Chapter 38 Even though he was the one putting in the effort, she was exhausted…
Early in the morning, Wang Simin helped Ye Baoling move things to the herbal tea product department office on the 6th floor.
The product department is large and has many people, so Lu Baohua arranged a pretty good spot for Ye Baoling by the window, where she could see the street view outside.
Wang Simin said with some envy, "Your workstation is really comfortable, with such a big window, much better than ours."
The logistics department office is on a low floor, which is really cramped.
The seats with windows were all taken up by the managers, supervisors, and finance office staff.
Wang Simin wants to be promoted to a managerial position, but due to a lack of experience and background, her chances are slim. She said, "I don't know when I'll be able to sit in a window seat."
Ye Baoling suggested to her, "There's a really good position available; you could try your best."
Which location?
While tidying up the desk, Ye Baoling whispered, "The head of the security department has a small office on the second floor. The benefits are good, and it's a relaxed job where you don't have to worry about much. If you want to be busy, you can continue to take on your current job, and your salary will definitely go up a level."
That's a good idea. Wang Simin asked worriedly, "Will Manager Qi put the security department in the hands of a woman?"
"She herself said that the security department is suitable to be managed by a woman, so there's no need for a direct confrontation. She's still considering candidates. You should find an opportunity to show your loyalty to her, and maybe you'll get your own office."
Wang Simin was good at flattery. She stroked her chin and said, "Let me think about how to do it."
Ye Baoling nudged Wang Simin with her elbow and laughed, "Don't forget me when you become rich and powerful!"
Wang Simin raised an eyebrow slightly: "Of course."
The two laughed, but since it was someone else's turf, they didn't dare laugh too loudly.
Wang Simin had other things to do, so she said, "I'm leaving now. I'll call Man'er at noon, and we'll go out for lunch together."
Ye Baoling gave her an "OK" sign.
At Ye Baoling's seat, in front of her was a female colleague, Sister Rong, who was around thirty-five years old and very enthusiastic; to her right was a pretty girl named He Jiayi, who was dressed fashionably and carried a basic luxury handbag, so she must be from a wealthy family, and she was quite friendly; the person sitting at the desk behind her was not there, and the desk was rather messy, so she didn't know who was sitting there.
Just then, a woman came in, carrying a large stack of documents. Ye Baoling looked closely and realized that it was Gao Lizhen, who had applied for the secretariat clerk position on the same day as her.
The woman is suspected to be the HR manager, Manager Li.
Gao Lizhen sat down at the table behind her. She seemed to sense Ye Baoling's gaze and looked up at her.
Ye Baoling greeted him with a smile: "Hi!"
Gao Lizhen seemed out of sorts, listless, as if she had been bewitched.
She nodded with a blank smile and sat down.
Not knowing what was going on, Ye Baoling didn't say much and quickly packed her things.
There's a new product launch on Friday, and most of my colleagues are busy with that.
Ye Baoling mainly helped Sister Rong check product descriptions in various Southeast Asian languages.
Besides Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan, the largest consumer market for herbal tea is Southeast Asia, so it's necessary to prepare translations in various languages.
She needs to proofread the translation with relevant personnel before faxing it to Southeast Asian media after the press conference.
This job isn't difficult, it's just complicated, as it requires dealing with people from different magazines.
However, it's clear that Ye Qingtang herbal tea is doing very well in the Southeast Asian market. This is the main reason why, despite having various problems, the company can still thrive by relying on its century-old brand.
If we can open up the domestic market in the future, the prospects will be even broader.
In her original world, the seemingly insignificant mineral water business helped its owner retain the title of China's richest man for several consecutive years.
Ye Qingtang has the potential; he's good at it.
*
Ye Baoling had a lot of free time in the product department. She came out of the magazine office in the afternoon and happened to be near the Lihua Building, so she went to Qiyuan Investment.
I ran into Liu Haonan at the elevator entrance as he was returning from Lihua Securities. The two chatted about work as they walked toward the company.
Liu Haonan said, "In the past two days, there has been a large influx of funds into Haihua Construction's stock. It is estimated that there is some good news leaked out, and someone has come in to lie in wait."
It's likely that others knew about the third son's investment in Dapeng Port beforehand.
Having more funds to help build the bridge is actually a good thing.
Ye Baoling laughed and said, "It's good to have some excitement. How has Haihua Construction's stock performed these past two days?"
"With the influx of large funds, the stock price was immediately driven up, and it rose quite well. If it weren't Gangtong Industrial that ultimately invested in Dapeng Port, we could have made a small profit and quickly cashed out."
