Ask for help

“Junior Sister, is your family very powerful?”

“What’s wrong?” Zhang Yan looked at Lin Yuan, confused. “Senior Brother, why are you suddenly asking such a question? It’s not like you.”

“It seems Senior Brother is in big trouble. I plan to ask my mentor and the school leaders for help first. If that doesn’t work, Senior Brother might have to ask you.”

“Did your stock trading for money come to light?” Zhang Yan looked at Lin Yuan worriedly. “Or do you have other past misdeeds?”

Zhang Yan stamped her foot anxiously, “Oh, didn’t I tell you long ago that you shouldn’t touch such things? You didn’t listen, and now look what happened… Hmm, I could perhaps ask my grandfather.

No, if I ask my grandfather about this, he’ll not only scold me but also have them deal with you severely.

Then I can only ask my dad, but then my dad will have something to hold over me.

Oh dear, Senior Brother, quickly tell me what you’ve done.”

Lin Yuan listened, utterly bewildered. “I didn’t say I was making money. My company is messing with me.”

Then Lin Yuan told Zhang Yan everything in detail.

“That’s it?”

“Yes. Good Group’s legal department might go all in this time, ready to destroy me.”

“Really?” When she asked this, a hint of excitement appeared on Zhang Yan’s face. It made Lin Yuan feel a bit unnerved.

“Senior Brother is unlucky, and you can still smile?”

“Finally, someone is going to deal with such an annoying Senior Brother for me.”

“I’m being serious with you.”

“Does Good Group know your identity?”

“No.”

“I thought so too, otherwise, they wouldn’t dare.”

The crucial point now was that Lin Yuan actually had no hidden identity; after all, he had always just played the role of Senior Brother in front of Zhang Yan.

Lin Yuan was very worried, what if his mentor and Dean Li couldn’t protect him this time?

“If this matter with Good Group escalates to the point of needing to report to the higher-ups, then Senior Brother will inevitably be criticized…”

Zhang Yan still looked indifferent. “I really want to see Senior Brother getting criticized.”

If Lin Yuan weren’t trying to avoid suspicion, he would really want to pinch her cheeks hard right now. “You’re going to let me die, huh? If Senior Brother gets criticized, this mission might be canceled, and you won’t have to see me again. I might even take Xia Ye and leave Zijin City.”

“No way?” This time, Zhang Yan panicked. “Then, then I’ll discuss it with my master and see if we can get Good Group to drop the lawsuit.”

“No, it’s still too early for that. Senior Brother just means you can back me up.”

“No problem,” Zhang Yan said confidently, “Leave it to me.”

—

Good Group did not directly send a lawyer’s letter to Lin Yuan; instead, they first contacted the school.

Lin Yuan had hoped the school could support him, but Dean Li became the first one to try and persuade him.

Old Li advised him to just sign, saying, “If they are willing to pay to keep you long-term, what else is there to say? Just sign it. Anyway, working in a private company for too long is just like that.”

“Signing with Good Group won’t affect your career in public service. Your energy should be spent in the right direction.”

According to Old Li, the ceiling for working in a private company was already there. So, if Good Group was willing to offer a high price, Lin Yuan might as well accept it first. In the future, with one foot in the education system and the other in the corporate world, he could both earn money and not affect his official career. Why not?

Perhaps in the future, his official career would flourish, and Good Group would even have to turn around and ask Lin Yuan for protection.

But Lin Yuan just felt uncomfortable.

Even though he had no clear direction after leaving Good Group, he hadn’t decided which company to join, what he wanted to do, or if he should just focus on studying for a while and take a break.

Lin Yuan simply disliked the feeling of being manipulated.

“I’m willing to hand over my work results, although Good Group’s main contribution to these results was merely providing takeout data. To put it bluntly, Good Group is the data provider, and I am the data user. We are clearly in a cooperative relationship, but I’m not asking Good Group for additional payment for the algorithm now; I just ask them not to disgust me.

Is that too much?”

Dean Li did not deny Lin Yuan’s statement. “Not at all, but legal clauses don’t cover such fine details. All your achievements during your time at Good Group, even if you thought of them while sitting on the toilet, belong to Good Group.”

“But I’ve already given them the work results. I respect the legal clauses very much. What Good Group wants now is the reproduction process of the work results; they want my work experience.”

Dean Li could only comfort Lin Yuan, “For software code, where the line between work experience and work results lies, who can really say? You don’t have time to waste on them.”

“Can the school intervene to make Good Group settle the matter peacefully?”

Dean Li was very helpless. “Good Group is determined to keep you this time, or to make you leave the algorithm’s implementation process. Their approach is reasonable and justifiable when put on the table.”

“Reasonable and justifiable?”

“I know, for a talented young person like you, it’s indeed unreasonable. But according to the unwritten rules of the IT industry, Good Group has already done its utmost.”

Lin Yuan finally understood completely. “I get it. By the standards of treating corporate slaves, Good Group has been very considerate. But Master, I am a person, and I want to be a person this time. If I become a corporate slave now, I’ll feel stifled.”

“Stifled about what? How many people want to be this corporate slave but can’t? It’s good for young people to be talented, but you can’t be too sharp. As a school leader, I have to advise you. Because Good Group also has employment cooperation with us, and this matter doesn’t just affect the cooperation between Good Group and our school.

Other companies are watching too. I cannot let a host of companies have prejudices against the graduates of our school’s computer science department. So the school cannot get involved this time.”

Lin Yuan snapped his fingers. “Understood, I can’t ruin the reputation of our school’s future corporate slaves.”

“That’s the logic. As your master, I have to advise you even more, that’s enough. Look at you, I told you to cling to Zhang Yan’s leg, but you refused. Now you’re in trouble, why are you so arrogant? You won’t cling to power, and you won’t kneel for money, why don’t you just ascend to the heavens?”

Dean Li’s words seemed harsh, but they were also earnest teachings. They pinpointed the flaws in Lin Yuan’s behavioral logic.

Lin Yuan could only sigh. “Then it seems finding my mentor is useless too.”

“Isn’t that obvious? That old ghost Zhang, don’t look at how arrogant he usually is. If you ask him to beg his father-in-law to settle this matter for you, do you think he’d agree?”

Dean Li said earnestly again, “They’ve given you a big bowl, and it’s placed on the table. How many people want to eat on the ground but don’t even get the chance? Don’t be picky. Either you go cling to Zhang Yan’s leg now, or you pick up your chopsticks and eat what’s in the bowl in front of you.”

After much deliberation, Lin Yuan stated, “I still want to struggle a bit more.”

“You do what you think is best. In any case, I’ll first inquire about a path for you, so that after you hit a brick wall, I can take you to apologize in person.”

Dean Li wasn’t completely abandoning Lin Yuan; the old man was quite decent. Although his methods certainly seemed frustrating.

Lin Yuan smiled helplessly. “Then I thank Master first.” He spoke very sincerely, without any hint of sarcasm.

“Thank me for what? Who hasn’t hit a brick wall when they were young? If you don’t hit it now, you’ll hit it sooner or later. Better to hit it early. Now get out.”

In his heart, Lin Yuan’s impression of the old man had improved quite a bit.