Episode 44 Competitors
In a cafe on the B2 floor of the Financial City Shopping Center.
The market had just closed at this time, and today it was all green again.
Chen Can looked at the stocks that were fully invested last week and were harvested in an instant this week. His face was comparable to the dry season in the tropical rainforest. Looking around, there was dryness and greenness. Even though Jiang Shu was sitting opposite him, he still hadn't recovered from the green.
"The recent pullback and tightening of these stocks is a trend. Didn't you read the news from the past two weeks?"
That being said, after getting a finance degree, where has Chen Can ever worked in his field? After leaving Tengchun and going solo, he opened his own independent visual studio. With so much work coming his way, he couldn't even watch the news. He could only watch short videos under 30 seconds long, forgetting them instantly. How could he have time to appreciate the underlying meaning?
Even when making an appointment with Jiang Shu at this moment, he had to squeeze in every opportunity and race against time.
He feigned optimism, his first words coming out as "requests"—"What's your opinion, Mr. Jiang? The stock market is plummeting, and you've come to see me. Do you have some inside information you want to share?"
Jiang Shu ignored him and continued to ask, "How much does your former boss, Wang Duo from Tengchun Culture, know about him?"
Chen Can raised his eyebrows, "You want to ask him?"
He had previously worked under Wang Duo for four years, helping Teng Chun to find investment clients, and of course, also to gain some experience for himself.
"Wang Duo is a typical smiling tiger. He looks polite and modest, but he's actually very shrewd. It's said that he moved to Shanghai with his family halfway through elementary school in Hong Kong and attended an international school. He originally had hopes of getting into an Ivy League school, but perhaps out of nostalgia, he ended up returning to the University of Hong Kong. After graduation, he felt there were more opportunities in mainland China, so he returned to invest in art. When you helped Lin Ying connect with him, Tengchun had only been established for two years."
Speaking of this, Jiang Shu naturally matched the timeline.
"Why did you change jobs in the first place?"
"What else could I ask? He initially trained me, sharing his experience and resources. I worked for him, the boss ate the meat and I drank the soup. But one day, I was able to stand out from the crowd with the experience I'd gained from working so hard for him, and naturally he didn't want to share anymore. I can't even get a sip of the soup here. Why should I keep an employee who's destined to be laid off here as a guinea pig for him? It's better to give both of us a break and give the opportunity to someone who needs the job more."
"So you recommended Lin Ying back then?"
Hearing Jiang Shu's subtle words, Chen Can was also alert and immediately explained:
"I'm just repaying a favor, don't get me wrong. She took a year off to give birth and was desperate for a new job, so she approached me about the opportunity... But Lin Ying's success at Tengchun was destined. After all, her husband was one of our employees, and when he passed away, we benefited greatly from the public opinion. So Wang Duo admired her from the beginning, and he openly and covertly gave her many projects that were originally intended for me. It was then that I saw the situation clearly and resigned."
Jiang Shu was gloomy and hit the nail on the head: "How do you appreciate it?"
Chen Can acted awkward and spoke sheepishly, "The same year Lin Ying joined, he and his ex-wife divorced. They said the long separation had caused their relationship to grow cold. At the time, there were rumors in the company that Lin Ying was having a close relationship with him and might be the next boss's wife. There were also some harsher claims... that Lin Ying was a mistress and that Wang Duo divorced his ex-wife because of her."
Jiang Shu noticed the displeasure on his face, and Chen Can quickly distanced himself from the matter.
"But these were all spread by colleagues at the time. I was about to leave...but I didn't help spread the rumor."
"So where are his ex-wife and children now?"
"He's back in Hong Kong. But his son comes to Shanghai every summer vacation. I've seen Wang Duo post photos of him before. If they still maintain this parent-child relationship, his son is probably around recently."
Talking about this, Jiang Shu naturally fell into deep thought, and Chen Can couldn't help but sigh -
"I thought you knew more about this than I do. After all, Lin Ying is your sister."
Jiang Shu felt guilty for a moment, so he just lied and said, "I've been in Hong Kong for the past few years and haven't asked too much about this."
This opened up Chen Can's conversation, "I was hoping you could cover up some gossip from back then, but I didn't expect the person's brother didn't know as much as I do."
"Any other gossip?"
"Of course it's about Lin Ying's separation from her parents-in-law."
Recalling those days, he could do it effortlessly—
"When Lin Ying finished her first independent project after joining us, Wang Duo arranged a celebration party for her. There were only three of us, and one of the women from the finance department. She had a few too many drinks that day and said she needed to finish quickly to go home and see her kids. Sister Zhang teased her about not leaving the kids with her parents-in-law, and she complained, 'They don't acknowledge this granddaughter.' We thought it was because the old folks favored boys over girls, wanting a grandson but giving birth to a daughter instead...
