Chapter 561: That sense of unease

“They’re even going overseas to hide already. What else could they do? What, stay in the country and and directly face the Ling and Xiao families, acting from the shadows? That’s completely illogical!” Xu Tingsheng tried to comfort himself.

Still, the more he could not get at the gist of it, the greater his sense of worry and unease.

He described this inexplicable sense of worry to two people via text. One was Old Jin, the other his father. He also asked the two of them this question: What do you do when you feel unease of this sort?

Soon, Old Jin replied: When things are going too smoothly, I will stop and revert my thoughts back to zero, redoing every single thought process.

Following that, Mr Xu replied: Everyone may think that a business deal has to be done, or it would really be too much of a loss. Meanwhile, all the conditions for completing this deal are ready as there seems to be virtually no difficulty at all. At a time like this, I will stop. I definitely must find the negative conditions and effects and weigh them before making the final decision.”

Xu Tingsheng vaguely grasped at the gist of the problem. When all the factors and conditions pointed towards the same direction, the entire process being unexpectedly smooth...that itself was a problem.

That inexplicable sense of worry stemmed from this. Everything that had happened over this period of time, specific or not, seemed to be pushing the Fang family’s third generation to choose to leave the country to avoid danger. It was all just too smooth and convenient.

Still, with how things were now, Xu Tingsheng had no way to stop...the plane would not stop for him to slowly sort his thoughts out from the start.

He gave Hu Chen a call and cut to the chase, “Bro Hu, remember when I asked you to help me get people to dig up information about Ling Xiao’s time in America? Are you sure you didn’t leave anything out?”

Slightly puzzled, Hu Chen hesitated for a moment before saying, “Regarding her education, work experience, appraisals and such, there shouldn’t be too much of a discrepancy. We conducted a very thorough investigation and obtained quite a few primary sources. Still...”

“Still what?”

“If it’s really as you say and this was a recruitment investigation for a prospective high-ranking member of our company, I believe that this is already sufficient. Ling Xiao is very outstanding, and I truly look forward to her being able to join Xingchen, everything else being unimportant.”

“What if it’s not just that?”

“...To truly understand someone, and I’m referring to more internal, intrinsic qualities like their mindset and personality, I think that the best route is actually not through these statistic-like objects but through details and emotions. For example, the first time you met me and Old He and wanted to poach us over to Xingchen, do you know what you said the most then? Honestly speaking.”

“What?”

“I mean, the words you said the most that day were honestly speaking. Less than two hours into our conversation, you’d said this approximately around twenty times. It made the two of us feel as if you were ready to bare your heart at any time, but actually...even as you were honest so often, you lied a lot too. There was a sort of contradiction about you, extreme confidence yet extreme lack of confidence as well. As a youngster who should be at the peak of his triumph, arrogant and unbridled as the new ultra dark horse of the business world, you even seemed extremely nervous in front of us.”

“You’re right,” Xu Tingsheng responded, but actually had no way of explaining this in detail.

His extreme confidence originated from his foreknowledge that came from rebirth, whereas he lacked confidence because the failures of his previous life made him doubt his own capabilities to some degree. Facing actual elites like Hu Chen and He Yutan, he had even felt somewhat inferior and lacking self-esteem, like he was unable to preside over them.

“Why did you two still decide to come to Xingchen in the end then? Xu Tingsheng enquired.

“Firstly, your ability to plan the overall situation, create new things and always stay ahead of the times caused us to determine that your future is bright, and that we might be able to personally establish a mega empire if we follow you. Second was our judgment of your character. Old He and I both found ourselves liking you a lot, when you are nervous and lie included. As I said earlier, this evaluation cannot be obtained through statistics and objective reports. Making a judgment through the details of our conversation with you, we decided you were trustworthy, worth following.”

𝙛𝓻𝒆𝒆𝒘𝙚𝓫𝙣𝙤𝒗𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

“I get what you mean.”

“That’s good then. I remember you saying last time that Wayne Yang pursued that Ling Xiao before...call that bitch for me and chat with him. That fella is most proficient at grasping the specifics, observing personality and mentality. Oh, and also. Old He and I have wanted to remind you all along to keep work a priority. While saying it might not be of any use, we still have to...I, bastard, you hung up?! Keep work a priority!!!”

As even the usually refined Hu Chen could not help but curse, He Yutan felt a slight sense of schadenfreude as he patted him on the shoulder, “I told you long before, it’s useless. Though, if he truly throws himself fully into work, our pace might just become too great. An empire which is established within a night will inevitably have an unstable foundation. Forget it, let nature take its course.”

“I just feel that he’s...really, it’s unbecoming. Literally a waste of his own genius,” Hu Chen shook his head helplessly and sighed.

Xu Tingsheng who completely lacked that self-awareness dialled Wayne Yang’s number as fast as he could.

The same enthusiastic, mercenary voice could be heard, “My dear Boss Xu, I really missed you so much. Even though you always reject my calls, I still love you all the same. So, what is it that you want to enquire about this time?”

“It’s about Ling Xiao.”

“I remember that I’ve already given you guys all the data about her. You accidentally lost it? I’ll have to charge you again then...”

“I want to hear about how you pursued her, all the details.”

“Wah...alright, I think I get it. So Boss Xu’s taste is so similar to mine. Still, you know. To push a beloved sweetheart into the arms of another, the fee will inevitably be a bit higher. Otherwise, it will not be able to heal and remedy my wounded heart.”

“Don’t talk rubbish. I promise you that within this next half year, I’ll meet an investor introduced by you once. You should be clear on the value of this.”

“Of course. My immense gratitude.”

“Hurry up and begin then.”

“Alright, let me see...it was six years ago. I met her for the first time at a Chinese student gathering. That day, she walked with utter ease amidst the crowd, evoking laughter and admiration wherever she went. Literally a genius at socialising, you know? I felt like she could even hold election talks for the president or emcee for the Oscars. You know, I quite like this type of woman. So, I was gonna go up, but everyone around me said no man can handle her.”

“What happened in the end?” Xu Tingsheng pressed.

The Ling Xiao that Wayne Yang narrated was already gradually drifting off from Xu Tingsheng’s original judgment of her: An elite at studies and business, but relatively closed off and tender in terms of relationships.

In reality, it seemed that she was not like that. Still, in order to truly grasp that vague, blurry point in his heart, Xu Tingsheng still lacked a clearer piece of the puzzle.

“In the end, just like everyone expected, I was very quickly defeated. She smiled, was extremely polite...then rejected me a thousand yards away without the slightest difficulty,” Wayne Yang continued, “Of course, it’s not so easy to get me to give up. I tried hard and made several attempts, even chased her to her school a few times. Then, can you guess what I found out?”

“What?”

“A finance student, the rising star of Lazdaq Bank, actually frequently showed up at psychology lectures, even graduate ones at that. In a lesson, she went on a back-and-forth with a famous American psychology professor, receiving great praise and recognition there. I thought at the time...heavens...If I had known that it would be like this, I would never have set my sights on her. I would be mad if I thought I could handle a psychology expert! Do you know? All my tricks were nothing in front of her...hello? What is this? You’ve hung up?!”

Right, Xu Tingsheng had hung up. What he had found out was already sufficient for him to come to a conclusion. While the specifics still had to be sounded out, some decisions could already be made.

......

Fang Yuqing had just boarded the plane, stowed his luggage and sat down.

His handphone rang. Just a bit later and he would have turned it off.

“Tingsheng? What is it?”

“Get off the plane. You, and everyone. Get off that plane. Right now.”