Chapter 9: 008 Controlling People with People (5.5k)

008 Controlling People with People (5.5k)

Yu Xing invited Liu Wan Ying to listen in on the showdown process with the unlucky guy, but she wasn't interested and had already made plans to go shopping with a friend, so she exchanged phone numbers, changed her clothes, and left.

Yu Xing poured a glass of water to help his junior brother calm down, sent his bank account number to a major client via text message, and only then listened to the account of the showdown.

The process was actually quite simple.

It consisted of 15% stating the intent, 80% being lectured and earnest advice, 4% persistence, and 1% confession.

"He even lectured you?" Yu Xing asked, amused.

"This, that... Brother Xing, it's not that I was talking, it's that the teacher, he..." Zhong Zhiling said, acting a bit coy. "He guessed it."

"That's not surprising. I brought you here, and I discussed so much with Sister Ying in front of him." Yu Xing waved his hand, signaling his junior brother not to worry about his own emotions, and laughed, "That's fine, it saves me from having to tell him myself."

Zhong Zhiling said worriedly: "But, but, the teacher wants to call my mom and dad..."

Clearly having been recommended for postgraduate studies, clearly about to enroll in the autumn, yet at a time like this, he was retaining his student status and going off to do some startup?

According to Zhong Zhiling's retelling, the teacher suggested that both of them go to a brain hospital to register; he had expert friends there!

"The teacher is also doing this for your own good. Has he made the call yet?" Yu Xing's emotions didn't fluctuate much; he had experienced worse situations.

"Not yet. The teacher told me to think it over carefully, saying he had to go to a meeting first." Zhong Zhiling's tears had already stopped, but his eyes were a bit red and swollen.

Yu Xing drank his tea slowly, considered the current situation, and said deliberately: "Zhiling, don't be anxious yet. The teacher hasn't called, and your parents don't know yet. This call will have to happen sooner or later, but even if it doesn't, we have already burned our bridges; we have no choice."

In any case, under the current circumstances, he couldn't think of a better option. Whenever he thought about the scale of the capital explosion, ideas like private police stations or mass-emailing for money would pop into his head.

Doing it this way now was already the fastest and relatively safest option for getting money.

Zhong Zhiling took a breath, knowing that his senior brother was right; this was something they would have to face sooner or later.

"Of course, if we have already achieved some results, making this call will be much better." Yu Xing changed the subject and mused, "Zhiling, I have a work insight that you can try in the future, called 'controlling people with people'."

Zhong Zhiling felt it was a bit strange. Experience from Brother Xing's work? Did he mean in the team? Or from when he was an intern before?

But he skipped over this point and asked suspiciously: "What is 'controlling people with people'?"

"Take an example: you lead a team selling houses." Yu Xing said slowly, "There are many people in the team, and not everyone is convinced by you. What should you do? Spend all day thinking about how to subdue them, or spend all day thinking about how to make things difficult for them? Not to mention that it might intensify conflicts, the biggest goal—selling houses and achieving results—would be ignored."

"In our actual work, we shouldn't waste our energy on this."

"What is a person? The essence of a person is the sum of all social relations."

"In a team, or, which is easier for you to understand, in a class, someone always plays well with certain people. They can't listen to my opinions, but they can listen to the opinions or even orders of the people around them."

"What we need to do is not to subdue them, but to leverage the people around them or above them. Only then can we better complete our main goals."

Yu Xing slowly narrated some of the work and management insights he had accumulated during his career of financial explosions.

Zhong Zhiling's expression was quite bewildered. Looking at his senior brother's expectant gaze, he slowly made a sound with his nasal cavity: "Hmm?"

Yu Xing inhaled, suppressed his jumping nerves, pointed in the direction of the other bedroom, and spat out three words: "Pillow talk."

"Pillow talk is pillow talk, why drag so much into it..." Zhong Zhiling muttered super quietly, not letting his senior brother hear his voice, but he firmly remembered the words just now and those four characters—controlling people with people.

