“Try it for one month!” Liu Jun couldn’t resist the temptation and was eager to try. But he couldn’t help thinking that now his and Qian Hongming’s roles seemed to have reversed—now Qian Hongming was bold, and he was meticulous. Moreover, Liu Jun’s attempt had a prerequisite: first conduct theoretical practice and drills before entering actual combat. Although Qian Hongming was somewhat reluctant, he agreed. He knew this move carried considerable risk and badly needed a companion to bolster his courage.
After this, Liu Jun spent two hours every day reading the future knowledge that Qian Hongming had collected for him, while also watching market trends and conducting simulated operations with Qian Hongming, investing enormous energy and time daily. Even though it was simulated trading, they quickly saw wins and losses, their moods riding a roller coaster with extraordinary excitement. Precisely because it was a simulation, the two could deploy extremely large amounts of virtual capital, swimming very happily in the futures ocean. Also, because it was a simulation, when the two disagreed, they didn’t need to sit down and present reasons to convince each other—they simply set aside another portion of virtual capital and each operated in their believed direction, with final results explaining everything. This generated competitive consciousness in the two highly ambitious men, and competition made them more focused, dedicating more time to watching the futures markets in both locations. Competition also fully exposed their personalities: Liu Jun was cautious, Qian Hongming was bold and aggressive; Liu Jun preferred steady flow, Qian Hongming favored grand sweeping moves—completely different from the impressions they had given others as children. However, when final accounts were tallied, gains and losses were about even. Occasionally, the two had unified opinions, and at such times, they needed to go out for celebratory meals. Thus, before real money was earned, they had already had several dinner gatherings. Jiali said the two of them were like addicted gamblers.
When Liu Jun was focused on futures, peripheral work for Tengfei Company’s application for high-tech enterprise certification was also proceeding intensively, including symposiums. Because Liu Jun’s energy was scattered, concentrating elsewhere on futures, his work inevitably suffered from attending to one thing while neglecting another. The administrative manager initially helped compensate, but seeing the symposium date approaching, finally complained bitterly, seizing Liu Jun to point out that recent work delays due to various issues A, B, C, and D had caused successive delays, yet no one stepped up to turn the tide. Continuing this way, the symposium in five days might as well not be held, as offending important attendees would waste all previous efforts.
Liu Jun was alarmed and had to temporarily set aside his future to focus intensively on symposium arrangements. Before the symposium, originally invited people needed to be courteously contacted again to confirm attendance, showing that Tengfei eagerly awaited their presence. Some suddenly became hesitant and evasive, requiring Liu Jun to make special trips with three visits to their cottage. For those traveling far, transportation arrangements needed to be negotiated. Gifts to be presented after the meeting also needed preparation. Most importantly, the symposium agenda needed preparation—naturally, speeches were essential, but they also had to anticipate possible contingencies. Liu Jun needed to gather several people as an audience for the simulation rehearsals. In short, everything required attention. While Liu Jun busied himself, he couldn’t help keeping futures market data on his computer screen, staying connected online, always taking glances at updated information amid his hectic schedule, slightly diverting his thoughts to consider it.
When Liu Jun and his group entered a four-star hotel conference hall, Liu Jun felt he was at the end of his strength. The administrative manager said his eyes were bloodshot and his face was covered with acne. Liu Jun couldn’t help but reflect whether futures had consumed too much of his energy.
Song Yunhui arrived neither early nor late, ten minutes before the meeting time. Upon entering and seeing Liu Jun’s face showing both excitement and exhaustion, he thought he understood. He laughingly asked Liu Jun whether organizing such meetings was more tiring than his familiar research and development work, and whether staying up three days and nights during R&D wasn’t as exhausting as holding one meeting here. Liu Jun, harboring guilty thoughts, only dared smile without answering. During the meeting, Song Yunhui spoke proactively, basically setting the tone with his speech. He affirmed Tengfei Company’s advanced R&D system and high proportion of R&D investment, and regarding Donghai Group’s years of arduous exploration on the path of domestic production, pointed out the important significance of Tengfei Company’s independently developed products in several aspects.
