Water and Fire~Chapter 90.1: The Man Under the Sophora Tree

 

Chapter 90.1: The Man Under the Sophora Tree

The day after Ren Yan and Cui Xijie's private conversation, Cui Xijie did not return to the due diligence office.

That morning, Yan Yunqiang appeared at the Liya due diligence site. Sun Yi and the others were almost done with their project, and Ren Yan had called Yan Yunqiang the previous night to assign him additional staff to follow up on Liya's IPO project.

Before leaving get off work, Ren Yan sent a group email to the department, informing everyone that Cui Xijie had resigned from the company for personal reasons.

The text in the email was smooth and seamless, simply a calm announcement. The readers' emotions were hardly affected, and they simply accepted the news calmly.

Aside from a few sighs, there wasn't even a hint of sadness.

This was the feeling Chu Qianmiao and Qin Qianyu felt at the moment.

Liu Lifeng was different; he seemed quite surprised. He ran to ask Ren Yan, "Mr. Ren, what happened to Old Cui? We eat together every day, and I don't think he had any personal issues that would lead to his sudden resignation."

Chu Qianmiao listened, shaking her head. She thought if Cui Xijie had even a fraction of Liu Lifeng's innocence, she wouldn't have gotten herself into this situation. But then again, Liu Lifeng was a little too naive.

She heard Ren Yan reply to Liu Lifeng, "You don't have to be too surprised, or unacceptable. He might have left for another brokerage firm to seek a better opportunity. All good things must come to an end, and this is especially true in investment banking. Your repeated job hopping is your path to rapid advancement. So," he paused, speaking not just to Liu Lifeng but to everyone in the room, "perhaps one day in the future, everyone here will say goodbye to each other, seek better opportunities elsewhere, and embark on new career paths." He glanced at the back of Chu Qianmiao's head, and from her stillness, he knew she was listening intently. "That's not necessarily a bad thing, so when that happens, there's no need to be overly sad."

Chu Qianmiao didn't know why, but hearing these words made her feel a little sad.

She wondered if Ren Yan was helping them, preparing them for a potential workplace separation.

During her lunch break, after lunch, Chu Qianmiao went downstairs for a stroll.

The May weather intensified the color of the grass, spurred the flowers to bloom larger and brighter, and swayed the leaves into luxuriant bloom.

Chu Qianmiao walked along the narrow path, feeling the arrival of summer with unmistakable clarity.

She continued along the path. At its end stood a locust tree, its blossoms in full bloom. She visited every noon, breathing in the fragrance and refreshing her lungs from breathing so much industrial air.

Today, there was someone else under the tree. From a distance, Chu Qianmiao could clearly see who it was.

The man, wearing a white shirt and black trousers, stood beneath the tree. The midday sunlight filtered through the leaves, refracting into tiny specks of gold, shimmering on him.

Chu Qianmiao recalled a Japanese manga she'd read as a child, called White Mulan Waltz. She felt that Ren Yan resembled the protagonist.

She approached the tree and saw the cigarette in the man's hand. He wasn't lighting it, just holding it.

She wondered if she had interrupted his smoking break.

"Mr. Ren," she said, stepping forward.

"Yeah," he replied.

She joined him, shoulder to shoulder, and together they gazed out into the distance along the winding path.

"Come out for a smoke?" she asked.

"I'm struggling between smoking and not smoking," he replied, turning to look at her beside him.

Chu Qianmiao also turned, meeting those gazes that seemed to deepen, unsure what to say.

Why are you struggling between smoking and not smoking?

No, you couldn't ask that.

What if he said, "Didn't you tell me to smoke less?"

No, no, that answer was too ambiguous. Hearing it too often would make one's mind restless.

So, what should she say?

For the first time, she realized she had a knack for words.

A gentle breeze blew over, and the locust flowers trembled, releasing their fragrance. She sneezed.

She thought the sneeze was a perfect opportunity; it deflected all the questions she didn't know how to answer or didn't want to answer.

After the sneeze, she naturally switched to the next topic.

She asked Ren Yan, "Mr. Ren, why did you just let Cui Xijie go?"

Ren Yan glanced at her, raised an eyebrow, and asked, "you don't think that's my style. Given my cold and indifferent personality, I'd get to the bottom of this and wouldn't let him off so easily."

Chu Qianmiao tucked her hair behind her ears and didn't respond.

She had a certain thought.

Ren Yan pinched the cigarette, brought it to his nose, sniffed it, looked at her, and said, "I just let him go. Maybe I've been around you for so long, and I've rubbed off on you. I can't be so hard-hearted."