"Do you have any money on you?" Yu Xing asked at this moment.

Zhong Zhiling answered vigilantly: "No! I gave it all to you!"

Yu Xing nodded and instructed: "Go buy some small celery, pork belly, and live shrimp. I'll make some dumplings for the teacher's wife. We can eat them tonight, and we can also put them in the freezer. When we want to eat them later, we can take them out anytime."

"Making dumplings can convince her?" Zhong Zhiling asked, "What if the teacher's wife doesn't help?"

Yu Xing got up and walked toward the kitchen, laughing: "If she doesn't help, she doesn't help. That's my teacher's wife; what does it matter if I make some dumplings?"

Zhong Zhiling was silent for a moment. His senior brother's character wasn't that average after all.

The two acted separately, neither noticing a small ear listening at the end of the hallway.

Fifteen minutes later, Zhong Zhiling brought back the groceries bought from the supermarket at the entrance of the residential area and found that his senior brother had already placed the cutting board on the coffee table, with the kneaded dough next to it, and the little junior sister Liu Zhi Shan sitting on the sofa.

"Little kids shouldn't watch so much TV; it's bad for your eyes." Zhong Zhiling said.

Liu Zhi Shan glared at this new senior brother and didn't speak.

Yu Xing carried the bag into the kitchen to wash, cut, and process the ingredients.

Zhong Zhiling followed behind, wanting to help, but seeing his senior brother's nimble movements, it seemed there was no room left for him.

The celery was chopped and salted to draw out the water.

The shrimp heads were fried for oil, and the shrimp tails were deveined.

Yu Xing deftly cut the shrimp tails into large pieces, added salt, pepper, and cooking wine to marinate them. Turning his head, he saw his junior brother standing blankly, not knowing what to do, so he had to say: "You mince the pork belly; you can do that, right?"

Zhong Zhiling was finally assigned a task.

Yu Xing, while busy with his own work, said: "Don't mince the meat too finely; it's easy to lose texture. Later, add oyster sauce, light soy sauce, cooking wine, shrimp oil, and then beat in water three times."

He thought about it and then negated the idea: "Forget it, you just mince the meat; I'll do the rest to avoid wasting it."

"Brother Xing, what is 'beating in water'?" Zhong Zhiling really didn't understand these things.

"It means beating water into the meat filling so that it absorbs the water and becomes viscous when stirred." Yu Xing explained in detail, "When the dumplings are put into the pot to boil, the meat filling has more water, so it's not easy to get tough, and it tastes fresher and more tender."

Zhong Zhiling said sincerely: "Brother Xing, how do you know everything!"

"Who is born knowing this? It's all taught by others." Yu Xing unconsciously revealed a faint smile, saying, "Beating in water" was actually taught by his little girlfriend in his dreams.

His thoughts vanished in an instant, and he continued to say to his junior brother: "Just like you jumping out of the environment of studying medicine, I can understand your panic, awkwardness, and helplessness right now. Startup—don't talk about you, I don't have experience either, but our time is indeed short, and we need to see results as soon as possible, so we need to think more and be more proactive."

Yu Xing wasn't intimidating him; he was just narrating the status quo.

Zhong Zhiling also knew that his performance over the past two days was probably really poor. He said "Hmm" in a low voice and only said: "I hope the teacher's wife can persuade the teacher."

The dumpling filling needed to sit to absorb the flavor, and the dough also needed time to rest.

The two returned to the living room. Yu Xing sat beside the little junior sister and said with a smile: "Shan Shan, Senior Brother wants to discuss something with you, okay?"

Liu Zhi Shan blinked and said like a little adult: "Brother, go ahead."

"The weather is too hot. Senior Brother will buy you ice cream later and take you to the amusement park." Yu Xing promised first, then stated the matter, "It's just that, when your dad comes home tonight, if he's angry, you tell him not to be angry and tell Dad and Mom more about Senior Brother's good points."

