compromise

"Brother, how could you do such a thing?" Zhang Yan roared, her expression serious.

"No wonder you looked at me so deeply just now; it turns out you wanted me to keep your secret. You corrupt individual." Zhang Yan suddenly felt a pang of disappointment.

"How can we earn this kind of money? Where is your stance? Where are your vows? Where are the words you swore when you raised your fist?"

Lin Yuan thought for a moment, "Uh... I haven't raised my fist yet."

"Even so, it's not allowed. This is a matter of principle. No wonder you didn't want me to include this in the report, no wonder you didn't want commendation. Once you take this step, behind you is an abyss. I must save you.

Your mistake is even more serious than I imagined."

"Then, in your imagination, what kind of mistake did I make?"

"I... you... that's not the point. In short, I don't agree with you doing this."

Lin Yuan then casually said, "Then where did your casual one million come from, considering you just started working?"

Zhang Yan was speechless this time. "It's savings from my elders at home."

"Come on," Lin Yuan opened the calculator on his phone. "Tell me your elders' income, and I'll calculate it for you. Let's see what kind of income allows someone to casually give a million to a child who just started working. And it seems like a million is a small case for you, oh."

"Brother, I'm trying to help you, but you're using my good intentions to threaten me."

Lin Yuan felt very wronged. "Brother didn't reenact 'The Farmer and the Snake.' Didn't Brother also kindly analyze the report for you and lay everything bare? But you just won't let Brother make a little money. Besides, stock trading is legal. Do you have explicit internal regulations forbidding you from trading stocks?"

Zhang Yan was speechless again. After a moment of thought, she said, "Are you short on money because of Song Xiaoxiao's situation? I can lend it to you, okay? Please don't earn this kind of money."

"Xiao Zhang, this kind of money isn't ill-gotten gains from the common people. It's money that's there for the taking. The stock market is a battlefield; there are no innocent people."

"Do you have to do this?"

"Yes."

"Then will you still do this if you encounter such an opportunity in the future?"

"I will."

"At least lie to me, even if it's just a little."

"I don't have many friends, so I don't want to lie to them."

Zhang Yan's heart was a mix of emotions. "But you're definitely going to get into trouble if you keep this up."

"Don't worry. This isn't a matter of principle." Lin Yuan just couldn't explain to her that he didn't hold public office, so trading stocks was completely legal for him. However, it was probably best if his mentor and others didn't know about this kind of opportunistic bottom-fishing.

"I don't want to have to catch you a third time in the future."

Lin Yuan joked, "Worst case, it'll be like seven captures of Meng Huo, right?"

"Bah, bah, bah, don't talk nonsense." Zhang Yan's face was pained. "You're making this very difficult for me; you're forcing me to betray my beliefs."

"And your million doesn't betray your beliefs?"

"Someone in my family is in business." Zhang Yan raised her hand. "I swear to God. I didn't want to mention this to avoid suspicion. Our family has always operated legally; this is a rule set by my great-grandfather's generation."

Lin Yuan didn't want to delve deeper into this topic with her, because even legitimate businesses could still lead to vast wealth. He simply said, "Then do you think that if your family members in business encountered an opportunity like Good Group to make money, would they take it?"

"But you're not a businessman."

"From the perspective of a collective whole, what's the fundamental difference between one person doing two things and two people within a family each doing one thing?"

"I can't argue with you. But I just feel, isn't it just a million? Is it worth it? My parents often tell me: people need to learn to look long-term. Although I'm usually impulsive, I know this kind of money shouldn't be earned. At least, it's simply not worth earning."

Lin Yuan sighed. "Born into a wealthy family, the perspective is just different."

Zhang Yan did not deny it.

The two of them were in a stalemate for quite a while.

"Alright. This time, you're helping Song Xiaoxiao, so it's somewhat excusable. Promise you won't do this again next time, and I'll pretend I didn't see anything."

Lin Yuan was direct. "I can't promise that."

Zhang Yan pulled out her phone and fiddled with it, then she became a little frantic, "Ahhh~~~, why is there a transfer limit?" She actually wanted to transfer a million to Lin Yuan.

This scene touched Lin Yuan a little. "I appreciate your kindness. A gentleman seeks harmony, but not uniformity; we shouldn't have discussed this so deeply."

Zhang Yan pouted and lowered her head, looking like she was in an intense ideological struggle.

"Alright." Finally, Zhang Yan compromised. "I can't just report you, can I? But I don't agree with you doing this, and I'll slowly work on your ideology later."

Lin Yuan finally relaxed. It was truly tiring to reason with a naive young girl.

At this moment, Zhang Yan looked at Lin Yuan with a very complex expression.

"Why are you looking at me like that? I'm getting goosebumps."

"You've refreshed my worldview."

Lin Yuan immediately retorted, "Same here, I've been refreshed by your worldview too."

Their two worlds were originally like two parallel lines that would never intersect, so they ended up refreshing each other's worldviews.

And for someone like Zhang Yan, who grew up in a sheltered environment, encountering Lin Yuan gave her a subtle sense of adventurous excitement. This excitement might not be related to romantic feelings, but rather a very complex emotion. It was mixed with admiration for a strong person, respect for her senior brother, and a desire to explore the unknown world.

"Then I'll go back and write the report."

"Mm, I've been out too long. Send the report to my email when you're done; I'll take a look. Don't be silly and send it on WeChat, okay?"

"Got it. I'm not stupid."

Lin Yuan then watched Zhang Yan leave, seeing her get into a dark gray Volvo SUV in the distance.

The relationship between the two had subtly grown much closer.

While the closeness between people is greatly related to the time spent together, a plain, uneventful interaction is far less effective than mutually knowing a little secret about each other.

However, a lingering doubt remained in Lin Yuan's mind—the image of him as a tall, impressive, excellent covert operative in Zhang Yan's mind, did it come about a little too suddenly? Was there some twist he didn't know about?

After all, the matter of forging the admission letter was eventually proven: his mentor had known all along.

Lin Yuan wouldn't take any more chances after this incident.

Could he ask his mentor about this? It seemed inappropriate. It might lead to misunderstandings. What if Zhang Yan was just that kind of person? Perhaps a million really was equivalent to ten thousand for an ordinary person to her.

Forget it. Lin Yuan decided to just take things one step at a time.

—

On the other side.

Zhang Yan was driving on the road, with the soothing sounds of Scarborough Fair playing in the car.

Many images flashed through her mind; she pondered many questions and complained about Lin Yuan countless times.

But she never once thought: should I take this opportunity to make a huge profit in the stock market myself?