Bro | Chapter 50

Lao Xiong was a very forward-looking person. He liked an atmosphere of freedom, democracy, and discussing things when they came up. But with the founder publicly stepping aside, Wei Qian became the dictator of the entire company, and the old approval-and-discussion system of the “three committees and one management layer,” with everyone talking over each other, quickly became a hollow shell.

In Lin Qing’s words, ever since President Wei became Chairman Wei, the level of terror he inspired had also upgraded, like swapping a bird gun for a cannon, from “the Great Sneeze Monster” to “King Piccolo.” The company, once humane and flat in structure, was like a fragile soap bubble, and he popped it with one slap.

Less than a week after Wei Qian took over, the whole company had turned into a centrally run concentration camp of mechanical operation.

And under that kind of Nazi-like pressure, work efficiency had actually nearly doubled compared with before.

At lunchtime, the HR department shut the door and held an internal discussion about this result. Lin Qing summed up the reason: every time Chairman Wei fixed a cold stare on someone who had delayed his work, that look could make people’s “legs shake so badly they practically wanted to run on the spot.”

The internal line coming out of Wei Qian’s office was known as “The Ring.” If you picked up the phone, that curt and contextless, concise, “Come to my office,” was even more terrifying, like an “Avada Kedavra.”

The materials to be submitted to the creditors were rejected and sent back by Wei Qian more than twenty times for rewrites, until the three department heads from Investment, Finance, and Budget were practically ready to smash their heads on the ground and die for the cause.

If they had to work overtime, then the logistical departments like Administration and HR had to coordinate with them. The whole headquarters, even the receptionist, only dared to edge out the door to buy drinks.

And so they worked in continuous rotation for more than half a month, day and night, with an average workday of over twelve hours.

As for… weekends? What were those? Could you eat them?

At last, the final version won Wei Qian’s grudging approval.

The idea that “the new boss is a freak” was engraved into every employee’s heart like a cornerstone. Yet strangely enough, in the end none of them resigned.

When a crisis hits, a freak is much more useful than a kind leader.

More than a month later, Wei Qian, with San Pang and two department managers, made the rounds of several creditors and went through multiple negotiations.

The result was a success. Wei Qian got the repayment deadline pushed back by a year.

The price was that he mortgaged almost all of the equity he currently held in the project companies under construction.

In San Pang’s words, “Well, this is great. We’ve gone from immediate execution to a suspended death sentence. Hey, isn’t that your Xiao Yuan? What’s he doing here?”

Wei Qian had the car stop downstairs at the office building and leaned his head out. “Why are you here?”

Wei Zhiyuan got off his bicycle and stuffed a lunchbox through the car window into his hands. “Next week I’m going out of town with a professor for a seminar. I probably won’t be back until the weekend. I’ve already explained to the hourly auntie what she needs to do every day. I’ve paid her wages and the grocery money. If you have any clothes to wash, just leave them in the little basket by the door and she’ll take them. I also bought an extra stock of the household necessities and set them aside. As for Grandma’s regular medicine, I’ve arranged them in order and written how many tablets to take of each, and stuck the notes beside the medicine bottles. If Xiao Bao isn’t home, help her get them for Grandma, three times a day.”

Wei Qian frowned almost imperceptibly. There was really nothing in that whole string of instructions that required him to do much, but hearing it all in his ears still made it feel both trivial and troublesome.

“You have to remember to eat on time,” Wei Zhiyuan said. “I bought a whole case of milk and put it in the fridge. Heat it up before drinking it, don’t drink it cold.”

Only after finishing his instructions did Wei Zhiyuan seem to remember there were other people present. He smiled at them a little “embarrassedly.” “Ge, San-ge, then I’m off.”

With that, he slung his shoulder bag onto his back, got on his bicycle, and disappeared around the corner in the blink of an eye.

The expressions on the two managers’ faces looked as fantastical as if they had just seen bin Laden picking his nose. Even though their freak boss had barely spoken from beginning to end, he had still looked positively mild and pleasant.

What kind of concept was it for Mr. Wei to look mild and pleasant?

It was like dinosaurs and donuts, two things that had absolutely nothing to do with each other.

