"Are you Xiao... Xiao Jianguo?"
Zhou Feiyu turned toward the voice and saw a familiar yet unfamiliar face. After a beat, he suddenly remembered that this was probably his middle school classmate, Xiao Jianguo.
Xiao Jianguo laughed heartily. "It really is you, old classmate. I thought I had mistaken you for someone else."
He walked over and gave Zhou Feiyu a punch on the shoulder.
Zhou Feiyu was delighted as well. "You didn't mistake me. It's me. Come to think of it, we haven't seen each other in more than ten years, have we? We haven't met since graduating middle school."
One of life's four great joys was meeting an old friend in a foreign place.
The friendships formed in middle school were undoubtedly pure, forever worth remembering and savoring.
Xiao Jianguo said, "Yeah, it's been twelve years. Back then, you were the only one who got into County Key High School. The rest of us went to ordinary high schools. One step behind, and we fell behind every step after that. We couldn't keep up with you guys."
"That's all superficial."
Zhou Feiyu shrugged, then introduced Li Shihan and Xiao Jianguo to each other. "This is my classmate Xiao Jianguo. He's from our county too. This is Li Shihan."
"Hello!"
Li Shihan smiled faintly and greeted him.
"Hello!"
Xiao Jianguo nodded in greeting, then asked, "Your wife?"
Zhou Feiyu coughed twice. "Not yet."
Li Shihan blushed and immediately pulled her left hand free from his. However, she said nothing, because she did not know what to say either.
Saying yes would not have matched the facts. Saying no, or naming some other kind of relationship, would not have been appropriate either. So she simply said nothing. People could think whatever they wanted.
Xiao Jianguo was perceptive and immediately understood something, so he did not bring it up again. He merely smiled and said, "Old classmate, you'd better hurry up. I already have two kids."
Zhou Feiyu was instantly stunned and could not help blurting out, "What the hell? You already have two kids? Did you get married right after graduating?"
Xiao Jianguo said with a proud look, "Of course. The earlier you get married, the better. Our parents are still young and can help take care of the kids, while I can focus on work and making money. So I started dating in college, and as soon as I graduated, my wife and I got married."
Hearing that, Zhou Feiyu did not know what to say.
Could he say that he had gone through college without dating even once?
Xiao Jianguo asked why he had come to Peng City. "I heard from other classmates that you worked back home after graduation. Why did you come all the way to Peng City now? Are you here on vacation?"
Seeing Zhou Feiyu and Li Shihan holding hands, he naturally assumed they had come to have fun.
Zhou Feiyu shook his head. "No, I'm here on a business trip. She works here."
"Oh, I see."
Xiao Jianguo smiled. "My wife works here too. I'm going to pick her up after work. Let's have lunch together later. It's almost noon anyway."
Zhou Feiyu looked at Li Shihan and asked, "Let's eat together?"
Li Shihan nodded without hesitation. "Okay!"
Xiao Jianguo seemed very familiar with the area. He led them straight to a Hunan restaurant, ordered first, then sat inside waiting for his wife to get off work.
The two men chatted about recent work and life.
Only then did Zhou Feiyu learn that his old classmate had come to Peng City with his wife after graduation. Xiao Jianguo worked in accounting, while his wife was an electronics engineer at a small Mobile Phone Glass factory. Although her company was nowhere near the scale of BE and HE, the two industry leaders in Mobile Phone Glass, the couple could still earn nearly thirty thousand a month together in Peng City. They counted as highly paid professionals, at least compared with him.
"High-paying my ass. Working for someone else will never get you anywhere. At best, you can scrape by. You'll never be able to afford a house in your whole life."
Xiao Jianguo grumbled, then joked, "Your idea to start a business is right. If you strike it rich, don't forget me. I'm waiting for you to pull me up with you."
Zhou Feiyu did not brush him off. Instead, he answered seriously, "What do you mean, pull you up? If an old classmate is willing to come help me, I'd naturally welcome him with open arms, as long as you're willing to come."
Xiao Jianguo smiled, but did not take it seriously.
After a while, Xiao Jianguo's wife finally arrived. She was a curvy, petite woman, but she had an exceptionally refined temperament, like a female teacher at a school.
That struck Zhou Feiyu as rather strange. Most electronics engineers were men, and there were very few women in the field, much less a woman with such elegance. It felt like a phoenix had landed among a flock of crows.
After Xiao Jianguo introduced them, Zhou Feiyu learned that his wife was Jiang Xinyi.
"You're planning to start a business back home? What are you going to do? If there's anything I can help with, just say so."
Jiang Xinyi spoke very directly and warmly. "I work in electronics, so I probably can't help you much. But my husband is an accountant. If you run into any problems with starting a company, feel free to ask him. He may not know everything, but he knows a little about most things. He'll tell you everything he knows."
Xiao Jianguo said proudly, "I passed the Intermediate Accountant certification exam last year."
"That's amazing. I heard that certificate is really hard to get."
Li Shihan praised him.
Xiao Jianguo smiled. "It's not that bad. Hard work always pays off."
