Chapter 55: Who Could Possibly Withstand This?

Although Ma Hongtao appeared simple and honest on the outside, his heart had been deeply wounded by the headquarters. Many people in the company looked down upon him. Many middle-aged and elderly cadres like him would go to the headquarters, sit cross-legged with a cup of old tea, and act all aloof and self-important. Many people were far better, more outstanding, and more remarkable than him.

Initially, Ma Hongtao remained wary of Cherry Media. He wanted to see if they were just taking advantage of a crisis—not wanting the workers, but only coveting the land. Now that they had firmly agreed to take over the contract and even put forward practical suggestions...

Ma Hongtao did not care whether the Lin family, the Guo family, or the Liu family took over the gift factory. As long as he could lead these employees so they wouldn't have to worry about food and clothing and could live with greater dignity, it would be worth it even if he was no longer within the system! He also wanted to show the people at the group how they would pull themselves out of adversity and live with dignity!

However, although the current Mecen Gift Factory covered a considerable area, the machinery and equipment were still on the way, and technicians from Shanghai had just arrived. If they blindly copied other people's products, it would still be very difficult to build a brand.

One of the technicians from Shanghai looked at the blueprint and said with some surprise, "This design is quite interesting. I wonder which studio Director Ma found to design this?"

"Just follow it and make them. These were done by my friends!" Ma Hongtao bragged with a grand demeanor.

The technicians from Shanghai thought to themselves: *You're just a country bumpkin from Jiangdong, how could you have such a level of skill?*

Chen Yan smiled. Ma Hongtao's boasting was also a helpless move. As a leader, one needed to awe the lecturing monks who came from the big cities!

In fact, the designs Lin Cheng had Yu Yan create surpassed the aesthetic vision of this era. However, to break into Beijing and Shanghai, they would still need to find a professional team to weed out the old and bring forth the new. But that was not an urgent priority at the moment.

Ma Hongtao stepped out of the office, and the sunlight was dazzling.

From signing the contract, starting operations, bringing in equipment, to recruiting senior engineers—from daily operations to full production—it would still take some time, but the overall direction was set. Neither Lin Cheng nor Chen Yan was suitable to step forward for many matters. After all, turmoil in a state-owned factory would cause unpredictable vibrations among upstream and downstream partners, so they could enjoy a little more leisure time for a while longer.

On yet another extraordinary Sunday, Chen Yan continued to busy himself with the company. Lin Cheng diligently practiced the senior high school secret cheat sheets, which gradually calmed his soaring spirit.

He walked up to the teaching building's rooftop. The sky above was unusually clear, with a few wisps of clouds scattered by an invisible wind.

His phone rang, and when he picked it up, it was Yu Yan!

Yu Yan had a trial class for a tutoring session that evening, and she wanted Lin Cheng to go and listen in. After all, Lin Cheng was a student in the key class! High school students were all very busy, but she had undertaken the design drawings out of a sense of duty, after all!

In the first class, the teacher gave a diagnostic quiz, and in the next class, deskmates would grade each other's papers before going over the explanations. When Yu Yan got back her graded test paper and saw a sea of glowing red crosses, she felt deeply discouraged.

In fact, art students had it extremely tough. They had to spend a vast amount of time studying their professional subjects, and the cultural score requirements for the top art academies in the country were not low. For instance, out of about 15,000 candidates for the Tsinghua and Peking University art academies last year, only 225 were admitted, yielding an admission ratio of about 1.5%. Their cultural scores had to be at least 30 points higher than the regular Tier-1 score line (559 points for humanities, 569 points for science).

Inside the classroom, only the rustling sound of pen tips scraping against paper could be heard.

Lin Cheng silently picked up his pen and began explaining the problems to Yu Yan one by one.

He wrote out the steps on a scratchpad while Yu Yan watched from the side, occasionally raising her eyes to meet his gaze. Yu Yan possessed typical double-fold eyelids with peach blossom eyes—watery and carrying an innocent, deer-like charm, while the outer corners of her eyes slanted slightly upward, possessing a fox-like allure. Just one look was enough to make a person lose themselves completely.