At the end of that day, Wang Duo took the initiative to send her back. You know me, I have a burning desire for gossip. I heard that he has now handed over the operation of the gallery to Lin Ying? It seems that they have worked very well together in the past two years. So, are they really together?
Chen Can has never been interested in data models since he was in school. The only thing he has is that he is very good at judging the situation and observing people's words and expressions. That's why he changed his career after graduation. What's the point of staring at those code bar charts every day? It's better to deal with people.
Seeing his thirst for knowledge, Jiang Shu could only sneer.
"If I knew, would I need to ask you?"
"You're such an interesting person. I've been out of this job for a long time, and you picked me to ask about my former boss and his girlfriend. If I were you, I'd just call Lin Ying and ask her, and she'd find out everything."
After hearing all this, Jiang Shu drank the coffee, stood up and threw the cup into the iron barrel at the door, while throwing a message to Chen Can:
"Lin Ying is now Wang Duo's subordinate. Can I hear some truth about him from her?"
He stood up and patted the other man on the shoulder. "Thanks, brother. If you're undecided about a stock in the future, just invest in any stock. At worst, come and ask me."
After saying that, he turned, pushed open the shop door, and walked away. Chen Can's phone screen flashed with an unread message. He clicked it and saw two extremely unpopular stock codes...
The other party added: "I will take you to invest. Please send me a copy of the projects you worked on with Wang Duo. The more detailed the better."
That night, Jiang Shu received a compressed PDF file from Chen Can. After decompressing it, he discovered it was packed with terabytes of information. Even more troubling than the sheer volume of information was Chen Can's final words...
He is now absolutely certain that Wang Duo, whom Song Qi asked him to investigate, is not only a lone wolf behind Song Sheng, but also his real emotional competitor.
Unexpectedly, he had recognized the wrong rival from the very beginning. Although he knew that Cen Shuo and Lin Ying's relationship was more real, and Wang Duo was more like wishful thinking, whenever he thought of this "wishful thinking", he became like an ant on a hot pan - restless and confused.
The annoying thing is that this is a feeling I didn't have at all when facing Cen Shuo.
Wang Duo is a cunning man, but he has always treated Lin Ying well. His true identity is complex and his assets are substantial. If he really wants to pursue Lin Ying, he can easily gain the upper hand against Cen Shuo's tricks...
The confusion lies in the fact that Chen Can's gossiping spirit has its reasons, but Jiang Shu believes that the hidden truth is not what he thinks.
"They don't recognize this granddaughter."
Yan Yiming passed away suddenly that year, and Ruxing was a posthumous child. How could the Yan family treat her differently just because of her gender?
He suddenly recalled what Lin Ying had said to him at the funeral that year - "Whether this child is yours or not, I will not be with you."
Could it be that Ruxing is really his...
Thinking about Lin Ying's expression of silence towards him, and the tacit understanding between Ru Xing and himself during this period...
He never likes to daydream.
Instead of guessing, it’s better to ask for yourself.
That night, this uneasy mood weighed on him until midnight, and turned into fragmented dreams, like one montage shot after another, seemingly coherent but actually chaotic.
It was always raining in his dreams. He was pushed outside the porch by his mother into a torrential downpour. He saw Lin Ying's face faintly visible beneath an umbrella. When he came to, his ears were filled with the deafening sound of a concert, and the cheers and backing vocals filled the entire stadium...
He and Lin Ying were wearing disposable raincoats and were completely soaked. The girl's black hair was like a snake's tongue, tracing her cheeks and neck. The crowd was pushing them apart and then joining them together. What caught his attention was not the hair, but the wired earphones of his MP3 player...
He remembered it, it was the headphone wire that led him to her...
The moment Lin Ying rushed her into the subway, the door was closed. The satisfaction of catching the last train filled their hearts. Her excitement was beyond words, and even his heartbeat trembled... The subway was crowded, and because it was the last train, it stopped at stations from time to time, and the two of them would always be bumped by people getting on and off the train.
The girl's body pressed closer to him intentionally or unintentionally, causing his chest to feel numb several times, even through the raincoat and T-shirt - the rain wet his heartbeat so that no one could hear it.
It wasn't until he noticed the secretive gaze of a male passenger behind Lin Ying that he came to his senses. Lin Ying was wearing a V-neck T-shirt. The man was standing directly behind Lin Ying, a full head taller than her. He lowered his head and just caught a glimpse of her breasts...
After discovering this, Jiang Shu immediately glared at him fiercely, and the man quickly looked away.
