Even Liu Jun had to forcibly suppress a small bubble that emerged in his heart: interacting with friends like Shen Huadong and Luo Qing was much more enjoyable than interacting with Qian Hongming. However, the image of Qian Hongming’s slightly cupped hand placed at his mouth always automatically jumped into Liu Jun’s view whenever those small bubbles emerged, and Liu Jun would always sigh inwardly.

When July passed and Jiali hadn’t given Liu Jun money to deposit, Liu Jun didn’t dare provoke Jiali and asked Qian Hongming whether he should return these private savings to Jiali. Qian Hongming told Liu Jun to continue keeping it for Jiali. Once again, Qian Hongming asked Liu Jun to convey his apologies to Cui Bingbing, explaining that Jiali’s avoidance of Cui Bingbing wasn’t due to anger displacement over that incident, but simply due to personality reasons.

Liu Jun couldn’t restrain his impulse for household gossip and interrupted Qian Hongming’s repeated explanations, asking: “How are things between you and Jiali? I’m not worrying for you, only for Jiali.”

“You, my brother, are nakedly expressing concern for my wife to my face. What sinister intentions do you have, hehe.”

Liu Jun also laughed. “You can also directly express concern for A’San. How are things? Jiali has an introverted personality. I’m worried she won’t easily get over it and will become withdrawn. My biggest worry is that she’ll develop psychological problems, just like back then.”

“Don’t worry. Married couples, after so many years, go through a process of mutual transformation, being molded to fit each other better and better. As long as neither has the intention to divorce, everything else can be resolved somehow. Jiali and I easily reach a consensus with each other.” Qian Hongming couldn’t refuse Liu Jun’s questioning, though he didn’t want to be too specific about this matter. “I’ll spend more time at home, take her out more. You don’t need to worry. I admit I neglected Jiali too much recently—I’ve already improved. Last week I visited Aunt Fu again. Her health is a bit weak, so I brought her some American ginseng and bird’s nest.”

Liu Jun still didn’t want to mention Aunt Fu and acted as if he hadn’t heard. “I have another concern. I can see that Xiao Suihua is a very sensitive child, also introverted. Remember to guide her more, let Xiao Suihua interact with society instead of staying in the house with Jiali for long periods. Besides, there are no walls that don’t leak. Your affairs—Jiali can not know, or can know but pretend not to know, but Xiao Suihua will grow up and will inevitably find out someday. Have you thought about the consequences? Speaking as someone who’s been through this, the introverted Xiao Suihua will have great difficulty bearing such consequences. If not for Jiali, you must do it for Xiao Suihua.”

This time, Qian Hongming gripped the phone tightly. “Yes, there’s that tendency—Xiao Suihua is too quiet. Liu Jun, when you take Dandan out to play in the future, please also bring our Xiao Suihua along.”

Liu Jun couldn’t point out the evasiveness in Qian Hongming’s words. “From now on, I’m afraid Jiali won’t feel comfortable entrusting Xiao Suihua to us. You need to invest more time.”

Qian Hongming was silent for quite a while before saying: “The kindergarten teacher also says Xiao Suihua doesn’t fit in—polite, but aloof. But I have no time lately. Besides daily work, I’ve recently added considerable work with second-hand housing agency companies. Recently, housing prices have surged to high levels, but transactions have decreased dramatically. Our agency storefronts spread throughout the city sometimes receive only a few inquiry calls per day. Business is so slow that it doesn’t cover costs, directly affecting the company’s cash flow. I’m auditing every storefront’s accounts to see whether to temporarily suspend some poorly performing locations. Every day, I truly have no time at all.”

“Isn’t your sister managing it?”

“She lacks higher education, which is a real disadvantage. She can handle routine management, but anything deeper gets chaotic—I have to sort it out. Although I also feel I didn’t learn much from higher education, some methods and approaches are still ingrained in my mind. Liu Jun, when you take Dandan out to play someday, give me a call first… um, that doesn’t seem very realistic.”

Liu Jun also laughed. “If convenient, I’ll go directly to your house to pick her up. You just mentioned suspending poorly performing stores—are you not optimistic about future markets?”

