"Yes, that's the feeling I got when I saw her in Ya'an last time." Lin Yao was somewhat dazed, understanding the implication in Long Yihun's words. "Is the truth not like that?"
"I can't explain it," Long Yihun said, distressed. "His behavior was normal before, and it's normal now. Maybe he's always been like this, but we just didn't notice it before."
"Xiaolian is actually a somewhat vain girl. Although she doesn't like the husband her family chose, it doesn't mean she doesn't love power and vanity. I only discovered this later, after we went abroad."
"Why is she treating me like this today? It's like I owe her something. I did save her life, after all. Is this how you treat your savior?" Lin Yao voiced his biggest question, staring directly into Long Yihun's eyes.
"This is my fault." Long Yihun looked at Lin Yao apologetically, without avoiding his gaze. "They say people in love are prone to making foolish mistakes. Didn't you tell me to keep everything about you a secret? Actually, I didn't keep that promise."
“During the time I took her to live in Aba Prefecture, she behaved very well. My parents liked her very much, and I also fell in love with her. At that time, didn’t you ask me to help you lie to my uncle and aunt that a large sum of money was sponsored by my grandfather’s family? I told her the quickest thing to do. Originally, I wanted to make the lie more convincing, and I also wanted to show off in front of the woman I loved, even if the truth was not like that.”
Perhaps Xiaolian thinks that since I gave your family over ten million yuan, it's only right that I save her life, and she feels she doesn't owe you anything, which is why she had such a bad attitude.
Actually, her attitude towards me has changed. Perhaps it was because we were in a life-or-death situation before, and her mindset was different. After I recovered, she wasn't as gentle as before. Our living environments and educations from childhood are different. In her eyes, my generosity and loyalty used to be seen as recklessness and ignorance, and we often argued about our attitudes and beliefs towards life.
Maybe I'm just a country bumpkin, especially abroad. I didn't even know much about Western dining etiquette, which made her look down on me. Don't think it's strange to you; I'm surprised myself. If I had known it would be like this, I wouldn't have invited her to stay in Aba Prefecture when we met in Ya'an. If I had, I wouldn't have fallen in love with her.
Lin Yao listened blankly to Long Yihun's words, feeling a sudden emptiness in his heart. A thought suddenly occurred to him: in the eyes of the pink-clad girl, he was probably just as much of a country bumpkin as Long Yihun.
How heartbreaking! Lin Yao thought bitterly, and for a moment he lost all interest in speaking.
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Chapter 197 Longcheng Group
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After a long silence, Lin Yao broke it, "Ah Long, do you still like her now?"
"I like her. Maybe I'm a bit of a jerk, but this is the first time I've seriously liked a girl. Although I've had so many girlfriends before, they were all just for fun. None of them were serious." Long Yihun's expression was somewhat pained. His former naivety and immaturity had disappeared. He had lost some weight while abroad and was beginning to look like a mature man.
"Just like the books say, love is a completely irrational thing. Once you fall in love, it's hard to get out. After I fell in love with her, I never thought of giving up, even though all these unpleasant things happened. This is different from all my previous experiences. I just want her to change her mind, because I know I will never become the kind of person she hopes for. Even if I learn to be slick and hypocritical in the future, I will never become a superficial and frivolous person who looks down on the poor."
Lin Yao had no doubt about Long Yihun's self-assessment. He trusted his brother's character; otherwise, even if Long Yihun hadn't accepted him as his best friend back in university, Lin Yao wouldn't have. That period was arguably the most desolate time of his life, and Long Yihun not only didn't distance himself from or belittle him, but also constantly sought ways to boost his confidence and hope—help without any ulterior motives. As for the exam issue, it was utterly unacceptable. There were many ways to pass university exams; there was no need to use that to get close to someone ignored by all his classmates.
"What makes her think your situation is better than mine? I remember you only have a little over ten million in funds, while Minhong spent hundreds of millions just on buying land and building factories." Lin Yao didn't even bother with proper address, simply using "she" instead.
“Perhaps Xiaolian sees the Long family in Beijing as my backing. She said she doesn’t have a high opinion of Minhong and that your family will bankrupt her sooner or later. So in her eyes, the Long family is probably much stronger than Minhong. Last time, the excuse I gave her for the funds came from the Long family. Maybe she misunderstood that I am still the young master of the Long family,” Long Yihun analyzed. “You know, my home in Aba Prefecture is very simple. It’s impossible for me to come up with tens of millions there. The funds you give me must have some source or excuse. So I told her that the funds came from the Long family.”
