Chapter 8: Going with the Flow of Human Relationships

  Li Hongyan immediately blamed: "You don't even know what the purpose of inviting guests is, so why invite them."

  Yuan Shigui felt even more embarrassed and quickly looked at Zhu Lian beside Liang Hongyan for help.

  Zhu Lian, despite being a bit dim-witted, was clearly more clever than Yuan Shigui. He glared at Yuan with a scolding tone and said: "Director Yuan, are you so excited to see Director Liang that you've forgotten this? Your useless nephew hit Ru Xuan's little sister, and as her brother-in-law, it's only right for you to apologize specially on behalf of your nephew."

  Yuan Shigui hastily patted his head and said, "Yes, yes, yes. Look at my brain, how could I forget the important things?" He then turned to Tao Ruxuan and said, "Brother Ruxuan, that rascal of a nephew of mine is in the hospital and can't apologize to you and your sister in person. As his brother-in-law, I'll apologize on his behalf. Later, I'll punish myself with three cups of wine as an apology." After finishing speaking, he handed the menu to Liang Hongyan again.

  Tao Ruxuan still had a straight face and said: "Forget it, let's not mention what happened in the past."

  Li Hongyan didn't take the menu, but instead said to Yuan Shigui: "I won't order, let Ruxuan do it." Then she said to Tao Ruxuan: "Director Yuan has plenty of money, you don't need to save for him, just order whatever you like."

  Yuan Shigui immediately followed up and said: "Right, right, no need to save money for me, just order whatever you like."

  Tao Ruxuan initially wanted to shirk the task, but then thought that since Liang Hongyan had asked him to order, she must have had a reason for it. He took over the menu and said: "Director Yuan, Zhu Suo, I won't be polite." After flipping through it, he immediately realized that even though he was ordering, he couldn't just choose whatever he liked. If he did, where would Liang Hongyan's face be? So he first ordered two desserts that women like, and then glanced at Liang Hongyan's face, seeing that she had indeed revealed a few hints of joy. He also remembered that when they had eaten together before, Liang Hongyan had said she liked braised turtle, so he ordered one of those too.

  Then, Tao Ruxuan ordered two more dishes he liked and handed the menu to Yuan Shigui. Yuan Shigui asked Zhu Lian to order as well. Since Liang Hongyan didn't order anything, Zhu Lian naturally couldn't either, so he said "You just take it, just don't be too stingy."

  Yuan Shigui took the menu and called out the waiter, don't know what they ordered. After a while, several waiters brought up the dishes, it was a full table of more than 20 dishes, with two bottles of Wuliangye liquor, two cans of almond tea for each person, and the big table was almost full.

  Li Hongyan blamed: "I'm telling you, Director Yuan, do you usually eat like this too? This is a bit too wasteful. There are only four of us, five or six dishes would be enough. How can we finish so many dishes? Besides, now the 'Empty Plate Action' is being promoted to strictly implement frugality, aren't you making me commit an error? No wonder your textile factory loses money every year, I think it's all because of what you've eaten."

  Yuan Shigui's face suddenly turned red, but he still forced a smile and said: "Director Liang, we usually eat quite frugally, today is the first time we're treating you to dinner, so I didn't know what you like, just got a bit of everything. Next time, I'll definitely pay attention." As he spoke, he glanced at Zhu Lian with his eyes again. Zhu Lian then winked at him, clearly implying that Liang Hongyan was all talk.

  Yuan Shigui felt a bit more at ease, then took the wine bottle from the waiter who was about to pour drinks and filled each person's cup. He stood still and said: "Ru Xuan brothers, I'll drink three cups in one go, which is equivalent to my good-for-nothing younger brother apologizing to your sister." As he spoke, he raised his cup.

  Tao Ruxuan said: "From now on, everyone is just friends, Director Yuan, why bother with this?" He didn't stop him.

  Yuan Shigui then drank three in a row. Zhu Lian stood by and mediated, "Alright, alright, as Xuan brother said, we're all friends from now on. This is also a case of 'not fighting, not knowing each other'." He continued, "Let's all raise our glasses together to toast Minister Liang first."

  Liang Hongyan was not modest either, raised her glass, and the three of them all took a sip, but she only tasted half a mouthful. Zhu Lian, who was on the side, didn't persuade her either, and instead took the wine bottle from Yuan Shigui to refill it.

  After three rounds of drinks, Zhu Lian and Yuan Shigui's words increased, and soon Yuan Shigui's tongue grew bigger, with every word being "Director Liang will help you in the future". Tao Ruxuan listened to it as if he was in a misty mountain, not knowing what kind of help Deputy Director Liang Hongyan from the propaganda department could offer him as the director of a textile factory. Only after listening carefully did he gradually hear some clues from Yuan Shigui and Zhu Lian's words.

  The county is currently restructuring a batch of enterprises. The textile mill has been in a state of loss for many years, becoming a financial burden on the county, so the county plans to get rid of it entirely. As the director of the textile mill, Yuan Shigui naturally wants to acquire the textile mill at a low price. His purpose in finding Liang Hongyan is to get close to County Mayor Wang Jian through Liang Hongyan and achieve his goal of acquiring the textile mill at a low price.

