Home Visit

Chapter 187 Home Visit

"Oh?" Han Fei said, "Tell me, what have you figured out?"

"I've figured something out. When negotiating this kind of business, you can't just explain our advantages and present the data, and then let them decide if it's okay or not. Every question they ask at the negotiating table, ostensibly about us, is actually about themselves: what are the benefits and risks of cooperating with Qingniao?"

"Anything else?"

"And that method of breaking down questions, I need to practice that when I get back. Break a big question down into two smaller ones, and let the other person choose one to answer. That way, you regain control. Before, when I encountered tricky questions, my first reaction was to give a hard answer. If I couldn't answer, I would blush and sweat, wishing I could disappear into a hole. Now, at least I know that when I can't answer, I can look down at my notebook, repeat the other person's question, or even honestly say that I need to confirm. These methods are much more dignified than stubbornly trying to save face."

Han Fei smiled slightly: "Practice these few first, and then we'll take our time with the rest."

Han Fei paid the bill at the counter, and the two left the restaurant without returning to the Jinling Hotel. They walked counterclockwise around the Xinjiekou roundabout for a short distance before stepping onto Hanzhong Road.

"President, where are we going?"

"Let's digest our food and take a look around."

They turned from the bustling shopping street onto a quieter side street. Han Fei saw a street sign that read "Shen Juren Alley".

At the alley entrance stood a closed bookstore, its gray roller shutter door spray-painted with the words "Store for Sale," and the phone number painted over.

Half of it fell off.

"What did this shop sell before?" Lu Hai asked.

"Look at the remaining outline of this sign... It's probably an education bookstore, or an exam preparation bookstore. The kind that specializes in teaching materials and postgraduate entrance exam preparation materials. Judging by all this dust, it's been closed for at least half a year."

After walking for ten minutes, they passed through Shenjuren Lane and arrived at Zhongshan Road. Several newsstands were still open along the street. Han Fei stopped in front of one near a bus stop; the shelves were filled with familiar faces: *Reader* magazine, etc.

"Zhiyin," "Story Club," "Youth Digest," and several automotive and health magazines. The most prominent positions were reserved for "Yangtze Evening Post" and "Modern Express."

As Han Fei stood in front of the newsstand browsing through the magazines on the shelf, Fang Jing called to say that Liu Zhenhua had agreed to allocate funds for oral history in his hometown. Next, the commission rate for SP business in Shanghai, Guangdong, and Zhejiang will be reduced to 10%, and the two extra points that Qingniao gets will be used as targeted funding for the project.

"Why is it so noisy over there?" Fang Jing asked.

"I'm in Nanjing, and they've already called me from Jiangsu."

"They acted so quickly. The documents from headquarters were only sent out a few days ago."

"you do not say."

"I don't know Xu Zhenghong very well. I've heard people say he's very capable, but he's extremely meticulous about details. Just keep that in mind."

"Okay," Han Fei said, "I understand."

Han Fei hung up the phone and checked his watch. It was 5:43.

"Let's go," he said, "let's check out that subway station south of Xinjiekou."

Why look at the subway station?

"Look at what young people in Nanjing do at night."

The two walked through the underground passage at Xinjiekou and arrived at the station hall of Metro Line 1. It was rush hour, and people were standing in small groups on the platform waiting for the train. Han Fei stepped onto the platform, stood still, inhaled the warm underground air, and looked at the crowd. Most of the waiting passengers were young people between twenty and thirty-five years old. Some were wearing headphones and listening to music, while others were looking down at their phone keypads. Most of them were using Nokia or Motorola feature phones, with very limited screen size and functions; sending text messages was one of the few things they could do. Some people were using flip phones, tapping the buttons with their fingernails, and the rudimentary outline of WAP pages could be vaguely seen on the screen.

"Look closely," Han Fei said in a low voice, "these people have about three to five minutes of free time while waiting for the bus. During this time, the easiest thing for them to do is look at their phones."

Lu Hai nodded: "So if what they receive isn't spam, but the beginning of a story that piques their curiosity, they might reply and take a look; it only takes a few seconds anyway."

"Yes. This is the foundation of our SP (Service Provider) business. It's not just in Nanjing; the same logic applies to any subway or bus station."

He heard the train doors close and felt the air behind him move away as the train pulled away. The two walked towards the exit. A guy above the escalator told them, "If you don't manage your money, your money won't manage you."

"You'll only lose money faster if you try to get rid of it," Han Fei muttered.

