However, Liu Jun could manage the quality of his family’s products processed at Shi Yiji, but he couldn’t interfere with Shi Yiji’s internal management. He might not even be able to effectively manage the quality of his family’s products processed at Shi Yiji. His only option was final rejection, but rejection would put him in the predicament of being unable to deliver to the client. This was almost an unsolvable knot, so he could only grit his teeth and supervise on-site despite being unwelcome. Combined with his previous investigations of other factories while seeking processing enterprises, Liu Jun finally saw domestic factories.

Liu Jun was convinced that if he wanted to manufacture good products domestically, besides needing high-precision machine tools, management must also achieve a level of precision. But who would manage? Where would they find talent that understood both cutting-edge manufacturing knowledge and management knowledge? Liu Jun also thought about how he had originally envisioned using one year to change the face of his father’s Qianjin Factory, so his father wouldn’t have to worry about Qianjin Factory’s survival. But reality forced him to see clearly for the first time – following his current R&D-contract processing model, after he left to return to Germany in a year, would his father be able to continue producing products sustainably? He had overestimated both the current situation and himself.

For the first time, Liu Jun seriously considered the question Qian Hongming had raised before. Qian Hongming had said, “I think once you come, you won’t want to go back. You might as well start preparing now to persuade your girlfriend to come to China.” Yes, Qian Hongming had predicted everything, even warning him about the girlfriend issue beforehand. Now that his girlfriend was irretrievable, what would become of him?

When Qian Hongming received Liu Jun’s call, his sister was staying at his place because of the new house renovations. After hearing her brother’s brief explanation, Qian Hongying couldn’t help but smile sympathetically, “Poor child.”

Cui Jiali was full of sympathy, “Liu Jun is pitiful. He loved his girlfriend, didn’t he? Hongming, you should comfort him. Liu Jun is a man of deep feelings – he’s hurt this time.”

“Liu Jun’s hurt from his girlfriend is limited. He’s had many girlfriends from high school through university. One girlfriend from a different culture won’t necessarily impact him much. I think he has other concerns.” Qian Hongming went into the room to meticulously change his going-out clothes. In his heart, he agreed more with his sister’s assessment and suspected there was hidden meaning in her words. “Sister, was Liu Jun’s return to China a trap from beginning to end?”

“At this point, what difference does it make whether it’s a trap or not? It’s better not to figure it out clearly. Help if you can, and if you can’t help, just sit with him more. A young man, putting all the responsibility on himself right from the start with no transition period, can he handle it? It would be good if he doesn’t develop mental problems.”

Qian Hongming didn’t expect his sister to speak up for Liu Jun. Not only was he stunned, but he also spoke with hidden meaning, “Even smaller children haven’t been crushed. Liu Jun can get through this. Jiali, go to sleep early. Sister, help me make sure she doesn’t get too addicted to games.”

When Qian Hongming met Liu Jun, he didn’t bring up the suspicion that Liu Jun’s return to China might be a trap. As his sister said, what difference did it make whether it was a trap at this point? The only difference would probably be even more damaging to Liu Jun’s genuine nature. Even his sister couldn’t bear it, let alone Qian Hongming as a good friend.

In the parking lot, when Qian Hongming saw Liu Jun limping over, the situation seemed more serious than he had thought. He went to meet him, “Is it serious? I’d better drive you home.”

“Don’t worry, even with only one hand and one leg left, I can still drive myself home. Sorry, Jiali, for calling you out again in the middle of the night.”

Qian Hongming said curiously, “Your physical condition doesn’t look great, but your mental state seems okay.”

“No, my mind is very chaotic, but my spirit seems to be excited. Keep me company for a while.”

“Do you need to confide, or do you need to speak the truth after drinking?” The two sat down in a bar. Qian Hongming rarely came to bars before, more often going to coffee shops, while Liu Jun seemed to prefer bars, though he always barely drank a few beers – pure formalism.

“Hongming, you said before that since I came, I wouldn’t go back to Germany. What was your reasoning for saying that then?”

“You’re a person with a sense of responsibility, and what you plan to do isn’t something that can be accomplished overnight. Once you responsibly take on the responsibility, it will be very difficult for you to let go in the short term. What’s this – are you planning to stay?”

“But staying is very difficult. After I went to the hospital for bandaging, I thought about many things and also practiced. From the results, I can do well in coordinating with workshop workers and managers. But for this ‘can do,’ I have to lower my consistent moral standards…”

“Be specific, please be specific.”

“I have to abandon the respect that should exist between people and instead use violence to make others submit. I discovered that making an example of someone, borrowing a knife to kill, and bullying others with power – these cunning techniques all work very well. Only reasoning with people doesn’t work universally – it only applies to a limited few people. I’m very reluctant. But I also know I can’t oppose the whole world. I can only first adapt to the environment, then pursue my ideals. But… my heart isn’t happy, it’s awkward.”

Hearing this, Qian Hongming said curiously, “I thought tonight I’d have to persuade you to give up some idealistic thoughts. I didn’t expect you to progress so rapidly.”

“If you had tried to persuade me, I might not have listened. People don’t turn back until they hit the wall. You can see that walls are the best teachers.”

“So, planning to stay long-term?”

Liu Jun kept his head down for a long time, “I seem to be acting out of spite, but I also want to prove I can do well. On the way here just now, thinking about staying, suddenly my thoughts became clear. Very shamefully, I discovered that I was also being impetuous, doing short-term things. If I stay, all my plans need to change. But do I want to stay?”