You won't lose money no matter what.
It feels great to make money while sitting down.
Ye Baoling asked, "Has the whole venue been very hot lately?"
What kind of venue?
"The entire stock market."
“Oh, yes, Wall Street and London stock markets have been doing very well lately, and we’ve also been rising for three consecutive months. I asked a friend at Lihua Securities, and they’ve seen a significant increase in new accounts opened in the last two months. Based on international experience, these are all signs of an impending bull market.” Liu Haonan was eager to make his move. “I’ve set aside a portion of my commission earnings for the next six months to cover my living expenses, and I’ve invested the rest in the stock market.”
Ye Baoling asked curiously, "Which one did you vote for?"
"Haihua Construction and some index stocks." Liu Haonan is not an aggressive investor, so he wants to diversify his investments.
That's right, after all, he hadn't seen the scripts that Ye Baoling had read.
Ye Baoling also hoped that he could be more conservative; she could afford to lose, but he might not.
Chen Yulan had a finance class this afternoon and wasn't in the office. Ye Baoling poured herself a glass of cold water and had just sat down when her pager received a message from Ye Kaimin.
She picked up the phone and called back.
Ye Kaimin still complained as before: "I call you, but you're never available. What are you busy with?"
Making excuses every time is not a long-term solution. Ye Baoling said, "I used to work part-time at McDonald's. I've looked at a few clerical jobs these past few days. I'll see if I can get one."
Ye Kaimin didn't suggest that she return to work at Ye Qingtang, mainly because he felt that Ye Baoling had a low level of education and no experience, and he was ultimately afraid that his daughter would embarrass him at the company.
"Working as a clerk in those small companies is hard and tiring, and you can't earn much money. With that time, you might as well learn baking, flower arranging, or how to be a good wife..."
Ye Baoling didn't want to listen anymore. "What do you want from me?"
Ye Kaimin: "Did you discuss it with your maternal grandmother before your grandfather asked you to move back in?"
"My grandmother couldn't bear to part with me."
"You can't bear to part with me? What will she do after you get married? Just because she can't bear to part with me doesn't mean you don't have to get married? Is that reasonable?"
"We'll get used to it gradually. I think I'll live in both places for now and let Grandma adjust slowly."
Ye Kaimin had no choice, since Ye Baoling had been awarded to Gu Min's custody. He said, "Move back as soon as possible. Gong Jiahua knows you're moving back, and he said he'll come over to keep you company often."
Ye Baoling was speechless. "Did you specifically tell Gong Jiahua that I wanted to move back?"
"It wasn't intentional. Let's leave it at that, we'll talk about it again when you move back."
After hanging up the phone, she looked at Liu Haonan, shrugged, and simply said "my dad" without further explanation.
Liu Haonan smiled awkwardly, guessing that her family background was complicated, and didn't want to ask too many questions.
*
When Ye Baoling returned to the company, it was almost time to leave work. Everyone was working overtime on Friday because of an important event, and no one left.
Ye Baoling, a newcomer to the department, was supposed to work overtime with everyone, but since she was a shared employee between two departments and had already exceeded her quota, she didn't want to work overtime.
But it wouldn't be good to just leave, so she asked Wang Simin to come up and call her.
Wang Simin was quite the actress; she stood at the door and shouted loudly, "Baolin, Manager Qi is asking when you can leave?"
"Okay, coming right away." Ye Baoling picked up her handbag, said a few words to her colleague, and left.
They walked out of the office and down the stairs, where Gu Man'er was already waiting for them on the fourth floor.
That evening, while having dinner at the Gu family's house, Ye Baoling told her uncles that she was moving back to the old eldest son's house and wouldn't be coming back for dinner every day anymore.
My uncle and cousins are alright, since they're not going to stay forever. But Shen Yue'e is the one who's most reluctant to leave. Not only will Bao Ling lose her two thousand yuan for food, but Ping will also be going back to the Ye family. The family's hard-won financial situation will be strained again.
Fortunately, Gu Dayong has good news.
"The boss talked to me and asked me to go to Shenzhen to do management. They provide room and board, and also give me an extra HKD 1,000 subsidy every month."
This was great news, and Shen Yue'e's face immediately lit up with a smile. "I told you to go for it! Your experience in running a factory is much better than those young people."
Gu Dayong: "It just so happens that the boss's relative is sick, otherwise it wouldn't have been my turn."
Gu Man'er asked, "Dad, when are you going to Shenzhen?"
"I'll be overseeing the production line installation in August, and I'll be stationed there permanently starting in September."
