Liu Jun thought of the stock market, saying, “bearish but not short-selling.” As an entrepreneur, should he also be like this? You could criticize social phenomena, but you couldn’t be inactive due to doubt? The old saying goes: “Those without long-term considerations will have immediate worries.” But reality might also be: if one has too many long-term considerations, one will accomplish nothing, because of fear. This was Liu Jun’s current state. In his confusion, he browsed many famous financial publication websites, but aside from the situation being overwhelmingly positive, he really couldn’t see any gloom. At this point, he could only conclude that he was too conservative and timid. He very much hated this feeling and wanted to escape the feeling of being a coward. After much thought, no matter what, the heat treatment branch factory would need investment and construction sooner or later, even though current building material prices were high…

The business contract signing went smoothly. The partner was also troubled by insufficient capacity, watching their market territory built up over many years being eroded by competitors, so they were ruthlessly expanding workshops. During negotiations, Liu Jun asked the partner why they were expanding at high levels. The partner’s considerations were consistent with those of Tengfei’s senior management, and they said they had specially consulted a world-renowned consulting company. When Liu Jun heard about the consulting company’s thunderous reputation, he carefully exchanged his inner doubts with the partner. Upon returning to his accommodation, he went online and issued an order for the heat treatment branch factory design to resume immediately. It wasn’t just their city making huge investments—it seemed the whole world shared this fervor.

When F-1 research and development hit bottlenecks, he faced boundless darkness with no end in sight. Almost everyone advised him to give up. Liang Sishen had said he was knowingly jumping into a deep pit with his eyes open, and he didn’t know where his courage came from then. Afterward, people praised his bravery and courage to burn his boats—he thought so too. Looking at today, he realized he was as timid as a mouse. Even after making the decision again to officially launch the heat treatment branch factory, his heart was still wavering, restless day and night, still unable to sit still on the return flight.

Exiting customs at Pudong Airport, he unexpectedly saw the busy Qian Hongming there to pick him up. At this moment, the already exhausted Liu Jun felt somewhat dazed, as if reliving the past, several years ago, when he returned to China from Germany after many years away, Qian Hongming had also picked him up. This time, their interaction was much more familiar. Qian Hongming pulled over Liu Jun’s suitcase and proactively explained: “Your A’San took advantage of Saturday to personally drive with Dandan to pick you up, also bringing Jiali and Xiao Suihua. We had lunch together before coming to the airport to meet you. They’re playing in the open area outside. Why don’t you stay at my place tonight and go home tomorrow?”

Liu Jun craned his neck but didn’t see Cui Bingbing, so he asked quietly: “Stay at your Shanghai home? Aren’t you afraid Jiali will discover clues? Find an excuse to stay at a hotel together—Jiali is too observant.”

Qian Hongming smiled and nodded: “Thanks for being considerate. I’ll need your cooperation during dinner later.”

Liu Jun thought he was being considerate of Jiali. Since the couple couldn’t possibly divorce or anything, he, as an outsider, might as well not expose things to avoid complications. Walking out of the crowd, they met up with wives and daughters. Liu Jun picked up his daughter and walked behind Qian Hongming’s family, saying to his wife: “Weren’t you tired driving alone to Shanghai so early this morning…”

Qian Hongming immediately turned back laughing: “I just said the same thing to A’San. She replied she wasn’t that delicate—male colleagues at her bank even act cute with her.”

Cui Bingbing laughed heartily: “No choice, I’m bothered! You say more than one strong young male colleague acts cute with me—have I aged to auntie level? I want to stab them twice behind their backs. Dandan, don’t pull Sister Xiao Suihua’s braids.”

The group got into Qian Hongming’s Jeep. Unable to resist Liu Jun’s desire for good sleep and rest, Qian Hongming drove everyone to a hotel. Unable to resist Xiao Suihua and Dandan’s strong request to sleep together, Qian Hongming ran down to the lobby again to book another room. Both families simply stayed at the hotel. Liu Jun quickly made several calls to the company. Everything else was peaceful, except three people had resigned within a week—this number was abnormal for Tengfei, which usually had stable personnel. Asking for details, one resignation was the dormitory cleaning auntie who had entrusted relatives to speculate with her 50,000 yuan savings in the first half of the year’s stock frenzy and had done very well. The cleaning auntie calculated and found stock gains much better than working in the dark for wages, so she cheerfully resigned to speculate full-time. Liu Jun was amazed. Another was someone with a poor work attitude who hadn’t made major mistakes but was squeezed out by the office director’s scheming, planned downsizing. The third was an R&D center engineer, post-80s generation, a master’s graduate. This young man was much appreciated by Liu Jun, who always believed that with two more years of tempering, the boy’s future would be bright. Therefore, Liu Jun deliberately cultivated him while the boy diligently studied practical experience—their cooperation should have been pleasant. Liu Jun never expected him to resign, just like he never expected the cleaning auntie to consider herself a stock god and resign to speculate.

