Chapter 9: 008 Using People to Control People (5.5k)

Yu Xing invited Liu Wan to listen in on the confrontation, but she wasn’t interested and had already made plans to shop with friends, so she exchanged phone numbers, changed clothes, and left first.

Yu Xing poured a glass of water to calm his junior brother, sent his bank account via text to the major client first, then finally listened to the confrontation.

The process was actually very simple.

It was 15% stating intent, 80% being scolded and lectured, 4% persistence, and 1% confession.

“You’re talking about me?” Yu Xing chuckled.

“This, that… Brother Xing, it’s not me saying it—it’s, it’s, it’s Teacher—he…” Zhong Zhiling spoke hesitantly, “He guessed it.”

“Not surprising—I brought you here, and I discussed plenty with Sister Ying right in front of him.” Yu Xing waved his hand, signaling his junior not to worry, and smiled, “Fine, saves me from having to tell him.”

Zhong Zhiling worriedly said, “But, but, Teacher’s going to call my mom and dad…”

He’d been guaranteed admission for postgraduate studies, was about to enroll in autumn—why now retain his enrollment and go chase some startup?

According to Zhong Zhiling’s recount, the teacher suggested both of them register at a neurology hospital—he had expert friends there!

“Teacher only wants what’s best for you. Did he call or not?” Yu Xing showed no emotional fluctuation—he’d endured worse.

“Not yet. Teacher told me to think it over—he said he had to attend a meeting first.” Zhong Zhiling’s tears had stopped, but his eyes were swollen and red.

Yu Xing sipped his tea slowly, weighing the situation, then said carefully, “Zhiling, don’t rush. Teacher hasn’t called yet, your parents still don’t know. That call is inevitable—but even if it never comes, we’ve already burned our boats. We have no choice.”

In his current state, he couldn’t think of a better option. Whenever he imagined the scale of the collapse, ideas like private police stations and mass emails demanding money popped into his head.

This path is already the fastest way to make money and the safest.

Zhong Zhiling took a breath—he knew his senior was right. This was something he’d have to face eventually.

“Of course, if we’d already achieved some results, making that call would be much easier.” Yu Xing shifted tone, pausing, “Zhiling, I’ve got a work insight you might try too—called ‘using people to control people.’”

Zhong Zhiling found it odd—his brother’s work experience? Was he talking about his team? Or his internship?

But he let it pass, asking curiously, “What do you mean by ‘using people to control people’?”

“Say you lead a team selling houses,” Yu Xing said slowly. “There are many people on the team—not everyone respects you. Do you spend all day trying to break them down, or all day trying to make their lives miserable? Either way, you risk escalating conflict—and you ignore the real goal: closing sales.”

“In actual work, don’t waste energy on this.”

“What is a person? A person is the sum of all social relations.”

“In a team—or easier to grasp, in a class—someone always gets along well with certain people. He won’t listen to you, but he’ll listen to those around him—or even their orders.”

“What we need to do isn’t to subdue him, but to move the people around him—or above him—so we can better achieve our main goal.”

Yu Xing slowly recounted his accumulated insights on management and action from his collapse experience.

Zhong Zhiling looked utterly confused, meeting his senior’s expectant gaze, and let out a quiet nasal sound: “Hm?”

Yu Xing inhaled, suppressing his rising nerves, pointed toward another bedroom, and uttered three words: “Bedroom talk.”

“Bedroom talk? Why all that buildup…” Zhong Zhiling muttered under his breath, careful not to let his senior hear—but he etched the phrase and those four words into his mind: ‘using people to control people.’

“Do you have any money on you?” Yu Xing asked.

Zhong Zhiling replied warily, “No! I gave it all to you!”

Yu Xing nodded, instructing, “Go buy some celery, pork belly, and live shrimp. I’ll make dumplings for Teacher’s wife—eat tonight, freeze the rest, and grab them anytime you want.”

“Will making dumplings convince her?” Zhong Zhiling asked. “What if Teacher’s wife doesn’t help?”

Yu Xing rose and headed to the kitchen, smiling, “If she doesn’t help, she doesn’t help. She’s my teacher’s wife—I make dumplings, what’s the big deal?”

Zhong Zhiling fell silent. His senior wasn’t as bad as he seemed.

They split up, neither noticing a small ear listening at the end of the hallway.

