Chapter 25 Zhang Jingyan on the other end of the phone also…

Zhang Jingyan, on the other end of the phone, also fell silent, perhaps because she heard Li Xingzhou's words.

Taking advantage of this brief break, Huang Shiyu glanced at Li Xingzhou several times, just to confirm how sincere he really was.

She was genuinely terrified of Song Chaoye; she was now in a state of being bitten by a snake once and being afraid of a rope for ten years. Although Li Xingzhou wasn't that rope, her worries about their past entanglements were understandable.

However, Li Xingzhou is right. Once the project is developed, it will be worth far more than five million US dollars. Selling it to Zhang Jingyan now would be a bargain.

The icy silence was finally broken by Zhang Jingyan on the phone.

“Well then, Mr. Huang, it’s hard to explain over the phone. Give me a chance. I feel we don’t know each other well enough. How about we schedule a time to talk in detail?” Without waiting for Huang Shiyu’s reply, Zhang Jingyan continued, “Are you free tomorrow afternoon? I’ll have my secretary book your favorite coffee shop. Is that convenient for you? If not, I’ll have my secretary pick you up.”

Zhang Jingyan's seemingly tactful yet straightforward statement actually contains a hidden meaning.

She said, "It's hard to explain over the phone," which was actually an implication that there were people around her and it was inconvenient to continue discussing the next steps of the cooperation.

She then said, "I feel we don't know each other well enough yet. What do you think about scheduling a time to talk in detail?" This seemed to put the initiative in her hands, but the subtext was that we could sit down and study it further, and not reject her outright.

She then said, "Do you have time tomorrow afternoon? I'll have my secretary arrange it at your favorite coffee shop. Is that convenient for you? If not, I'll have my secretary pick you up." This implies that she really values ​​Huang Shiyu's project and even knows which coffee shop she frequents. She specifically chose the coffee shop because a familiar environment is the best way to put someone at ease when discussing business.

"Okay, I'll be there on time. Goodbye, Mr. Zhang," Huang Shiyu said succinctly.

Li Xingzhou clearly shared Huang Shiyu's thoughts, saying, "Zhang Jingyan is not a simple woman."

"I know."

When Huang Shiyu first entered the workforce, she didn't have these complicated thoughts in mind. She had no connections and was studying finance. This industry makes money faster than other industries, but it is very resource-intensive. Compared with her classmates, her starting point was far behind. While her classmates used their own resources to get jobs in securities and banks, she was earning 2,800 yuan a month on Financial Street. Gradually, she realized that graduating was just returning to her original social class.

But she was not resigned to it. She would always remember the feeling she had when she stood under the Oriental Pearl Tower and looked up at the Shanghai night view. She was not resigned to her life being like this. She had suffered too much and had had enough of the poor and undignified life. All she wanted was to make money.

So for a period of time, she frantically sought business, filling her time to the brim. But that was only for a short time. Later, she met too many people in the financial industry and realized that the gap between people cannot be bridged by working desperately. It's not like a tug-of-war where you can just use all your strength.

She had experienced despair, confusion, and self-doubt, her mind filled with thoughts of how to move forward.

But when she looks back on her journey, she feels that she has worked very hard, starting to earn money to support herself during college and constantly moving forward.

Later, she also realized that the world is a vast book, and comparisons exist between every social class. So she only compared herself to her past self. She walked this bumpy road with both effort and caution.

"Do you know why I absolutely have to keep this appointment?" Huang Shiyu asked him, pulling herself together from her thoughts.

"I'm not a mind reader, it would be strange if I knew." Unlike Huang Shiyu's face, which was full of desire to express himself, Li Xingzhou slowly finished his water and joked.

"I want to meet the person I wrote on my desk seven years ago. She was my guiding star when I chose finance. Even if the cooperation doesn't work out in the end, we still have to maintain some decorum." I wasn't oblivious to the joking tone in Li Xingzhou's words, but I still couldn't help but say it.

She didn't know why she suddenly wanted to tell Li Xingzhou these heartfelt words, but she quickly found a perfect reason. It was probably because her body's adrenaline was rising after exercising, and she hadn't fully digested it yet. It reminded her of a girl she didn't like back in college. Later, due to the pandemic and the school being closed, they became partners in a murder mystery game. She remembered that they were playing a game set in the Republican era, and she was so excited by the text and plot that she found herself completely drawn to the girl afterward. Sometimes, the relationships between people are just that magical.

Huang Shiyu felt that her current attitude towards Li Xingzhou was the same as her attitude towards that girl back then.

Li Xingzhou was stunned for a moment by her words, his dark pupils showing a moment of confusion, but he quickly found the fragment in the long river of fragmented memories. The person Huang Shiyu mentioned that she wrote on the table was Zhang Jingyan. For a long time, he mistakenly thought that this person was Huang Shiyu's crush, which made him very embarrassed.

Later he learned that Zhang Jingyan was a senior student several years ahead of them, and that she had donated the school's laboratory, which had a small, square plaque hanging on it. He even asked Huang Shiyu what the sentence Zhang Jingyan wrote on the plaque meant.

He only understood the first sentence written above: It's okay, I was just as confused as you were back then.

The second sentence reads: "Starting with insignificance, ending this journey with a level gaze."

He remembered Huang Shiyu chewing gum and mumbling, "When we look up at the starry sky, we feel very small." He paused, then added in a joking tone, "Then we cross that mountain, stand on the top and look at it at eye level, neither being the one who looks up at it nor the one who is looked down upon."