“Do you have a choice? You’ve coincidentally lost the biggest weight on the German side of the scale today. There’s nothing to say – if you stay, you stay. You don’t need to give yourself or others any reasons. Life doesn’t have reasons to discuss.”

“I’m not looking for reasons, but I don’t want to stay in this environment. Fine, I’m snobbish and vain. I like living and working in Germany, even though I love my country. Isn’t that contradictory? I originally thought I could do many things when I returned, but I discovered I’m incompatible with my homeland. In my motherland, I’m like a big fool instead, and everyone just short of telling me to my face that I’ve become stupid abroad. I’ve had many things I couldn’t understand in the past six months. Fine, starting today, I’ve decided not to ask why anymore, to give up the meticulous, thorough spirit that engineering people should have, and to stop reasoning with life.”

Qian Hongming turned his glass with one hand, thinking for a long time before asking, “Do you want to hear good words or bad words?”

Liu Jun said reluctantly, “They say honest advice is unpalatable.”

Qian Hongming still hesitated for a moment before saying, “Have you ever thought that some people have a belly full of grievances, contradictions, troubles, and unwillingness, but due to conventional reasoning, they can’t even speak about it? Crying injustice would get them crushed to death, so they can only suffocate themselves. Compared to that, what do your contradictions amount to? Don’t blame workers for lacking responsibility either. They usually encounter too much unfairness, but they’re at such a bottom level that, for the sake of living, they can only suppress themselves, and over time, they become numb. Why should they understand your ideals and ambitions? In dealing with them, my experience is to have no complaints and to show respect through material means – even handing them a cigarette when meeting is good. Eventually, time reveals people’s hearts. You don’t need to cry injustice; you should look for problems within yourself.”

Liu Jun held his head, a beam of light drilling through his fingers to peek at Qian Hongming as he spoke, his heart becoming even more depressed and stifled. So all his troubles over these many days were quite privileged expressions. But he could hear that Qian Hongming was using himself as an example, so he had nothing more to say. He picked up his glass, clinked it with Qian Hongming’s, and drained it in one gulp. “Am I very naive?” Liu Jun finally asked the question that had made him furiously kick the aluminum alloy window that morning.

Qian Hongming continued turning his glass but smiled without speaking. Seeing this, Liu Jun annoyedly used two fingers to tap hard on the table repeatedly, unable to speak, tapping until his fingers hurt. Qian Hongming stopped Liu Jun, “Let’s go home. You’ve had a lot to drink today. I’ll drive you back.”

Liu Jun “swish swish” pulled out bills, waving to call the young lady to settle the bill. Qian Hongming didn’t stop him but added an instruction: “Open an invoice.” After the young lady took the money and left, Qian Hongming said, “If you stay, you must learn to request invoices in any situation, whether for personal consumption or company consumption. Don’t think this is vulgar. For specific reasons, you can study tax law.”

Liu Jun couldn’t help tapping the table again, but chose to keep quiet rather than argue. Compared to Qian Hongming, he knew too little about national conditions. He couldn’t bite the hand that feeds him. However, he didn’t let Qian Hongming drive him; he drove home listlessly by himself. Upon entering, he found his father half-lying on the sofa, sleepily raising his head. Liu Jun’s head grew big – he could pour his heart out to friends, but might not be willing to tell his father. The former was something an adult could do; the latter was something an adult couldn’t do. But he also clearly knew his father was specifically waiting for him, wanting to say something. While he was still thinking about pretending to be drunk to avoid his father’s questioning, his father had already opened his mouth with a hoarse voice, “Ah Jun, is your foot injured? Why didn’t you answer your phone all evening? Let Dad take a look.”

Liu Jun couldn’t avoid it – his father had already rushed to his side. Seeing his father wanting to squat down to look, he had to find a chair to sit down and take off his shoe to let his father see clearly. “Don’t worry, it’s not serious, just some bleeding. I know what you’re worried about. This morning, my girlfriend said goodbye to me. I was very emotional, that’s all.”

Liu Shitang’s heart was very complex, but he still didn’t say anything, only reached out to pat the back of his son’s head. After a long time, he said, “Dad only reminds you of one thing – no matter what, Shi Yiji isn’t yours, so don’t throw tantrums there.”

“I don’t want to suppress myself too much, but I’ll try to be rational. Dad, recently, I’ll consider our factory’s long-term development plan. Let me give you a rough idea first – we must have a high starting point and a high foundation. Dad, you should also think about it.”

Hearing this, Liu Shitang was immediately overjoyed. But before he could say what he wanted to say, his son was already pushing him out the door, telling him to go home and rest early. Liu Shitang was pushed by his son like a wheel, constantly instructing his son to pay attention to this and that after being injured, until he was shut into the elevator. But he suddenly thought of something and hurriedly pried open the elevator doors, urgently saying, “A girl living next door to you came looking for you.”

“I know, Yang Xun’s sister.”

“What, you said…” But Liu Shitang’s hand was pried away from the elevator door by his son and stuffed into the elevator. He could only ride the elevator down even more joyfully, his mind densely calculating.

Liu Jun looked at his watch, looked at Yang Li’s door, went back to his room, and soaked himself in the bathtub with one foot elevated. Too many things had happened in one day – he couldn’t sort out his thoughts. In the bathtub, he listed out the problems in his heart one by one in German that the people around him couldn’t understand, just like his usual work style – he always listed problems clearly to avoid omissions. Then he found causes and finally provided solutions. He still couldn’t do as he told Qian Hongming, not finding reasons for life. He needed everything to be crystal clear, whether good or bad, real and clear.

Once written out, he could unload his burden and fall asleep. No longer furious, no longer gloomy and unhappy.