Chapter 16: A New Home

When Xiaoyun got back to the old man's house, he arrived only to see the old butler standing outside the door. "Good afternoon, mister. I had put everything inside this suitcase." The butler handed the suitcase to Xiaoyun. "Can I walk inside the house one more time? Just as a visitor?" Xiaoyun asked as he thought back to all the memories he had made living at the old man's house. "Sorry, mister. Master had told me explicitly to not allow you in." The butler bowed down in apology. "Is the new house owner Songyi?" Xiaoyun curiously asked. "Yes, mister..." The butler looked down in shame as soon as Xiaoyun asked the question. "I understand... It was nice knowing you." Xiaoyun shoved the suitcase inside the back of the trunk as he took one last look at the house before getting inside the car. "Mister... This is probably going to be the last time we see each other, but I just wanted to tell you it has been an honor serving you." "I appreciate your work as well, Thank you." Xiaoyun waved goodbye as the butler watched him drive off into the distance. --- "Where do I go?" Xiaoyun wondered as he drove around the city in circles, having no goal in mind as he looked lost on what to do next. Eventually, he arrived back at the coffee shop where he and Leyan used to hang out. "Sir, what drink do you want?" Xiaoyun thought for a second, then ordered what Leyan had always drank during late-night study sessions. "Just a cup of black coffee." "It will be ten Yuan, sir." Xiaoyun swiped his credit card and then sat down to a nearby seat. After waiting for a few minutes, the waiter brought the coffee over to his table. As Xiaoyun took a sip of it, the bitterness suddenly brought out a memory in his head. Leyan was laughing at him for spitting out the coffee after drinking coffee for the first time, and it only got better after she put in some sugar for him. Xiaoyun idly waited at the coffee shop as if he were hoping that Leyan was going to appear out of nowhere. But after waiting for two hours, Xiaoyun finally got up and got back into his car. Xiaoyun decided to drive back to the college they used to go to together. But before he could walk inside, the security guard stopped him. "Sir, can you please show your identification?" "I'm a graduate student here. My name is Chen Songming. I don't have my student ID with me." The security paused for a second as he felt he had heard the name before. "Wait, are you the person who donated the money to renovate the lunch building?" The security asked as he finally realized who Xiaoyun was. "If you're talking about the charity that I gave to graduate early, then yes." "Sir, you can go right in." The security moved to the side to let Xiaoyun go, but Xiaoyun decided to ask a question before he went in. "Can I ask if Li Leyan has ever entered the campus?" "Sir, I can't tell you that; that's against the code of privacy." The security signaled his hand as if he wanted money. "Here, one hundred. Is it enough?" "Yes, yes, it's enough. Okay, let me check the system right now... Nope, she hasn't come back to the campus since she graduated." Xiaoyun thought back to all the attempts he had made to call Leyan, only for her to never pick up. He started to get desperate as he wanted to see Leyan again. "Can you also tell me where she lives? I am willing to pay." Xiaoyun asked. "As much I wanted to help you, I don't have access to that. You are going to need to ask the principal or the IT director... Unless you have a good reason, they won't give it to you." After the security guard finished, Xiaoyun turned back around and left without going in. As Xiaoyun started driving aimlessly around the city again, he noticed a giant advertisement sign on top of a realtor building. "Want to marry someone? Want to build a family? You must buy a house before doing any of that in today's marriage scene!" After driving past it a few times, Xiaoyun suddenly stopped his car. "I still don't have anywhere to go yet... She wouldn't want to see me in this state. I need to find a place to live until I find her." As Xiaoyun walked inside the realtor store, a saleswoman instantly walked up to him. Fortunately, the metal door had never set a password, so he just put in the old man's birthday as the password and continued. After pushing another door open that didn't have a lock, Xiaoyun finally arrived at the basement. The basement was empty. There was nothing in there. It was just an empty concrete basement. But for some reason, Xiaoyun's head keeps imagining a massive metal ball in the middle, with a table and chair next to it. After getting out of the basement, Xiaoyun went back to his truck to take his suitcase out. Then he carried the suitcase upstairs to the master bedroom and put away all the clothes in the closets. As he moved everything out of the suitcase, he suddenly noticed a piece of paper and an envelope. Xiaoyun grabbed the piece of paper and read it. "Hello, Mister Xiaoyun, this is your old butler. When you are reading this, I will be already retiring... I miss the time when you and Mister Songyun were still in the house. It was probably the most respect I had gotten working as a butler. Mister Songyi is really rude and disrespectful to the workers. He even told me to throw away everything that you owned when he entered the house. But I had put all your belongings into this suitcase. Mister Songyi seems not to understand that it's just a job, not a slavery contract. Before Mister Songyun died, he left me a letter to either give to Mister Songming or Songyi when Songyi came back home. But judging from Mister Songyi's behavior, I much prefer you to keep this letter. Best of luck, your old butler..." Xiaoyun took out the envelope and opened it. It was a bunch of financial transactions of the stockholder using company money for luxury trips and houses. "So this was what grandpa meant when he said they wouldn't be there if it weren't for him..." Xiaoyun realized the leverage he had just gotten over them, but he didn't intend to use them as he no longer worked in the company anyway. --- A month later. Xiaoyun still hasn't found Leyan. He had been sitting in the coffee store every day, waiting for Leyan to show up one day. But it never happened. Leyan still hasn't responded to any of his messages, nor has she called him back ever since their breakup. Suddenly, Xiaoyun's phone rang. Xiaoyun immediately took out his mobile phone, but instead of Leyan's name written on the phone number, it was a stranger's call. "Hello?" "Hello, is this Chen Songming?" A middle-aged man's voice came out of the phone. Yes, this is Songming. Who is this?" "I'm Li Ping, and I'm the representative of the board of directors of Songjia's Manufacturing Company. The collective stockholder had selected me. I'm calling this time to invite you to come back and work for the company again." Li Ping suggested. "Didn't I resign and give Songyi as CEO?" Xiaoyun asked in confusion. "His shares were only 30%. Our board of directors has discussed that due to his poor management, he will be stepped down from CEO effective immediately." "Mr.Chen, we are willing to give you 5% of the company stock as a dividend as long as you come back here to work as the CEO again." Seeing that Xiaoyun did not answer in silence, Li Ping raised his stake again. "Mr.Chen, we can offer you 10%. That is the most we can offer. Please, the company needs you. You don't want the old man's work to go to waste, do you?" Xiaoyun still didn't respond as he didn't take Li Ping's bait. "Fine. We can give you 20%, but you will need to convince Songyi to sell his share of the company, and we will give it to you." Xiaoyun finally responded. "You know, before Grandpa left, he gave me a letter." "Grandpa? Do you mean that old man Songyun? What about the letter?" Li Ping asked. "Oh, the letter just contained certain people using company money for their private affairs... Surely you wouldn't do something illegal, would you, Mr.Li?" "Yeah, I would never do such a thing." Hearing Li Ping's voice suddenly changed, and Xiaoyun knew he had guessed it right. "Actually, would you mind hosting a board of directors meeting tomorrow? I just want to talk to them face to face." Xiaoyun raised his voice as he asked. "Yeah, I will do that. I will call them immediately." Li Ping started to voice crack under pressure as he accepted Xiaoyun's suggestion. "Good, see you tomorrow at the company then." Xiaoyun hung up the phone. "Look like I am going to have a lot of things to do... why am I dragging myself back into this?... Is it just because i don't want to see grandpa's legacy fall into ruin?" Xiaoyun takes a sip of black coffee as the sun sets on the horizon.