Liu Jun regretted so much that his intestines turned green. If he hadn’t been possessed by demons recently, how could freight prices have secretly crept up bit by bit to their current high levels? The freight companies that had grown fat on high transportation fees naturally wouldn’t voluntarily lower prices now—who would spit out the meat already in their mouths? Liu Jun thought that Shen Huadong, with his large family and great business, had several companies under his banner with amazing daily freight volumes, so he should have some connections with those people. When he consulted Shen Huadong, he indeed asked the right person. Shen Huadong understood the inside story: there were limited inland river docks in the city, and since privatization began, they had been almost entirely captured by a group of fellow townspeople over several years. This group of fellow townspeople, being in a foreign place, naturally stuck together very closely, often forming alliances to negotiate prices and take cargo collectively. They seemed to have an internal operational system unknown to outsiders, with some violence and some underworld elements. Liu Jun’s vision went dark as he thought of the famous Yang Xun’s fellow townspeople group in the city. Fortunately, Shen Huadong denied this and promised to help coordinate.
Shen Huadong also told Liu Jun that his Shi Yiji was undergoing a comprehensive transformation, focusing on the large automotive parts market. Currently, he had some ready-made products and technologies on hand, hoping Liu Jun would help him assess whether they were advanced enough when he had time. Shen Huadong also asked what Liu Jun had been busy with recently—not appearing on forums, not attending activities, as if in closed-door cultivation. Upon hearing Liu Jun say he had been trading futures with small gains, Shen Huadong immediately inquired about someone in the city who was supposedly a futures trading expert, and how this person had been encouraging him to open an account, making him somewhat tempted. Liu Jun quickly confessed his painful lessons in detail—the transportation fee incident was precisely because he was absent-minded during futures trading that he fell into the trap. Upon hearing this, Shen Huadong found these words similar to what his father had earnestly advised him, so he gave up the idea. Since Liu Jun confessed frankly without avoiding embarrassment, Shen Huadong also honestly told Liu Jun that he was now very troubled by Dong Qiyang’s arrangement. His foreign MBA role in the company greatly overlapped with Dong Qiyang’s domestic MBA role, and the two often disagreed on market issues, even having conflicts. But Dong Qiyang had signed a three-year contract with Yang Xun at the time, which hadn’t expired yet, and he was reluctant to pay the high breach fees.
“General Manager Dong is quite good. I often consult him, and almost all his suggestions are useful to me.”
“First, he doesn’t understand technology; second, his work overlaps with mine. Do you think his suggestions are good? I feel his management has a somewhat makeshift quality.”
“It’s inevitable that General Manager Dong doesn’t understand technology. As for being makeshift, I don’t think so. His marketing management concepts are no worse than the German company I used to work for, or… You never worked at foreign companies before returning to China, so what you planned to implement was all textbook theory?”
Liu Jun gave examples to illustrate, and indeed, what Liu Jun thought was correct, Shen Huadong raised objections to. Based on experience, Liu Jun judged that what Shen Huadong said wasn’t wrong either, just not necessarily superior to Dong Qiyang’s approach—each had their merits. So there were indeed conceptual differences between the two. The two talked enthusiastically, and as they talked, they each left home for a bar to continue. Shen Huadong kept lamenting that if the two cooperated, with Liu Jun managing production and R&D while he managed everything else, they would complement each other perfectly. However, each was living quite well individually, and the foundation for cooperation was far from emerging. He did suggest that Liu Jun recruit Dong Qiyang. Liu Jun had long coveted Dong Qiyang, but Dong Qiyang’s price was hefty, so he could only fantasize.
While they were talking, Boss Fang from that transportation company arrived, accompanied by the boss of a transportation company that had long-term cooperation with Shen Huadong’s family, who called Shen Huadong brother effusively. According to Shen Huadong’s friend, he was escorting Boss Fang to make peace. But their industry had rules: when broken mirrors reunited, they drank three cups of ceremonial wine, and from then on, the matter was settled—everyone would be friends when they met. Without a word, Shen Huadong’s friend, ignoring bar rules, went to the counter and took six red wine glasses, filling them with green-bottle Red Star erguotou. Seeing that person’s demeanor, the bartender didn’t dare say anything, letting them freely perform with their alcohol in the bar’s space.
Liu Jun looked at the clear 56° marking on the bottle and thought this wasn’t drinking wine—this was drinking pure alcohol. But then, seeing the rice cake-thick pure gold bracelets on the arms of Shen Huadong’s friend and Boss Fang, plus the bluish-green character “endure” tattooed on Boss Fang’s hand, he knew he couldn’t escape today. Being able to solve this with drinking was already giving face to Shen Huadong. Liu Jun could only go all out, forcing a smile as he linked arms with Boss Fang to drink three glasses of green-bottle Wuliangye. Instantly, his whole body became like a fireball, burning all over. He remembered nothing of what happened afterward. When he woke up, it was noon the next day, and he was in a hospital.
With gastric mucosal damage causing vomiting blood and alcohol poisoning, Liu Jun finally compensated for the deficit he had caused at Tengfei during his period of demonic possession.
Upon learning of this incident, Liu Shitang became even angrier at Qian Hongming, firmly believing his son’s condition was entirely due to falling into that boy Qian Hongming’s trap. He found Qian Hongying and scolded her thoroughly; Qian Hongying could only submit meekly. Although Qian Hongying now focused wholeheartedly on work and was doing splendidly, the higher her position rose, the more she yearned for an upright life in the sunlight, and the more she worried about her dark past being dug up and exposed. Liu Shitang was the person she feared most. After Liu Shitang left, she called Qian Hongming and gave him a thorough scolding, demanding that Qian Hongming stay away from Liu Jun from now on and not cause trouble. Qian Hongying asked her brother why, when Liu Jun was someone who could trigger painful memories, he kept clinging to Liu Jun. Besides friendship, what unseemly subconscious motives were there? Was it masochism?
Qian Hongming couldn’t answer, but his sister’s question reminded him: why indeed? Rationally analyzing, he should stay far away from Liu Jun, preferably never meeting until death. Was it just friendship? Wasn’t it more than just friendship?
Although Liu Jun needed several days of recuperation to return to normal, Tengfei was like “when Rémy Martin opens, good things naturally come”—they finally obtained quality system certification, allowing them to enter and exit large state-owned enterprises openly instead of using side doors and back doors like a concubine. High-tech enterprise certification was also approved, though when it was approved, an administrative officer privately borrowed fifty thousand yuan from Liu Jun, giving an IOU that notably didn’t specify a repayment date.
Tengfei Company began moving onto a track that attracted government attention. Liu Jun didn’t know whether this was good or bad—more attention meant more people taking advantage, but also more policies given. Policies in some people’s hands were flexible—they could give you the upper limit or the lower limit, depending on whether you, as an enterprise owner, were sensible enough. Liu Jun wasn’t very sensible, but he was already satisfied with the lower limit.