Liu Jun had long been indoctrinated to know that even though attendees came from various industries, their actions subtly aligned with the administrative hierarchy. Since Donghai Group was inseparably connected with local administration, Song Yunhui’s speech, having the highest administrative level, basically became the meeting’s keynote, relegating Liu Jun’s somewhat self-congratulatory prepared speech to the bottom of the box. Naturally, Song Yunhui’s speech, compared to Liu Jun’s self-congratulation, had incomparably different effects, completely exceeding Liu Jun’s expectations. Liu Jun had no idea how to thank Song Yunhui for his great kindness.
Song Yunhui didn’t stay for lunch. Liu Jun saw him to his car, expressing endless gratitude along the way. Song Yunhui only said very humbly that he was merely being truthful while taking practical action to escort excellent enterprises. Before getting in his car, he urged Liu Jun not to become complacent upon seeing achievements, as the road ahead was difficult and endless, requiring patience with loneliness and persistence, persistence, and more persistence.
Liu Jun felt ashamed, feeling he had greatly failed Song Yunhui’s selfless support. Returning to the dining scene, Liu Shitang, stealing time from his busy schedule, asked his son when and how he had established a relationship with Song Yunhui, telling his son to prepare a substantial gift to properly thank him. Liu Jun thought it over and felt Song Yunhui wouldn’t accept his gifts—Song Yunhui’s appreciation and support were genuine and selfless. Liu Jun thought with a heart full of conflict that futures consumed too much of his energy. He did have several talented people under him, but these talents were proud and not good at management. If he didn’t personally supervise, Tengfei’s research results wouldn’t emerge so quickly or well. Should he quit futures, which took up too much of his energy? But he had already studied futures so much, just learned to build mathematical models and grasped the essentials. Ahead lay a vast unknown temptation, his heart burning hot—it was truly difficult to choose.
The meeting was considered successful, with follow-up work handled by Liu Shitang. Often, after making a good show on the surface, what followed were under-the-table dealings. Upon hearing that Liu Jun had finally ended his seclusion, Qian Hongming eagerly invited Liu Jun to his office for a face-to-face discussion. Almost as soon as he saw Qian Hongming’s number displayed on his phone screen, the scales in Liu Jun’s heart unconsciously tilted slightly. When they met, Qian Hongming got straight to the point, pulling up computer pages and pushing them toward Liu Jun.
“The day before you went into seclusion, we rarely made the same judgment, and I was so happy I was eager to try. During your seclusion, I really couldn’t resist going to Shanghai. I brought the company’s working capital plus mortgages on my two properties, though it’s insignificant… Look at all the transaction records that occurred. I must report to you, my cooperation partner, immediately. How about it? Indeed, when brothers unite, their strength can cut through metal. Not bad, right?”
Liu Jun carefully reviewed everything, only able to say one sentence: “This money was too easy to earn.” In his heart, he quickly converted the trading gains into Tengfei’s income—how many trivial matters would Tengfei need to handle, how much collective effort would be consumed, how much time spent to achieve the same harvest.
“So you see, as long as we both favor something, it’s right. Now I’m somewhat hesitant…” Qian Hongming explained in detail the situation changes over these days, how many orders he had placed, how much remaining capital could still be operated, and how current international conditions indicated that the resource market would fluctuate considerably in the short term. But futures weren’t stocks—futures liked volatility. Risk brought returns; the key was walking each step well to avoid losses on capital already in play, striving to fight well amid the fluctuations.
“Currently, small losses—don’t worry. It’s not hopeless.” Liu Jun looked at subsequent data, trying his best to comfort his friend who had pressed his entire fortune into the game.
“I’m a bit worried, but not much. However, today, watching returns gradually narrow until small losses, I seemed to truly realize only then that we were no longer playing a simulation but engaging in real combat. Every cut draws blood, severely testing willpower. Fortunately, you’ve emerged from seclusion.”
