Stealing The Wind But Not The Moon

Chapter 13

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Chu Shichen was unemployed at home and rarely went out. He read books and newspapers every morning. His only entertainment was to stay in the room and smoke a cigar.

Perhaps he was too patient, so Mrs. Chu became worried and asked him indirectly what his next plans were.

Chu Shichen half-jokingly answered with four words: keep a low profile.

He repeatedly thought about what Xiang Mingzhang had said about Yisi and Du Heng, and whether there was any dirt underneath the calm waters during the years that Li Cangqiu had managed the company.

Chu Shichen found some public information. Although Duheng was established only five years ago, its development momentum can be described as "rapid", and many of its customers were once partners of Yisi.

Besides customers, what about technology

How many resources of Yisi have been “migrated”

Chu Shichen was determined to get to the bottom of it, but the deep stuff was beyond the reach of most people, and it would take more than a day to find out.

Have the right to intervene and have the ability to change Yisi's...

It’s Xiang Yue.

Chu Shichen couldn't explain his feelings towards Xiang Mingzhang. It was too naive to say he admired or disliked him. Now that he was an adult and had gone through this, it was more realistic to think whether he was useful or not.

This time he was too impatient. Coming to this strange time and space, he wanted to accomplish something in the real world to gain a sense of security. He was not afraid of failure. If the lessons learned were valuable, there would be nothing to be sad about.

Chu Shichen pondered for a long time, his fingers rubbing the corner of a page of a book to bring out the warmth. A figure swayed slightly at the door, and Chu Shihui passed by, stopped, raised her hand and knocked on the door frame.

"Come in."

Chu Shihui walked in. This was her first time in Chu Shichen's room. She felt a little uneasy, hesitating between the sofa and the armchair, and asked, "Why did you move to the guest room?"

Chu Shichen quickly gave a perfect answer: "I don't remember the past. Since the future cannot be retrieved, let's start a new life."

Chu Shihui nodded, not beating around the bush, and said directly: "Before you said that you would leave some of the money from selling the shares for me to start a company, are you serious?"

"Yeah, why would I lie to you?" Chu Shichen answered seriously, "To be on the safe side, let mom ask a lawyer to notarize it someday."

Chu Shihui immediately said: "I'm not doubting it, I just don't understand why you would be willing to do it."

Chu Shichen said, "You are the only one in the family who owns Yisi shares. It would be best if you could work for Yisi, but unfortunately the current situation is unclear. So starting your own business is not bad either. This is just an option. You are an adult now, choose what you like and don't be bound by it."

Chu Shihui was silent for a while, then walked over to Chu Shichen and sat down, saying, "I want to go to Yisi. I like computers and I miss my dad."

Chu Shichen was somewhat touched. This girl came from a wealthy family but was not spoiled. She was strong-willed, motivated, and her grades were always top-notch. He raised his hand and rubbed Chu Shihui's hair, saying, "Okay, I will support you."

"What about you?" Chu Shihui asked with concern, "You were fired from the company."

Chu Shichen: “Yeah.”

Chu Shihui muttered, "They turned their backs on me right after the acquisition. It will be even harder to deal with them after I graduate. Xiang Mingzhang is a ruthless man. He has a lot of aunts, uncles, and cousins, but none of them are as unscrupulous as him."

Chu Shichen had to admit that it was quite enjoyable to hear bad things about Xiang Mingzhang behind his back. He guessed that these views were instilled in Chu Shihui by Li Heng, and asked, "Are you and Li Heng on good terms?"

"Not bad." Chu Shihui's tone was indifferent, and she was not interested in talking more. "Now that I have broken up with Xiang Mingzhang, what should I do with my work?"

Chu Shichen laughed. Only children would break up or end a friendship at any time. The relationship between him and Xiang Mingzhang was originally "all for profit".

The two families knew each other. Xiang Yue's business was mainly in the financial and banking industries. He said, "Don't worry, we will meet again if we go along."

Chu Shichen stayed at home for more than a week, occasionally chatting with Ling Qi on WeChat. He remembered that the department was involved in a big project before, and when he asked, Ling Qi complained about his work not going well.

On the weekend, Ling Qi sent a message asking him if he was free recently.

Chu Shichen only had this one friend in Xiang Yue. He felt bad for delaying the promised visit to Wen Ju, but he knew there was plenty of time to reply.

Ling Qi invited him to eat hotpot and sent him the address.

Chu Shichen happily went there. It was a restaurant with a good reputation and was very popular. Ling Qi originally wanted to invite him to his apartment, but was worried that he would feel uncomfortable if he met Xiang Yue's staff, so he made an appointment outside.

"It doesn't matter where it is." Chu Shichen handed over a bag, "You must give a housewarming gift."