Liu Jun found the boy’s mobile number and called directly to inquire and retain him. But what the boy said made Liu Jun abandon retention efforts. The boy frankly said his resignation reason was technical immigration to Canada. Tengfei’s salary was high among peers and decent among local manufacturing enterprises, with comprehensive benefits. But he discovered that after deducting daily expenses, his savings could never catch up with soaring housing prices. Looking at the current housing prices’ endless upward trend, his savings would only get further from down payments for at least two years. In two years, he could independently handle projects at Tengfei with presumably improved finances, but who could know how high housing prices would be speculated to be by then? His parents had thin foundations—he couldn’t ask for their help. He loved technology and wouldn’t change careers. This year, he found his future increasingly confused. His romantic relationship was forcibly broken by the woman’s parents because he had no house. Survival pressure left him breathless with no confidence, so he could only choose escape.

Liu Jun sighed with regret to Cui Bingbing, not only for Tengfei but for the country losing good talent for such reasons. But he was powerless. He could pull back Luo Qing, who had fled due to prospects, but he wasn’t confident about retrieving this boy. He had also worked and lived abroad for a while. Then he had legitimate work and could have housing and cars when just starting his career, living worry-free and carefree. In comparison, domestic young people truly faced great survival pressure. The domestic rental market was irregular—renting meant wandering displacement, unacceptable to mothers-in-law. But buying houses, the market only had such large units at such high prices. For young people starting from scratch, the unattainable down payment and substantial loan payments for the next thirty years—what quality of life could they talk about? Having abilities but being unable to satisfy basic survival needs—how could this not discourage people? Thinking from their perspective, Liu Jun would also seek refuge abroad.

During dinner with both families together that evening, Liu Jun told Qian Hongming: “My company’s cleaning auntie resigned to speculate in stocks, and technical personnel resigned for technical immigration because they couldn’t afford housing down payments. Isn’t society very distorted? They say survival of the fittest, but people who create value and transform the world have become unsuited to society—does this make sense?”

“Shows your wages are out of step with the times.” Qian Hongming smiled. None of his subordinates were willing to resign.

“I’m just a manufacturing factory, not stealing or robbing, earning profits in a law-abiding manner. How much more can I pay? If this continues, will I still have money for technical upgrades?”

Qian Hongming laughed: “Come, let us recite: ‘It’s not my fault—society is wrong.'”

Liu Jun was frustrated: “You’re the chief culprit speculating on housing prices.”

“It’s not my fault—society is wrong. Policies are such, I’m just a small pawn following trends. Don’t be angry—after all, resignations are still a minority.”

“A minority, but the elite. Unfortunately, you know what? My heart aches. I’ve done my best, I’m powerless.”

“Too bad your company isn’t influential enough, otherwise, you could request your local government for targeted residential land auctions to build employee housing.”

“By profit and tax, I’m no less than those labor-intensive giants in the industrial zone, but according to national classification criteria, my company uses fewer workers and is classified as a small-to-medium enterprise. What kind of…” With children at the table, he swallowed the “bullshit criteria” that followed.

“We won’t discuss reactionary remarks.” Cui Bingbing interjected. “The nation has continuously introduced policies to suppress this year’s overheating. The newly issued export tax rebate reduction document covers a wide range, directly targeting low-value-added labor-intensive capacity. By the way, Hongming, you should also watch for situation changes.”

“I’ve studied it carefully—not worried, won’t affect mechanical and electrical categories.”

Cui Bingbing also felt the current economy was distorted. These past days, visiting enterprises in industrial zones and elsewhere, almost every company had prominent recruitment ads at their gates for ordinary operators, with enthusiasm and earnestness she’d only seen at specialized manufacturing talent job fairs before. Therefore, she felt Liu Jun, who wasn’t greatly troubled by employment issues, really needn’t be so emotional about a few resignations. Compared to other companies, Liu Jun could confidently say he’d been worthy of talent in personnel development these years—it was just that the guy was too serious, treating embroidery needles like clubs. Qian Hongming felt the same, advising Liu Jun to think more broadly.

Liu Jun sighed: “I’ve run companies for so many years, handling so many people—how could I be troubled by one or two employee resignations? I regret young people’s immigration reasons—very emotional, very shocking.”

Jiali couldn’t interject on these topics and listened confusedly, so she focused on caring for the two children. Xiao Suihua was full after eating for a while and told Dandan stories she’d learned in kindergarten. Jiali listened to the error-filled stories with amusement, but the two children seriously asked and answered about the story content in their system, actually not needing much of her attention.