Liu Jun felt duty-bound. Even if he didn’t want profits, he now had to help his friend escape difficulty first. The two discussed in Qian Hongming’s office until late at night. When finishing, Liu Jun discovered his physical strength could barely hold up, and he had forgotten to receive university professors and accompanying students on his side. He had to rush back to the hotel, not daring to disturb the teachers, only able to apologize to the students. Coming out, he was nearly driven crazy by his father’s complaints.
However, no matter what, the symposium had finally concluded smoothly. Post-meeting feedback from all parties was good, making high-tech enterprise certification look promising. Liu Jun could finally catch his breath and focus on studying future market fluctuations. He also supplemented part of Tengfei’s working capital into it. Tengfei’s working capital was already tight; this blood-drawing made daily operations somewhat stretched. But Liu Jun thought that soon he would use future gains to nourish Tengfei in return. However, Tengfei’s informed staff began complaining bitterly—those working conscientiously received no rewards, those working loosely received no punishment. The entire management system seemed like a car with a malfunctioning steering wheel, moving aimlessly.
Finally, someone knocked on Liu Jun’s door—surprisingly, it was Sun Gong and Liao Gong, this pair of adversaries coming together. Without waiting for Liu Jun to speak, they seated themselves across from him, their eyes no longer calm, seemingly suppressing anger.
“We forcibly stopped workshop operations, invoking Factory Regulation Article 5. We believe the process signed by General Manager Liu is incorrect. In the name of the R&D center, I mandatorily shut down workshop operations.”
“I was responsible for developing this product. When the process was finalized, I was on sick leave. I originally thought that with General Manager Liu present, I could rest assured and recuperate, as General Manager Liu would see through such small problems like fire.” Liao Gong handed Liu Jun the process document to examine. “The red line marks that procedure. General Manager Liu, please look—taking such shortcuts. How do we handle the stress generated by forced processing? Wait for component cracking during delivery?”
“Such an obvious error should never occur in a senior engineer with ten years’ experience. The only explanation is: carelessness!”
The two senior engineers spoke alternately, basically showing no mercy, criticizing all the items Liu Jun had always heavily emphasized: carelessness. Liu Jun simply had nowhere to hide his shame. Initially, the two senior engineers’ criticism targeted the matter, not the person, discussing only technical issues, so every sentence hit the mark, leaving Liu Jun completely battered. But later, seeing Liu Jun’s flushed face, Sun Gong consoled him: “General Manager Liu shouldn’t make such elementary mistakes carelessly, but I see you’ve been staying at the company more recently. Logically, you shouldn’t have too many distracting household matters, though you young people…”
“I’ve recently been helping a friend with a project, investing enormous energy, involving many advanced mathematical calculations.” Liu Jun quickly hit the brakes, lest they suspect he was obsessed with women and indulging excessively in wine and sex. “Sorry, I was greatly distracted at work, causing Liao Gong to end his sick leave early and rush back. I’ll improve quickly.”
“We’re taking advantage of our age to speak frankly. General Manager Liu, these past few months… the company has seriously regressed—regression in quality, regression in production, and even more regression in management. Also, regarding funds, the workshop below has already stopped operations several times due to working capital shortages—this severely shakes morale. What’s going on? This can’t continue. If you don’t feel sorry for us, we feel sorry for ourselves. You can’t let us working people lose hope more and more.” Although Liao Gong usually didn’t talk much, when he truly spoke, every word came from the heart.
“General Manager Liu, you haven’t held meetings with our center to discuss new R&D directions since the Spring Festival. I’ve already reminded you twice in writing—I don’t know if General Manager Liu saw them.”
“General Manager Liu, I’ve always been straightforward, unable to keep things in my heart. When you, the boss, are half-hearted, what should we do? We’re all people who want to work, not wanting to eat idle meals.” When Liao Gong said this, Sun Gong kicked him from below. Liao Gong also realized something was wrong—wasn’t this blatant rebellion? He quickly shut up.
The two senior engineers watched Liu Jun correct the process and re-sign it before taking it and leaving.