As they passed through the glass doors of the exit and left the subway station, it was completely dark. The clouds had moved aside, revealing the vast, black, velvety night sky behind them, dotted with starlight.

Chen Zhengyuan opened his eyes and saw a large, square cockroach crawling towards him between two empty bottles, making a low, cat-like trembling sound. The cockroach stopped making sounds, then started trembling again, tapping lightly on the glass tabletop, crawling five centimeters toward him, leaving a thin trail in the ashes.

Chen Zhengyuan reached out and grabbed it, bringing it to his ear. He heard his own voice, hoarse as if a crushed stone was grinding against him: "What are you trying to sell? Real estate or insurance/financial management?"

"Conquering the distant lands..."

'

"Who are you?"

"This is Zhang Huaili. I was busy just now when you called me. What were you doing?"

Chen Zhengyuan checked the caller ID and confirmed that the other party was telling the truth.

"I'm resting." He felt his stomach preparing to empty itself again.

"Where should we rest?"

"On the sofa. Why didn't you answer my call earlier?"

"I told you I'm busy. Are you home?"

"Oh, let me see, this renovation looks promising. How's the thing I asked you to do a few days ago coming along?"

"Zhengyuan, I've been keeping an eye on this matter. But let me tell you, now is not the time to act. Wen Shuyan just came from the launch meeting; the dean was very satisfied with her, and the department just praised her. If there's any negative feedback or rumors about hindering her promotion at this time, it would be too conspicuous. I have to wait until this storm has passed, find a natural moment, like the end-of-month assessment or the department's evaluation, and then subtly apply pressure. Trust me, this can't be rushed; if we rush it, we'll easily be exposed."

"Stop beating around the bush, what exactly are you...?"

7

Chen Zhengyuan tossed his phone to the other end of the sofa, staggered to his feet, bent over to find his balance, and shuffled forward, using his head as a navigation device and a ram. His head guided him into the kitchen without bumping into anything. He placed his hands on either side of the sink and opened his mouth, gushing out his stomach contents like a fountain. He opened his eyes again and saw the dish rack still in the sink, thin, yellowish-green vomit running down a plate placed upright. He turned on the tap, hoping his vomit wouldn't clog the drain by the next day.

Chen Zhengyuan drank a little tap water. Not much. Actually, one advantage of drinking regularly is that it lets you know how much your stomach can hold.

Tolerance. He returned to the living room, crossed his legs, as if he had just wet himself. In fact, he hadn't checked whether he had wet himself.

He lay down on the sofa and heard a deep, husky voice on the other end, as if a little person was calling his name in a tiny voice. He groped between his legs and put the phone to his ear again.

"Is there anything else?" He didn't know what to do with the bile that was burning his throat like lava. Should he cough it up, or swallow it? Or should he just let his throat burn because he deserved it?

He listened to Zhang Huaili spout a bunch of useless nonsense, like how Wen Shuyan was indeed difficult to find fault with. Her assessment materials were complete, her student evaluations were good, and the dean had a good impression of her. If they were to force things, it would only bring trouble upon themselves.

Zhang Huaili also said that he was trying to find a breakthrough from other places, such as having her take on more extra work, and then dealing with her after she made a small mistake.

"Old Zhang, don't give me that 'highlighting the moment' nonsense. I've already said, I'm not discussing this with you, I'm informing you. Think about it, how many days have passed since the kickoff meeting? That woman Wen Shuyan hasn't even broken a sweat! Are you helping me or just stalling for time? Listen to me, I don't care about the 'highlighting the moment,' I want it by tomorrow. By tomorrow night at the latest, I want Wen Shuyan to feel like a knife is at her throat. Don't tell me you can't do it. This is just a piece of cake for you, do I have to teach you how to do it?"

Chen Zhengyuan pressed the hang-up button, glanced at the two empty bottles of John's whiskey on the coffee table, and then checked his watch. 9:30. The supermarket downstairs was already closed, but alcohol was available elsewhere. He dialed a number.

"Wang Yu, it's me," Chen Zhengyuan said.

"It's so late, is there something you need?" Wang Yu asked, her tone polite, distant, and indifferent.

"You're in Shanghai, right?"

"What's wrong?"

Are you home?

A moment of silence.

"Let's meet," Chen Zhengyuan said.

"Now? It's not convenient. Let's talk on the phone."

"Wang Yu, there's no need for this between us. I'm not here to argue or dredge up the past. I just want to talk face-to-face and have a drink. You're in Shanghai, and so am I. Surely we can meet, right?"

