alone us. Whoever gets caught is unlucky—those not caught aren’t necessarily clean either. Hey, I’m not calm, I’m numb. Are you comfortable now?”
“Wife, you’re my spiritual pillar.” Liu Jun hugged his wife and praised her sincerely and insincerely, ultimately putting down much of his burden. Some unknown irritations also mysteriously disappeared somewhat.
But he was still worried, most worried about possible loss of control—perhaps Song Yunhui also had blind spots beyond his reach. The next day, under Cui Bingbing’s arrangement, Liu Jun met with a senior who had been in and out several times, consulting on many issues. Many questions he hadn’t even thought of, the senior had already proactively guided him on. Thus, Liu Jun’s next priority was to clarify Mr. An’s downfall—whether someone from above was targeting Mr. An, or whether Mr. An had aroused too much public anger that not catching him wouldn’t be enough to appease public outrage. According to the senior, clarifying this essential difference would allow him to respond effectively and ensure he remained invincible.