Ye Baoling joked, "Now prices are cheap in Shenzhen, and houses are cheap too. Uncle, if you have money, you can buy houses and land there and make a fortune in the future."
Gu Dayong dared not even think about it: "Where would I get the money?"
Shen Yue'e pouted: "Even if I had money, I wouldn't buy a house there. Bao Ling, you've never even crossed the Luohu border, so you don't know what it's like there. It's a mess, just a rural area. No matter how cheap it is, you can't buy there. Even if you gave it a hundred years, it would never develop into a prosperous port city like Hong Kong."
That won't take a hundred years.
Ye Baoling smiled and didn't say anything more.
After dinner, Ye Baoling went upstairs to chat with her grandmother.
After watching her granddaughter finish offering incense, Grandma Gu asked, "You want to go back to live in the eldest branch of the Ye family, will Ye Huaizhang agree?"
"You have to agree, whether you like it or not. At worst, I'll live in both places." Ye Baoling told her grandmother her thoughts.
Grandma Gu nodded: "That's fine. I'll make things clear with your aunt and uncle, so that your father won't call here looking for you again when you go back to the third branch of the family."
Ye Baoling yawned: "I've already told my aunt."
Grandma Gu took a piece of paper out of the drawer and handed it to her. "This recipe was given to me by someone a while ago. I heard that eating it can improve one's constitution and help one have a son."
Ye Baoling: "..."
Grandma Gu tried to put it in her hand, but Ye Baoling refused, saying, "Having a son or a daughter is the same; it's a natural selection."
Besides, she has no chance of having children now.
“How could they all be the same? Even if Ye Huaizhang thinks the same way, will it make a difference? The elders certainly don’t think that way. Think about why your mother got divorced. Don’t you understand?” Old Mrs. Gu said earnestly.
"My mom is my mom, and I am me. Besides, how old am I? I don't plan to have children right now."
"Have children early! If you're older, the children will be less healthy." Old Mrs. Gu tried to stuff the book into her bag again, just like she had done with the pillow last time.
Ye Baoling was prepared this time and pressed her handbag down beforehand, so the old lady didn't succeed, and she wasn't in a hurry.
"I'll give it to Sister Ping and ask her to prepare food for you from time to time according to this recipe."
Ye Baoling: "..."
She stopped arguing. She has a mouth to feed; if she doesn't want to eat, no one can force her.
*
When Ye Huaizhang returned home, he went upstairs to his grandmother's room first.
Grandma Guan is pruning the branches of her potted plants.
Why didn't you tell me beforehand that Bao Ling was going to move back to the eldest son's house?
Ye Huaizhang could tell that his grandmother was a little unhappy: "Didn't we agree that we would have sex for the first forty-nine days, and then she could do as she pleased?"
Grandma Guan was still unhappy: "You didn't even show me that agreement. You just told me you were really getting married. Now it's turned out like this, hiding and not being able to see anyone. It's embarrassing to talk about it."
"Grandma, your attitude has changed a bit too quickly," Ye Huaizhang teased in a slightly joking tone. "Is it because you see that the 49 days are almost over and you want to take advantage of the situation to manipulate her?"
"Am I that kind of person? You don't tell me anything, and you won't even let this old woman be unhappy." After saying that, Old Madam Guan muttered under her breath, "Actually, the best way for you to make your relationship public is to get pregnant. Once you have a child, what can your second uncle do? Besides, you have a marriage certificate, you are a legitimate couple, it's only natural for you to get pregnant and have a child. Even if the eldest son's family has any objections, they'll have to swallow them."
So, after all that talk, his grandmother came to urge him to have a baby.
Ye Huaizhang wasn't fooled. He picked up his suit jacket and walked out.
I haven't finished speaking yet.
"Is there anything else?"
"You're going to Shenzhen to sign the contract next Monday, right? It'll take two days, but you can't skip the final toast. Since you can't come back, let Baoling go with you. You can drink the toast at the hotel there." Grandma Guan patted her grandson's arm. "After you finish, try your best so that Grandma can hold her great-grandchild soon. With a child, your marriage will be even stronger."
Ye Huaizhang stood behind the sofa and said softly, "A marriage that needs to be bound by children is better off without. I don't want Bao Ling and I to have the same relationship as my parents."
Old Madam Guan immediately fell silent.
As I walked out of my grandmother's room and reached the stairwell, I met Ye Baoling returning from my maternal grandmother's house.
When Ye Baoling saw him, she asked first, "How is it? You haven't forgotten what I asked you to do, have you?"
How could Ye Huaizhang forget: "There are two companies for you to choose from, both are suppliers of Hong Kong Stock Connect. You only need to be listed as a nominal supplier; you don't need to go to work."