At that moment, only Mr. Tan Yu, San Pang, remained calm, or rather, grim.

From the perspective of an outside observer, he sensed a kind of danger pressing right up to the city walls. Since when had the Wei household become this fussy about daily life?

Wei Qian used to live so casually. If he wanted youtiao, he would open the window and shout downstairs. If he did not have small change, he would just owe it. If he did not feel like eating, he could grab a handful of rice, throw it into a pot, and cook up a pot of porridge, then make do with a couple bites of pickles. Back when he rode a bicycle to school every morning, he used to casually grab a corn cob from Grandma Song’s pot, one hand on the handlebar, the other holding it while he gnawed at it. Although several years had passed, San Pang still had the illusion that it was all vividly before his eyes.

After spending too much time in the office, San Pang unconsciously started thinking more deeply. Wei Zhiyuan gave him the feeling of a spider that quietly, without anyone noticing, had woven some kind of invisible, intangible web of order through the household. Everyone would unconsciously grow used to it and obey it, including Wei Qian, the outwardly strong but inwardly weak head of the family.

San Pang had clearly seen Wei Qian frown just now. Given their friendship from the days of split-crotch pants, San Pang could read straight from his expression: “Huh? Why are you suddenly saying you’re going away? What a hassle.”

If this had been in the past, never mind his younger brother going out for a week, even if Wei Zhiyuan had gone abroad to Antarctica for a two-year scientific expedition, it would not have been a problem. Whoever wanted to go could go. As long as he did not die out there and never come back, Wei Qian would most likely even have stuffed some money into his hand encouragingly. One less person getting in his way right in front of him meant he got more peace and quiet.

Things had changed. Little by little, without anyone noticing, they had changed.

Wei Qian got out of the car carrying the lunchbox. San Pang hurried after him and went upstairs with him. He had decided he was going to get to the bottom of what this meant.

San Pang probed, “How come you’ve become the hands-off shopkeeper in your own house?”

Wei Qian sighed. “Isn’t it because I can’t keep up with it?”

So San Pang said half-jokingly, “That won’t do, Your Majesty. Your power’s already been hollowed out. Do you even remember which way the door to the Imperial Household Department opens? Do you still know what brand of toilet paper your house uses, or how much the hourly helper gets paid?”

Wei Qian: “…”

He really did not know.

Back when Grandma Song had still been running the household, because she was illiterate, there were many things she did not understand and could not handle, so Wei Qian still had to keep an eye on them. Ever since Grandma Song fell ill, though, somehow, without anyone noticing, all those matters had been taken over by Wei Zhiyuan, and Wei Qian had seemingly never put his mind to them again.

San Pang shook his head. “You’re done for, Your Majesty. Just wait to be forced to abdicate and usurped.”

Wei Qian laughed and did not take it to heart, thinking he was joking around.

So San Pang circled around again. “Right, I’ve been meaning to ask, your Xiao Yuan’s almost a junior in college now, right? Didn’t he bring you back a younger sibling-in-law from school?”

That bastard really knew how to hit where it hurt. Wei Qian’s expression changed on the spot. “Don’t bring that up.”

San Pang glanced around, saw no one nearby, and followed right into Wei Qian’s office. “What, did he find himself an ugly girl, or a shrew?”

That would have been just fine. As long as it was female and alive, Wei Qian felt he would have gladly welcomed it.

The debt had just been pushed back by another year, and Wei Qian felt as if he had finally managed to let out a breath. Before he could even draw the next one, San Pang had already cut it off again. At first, Wei Qian did not want to say anything. He wanted to laugh it off and brush it aside, so he said, “He’s busy every day, buried in classes and all kinds of extracurricular activities. Every now and then, he can even pull in a little investment, make some small thing, and earn a bit of pocket money.”

