Chapter Thirty-Six: A Company of Three

Under Lin Xiaolei’s guidance, Wang Zheng and Bai Bing took the elevator to the eighteenth floor. When the doors slid open, a large plaque reading “Zhongtian Import and Export Co., Ltd.” hung on the wall, conspicuous and striking.

“This is my company. Because the rent is paid every six months, and now it’s already mid-June, if things don’t improve, we’ll have to move out by the end of the month,” Lin Xiaolei said to Wang Zheng, her voice full of helplessness and sorrow. This was the place where she had once fought so hard, but now everything had changed; nothing was as it once was.

“Zhongtian… ‘Skyward’—an auspicious name,” Wang Zheng remarked.

His words were meant as encouragement. The greatest disappointment is always in oneself.

Wang Zheng stepped out of the elevator. The corridor was eerily quiet, and he could hear car horns from the street below. He followed Lin Xiaolei for some ten meters, but saw not a single person; every office, every desk was empty. Loose papers lay scattered on the floor, and everywhere he looked, desolation reigned.

“Even a cemetery has wandering ghosts; how can your company not have a single soul?” Bai Bing, who followed behind, asked in bewilderment. Nearly a thousand square meters, yet not a single staff member—hard to comprehend.

“The company has no money to pay salaries, and we owe them, too. Some were poached by other firms; others found better opportunities. In Jinghua City, it’s impossible to survive without money—I don’t blame them,” Lin Xiaolei explained as she walked, finally stopping in front of a door marked “General Manager’s Office.” She pushed the door open and said, “This is my office, please come in.”

Though the company was now a hollow shell and no one else entered, Lin Xiaolei kept her office tidy; the windows were spotless. The desk was piled with documents and files; one was open halfway, a steel pen clipped inside. It seemed she was still working, even just before Wang Zheng and Bai Bing arrived.

Wang Zheng found another virtue in this lovely woman—diligence. That was good. Diligence is the companion of victory and success.

Lin Xiaolei was clearly reluctant to discuss the company’s troubles, but under Wang Zheng’s persistent questioning, she finally revealed the cause of the crisis.

Zhongtian Import and Export Co., Ltd. specialized in import and export of food goods. This spring, there was a bumper tea harvest; farmers sold their tea to the buying stations, resulting in a surplus. To protect the farmers’ interests, Lin Xiaolei applied for a bank loan. The company had a good credit record, so the process went smoothly. But when she notified the financial manager to collect the funds, the manager transferred the money and fled abroad, vanishing without a trace. The financial manager had been Lin Xiaolei’s college classmate, someone she trusted deeply, but betrayed her at the worst possible moment.

With the bank loan to repay and the tea farmers’ payments due, the company was plunged into financial crisis. They halted tea purchases, and the surplus tea was difficult to sell. After several months, a once-thriving company was reduced to this.

“Scoundrel!” was Wang Zheng’s verdict on Lin Xiaolei’s erstwhile friend.

“What do we need to do now?” Wang Zheng asked. If the culprit were local, Bai Bing could track them down, but having fled overseas, it would be much harder. Two months after filing a police report, there was still no news; Lin Xiaolei’s former friend seemed quite capable.

“Sell the tea. If I can clear the surplus, I should be able to repay the bank,” Lin Xiaolei replied. “But as I said, this spring’s harvest was abundant. Other tea merchants are also struggling to absorb the surplus, though not as badly as we are, so we have no competitive advantage. Apart from the tea stored in the warehouse, we have nothing left. If we can’t sell it soon, the tea will deteriorate, and then I…”

Lin Xiaolei sighed deeply. Her brows were knit with disappointment and despair; her spirit was crushed. Not only was it a company crisis, but the betrayal of her most trusted friend—a double blow. No wonder her eyes had been so bleak that night at the bar.

“So, we’re starting as mere salespeople?” Wang Zheng asked.

“Yes. I’ve been searching for buyers, domestic and foreign, but none succeeded. The competition in the tea market is fierce. I have no resources to compete with other merchants, not even enough to treat a potential client to a decent dinner. You keep urging me to persist, but how am I supposed to keep trying now?” Lin Xiaolei looked at Wang Zheng with a bitter smile.

Wang Zheng gazed into her eyes and felt a pang—not his own, but Lin Xiaolei’s sorrow. Was this a dead end?

To give up now? Wang Zheng smiled; that wasn’t his style.

“Many efforts don’t bear fruit overnight. It takes patience and endurance. If you’re willing to pay the price and persist, you’ll eventually taste the sweetness of success. The phoenix is beautiful because it’s reborn from the flames, transformed and renewed. Chickens can’t imitate that. A chicken’s rebirth is just a corpse’s change. Do you want to be a chicken, or a phoenix?”

“Rebirth…” Lin Xiaolei lowered her head, staring at the floor and muttering the word, lost in thought.

Bai Bing glanced at Wang Zheng with a half-smile, then at the entranced Lin Xiaolei. She bent down, brought her mouth close to Wang Zheng’s ear, and whispered, “You really know how to bluff! No wonder you’re a trickster straight out of Africa!”

Wang Zheng shot her a sidelong glance. Happiness doesn’t come from having more, but from caring less. Using a voice only they could hear, he replied, “If a dog bites me, I don’t bite back.”

“You… charlatan!” Bai Bing gritted her teeth. Standing behind Wang Zheng, she silently placed her hand on his shoulder and twisted it three hundred sixty degrees clockwise…

Wang Zheng smiled faintly, though it hurt. The hint of a smile never left his face, calm and unruffled. Go ahead and pinch—he’d faced hyenas in Africa, surely he could handle a stubborn dog? Especially one that looked like Snoopy.

Bai Bing squeezed Wang Zheng’s shoulder hard; her thumb and forefinger grew sore, his muscles were so firm it felt like gripping steel. Seeing his smiling face, she began to wonder if she was really just giving him a massage.

“Do you have any ideas?” Lin Xiaolei shifted her gaze to Wang Zheng. She didn’t know why she asked, but deep inside there was a voice that said: this man must have a solution.

“What could he possibly do?” Bai Bing sneered.

Wang Zheng turned and looked at Bai Bing behind him—patience had its limits, and his was reached. He scrutinized her and asked seriously, “Which department are you in?”

“No department, no affiliation—I’m your secretary!” Bai Bing replied haughtily.

“Good. Since you’re my secretary, you should show some self-awareness,” Wang Zheng said sternly. “Your position is the lowest here, so don’t interrupt leadership discussions.”

“Ha! You’re just an assistant, what kind of leader are you?” Bai Bing scoffed.

“You’re my secretary, so I’m your leader. Right now you’re the only one without subordinates, so from now on, you don’t get to speak. Otherwise, get lost immediately. Don’t doubt me—I have countless ways to make you quiet or leave. Want to try them?” Wang Zheng said, displeased with her interruptions and attitude.

“Three people still make a company?”

“Why not?”