Chapter 21: No Wife Is Impossible to Pursue
Pu Huaiyan thought about it for a moment, then said, “Resolving the business trips is simple enough—I’ll just take you with me, and we can treat it as traveling. The main point is… does a long-distance relationship mean if you start off in different cities, you won’t consider it at all?”
“…” Shan Dai’s breathing grew so frantic that she could no longer catch the shop’s faint jasmine scent, as her senses were completely filled with the cool cedar fragrance emanating from the man beside her.
His words carried far too much aggression. She even felt as if Pu Huaiyan were holding her hand as he spoke—or perhaps his very next sentence would be a confession?
Taking a gentle sip of the mild Taiping Houkui tea to steady her chaotic mind, she finally spoke up: “President Pu might not know this, but long-distance relationships are a constant source of distress. You feel distressed even when you get to meet.”
He looked at her with a trace of doubt.
Shan Dai gazed up at the lovely chandelier on the ceiling, whispering softly, “When you’re long-distance, the whole world feels beautiful during the time you meet. But a while before you separate, you start experiencing an extreme sense of distress. Even though you haven’t arrived at the airport yet and aren’t separating just yet, you simply can’t bring yourself to be happy. You constantly wonder how long, how very long it will be until the next time you see each other.”
“Once you return home, you start wondering again: Will he love me forever? Could he… cheat on me? Especially when playing happily with friends, you think about your lover far away even more. You wonder how wonderful it would be if he were here, recall the lovely scenes from when you met, and ponder whether he’s with someone else at this very moment.”
The curve of her lips was neither too shallow nor too deep, yet exceptionally clear and transparent, as if she were telling someone else’s story: “If a long-distance relationship were merely temporary, it wouldn’t cause such sorrow. The reason it brings such sadness is that you have to be long-distance for a lifetime. A long-distance relationship makes a person feel constantly insecure and anxious.”
Pu Huaiyan’s eyes flickered, and in that moment, a permanent decision settled in his heart.
Shan Dai let out a soft, clear sigh, pulling back her distant gaze to fix her eyes on the man beside her, whose gaze burned intensely: “And in truth, Lu Zhixing and I weren’t long-distance for that long. As you know, it was only three months, and then everything changed. To put it dramatically, we were already married; it wasn’t as simple as a normal breakup. At that moment, I genuinely felt as if the sky had fallen.”
She gave a faint, bitter smile, no longer moved by the past, yet her words remained profoundly deep. “Because I had to face the solitude of a lover drifting away again, face the pain of betrayal, and handle a divorce, moving out, and managing all the news among our families and friends. It felt as if life had suddenly turned into a complete, chaotic mess.”
Pu Huaiyan watched her for a moment. After finishing her words, the girl kept her head down to sip her tea.
The Taiping Houkui was mild, making it dull to drink too much, yet she took sip after sip, visibly distracted.
He didn’t know whether she was thinking about something else, or thinking about her ex…
Pu Huaiyan reached out his hand.
She finally raised her head, her eyes moist from the hot steam of the tea, looking as if she had just cried.
However, she hadn’t cried. He knew she was actually very strong; a woman capable of running her own business wasn’t that fragile.
He gently stroked her head.
Shan Dai froze all over, subsequently lowering her flushed face.
With that touch, Shan Dai suddenly remembered that she had originally been sitting opposite him. After ordering, she had forgotten to move back. Should she stand up and walk over now? The distance between them was far too close.
“Just sit here. It’s more convenient for me to serve you food,” a magnetic male voice brushed past her ear just as she was caught in indecision.
Shan Dai nodded slightly, responding in a small voice, “Okay.” She knew she needed someone to serve her food, as using her hands for anything on her own was still quite a struggle.
“Have you been to this shop before, President Pu? You seem quite familiar with it,” Shan Dai brought up a normal topic of conversation two minutes later, feeling that their table was a bit too quiet when a party of guests finished their meal and passed by.
Pu Huaiyan: “I’ve only been here once before. When I first returned to the country last year, I wasn’t used to things and lacked interest in everything. One day, a friend from North America brought me here to eat, and I thought the flavor was pretty good.”
