A few days after their wedding anniversary, Sun Jingcheng moved his company to a relatively more prosperous office building. It was still in the new district, and even closer to home.
The reason for moving the company was that someone was joining as a partner—Sun Jingcheng’s high school classmate. The two had been friends for nearly twenty years. These past two years, Sun Jingcheng’s career had been struggling, and his circle of friends knew about it. Several people had previously proposed partnerships, but he had rejected them all.
He was approaching forty now. Over these years, he should have recognized what needed to be recognized and accepted what needed to be accepted. He truly wasn’t cut out to be a businessman, and he truly had limited capabilities and needed help.
He had considered finding a partner last year. The reason he rejected those two was that they would have needed to invest all their savings to join the partnership, and all future expenses would depend entirely on company profits.
This was the situation Sun Jingcheng feared most—it put the greatest pressure on him. He had no confidence in guaranteeing that after their investment, the company would consistently prosper. What if things got worse and worse? Over time, they would turn against each other as brothers. So even during several financial crises, he hadn’t accepted their partnership offers.
Sun Jingcheng understood himself well and admitted he was an idealistic person. Regardless of the circumstances, if he felt he couldn’t do something, then he simply couldn’t do it. Some things he could compromise on; others, once compromised, there was no turning back.
Which path was easier, which had more twists and turns—he knew perfectly well.
The partner he was looking for absolutely could not be the desperate type betting everything they had. Even though he clearly understood that this type of person was most likely to succeed.
He wanted to find someone who recognized his values, preferably someone investing spare money who had the ability to withstand risks. And this high school classmate of his met the last two criteria—he had spare money and could bear risks. As for recognizing his values… the two had been friends for nearly twenty years and understood each other’s character—it couldn’t be too far off.
This classmate also came from a well-off family; his father ran a manufacturing business. In recent years, he had been doing bird’s nest business in Malaysia, only returning to China for development because of the pandemic. He originally didn’t think much of Sun Jingcheng’s company. During a casual dinner conversation, he found Sun Jingcheng to be quite an oddball. The more he thought about it, the more interesting it seemed, and only then did he decide to join the partnership.
He had seen all kinds of businessmen—those with outstanding talent, commercial geniuses. He had seen them build tall buildings and seen those buildings collapse. He had even witnessed someone who was incredibly successful one year, then the next time he saw them, they were driving the taxi he had hailed. Life had its ups and downs, its ebbs and flows—who could predict it?
Sun Jingfei also came to help on moving day. Calling it “helping” was more accurate to say she was just driving by. Actually, there was a moving company, so there wasn’t much help needed.
She first walked around the company. Moving from one dump to another—aside from better parking, there wasn’t much difference. Then she sat on the sofa replying to WeChat messages.
Sun Jingcheng bent over organizing his desk, saying the main purpose of moving the company was that the original location had poor parking and the landlord was also problematic. As he spoke, he played some songs he had recorded years ago on his computer, along with some scattered video clips—all of the siblings imitating popular singers from back then.
Sun Jingfei found it extremely cringeworthy, practically covering her face. “Why do you still have these?”
“I forgot about them too. I saw them in a folder yesterday.” Sun Jingcheng organized while singing along.
Sun Jingfei hummed a few lines too, remembering how in high school, the two of them had scrimped and saved their allowance for a year to chase stars, buying train tickets to go to Beijing to see celebrities. In the hard-seat car, someone groped her thigh. The person denied it and even accused her of being young and badly behaved. She wasn’t one to be trifled with—she immediately reached out her claws and scratched that person’s face into shreds like carrot strips.
Talking about their star-chasing past made the siblings laugh. After laughing, Sun Jingfei asked him, “Do you still like Dou Wei and Luo Dayou?”
“Of course.” Sun Jingcheng said.
“Do you still listen often?”
“In my spare time.”
“I haven’t listened since I started working.” Sun Jingfei felt quite emotional. “If you hadn’t played those recordings, I would have forgotten I once fanatically chased after them.”