Which two companies?
"Tong Jian will communicate with you later."
It seems he's busy with important matters; he hasn't forgotten the important things, but he hasn't remembered the company name.
Ye Baoling didn't make things difficult for him and quickly agreed.
Ye Huaizhang told her that he needed her to accompany him to Shenzhen next week. "Two days, can you take the time off?"
Ye Baoling now runs between two departments, which actually makes it easier for her to take leave.
But she smiled slightly, deliberately making things difficult: "It's not easy to ask for leave."
Ye Huaizhang glanced at her; he believed she could definitely find a way to do what she wanted to do.
He said, "I'll take you to eat something delicious."
"What's good to eat?"
Isn't Shenzhen a food wasteland?
Ye Huaizhang: "I went to a restaurant before and the roasted pigeon and stir-fried duck with ginger and scallions were very delicious. There was also a restaurant where the poached chicken was so tender that the bone marrow was red, and it was sweet and juicy. I wanted to eat it twice after the first time."
Ye Baoling suppressed her longing expression.
Ye Huaizhang continued to tempt, "There's also mountain spring tofu pudding, and spicy blood curd that you absolutely can't get here... We have similar tastes, what I like, you should like too."
Ye Baoling smiled politely and said, "I'll think about it."
That means you agreed.
She walked quickly forward, and swallowed hard when he wasn't looking.
She wants to eat super delicious poached chicken!
Back in my room, I soon received a call from Dong Jian.
Of the two companies provided by Dong Jian, one was an import and export trading company that happened to be right next to the Lihua Building, which was very convenient, so she chose that trading company.
*
Having finished watching the previous TV dramas, Ye Baoling found it difficult to get into the recently aired rural dramas because the sets were too fake.
She is not a very nostalgic person.
Many people watch old TV dramas with a nostalgic filter and say that old TV dramas are better, but she doesn't.
She yawned twice and turned to ask Ye Huaizhang, who was reading a book, "Shall we go to sleep?"
Ye Huaizhang interpreted these words as an invitation.
After all, she didn't see him last night.
He closed the magazine and asked, "Should we do it with the TV on?"
This is her quirk; it seems that with the sound of the television as a cover, she can be a little more unrestrained.
She reminded him that sleeping didn't mean anything by it, but he was enthusiastic, and she wasn't being coy, so she was happy to enjoy it.
As he spoke, he leaned over, untied the belt of his robe, and gently sipped the full, soft flesh.
She let out a soft cry, her waist involuntarily arching upwards.
The TV volume was too low; it couldn't be completely blocked out.
Ye Baoling reached for the TV remote, fumbled around on the bedside table for a while, and finally grabbed it, turning the volume up a bit.
He reached down and quickly found the right spot.
He gradually gained experience and learned how to act in a way that would make her more comfortable.
Facial expressions and voice don't lie.
Before long, the babbling brook gushed forth, and just as she was beginning to forget, he forcefully poured it in.
The impact of being completely enveloped and squeezed took him a while to recover.
The TV volume suddenly increased; it was a bone-strengthening commercial that was being shown in the middle of a TV drama, which sounded a bit eerie.
But she didn't have time to adjust the volume.
Because he had pinpointed a specific point above and in front of him, and with persistence, he was relentlessly attacking back and forth with precision.
The once clear and transparent stream water slowly turned into a milky white paste.
At the crucial moment, Ye Baoling gripped the TV remote so tightly that she almost pried the buttons off.
She didn't stop until fireworks burst from the ceiling, filling the sky with bursts of light.
She didn't know why, but even though he was the one putting in the effort, she was exhausted.
Or this could be considered a reaction of force.
For every effort he puts into striking, she will need to put in an equal amount of effort to withstand it.
So after each time, she didn't want to care about anything and let him clean up and do whatever he wanted.
Then he fell into a deep sleep.
When she woke up, she opened her eyes and found that Ye Huaizhang was already dressed and putting on his watch.
Outside the window, it was not yet fully light.
Where are you going so early?
"There's a groundbreaking ceremony in Macau today, I need to get there early."
Ye Baoling continued to bury her head in the pillow. Her back ached terribly, and she couldn't help but complain, "Don't use so much force next time, my back is killing me."
"This means you haven't been exercising lately."
Ye Baoling doesn't admit to this, because he tried too hard.
Ye Huaizhang looked at her rosy face and neck, which she had just woken up, and then calmly looked away.
"I think I have an idea about the Fuxi Bagua diagram in my grandfather's diary. Come back early tonight, and we'll go down and check it out."