So, as the crowd of people getting off the train at this stop loosened up, he put his arm around Lin Ying's shoulders and took her to the corner of the carriage, letting her lean against the wall. He held onto the handrail beside her, making sure that the situation just now would not happen again, and that she was well protected in front of him, before reminding her:
"Your raincoat zipper is off, and that guy just now was staring at you."
He turned his face away when he said this.
Lin Ying's face turned red with anger, and she quickly reached out, wanting to pull the zipper to her chin, and a blush spread across her cheeks and earlobes.
"…sorry."
She apologized for no reason. Although Jiang Shu found her adorable at the moment, he still couldn't help but say, "You did nothing wrong. Why are you apologizing?"
But she just lowered her head, pursed her lips, and looked away... This subway ride was really too long, so long that the time in the car was repeatedly pickled and soaked by the heavy rain, which seemed to have been extended to a century.
Lin Ying was the first to be unable to bear this long-lasting boredom, and took out the earphones from her pocket. The earphone wires had been twisted into a knot, and she almost struggled to relieve them in his arms... Looking at her fingers moving repetitively, her eyes were as serious as if she was solving a Rubik's Cube.
After three to five minutes of unsuccessful attempts, Jiang Shu couldn't help but lose his patience for her. Reluctantly, he let go of the armrest and slid the headphone cord through her fingertips, examining it carefully...
"I'll help you, hold on tight."
Until the last circle of wire was unwound, the two earphone tips were finally clearly separated.
The next stop arrived. The sudden braking before the stop caused Jiang Shu's helpless body to fall forward due to irresistible inertia... He reflexively used one hand to support the wall behind him, and Lin Ying also used both palms to support his chest...
Unprepared embrace and surrender.
He suddenly smelled a faint fragrance of tuberose mixed with the smell of rain - it was the fragrance of her hair.
Then I remembered that every time we bought flowers at home, she would always take away one or two pots of tuberose.
When the subway came to a complete stop, he straightened up as if nothing had happened and put the headphones back into her palm. Lin Ying thanked him while taking out her MP3 player, plugging in the headphone cable, and hanging up the headphone heads.
Just as Jiang Shu's eyes were about to wander elsewhere, she suddenly raised her head and handed him another earphone.
"Want to listen together?"
In fact, Jiang Shu couldn't quite understand it at that time. She had just finished listening to a concert for such a long time, and her ears had finally quieted down. The carriage was crowded and narrow, and the headphone wires were long and tangled. How could her patience last longer than this last track?
But even so, he chose to accept the invitation.
The melody of "Under the Mount Fuji" sounded again. She seemed to like this song the most, so she hummed it softly, her voice clear and transparent, and the noise of the subway could not disturb her...
His heart was entangled with the headphone cord, his ears were filled with her favorite melody, and the other end of the headphone was connected to the girl he loved.
But Jiang Shu at that time could not understand the deep meaning of her love for "Under the Mount Fuji", so in the years that followed, he only listened to the basics of it, but just wanted to get closer to her.
The rainstorm that year trapped them, and this long and noisy track spread from then on...
It spread far away, and everything in front of my eyes suddenly became pitch black. Only her humming was the purest sound, until the humming turned into low sobs.
"I'd rather be alone than always."
Lin Ying sat in the passenger seat, recounting her misfortunes after marriage, but her thoughts were completely absorbed by the song "Under the Mount Fuji" playing in the car, and also by the torrential rain outside the window...
"If you still think it's not enough, I'll give you this old windbreaker to break the curse."
The melody was only four minutes long, but it lasted for twenty years in my dreams.
The music in his ears finally stopped, and he woke up with a start. It was one o'clock in the morning. His forehead was sweaty, and his palms felt like they had just burst a water ball. It seemed as if a silent rainstorm was pouring down in the house.
It's damp and stuffy, and I can't breathe.
He got up, put on his coat, put on his slippers, and walked towards the bedroom balcony.
The moonlight outside the window is bright but missing.
In recent weeks, he has been busy with work and personal matters, and he has moved to a new residence, but he still can't sleep well.
Jiang Yueling has assigned her a lot of work recently. On the surface, it is a delegation of power, but in fact it is just to keep her busy so that she has no time to focus on other things. Maybe she will compromise with Song Qi.
The investigation into the previous case was still ongoing, and the police needed his cooperation from time to time, so he had to spare some time to double-check the information...
And Song Qi's urging was what made him most anxious—
"I heard that Pierre's exhibition is going to open in mainland China, and the agent is Wang Duo's gallery. This is a good opportunity. Why not take this opportunity to test his abilities?"
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