Fifteen minutes later, Zhong Zhiling returned with groceries from the supermarket by the gate, only to find his senior had placed a cutting board on the coffee table, a kneaded dough beside it, and little junior sister Liu Zhi Shan sitting on the sofa.

“Don’t watch so much TV, it’s bad for your eyes,” Zhong Zhiling said.

Liu Zhi Shan glared at the new senior, saying nothing.

Yu Xing carried the bag into the kitchen to wash and chop.

Zhong Zhiling followed behind, wanting to help, but seeing his senior move swiftly, he realized there was no room for him.

Finely chop the celery, add salt to draw out water.

Boil shrimp heads for oil, remove tendons from shrimp tails.

Yu Xing neatly chopped the shrimp tails into large pieces, added salt, pepper, and rice wine to marinate. Seeing his junior standing dumbly, he said, “Chop the pork belly into filling—you know how, right?”

Zhong Zhiling was finally given a task.

Yu Xing worked on his own while speaking: “Don’t chop the meat too finely—it’ll leak. Later, add oyster sauce, soy sauce, rice wine, shrimp oil, then stir in water three times.”

He paused, then reconsidered: “Forget it—just chop the meat. I’ll handle the rest. Don’t waste it.”

“Brother Xing, what’s ‘stirring in water’?” Zhong Zhiling genuinely didn’t understand.

“It means mixing water into the filling so it absorbs moisture and becomes sticky,” Yu Xing explained in detail. “When you boil the dumplings, the filling stays juicy, won’t turn tough, and tastes tender.”

Zhong Zhiling sincerely said, “Brother Xing, how do you know everything?”

“Who’s born knowing this? Everyone learns from others.” Yu Xing unconsciously smiled—he remembered ‘stirring in water’ was taught to him by his dream girlfriend.

His thought vanished instantly. He continued to his junior: “Just like you stepped out of the medical environment, I understand your panic, unease, and confusion. Neither of us has startup experience—but our time is short. We need results fast, so think more, act more.”

Yu Xing wasn’t threatening—he was simply describing the reality.

Zhong Zhiling knew his behavior these past two days had been poor. He murmured “Mm,” and said only, “I hope Teacher’s wife can talk sense into Teacher.”

The filling needed time to absorb flavors; the dough needed time to rest.

They returned to the living room. Yu Xing sat beside little sister Liu Zhi Shan, smiling, “Shanshan, can I ask you a favor?”

Liu Zhi Shan blinked, speaking like a small adult: “Brother, go ahead.”

“It’s too hot. I’ll buy you ice cream and take you to the amusement park,” Yu Xing promised first, then said, “But when Dad gets home tonight, if he’s angry, tell him not to be. Tell him good things about me.”

Liu Zhi Shan turned back to the TV, asking indifferently, “How do I say good things about you?”

“I’ll teach you,” Yu Xing smiled. “Say: once, when I picked you up, it suddenly rained and I had no umbrella—I held you close and ran all the way home. I got soaked and fell sick, but you were fine.”

Liu Zhi Shan nodded crisply: “Okay.”

Seeing how cooperative the little sister was, Zhong Zhiling chimed in: “Shanshan, I’ll teach you too.”

Liu Zhi Shan glanced at Zhong Zhiling, flatly saying, “Do I need you to teach me?”

Zhong Zhiling was stunned: “…”

Wait, you…

You little kid…

Zhong Zhiling felt everything had changed. Just days ago, he was a promising graduate student admired by classmates and proud to his family—now he feared Teacher calling his parents, and even a child ignored him…

This… he truly had no status!

He had no reply, only sat quietly, brooding.

Yu Xing was also surprised by the little sister’s reaction. He didn’t press further, instead reminding her to be obedient and take care of her mother at home.

Liu Zhi Shan listened obediently and agreed.

Yu Xing watched TV with her for a while, then began making dumplings.

Having once cooked for himself to save money, he was skilled. Halfway through, Teacher’s wife Yan Lirong woke from her nap and stepped out of the bedroom.

“Yu Xing, you’re in a good mood today—I’ve never seen you do this before,” Yan Lirong sat beside her daughter, stroking her head, smiling at Yu Xing.

“I practiced hard for a long time. I used to make them taste bad—now I dare to serve them to you,” Yu Xing explained, adding, “Teacher’s wife, half are already frozen—you can eat them anytime.”

Yan Lirong nodded, smiled, then after a pause said, “Yu Xing, I just woke up and saw Lao Liu’s text—he asked me to talk some sense into you. What’s going on? What’s this all about?”