Ling Qi took it and looked at it: "Wow, a robot vacuum cleaner! My doghouse really needs it!"

Chu Shichen bought it at a nearby mall. Judging from Ling Qi's reaction, he thought it was the right gift. He was distracted and thought of Xiang Mingzhang. It seemed that there were one or two words worth listening to in that man's true and false words.

Ling Qi asked: "Would you like to drink beer?"

Chu Shichen said: "I drink water."

Ling Qi: "I still want to get drunk with you to relieve my sorrow. You want water, at least have a can of Coke."

Chu Shichen smiled and said, "I'm not worried."

"You've been fired." Ling Qi regretted saying this, "I'm sorry..."

Chu Shichen didn't care. This little setback wasn't enough to make him drink away his sorrow. He paid attention to the content of Ling Qi's complaints and asked, "What are you worried about? Are you having trouble at work?"

Ling Qi looked distressed: "The department has just started a big project with a budget of over 100 million, but it is not easy to get it, and the progress is not smooth. The current situation is that the director is unhappy, the manager is unhappy, the supervisor is unhappy, the team leader is unhappy, and I am a small screw at the bottom, and I am the most unhappy."

Chu Shichen comforted her: "Everyone is unhappy, but at least it's fair."

"But they get paid a lot!" Ling Qi continued to complain, "It's not clear here, and the R&D department has to keep going. We temporarily added a stand-up meeting yesterday to exchange information. When Mr. Xiang showed up, the atmosphere was really terrible, like standing in the corner for punishment."

Chu Shichen imagined the scene and asked, "How would Xiang Mingzhang react?"

Ling Qi replied: "Calm... Maybe I'm shortsighted, I can't tell his mood at all."

Chu Shichen couldn't help laughing, and while laughing he got to the point and asked, "Can you tell me about the project?"

"The entire system is customized. This information is public. It's fine." Ling Qi replied, "The client is Lixin Bank."

The hot pot was boiling. Chu Shichen didn't like spicy food, so he took a glass of soda and sipped it slowly, listening to Ling Qi talk for more than two hours.

After returning home from dinner, Chu Shichen felt that he smelled too much of smoke, so he soaked in the bathtub for the third time. It was late at night, and he wrapped himself in a thin blanket and walked around the desk to write in his notebook.

—Lixin Bank.

This is a bank with a long history, with branches all over the country. There are more than a dozen companies competing for this project. The first round of communication has ended and it is currently in the selection and inspection stage.

The problem now is that the banks are not satisfied with the companies, including top student Xiang Yue.

Lixin Bank has many branches and a large scale, with different business focuses, so it is difficult to unify the requirements for the system, resulting in unclear focus and even overturning the original demands at the end of the communication.

The companies are not familiar with the deep business of banks and are unable to give advice. If the advice they give is inappropriate, they may end up making things worse.

So Party A hasn't thought it through, and Party B can't do it, so they can only wait and see.

Generally in this situation, Party B will seek private communication with Party A, but the person in charge of the bank selection group was very difficult to deal with, and several companies were turned away.

Chu Shichen's heart was filled with ripples. Among the first batch of modern banks in this city, the capital of the Ningbo business community accounted for 80%, and Lixin Bank was one of them if you trace its roots back to that time.

Chu Shichen clenched his pen and tapped it twice on the table as if he had made up his mind.

When everything is ready, wait till Saturday.

It was a cloudy day and light rain started to fall at dawn. Chu Shichen was wearing a light-colored shirt, which made him look very thin. He asked the driver to take him to Ouli Street.

When we drove near the neighborhood, we saw that the old trees on the roadside were nearly a hundred years old, and there were some old Western-style buildings interspersed between the high-rise buildings.

Chu Shichen felt familiar with it and asked, "When was that house built?"

The driver replied: "It's been a long time. There are many old houses left over from the Republic of China period in this area."

Chu Shichen was surprised. He thought the city was changing with each passing day and he didn't expect the old buildings to be preserved. He was pleasantly surprised to find that this was the street he passed by every day when he went to work.

Not far away, there is a brown-yellow square-cornered building with fan-shaped windows and three stories high.

Chu Shichen's eyes widened in disbelief.

As the car approached, it stopped on the side of the street and the driver said, "We're here."

Chu Shichen got out of the car and stood in front of the building, afraid to move, fearing that the mirage would disappear.

The place he was looking for turned out to be the former site of Fuhua Bank.

The building has been renovated many times and repainted. The walls are a bit mottled if you look closely. The second and third floors have been converted into cafes, and the first floor is a Chinese piano store.

Chu Shichen pushed the door open respectfully, as if afraid to disturb his old dream.

At the end of the street, a Lexus slowed down and drove towards us.

