Chapter 1: Brute force is not necessary to pry open this huge rock
"306, express!" A muffled thud echoed from the delivery guy through the door. On New Year's Eve, some people were busy rushing between the old and new years. Lin Yao had to push and shove the large, heavy package into the house. It was from her hometown. She sent a message to Tang Ruifen, "Mom, I received the package." She had originally planned to go back for the Lunar New Year and had already bought her tickets, but at the last minute, she had an appointment with an important client, and she and Long Weihe were going to visit them tomorrow to pay New Year's greetings to their God of Wealth. As she unpacked the package, she found a red prayer bag. It was something Tang Ruifen had prayed for at the riverside pagoda near her home. She prayed for it every year. She had several identical bags in her living room drawer. As she tossed the bag back into the drawer, she noticed something different. Previous ones had either said "safety" or "successful work," but this year's was "for marriage." This was probably a reflection of Tang Ruifen's anxiety. Those three words were particularly striking, and she obsessively flipped the bag over. The back was awash in pink. The drawer slammed shut. She prayed only for wealth. Tang Ruifen replied to the voice message: "The lucky bag I prayed for was blessed by the temple's abbot. Remember to keep it in your bag." "The green tea and whitebait in the red bag are for Xiaolong." Long Weihe was her senior in college. They had worked in the student union and dance club, and they had a great affinity. After graduation, she was introduced by Long Weihe to work in HR at the same foreign pharmaceutical company. They resigned together and jointly registered a small headhunting firm, named "Linhe." They focused on the healthcare industry and worked there for three years. If one were to interpret "Linhe" through the lens of a headhunting firm, Lin Yao was pragmatic and often told people that "Lin" means a forest of talented people, implying the creation of a rich talent pool, and "He" represents matching and cooperation, striving to achieve a perfect match between talent and positions. Long Weihe would add, "A tree that can be embraced by two people grows from a tiny seed." "A tree that can be embraced by two people" is too imaginative. The current headhunting market is different than it once was. Supply and demand have shifted dramatically, with fewer orders from companies and even large headhunting firms struggling to secure them. Small, boutique-style headhunters like theirs are even more vulnerable, surviving in the cracks. A client once jokingly said of them, "Hunting in a jungle, two trees growing together." That perfectly captures their survival. Lin Yao ignored Tang Ruifen's instructions about bags and brought most of her belongings to Long Weihe's place. "Moving? So much stuff!" Long Weihe opened the door. "My mom's doing this. Where's the money?" Lin Yao piled her belongings in the hallway cabinet, changed her shoes, and peered inside. A large pot of New Year's oranges stood in the hallway, obstructing her view. A small head popped out from behind the sofa, and a gloomy voice rang out...
"306, express delivery!"
There was a muffled sound, and the courier shouted through the door.
On New Year's Eve, some people rush around without a break between the old year and the new year.
The delivery box was large and heavy, and Lin Yao had to push and carry it into the house. The package was sent from her hometown. She sent a message to Tang Ruifen: "Mom, the delivery has been received."
She had originally planned to go back for the New Year and had already bought the tickets. But at the last minute, she made an appointment with an important client and planned to go with Long Wei to pay New Year's greetings to the client tomorrow. That client is their God of Wealth.
When she unboxed the item, she found a red prayer bag. It was something Tang Ruifen had prayed for her at the riverside pagoda near her home. She prayed for it every year. She already had several identical ones in a drawer in her living room.
After throwing the lucky bag into the drawer, she noticed something was different. Previously, it had either said "safety" or "smooth work," but this year's was "seeking marriage." This was probably a reflection of Tang Ruifen's anxiety.
Those three words were particularly eye-catching. Obsessively, she turned the brocade bag over. The back was covered in pink peach blossoms. The drawer slammed shut.
She only prays to gods and Buddhas for wealth.
Tang Ruifen replied with a voice message:
"The lucky bag you asked for has been blessed by the abbot of the temple. Remember to put it in your bag and carry it with you."
"The green tea and whitebait in the red bag are for Xiaolong."
Long Weihe was her senior in college, a year her senior. They had both worked in the student union and the dance club, and they bonded. After graduation, Long Weihe introduced her to a job as HR consultant at the same foreign pharmaceutical company. They resigned together and jointly established a small headhunting firm, named "Linhe." They focused on the healthcare industry and worked there for three years.