Liu Zhi Shan turned her head to continue watching TV and asked indifferently: "How should I say Brother's good points?"

"I'll teach you." Yu Xing laughed, "Just say, remember the time I went to pick you up, and it suddenly rained and I didn't have an umbrella, so I held you in my arms and ran all the way home? I got soaked and got sick, but you were fine."

Liu Zhi Shan said "Hmm" and promised crisply: "Okay."

Seeing the little junior sister being so easy to talk to, Zhong Zhiling also offered an idea: "Shan Shan, I'll teach you too."

Liu Zhi Shan looked at Zhong Zhiling and said in a flat tone: "Do I need you to teach me?"

Zhong Zhiling was stunned: "..."

No, you...

You little kid...

Zhong Zhiling felt that everything had changed. Clearly, he was a prospective postgraduate student who was quite envied by his classmates and made his family proud, but now he was worried about the teacher calling home, and even a little kid was ignoring him...

This, this really is having no status!

He was speechless and could only be quietly depressed on the side.

Yu Xing was also a bit surprised by the little junior sister's performance. He didn't say anything more and instead urged Shan Shan to be more obedient and to take care of her mother at home.

Liu Zhi Shan listened obediently and promised.

Yu Xing accompanied the little junior sister to watch TV for a while, and then started to wrap the dumplings.

As someone who once had to do things himself to save money, he was very familiar with this. When he was halfway through wrapping, the teacher's wife, Yan Lirong, walked out of the bedroom after her nap.

"Yu Xing, you're really in the mood today. I haven't seen you show off this skill before." Yan Lirong sat beside her daughter, rubbed her head, and said to Yu Xing with a smile.

"I've been practicing diligently for a while. It didn't taste good before, and only now do I dare to bring it out for you to taste." Yu Xing could only explain it this way and continued, "Teacher's wife, half of them are already frozen in the freezer. When you want to eat them later, you can eat them directly."

Yan Lirong smiled and nodded. After a quiet moment, she said: "Yu Xing, when I woke up just now, I saw the text message Old Liu sent me. He asked me to persuade you guys, to let you think it over carefully. What's going on? What's the fuss about?"

"Teacher's wife, Zhong Zhiling and I invested in a financial product and lost the money." Yu Xing didn't stop his hands from wrapping dumplings, his voice lowered a bit, "Now we are considering a startup project opportunity that looks good, so we plan to go do that first, and we won't continue our studies at school for now."

He explained the matter clearly in one sentence but didn't mention the specific numbers.

Yan Lirong frowned and said with concern: "How can that be? How can you just stop going to school? What financial product? When did it start? No, no, no wonder Old Liu is angry. This won't do! Yu Xing, don't be impulsive!"

"It's quite a bit of money." Yu Xing wasn't bitter or deep, his tone was understated but appeared quite firm, "Teacher's wife, we aren't being impulsive. Today, Sister Ying and I talked a lot. If you think I'm just being hot-headed, then ask her for her opinion on our project. Similarly, the teacher can also ask her."

Whether it was during the meal or the discussion after the meal, Yan Lirong had seen it all. This sentence suddenly made her hesitate.

Her sister-in-law's excellence was beyond doubt; her work often involved flying between various cities to connect with enterprises.

If even she approved...

Yu Xing wrapped a dumpling nimbly and looked up: "Teacher's wife, you don't believe us, but don't you believe her?"

Yan Lirong thought left and right and sighed: "But you still can't stop going to school!"

"Teacher's wife, we just discovered a good opportunity that we can try, so this time we want to retain our student status first." Yu Xing said calmly, "If it really doesn't work out, then we'll come back to study."

Yan Lirong frowned and didn't speak. After a long time, she said: "This is too childish. How much money did you lose on that financial product? Were you cheated by someone? Can it still be recovered? You all studied for so many years to get to where you are today."