Ye Baoling sat up: "You deciphered it?"
"Not necessarily. We'll only know after we try." He glanced at her again. "It's still early, you should go to sleep."
Ye Baoling, however, couldn't sleep.
She went to the company early to work and finished all her work by 4 p.m.
While everyone else was still working overtime, she grabbed her bag and slipped away.
She ate dinner in the third room. After dinner, she made an excuse that she had a bit of a cold and went back to her room to rest.
Now Chen Yulan works at Qiyuan during the day, and when she doesn't have much to do, she goes straight home and no longer comes here with them.
So no one was there to urge Ye Baoling to practice her boxing, and once she returned to her room, no one else would bother her.
It was rare that Ye Huaizhang wasn't tied up with other official duties today and returned on time.
The two changed clothes in the dressing room at the same time.
"Let's go." Ye Baoling put on her sneakers and prepared to grab the other items.
Ye Huaizhang had already prepared the tools and placed them in front of the mirror. With the tools in hand, the two quickly went to the wine cellar.
Last time he brought a folding ladder down, he climbed up the ladder and turned on the battery-operated light.
The wine cellar instantly brightened up.
"How do I do it?" she asked, waiting for his instructions.
Ye Huaizhang took out his own drawing of the Fuxi Bagua diagram and stood at the door.
“In my grandfather’s diary, there were two very important divination symbols at the very bottom of the page where he recorded the codes. These are the two.”
Ye Baoling leaned closer to look and saw [something].
She doesn't understand.
"These two are the Xun and Kan trigrams from the Eight Trigrams..."
"Then what?"
Ye Huaizhang pointed to the open space in front of him, "The wine rack was originally placed in three columns and four rows, a total of 12 positions. If you assume that six positions are considered one hexagram, then this place has exactly two hexagrams."
"You mean, the two rows on the left form the Xun trigram, and the two rows on the right form the Kan trigram?"
Ye Huaizhang took out the prepared compass, stood at the door and checked the directions. "No, it's the other way around. The left is Kan, and the right is Xun. If we go inside and look out from the inside, it is indeed Xun on the left and Kan on the right."
They went inside and divided the twelve points into two groups, which she naturally interpreted as a sum.
Ye Baoling's mind worked quickly: "Let's try to find the gap. The key is the gap in the middle of the bottom line of the Xun trigram on the left. The key is the gap in the middle of the Kan trigram on the right, which is at the top and bottom."
That makes some sense.
"Give it a try."
They quickly found the three tiles corresponding to the three gaps. On the surface, the three tiles were no different from the other tiles next to them.
These three floor tiles are quite far apart, so it's impossible for them to have been pressed down at the same time.
There must be an order.
Ye Baoling pressed the buttons in the order from the entrance inwards, but there was no response.
Ye Huaizhang: "According to the hexagrams, Xun is number six and Kan is number seven, with Xun in front and Kan behind."
"But the Kan trigram has two gaps, one at the top and one at the bottom, which means two bricks. Which one should be placed first?"
“Look at this Bagua diagram. If you go from ‘Xun’ to ‘Kan’, the Bagua itself has a tilt angle. It appears below Kan first, and then appears above Kan.”
The two quickly reached an agreement and pressed the corresponding floor tiles in sequence: "Xunxia", "Kanxia", and "Kanshang".
Ye Huaizhang was in charge of pressing the floor tiles. When he finished pressing the last tile on the "slope", the tile on the slope visibly sank down a little.
Bingo!
The two looked at each other in surprise, then looked around at the ground. Apart from the brick on the "embankment" sinking down, nothing else had changed.
Since there are changes on the ridge, it means their analytical approach is correct.
Why is there no change around us?
Ye Baoling was not discouraged. She suggested, "How about we change the order?"
Ye Huaizhang looked down at the Bagua diagram on the paper, deep in thought.
Ye Baoling stood up and scanned the surrounding walls. She noticed something new on the wall in the left front corner.
“Look.”
A faint black curve appeared on the northwest corner wall.
She walked over, took out her flashlight and shone it closely. It wasn't a black curve, but a crack with distinct grooves on the wall.
The current state of the cracks resembles the curves of a wall tile patchwork.
So their method was correct!
A wine rack was blocking the way in the corner, so the two of them worked together to lift it away, pushed open the wall, and a large brick door opened, letting in light—
Inside was a tunnel made of blue bricks!
-----------------------
Author's note: Blue brick tunnel: Welcome to explore, my master.
Time flies! Three-eighths of the holiday is already over! [crying emoji]
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