"Did you tell her anything about me?" Lin Yao's heart tightened, but he immediately relaxed. He realized that he had been too worried and hadn't told anyone about Xiao Cao. He hadn't had time to tell Long Yihun many secrets either. At that time, the two of them rarely met, and the improvement in his abilities only happened after Long Yihun went abroad. Of course, Xiao Lian knew even less about the details.
"No, I didn't say anything." Long Yihun became serious and hurriedly explained, "I've already made enough mistakes when I'm in love, how could I say anything more? Don't worry, I didn't tell Xiaolian about the inside story of the company I registered in the Cayman Islands, and I will never tell anyone that you are the boss who owns 90% of the company's shares."
"Because Longcheng Group will be cooperating with Minhong in the future, I told her that the purpose of coming to Chengdu to open a company was to be with my best brother. I didn't say anything else." Long Yihun carefully looked at Lin Yao's expression, feeling sorry for revealing some information to his wife in the past, after all, he had broken his promise to his brother.
"Oh, that's good. Just don't mention it again, otherwise Minhong will be in a very passive position, and the reputation and word-of-mouth it has worked so hard to build will be ruined." Lin Yao breathed a sigh of relief. "Your Longcheng Group is a highly profitable company, while Minhong is a company with low profits or even losses on some drugs. If people find out that they have the same boss, everyone will curse them. This is simply a real-life version of being a prostitute while pretending to be virtuous."
"Don't worry, I won't tell anyone, not even my parents." Long Yihun was relieved. He could tell that Lin Yao didn't hold his mistake against him. "How can this be considered hypocritical? Minhong serves the most ordinary people, while Longcheng raises prices and rips off wealthy people. Using Longcheng's profits to support Minhong is just robbing the rich to help the poor. It's not hypocritical."
"By the way, let me say something unpleasant, but given your current relationship, it's not suitable for you to hold shares in Longcheng in your name." Lin Yao suddenly thought about the issue of marital property. If the relationship crisis is only discovered later, it's normal to divide the property in half. But if you already know that Xiaolian is not trustworthy, you should take immediate action to avoid having three shareholders in Longcheng in the future. The outflow of huge sums of money is one thing, but more importantly, just thinking about that outcome makes him feel like he's swallowed a fly.
"Either you sign a prenuptial agreement, or you transfer Longcheng's shares to your father's or mother's name." Lin Yao said firmly and coldly. This was simply destroying the relationship between the couple, but he didn't care about that anymore. Xiaolian was indeed no good.
“Let’s transfer it to my father’s name. At least that makes sense. After all, my father is the son of the Long family, and I’m just a grandson. We can use the excuse that my father’s money is my money to appease Xiaolian.” Long Yihun looked even more dejected. He knew that Lin Yao’s suggestion was correct, but he still felt very sad. It was really pointless for a couple to have to be wary of each other when they had just started living together.
All the money belonged to Lin Yao, and even Xiao Lian's life was saved by Lin Yao. Long Yihun had no reason to refuse this arrangement. He knew that this brother would not harm him or be wary of him, but this damned feeling was so helpless. He really couldn't give up Xiao Lian, whom he loved deeply.
"If you love her, then live a good life together from now on. Anyway, you're good at training women. If you can manage to train Xiaolian well, that would be a great achievement." After saying that, Lin Yao fell silent. He thought to himself that when looking for a wife, you have to look at her character. Only those with similar character can be truly happy. This is the foundation of harmony. Temporary attraction and love based on appearance are not very reliable.
“Actually…” Long Yihun’s voice was a little low, “Xiaolian is not a bad girl. Apart from some habits and personality traits caused by her background and education, she is not a bad person. Otherwise, she would not have refused the marriage arranged by her family. The other party’s background is very powerful, far stronger than that of a poor boy like me.”
"When we started dating, I hadn't told her that I could cure her illness. Not only did she not know, but I also didn't know that you could cure her. But she was willing to be with me then."
"Maybe," Lin Yao thought to himself, without saying anything aloud. He didn't want to discourage his brother any further, and besides, he really didn't know Xiao Lian well; he didn't even know her full name.
"By the way, we always call her Xiaolian, Xiaolian, but what's her real name?" Lin Yao smiled sheepishly, realizing he hadn't been paying enough attention to his brother and didn't even know his sister-in-law's name.