Peng Xin held the steering wheel and glanced at the rearview mirror. Xiang Mingzhang was sitting in the back seat. He had a lot of things to do and had not taken care of it for a while. Now he had time to study this project.

The person in charge of the bank selection group is named Zhao. He is interested in playing music, singing and poetry in his spare time. His wife runs a music store, and the couple often hold literary salons on their days off.

Team leader Zhao has a cold personality and is difficult to make an appointment with. He finds ordinary meetings vulgar. Several companies sent people to "make friends through playing the piano", but he ridiculed them as outsiders who were trying to be pretentious.

Peng Xin parked the car at the main entrance and said, "Mr. Xiang, this is it."

Xiang Mingzhang said: "You don't have to get out of the car."

Peng Xin asked: "Are you going by yourself?"

If communication is not smooth, it is easy to collapse when you are anxious. You must be patient. Xiang Mingzhang is on vacation today, so he just treats this trip as shopping. He said, "I'll take a look at the piano, you go back."

The drizzle was falling heavily, and a few steps wet his broad shoulders. Xiang Mingzhang pushed the door open and raised his hand to brush off the water droplets on his clothes.

When he raised his head, he saw Chu Shichen at a glance.

The entire music store is spacious and elegant, with the zithers, zheng, ruan, flute and Xiao clearly arranged. To the east is a wall of pipa instruments. Chu Shichen stands in front of the wall with his head raised, and his temperament blends in perfectly with the surroundings.

He turned around and saw Xiang Mingzhang, but was not surprised. He pretended not to know him and turned back to continue looking at the pipa.

Xiang Mingzhang wondered why Chu Shichen was here

There were seven or eight regular customers sitting in the reception area drinking tea. Team Leader Zhao chatted with them for a while, then came over and greeted the new guest in a less enthusiastic manner.

He looked at Chu Shichen. He was young and didn't look like someone who liked these instruments. He probably came in to look around out of curiosity. He asked, "Do you need an introduction?"

Chu Shichen had finished looking at them, pointed at one of them, and said, "Please help me take it down."

Team leader Zhao glanced at him again and said, "This is a rare treasure."

The pipa was taken down, and Chu Shichen caught it carefully, saying admiringly: "The Ruyi head and ivory pegs look quite beautiful."

Team leader Zhao's expression softened a bit: "Phoenix Terrace is also made of pure ivory."

Chu Shichen stroked the gaps on the body of the instrument to check whether the splicing workmanship was up to standard. The sandalwood on the back panel had flawless grain and was tightly fastened. It was indeed a top-quality pipa.

As for the tone, he asked, "Can I try playing it?"

Team leader Zhao said, "Of course."

The piano-trying area was right opposite the store's main entrance. Chu Shichen was sitting on a round stool holding a pipa. His plain face was reflected by a snow-white screen behind him. He adjusted the pegs and gently plucked the strings.

Xiang Mingzhang couldn't avoid it and instinctively looked in the direction of the sound.

Chu Shichen hadn't played the instrument for a long time, so his hands were not very good at it and he started by touching the strings slowly.

Under his feet was the lobby of Fuhua Bank. At that time, it was bustling with people coming and going, and it was orderly and noisy. It accepted money from all directions, but it was closed one day and no longer prosperous.

The five slender fingers flew faster and faster, and the silk strings rang, as if scimitars were flying out.

Chu Shichen looked up at the gate. Everything and everyone had changed. Only the trees remained on the long street outside the gate.

Under the dome, no one knows the past of this place.

The past was all buried in the peeling walls, new glass and unfamiliar faces!

Before they knew it, everyone was attracted by the intense sound of the pipa and gathered around, listening with bated breath.

Chu Shichen's fingertips were flushed as he pressed the strings, and the corners of his eyes were even redder.

With a "clang" sound!

The string suddenly stopped playing, and there was silence for a moment, with no one coming to their senses.

He lowered his eyes to suppress his surging thoughts, and his fingertips couldn't help trembling.

The people around him cheered in surprise. Team leader Zhao's expression changed completely and he praised: "Did we meet an expert in our store?"

A pair of footsteps approached slowly. Chu Shichen had no time to hide his sadness. He raised his head and saw Xiang Mingzhang walking in front of him.

Everything was just right, he pretended to be relaxed, his tone was imperceptible and calm, and said: "Mr. Xiang, you are here."

Team leader Zhao hesitated and said, "Xiang... You are Xiang Yue's..."

Chu Shichen asked again: "Does it sound good?"

The strings stopped playing, but his chest was still vibrating. Xiang Mingzhang forgot what he meant and said, "Yeah, it sounds good."

The author has something to say:

The two paragraphs about modern banks are based on the reference to Ningbo Financial Chronicle

(End of this chapter)