Coincidentally, Liu Jun encountered the same young woman from the morning again. This time, Liu Jun tactfully stepped back three feet and stood against the elevator wall. After a day in the workshop, he was covered in oil and grime and found himself disgusting. Moreover, his heart was depressed, lacking the vigor he’d had when going out in the morning, so naturally he had no enthusiasm for establishing good neighborly relations. The woman still treated him with disdain. They exited the elevator and went to their respective homes, leaving behind a strange mixture of expensive perfume and cheap machine oil in the elevator. But this time Liu Jun saw the woman enter door 02, right next to his home—a small two-bedroom, two-bathroom unit.
A sumptuous dinner was already laid out on the table, as if a snail fairy had entered his home. According to the note on the table, it was prepared by Aunt Fu. Liu Jun eagerly lifted the covers over the bowls and dishes to look, and found exactly the flavors his mother had loved to make over the years, exactly the taste he had yearned for during his years abroad. Liu Jun hurried to wash his hands and sit down to eat. Halfway through his meal, he had the leisure to call Qian Hongming to arrange a meeting. He told Qian Hongming quite directly, “I didn’t watch my mouth and offended the veteran workers at the factory today.”
Qian Hongming was even more direct, not even asking for specifics: “I’m cooking for Jiali. I’ll come out after I finish.”
Cui Jiali, leaning against the kitchen door, heard that someone was again asking her busy husband to go out and had already started grumbling. When she finally heard that her husband could leave only after eating dinner, she was as delighted as if she’d found a lost wallet. “Liu Jun started working right after coming back?”
“It’s a family business—there are no rest days. If we’re talking about model workers, all individual and private business owners qualify.”
“What are you going out for again? After a hard day’s work, can’t you rest at home in the evening and read some books?”
“Men must make themselves social animals.” After pausing, he smiled again: “This guy Liu Jun is genuinely straightforward—he speaks without beating around the bush. He’s not afraid at all to admit the mistakes in his previous arguments.”
“Hehe, Liu Jun has thick enough skin.”
“That’s not called thick skin, that’s called having sufficient confidence.”
“Isn’t that blind arrogance?”
“No. When he heard I was cooking, he asked if we were preparing to welcome new life. Liu Jun isn’t someone whose heart only contains himself. Anyone in his position—well-fed and clothed from childhood, tall and handsome, good grades, good at sports, wide interests, guaranteed university admission, able to go abroad at will, with people begging him to return home, and given a complete set of car and house upon return—would find it hard not to be confident.”
Cui Jiali thought for a while: “I appreciate more our hard-won fruits of life.”
“But if people had a choice, everyone would prefer leisure to labor. Jiali, why don’t you submit your resignation? With such uncomfortable morning sickness every day, why keep working?”
“Although my salary isn’t as good as yours, it’s still income. I want to earn money for formula, for little clothes and shoes, for tuition and book fees…”
“Are you worried about my parents’ medical expenses?” Seeing Cui Jiali nod, Qian Hongming sighed inwardly but didn’t show it on his face. “Don’t worry. Haven’t you seen our savings continuing to grow exponentially? We agreed that I would work hard to support the family while you work hard to manage the household. When have I ever broken my word?”
“You work so hard every day, I can’t bear it.”
Qian Hongming said with a smile: “If a well-off family like ours is staging a sob story, how are others supposed to live? Quit your job quickly. You can pick up your painting and photography hobbies again.”
Having resolved his wife’s worries, Qian Hongming turned around to solve his friend’s troubles. He was like a firefighter. He smiled and raised his glass, listening to Liu Jun pour out his grievances about the eccentricities of craftsmen.
Only after Liu Jun had vented freely did the frustration in his heart find release. “Hongming, is it because you’ve encountered so many such people at work that you’ve become so cautious and careful in your speech?”
Qian Hongming smiled: “I’ve been wanting to interrupt you. Have you considered that if you paid high enough wages, you would still need to look at their faces? No matter how much face you have, it’s not as big as money. Instead of spending time worrying about this, you’d be better off putting your energy into improving products. Your father is stuck in there and can’t get out—are you also going to draw a circle around yourself as a prison and put the cart before the horse?”
Liu Jun suddenly understood, his joy showing on his face. Qian Hongming continued his patient guidance: “Don’t be defeated by the so-called Chinese characteristics that everyone uses to scare you, newcomers. In the end, economic laws are still the most powerful.”
“Right, I want to turn today’s incident into a temporary phenomenon, into history. Next, I’ll still spend more energy looking for products that are marketable and have some technical barriers. Hongming, you’ve opened my eyes. Thank you.”
