E ⋆ Chapter 41

Zhai Di believed July was a month worth recording.

Over the past half year, the company had run smoothly, developed new business lines, achieved returns higher than expected, and all investors were very satisfied. They had encountered some new opportunities, made connections with new willing funding institutions and individuals, and were about to complete the largest merger and acquisition deal since the company's founding.

Zhai Di's seamlessly cooperative business partner Yang Ke, despite an unexpected litigation setback in May, now seemed to be heading toward a resolution.

His marriage, which had originally left Zhai Di baffled, had finally made progress because of this, and his private life was no longer shrouded in mystery.

For all the employees, Yang Ke should certainly qualify as a perfect colleague and superior. He was proficient in business, almost never mixed personal emotions into work, and was arguably the company's most diligent and dedicated person.

Zhai Di also believed Yang Ke was the best person to work with.

Back in university, Yang Ke's abilities had already shown early promise. His financial intuition was sharp, his analysis calm and stable, and he was especially skilled at negotiation and finding solutions that satisfied both parties in conflicts. He could offer Zhai Di calm advice when emotions ran high.

He was not the type of fund manager who gave flashy presentations and put on impressive performances for investors, but he seemed to always find the precise balance point in a tug-of-war, solving problems others found difficult and achieving his goals.

Regarding private matters, Yang Ke said very little. Before Yu Zhinian appeared, Zhai Di only knew that Yang Ke had a poor relationship with his grandfather and that his father was a university professor.

Yang Ke had a handsome appearance and a steady temperament, but because he spoke in such a strictly business-like manner, he was exceptionally difficult to approach in emotional relationships, often giving the impression that he had shut himself off and kept people at arm's length.

Zhai Di had an extremely outgoing and cheerful personality, and the two shared similar interests and got along well, which was how he came to understand even a small part of Yang Ke's personal situation.

Yu Zhinian first entered Zhai Di's field of vision during Yang Ke's senior year of university.

While pursuing his entrepreneurial ventures, Zhai Di heard from a classmate who worked in the investment department of a bank that Yang Ke had encountered a stalker.

Zhai Di's younger sister had experienced something similar in middle school. At that time, her mental state had suffered greatly, and after contacting a lawyer to apply for a restraining order with the court, she had seen doctors for a long time before recovering. Because of this, he was very sensitive to such matters.

After reading a few pages of the observation diary his classmate had sent him, Zhai Di felt a chill run down his spine. He called Yang Ke to ask about it, and only then learned that the two had already known each other.

However, Yang Ke offered no further explanation, only saying it was a marriage partner his grandfather had arranged for him in his will.

Zhai Di had grown up in He City, and both his parents were open-minded. He had never encountered a feudal patriarch. He thought it was utterly absurd for an elder to reach out from the grave through a will and use money to constrain a younger generation's freedom of marriage. As for Yu Zhinian, the bonus that came with the inheritance Yang Ke didn't want, he had no particular fondness for him either.

When Zhai Di learned that Yang Ke and Yu Zhinian were cohabiting, he was shocked.

It was snowing heavily in He City that day. Yang Ke came to the office and, during a break in work, told Zhai Di about it very casually.

Zhai Di was stunned on the spot.

"You're going to marry him?" Zhai Di came to his senses and asked. "He's already moved into your place?"

Yang Ke said yes, and then said of Yu Zhinian with no particular expression: "Noisy as anything, moved a whole pile of stuff in."

Zhai Di was still somewhat confused. He knew who Yang Ke's grandfather was and understood that the inheritance must be enormous, but Yang Ke's finances were already independent, and not only had he never shown any desire for the inheritance, he had even expressed distaste for his grandfather's wealth. So Zhai Di couldn't help but ask Yang Ke: "Are you planning to follow the will and inherit the estate?"

"Yeah," Yang Ke looked very calm at the time, speaking as if discussing work, "give those things to him."

Yang Ke's words were ambiguous, open to many interpretations. Much later, Zhai Di suddenly realized he had understood it in the wrong way, but thinking back carefully, he felt this wasn't entirely his own mistake.

After cohabiting with Yu Zhinian, Yang Ke's changes were not significant.

After graduating from university and officially joining the company, Yang Ke spent every day working in the office, arriving earliest and leaving latest, hardly like someone who was in a relationship.

There was only one time, about half a month after joining, when they were having a video conference with a multinational company's director that went until dawn. Zhai Di's girlfriend at the time came to the office to wait for him. When the conference ended and they walked out, they saw her asleep on the sofa in the lounge through the glass.

At that time, Yang Ke showed no particular reaction. But the next day, when they met with an investor and went to a restaurant near the office for lunch, Yang Ke suddenly asked him whether not wanting to see each other every day meant you didn't really like the person.