If we interpret "Lin He" from the perspective of a headhunting firm, Lin Yao is pragmatic and often tells people that "Lin" means a forest of talented people, implying the creation of a rich talent pool, and "He" represents matching and cooperation, striving to achieve a perfect match between talent and positions. Longwei He would add the saying, "A tree that can be embraced by two people grows from a tiny seed."
The idea of "a tree two men can hug" is too much to imagine. The current headhunting market is different from before. Supply and demand have changed dramatically. Companies are issuing fewer orders, and even large headhunting firms are struggling to secure them. Small workshop-style headhunting firms like theirs are even more vulnerable to surviving in the cracks.
A client once joked that they were "hunting in the jungle, with two trees growing together." This really explains how they survive.
Lin Yao didn't care about what Tang Ruifen had instructed about bags or not, and carried most of the things to Long Weihe.
"Moving! There are so many things." Long Wei opened the door.
"My mom did it. There's a lot of money here." Lin Yao piled the things in the entrance cabinet, changed his shoes, and looked inside.
There is a large pot of oranges in the entrance hall, blocking some of the view.
A small head popped out from behind the sofa and said in a gloomy voice, "Lin Yao——"
Four-year-old Qian Duoduo is the male version of Long Weihe, inheriting all his facial features. The older one is a gorgeous girl, the younger one a handsome boy. He likes to call Lin Yao by name, and when he's in a better mood, he calls her "little sister."
"Wow, you've lost so much weight!" She sat down on the sofa next to him and took out two red envelopes. "Here! New Year's money!"
He was infected with norovirus and had diarrhea and vomiting for two or three days.
The red envelope was one of those Marvel characters she'd found on Taobao. With Iron Man in one hand and Spider-Man in the other, he flipped it over and over, his interest returning to his usual level, while adding some nice words, "Miss, you'll make a fortune this year! You'll earn tons and tons of money."
"You understand." She reached out and touched his forehead. "Are you feeling better?"
"No!" He turned his head away.
She smiled at Long Wei and said, "Did you find out that he has a psychological trauma?"
"It's not that he has a psychological trauma, it's me. All year round, there are viruses and bacteria. After so many times, I've become mechanical." Long Weihe took out a bottle of red wine from the sideboard and shook it at her. "It's time."
Long Weihe's mother Huang Yun came out of the kitchen carrying dishes, "Lin Yao is here!"
"Here I come! Come to have some New Year's Eve dinner. Thank you for your hard work, Dragon Mother!" Lin Yao hurriedly stood up, went forward to help tidy up the dining table, and moved a pot of purple Phalaenopsis orchid on the table to another place.
"People who eat from the same bowl of rice with Awei always say that she is eating for free." Huang Yun said with a kind face.
She's nearly sixty years old. She spent her early years in a Hakka village. While her father was away doing business, she shouldered the brunt of the farm work, plowing the family fields with oxen. She doesn't look the least bit rough, and speaks softly. After Long Weihe's divorce last year, she came from Meizhou to help out, traveling back and forth between the two places without a fixed schedule.
Lin Yao followed her into the kitchen and took dishes from the cupboard with familiarity.
Qian Duoduo began to whine weakly and throw a tantrum again. Long Weihe couldn't bear it any longer, so she turned on the TV to show him SpongeBob SquarePants and fed him warm water with rehydration salts. He took a sip and thought it was too salty, turned his head away and refused to take a second sip. She changed it to Pocari Sweat, and he finally drank a few sips.
"He doesn't want to eat?" Lin Yao moved the soup pot to the dining table and distributed the soup.
"You vomit too frequently, so you must not eat at night." Long Weihe took three red wine glasses and poured wine into them.
Huang Yun prepared a table full of Hakka dishes. She sat down, raised her glass, and asked for the order. "Come on, come on, I wish you all a beautiful life and smooth business this year!"
She probably heard them talk about orders too many times, either that order was lost or that order was difficult to collect payment from.
Long Weihe called her "Boss" and said with a smile, "I finally managed to avoid orders for a day, and now you bring them up again. The pressure is so great!"
After dinner, the person watching TV fell asleep on the sofa. Long Wei carried him into the room, pecked his cheek lightly, and put their foreheads against each other, feeling distressed. "You've lost several pounds in the past few days."
She was a year older than Lin Yao, twenty-nine. After a few days of hard work, her face looked much more tired. Before the Lunar New Year, she'd had her hair permed into a beautiful, lazy, long bun, with a few wisps of bangs framing her face, her eye bags fading into her dark circles. For the Lunar New Year, she'd specially worn a trendy, loose-fitting red pullover sweatshirt and black shark pants, which seemed to lift her spirits.