“So that’s how it was.” She sighed softly. “For someone raised abroad like you, adapting to the domestic diet and environment all at once is indeed not easy. It even made your stomach condition worse.”
Pu Huaiyan’s gaze drifted over her like a patch of hazy moonlight… So this was what it felt like to have someone care about him—a feeling he had never tasted in his entire life.
A server arrived carrying two bowls of noodles. Pu Huaiyan picked up a pair of chopsticks and handed them to Shan Dai.
She took them, “Thank you.”
Pu Huaiyan picked up a pair for himself, but he wasn’t in a hurry to eat, keeping his attention on the girl beside him. When she left the house today, she had clearly unraveled a layer of gauze to make it easier to hold chopsticks, but her hand was still different from a normal person’s. Furthermore, because it had been cut by the seatbelt when getting out of the car earlier, using chopsticks was even more awkward for her now.
In the blink of an eye, she touched her wound, her brows furrowing slightly.
A pang of aching sorrow surged in Pu Huaiyan’s heart. He immediately reached over to take her chopsticks, “Let me.”
Using the chopsticks together, he picked up two strands of noodles, rolled them up, and fed her, “If we roll them up like this before eating, your hand won’t have to strain to adjust the chopsticks’ position to pick up noodles.”
Shan Dai lowered her head to take a small bite, then offered a faint smile, taking back the chopsticks to give it a try herself.
Seeing that she could barely manage to eat, Pu Huaiyan finally picked up his own chopsticks.
“It’s so delicious.” After taking a proper bite, Shan Dai abruptly raised her head to look at Pu Huaiyan.
He raised an eyebrow with a smile: “Hmm?”
“It tastes even better than the ramen shop I ate at during my student days,” she said very earnestly, then lowered her head to continue rolling up noodles. “As expected of a shop that President Pu—who rarely eats—could still keep in mind.”
He let out a chuckle, shaking his head as he continued eating.
A moment later, the shrimp and snacks were served. Pu Huaiyan first used a pair of serving chopsticks to pick up two hissing steamed dumplings and two small dace fish balls, placing them into her noodle bowl so she could scoop them up with a spoon. Then, he put on a pair of disposable gloves to shell the garlic shrimp for her.
Shan Dai watched him, then looked down at her semi-disabled hands, quietly lowering her head to eat.
Ten minutes later, her phone rang.
Shan Dai set down her soup spoon and reached into her bag to search for her phone.
Pu Huaiyan also cast a subtle glance toward her, worried it might be a call from Lu Zhixing that would ruin their meal together.
Seeing no displeasure on her face after checking the caller’s name, Shan Dai simply tapped to answer: “Hello, Eldest Aunt.” After that, she gave Pu Huaiyan a tiny nod, stood up, and walked toward the entrance to talk.
Her eldest aunt said over the phone, “Dai Dai, have you off-work yet? Am I disturbing you?”
“No, Eldest Aunt, I’m eating. Is something wrong?” The hutong outside remained exceptionally quiet. Subconsciously wanting to take a stroll, Shan Dai crossed the few-meter-wide alley from the entrance and walked under a dark green streetlamp on the opposite side.
Through the half-height vintage bay window of the restaurant on the other side, half of their dining table was visible inside. Pu Huaiyan was shelling shrimp and topping off her teacup. The overhead light fell warmly upon his handsome, striking features, giving off a subtle feeling of time passing peacefully—as if they had known each other for far more than a month or two, but for at least a year or two.
Her eldest aunt’s voice flew into her ears during that moment of distraction: “It’s like this: your eldest uncle got into a car crash with someone while driving in the city center the day before yesterday.”
Shan Dai instantly stood up straight, holding her breath: “A car crash? Is it serious?”
“He’s hospitalized. It’s not life-threatening, but he has multiple fractures and needs several surgeries. The main thing is…” She sighed, “It wasn’t daylight yet when it happened, and they still haven’t found the perpetrator, so we have to cover the hospital and surgery expenses ourselves first. The doctor arranged for him to have spinal surgery in two days, which is the most important one. Look, Dai Dai, could you lend your aunt a bit of money? The money at home only covers half of it.”