"Your name is Leng Lian, a name that sounds aloof and poetic, but you're not cold at all." Long Yihun laughed as well. "Oh, right, I'm being cold to you today, because you're such a country bumpkin, haha."
"You're no different." Lin Yao punched Long Yihun's chest, returning to the seamless friendship they used to share, a feeling that was comforting.
"By the way, hurry up and find Wu Jianwei and ask him to help you buy land in Pixian to build a factory, right next to Minhong's new factory. It will be much more convenient to cooperate then." Lin Yao suddenly remembered his plan and quickly reminded Long Yihun, "Remember to call him Uncle Wu. I always call him Uncle, so you have to do the same. He's a good guy, and people from Chongqing are generous and straightforward. You'll like him."
"Okay, I'll be there in a bit. You'll have to call two cars for me. I guess Xiaolian will have to use that Bora for shopping. There aren't even any taxis in this godforsaken place. How did we end up in such a remote spot?" He paused, then suddenly became curious. "By the way, what's in that restricted area? It's all so mysterious. That tigress kicked me; it still hurts. Who is she?"
"Come on, you're not in pain anymore, don't try to fool me." Lin Yao laughed and scolded, "You're eyeing that pretty girl again, aren't you? You're such a womanizer."
"That's a temporary hospital with many disabled children inside. It's not convenient for you to go there. Don't be curious, there's nothing worth seeing inside."
"Oh." Long Yihun was a little disappointed. Lin Yao's avoidance of the question about the "tiger mom" made him itchy, but then he remembered that he was a married man and shouldn't be so fickle. So he turned his thoughts to work. "Do you have enough money? We're about to buy land and build a factory. I also have a research institute in mind. I asked you about it via email last time. I've recruited a few key people. We're just waiting for them to come over once the research institute is up and running."
"Some of them are quite remarkable individuals. It took me a lot of effort to recruit them. The ten million you offered isn't even enough for their annual salaries. Hurry up and raise the money. I've heard that the equipment at the research institute isn't cheap. You won't be able to build a world-renowned pharmaceutical research institute without several hundred million."
"Oh?" Lin Yao became interested. He had long had the idea of establishing a research institute because it would be difficult to solve nationwide problems by relying solely on traditional Chinese medicine. Both traditional Chinese medicine and Western medicine have their advantages, and the newly established integrated traditional Chinese and Western medicine program is the most effective way to combine the strengths of both.
Traditional Chinese medicine is amazing. When the formula is reasonable, it has few toxic side effects and high therapeutic effect for individual cases. However, it has a drawback in terms of mass production. What can be mass-produced is often only the treatment of general minor diseases, because the same formula will produce different therapeutic effects for different patients.
Western medicines have simple ingredients, and mixed Western medicines also have clear ingredients and roughly the same pharmacological reactions, making them very suitable for mass production. This is an important reason why Lin Yao established a research institute and a Western medicine manufacturing plant.
Lin Yao had mentioned it to Long Yihun when they last contacted each other online, but he didn't expect the other party to be so efficient, recruiting people without making a sound. "Tell me, who are they?"
“I don’t know the specifics either. You know I don’t owe my professors anything from university; I’ve forgotten everything I learned.” Long Yihun laughed without a hint of shame. “I hired a professional headhunting agency to recruit him. They’re experts. I only remember that the chief researcher I recruited was named Herman Longen, a postdoctoral fellow in biological genetics from Harvard University and a PhD in bioengineering from Cambridge University. He fits your goal of working in biopharmaceuticals. Of course, Longen isn’t just good at biopharmaceuticals; he’s also very skilled in researching Western medicines abroad. He knows almost all drugs that have passed their patent period, and he’s compiled their manufacturing processes and procedures. He’s even published many papers on this topic. He’s currently working for SWM, the largest pharmaceutical company in North America. It took me a lot of effort to recruit him.”
"How much?" Lin Yao thought to himself after hearing Herman Longen's name, thinking that this guy must be expensive, probably worth the same weight in gold.
“Three million US dollars a year.” Long Yihun opened his mouth but still said the number. Lin Yao had entrusted him with the entire matter. “This person is worth the price. Sway Company already offered him an annual salary of two million six hundred thousand. When he changes jobs, he should be offered a higher salary, right? He is very open-minded. When he heard that our research institute was still in the process of being established, he gave him a two-month grace period, saying that he would only need to be paid one-fifth of his salary for these two months. He can take his family on a round-the-world trip.”
Good heavens! You can earn $100,000 during your vacation? That's more expensive than your weight in gold.