"Come to think of it, I really do have a problem."
After thinking for a moment, Zhou Feiyu suddenly said to Xiao Jianguo, "If I'm going to hire someone for my startup anyway, I'd rather hire an old classmate to help. Old classmate, why don't you come back and work for me? Whatever salary you make here, I'll match it. It definitely won't be less than what you earn here. Once you go back, you can also take care of your parents and children. Think it over."
"Holy shit, are you serious or not?"
Xiao Jianguo was dumbfounded and immediately let out a curse.
Li Shihan and Jiang Xinyi were both stunned as well.
Jiang Xinyi said in disbelief, "The two of us make nearly thirty thousand a month here combined. We also have Five Insurances and One Fund, bonuses, meals and accommodation, and other benefits. Your company has just opened. Isn't that unnecessary?"
Zhou Feiyu smiled. "Of course I'm serious. But a company in its early stages will definitely have difficulties, so if you come to my company, you won't just be handling accounting. You'll also have to take on administration and procurement. It won't be easy."
"But the cost would still be very high. With that salary, you could hire three people back home."
Jiang Xinyi tried to persuade him.
Zhou Feiyu shook his head. "At this stage, only relatives, friends, and classmates can really help me. With you alone, I'd be getting the equivalent of three outside hires back home. I've thought this through. Originally, I planned to ask a friend to come help me, but his family is elsewhere and he just got married. You're more suitable."
In the early days of starting a business, the only people willing to work hard and worthy of trust were always those around you.
To put it bluntly, you never knew the background of outside hires. He had neither the time to manage and investigate them nor the energy and funds to bear the risks.
Since he had a classmate available, a classmate was naturally his first choice.
Xiao Jianguo and Jiang Xinyi exchanged a look before finally saying, "We'll think about it."
As they ate and chatted, Xiao Jianguo asked about some details of his company. Zhou Feiyu explained that he wanted to work in high-tech fields and that the prospects should be good.
Jiang Xinyi asked in some surprise, "You do materials research and development. Have you researched materials for Mobile Phone Glass?"
Zhou Feiyu paused slightly. "I haven't really looked into that area."
Jiang Xinyi gave an "oh" and mocked herself. "Right. Mobile Phone Glass materials are far more advanced than ordinary materials, and they're basically foreign products. People outside our industry would have no way of knowing about them."
"Another industry monopolized by foreign countries?"
Zhou Feiyu raised an eyebrow. He said no more, only silently remembered the matter.
Xiao Jianguo suggested, "If it's high-tech, the startup loan amount you can apply for should be considerable. And from what you're saying, you want to produce materials. You could consider acquiring a small company as a starting point. That would be much faster."
"That would be much faster."
Zhou Feiyu thought it over and felt it made a lot of sense. It was also highly feasible.
Before this, he had only been thinking of starting from scratch. Now that he considered it, that was probably the mindset of an engineer: direct and straightforward, not clever enough.
He could not help laughing. "One person has limited ideas, but three people can come up with a plan. Old classmate, you should come help me even more now."
Xiao Jianguo hesitated. After all, he had a whole family and could not act on impulse. In the end, he could only say that he would think it over and give Zhou Feiyu an answer.
After the meal, the couple left with much on their minds. Zhou Feiyu's proposal had deeply shaken them, and they needed to go home and discuss it properly.
"You're heading back now?"
By the time they came out, it was nearly two in the afternoon.
Li Shihan did not take Zhou Feiyu to where she lived. Zhou Feiyu had to take the High-speed Rail back at around four, so it was time for him to head to the station.
Zhou Feiyu nodded. "Yes."
Li Shihan hesitated. "Then... let's leave it at that for now. Go catch your ride."
Zhou Feiyu smiled and waved at her. "Bye-bye."
"Bye-bye!"
Li Shihan waved back.
But just as Zhou Feiyu turned to leave, Li Shihan suddenly leaped onto his back, wrapping both arms tightly around his shoulders and hanging from him.
Zhou Feiyu was startled, his heart in turmoil beyond his control. His hands instinctively reached back to support Li Shihan's two slender legs as he began walking slowly.
Neither of them spoke. They simply walked like that for four or five minutes.
Just as Zhou Feiyu was about to say something, Li Shihan jumped down again and said, "All right, you should go back now."
Zhou Feiyu froze. When he turned to look, Li Shihan already had her back to him and was jogging away.
"Li Shihan!"
He called out to her.
Li Shihan paused and turned to look at him, anticipation in her eyes.
"There's no forcing matters of the heart. There's no such thing as too fast or too slow."
Zhou Feiyu said to her.
"Oh!"
Li Shihan answered softly. No change could be seen on her face, and she immediately turned and ran off at a quick pace.
"Women really are a mystery!"
Zhou Feiyu scratched his head, but the smile spreading across his face could not be stopped.
He had a feeling that this time, he was going to make it.
"Old classmate, I'm heading back first. Call me if you need anything. I'll be waiting for good news."
Two hours later, Zhou Feiyu boarded the High-speed Rail and sent Wang Wei a voice message at the same time.
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