Yu Xing still said the same thing, just with a firmer tone: "Teacher's wife, you don't believe us, but don't you believe her?"

Zhong Zhiling heard the loosening in the tone and sensed hope, so he followed up: "That's right."

Yan Lirong looked at Yu Xing, then at Zhong Zhiling, and finally looked at Yu Xing, saying tactfully: "It's not that I don't trust her, nor that I don't trust you. Starting a company requires people to help, right? How can you go out and struggle all by yourself?"

Zhong Zhiling just wanted to indicate that he was part of it, but suddenly stopped the words in his throat. Hey, trust her and trust him, then who exactly don't you trust? How did it become struggling all by himself...

He bowed his head in humiliation, unwillingly, realizing that the little junior sister might take after someone!

Yu Xing didn't stop wrapping dumplings and said: "Teacher's wife, rich people have rich people's ways of playing, and teams have teams' ways of playing. There are so many paths; we'll just struggle in the cracks. Anyway, I've already made up my mind."

Yan Lirong said angrily: "Such a big matter, how could you just make up your mind? Even if you want to do it, you have to discuss it with your family."

Yu Xing didn't answer immediately. He finished wrapping the last dumpling, placed it neatly, patted the flour off his body, and laughed: "Teacher's wife, besides the financial product matter, we also want to have some results before telling our families. At the latest, before September, I will tell my family."

Without waiting for Yan Lirong to speak, he pointed to the dumplings and said: "Teacher's wife, I'll separate the dumplings later. The ones on top are for you and the teacher; you can eat them directly when you want. The two layers below are for Shan Shan. I didn't put ginger in them, so don't mix them up when you feed her."

Little Liu Zhi Shan didn't like eating ginger.

"Hey, you, you..." Yan Lirong looked at the neatly arranged dumplings, then at Yu Xing's firm face, suddenly feeling a bit sad, and said angrily, "Are you not planning to visit again after wrapping this meal of dumplings?"

"I'm afraid I'll be busy later. Before, with the teacher and teacher's wife taking care of me, I could focus on the lab." Yu Xing said earnestly, "Later, when I go to do the project, I'll have to worry about it myself, and I don't know if I'll be busy or not. But no matter what, whether the teacher is angry with me or not, the teacher is still the teacher, and the teacher's wife is still the teacher's wife."

Yan Lirong was pregnant, and her emotions were easily volatile. Hearing these heartfelt words, tears welled up in her eyes. She turned her head away, no longer looking at that plate of neat dumplings.

Yu Xing quickly poured her water and mentioned taking Liu Zhi Shan to the amusement park in a couple of days, ending the topic.

Yan Lirong adjusted her emotions, knowing that Yu Xing wouldn't change his decision, and nagged him a bit to take care of himself.

At four o'clock in the afternoon, Liu Jingrong still hadn't returned. Yu Xing took Zhong Zhiling and got up to say goodbye.

Yan Lirong called the two of them to stop, went back to the bedroom first, and when she came out, she took a stack of cash to stuff into Yu Xing's pocket.

Yu Xing firmly refused.

"I don't understand the things you're talking about, and I don't know how Xiao Ying sees it, but I know you must be short of money right now." Yan Lirong pressed Yu Xing's arm that was holding the money and insisted, "This money isn't much, and it's not for your startup. It's just for you to eat when you're hungry, and to buy clothes when you're short of them. You said you recognize me as your teacher's wife; if you recognize me, then accept it!"

Yu Xing had a moment of trance. The person was still the same person, and the teacher's wife was still stuffing money to him during a crisis.

He didn't refuse anymore and accepted it: "Okay, teacher's wife."

Yan Lirong nodded with satisfaction, fearing that her eldest disciple would feel bad after taking the money, and said: "That's right. Later, when you make big money, just bring more things during holidays, won't that be enough?"

Yu Xing nodded in agreement and squatted down to tell Liu Zhi Shan to take good care of her mother.