“How much are all the surgeries in total? Please tell me.”
Her eldest aunt said sorrowfully, “We don’t need that much right this moment, but the doctor estimated that all the surgeries plus hospitalization fees will come to one or two hundred thousand yuan. Right now, the hospital fee alone is over two thousand yuan a day.”
Normally, this sum wouldn’t be a major issue for Shan Dai. Although the company was just getting off the ground and there was virtually no profit to go into the pockets of co-founders like her and Ziming, she could barely pull together one or two hundred thousand yuan.
Except she recalled her plan to buy an apartment. Before coming on this business trip, she had looked at a few properties and found one she liked, intending to buy it upon her return.
Small-sized properties didn’t carry an extraordinarily high total price, but as a tier-one international metropolis, Lan City’s property prices were second only to Beijing. Thus, even for a small apartment of a few dozen square meters, she had to borrow the down payment from Ziming; her own money was only enough to cover the renovation costs and couldn’t really be factored into the purchase price.
So if she gave her savings to her eldest aunt now, she would essentially be left empty-handed, lacking even living expenses, let alone money for renovations.
And if she didn’t even have renovation money, she wouldn’t have planned to buy in the first place.
However, her current rented apartment was something she had picked randomly just to move out of the marital home as quickly as possible, and living there wasn’t particularly suitable. She had only rented it short-term for three months; if she didn’t buy a place, she would have to look for apartments and move all over again, which was a huge hassle.
Therefore, she had to buy a place this time no matter what. To move in as quickly as possible, she had even looked at fully furnished units that didn’t require much alteration on her part, precisely to save money and time.
Naturally, she still had to provide the money for her eldest aunt; as for the property, she would just have to figure out another way.
“Eldest Aunt, send me your bank account number first. When I go back after dinner, I’ll find a bank to transfer the money to you, okay? Is it urgently needed at this hour?”
“Not urgent, not urgent! We can pay the fees tomorrow. Enjoy your dinner first, ah, go eat first.”
“Okay. Send me the account number then, and I’ll visit Eldest Uncle at the hospital after I return from my business trip. I’m currently on a business trip in Beijing and am not sure which day I’ll be back, I’m sorry.”
“Don’t say that! You’re busy, you’re busy, no need to come over. Your eldest uncle isn’t in any major danger, it’s fine, ah, you go mind your business.”
Shan Dai hung up the phone and sent a message to Ziming: “Do you have enough spare cash on you to cover the down payment for my apartment?”
She didn’t reply right away, so Shan Dai headed back inside.
Sitting down to face the deluxe bowl of ramen overflowing with shrimp meat and snacks, Shan Dai turned her head to look at the man eating peacefully: “President Pu… I can’t eat this much.” She felt quite embarrassed, “It’s so much trouble for you just for a meal, and you gave it all to me.”
“What silly words. Eat up.”
Shan Dai picked up her spoon, first eating two small crawfish, half a steamed dumpling, and a bite of a dace fish ball, checking her phone as she ate.
Ziming still hadn’t replied, so she couldn’t resist picking up her phone to call her. It didn’t go through.
She dialed another call.
“What’s wrong? Is there something so urgent?” Pu Huaiyan asked her.
Shan Dai raised her eyes from her phone, “Oh, I’m looking for my friend to handle something.”
Pu Huaiyan: “What was that call you just took? An emergency?”
Shan Dai shook her head. Because it involved money, she didn’t state it directly, fearing Pu Huaiyan would resolve it for her with a wave of his hand.
Pu Huaiyan said nonchalantly, “If it’s not urgent, why keep calling right now? Can’t you call after finishing your meal, or call tomorrow?”
Shan Dai gave a dry laugh, silently hanging up the call that had been ringing continuously.
However, she was visibly distracted, checking her phone immediately whenever it vibrated, only to find it was a promotional text from China Mobile.
She pouted her lips helplessly, feeling a little miffed, then lowered her head to bite into a plump shrimp in one mouthful.
Pu Huaiyan witnessed everything from beside her, the corners of his lips curving up wildly. In a normal tone, he asked, “What is it that you can’t tell me? Let’s see if I can help.”