“Teacher’s wife, Zhong Zhiling and I invested in some financial products and lost money,” Yu Xing kept stuffing dumplings, lowering his voice, “Now we’ve found a promising startup opportunity—we plan to try it, and won’t continue school.”

He explained clearly, but didn’t mention exact figures.

Yan Lirong frowned, concerned: “How can you quit school? What financial products? When did this start? No, no—no wonder Lao Liu’s angry. This won’t do! Yu Xing, don’t act impulsively!”

“It was a lot of money,” Yu Xing didn’t sound bitter, his tone calm but firm. “Teacher’s wife, we’re not impulsive. Today I spoke at length with Sister Ying—if you think I’m losing my mind, ask her opinion on our project. Teacher can ask her too.”

Yan Lirong had watched their meals and post-meal discussions—this statement made her hesitate.

Her sister-in-law’s excellence was unquestionable—her job involved constant travel to liaise with companies.

If even she approved…

Yu Xing neatly folded a dumpling, looked up: “Teacher’s wife, if you don’t believe us, don’t you believe her?”

Yan Lirong thought it over, sighed: “But you still can’t quit school!”

“Teacher’s wife, we’ve found a promising opportunity, so we want to retain our enrollment for now,” Yu Xing said calmly. “If it fails, we’ll return to school.”

Yan Lirong frowned, silent for a long while, then said, “This is too childish. How much did you lose in that financial product? Were you scammed? Can you recover it? You’ve studied for years to get here.”

Yu Xing repeated the same line, his tone firmer: “Teacher’s wife, if you don’t believe us, don’t you believe her?”

Zhong Zhiling sensed the shift, sensed hope, and added, “Yes.”

Yan Lirong looked from Yu Xing to Zhong Zhiling, then back to Yu Xing, gently saying, “I don’t distrust her, or you—but starting a company needs help. How can you do it alone?”

Zhong Zhiling was about to say he’d help too, but stopped himself—wait, if she’s trusted and he’s trusted, who’s not trusted? Why ‘alone’…

He swallowed his pride, bowed his head—he realized the little sister must take after someone!

Yu Xing kept stuffing dumplings: “Teacher’s wife, rich people have their ways, teams have theirs. There are many paths—we’ll just fight in the cracks. I’ve already made up my mind.”

Yan Lirong snapped: “How can you make such a big decision so quickly? Even if you’re going, you must consult your family!”

Yu Xing didn’t answer immediately. He finished the last dumpling, arranged it neatly, brushed flour off his hands, and smiled: “Teacher’s wife, besides the financial loss, we also wanted to show results before telling our families. I’ll tell them by September at the latest.”

Before she could speak, he pointed to the dumplings: “Teacher’s wife, I’ll separate them. The top layer is yours and Teacher’s—you can eat them anytime. The bottom two layers are Shanshan’s—I didn’t add ginger. Don’t mix them up.”

Little Liu Zhi Shan hated ginger.

“Ah, you… you…” Yan Lirong stared at the neatly arranged dumplings, then at Yu Xing’s resolute face. A sudden sadness welled up. She said angrily, “After making this batch, you’re not coming back anymore?”

“I’m afraid I’ll be too busy later,” Yu Xing said seriously. “Before, Teacher and Teacher’s wife took care of me—I could just bury myself in the lab. Now, running a project, I’ll be on my own. I don’t know how busy I’ll be—but no matter what, Teacher is still Teacher, Teacher’s wife is still Teacher’s wife.”

Yan Lirong was pregnant, emotionally sensitive. Hearing his heartfelt words, tears welled in her eyes. She turned away, refusing to look at the neat pile of dumplings.

Yu Xing quickly poured her water, then mentioned taking Liu Zhi Shan to the amusement park in two days, ending the topic.

Yan Lirong adjusted her emotions, knowing Yu Xing would not change his decision, and gave him a lingering set of instructions to take care of himself.

At four in the afternoon, Liu Jingrong still had not returned; Yu Xing and Zhong Zhiling rose to take their leave.

Yan Lirong called out to the two, went back to her bedroom, then came out holding a stack of cash she tried to shove into Yu Xing’s pocket.

Yu Xing firmly refused.