“Oh, I know about that. Back when we were his age, weren’t we also fooled by Lao Xiong into that line about ‘labor is the past, capital is the present, technology is the future’? We were daring enough back then to go straight for the ‘present,’ and these promising kids are already eyeing the ‘future’ now.” San Pang said, “One time when you were away on a business trip, I saw those kids once. They all brought computers and were hanging out at your place, a few boys and two girls. And let me tell you, there was one girl, I don’t know how she grew up like that, but she really did have a very ‘future flavor’ about her, really pretty…”

Unable to swallow his food, Wei Qian put aside the lunchbox Wei Zhiyuan had prepared for him. Holding his chopsticks like a pen, he spun them once between his fingers, and finally he could not help but tell San Pang the truth in a dispirited voice. “No chance. Even if that girl were as good as a fairy, it wouldn’t help.”

San Pang had already sensed where this was going. Wei Qian’s answer was practically at his lips. San Pang’s eyelid twitched, and he felt the bitter misery of having his crow mouth prove true.

Sure enough, Wei Qian said weakly, “That little bastard told me he’s got his eye on a man. I’ve been arguing with him over it for years, and no matter what, I can’t bend him back.”

Although San Pang had expected it long ago, hearing it with his own ears, he still did not know what kind of expression he ought to make, so he could only put on the same kind of surreal face.

Wei Qian sighed, then looked up and instructed San Pang, “I’m only telling you this because I treat you like a real brother. Don’t go out there and run your mouth about it. It’s bad for the kid.”

Looking at Wei Qian, San Pang discovered with aching frustration that his oblivious brother was still helping count money for the very person who was tricking him.

He knew he could not say it outright. For one thing, Wei Qian might not believe him. For another, even if he did say it outright, there was no telling what might happen. So he could only clutch his own heart in both hands, putting on a delicate act, and tremulously ask, “Then… he didn’t tell you who he’s got his eye on?”

Wei Qian shot him a glance. “How would I know? Anyway, it’s not you, so don’t be nervous. Your face is safe.”

San Pang was practically grieving for his misfortune and raging over his failure. “My brother, oh my brother…”

Wei Qian thought he was lamenting over Wei Zhiyuan, so he waved a hand. “Let him be. I can’t control him anymore anyway.”

That’s right, idiot brother, by then I’m afraid it won’t be up to you, San Pang thought, giving Wei Qian a look of extreme vexation. He silently got up and left Wei Qian’s office, finally understanding how he had once mistaken a high fever for internal heat and pneumonia for a cold. Never in his life had he hated Wei Qian’s carelessness and lack of attention to detail as much as he did now.

After San Pang went back, the more he thought about it, the more wrong it felt. Like most straight men, the twisted one-sided feeling Wei Zhiyuan had for Wei Qian made him uncomfortable all over.

He had watched Wei Zhiyuan grow up, heard him call him “San-ge” since he was little. San Pang did not want to speculate about him maliciously or judge him, much less use the word “disgusting” to describe him. But if he was expected to calmly accept it, that was absolutely impossible too.

San Pang felt that he understood exactly what Wei Zhiyuan was thinking. Wei Zhiyuan was using this method to make his presence felt, and if things continued like this, one day Wei Qian would no longer be able to do without him.

Because of what his family had been like when he was young, Wei Qian had always had some obstacles in the way he interacted with women. San Pang did not want to watch Wei Zhiyuan stray down the wrong path, nor did he want to watch him drag his brother into it too.

This would not do. If things kept going like this, it would get dangerous. He had to think of some way to ruin this, San Pang thought to himself in secret.

Leaving aside what San Pang had in mind, after Wei Qian had used up every means at his disposal to temporarily solve the debt problem, he found a turning point for reviving the project. The man who brought that turning point was the most unreliable consultant in recorded history.

Big consulting firms charged anywhere from one hundred thousand or so to more than ten million. At a time when, to Wei Qian, “money was everything,” that was absurdly expensive. All he could afford were some smaller local consulting firms by comparison. The other side sent someone over to make contact with him.

The man’s name was Ma Chunming. He was about the same age as Wei Qian himself, and he even had a baby face. When he smiled, he had dimples. His face, clothes, and manner of speech all seemed to be risking their lives to explain what it meant by “no hair on the lips, no reliability in handling things.” He looked especially unreliable.

Looking at that shabby old suit of his, messy enough to resemble performance art, Wei Qian could only test the waters patiently first. “May I ask what your major was?”

Consultant Comrade Ma Chunming proudly told him, “Food safety.”