Shan Dai thought to herself that she was precisely afraid of his help, so she muttered, “It’s nothing, just a small matter. I can handle it myself.”
“You can’t tell me about a small matter?”
“…” Shan Dai’s eyes darted around, caught in indecision. If she didn’t speak now, it would seem overly distant and strange.
A few seconds later, she looked up and said in a small voice, “It’s my aunt. She wanted to borrow some money from me, so I wanted to ask my friend for a short-term loan.”
“Did something happen? Does she need a lot?”
“It’s for surgery fees; my eldest uncle got into a car crash,” she said helplessly. “My own money is enough to lend them, but I was recently considering buying an apartment. If I use the money, I won’t have funds left to renovate my apartment. So I wanted to contact my friend first to see if she can back me up from start to finish. If she doesn’t have it, I’ll have to find another way. That’s why I wanted to settle this matter tonight.”
“If she doesn’t have it, do you have other friends who can lend you that much money?”
She genuinely didn’t. In truth, everyone had only graduated from master’s programs a year ago. Those who went to work at companies after graduation—like Yuyu, who came to Beijing and joined Yuanshi Group—only earned a salary of a few thousand yuan. With Beijing’s high cost of living, they essentially had no savings.
She was an exception because she became a founder, and all the capital to launch the company had been provided by Ziming, which was why she barely had a bit of savings to handle daily life.
So… aside from Ziming, no one else could lend her money.
“If worst comes to worst, I just won’t buy it.” Ziming genuinely might not be able to give her two million yuan all at once. Though she came from a wealthy family, she had been stubborn over the past two years during her startup journey, refusing to take a single penny from her family. Thus, her current lifestyle was fairly restrained, and she had to keep spare cash to handle company emergencies, unable to spend as she pleased.
“If you don’t buy, where will you live? Keep renting?”
“Renting is normal enough. It’s just that the apartment I found on short notice recently—the silver apartment you dropped me off at twice—is in an old residential compound with poor soundproofing. Plus, the commute to the company is extremely congested, requiring me to leave at least half an hour early every time. So if I don’t buy, I’d need to switch to a new place anyway, which made me think I might as well just buy one.”
Pu Huaiyan placed a fish ball into the soup spoon in her noodle bowl: “How much? Tell me, and I’ll transfer it to you.”
Shan Dai immediately shook her head, “No need. I’ll wait for my friend’s reply; she should be able to help me out. Her family is wealthy.”
“I’m right here, and you insist on seeking help from afar?” His chopsticks picked up a strand of noodles, his gaze drifting lightly onto her.
Shan Dai murmured, “I… don’t want to trouble President Pu anymore.”
“So distant,” the man said with absolute composure, nodding. “Then for this meal, is Miss Shan treating, am I treating, or are we splitting it half and half?”
“…” Shan Dai grew a bit anxious, quickly explaining, “Those are two separate matters. President Pu accompanied me to social engagements, provided door-to-door transportation, and hasn’t eaten this late at night—there’s no reason to make you pay in the end.”
“You calculate things so clearly; thank you for not factoring in the gas money. Did you know gas prices dropped recently, or do you think I wouldn’t care about a small detail like that?”
“…” A jolt of electric current seemed to streak across her back.
Pu Huaiyan: “Though it’s almost enough to fill me up with anger, so no need to eat.”
“…” Shan Dai didn’t know which part of her words had angered him, pursing her lips in grievance.
Pu Huaiyan made a decision in concise, succinct terms: “How much do you need? Give me your card number, and I’ll have someone transfer it over right now. Keep your money untouched and save it to buy your apartment.”
Shan Dai glanced at her phone, wondering if that girl Ziming had gone on a date with Bentley Bro… Lately, she was absurdly infatuated with Bentley Bro.
After two seconds of hesitation, she opened WeChat, intending to forward the picture of the bank card number her eldest aunt had sent over to him.
“Wait a moment,” Pu Huaiyan said suddenly. “Give me your own card number. I’ll transfer it to your card, and then you can transfer it to your aunt.”
“Oh, okay.” Though she didn’t know why, she still sent her bank card number to his WeChat.