He spoke casually, his voice a touch lazy. He raised the corner of his mouth, a half-smile.

Chu Qianmiao raised her hand to tuck her hair behind her ears again, even though there was nothing to tuck.

"You don't seem like someone who would be so emotional," Chu Qianmiao said, quickly regaining her composure.

Ren Yan raised his lip at her again, then regained his composure.

"I told Cui Xijie that Qu Xincai had recorded the meal, so we have substantial evidence of his activities." He paused, then said, "But in fact, there was no such recording. Qu Xincai, the upstart, wasn't that thoughtful. I lied to Cui Xijie."

Ren Yan sniffed the cigarette again, then put it back in the box. He shoved his hands in his trouser pockets, stood with a cool and handsome demeanor, and continued, "I really don't want Cui Xijie's career to be ruined because of this. After all, he studied for so many years and worked hard to pass the insurance agent exam. It would be too cruel to let his future end here. It would be better for him to resign. In fact, resignation is not just a punishment for him, but also an opportunity to reform."

Chu Qianmiao was a little moved. Cui Xijie had met Ren Yan, and because of this, he still had a chance to make amends. If he had any compassion and a bit of humanity, he should remember the kindness Ren Yan had given him today.

There was just one thing she hadn't figured out.

"Why would asking him to resign be an opportunity for him to mend his ways?" she asked, looking up at Ren Yan.

Ren Yan looked down at her, his lip curled. He seemed particularly patient today, answering every question she asked. "Cui Xijie will continue to work in investment banking, where connections are interconnected. When he submits his resume to other brokerage firms, they'll see he previously worked for me and contact me to ask about his business capabilities, his character, and why he resigned—whether he had committed some sin or was he seeking a promotion by switching jobs."

A bee flew over. Chu Qianmiao was wearing a bright yellow dress today. Bees love yellow, and it flew around her.

Ren Yan raised his hand to brush away the bees clinging to her, then continued, "Cui Xijie knows this is inevitable. He knows this will happen when he applies for a job. He'll be wary of any ruse or misconduct, knowing I can keep him in constant contact with his new employer. This will force him to change his ways."

Chu Qianmiao sighed inwardly, both for his strategic planning and for the way he had just thoughtfully brushed off the bees for her.

Another thought occurred to her, "Brother Qin said you specifically warned Cui Xijie not to go to Kan Qingzhou's department. Why was that?"

Ren Yan raised an eyebrow slightly. "Because if he went to Kan Qingzhou's department, he'd learn to go astray and never return to the right path."

Chu Qianmiao sighed inwardly again.

This man, right up to the very last moment, was meticulously working to save a degenerating soul. She wondered if Cui Xijie could see through this, if she could understand this sentiment.

She looked at him standing under the locust tree. He stood with his hands in his trouser pockets, looking both cool and handsome.

She thought she had learned something new from him.

He didn't kill people completely, but he kept them alive while also keeping them under control.

She thought he was truly a rare and excellent leader in the workplace, a hidden treasure, with so much to learn from him.

She kind of liked this summer afternoon, filled with the fragrance of locust flowers. She would capture it in her memory, a photograph, and store it in her cerebral cortex.

After Cui Xijie's departure, Qin Qianyu became the beneficiary.

Originally, Qin Qianyu had to wait until the next IPO or share issuance project, signing as a project co-organizer, before he could register as an official underwriter. Now that Cui Xijie was gone, he had moved up the ranks and became the project co-organizer of the Liya IPO. So, after the Liya project was completed, he could become an official underwriter earlier than originally planned.

Qin Qianyu excitedly said to Chu Qianmiao, "Qianmiao, you shouldn't be so anxious about the insurance agent exam. Even if you pass, I'll still be signing off on the next project, and you'll have to wait until I sign off on the next one before you can become an official insurance agent. But you see, life is so unpredictable. I can sign off on this project and become an official insurance agent in no time. So you have to work hard and pass the exam as soon as possible. Then it'll be your turn to sign off on the next project."

It would have been fine if Qin Qianyu hadn't encouraged her, but after he did, Chu Qianmiao felt incredibly stressed.

The exam was next month, and she had only been studying for less than six months, so she had no idea what kind of results she could achieve. Ren Yan's harsh words still lingered in her ears: if she didn't pass the exam, she'd have to leave.

Thinking of this, Chu Qianmiao felt she was actually even worse off than Cui Xijie. At least he'd done something bad to get out of it, but she was facing a decision based on a single exam.

That night, she studied even harder.