"Why don't you just not go tomorrow and take good care of Qian Duoduo." Lin Yao helped Huang Yun clean up the kitchen, took two tangerines, and sat cross-legged on the sofa.
"He's calmed down now, so let's go together. He's our God of Wealth, we have to pay him a proper respect."
"Shall we adjust our playing style this year?" Lin Yao handed her half a peeled orange.
She put the orange slices into her mouth, it was sweet, then turned around and went to the dining table to get the unfinished red wine, and sat down on the carpet at the foot of the sofa.
"Still drinking?"
"Good sleep. What to adjust? Explore other industries?"
"I don't have the knowledge structure of other industries, nor do I have the resources. Even if I get it, I can't digest it. It's better to focus and dig deep vertically." Lin Yao feels that cross-industry expansion is unrealistic.
Long Weihe leaned back against the sofa cushions, swishing the bottom of his cup lazily. "I'm not ambitious enough, and I'm not ruthless enough. I should improve this year and try to get a few big orders."
Lin Yao laughed, "To win big orders, you have to take an unconventional approach."
"Then toast to—taking an unconventional approach."
The wine glasses clinked together with a loud crack, signaling the conclusion of the strategy.
"Have you passed the postgraduate entrance examination?" Long Weihe asked.
"I passed the preliminary interview, but the joint entrance exam results haven't come out yet. There's still a political exam to come." Lin Yao slurred, his pure white high-necked cashmere sweater highlighting the large blush on his face. "I'm not sure I'll get in even if I pass."
She took the postgraduate entrance examination in December.
"I stayed up all night every day during the exam, but it was all in vain."
"Now that I think about it, I have to spend my weekends doing this, which affects my business, takes up a lot of energy, and costs a lot of money. It's not cost-effective."
When sober, I am positive and motivated. But after drinking a little, the alcohol drags my positive factors down a little bit when I face reality.
She was a thrifty person who valued value for money. She saved some money but was reluctant to spend it. Class schedules were also a problem. When candidates weren't available on weekdays, she often met with them on her weekends. She had applied for an on-the-job MBA at a business school, which meant she had to be at the school on Saturdays and Sundays, creating a conflict in her schedule.
"You said back then that investing in your brain is worthwhile, but now you're backing off?" Long Weihe was slightly tipsy, her words drifting as she reached over to stroke her hair. "Be good, go study hard, make some connections, expand your channels, and by the way, pick up a male classmate, get a big one, and develop a potential romantic partner."
"Who needs a candidate for love?" Lin Yao twisted his waist to avoid her hand and got off the sofa. "Sleep well and pray to the God of Wealth tomorrow—"
Some people have trouble sleeping.
Qian Duoduo woke up in the early morning, mumbling, "Mom, I'm hungry——"
Long Weihe didn't turn on the lights and took out the mobile phone from the bedside table. The blue light was dazzling. She opened her eyes hazily to check the time. It was a little after five o'clock.
She has experience, and if he says he's hungry, it means he's ready.
She walked into the kitchen with her hair in disarray and her feet felt like she was stepping into puddles. Last night, she finished the red wine by herself.
She rummaged through the cupboards, found some millet, and washed it. Suddenly, she washed some of the slippery yellow grains down the sink. Feeling it wasn't enough, she added more. Only when she lit the gas stove did she seem to finally wake up.
Huang Yun heard the sound and got up, "Why are you getting up so early?"
"Duoduo is hungry."
"Just porridge won't do. I'll get him something else."
"The stomach is weak at this time, so just eat something light."
Huang Yun remembered the dried whitebait that Lin Yao brought yesterday and wanted to make whitebait and egg custard.
"Lin Yao took so much stuff that it took me a while to sort it out last night. Her hometown is Jiangnan, right?" She opened the refrigerator and grabbed a handful of translucent silver-white fish shreds.
"Beside the Yangtze River, on the north side of the river, is considered Jiangnan culture."
"She looks like a Jiangnan beauty, very pretty."
"Looks delicate, but a tough guy."
"You two are the opposite. You are just a tough guy."
Huang Yun was hinting at something. She had always said that Long Weihe's attitude towards divorce was too harsh, but her methods were too soft.