Pu Huaiyan picked up his phone and tapped a few times, likely having someone make the transfer on the spot.
In the blink of an eye, a text message popped up on Shan Dai’s phone. Her card was with Siyuan Bank in Lan City, and the incoming transaction recorded one million RMB.
Shan Dai forgot to blink, calculating it two or three times before confirming she hadn’t misread it. She immediately turned her head to look at Pu Huaiyan: “Did President Pu hit an extra zero? Why is it so much? The surgery fees are only one or two hundred thousand yuan.”
“It’s not much.” Meeting her anxious eyes, he offered a faint smile, “You’re moving into a new home soon; shouldn’t I give you a housewarming gift?”
She took a deep breath.
Pu Huaiyan: “Take the rest to buy furniture, or for renovations. A congratulatory gift for you.”
Shan Dai drew in a breath to speak, but he abruptly changed the subject, dropping a line: “Have you considered expanding to Beijing?”
“…” She froze.
Pu Huaiyan placed a steamed dumpling in her bowl, speaking in an unhurried manner: “How about this: skip buying the house in Lan City, and buy one in Beijing instead?”
Shan Dai smiled instantly, confirming she hadn’t misheard, “Although I did consider opening a company in Beijing back in the day, as you mentioned, I can’t even afford a house in Lan City without relying entirely on loans and borrowing, let alone one here.”
“I was just speaking casually. You don’t need to worry about a house; if you come, you won’t end up on the streets no matter what.” He didn’t take it to heart at all.
“…” Shan Dai said, “But the company has already taken root in Jiangnan.”
“I mean a branch company. In your industry, expanding to Beijing will be much smoother than staying in Lan City.”
“I know, mm.” Shan Dai agreed, nodding. “When we included Beijing in our considerations back then, it was because we knew there would be more opportunities here. But a branch company… we basically lack the capability for that right now.”
Pu Huaiyan: “Regarding what you discussed today, your company also involves AI.”
“It doesn’t operate independently; we’re just touching upon it and testing its application in gaming projects. Or rather, it’s a means to attract projects. AI development domestically is still quite basic at present, so there is a market, but building it up independently is still a long and difficult road. My friend and I are only just preparing for it.”
“Putting aside how ambitious your goal is, let’s just talk about the one you discussed today.” He picked up his chopsticks again to serve her shrimp, gesturing for her to eat. “Projects of this nature are only just developing, and progress will be even faster over the next two years. I won’t speak for other places, but Yanxin’s project reserves are already lined up through the end of next year. I told you during our very first meeting that we could collaborate, and I wasn’t just speaking casually.” He shot her a glance.
Shan Dai’s heart thumped. Wasn’t this a trade secret? She knew there were many opportunities here, but she truly hadn’t known they were this formidable.
Pu Huaiyan: “To put it another way, relying solely on the project reserves Yanxin has to offer, your team would already be overwhelmed. Furthermore, I can guarantee that you can negotiate a long-term collaboration with the head of Yanxin’s Gaming Department. Your AI application is indeed attractive. That head of department is someone I called back from the US. Yanxin doesn’t have plans to develop AI domestically, but our North American branch does—it was established three years ago, and I have a general vision and plan for its future.”
Shan Dai fell into deep thought, her serene heart violently thrown into waves by the embarrassment of lacking money and the lure of lucrative business opportunities.
Pu Huaiyan placed a small fish ball into her bowl, speaking at an unhurried pace, “With your company based in the south, you’ll miss out on some business opportunities due to distance costs. Just now, you told the other party that your company is currently in talks for quite a few Beijing projects. Was that just you bluffing him, or was it real?”
Shan Dai abruptly let out a low laugh: “Half and half. We genuinely are in talks for quite a few projects right now, though they haven’t been finalized yet; his was the first one finalized. I said that to drive the price down. He spoke a bit grandiosely to pit me, so I bluffed him back in return. Merchants bluffing back and forth—I’m not noble.” Her face flushed slightly.
Yet Pu Huaiyan remarked with playful interest, “Then do you think I’m noble?”
