Liu Jun’s first impulse was to call Qian Hongming, but Qian Hongming’s phone was turned off. He looked at that already closed door, turned back to his private room, and talked with Engineer Shao and the construction contractors about how the project should be done, until everyone was annoyed to death by his questions. They said there was no need to consider such details when the blueprints weren’t even ready yet, forcing Liu Jun to stop. Then he had nothing to say to these people, so everyone sat briefly before dispersing. After Liu Jun excused himself first, the two construction contractors inside immediately started cursing, calling Liu Jun a eunuch who didn’t even know how to handle social situations, and calling him a bookworm with no sense of how things work. After leaving, Liu Jun also angrily thought that Engineer Shao’s words today were completely off-topic, though he was skilled at pimping – would future cooperation with such a person be pleasant? He had thoughts of breaking the contract.
Passing by Qian Hongming’s private room, the debauchery was still going on. Liu Jun still didn’t go in. It wasn’t that he’d be embarrassed if Qian Hongming saw him, but he didn’t know how to face Qian Hongming. For him, whatever Qian Hongming did wouldn’t affect their friendship. But the problem was that he was also Cui Jiali’s friend, and Jiali was currently struggling through her difficult pregnancy. After much thought, Liu Jun decided to wait for Qian Hongming in the parking lot. But he waited left and right, until two o’clock when the karaoke hall closed, and Qian Hongming’s car was still parked in the same spot. Liu Jun held his eyelids open in a daze, suddenly realizing he couldn’t keep waiting – if he waited longer, it would be even harder to face Qian Hongming.
Liu Jun left despondently, transferring his anger to Engineer Shao from the Municipal Industrial Design Institute. Returning home and turning on the TV, it was already late at night, with no other local stations available, only the central station persisting. But even the TV was full of spring feelings in this crisp autumn season, with a sincere, deep voice subtly narrating grassland animals enthusiastically courting mates. It seemed the whole world was in heat, only Liu Jun remained like an old monk in meditation.
The next day, he went to the design institute to demand a change of designer, or he wouldn’t sign the design contract. One of his reasons was that the designer was pimping. The institute’s leader didn’t respond on the spot but excused himself to use the bathroom and called Liu Shitang, telling him his son was throwing a childish tantrum here – they’d never heard of a client being so seriously foolish. Liu Shitang hadn’t expected his son to pull such a stunt. For design institutes, places that relied on conscience to do their work, how could one start by opposing the designer? Wasn’t this deliberately making things difficult for the designer, causing them to set traps in future blueprints? But facing the phone call, Liu Shitang closed his eyes, steeled his heart, and told the institute leader he would follow his son’s orders completely.
The institute leader wanted to use delaying tactics, but Liu Jun hadn’t signed yet and wouldn’t sign the contract today if this wasn’t resolved, forcing the leader to solve it quickly and decisively. Liu Jun was also very demanding – besides not wanting Engineer Shao involved, the new chief architect couldn’t be appointed by the design institute; he had to interview them himself. The institute leader could only comply reluctantly, considering the money and contract. But Liu Jun rejected each candidate after talking to them. Without him even mentioning it, the architects themselves said they couldn’t design, couldn’t serve such a troublesome client. Liu Jun found this very strange – were his requirements really that complex? He was completely approaching foundation, beam, and column requirements from the perspective of safe and stable equipment operation, but the architects were most annoyed by his detailed design requirements for structural dust removal, lighting energy efficiency, rainwater collection, etc. Liu Jun’s proposal to design a workshop with natural lighting based on local seasonal solar angle data encountered resistance from architects. The architects even told him that even if such requirements were designed, no one could build them.
After talking to two, Liu Jun turned and left with mutual disdain. Even he, an outsider, was convinced this was a design institute lacking ambition. If it were him and someone mentioned a small structure that could effectively collect dust, he’d be delighted, quickly taking notes and considering how to design it later. But the people here only told him there were no such conventional requirements. Yet they were all so active in pimping, even willing to accompany clients until midnight. It was purely an attitude problem.
Again, an attitude problem.
Following Mr. Wang’s guidance, Liu Jun could only go to Shanghai to find the design institute that had previously collaborated on designing Shi Yiji’s branch factory. That design institute was staffed with capable people, affiliated with a state-owned design institute for qualification purposes. Liu Jun immediately hit it off with them – when he presented requirements, they could extrapolate and even show him previously designed cases for reference. Liu Jun finally felt confident signing the contract, though the design fees were considerably higher. But so what? Good design meant smooth construction, material savings, and reduced future operational maintenance costs. The recovery of design costs could be realistically foreseen.