Wei Qian: “…”

The moment Ma Chunming saw his expression, his confidence took a hit. He cautiously opened the folder in front of him and explained in a small voice, “But I don’t think my major is important. What matters to clients is that I can quickly figure out an industry within ten days.”

Wei Qian thought about it and decided it made some sense. He himself had been trained in life sciences, and now through a bizarre chain of accidents he had still ended up sitting in this position. Since this man made a living by this, he ought to have some skills, right?

So maintaining a polite and gentle attitude, he continued to ask, “Then may I ask, in the last project you handled that was unrelated to your own major, how did you use ten days to understand the whole industry?”

Ma Chunming sank into thought for a moment, then in a posture and tone like he was confessing his mistakes, said, “Well… to be honest, this is actually the first time I’ve handled real business. I… I’m a PhD who just graduated from school, and I haven’t even been on the job for half a year.”

A PhD in food safety with no one leading him and no one teaching him, standing in front of a real estate boss. What was the difference between him and a child who had just learned to walk and been thrown into the Gobi Desert?

Wei Qian even noticed the hand holding the folder trembling nonstop.

What did it mean to say you got what you paid for?

Wei Qian completely lost the little patience he had left and was about to call the internal line and have this PhD politely shown out.

Who knew that right then Ma Chunming suddenly turned clever. The moment he saw Wei Qian’s expressionless face and the movement of his hand reaching for the phone, he instantly understood the fate about to befall him. In a panic, he tried to save himself, blurting out at machine-gun speed as he desperately fought for a chance. “I-I-I really can understand an industry in ten days, please just listen to our steps!”

Wei Qian said coldly, “No need. I don’t want to spend money hiring someone who studied food to teach me how to sell houses. Not even if he’s a PhD.”

As soon as he said that, he picked up the phone and dialed Administration directly. “Send someone over. Help me see our guest out.”

Ma Chunming was so nervous he started chewing his fingernails. His eyes blinked rapidly, and his round face made him look like a crazed groundhog.

“Please, please, please just hear me out. I’ll be done in a second. First, we study what the whole industry relies on to survive, in other words, what exactly everyone is selling.” The groundhog spoke rapidly. Facing Wei Qian’s indifferent gaze, a sheen of cold sweat quickly seeped out across his forehead. But he had no choice except to continue, hoping that the slightest sliver of possibility might move the young helmsman in front of him.

“After we study the actual value, we study where that value comes from. In other words, from the beginning of ‘production’ to the point where it is completely sold, which stages are supported, which stages are the key stages, in other words, which ones create value.”

At that moment, the door to Wei Qian’s office opened. A male employee from the administrative office first gave Wei Qian a well-trained greeting, then let his gaze land on the consultant who looked on the verge of tears, and politely asked, “Is it this guest you’d like me to escort out?”

Ma Chunming had not expected to mess things up so quickly. At once, he felt his whole life turn gray. With a strange expression of grievance and sorrow, he looked at Wei Qian, picked up his bag listlessly, and thought in utter despair: Is there really anyone in the world as useless as me? I finished a PhD and still can’t find a matching job. I finally manage to worm my way into a “consulting company,” only to discover after getting in that it might as well be called a “scam company,” and then the very first business I ever handle ends with a client despising me from top to bottom…

Ma Chunming felt like a person like himself might as well go die, so he decided that after leaving here, the very first thing he would do was find a subway station and throw himself onto the tracks.

Right then, Wei Qian suddenly spoke. “No. I told you to pour our guest a glass of water. He’ll be sitting a while longer.”

Ma Chunming, who had just been mentally picturing himself getting crushed into bloody pulp beneath a speeding train, with his eyeballs hanging off the windows, froze.

Not until the employee had poured him a glass of water and silently withdrawn again.

Wei Qian folded his hands together on the desk. “What was it you were saying just now? The value of every stage from the start of a project to the point the product is sold? Explain it in more detail.”

Ma Chunming let out a long breath and wiped the sweat from his forehead. “What I mean is, first you have to figure out what stages there are, what has to be done in the early phase, what has to be done during construction, and so on, and how much each step affects whether the project can succeed.”