Shan Dai answered without a second thought, “Noble, of course! I don’t know about business, but President Pu’s personal character is very noble. Right from our first meeting, you helped…” She bit her lip, leaving her words unfinished.
Pu Huaiyan’s heart thumped for a second, thinking to himself: Then you truly misjudged me, Dai Dai. In this regard, I really can’t be considered noble.
The man looked at her: “As for business, I can only say you’re smart. A deal where one party suffers a loss won’t last long. That man is a thorough scoundrel through and through; bluffing him a bit is nothing.”
She offered a faint smile.
Inside the old hutong restaurant, that smile was like a spring breeze drifting through the window, slowly sweeping across Pu Huaiyan’s heart.
He forced himself to calm down and talk business, “In short, even if subsequent projects don’t pan out, once you finish collaborating with this firm, projects will flow in continuously. You don’t need to care about those currently in talks; having the value to serve as stepping stones is good enough.”
Shan Dai felt it as well. Because that game was currently very popular, collaborating with it would allow them to ride its fame. One could only say that both sides appreciated each other’s strengths, so it wasn’t a case of her exaggerating her company’s strength to lure them.
Pu Huaiyan gestured to the food before her, refraining from sitting idly, “I’ll tell you more on the road later. Eat first.”
Shan Dai really wanted to keep chatting with him, but she truly couldn’t eat once she started talking, so she could only quietly hold her tongue and lower her head to eat.
It was no wonder this shop could operate in an old hutong and still be a prestigious restaurant frequented by Pu Huaiyan. On the surface, it seemed to offer ordinary noodles and snacks, yet every single dish was delicious. Shan Dai rarely ate so much for a late-night meal.
After finishing her food, she drank half a cup of tea. Having rested enough, she stood up lazily.
The checkout counter was at the very end of the shop, and she walked ahead to go over first.
Shan Dai was worried Pu Huaiyan would try to pay, but surprisingly, as she reached the counter, he showed no intention of rushing ahead, strolling over leisurely behind her while tidying his cuffs, looking remarkably refined and carefree.
Shan Dai asked the cashier, “Hello, how much is it?”
The other party flipped through the bill and quoted the number, “Hello, ma’am, this table comes to 292 yuan.”
Shan Dai pulled three hundred-yuan bills from her wallet, handed them over, and took back eight yuan in change.
As she turned around, Pu Huaiyan stood a meter away waiting for her quietly, hands tucked into his trouser pockets.
There were no guests at the nearby tables, as people preferred sitting in the corners, making it seem at a glance as if the entire hall held only the two of them.
His stance genuinely resembled a high-ranking leader inspecting the countryside—usually appearing approachable and empathetic, blending in with the people and working hard, yet in the quiet of night, he inevitably exuded an innate, aristocratic aura. A single glance was enough to know he was someone serviced at the foot of the imperial capital, the kind of prominent figure Ziming often spoke of.
Shan Dai smiled inexplicably.
“What are you smiling at?” The man raised an eyebrow lazily.
That movement of his was remarkably handsome—his sharp brows lightly raised, framed by the falling leaves drifting outside the shop, a harmony of stillness and motion.
The gramophone was playing a Cantonese song, Your Eyes.
I cannot help but raise my head / To look at you Yet you / Leave no trace behind
He was exceptionally composed, looking as though he were handsome without even realizing it. Yet a single subtle, effortless movement made her—the one he liked—turn passive, sending ripples through her heart.
Pu Huaiyan—an authoritative name, whether in business, in private, or in her heart.
Shan Dai lowered her head with a touch of unnaturalness, brushing past his side, whispering the scenario that had just run through her mind to him—naturally cutting out the part regarding her thoughts on the song’s remaining lines.
After hearing it, the man surprisingly neither denied nor tried to clear his name, simply extending a hand to support her while saying, “I am indeed accustomed to such occasions. Or rather, I prefer this kind of solitary atmosphere.”
“…” Her cheeks felt a bit warm, and she intentionally turned back to tease him, “I thought President Pu remained silent all evening in the restaurant because the shop was too noisy. Turns out it was because a third party was present.”
