Water and Fire~Chapter 65.2: Also a Hope

 

Chapter 65.2: Also a Hope

That evening, Ren Yan took Qin Qianyu to Guangzhou, then transferred to Zhuhai overnight, leaving Chu Qianmiao alone to work on the Shanghai project.

This was Chu Qianmiao's first time conducting due diligence on a project outside of Shanghai alone.

During the day, she collected and reviewed company documents at Taoye Cinema and communicated with other intermediaries about key matters. At night, back at the hotel, she frantically refreshed her financial knowledge. Every day was spent racing against time, compressed to the hilt. Sometimes, she even felt like she was living her life with more energy and intensity than before the college entrance exam.

As the days went by, the initial hesitation she'd felt after Ren Yan's departure, the need to face everything independently, gradually dissipated. Knowledge, she thought, was indeed power. The more she studied, the more confident she felt, and she no longer felt nervous when talking to accountants and appraisers.

Though these days felt a bit lonely at times, they were ultimately fulfilling.

A week passed like this. Seven days after Ren Yan left, Cui Xijie arrived at the project site for a quick inspection. He smiled and told Chu Qianmiao, "Mr. Ren said I'll be your mentor on this project from now on. If you have any questions, feel free to ask me."

At first, Chu Qianmiao took his words seriously and asked Cui Xijie for advice on finance matters. Like a gentleman, Cui Xijie answered every question.

But then she noticed that whenever she asked a question, Cui Xijie always had an important call to make about another project. She immediately realized that she probably shouldn't have asked those questions.

Even if someone said a polite and cheerful remark, even if it was sincere, it shouldn't be taken seriously. She had lost her sense of judgment. She warned herself not to make the foolish mistake of mistaking politeness for real again.

Chu Qianmiao enrolled in an online course. The instructors were very clear, and her questions decreased dramatically. If she truly didn't know a question, she would ask others scattered questions—this one to Qin Qianyu in Zhuhai, that other to Tan Shen, a young man from Beijing. For other difficult questions, she would simply call up three senior students from her former dorm room on WeChat. They were all Tan Shen's classmates, serious finance students. If they seemed lazy and didn't want to answer her questions, she would tease them by bringing up the time when she risked her life to play three roles for them.

This kind of learning not only helped her learn to read financial statements but also rekindled her long-lost friendships with her senior students.

The first senior said, "Qian Miao, I've completely changed my career. I'm a housewife now, you know. Except for going to the bathroom, I need help with everything else. You know that, right? But you've been asking questions lately, forcing me to revisit my major. I really want to go back to graduate school. What the hell is going on?"

The second senior said, "Chu Qian Miao, if I could be reborn as a junior, you'd be begging me to answer that question on my behalf. I'd tie you to the bed and tell you not to go. I think you're going to keep this shit to me for the rest of my life, God!"

The third senior, Huang Ying, who seemed a bit more normal, said, "Qian Miao, I might be going to Beijing on a long business trip soon." But then she changed her tone and suddenly became less normal. "Just wait, I'll strangle you a hundred times a day!"

Chu Qian Miao felt that her relationship with the three seniors was truly deepening, unknowingly reaching a life-or-death level.

After Cui Xijie had been working on the project for a few days, one evening before leaving get off work, he said to Chu Qianmiao, "I have to leave early tomorrow morning. I'm going to check out Liu Lifeng's project. Let's go out for dinner tonight."

Chu Qianmiao agreed, and that evening, she and Cui Xijie took a taxi to the entrance of an alleyway. After a few twists and turns, they found a restaurant.

Cui Xijie said with a smile, "I've been to this restaurant before. The owner is so welcoming."

Chu Qianmiao and he had dinner together. After dinner, Cui Xijie rushed to the counter to pay the bill.

Earlier, Chu Qianmiao had something stuck in her teeth while eating meat. She searched around but couldn't find a toothpick. She tried to ask the waiter for one, but the waiter, scrambling, said to her in a rather irritable manner, "There's one at the front counter," and then went off with the plate to serve another table.

Chu Qianmiao didn't mind. No job was easy. She got up and went to the counter to get it herself.

But as she reached the counter, she realized she seemed to have arrived at a rather inopportune moment.

Cui Xijie was buying invoices from the boss at the counter.

It was too late for Chu Qianmiao to turn around and leave, so she could only smile and say, "Brother Cui, let me get a toothpick."

Cui Xijie didn't seem embarrassed at all. Instead, he asked her with a smile, "Qianmiao, you have your reimbursement allowance, right? Why don't you buy some invoices too? Then, you can get them signed by General Manager Ren after you've posted them. This is a perk for us on this project. This boss is a good person and willing to sell them. You can't get them anywhere else."

Chu Qianmiao quickly said, "Thank you, Brother Cui. I have a pile of invoices, more than enough."

Cui Xijie smiled and said nothing more. The two of them took a taxi back to the hotel.

The next day, Chu Qianmiao continued her solo mission. However, she received good news from Qin Qianyu: the situation in Zhuhai had stabilized. Qin Qianyu told her, "I may have to stay in Zhuhai, but Mr. Ren will be able to leave in two days. He will definitely come to visit you at the project in Shanghai."

Chu Qianmiao didn't have any special feelings for Ren Yan, but the fact that he was visiting the project was something she could hope for.

Back at the hotel that night, she opened her online course again. There was something she couldn't understand during the lecture. She looked through her WeChat contacts and realized she had been asking Qin Qianyu and the three senior students quite a bit lately. After a moment's thought, she opened Tan Shen's chat box and asked him a question.

Tan Shen called her directly.

"I'll tell you over the phone. Typing is hard." He then casually asked, "Are you still on a business trip in Shanghai?"

Chu Qianmiao nodded.

Tan Shen then asked, "Are you still staying at the same hotel you told me about?"

Chu Qianmiao nodded again.

After asking two questions, Tan Shen changed the subject and began explaining the problem. Chu Qianmiao listened to his explanation, her tangled thoughts unraveling and gradually becoming clearer.

Occasionally, she could hear the navigation system on his phone giving directions. He seemed to be on his way, perhaps in a taxi.

Lin Chiling's voice on the navigation system announced a place, saying there was a security camera ahead and he should not speed.

The place sounded very familiar to her, as if she had heard it not long ago.

Tan Shen explained the whole way to her. She thought he was really patient now. Even in a taxi, he didn't mind. If she didn't understand it the first time, he didn't call her a pig, but patiently explained it to her again.

But there was one question she really couldn't understand. Feeling a little guilty, she said weakly, "Ah Shen, can you explain it to me again?"

Tan Shen sighed. "Wait a moment." His voice was grew fainter and farther away; the phone must have left his ear. He was paying the fare with the driver. It looked like he'd reached his destination.

Then his voice grew closer and clearer. "How could you be so dumb? Did you get all those college entrance exam questions right by guessing?" He wasn't really complaining; there was even a hint of laughter in his voice. He said, "Which room are you staying in? Tell me the number, and I'll come and tell you in person."

Chu Qianmiao: "Ah."

She suddenly remembered why the place name she'd just heard Lin Chiling announce seemed so familiar.

It was the place she and Cui Xijie had passed by yesterday when they took a taxi back to the hotel after dinner.