From the farthest Tengda to stabilizing the R&D center, handling some work along the way, he didn’t get home until midnight. Cui Bingbing had taken Dandan back to their home at the R&D center early. When Liu Jun entered the door, he saw his wife sleeping soundly on the single sofa in a difficult frog-style swimming position, snoring away. It was obvious she hadn’t slept well the previous night either; otherwise, as a night owl, she couldn’t possibly have fallen asleep on the sofa at this hour in such a position.

During these two days and one night, he owed much to Cui Bingbing. It wasn’t just because he knew that after he went in, the Cui family would actively work for his rights. More importantly, during the time he lost his freedom inside, because he thought of Cui Bingbing being outside – this formidable and shrewd deputy branch manager, this wife who truly loved him – he didn’t need to worry about Tengfei’s operations during his absence these few days, nor did he need to worry about their small family’s life these days, because he had Cui Bingbing. Since he had no worries behind him, he could be at peace, he could be calm, he could respond to difficulties with absolute rationality.

At this moment, facing his wife with her somewhat silly sleeping posture, Liu Jun’s heart was full of emotions about sharing the same breath and fate. He couldn’t imagine how two strangers would form a family, couldn’t imagine how this family would grow closer and closer, with intimacy surpassing blood relations. Life was truly magical.

Thirty thousand feet above, Song Yunhui, who had just learned of Liu Jun’s safe release before boarding the plane, told everyone this news. Everyone said Liu Jun had it tough, taking the blame for others, and was probably in a very bad mood now. Only one fellow traveler disagreed. He believed that although Liu Jun had suffered, among so many people, only Liu Jun was seriously engaged in work he truly loved, and was constantly achieving gratifying results in his work. He believed Liu Jun wouldn’t consider this bit of hardship as anything significant, and this hardship wouldn’t dampen Liu Jun’s enthusiasm.

Upon hearing this, Song Yunhui proudly turned to his wife and said, “I’m the same way. Because I love it, there’s an internal driving force in my heart. Even when encountering setbacks, occasionally feeling depressed, it all passes quickly, and soon new pleasures await. What does Keke want to do in the future?”

“I want to open a very unique little shop by the seaside, specializing in selling surfboards, not stupid life rings, and also selling ice cream and donuts. Getting tanned every day, watching beautiful big brothers and big sisters.”

The couple looked at each other, both unable to help laughing that their son already knew to watch beautiful men and women on the beach at such a young age, while also being surprised by their son’s unambitious ideals. When they were young, teachers often required them to write about their ideals. Boys always aspired to become scientists or generals, while girls hoped to become the second Marie Curie. Probably no one ever aspired to be a grocery store owner, especially a small shop owner. The two needed to adjust their mindsets very intensively before they could tell Keke with pleasant faces that this ideal was good, and Mom and Dad would support him unconditionally.

“If a big typhoon comes and blows out the shop’s doors and windows, what will you do? Won’t you come crying to Mommy?”

“No, I’ll be an adult by then. I’ll whistle while fixing the doors and windows, then go help others and earn some wages along the way.”

Liang Sishen exclaimed: “And whistling too, such a high level of enlightenment. No wonder when my work isn’t going well, I can be in low spirits for a month. Turns out the work I’m doing isn’t what I like. What do I like?”

“You like mathematics, but were later discouraged by some genius. I can see you still like mathematics deep down. These past few days, you’ve been constantly pulling me to discuss the calculations you saw at Liu Jun’s place,” Song Yunhui said.

“Why didn’t Mommy continue studying mathematics?”

“Mommy was busy making money then, all led astray by your father.”

“Daddy, you’re really bad.”

“Your mom is making excuses. When your mom was in college, she was busy speculating in stocks and exchange rates, playing money-making tricks. Daddy had never even heard of such things then.” Song Yunhui looked up at his wife: “You couldn’t be worried about tuition then, you were quarreling with your grandfather, right? Looking back now, you chose a quick way to make money.”

“How troublesome. Can’t you pretend not to know? I have no privacy left.”

Song Yunhui smiled at his wife’s grimace: “You can consider picking up your mathematics now. Having me alone working is almost enough for the family. You can also spend more time with the two sons. Your collecting hobby also needs time.”

“You’d love for me to go home and be a housewife. I won’t.”