  Li Hongyan, of course, understood this and just said that Li Hongyan brought herself over today to let Yuan Shigui apologize and compensate her, which was just a matter of doing someone a favor. Yuan Shigui's apology and compensation earlier were naturally insincere, perhaps not even taken to heart, but rather just saying a few pleasant words and giving out some money, the real intention being to curry favor with Li Hongyan. The head of the factory district police station, Zhu Lian, was just a pimp after all.

  However, Liang Hongyan has been pretending to be unaware of it all along, seemingly unwilling to let Yuan Shigui get his way easily.

  Around nine o'clock, Liang Hongyan glanced at her watch and said: "It's getting late, dinner is also finished, everyone sweep the snow in front of their own door, drink the farewell wine and disperse."

  When getting on the car, Yuan Shigui stuffed a bundle of things into Liang Hongyan's car. Although Liang Hongyan had also drunk wine, she hadn't drunk much, and she weighed the bundle in her hand, looking at Yuan Shigui with a sneer: "I say, Director Yuan, what do you take me for? Take it back!" As she spoke, she suddenly threw the bundle into Yuan Shigui's arms.

  Yuan Shigui probably didn't expect that Liang Hongyan would refuse his bribe, and he stood at the car door with a red face like a monkey's butt for half a day, not knowing what to say. Zhu Lian then pulled Yuan Shigui from behind and scolded him: "Director Yuan, what are you doing? Helping is helping, but Director Liang is that kind of person. Aren't you slapping Director Liang in the face?"

  Although Tao Ruxuan had drunk a lot, he was still very sober and sat in the passenger seat. He could clearly sense from Liang Hongyan's expression that Liang Hongyan returned those things to Yuan Shigui not because she refused corruption, but because she thought it was too little.

  The textile mill has been losing money year after year, but it still has assets worth hundreds of millions. The bundle of cash that Yuan Shigui just handed to Liang Hongyan was at most 500,000 to 600,000 yuan. Exchanging 500,000 to 600,000 yuan for assets worth hundreds of millions is a bit too cheap, even if it's just an introduction. Liang Hongyan would not accept it.

  After leaving Hongfu Hotel, Tao Ruxuan took out the envelope that Yuan Shigui had stuffed into his pocket and placed it on the dashboard in front of the car.

  Liang Hongyan couldn't help but ask, "Xiao Tao, what are you doing? This is the medical expenses that Yuan Shigui compensated to your sister, how can you give it to me? Quickly take it back!"

  Tao Ruxuan said, "You can make Yuan Shigui apologize today and I'll already be satisfied with that. Where would we still have the face to take this money? Besides, my sister wasn't seriously hurt, just her face was swollen from being hit by Yuan Shigui's younger brother-in-law, it will heal in a couple of days."

  Li Hongyan drove in silence for a while before saying, "It's good that you can think this way, it means you've made progress. But between us, let's not be polite, just keep the money. Set some aside for yourself, it'll come in handy when selecting stock-level cadres soon. Take out some and send it to your little sister, she'll be happy too. As a brother, you'll also gain face in front of her."

  Li Hongyan has thought it through for Tao Ruxuan. If the girls in the factory knew that Yuan Shigui's younger brother had apologized and compensated for medical expenses, they would look at their younger sister with admiration and envy her for having such a capable older brother. Of course, this is also an explanation to Second Uncle and Second Aunt.

  At this point, Tao Ruxuan looked at Liang Hongyan's face again and saw that she was sincere, so he didn't bother to be polite anymore. He put the envelope back into his pocket and said, "Then I'll thank Director Liang on behalf of my little sister."

  Li Hongyan smiled and said, "Xiao Tao, your constant thank-yous are making me feel a bit embarrassed." Then she continued seriously, "Of course, being humble is good for you young people. But I want to tell you that you can't treat humility as something useful. Beggars on the street are very humble and polite to everyone they meet, but no one looks up to them. Why? It's simple: because they have no money, no power, and no influence. That's how society is. Think of more ways to achieve your goals, don't just have opinions; do more things, don't just talk about grand ideas; consider other people's perspectives, don't prioritize personal gain too much. Be down-to-earth, adaptable, and you'll always have a foothold no matter what."

  Liang Hongyan's heartfelt words left Tao Ruxuan savoring them for a long time. Suddenly, he thought of his past self, who had always been full of opinions but lacked solutions, doing little but harboring grievances and holding onto the motto "to worry before others worry and to be happy after others are happy". It seemed like he was dissatisfied with everything, yet had no real way to change things. In the end, it only brought suffering to himself and was useless in every way. To put it bluntly, it was just pedantry.

  Li Hongyan continued: "Don't worry too much about the evaluation of the stock, just do more things and it will naturally come together. Of course, there are some things that need to be changed, such as visiting the homes of a few deputy ministers, you can go with some fruit or a box of tea, not necessarily expensive gifts, mainly to avoid giving them an excuse to pick on you. As for Minister Sun's place, it's better not to go. Minister Sun is a difficult person to grasp, and as a member of the county committee, he attaches great importance to his image. I heard that when Liu Bin went there, he was rebuffed and even scolded by Minister Sun. Of course, I will try to think of other ways for you."

  Tao Ruxuan nodded in agreement. Before long, they arrived at Tao Ruxuan's stop, and the two bid each other farewell.