Alarm bells went off in Zhai Di's mind. He immediately told Yang Ke: "Of course it does. If you like someone, you naturally want to see them every day."

"If you don't want to see Yu Zhinian," he advised, "and you don't want the money either, there's not much point in getting married."

"It's not about me." Yang Ke flatly denied it, as if he hadn't asked the question at all, and switched to talking about work.

Although this conversation was brief, Yang Ke rarely asked Zhai Di questions like this, so Zhai Di had never forgotten it and believed it was evidence that Yang Ke was torn about whether to continue with this marriage.

Zhai Di first had some doubts about Yang Ke's feelings when Yu Zhinian returned to the country.

At that time, Yang Ke was preparing to register his marriage with Yu Zhinian, which happened to coincide with the company's fundraising period. Everyone was swamped with work. Zhai Di had originally advised Yang Ke to wait a while until things calmed down, and he could even take a vacation. Even if it wasn't with someone he liked, it was still good to enjoy a break. For some reason, Yang Ke refused and rearranged his schedule, squeezing out a single day to register with Yu Zhinian exactly when the two-year period was up.

On the scheduled registration day, Zhai Di didn't receive any message from Yang Ke all day. He called to check in, but Yang Ke didn't answer.

It was very late when Yang Ke finally sent him a message, saying he wasn't feeling well and was resting for two days.

Zhai Di thought it was rather unlucky to fall sick on one's wedding day, and he called again. Yang Ke answered, sounding somewhat tired, and said he was fine. Zhai Di asked him: "Is Yu Zhinian taking care of you?"

Yang Ke was silent for a moment, then told Zhai Di: he had gone back to work on a project. He spoke in the same tone as usual, but Zhai Di, listening to him, felt his heart suddenly lurch without quite knowing why. He suddenly felt that the relationship between Yang Ke and Yu Zhinian was perhaps not as simple as he had thought.

But two days later, Yang Ke came back to work, acting as if nothing had happened, still working late into the night with stable emotions. Zhai Di again felt he might be overthinking things and stopped worrying about it.

Until one evening half a year later, just as Zhai Di was about to go to bed, he suddenly received a call from Yang Ke, who confessed that he had done something wrong. He said that in order to marry Yu Zhinian, he had lied about the company's poor financial performance.

"He asked me if something was wrong with the company," Yang Ke said, "and I admitted it."

Yang Ke didn't say much about the specific details of what had happened between him and Yu Zhinian. Mainly, he came to apologize to Zhai Di and mentioned that it might pose a reputational risk to the company, but if the worst happened, he would definitely take responsibility.

Beyond shock and confusion, Zhai Di found it somewhat amusing.

It was only at this moment that he realized many of Yang Ke's behaviors that had seemed abnormal to him now had explanations.

In Zhai Di's view, Yang Ke's romance was rather clumsy.

Evasive and secretive, trying to cover things up only made them more obvious. Every single thing seemed like he was trying hard, but he never quite got it right. Yang Ke had even asked Zhai Di's sister for wedding planning materials, but later never used them. Not long after, news of the Deqin Group shareholders' lawsuit spread everywhere and caused quite a stir. From the news reports, Zhai Di saw Yang Ke's family affairs laid bare and felt quite conflicted. Together with Yang Ke, he spent a long time explaining things to investors, bringing the company's reputation back on track.

However, since June, although Yu Zhinian had gone off to a remote area to work on a project again, Yang Ke's marriage seemed to have finally improved.

Zhai Di had rich romantic experience and was well-versed in the art of pursuit. He knew the most important thing was to evoke the other person's sympathy. He instructed Yang Ke to show more of how hard his work was. Later, Zhai Di often heard Yang Ke calling Yu Zhinian, complaining about things that didn't really need to be complained about.

In late July, the deal entered its final stages, and they completed the merger and acquisition at the lowest possible cost.

The day after signing, Yang Ke quickly submitted a vacation request and left He City.

——Observation Analysis Diary (VI)

Topic: Welcoming New Students

(Recorder: Yu Zhinian Date: 2016.9.23)

Once again it is the season of welcoming new students. Sociology welcomed two new students, one of whom is from Ning City and is also a junior from the same school. The junior has an outgoing personality. This week I have already shown him around campus and given him an introduction to the various professors.

Saturday afternoon there was a small barbecue party in Peng Qing's backyard. After finishing homework, I arrived at four o'clock. Yang Ke was chatting with the junior on the steps in the yard.

I greeted the junior and saw Yang Ke holding lemonade.

The junior handed me a beer, so I opened it and drank.

A friend with the surname Zhai, who has a good relationship with Yang Ke, walked over and asked Yang Ke whether he could drink a little beer, why he wasn't drinking either, and whether his alcohol tolerance had gotten worse.

Yang Ke said indifferently: "Just don't feel like it."