But Liang Sishen’s mind became active. If she had time, she wanted to continue with a mathematics master’s and doctoral programs. She wanted to follow Liu Jun’s research team and investigate how their calculations ultimately reached their final goals. Little Keke had already shown extremely strong mathematical talent, and she needed to spend time guiding him. Also, she didn’t want to be apart from her husband so much… Why not learn from her son’s good mentality of just wanting to open a small grocery store and being satisfied with watching beautiful men and women? But that job that brought in money like water…

Throughout the journey, Keke’s ideals became the adults’ topic of conversation. The adults unanimously encouraged Keke to think what he wanted to think without worrying, but facing the conflict between their most natural ideals and hobbies versus survival, social status, and desire for wealth, they all fell silent.

Shen Huadong thought even more of Qu Wei, that woman who was content with a simple life and focused on her hobbies. Wasn’t what he liked about Qu Wei precisely her uniqueness? But if she were truly unique, she would be incompatible with his world. His friends, his friends’ friends, were all people with wide-open eyes of desire, pursuing extraordinary material lives. He hadn’t objected when his father made him study business administration to inherit the family business, and he enjoyed it now, not regretting his choice at all. But he seemed to have preferred chemistry before.

“I’m reminded of what Yang Xun’s wife Ren Xia’er told me about their divorce reasons.” Sitting in the rented business van, Shen Huadong drove the car very fast. Liang Sishen was used to it and continued talking normally. “After she went to America, once she had nervously settled in for a few days, she began a rich life in a foreign land. She suddenly discovered that her previous life was like being wound up by a workaholic, but life shouldn’t only consist of making money with red eyes. Life should have time to stop and taste a cup of tea, listen to a piece of music, or even play a long-missed game. She communicated with Yang Xun many times to no avail. Yang Xun completely disagreed with her bourgeois leisurely sentiments. But Xia’er was already very capable, taking care of two young children alone while passing the American CPA exam within two years. So their family’s problem was entirely a matter of differing values.”

“Yang Xun doesn’t understand how to sit down and learn the course of living. He probably despises this course too. His survival instinct is too strong – once wound up, he can’t stop.”

Shen Huadong interjected from the front: “Right, he mentioned to me that going to entertainment venues was either for business or for desire. Otherwise, why go singing for no reason? Those with nothing to do – there are plenty of things to do with that time, better to work overtime looking at accounts.”

Song Yunhui best understood this habit of Yang Xun’s that had been forced out by life’s pressures in childhood. He had greatly admired it back then. Looking back now, he still had no right to comment on Yang Xun’s habits – it was just the pot calling the kettle black. For instance, his ability to take so many days off to travel was almost entirely due to his submission to love for his wife. Without this, Liang Sishen would also be a wound-up workaholic. His ability to transform could be said to depend entirely on his wife’s important position in his heart. Unfortunately, Yang Xun’s wife couldn’t control Yang Xun.

When Song Yunhui’s group returned from Germany, Liu Jun’s email inbox was immediately stuffed full of photos from that group’s trip, almost to the point of exploding. Thinking that while he was inside debating logic with comrades, that group was having a great time in Germany, he wanted to cry, but had no tears. But what made him even more tearful wasn’t just a few photos, but the fact that his father’s work as a male public relations officer for Tengfei to secure government subsidies for the company’s research activities was already showing promise. However, according to reliable information, Tengfei’s private enterprise status was a big problem. There were other private enterprises on the candidate list, but their legal representatives were either National People’s Congress or Political Consultative Conference representatives, or at least democratic party members with backing – all people with status and connections, unlike him, who was a lone ghost.

But now his liquid funds were so tight that Liu Jun was jumping with anxiety. The government’s subsidy this time was very generous. Even if he could get the smallest share of six million yuan as a one-year interest-free loan, as long as he could produce a substantial patent by year-end according to requirements, which was almost child’s play for him, his predicament could be somewhat alleviated. He could only seek help everywhere. He approached Song Yunhui, asking Song Yunhui to help speak for him and add heavy weight to his bid for subsidies. Song Yunhui was the most powerful witness to his painstaking work on the Donghai No. 1 segment research. He also approached Shen Baotian, hoping this local economic bigwig would help speak and make introductions. He mobilized all the resources he could mobilize, seeking help everywhere.