“I don’t understand what you’re talking about, and I don’t know how Xiao Ying sees it—I only know you’re short on money right now,” Yan Lirong held onto Yu Xing’s arm as he tried to push the cash back, insisting, “This isn’t much, and it’s not for your startup—it’s just so you can buy food when you’re hungry, or clothes when you need them. You say you recognize me as your shi-niang—then accept it if you truly do!”

For a moment, Yu Xing felt dazed—the person was still the same, and his shi-niang was still slipping cash into his hands amid upheaval.

He stopped resisting and took it: “Alright, shi-niang.”

Yan Lirong nodded in satisfaction, then worried her eldest disciple might feel guilty about taking the money, so she added: “That’s better. When you make big money later, just bring more gifts during holidays—that’s all it takes.”

Yu Xing nodded in agreement, then crouched down to tell Liu Zhi to take good care of her mother.

Unexpectedly, as soon as Liu Zhi met his gaze, she coolly said: “You can trust me.”

Yu Xing: “...”

He patted the child’s head, stood up, and told Yan Lirong: “Shi-niang, you two go back. When Teacher gets home tonight, talk him out of being angry.”

Yan Lirong held her daughter’s hand and added one last thing: “Sigh, you two take care too. If anything comes up, call—we won’t hold back just because you’re embarrassed.”

Yu Xing and Zhong Zhiling left Teacher’s home.

Each lost in their own thoughts, they walked in silence through the residential compound.

At the compound gate, Yu Xing stopped: “Meet at the lakeside spot at nine tonight.”

“Huh? Big Brother, where are you going? Aren’t we going together?” Zhong Zhiling still wanted to follow.

“I need to look into potential clients here, and I need time to process what I learned from Sister Ying—she gave me real insights,” Yu Xing mused. “She used math to build a preliminary product model, but I think the real probability isn’t 3.7%. That means we have plenty of room to adjust our product setup. Anyway, I need to think.”

Zhong Zhiling pressed: “I won’t disturb you if I sit beside you.”

Yu Xing said simply: “You will.”

Zhong Zhiling had grown numb to his place in all this. After a few seconds of silence, he asked blankly: “Big Brother, do you think Teacher will agree? Will your ‘pillow talk’ and ‘cotton-padded jacket’ strategy even work?”

Yu Xing shook his head slightly: “We’ll know soon.”

He waved goodbye and strolled slowly down the road.

Zhong Zhiling watched his senior’s back for a while, unsure where to go. After thinking it over, he decided to meet his girlfriend for dinner.

These past two days had been emotionally turbulent—he needed emotional comfort.

But before Zhong Zhiling could eat dinner, he received a call from Teacher. Though the man’s tone remained stiff, it had softened compared to his earlier stance.

Zhong Zhiling’s spirits soared—he’d temporarily gained approval, and he was stunned by the power of this “pillow talk” + “cotton-padded jacket” tactic.

He couldn’t help thinking again of his senior’s lesson: manipulating people through people—could it really be that powerful?

Zhong Zhiling hadn’t seen his girlfriend in two days, and now with good news, dinner was unusually pleasant, with none of the usual arguments.

After dinner, he returned to his dorm, took a shower, then headed straight for the lakeside spot where he’d last met Big Brother.

Big Brother hadn’t arrived yet.

Zhong Zhiling sat down and slowly pondered his thoughts.

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

“Big Brother, you’re here,” Zhong Zhiling greeted.

“Mm.” Yu Xing nodded slightly, sat cross-legged on the ground, and asked casually, “Where’s Lu Haiying? Why isn’t she here?”

Zhong Zhiling froze: “What? Why would she come?”

Yu Xing also froze: “Huh? Didn’t she tell you? I called her—she agreed to join the company.”

Zhong Zhiling was utterly stunned. Join the company?

Who?

Her??

What???

"Your long-distance problem is solved," Yu Xing smiled. "You two won't have to worry about long-distance love anymore. Now you can focus entirely on our big problem."

He continued: “Today’s been a string of good news—we’ve got a big order, a new employee joining, real progress on the project, and a more accurate...”

Zhong Zhiling finally snapped to—what flashed through his mind wasn’t anything else, but the four words he’d witnessed today: “manipulate people through people.”

Fuck, you got my girlfriend into this fucking company!

Fuck, the company isn’t even registered yet!

Fuck, you talk about manipulating others—but you’re manipulating ME!

He shot to his feet, face instantly flushed, eyes tightly strained, and roared:

“Yu! Are you even human?!”