"Qian Pingtao is coming to see Duoduo today. Don't let him take him out. He hasn't fully recovered yet, so as to avoid cross infection." Long Weihe took a spoon and scraped the millet porridge that had just been boiling in the ceramic pot, for fear that it would stick to the pot.
"So what? He's staying here?"
"It depends on how much he needs. I'm not home anyway, so just make sure he disappears when I come back." She turned the heat down to the lowest setting and said, "Let it simmer for a while."
"You start work today, wish you good luck and prosperity." Huang Yun was afraid that they would have an unpleasant conversation when they met, which would affect their luck in the new year.
The person who influenced one's luck ran into someone at the elevator entrance of the underground garage a few hours later.
"Happy New Year! Let's go out?" Qian Pingtao walked back with toys, health products and other things in his hands, and followed Long Weihe's quick pace.
"Um."
She put on her tired look before going out, wearing a purple velvet jumpsuit with a belt. Her long, slightly curly hair was styled slightly loose, and she looked sharp and dashing. Her fast steps were like a breeze that he could not stop.
"If it doesn't take up too much time, I'd like to discuss Duoduo's birthday with you?"
"explain."
"I asked Duoduo, he wants to go to Disneyland, can I take him to Hong Kong?"
"OK."
"Two nights?"
"good."
Not a single extra word, no expression of pain or itch, and none of the happiness or unhappiness that Huang Yun was worried about.
Qian Pingtao gathered the things in one hand, pushed his glasses, and looked timid under his gentle appearance. He didn't say another word.
The two divorced a year ago; he cheated on her, and she quickly cut ties. Huang Yun said she let him off easy by not making a scene or seeking revenge. She said it wasn't worth spending even a minute more on such a draining, exhausting mess.
That being said, her carefree attitude is for others to see, and she knows that it took her half her life to get over it.
Lin Yao also got out and patted the driver's window, "I'll drive."
Qian Pingtao greeted her, but she acted as if she didn't see him and drove away quickly.
At the gate, the security guard was more active than usual, saying "Happy New Year" enthusiastically. Lin Yao handed him two red envelopes, and he took them and said "Wish you good fortune!"
Long Weihe saw her put a gift bag in the back seat, "What did you take? I prepared some things. Jiang Lingli likes to study essential oils now, so I asked someone to mix a set for her."
She knew that the other person was not a greedy person, and when it came to giving gifts, one had to know the limits, otherwise it would be bad if the gift became a burden.
"I bought her daughter some new Barbie models."
Jiang Lingli was their colleague when they were working in HR. She was a few years older than them. Later, she switched to Xingtan Pharmaceutical and is now the group's human resources manager. During holidays, she often returns to her family's farm in Conghua, where they are now rushing to.
When they worked together, they were in the recruitment team and Jiang Lingli was the director of the training team. They had a good relationship, but Jiang Lingli was not a person who relied entirely on relationships. At the beginning, she opened several headhunting lines to give them a chance to compete.
A crack opened up, and these two dug in relentlessly. Their speed in finding people and the quality of their deliverables surpassed those of other headhunters, filling several of her key positions with a high degree of compatibility. Jiang Lingli respected them and now relied on them. The crack had become a path.
They had been to the farm several times before, and Jiang Lingli hadn't been shy about welcoming them. Each visit was the same: a tour of the gardens. There were several wooden houses with hot spring pools, flowers and trees, fruits and vegetables, fish ponds, chickens, sheep, and so on.
Her husband is a Chaoshan businessman who hired local people to run his business. He often brings his business contacts to relax, soak in hot springs, eat organic food, and discuss business.
Relying on others to give them orders, Lin Yao and Long Weihe knew how to position themselves. In the beautiful mountains and rivers, they naturally praised Jiang Lingli with their words.
People with a sense of superiority are in a good mood, talk more, and can reveal some information they want to know.
"We are planning to go public next year." Jiang Lingli brewed tea, and the aroma of tangerine peel tea filled the wooden teahouse.
She heard some information from the recommended candidate two years ago, and now that Jiang Lingli said it, it was confirmed.
Going public meant changes to the organizational structure and personnel. They had invested a lot of energy and had a clear understanding of Xingtan's internal personnel structure, but they lacked a team for the IPO.
The opportunity had arrived. The two glanced at each other, secretly delighted.
"Mr. Jiang, do you need someone who can go public?" Lin Yao asked, seizing the opportunity to ask the God of Wealth for orders.
"Our boss has hired a CEO to prepare for the IPO and he is also in charge of the human resources on my side." Jiang Lingli poured tea.