After Song Yunhui returned home, it took him several days to finish his work before he had time to care about Liu Jun’s progress. He was surprised that Liu Jun, relying on his wife’s position as a senior bank executive, still found loans difficult to obtain. Tengfei’s current scale wasn’t small either, yet his eyes were still fixed on a mere six million. Liu Jun truthfully told Song Yunhui that since Mr. An’s side was forced to break, his wife had almost exhausted all possible methods. He was also unwilling for his wife to take illegal and irregular paths. Otherwise, they had another option: his wife could lend money to those who used commercial financing for lending business, and those people would turn around and lend to him at negotiated rates. But seeing those people operate by absorbing deposits from private hands at monthly interest rates of 2% to 3%, then lending out at even higher interest rates, he was very alarmed. He didn’t think such crazy and abnormal interest rates could be sustained – that wasn’t normal. So he was unwilling for his wife to take risks for this, to be lenient with those people, and bury obvious hidden dangers for themselves.

On the other hand, if he didn’t take the roundabout route of borrowing, he found it very difficult to obtain loans from individuals. The current private lending rates in the market were so high as to be jaw-dropping, even crazier than when he first built Tengfei, and back then, he had already been constantly cursing private lending as usury. For a manufacturing enterprise like his, if it were just borrowing a position for a few days of capital turnover, that would be feasible. But what he needed now was at least six months of loans. Borrowing at such high interest rates would undoubtedly be drinking poison to quench thirst – even his excellent manufacturing enterprise’s good profit margins couldn’t afford such high interest rates. But strangely, those people’s money was never short of borrowers and wouldn’t be moved by Tengfei’s stable returns and large wholesale borrowing volumes. He had no other way out. Since there was now interest-free lending provided by the municipal government, and he met all conditions except for his private enterprise status, how could he not strive for it with all his might?

Even Song Yunhui was very curious about who exactly was borrowing those high-interest loans, and the market was so large. He had also heard friends mention private high-interest lending, and everyone suspected it was related to the private rotating credit associations that had once been severely cracked down on. Song Yunhui promised to help Liu Jun strive for it with all his might. He even said that if even an enterprise like Tengfei couldn’t obtain interest-free loans to encourage corporate research, how many companies in the city would be qualified? Upon hearing Song Yunhui’s words, Liu Jun immediately jumped up from his seat, excitedly walking around his office with his phone, having to struggle to maintain calm to continue the normal conversation.

Finally, Song Yunhui asked seriously: “There’s a mathematics undergraduate from a world-ranking university, a returnee who has abandoned her major for many years, and wants to pick up her childhood hobby at your place. She doesn’t want a salary or benefits. Would you take her?”

Liu Jun immediately thought of Liang Sishen: “Yes. My R&D center now provides a free research base for master’s and doctoral students from my alma mater. Several senior classmates found that their philosophy aligned with mine here, and they could see that they could get improvement and a decent income, so they came to work here after graduation. Once my place reached this level, what I value most is interest and talent. If I’m not mistaken, it’s Ms. Liang, right? Welcome. I have plenty of calculations here.”

“Right, my wife. She was inspired by you. She decided after returning from Germany. She’s been handling handover work these past few days and will soon come to you.”

“Haha, how is that possible? Even my daughter knows my role model is Mr. Song…”

Song Yunhui interrupted Liu Jun: “Given how things stand, what do you plan to do about the contract with the Northeast?”

“I have two plans. One is to strive to pay back their first two installments with principal and interest when conditions permit, in exchange for exclusive rights to the Donghai No. 1 segment research patent. The other is to give them a proportional share of research results based on how much money they give me. But their side is in chaos now. I can’t even find who to negotiate with, and I’m also their subject of investigation. Moreover, they took my laptop and the desktop computer from my office desk. I’m very worried that if someone with ulterior motives steals the materials from my computers, I’ll have much fewer bargaining chips in negotiations.”

Song Yunhui couldn’t help but sigh: “But I still have to tell you, even though your side has had many setbacks, in my eyes it’s still not the most troublesome segment. Others have encountered even bigger troubles. Wanting to accomplish anything is extremely difficult. I hope you persist to the end.”

“Given the research at its current stage, I’m confident about the results. It seems I have no other difficulties, only two things: money, and not getting arrested.”

Song Yunhui couldn’t help but laugh. These two things were easy problems for him to solve.

But Liu Jun was horrified to hear this. He thought he had already gone through countless tribulations and unspeakable suffering, never imagining others had encountered even bigger troubles. How many segments was the entire Donghai No. 1 divided into? As the overall coordinator, how frantic must Song Yunhui be? But he didn’t look at it at all. As Cui Bingbing said, he was indeed a godly person.