Although Yu Yan's gaze during those moments meant to convey, "I don't understand," or "I get it now," it still made Lin Cheng's heart pound wildly!

Lin Cheng explained it to her in a very, very quiet voice. The feeling was wondrous. Even when Yu Yan didn't speak, Lin Cheng somehow managed to understand her.

Their cheeks were pressed very close together. They could both feel each other's rhythmic breathing falling softly against their ears.

Yu Yan gently pushed Lin Cheng away. "You, you, you, don't lean so close."

"Oh, right. Do you understand this question?"

Yu Yan looked at the page full of derivation steps and shook her head.

Lin Cheng earnestly resumed his explanation, thinking to himself, *We're just going over a problem, why am I blushing?*

When Yu Yan looked at Lin Cheng with gratitude, those eyes were truly clear, resembling two rippling, shimmering springs.

"What are you looking at? Never seen a handsome guy before?"

Yu Yan: "..."

When you are with different people, the length of time feels different. It felt like time just "swooshed" by until it reached 9:00 PM. Lin Cheng hadn't wanted to disturb Yu Yan's studying, but he had fallen asleep without realizing it.

When he woke up, Lin Cheng found that his right foot couldn't move. Turning his head, he saw Yu Yan blinking her long eyelashes and smiling at him!

Lin Cheng looked down and saw that their shoelaces had been tied together.

Between crying and laughing, Lin Cheng asked, "What are you doing?"

"This time it's my turn to bully you!" Yu Yan said, turning her head with a mischievous smile.

Back in elementary school, Lin Cheng had tied Yu Yan's shoelaces to her desk, making her cry sadly in the restroom for an entire class period...

At this moment, looking at their shoelaces tied together, Lin Cheng actually felt a sense of lifelong companionship akin to a married couple! He genuinely wished he could perform wedding bows right then and there.

While smiling, Yu Yan leaned down and retied Lin Cheng's shoelaces for him.

Lin Cheng was utterly defeated.

The moment Yu Yan stood up and raised her head, wherever the tips of her hair brushed past, there was nothing but starlight and fragrance.

Oh my goodness! Who could withstand that?!

...

Walking home, the stars dotted the sky like mischievous little elves, quietly watching. The shadows on the ground stretched long and then shortened under the streetlamps...

You gifted me red beans, yet you might as well write me a song. Signed with your name, neat and pleasing to the eye. If I were to compare you to a song, you would be the high mountains and flowing waters. Beauties dancing, heaven and earth dancing, a melody of peerless beauty.

Lin Cheng had three social circles. One belonged to the wealthy young masters and socialites, such as Zhuang Sijing. Another was filled with the warmth of ordinary mortal life, like Zhao Weichen and Yu Yan. Then there was the circle of prominent courtyard-dwelling youth that he had accidentally stepped into after his rebirth.

Yet, whose youth is without confusion? Whose youth lacks a secret crush?

Lin Cheng had once suspected that someone like Zheng Nange—arrogant, unbridled, and the young master of a father who was a deputy ministerial-level secretary—would one day need his help.

Until the day Zheng Nange instigated Zhou Ye to call him, saying they wanted him to join a gathering together.

"Hey, Lin Cheng, come along! Zheng Nange turns to mush the moment he hears Jiang Yuwan's name, hehe, Jiang Yuwan was his first love—"

Just as Zhou Ye was speaking, the sound of someone snatching the phone could be heard on the other end, followed by the clatter of the phone dropping to the ground.

Zheng Nange picked it up and said, "Don't listen to his nonsense!"

Lin Cheng had no desire to attend any parties with Zheng Nange. Given that time, he would much rather busy himself for a while at Cherry Media or the Mecen Gift Factory.

"I guess I won't go. I'm not familiar with your friends."

Zheng Nange let out a disappointed "Oh."

The phone was snatched back by Zhou Ye and Zhou Luoyao. "Hey! We helped you snatch a little beauty in Baodu, after all! If you don't help out now, won't you feel a little ashamed..."