This time, Liu Jun willingly treated the key personnel to dinner after signing the contract. He was pleased because he had encountered kindred spirits on this trip – he felt his path was not lonely.
While Liu Shitang hurriedly negotiated with several companies bidding for Qianjin Factory, he wondered why Yang Xun still hadn’t reacted at all. Yang Xun had even sent someone to inquire about Qianjin Factory’s asking price – not just a cursory inquiry, but a deep and detailed investigation. Liu Shitang worried that Yang Xun might sabotage the Qianjin Factory sale and didn’t consider the person Yang Xun sent. He also reminded his son to constantly watch Yang Xun’s movements. He simply didn’t believe Yang Xun could suffer such a huge loss without any reaction – he was convinced that the longer Yang Xun remained silent, the greater the eventual rebound.
Liu Jun flew directly from Shanghai to Germany, signing equipment orders directly with machine tool manufacturers through introductions from former colleagues. While he might need to consult others on other matters, he made all decisions himself regarding equipment selection. Upon landing in Germany, he first contacted his girlfriend, but unfortunately, she told him over the phone that she wouldn’t see him, period. But Liu Jun wasn’t someone who would simply accept not being seen – he sat alone on the roadside outside his girlfriend’s house waiting, until sunset and cool breezes arose, when his girlfriend returned home intimately with her new boyfriend, just as she used to with him.
His girlfriend didn’t see him, or rather, her eyes now held someone else and no longer had room for him. Only by seeing with his own eyes could Liu Jun give up hope. But Liu Jun discovered he had come here more to make a clean break, to completely give up hope. He no longer felt the excitement he’d experienced when first hearing his girlfriend say goodbye. In these six months or so, it wasn’t far from earth-shaking changes. Now standing in the familiar place, looking at his girlfriend’s still-bright window, his former feelings had long vanished. Liu Jun stood for a while, then left. Though he looked back repeatedly, he still resolutely walked away.
On the return journey, Liu Jun had already decided he hoped to give Qian Hongming the agency rights for imported equipment. Having encountered too many unreliable people since returning to China, he increasingly dared not entrust important work to people he didn’t understand.
Liu Jun didn’t expect to encounter Yang Li returning from work again upon arriving home – living next door meant constantly running into each other. He’d only had time to make a quick tour of the construction site to check wall progress upon returning, and hadn’t even seen his father yet. Seeing him, Yang Li asked if he was selling Qianjin Factory – she was interested. Liu Jun didn’t know what to say to this Miss Yang, so he simply arranged to have dinner together, telling her he’d wash up and wait in the garage.
When Yang Li came down gracefully with a fragrant breeze, Liu Jun opened the car door for her to enter and first asked, “Do you know why my family is selling Qianjin Factory?”
Yang Li watched Liu Jun walk around the car through the window, very puzzled. After Liu Jun sat down, she said, “Isn’t it to exchange land for development funds?”
“The original intention was to avoid attacks from your big brother.”
Yang Li nearly choked. “But haven’t you found it strange that your father still hasn’t finalized a buyer, yet your Qianjin Factory has remained trouble-free?”
Liu Jun was startled. After driving out of the garage, he said, “Eh, what’s going on? Are you helping us? Oh right, you mentioned someone from Donghai Group last time – I haven’t looked into it yet.”
Yang Li sighed, “You don’t believe what I told you last time.”
“No, how could that be? I’ve been traveling on business since then… How does this person ride a bike?” Just as they exited the main gate, a bicycle rushed rapidly from the right side, heavily colliding with Liu Jun’s car door. The cyclist immediately fell to the ground. Liu Jun was frightened and quickly braked, instructing Yang Li, “Don’t get out of the car,” before jumping out to check.
Immediately, five or six companions of the cyclist swarmed up, surrounding Liu Jun and demanding compensation in a cacophony of voices. Liu Jun wanted to check the fallen person’s injuries, but before he could bend down, he received a heavy punch to his back. Seeing the situation was bad, Liu Jun quickly fought back, shouting, “Help the injured person first, call the police.” But no one listened to him as fists and feet attacked him from all directions. The person on the ground also jumped up to join the fight. Liu Jun vaguely sensed something was wrong, but had no time to think, only to defend himself as best he could.