“Of course. I have plenty to say to you wherever we are. Have I ever given you a cold face?”
“…” Her face flushed red. Far from being cold, it was frequently burning hot.
Leaving the hutong area, a hazy drizzle began pouring down from the pitch-black sky without warning.
After driving into the city center, while waiting at a red light, Pu Huaiyan was considering bringing up the unfinished topic with the person beside her, or rather, planning her path to Beijing.
Casting a glance sideways, he saw a few people emerging from the entrance of a business club by the roadside, men and women exchanging polite pleasantries.
Lu Zhixing, taking Xu Minheng along, was entertaining clients.
The moment the former turned his head over, Pu Huaiyan rolled up the car window.
Shan Dai had been enjoying the breeze in the passenger seat. The airflow was cross-ventilated, so when the driver’s window went up, the wind on her side stopped as well.
Thinking he wanted to turn on the air conditioning and thus closed the window, Shan Dai sat back up straight, no longer leaning against the window frame.
“Pressed the wrong button,” Pu Huaiyan said, rolling down his side of the window after starting the car.
“Oh, it’s fine, it wasn’t hot anyway.”
Pu Huaiyan brought up the main topic: “Have you thought about the missed opportunities caused by distance? If you had a company in Beijing, all these projects could be taken into consideration.”
Shan Dai tilted her head to look toward the driver’s seat.
Pu Huaiyan: “Big or small, you wouldn’t need to miss out on any of them, because making contact wouldn’t take much effort. Handling everyday discussions and social engagements would be extremely convenient. If you stay in Lan City and lack capable assistants early on, having to handle business discussions personally means missing out on at least half the projects.”
Shan Dai genuinely began to ponder. If another Beijing project came up a few days after her return, would she really have to run back again?
It truly was a major issue.
Pu Huaiyan glanced toward the passenger seat, meeting the girl’s eyes, which shimmered like moonlight on water. “To give an example, if you plan to capture all the market share in Lan City within five years and reach a projected profit target, having this company in Beijing could allow you to hit that target in two to three years. In the remaining two years, developing both simultaneously could achieve your ten-year plan.”
Shan Dai said helplessly, “The costs in Beijing are far too high; that’s why we abandoned it initially. Besides, our side just got onto the right track, with more projects coming in only at the start of this year. Plus, we’re considering adding AI projects, which burn money like crazy.” She let out a sigh, resting her chin on her hand, “Maybe in another two years everything will fall into place naturally. Once we have the strength, we’ll definitely aim far and capture the market in every region domestically.”
Pu Huaiyan rejected her idea: “If you come to Beijing, you won’t need to worry about anything—the company location, your living arrangements, a car, company startup capital. Whether through official channels or private means, I will take care of everything for you, free of charge.”
“…”
“As for social engagements, you don’t need to worry about the danger of being alone—I can accompany you anytime, completely risk-free.” Pausing, his tone softened, no longer pressing her relentlessly without pause, as he said, “Even if you can’t come temporarily, you can put off buying the house in Lan City for a bit, okay?”
“Why?”
“Because that house will drain your savings, making it inconvenient for you to handle anything else. If you don’t want to keep living in your current place, find a hotel you like, move in, and take a month or so to consider whether the company’s expansion is feasible. If it works, come straight to Beijing, leave everything to me, and you won’t have to worry about a single thing.”
Shan Dai stared straight at him, thinking as she looked at him: Beijing, Beijing… What was the attraction of expanding to Beijing?
—It was a massive market, and Pu Huaiyan, who could handle everything for her.
“Then why did you give me so much money as a housewarming gift?” Shan Dai suddenly asked with her brows slightly knitted, “Isn’t that redundant?”
Pu Huaiyan smiled, looking at her tender, flushed face with irrepressible softness in his eyes, “A red envelope… welcoming our Miss Shan to settle in the capital.”
Shan Dai’s face instantly flushed crimson. She lowered her head and murmured, “Having President Pu provide everything and taking a red envelope on top of that—do I look like I’m coming to expand a business? I look like I’m coming to raid the place.”
Pu Huaiyan whispered softly, “Silly girl, if you really come, what I give you will be far more than just this.”
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