“Haha, for China’s real estate market, I’m optimistic about it for at least five years, for two reasons: currently, this is our country’s only economic growth driver, and land sales are currently local governments’ biggest revenue source after the tax-sharing system. From local to central levels, though everyone talks about people’s livelihood, who’s willing to shake this real estate pillar even slightly? I’m just taking advantage of this opportunity to adjust the layout. Normally, cutting stores would easily cause backlash, but cutting stores and personnel now is justified—no one can object. Adjustment makes it easier to travel light after the bottleneck period.”

Qian Hongming paused, then continued: “Liu Jun, your bringing up Xiao Suihua’s education today makes me very gratified. I was very worried you’d become taboo about certain things from now on. Thank you.”

“What are you saying? We’ve known each other inside and out for so many years. But Hongming, housing prices have already reached levels that provoke widespread complaints. Even if central to local governments, all support it, the market won’t agree. Might the bottleneck be a reminder?”

“I think the bottleneck is just a stage for buyer psychological adjustment. When housing prices were 3,000 yuan per square meter, there were already widespread complaints. When they reached 5,000 yuan, many people thought it violated economic laws and couldn’t rise further. The fact is, they’ve now reached 10,000 yuan, and people still buy. As long as the state controls the general principle and only the government can dominate land, as long as it controls the degree of land released to the market each year, it can effectively regulate the market. So buying houses has always been a game for the minority. Society is just this realistic—people without money, people with little money, can only rent.”

“Very cold-blooded, also very realistic, sigh. But Hongming, public opinion must still be considered.”

“Economic analysis can tell you that the interests of passive, loose large groups are always encroached upon by active small groups. This is from a book you recommended to me. I suggest that when analyzing economic phenomena, don’t mix in emotional factors—that will disturb your judgment. Returning to the problem you worried about recently: since the real estate industry, as China’s economic pillar, is worth favoring for five years, you can deduce your industry accordingly. Didn’t you say many of your components are sold to construction machinery? The whole country is one chess game, with nationwide interconnections.”

“I still believe that policies as strong as our country’s can locally influence markets, but the general trend still depends on market conditions.”

“Liu Jun, you don’t know—this is a magical land! Because of the two major reasons for real estate policy I mentioned, I believe in our Party and government’s execution in this area, haha, because they can only do this, must do this.”

Facing the supremely confident Qian Hongming, Liu Jun was speechless because he couldn’t find reasons. All his understanding of economics seemed completely ineffective in this year’s heated atmosphere. In the chaos, Qian Hongming’s words about absolutely believing in the Party and government seemed infinitely ironic—where was credibility placed? Could it be unnecessary?

But after Qian Hongming’s dose of strong medicine for enlightenment, Liu Jun at least understood one reason for the current excellent situation without emotional coloring. Then let’s all play the fool together. Society is just this realistic.

However, like Shen Huadong’s family, investing the vast majority of funds into the designated real estate pillar industry while neglecting investment in the manufacturing factory’s R&D, requiring large sums annually to purchase advanced technology from abroad, further weakening their R&D capabilities—if the whole country did this, wouldn’t the pillar industry’s development be somewhat like draining the pond to catch fish?

Questions aside, Tengda’s heat treatment branch factory still had to be built over time. During this period, Liu Jun consulted tax departments: since the company now exports a lot, with some imported raw materials used in export products, could he establish separate accounts and, according to policy, exempt tariffs on the portion of imported raw materials used for exports? Tax authorities told him to ask customs; customs kicked the ball back, telling him to get tax approval first. After a round of ball-kicking, Liu Jun surrendered and honestly registered a company in the bonded zone specifically for import-export business. What originally could have been solved by establishing accounts ultimately required buying an office in the bonded zone, furnished with a few tables and chairs, and eliminating the factory. No one worked there, but this somewhat illegal arrangement finally obtained bonded zone company registration documents, finally achieving tariff exemption for imported raw materials. Liu Jun would always sigh inappropriately about this—clearly, there was a proper path, but they wouldn’t let him take it, always forcing him to take side roads. This world.