Unexpectedly, as soon as Liu Zhi Shan made eye contact with Yu Xing, she said coolly: "I'll handle it, don't worry."

Yu Xing: "..."

He touched the little kid's head, stood up, and said to Yan Lirong: "Teacher's wife, you guys go back. When the teacher comes back tonight, you persuade him not to be angry."

Yan Lirong held her daughter's hand and said finally: "Sigh, you guys take care too. If there's anything, call us; don't be embarrassed."

Yu Xing and Zhong Zhiling left the teacher's home.

Both had their own thoughts, and they didn't speak the whole way out of the residential area.

Yu Xing stopped at the entrance of the residential area: "Nine o'clock tonight, see you at the same spot by the lake."

"Ah? Brother Xing, where are you going? We, aren't we going together?" Zhong Zhiling still wanted to follow.

"I need to check the situation of our potential clients here, and I also need to think and digest some of the exchanges with Sister Ying. She really gave me a lot of inspiration." Yu Xing said thoughtfully, "She used mathematics to initially establish a product model, but I think the real probability shouldn't be 3.7%, which means our product settings have a lot of room for adjustment. Anyway, I have to think about it."

Zhong Zhiling argued: "I won't hinder your thinking if I'm by your side."

Yu Xing said concisely: "You will."

Zhong Zhiling was already a bit numb to his position. After a few seconds of silence, he asked blankly: "Brother Xing, do you think the teacher will agree? Is your pillow talk and little cotton-padded jacket talk useful?"

Yu Xing shook his head slightly: "We'll know very soon."

He waved goodbye and left slowly along the road.

Zhong Zhiling watched his senior brother's back for a while, not knowing where to go for a moment. After thinking left and right, he decided to find his girlfriend for dinner tonight.

Having experienced emotional ups and downs over the past two days, he also wanted to get some emotional comfort.

However, before Zhong Zhiling had dinner, he received a call from the teacher. Although the other party's tone was still stiff, it had softened compared to his previous stance.

Zhong Zhiling was excited. On one hand, he had temporarily obtained permission, and on the other hand, he was amazed by the power of "pillow talk" + "little cotton-padded jacket talk".

He couldn't help but think again about his senior brother's teaching: controlling people with people—could it really be that magical?

Zhong Zhiling hadn't seen his girlfriend for two days, and having heard the good news first, the atmosphere of this dinner was exceptionally pleasant, without any of the annoying arguments from before.

After dinner, he went back to the dormitory to take a shower, and only then did he head straight to the spot by the lake where he had met Brother Xing last time.

Brother Xing hadn't arrived yet.

After sitting down, Zhong Zhiling slowly thought about his worries.

About ten minutes later, he saw his senior brother walking over.

"Brother Xing, you're here." Zhong Zhiling greeted.

"Hmm." Yu Xing nodded slightly, sat on the ground, and asked casually, "Where is Lu Haiying? Why didn't she come?"

Zhong Zhiling was stunned: "No, why would she come?"

Yu Xing was also stunned: "Hmm? Didn't she tell you? I called her, and she agreed to come to the company to work."

Zhong Zhiling was completely stunned. Come to the company to work?

Who?

Her??

Ah???

"Your long-distance problem is completely solved." Yu Xing said with a smile, "From now on, you two don't have to worry about long-distance love. Once you don't have small problems, you can focus on our big problems."

He continued: "Today can be considered good news put together. We have a large order, a new employee has joined, the project has had substantial progress, and we also have a more correct..."

Zhong Zhiling finally reacted. At this moment, what floated in his heart wasn't anything else, but the four characters he had seen and heard today—controlling people with people.

Damn, he got my girlfriend to come to this bullshit company!

Damn, the company isn't even registered yet!

Damn, still talking about controlling others; this control, control, control, it controlled me!

He stood up abruptly, his face instantly flushed, his eye sockets were exceptionally tight, and he scolded angrily:

"Yu, you bastard! Are you even human!" ===== CHAPTER 10 =====