Sun Jingcheng hummed along while working, not really responding to her words.
Sun Jingfei stood by a potted areca palm to smoke, flicking ashes into the pot bottom while still sending WeChat messages to Second Sister-in-law, asking her to help figure out how to collect debts. These days, people who owed money had become the masters. She had spent two days running around and hadn’t collected a single cent.
After finishing her cigarette and stubbing it out, she was about to leave when Sun Jingcheng called her back, saying they should eat together tonight—Zhou Yu was away on a training trip and wouldn’t return until tomorrow.
…
Sun Jingfei stood by the areca palm again to smoke, chatting idly with him. They got to talking about how when she was little, she always felt their parents favored Second Brother the most, and it wasn’t until middle school that she learned Second Brother wasn’t their biological child. “But I don’t really have a concept of biological versus non-biological. I just know Second Brother doesn’t have the same parents as us, but emotionally nothing changed—in my heart, he’s still the same as Big Brother.”
“Same for me.” Sun Jingcheng agreed.
“But I don’t understand why Mom always favored Second Brother.”
“Because he’s not biological.”
“I know, but that makes Second Brother seem even more like an outsider.” Sun Jingfei said, “I feel Second Brother minds it too, otherwise he wouldn’t have deliberately failed his exams to rush out and earn money.”
“Second Brother said he deliberately failed?” Sun Jingcheng looked at her.
“Second Sister-in-law said so.” Sun Jingfei instructed him, “Don’t ever say it out loud. Otherwise Mom will overthink things again! I admire Dad the most—how does he put up with Mom? She can think up problems out of thin air.”
“With Second Brother’s usual grades, even if he performed normally, they wouldn’t have been much better, right?” Sun Jingcheng questioned.
Sun Jingfei burst out laughing, scolding him for being so harsh, then said, “Second Brother is the type where it doesn’t matter whether he went to college or not—he can make something of himself anywhere.”
“I agree with that.” Sun Jingcheng concurred.
“Hey little brother, let me tell you some gossip.” Sun Jingfei flicked her cigarette ash. “Second Brother and Second Sister-in-law got divorced a few months ago.”
“Who said so?”
“Mom said when they were doing a census of married people or something… they mentioned it when they came to register door-to-door. Mom is so sharp—she kept quiet and didn’t ask about it until half a month ago when she pulled Second Brother into the inner room to ask. Only then did Second Brother say they had already remarried.”
…
“Mom didn’t believe it, so he even showed her their marriage certificate.”
“They divorced and then remarried?”
“Yes!” Sun Jingfei nodded. “Look at how people get divorced—quietly, without a sound. Unlike us two, shouting about it for half a year and still not divorced. What’s that saying? People who accomplish great things do so silently.”
“If Mom hadn’t said anything, I couldn’t have told at all. Second Sister-in-law also came to gatherings on weekends—I didn’t notice anything wrong.”
“Did Second Brother mess around again?” Sun Jingcheng guessed.
“Doesn’t seem like it.” Sun Jingfei shook her head, then after a while said, “If I’m not mistaken, Second Brother and Second Sister-in-law have done marriage counseling. Last year a business card from an agency fell out of Second Brother’s bag, and his expression was very unnatural at the time.”
“I always thought Second Brother and Second Sister-in-law had the best relationship.” Sun Jingcheng said softly.
“Me too!” Sun Jingfei agreed. “They’ve gone through so much together… But having said that, in earlier years Second Brother was truly a bastard when it came to relationships with women—no better than Ke Yong. He’s just our own brother, so it’s awkward to say anything.”
Sun Jingcheng didn’t respond.
As they chatted, they wanted to see Second Brother. They asked where he was, went downstairs, got in the car, and drove to his restaurant. On the way, Sun Jingcheng received a WeChat message. When they reached a traffic light intersection, he typed a reply: “I’m also off work, planning to go eat at Second Brother’s place with Elder Sister.”