"If you want to talk about work, let's schedule a time tomorrow during the day. I'll come to the branch office to see you, or you can come to headquarters in a couple of days. As for personal matters, I don't think there's anything we need to discuss privately anymore."

"Wang Yu, do you think I'm a joke right now? I know you all saw what happened at the launch meeting. I can guess what Ding Lei said. And that salon of yours, bypassing me and held in Shanghai, did you even invite Han Fei?"

There was a long silence on the other end of the phone before someone spoke again: "The salon was a normal industry exchange by the headquarters' strategic development department. It has nothing to do with the Shanghai branch, and even less to do with you personally. I don't need to do anything through you, nor do I need to deliberately avoid you. As for the launch meeting, that's not my business, and I don't want to comment on it."

Chen Zhengyuan closed his eyes: "Can you come out now?"

"No," Wang Yu said.

"Wang Yu..."

'

Wang Yu has hung up the phone.

Wang Yu lay on her side in bed, staring into the darkness of the bedroom. She heard her phone ring, checked the caller ID, and pressed the answer button: "Don't call me again. I told you..."

"I'm downstairs at your place. If you don't come down in three minutes, I'm coming up."

"You..." Wang Yu began to speak, but heard a rapid beeping sound from the receiver, indicating that the other party had hung up. She sat up in bed, held her breath, waited quietly for a moment, and then sighed.

She got out of bed, put on her bathrobe and slippers, dragged herself across the living room, opened the bedroom door, took the elevator down to the first floor, and stood at the entrance of the building with her arms crossed.

"Hello, snacks." Chen Zhengyuan mumbled, calling "sweetheart" "snacks." Wang Yu wondered, was this guy going to put on a drunken comedy, or a pathetic original farce?

"What exactly do you want to do?" Wang Yu asked.

"Can I come upstairs?"

"no."

"But I feel very lonely."

"Chen Zhengyuan," Wang Yu said, "I'm already asleep. You can go home now. We can talk about it tomorrow."

"I need to resolve this now. Just ten minutes, then we'll call a taxi, okay? We can also chat about Qingniao and Han Fei to kill time, what do you say?"

"No," Wang Yu said, "I have nothing to talk to you about."

Chen Zhengyuan immediately stood up straight, a movement that made Wang Yu wonder if he wasn't as drunk as he seemed. "Really? Don't you have any nostalgia for our past?"

"no."

"Have you become this kind of person?" Chen Zhengyuan drawled, kicking a small pebble next to her.

Wang Yu remained silent.

"Or are you just that kind of person?" Chen Zhengyuan's eyes gleamed with amusement. "You admit you're the kind of person who, in order to climb the ladder, wouldn't hesitate to step on old friends to get to the top, and then turn around and wash your hands of the past completely, right, Wang Yu?"

"Listen, Chen Zhengyuan..."

'

"Have you forgotten who promoted you from the position of VP of Product? Who gave you the opportunity to join the Strategic Development Department?"

Now that you're all the rage, you turn around and sit at the same table with my rival, drinking tea?"

Wang Yu's heart was racing, and she could feel sweat dripping down between her shoulder blades under her bathrobe.

"It's over between us a long time ago. It didn't start today, it started the day you treated me like a tool to be manipulated at will," she said, hearing her own voice change.

"Do you know why I've become like this? It's not because Han Fei is smarter than me, it's because I have people like you around me who stick to me when they need me, but once I fall, they're busy distancing themselves and siding with a new master."

Chen Zhengyuan's eyes shone with a strong light, just as they had when things were bad in the past.

"Chen Zhengyuan, you can go now. You can hail a taxi right at the entrance of the residential area."

His hand suddenly reached out, and before Wang Yu could react, he grabbed her arm and pushed her into the building. Wang Yu tried to break free, but Chen Zhengyuan's arms held her tightly.

"Do you really want to do this?" Chen Zhengyuan's voice hissed in her ears. "Hurrying to run away? You think you can really escape..."

'

Wang Yu groaned and twisted his body, but he was very strong.

"Xiaoyu!"

The voice came from the darkness at the corner of the stairs; it was a firm and domineering male voice. Under other circumstances, Chen Zhengyuan would have recognized the voice, because he had met Wang Yu's father before.

"What happened, Xiaoyu?"

Chen Zhengyuan had released Wang Yu and was looking at her expressionlessly.

"It's nothing," Wang Yu said, keeping Chen Zhengyuan in her sight. "He's just a former colleague who got drunk and is on his way home."

Chen Zhengyuan left the building without saying a word and quietly departed.