Liu Jun had wanted to take an even bigger side road, wanting his father to negotiate with various departments to get approvals, but his father Liu Shitang was recently immersed in stock trading. While nervously facing the high position, rushing toward 6,000 points, he thought about his brilliant recent stock trading record and confirmed his extraordinary abilities. But Liu Shitang was now suffering from almost the same lack of confidence as his son, always hoping to gain warmth and support from groups. He wouldn’t go online to stock trading websites directly, but would immediately go to venues to research and discuss the situation with a group of stock god friends, analyzing every move of national adjustment policies, analyzing every word of rumors from the China Securities Regulatory Commission and the People’s Bank. Where did Liu Shitang have time to care about his son’s trivial matters?

The stock market finally broke through 6,000 points under an intensive adjustment policy of suppression.

But not everyone traded stocks. Non-traders like Qian Hongming welcomed a bleak October amid the national stockholders’ carnival. Copper futures encountered a severe drop in October. Second-hand housing transactions also didn’t follow the traditional golden September, silver October pattern. With a cold wind blowing from Shenzhen in the south, not only did trading stagnate for long periods with daily transactions few and far between, but housing prices even showed subtle downward trends. The second-hand housing transaction deposit pool that could originally be allocated suddenly saw water levels drop. Qian Hongming’s capital chain immediately encountered early frost. Every day, besides completing normal work, he was robbing Peter to pay Paul. When he really couldn’t sustain it anymore, he finally called Liu Jun.

Seeing Qian Hongming’s number displayed, Liu Jun said without preamble: “Hey, I was just about to report to you—Jiali deposited money with me again. I took the opportunity to invite Jiali to bring Xiao Suihua for osmanthus viewing and barbecuing, but ultimately couldn’t move Jiali. At least I managed to lure your little princess out—she stayed at my house for a weekend, playing wildly with Dandan. When I sent her home, her voice was hoarse from laughing. The only shortcoming: Jiali looked very pale—that’s your responsibility.”

“I’ve been so busy lately, I get less than five hours of sleep daily. I have the will but not the strength regarding Jiali. Liu Jun, lend me five million—cash would be best. If not, help me open a letter of credit. I need to adjust my position. Recently, my company’s letter of credit quota has reached the limit—can’t open any more.”

“Right, recently the bank reserve requirement ratio has been raised to the historical high of 13%, obviously starting to tighten quotas for various companies. I just registered a bonded zone company—Tengfei’s quota can be used for the bonded zone company. The term is three months. You can send someone over anytime to guide how to coordinate with you. I really can’t produce cash—I have infrastructure projects flowering everywhere, all waiting for money.”

“Excellent! I won’t be polite—I’ll pay you the same percentage agency fee as other companies…”

How could Liu Jun possibly charge an agency fee? Back when he was in difficulty, Qian Hongming unhesitatingly risked trying letter of credit financing for the first time, charging not a cent in handling fees. Now that Qian Hongming was asking for emergency help, if he charged an agency fee, would he still be human? Less than ten minutes after ending the call, employees from Qian Hongming’s company contacted Liu Jun, showing how urgently Qian Hongming needed money. Liu Jun really couldn’t imagine that a mere five million could stump Qian Hongming, but when you’re in the world, sometimes it’s exactly like that. He had also encountered situations where a lack of one cent could defeat a hero, completely relying on friends’ generous rescue. Liu Jun went online to search for reasons behind the tense situation for Qian Hongming, but domestically, there was a heated situation that multi-pronged policies couldn’t extinguish, and internationally, nothing seemed wrong either—this could only indicate Qian Hongming’s predicament was temporary.

One wave hadn’t settled when another arose. Wednesday afternoon, Liu Jun received a strange call sternly telling him to go to a certain police station—a woman named Cui Jiali had shoplifted at a supermarket and needed his assistance in handling the matter. Liu Jun was shocked and quickly dropped his work to rush to the police station. Even though luxury cars were now common on the streets, Liu Jun’s sports car entering the police station courtyard was still quite conspicuous. The investigating officer might have heard the roaring engine and seen it through the window, so upon seeing Liu Jun, he immediately blamed him for driving a good car while allowing his wife to steal.

Liu Jun quickly explained: “I’m not Jiali’s husband. Jiali is my best friend’s wife, but my friend is currently in Shanghai. How could she possibly shoplift? My friend is wealthier than I.” Both Liu Jun and the police officer thought of a certain quirk of wealthy idle people, while Liu Jun thought even more.