“Show me some practical action.” Qian Hongming pointed to the ostentatiously eye-catching white piano in the center. Liu Jun understood and stood up with a mischievous smile. Qian Hongming didn’t understand what Liu Jun meant, but he knew he was going to pull some trick. Sure enough, Qian Hongming saw everyone in the bar looking in surprise at Liu Jun, who was dressed so seriously tonight. Everyone had heard correctly—what Liu Jun solemnly played was the familiar childhood tune “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star.” Just as Qian Hongming was about to laugh, he suddenly realized that Liu Jun was using music to congratulate him and celebrate his upcoming promotion to fatherhood. Soon, the familiar theme became sometimes hidden, sometimes visible, with the music sometimes cheerful, sometimes tranquil, sometimes jumping, sometimes humorous, like the deep starry sky on a summer night, pure and brilliant. The music was so beautiful that even though Qian Hongming didn’t understand its language, he listened with a knowing smile.
When Liu Jun stood up, the entire venue applauded him. He didn’t think much of it—this was the treatment he usually received. He just loudly told everyone that this was his gift to his good friend, the new father, Qian Hongming: Mozart’s “Variations on Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star.” Qian Hongming applauded vigorously, his heart filled with longing. Whether he had a son or daughter in the future, he would have the child learn a musical instrument.
Liu Jun had just returned to his seat when the bartender brought two glasses of whiskey with crackers, along with a business card. Liu Jun quickly grabbed the card and saw a long list of titles, with “Yang Li, Executive Director” at the bottom. Liu Jun didn’t recognize the name, and he didn’t want to make acquaintances with girls, so he handed the card to Qian Hongming. But Qian Hongming was quite knowledgeable. He looked up and around until he found a table by the window with three women, one of whom was Yang Li, Fourth Miss Yang, who was currently the talk of the town. (Yang Li was described in “The Great River Flows East.”) Qian Hongming briefly explained to Liu Jun and immediately picked up the whiskey to go thank them.
Liu Jun didn’t move, just turned his head to look and saw that one of the three women at that table was his neighbor who had given him cold stares during the day. He couldn’t help but laugh, and he saw his female neighbor also covering her mouth and laughing at him. Only then did Liu Jun consent to get up and join Qian Hongming.
Yang Li was quite generous. Upon meeting, she smiled eloquently: “I’m sorry, Mr. Liu, for taking you for a bad person this morning. Many families are renovating in our building right now, and going out early and returning late, we often encounter suspicious-looking people, so I mistook you as well. Let me introduce you—this is my eldest sister-in-law Ren Xia’er, and this is my second sister-in-law Maomao.”
Qian Hongming smiled on the side, watching Liu Jun being surrounded by girls as always. Yang family’s eldest daughter-in-law Ren Xia’er sat next to Qian Hongming and leaned over to ask softly: “Manager Qian, is your friend still single?”
Qian Hongming immediately glanced at the exquisitely crafted Yang Li and also said quietly: “Liu Jun is a great scientific youth, unmarried, just returned from Germany.”
“Does he have a girlfriend?”
Qian Hongming wasn’t sure how Liu Jun would choose in his heart, so he said vaguely: “Not sure, he just returned yesterday.”
Over there, Liu Jun was also just saying he had only arrived home last night. Ren Xia’er turned her head and said, “Mr. Liu has returned after completing his studies. I’m afraid many young ladies in Germany are heartbroken.”
“How could that be? I agreed with my girlfriend to return in a year. A year passes quickly.” Liu Jun didn’t take Ren Xia’er’s words as anything seriously at all. But Qian Hongming saw that the expressions of all three women present had changed, and he couldn’t help but smile inwardly. The city would henceforth suffer from the scourge of a diamond bachelor. He didn’t believe Liu Jun’s one-year agreement at all. But Liu Jun was anxious about the renovation and upgrade of Progress Factory. Since the Yang family controlled half of Shi Yiji, he certainly wouldn’t let such a rare opportunity slip by. He asked Yang Li, who had a string of titles: “What market does Shi Yiji currently favor most?”
Currently, we favor automotive parts manufacturing. What, do you have the same plan?”
Liu Jun saw Yang Li speak with some hesitation and thought she was afraid he was gathering intelligence, so he said magnanimously, “This is a big market internationally. I also intend to help my father develop products in this area.”
Only then did Qian Hongming interject: “Shi Yiji’s machine tool equipment leads the city. Liu Jun, since we’ll all be friends in the future, you can ask Miss Yang to borrow processing equipment for new product trials. If there are technical issues, you can also share knowledge.”
Liu Jun quickly agreed.
Yang Li couldn’t help but glance at her sister-in-law before saying, “Great, welcome. We can even cooperate.”
Liu Jun said eagerly: “Then can I visit Shi Yiji’s equipment tomorrow? Thank you, thank you, please, please.”
Everyone laughed at Liu Jun’s big-boy-like expression. It was still Ren Xia’er who said: “I’ll make contact tomorrow first. If it’s decided, it will be arranged for the afternoon. There’s no time conflict, right?”
“Thank you, Sister Ren, thank you, Sister Maomao, thank you, Miss Yang.” Seeing this, everyone burst into laughter.