The spacious and bright conference room still exudes the smell of fresh leather after the recent renovation.
"Xiao Xiao, these are several good projects that the team has selected after preliminary project evaluation that are in line with the strategic development direction of our Pinfeng Venture Capital and have market potential. Take a look. If there are no problems, I will ask my subordinates to confirm the letter of intent and conduct due diligence."
Several thick business plans were pushed in front of Fan Xiao, and the old man who had just spoken said kindly: "These materials are very complicated. If you are impatient to read them, just sign them."
Fan Xiao sat beside the old man, lowering his eyes slightly, his eyes were filled with the mottled shadows cast by the hair on his forehead. He smiled softly, and the pleasant sound of his voice lingered throughout the office and just disappeared.
He raised his head slowly, and his eyes were gentle instead of dark and unclear. His voice was very pleasant, and he was now using it to negotiate.
"Vice President Xu, please use your job title when you are at work, otherwise it will cause trouble to the employees."
The old man, whom he called Vice President Xu, frowned slightly, and the next moment he burst into laughter, like an elder who dotes on a younger generation and lets him do whatever he wants.
"Then listen to Xiao Xiao. Oh, no, listen to Mr. Fan." He pushed the document that needed to be signed toward Fan Xiao. "Mr. Fan, this document?"
Fan Xiao looked grateful, but ignored the documents at hand. He scanned the participants one by one, and finally asked, "Who is the head of the administrative department?"
After a pause, a man in his thirties stood up from the last seat and said nervously, "Boss Fan, I'm the head of the administrative department."
"Excuse me," Fan Xiao smiled, looking closely but not seeing clearly, "When a meeting of department heads and above is held in China, will the general manager's seat be placed together with the employees' seats?"
"This..." The administrative director who was named glanced at the old man next to Fan Xiao quickly, pursed his lips and replied, "The company has always ranked like this."
"Always?" Fan Xiao raised his eyebrows. "As far as I know, this should be the first formal regular meeting of our company, right? And you have only been in the position for two months."
The recorder's fingers paused on the keyboard, and the room fell silent.
Seeing that no one supported him, the head of the administrative department broke out in a sweat and had to change his words: "It was my negligence this time. Next time, I will make adjustments to the seating arrangement according to Mr. Fan's request."
Fan Xiao smiled and said carelessly: "It's not that serious. I just returned to China and have a lot to learn. Thank you for your advice. Please sit down."
This sentence was more frightening than direct criticism. Everyone subconsciously slowed down their breathing, looked away, and watched their hearts, not daring to watch the show anymore.
"As for these materials, I will take them seriously." Fan Xiao finally brought up the real business, "We can't let Vice President Xu work so hard at his age."
He stood up and ended the first regular meeting which lasted only five minutes.
"Let's end today's meeting here. The investment director will send the project materials to my office later. Oh, and please send the unselected projects as well. I will look through them when I'm bored to consolidate my Chinese character foundation."
After saying that, the tall man left the office first, without noticing the coldness in the old man's eyes behind him.
Fan Xiao's office faces west, which does not conform to the Chinese custom of bosses sitting north and facing south.
In the middle of the day, with heavy curtains drawn and only one light on, there were two piles of plans on the desk, one for projects that had passed the initial review, and one for projects that had been eliminated.
The hand with distinct finger bones passed over the evaluated projects and picked up the eliminated plans.
After flipping through a few books, Fan Xiao paused under the dim light, and raised the new project plan in his hand in front of his eyes.
In addition to the project name, the cover page of the plan also contains the name and corporate logo of the submitting company. Fan Xiao pondered for a moment and reached out to open the drawer on the right side of the desk.
After rummaging through some stuff, he found a business card, held it between two fingers and placed it on the plan, with the same words intertwined.
"Bohai Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd." Fan Xiao uttered a few words with his thin lips, and suddenly the corners of his lips curved up, "I almost forgot about you, and you come to recruit me again."
He put the plan book that he had not read yet into another pile. The business card was casually crumpled up and thrown into the trash can. The word "游" could be vaguely seen on it.
When You Shulang received Fan Xiao's call, he was packing up and getting ready to leave work.
The phone had been ringing for a while. You Shulang held the phone and anticipated the reasons why three or five men called before he slid the green icon.
"Kakunka, Mr. You."
Two months later, the deep and magnetic voice with soft nasal sound once again reached You Shulang's ears, which reminded him of the soft smoke of rouge in the air and the gentle smile on the man's face when he lit a match. You Shulang suddenly felt that his occupational disease was incurable. He was actually thinking about how to deal with Fan Xiao's call.
"Hello, Mr. Fan." His voice was also relaxed. "Why did you think of calling me?"
A helpless laugh came from the other end of the phone: "What should I do? I'm lost." And a similar pampering between lovers, "And in this city, you are my only friend, Mr. You."
Holding the phone a little further away, You Shulang thought that he was not wrong. He should have made all mental preparations before answering the call from this man, including enduring the gentleness and affection that comes with the Thai language.
It was almost an hour later when I saw Fan Xiao. You Shulang parked the car beside a dirt road, lowered the window, leaned out half of his body, and smiled at the man leaning against the luxury car, "How could you leave yourself here?"