The officer handled the case quite civilly. After registering Liu Jun’s passport, he said: “The situation is this: Ms. Cui went shopping at the supermarket and was caught by security with several items hidden in her pockets when leaving empty-handed. Normally, the supermarket would handle such small-value cases themselves, but Ms. Cui’s attitude was extremely uncooperative—she refused to say a word. The supermarket had no choice but to call the police. Since we received the call, we must handle it officially. But Ms. Cui’s personality is very stubborn—she keeps her head down and won’t speak, only writing down your phone number and name for us. Does Ms. Cui have any prior record?”

“No prior record. If you hadn’t specifically named Jiali as shoplifting, I wouldn’t think of her even if I guessed a thousand people. But I suspect there might be a misunderstanding here. My friend recently committed the common ailment of men with money, and Jiali was severely shocked. She has a very good personality—she just cried once, didn’t make a fuss, and simply closed herself off. Even when I finally forced her to meet once, her face was pale as a ghost, and her behavior was ghostly too—no, more like absent-minded. I somewhat suspect she might have been absent-minded again after entering the supermarket, causing a misunderstanding.”

The officer found this reasonable and very responsibly reviewed video footage, analyzed the situation, and reported upward, confirming the scene might indeed be a misunderstanding. Thus, he handled the matter cleanly and efficiently, and Liu Jun led Jiali out of the police station. Liu Jun was very grateful and asked the officer for his business card.

Only upon seeing Liu Jun did Jiali speak. “Liu Jun, I didn’t steal. But I can’t explain.”

Liu Jun smiled falsely: “The officer was perceptive, retrieving and analyzing supermarket video footage. Naturally there are results. Who shoplifts so brazenly like you? It’s against common sense. The matter was easily clarified—even zero confession can solve cases. You should have trusted the officer’s investigation earlier.”

Jiali looked uncertainly at Liu Jun, then at the officer, finally still looking at Liu Jun, stammering. Besides saying “don’t be afraid,” Liu Jun didn’t say much else. He shook hands with the officer to bid farewell and led Jiali out to the car. Only after the car left the police station gates did he explain the matter’s resolution to the silent, head-bowed Jiali. Of course, he wouldn’t mention the part about gaining the officer’s sympathy. After listening, Jiali said, “Liu Jun, can you tell no one? Especially not Hongming.”

“I’ll find another time to talk with Hongming—he has responsibility.”

“Don’t. He’s under a lot of pressure lately. Whenever he’s under great pressure, his face turns azure, and he grinds his teeth and talks in his sleep at night. But I’m incapable and can’t help him. When he’s under great pressure, he always does very strange things—I guess it’s stress relief. He’s human too…”

“I recently heard rumors that he gave each security guard in his office building a box of cordyceps. Is that true?”

Jiali nodded. “Yes. Every time pressure is greatest, he always gives them things, finds time to chat with those people, including visiting Aunt Fu, who used to work as a housekeeper for your family, and also… My matter… please don’t add pressure to him. He must be having a very, very hard time recently. He’s afraid of affecting Xiao Suihua and me, so he swallows everything alone. He’s very pitiful.” Speaking thus, Jiali shed tears.

Liu Jun had interacted with Qian Hongming for many years but didn’t know he had this quirk, though he already understood many of Qian Hongming’s quirks. “Got it. I’ll keep it secret. Regarding Hongming’s situation, I understand—the problem isn’t very big, just recently exhausting and mentally taxing. It probably needs another month. Don’t worry too much. Remember to take a good hot bath when you get home and pull yourself together—neither you nor Hongming has any major problems. Should I have Xiao Suihua stay at my place for a few days? Dandan misses her.”

Jiali kept nodding in agreement. But at the house entrance, she still hesitantly asked: “At this time… Hongming’s stress relief channels… might he… again find those… those…”

“I’m not clear. I’ll remind Hongming. After that incident, Hongming also made promises to me. You can see he never did things like giving cordyceps to unrelated people before—he might have changed methods. He treasures you very much.”

Jiali nodded again. “I understand. Thank you, Liu Jun.”