She couldn't help laughing, she held the steering wheel with her left hand, punched me on the shoulder with her right hand, and said, "Don't make fun of me, I don't have that much ability, I rely on my father's protection."
I have known her for quite some time, but I know nothing about her background. Although I am very curious, I am too embarrassed to ask. Since she brought up this topic, I took the opportunity to ask, "So, you must be a famous merchant?"
Her expression darkened, and she simply replied, "You'll know in a moment."
Then she drove into a quiet road lined with French plane trees.
I couldn't help but sigh in my heart that in this bustling and noisy provincial capital, there is such a quiet place.
After a while, the car stopped in front of a detached three-story European-style villa.
I followed her into the villa, and it felt like I was breaking into the old mansion of a Tsarist noble.
There is a crystal chandelier on the high ceiling, and the walls are made of thick wood. There are several Russian academic-style landscape paintings hanging on them.
The floor is paved with polished marble, and in the center of the hall is a thick, carved solid wood long table, paired with an equally exquisite high-back chair, the seat of which is covered with soft velvet.
In the corner, an old grand piano stands quietly, with delicate and intricate patterns carved on the body of the piano, as if silently telling the past years.
She led me to the fireplace in the living room, where a portrait was placed. In the center of the picture, a man was sitting leisurely at a carved walnut desk. He had a thin face and deep eyes, and the years left a few fine crow's feet at the corners of his eyes.
I couldn't help but guess that this must be Lin Xun's father. So I blurted out, "Is this you?"
She nodded and said with a hint of sadness: "This is a portrait of my father painted by Nesterenko, a painter at the Suryko Academy of Fine Arts in Moscow."
I knew nothing about art, but I nodded pretentiously.
She moved me to a high-backed chair at the long table and sat opposite me.
I said, "You are a very elegant and refined person, but you look like a businessman."
She looked me in the eye, smiled, and asked, "Can't you do business if you have knowledge?"
I laughed and said, "I just think that this painting shows the temperament of the master too uniquely. For a moment, I couldn't connect the elegance with the identity of a businessman."
She stopped teasing and began to talk about her father's experience.
Her father was a government-sponsored student who went to the Soviet Union to study in 1959, majoring in energy and power at Moscow State Technical University. After returning to China, he worked at the Provincial Steam Turbine Factory, a national key energy equipment manufacturer.
Soon after returning to China, he married Lin Xun's mother and gave birth to his only child, Lin Xun, in 1964.
When Lin Xun was two years old, her father, Lin Jincheng, was shocked by his experience in the Soviet Union during the Great Movement. Her mother firmly drew a line between her and Lin Jincheng, and the two divorced. From then on, Lin Jincheng never married again until the end of her life.
Lin Xun has always lived with her father, and the two depend on each other for survival.
1992 was a critical turning point. First, the chief designer's speech during his southern tour opened the curtain of the market economy. Second, the Soviet Union had disintegrated, Sino-Russian relations were improving, and economic and trade exchanges began to increase. Although Lin Jincheng was a scholar, his ancestral home was in Anhui, and his father was once a famous Huizhou merchant. He had shrewd and decisive business blood flowing in his veins. He had insight into the current situation and business opportunities, and resolutely resigned from his job to start a border trade business, mainly engaged in second-hand cars, importing Volga, Lada, Moskvich and other brands of cars from Russia and reselling them, gradually building his business territory.
After making his first fortune, Lin Jincheng thought that although Russian cars were durable, they were uncomfortable and fuel-intensive, and would soon be replaced by German and Japanese cars. Therefore, he immediately transformed and started a 4S store for German and Japanese cars, laying the foundation for Lin's future career.
Just when his career was flourishing, he was killed in the 5.7 air crash in 2002. Since then, Lin Xun has been carrying on the family business alone and has been drifting in the business world ever since.
Her face was slightly pale, her eyes were solemn and sad, and her brows were slightly furrowed, forming a few shallow lines, as if telling of the heaviness of her heart.
She said, "Do you know why I want to invest in auto parts?"
Faced with her question, I couldn't figure out what she was thinking, so I just shook my head.
She said: "This is my father's last wish. He had long wanted to plan the transformation from trade to industry. Do all of you who study industry have such a dream of serving the country through industry?"
I could answer this, so I said, "You are right."
She finally smiled charmingly and said, "This is why I chose you."
I said embarrassedly: "How can I compare with you? He is an industrialist with great ideals and patriotism. I am just a speculator who is doing nothing."
She pouted and said, "Guan Hongjun, you are really a contradiction. One moment you are arrogant and look down on everyone, and the next moment you are humble and self-abased."
I suddenly realized a problem, that is, she deliberately blurred the image of her mother in her statement, and did not even mention her name. I couldn't help but ask, "Is your mother still alive?"
Her expression immediately darkened, and she said calmly, "She is living well, with a harmonious relationship with her husband and wife, and many children and grandchildren."
I could clearly sense her dislike for her mother, so I didn't ask any further.
Unexpectedly, she continued, "After divorcing my father, she remarried and had a son. Before retiring, she was the vice president of the hospital affiliated to the Provincial Medical University. As a doctoral supervisor, she used her tricks to trick one of her students into becoming her daughter-in-law. Now she stays at home all day to coax her grandson."
I asked curiously, "You don't contact her?"
She sneered and said bitterly: "Of course she did. She called me every few days. This is not to make up for the maternal love I lack, but to satisfy the pleasure of having both a son and a daughter."
I laughed and said, "After all, I was given the grace of giving birth to you, so there is no need to feel so much hatred for you."
She sighed and said, "I can't say I hate her. I'm just annoyed. I'm annoyed by her hypocritical behavior and her nagging. She always tells me not to just think about making money and to get married quickly."
Being urged to get married is indeed a frustrating thing, but she is over 40 and the taillights of her youth are almost gone, so it is no wonder that her mother is urging her.
"On the contrary, I don't want to get married. Finding someone who doesn't share the same ideals as me would be a waste of time. It would be better to be free and unrestrained." She seemed to be talking to herself.
I said, "There are countless possibilities in life. Maybe your soulmate is waiting for the right time in some corner of the world."
She suddenly smiled obscenely and said, "Have you ever heard of this saying? It says that even if a woman is as beautiful as a flower, there is always a man who likes to play with her."
She laughed as she spoke, almost bending over with laughter.
I was so shocked that I stood there in a daze.
Although the words are a bit vulgar, they seem to make some sense. After all, love that has passed its shelf life and lost its freshness is unlikely to stir up any huge waves in terms of passion. It is also normal for people to change their minds when they see something new.
After all, moral ethics and family responsibility can only preserve quality, but it is difficult to keep them fresh.
Coming from a woman who had never been married, these words still surprised me. Considering her usual graceful behavior in front of others and her sudden passionate kiss that night, I couldn't help but think that she was the dialectical unity of elegance and savagery, dignity and debauchery.