A sudden knock on the door interrupted Li Xingzhou's thoughts. After Huang Shiyu said "Come in," the door opened, and the face that appeared behind it startled both of them.

"I came here with a client to fencing and happened to hear Mr. Huang's voice. I hope I didn't offend you." Sam's lips still curled into a smile as always.

"No, we just finished playing." After pausing for a few seconds, as if considering why the other party had come, Huang Shiyu tentatively added, "The boss just said there are no training rooms left. We've finished playing too, so you can use them."

"Boss must be mistaken. We just arrived and he was complaining that not many people came to practice swordsmanship today."

Before Huang Shiyu could speak, Li Xingzhou added, "It's probably a machine malfunction. It's normal for electronic products to occasionally break down."

Sam was standing directly opposite the two of them, so she naturally didn't miss the almost imperceptible furrowing of Li Xingzhou's brows caused by her words. Although it was very slight and brief, for someone like her who was walking on thin ice in the workplace, it was like the moment a mosquito was about to fall from a great height; she knew the mosquito's whereabouts from that moment.

Huang Shiyu wasn't clear on how this process worked, so he listened quietly to Li Xingzhou's explanation. Naturally, he didn't notice the subtle emotional changes that Li Xingzhou inadvertently revealed, unlike Sam.

Sam simply smiled and replied, "Mr. Li is right."

"Is there something you need?" Huang Shiyu asked directly, not believing that the other party had come just to say hello.

"Mr. Huang, I'm so sorry."

Huang Shiyu interrupted her, "Where does this apology come from?"

Sam cut to the chase this time, saying, "I'm really sorry about Speed ​​Technology. I didn't expect that Song Chaoye would collaborate with Silas in addition to me." His thin eyebrows gathered slightly towards his brow, as if that apology was emanating from there. "Whether you believe it or not, I am also a victim in this matter."

Song Chaoye did not follow the confidentiality agreement between the two, so the information she leaked to Huang Shiyu did not violate any regulations.

Hearing Sam's words, Huang Shiyu understood. She had previously thought that Song Chaoye was setting a trap for her in conjunction with the parent company and subsidiary. Now, considering Sam's brief but explosive words, it turned out that it was actually a show to deceive her, using Sam to mislead her so that when Silas came with better terms, she could sign the contract without hesitation.

That was a brilliant move. To be able to plan ahead and manipulate people's hearts to this extent, ha, she really underestimated her opponent.

She and Sam weren't standing far apart. Huang Shiyu took a closer look at the person in front of her. He was about two heads shorter than her, and his soft, shoulder-length hair was just like her—gentle on the outside, but with a hidden sharpness inside.

Huang Shiyu had heard some rumors that Sam and Silas were used to competing with each other in the workplace and had always been at odds.

However, considering that in places like Japan, women face a hundred times greater difficulty finding employment than in China, let alone becoming senior executives in companies, Huang Shiyu, being a woman herself, knew that Sam's journey must have been extremely difficult. Moreover, it was she who ultimately chose the Silas acquisition plan, which had nothing to do with Sam. She had no reason to blame Sam for the mistakes she made.

She knew Sam's purpose in coming at this moment: to show her his bottom line and friendliness, and not to become her enemy.

Although I don't know what Sam wants from her, in the business world, it's always better to have one more friend than one more enemy.

Even among companies that are constantly at odds, no one wants the other to fall. Maintaining the status quo is always better than having a few new competitors, and this obviously applies here as well.

Li Xingzhou stood quietly to the side the whole time, sometimes drinking water or scrolling on his phone. The two people didn't treat him like an outsider, and he listened quite attentively. Only a few times did his gaze meet Huang Shiyu's thoughtful gaze. She was probably thinking about something, because this time she looked away much more slowly than during the last speech.

A few people away, Huang Shiyu just quietly looked at Sam. After a while, as if he had seen enough or as if he had thought it through, Huang Shiyu smiled faintly and said, "Remember to protect yourself."

This wasn't just a message to Sam, but also a message to myself.

Upon hearing Huang Shiyu's words, Sam's expression remained unchanged, showing no surprise or confusion whatsoever. Clearly, she understood Huang Shiyu's advice; this was the first time she had ever pledged allegiance to someone.

After Huang Shiyu finished speaking, Li Xingzhou, who was fiddling with his phone, lifted his eyelids and looked at Huang Shiyu. His gaze held a hint of probing, but it only lasted for a moment. Then he straightened up, saw that they had finished talking, left a message saying, "I'm going to get the car," and swaggered out.

"Boss, your machine needs fixing." Huang Shiyu pushed open the heavy glass door, and the cold night wind blew her long hair, all of which blew against the half of her face that was exposed.

Hearing the sound, the boss looked up from the game screen and looked ahead. The door was already closed, and outside there was only a figure being swept away by the wind, clearly visible under the streetlights. The wind happened to be blowing in her direction, making Huang Shiyu's coat puff up, but it didn't bend her back. Instead, her steps were unhurried.

It looked like it contained only a few ounces of meat, yet it wasn't blown away by the wind.

The boss only glanced at it for a moment, but his teammates' urging brought his attention back, and he had long forgotten about the machine that needed fixing.

The computer screen in front of him, which was about to go dark, was filled with rows of green blank spaces, except for the one in the lower right corner which was marked in red.