Wei Qian suddenly had a feeling of complete clarity. He had found where he had gone wrong.

When they first cooperated with President Zhang, President Zhang’s value had lain in his connections. Locally, he had very deep ties and could obtain the land they wanted under favorable terms, high quality and low price. That was value, and it showed in the drastically lowered cost of the final product.

But this time there had been none of that. President Zhang was a local snake. For him to travel all the way to C City to fight for a piece of land, where he had no roots at all, meant he had lost even his most basic advantage.

The stage where they obtained the land-use rights had gone abnormally smoothly, so smoothly that it had seemed almost natural.

But they should have known that the early land-acquisition stage was obviously a very important value-adding stage. Connections or the superiority of the planning were the key points of added value. None of those key points had shown up at all, and yet the government had approved the land-use permit so readily. Wasn’t that precisely the conclusion: “If a plum grows by the roadside and no one picks it, it must be bitter”?

Trying one’s luck with wishful thinking was no good in the end.

In one instant, Wei Qian understood the crux of the problem, and several possible directions for a solution flashed through his mind like lightning.

“Ma Chunming, right?” He looked up and smiled at the anxious groundhog. “We sincerely invite you to stay and complete this consulting work. And afterward, if possible, you’re also welcome to join our company.”

Early the next morning, Wei Qian went to the company for a meeting. Wei Zhiyuan packed his luggage, spoke to Grandma Song, and took one last turn around the house to make sure he had not missed anything. Only then did he close the door behind him and leave.

He did not know how his strategy of slowly nibbling away and swallowing bit by bit was going. Wei Zhiyuan had decided he needed to test it. It would not work when he himself was right there at Wei Qian’s side. Only by occasionally going away for a few days could he tell how much armor the other party would lose. That was why he had agreed to his professor’s invitation.

This was a progress test.

Wei Zhiyuan still did not know that, for some time to come, his opponent would be San Pang, the invisible saboteur. He was still optimistically estimating that if things kept progressing like this, it would only be a matter of one or two years before he succeeded.

He still thought he had plenty of time and could proceed step by step at leisure.

Xiao Bao moved into the art school dorms for a short holiday training session, so once Wei Zhiyuan left, the house grew empty.

Grandma Song struggled out of her room on her cane and shuffled around the house twice, already drenched in sweat.

“I’m a useless person now,” she thought, lowering her head to look at the cane in her hand. “Once you pick this thing up, you can’t put it down again.”

Her mood was gloomy. Recently, Grandma Song has always been like this. If people gave her food, she ate it. If they bought her things, she habitually scolded them for not knowing how to live properly. She either looked full of anger or utterly listless, and had become extremely hard to please. No one knew how to make her happy anymore.

Grandma Song knew perfectly clearly that she had become stupid. She had begun to lose her sensitivity toward numbers and could no longer do the household accounts. Even the concept of money itself had started to fade. Something she said a moment earlier, she would forget two minutes later. Then only after quite a while would she remember again and realize she had repeated the same annoying old lines like a broken wheel.

Grandma Song had stubbornly survived, and stubbornly recovered well, but she had lost the ability to be happy.

And once cheerful, lively Xiao Bao left, she became even lonelier.

Grandma Song slowly shifted herself along on her cane and went next door. She planned to sit and chat with Ma Zi’s mother. Now her speech came out muddled, and she often had to repeat herself several times before people could understand. Everyone else was busy, and Grandma Song was afraid of becoming a nuisance, so only Ma Zi’s mother had the time to sit and talk with her.

After she entered Ma Zi’s mother’s home, Grandma Song discovered that she was staring blankly at an old city map.

Grandma Song asked, “Sister, what are you doing?”

Ma Zi’s mother turned her head. Seeing Grandma Song, she did not panic at all. She knew that if anyone else saw what she was doing, they would make a great fuss. Only this old woman would not.

They shared the same helpless physical condition, and they also shared the same pain and loneliness.

“Elder sister,” Ma Zi’s mother lowered her voice. Wearing a strange smile, pure and eager like a child who knew she was about to go to an amusement park, she said to Grandma Song, “I’m planning to leave.”