This was a bombshell, they hadn't heard a word about it before.
This is double good news. The new boss means that the team will most likely be rejuvenated and there will be a great demand for recruitment.
Long Wei co-detected, "Mr. Jiang made a big move, what's the CEO's background?"
"This position is mine. The boss found it himself and parachuted in." Jiang Lingli said half-heartedly.
Lin Yao was determined to get to the bottom of it. "Could it be Luo Yibin? He resigned years ago."
She was just trying to get some information out of him by bringing someone up. She already knew where Luo Yibin was going, and it definitely wasn't Xingtan Pharmaceuticals.
Jiang Lingli smiled and said, "It's not him. Our boss found someone younger, Shi Zhenglin. You should know this person, right?"
Jiang Lingli was dissatisfied with Shi Zhenglin's appointment. This person was placed above her old leader, with whom she had a tacit cooperation. There was a natural conflict between the airborne troops and the veterans. She didn't care if these two knew about the appointment before the appointment.
Lin Yao looked at Long Weihe with something strange in his eyes.
Long Weihe's hand holding the tea trembled slightly, and he brought it to his nose and sniffed it.
Jiang Lingli was soaking dried tangerine peel from Xinhui that was more than fifteen years old. She could no longer smell the rich and pungent fragrance that she had just smelled.
They both knew Shi Zhenglin very well. He was once their candidate and was marked in red in their talent pool, occupying the most prominent position.
Two years ago, Long Weihe tried her best to persuade Shi Zhenglin to join her and had him talk directly with her former employer, the head of the China region of a multinational pharmaceutical company KG. They met twice in a club with good privacy, and the talks went well. However, before the offer was issued, there were personnel changes at the headquarters and the deal fell through. He didn't care, but the news of the interview leaked out.
Shi Zhenglin was still in office at the time, and Long Weihe had ensured that everything would be handled with the utmost confidentiality. He considered Long Weihe unprofessional and untrustworthy. She had exercised due caution during the process, having directly recommended the person to her boss without consulting anyone else.
She had known the boss of her former employer for years, and he'd requested a discreet search, believing he wouldn't reveal it to anyone. She suspected a competitor, but couldn't find any other headhunters involved in the recommendation. The exact location of the error remained a mystery.
She asked Shi Zhenglin to apologize in person, but he refused to see her. He believed that she was the one who spread the news and said he would not deal with people without professional ethics. He hung up when she called and blocked her on WeChat.
It is also a mystery why Shi Zhenglin arbitrarily determined that she had spread the news. She could not reach him and could not ask him.
From then on, Long Weihe marked this person in red in her talent pool, making him prominent and untouchable.
They knew how he had changed over the past two years. After their recommendation went awry, he couldn't stay at his previous company anymore, so he quickly joined a local pharmaceutical company in East China. There, he tackled some tough challenges, developing and launching innovative drugs, and expanding his business overseas, achieving success, and even getting his company listed.
He was allocated a lot of shares in that company, which were subject to lock-up and service periods. The time to reap the benefits had not yet come, but he unexpectedly left and moved to Guangzhou.
On the way back, both of them were depressed.
As we start work in the new year, I get this news.
Xingtan has been successfully raising funds over the past two years, developing several innovative drug pipelines, including those entering clinical trials and reaching market, allowing them to open numerous positions annually. Last year, Xingtan accounted for over 30% of their service fee payments, and the two individuals' dedication rivaled that of their company's recruiting team.
They were now bidding on other companies, but Xingtan, as a client they had been serving and with multiple successful referrals, was a significant advantage, helping them attract other clients. Losing Xingtan, as a key client, would likely mean more than just this one business would be lost.
The two could imagine what would happen when Shi Zhenglin saw the headhunting contract. It was a very bad omen, with no good luck.
"No, we can't just sit there and wait for death." Lin Yao turned the steering wheel and turned the car around. He went the wrong way several times according to the navigation and was not in the right state.
"He's a ruthless man. I did everything I could back then, but he was so rude and refused to give me a chance to meet." Long Wei bit her lip, twisting her hair with her fingers, looking worriedly at the road ahead. "There's been a major shakeup at the top of Xingtan, and it's created a huge obstacle blocking our way."
"Find a chance to meet with him and explain. It's been so long, maybe the situation has faded."
"I can't pry open this big rock with brute force. Let me think of a way. Think, think..." Long Wei closed her eyes and tried to calm herself down.
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