The man shrugged in a very Western way: "I don't know either. I feel like I've been following the navigation, but I still encountered a dead end, and I ended up here after going around in circles."
You Shulang pushed the door and got out of the car. The stones under his feet hurt the soft and thin soles of his leather shoes. He walked to Fan Xiao and found that he was still wearing a windbreaker in the hot summer of July.
Although she was tall and slender, she still looked quite strange.
"Is it cold?" he asked.
The drooping windbreaker was shaken, and Fan Xiao wrapped himself tightly with the cloth on both sides: "I have been in a tropical country for a long time, and I can't stand the coolness here in the morning and evening."
You Shulang nodded and took out a cigarette from his pocket. The one-hour drive made him craving for cigarettes, but he didn't have the habit of smoking in the car.
"Want one?" After seeing Fan Xiao shaking his head, he bit the cigarette in his mouth and asked casually, "Did you get lost at the airport last time?"
Fan Xiao responded with a smile, "Yes, I am not naturally sensitive to directions and always get lost, even in Thailand."
You Shulang bit his cigarette and raised his eyebrows, thinking to himself: Given the size of Thailand, it would take some skill to get lost.
The evening breeze passed through the wilderness, bringing the fragrance of grass and trees towards the two of them. The long grass and tall trees rustled, and the flowing clouds in the sky were dyed with a light rosy color.
"In fact, getting lost can be a very interesting thing sometimes." Fan Xiao put all his weight on the car, put his right hand on his neck, and stretched lazily, "You can see a lot of different things."
He raised his chin towards a nearby tree and said, "Look, there is a bird's nest over there. When I was waiting for you just now, I saw a little bird whose feathers had not yet fully grown fell out of the nest."
You Shulang was quite interested at first, glancing between the dense branches and leaves, but when he heard the last part, he paused with his cigarette in his hand and turned to look at the man who was speaking.
The description of objective facts was flawless. It was not a worthy criticism for a man to show no sympathy for the death of a young bird. The strange thing was that Fan Xiao spoke in a calm and even envious tone, which made You Shulang feel indescribable.
Fan Xiao's eyes were fixed on the tree. "You said it fell out because of carelessness? Have you heard of the saying in the animal world?"
You Shulang and Fan Xiao leaned against the car side by side, exhaled a puff of cigarette and asked, "What do you say in the animal world?"
"If a baby bird falls out of the nest, there is a 90% chance that its brothers and sisters are fighting for food and push it out. Or it could be that its parents prefer other children and don't want to waste the food they have worked so hard to find on it." There was a strange light in Fan Xiao's eyes, but he quickly hid it when he turned his head to look at You Shulang, "What do you think is going on?"
You Shulang was unwilling to continue this topic. He looked at the increasingly pale clouds and said, "Let's go. We still have a long way to go on the way back."
"Aren't you going to save it? The baby bird should not be dead yet." Fan Xiao suddenly asked.
You Shulang was sure that he had not misread the scrutiny and coldness in Fan Xiao's eyes this time. He slowly asked, "How do we save it? Send it back to its nest? Won't it get pushed down again?"
Fan Xiao leaned down, looking You Shulang in the eye, and said in a dark tone: "You also know that even if you send the chick back, it will not escape its fate, so why did you save the child? If you save him, will he no longer be tormented by the disease and will he be healthy?"
You Shulang: "!!"
The nearly burnt cigarette between his fingers burned his hand, but You Shulang was completely unaware! He looked at the man so close to him and felt an unprecedented sense of oppression. This man with a gentle face and a kind smile now had a cold look in his eyes, like the surface of the sea on a cold night in late winter. Under the absolute depth, there were absolutely turbulent waves.
"We should always leave a glimmer of hope for life, right?" You Shulang looked back at Fan Xiao firmly, "Besides, I am right beside him! If you can save him but don't, it's not mercy, it's cruelty that destroys your own conscience and the conscience of society!"
"There are fifty great ways, and forty-nine heavenly ways. One heavenly way is missing, but there is still a glimmer of hope, is that right?" As he spoke lightly, Fan Xiao's cold eyes shattered like pierced glass. He regained his former gentleness and said with a smile, "It's a bit embarrassing to say this, but I still want to tell you that my company has paid for the child's medical expenses, and he should be able to grow up healthy."
After saying that, he squatted down and looked up at You Shulang from a close distance: "So, thank you Mr. You for your decisiveness and courage at that time. It was you who gave him a glimmer of hope."
"!"
It was too close, You Shulang could even feel the warm breath from Fan Xiao's mouth and nose. He stared at the man in front of him blankly, his heart seemed to be grasped by a huge force and then suddenly loosened. In the face of such gratifying news, his first reaction was not happiness. The man in front of him was as pure and kind as Wen Yu, but he always made him feel unpredictable and unpredictable.
"Let's go. I'm very hungry." Fan Xiao said to the silent You Shulang, "I'll treat Mr. You to dinner tonight to express my gratitude."
You Shulang finally came back to his senses. He suppressed the turmoil in his heart, held the cigarette butt tightly in his palm, and said calmly: "I have work tonight, let's do it another day."
"Work? The advancement of new projects?"
"How do you know?"
The sunset glow finally dissipated, and the thin narrow light on the horizon was swallowed up by the darkness...