But three fists couldn’t overcome four hands – facing six or seven people in a melee, Liu Jun quickly fell at a disadvantage. Yang Li rolled down the car window and shouted for them to stop fighting. The people outside immediately aimed a slap at her, which Yang Li dodged. Yang Li could only call the police, but she was so frightened her fingers couldn’t press the right keys. In just the time it took to make the call, she saw more fists landing on Liu Jun, who was already staggering from the beating. She shouted through the car window crack, “I’ve already called 110! Stop it! The police will be here soon! I know who you are!”
Hearing this was trouble, one of them shouted, and the group all pounced together, using many hands and feet to pin Liu Jun to the ground.
Liu Jun was pressed to the ground in a spread-eagled position, with big men sitting all over his body until his chest nearly burst. He heard people above him speaking in foreign dialects: “This kid has hard fists, let’s give him something to remember.” “Hurry, hurry, 110 comes fast at night.” “You hold him down, I’ll do it.” “Leave a mark.” “What kind of mark? Rich people like wearing rings…” Before Liu Jun could react, he felt intense pain in his left hand. Amid the pain, voices shouted “Go quickly, go quickly!” and instantly all the weight disappeared from his body. Liu Jun struggled to lift his head and saw the group fleeing on bicycles, scattering in all directions. A full eight of them.
The incident seemed to happen in an instant – even bystanders hadn’t gathered before the fight ended. Yang Li rushed out of the car urgently. Under the dim streetlight, the scene before her left her stunned. She saw Liu Jun barely propping himself up, staring at his left hand in disbelief. That left hand was covered in blood, with a ring finger severed at the middle joint. Yang Li screamed in fright, immediately thinking of many things. She didn’t have time to help Liu Jun up and instead dove to push away approaching onlookers, shouting, “Everyone help find the finger! Don’t step over here!” Soon, a child screamed, “Here, here!” Yang Li rushed over to pick up the finger, forgetting even to say “thank you,” and returned to help Liu Jun up. “Quick, to the hospital – we might still be in time.”
“Don’t move, put me on the ground, call 120 – my ribs are also injured.” After the initial panic, pain struck. Ten fingers connected to the heart – Liu Jun was sweating profusely from pain, unconsciously clawing at the ground with his uninjured hand to relieve the agony. Yang Li could only lay Liu Jun down, trembling as she dialed 120. She wanted to cushion his head with one hand, but in her panic and confusion, she couldn’t dial with just one hand and had to use both. By this time, bystanders had quickly formed layers around them.
The police arrived quickly. Seeing the police, Yang Li’s nerves relaxed slightly, and tears involuntarily streamed down. The police asked what had happened. Yang Li explained while crying, but as she spoke, a big question mark arose in her heart – this didn’t seem like a traffic accident but more like deliberate trouble. Even the police asked if they knew those eight people. At this point, Liu Jun struggled on the ground to say, “The eight people were from the same hometown, speaking the same dialect. The bicycle that hit me charged over alone, then the others swarmed up.”
Yang Li’s head buzzed – she realized those people had been speaking her hometown dialect. Big brother?! She couldn’t help but raise her hand, staring blankly at the severed finger in her palm. Such a coincidence? Yang Li’s mind was in chaos.
Everyone else thought Yang Li was shocked into a stupor. One police officer stayed at the scene to investigate while another went to canvas the area. When the ambulance arrived, the police pushed Yang Li to follow. Yang Li got into the ambulance in a panic, watching the doctor give emergency treatment to the pale-faced Liu Jun. She didn’t dare say a word, only silently crying. Liu Jun, who had received local anesthesia, gathered his strength to tell Yang Li, “Miss Yang, call Qian Hongming, don’t notify my father.”
Yang Li looked at Liu Jun and nodded – she didn’t realize she nodded several times because she saw deep suspicion in Liu Jun’s eyes. Had Liu Jun also thought of what she was thinking? Yang Li bowed her head, tightly covering her face, not daring to look at Liu Jun, and forgetting to call Qian Hongming. Seeing this, Liu Jun understood in his heart. He asked the accompanying police officer to call Qian Hongming and have him come to the hospital to help. He could no longer hold on and lost consciousness.