I am the source of cause and effect

After Lin Yuan learned his lesson at Good Group, he was much savvier this time.

He absolutely refused to sign any non-compete agreement with Lanbiao Factory, and his employment contract would only be for one year. He even specifically sought out a professor from his university's law school to include a clause in the contract stating: Party B is only responsible for the effectiveness of the code and providing the source code, but has no obligation to explain the process of the source code's production.

This clearly defined Lin Yuan's responsibilities from a legal standpoint. He had no obligation to explain the source code's production process, which would prevent a repeat of Good Group's attempts to manipulate him.

Lanbiao Factory naturally felt that such an employment contract was somewhat harsh, because for large companies, they have always held the initiative, and never the employees.

For large companies, equality was already the greatest harshness.

However, Lanbiao Factory had no choice now. If they couldn't close the gap with Good Group in the takeout delivery sector, the senior management would face a reshuffle.

So, in the face of a huge crisis, they had no choice but to compromise—they had to accept Lin Yuan's proposal.

But Lanbiao Factory would not let Lin Yuan dictate terms either. They quickly put forward their own demands—agreeing to pay Lin Yuan's remuneration as a consulting fee, but the payment schedule needed to be 1:1:8.

The contract Lin Yuan and Lanbiao Factory agreed upon was not a standard employee onboarding contract, but an IT consulting service contract. Lin Yuan would provide IT consulting services to the other party as an individual.

There were many benefits to this. Firstly, it could avoid common issues of work product ownership between employees and employers, as according to labor law, all relevant work products of an employee during their tenure at a company belong to the company. This clause often led to disputes.

However, once it was a consulting contract, it was different; Lin Yuan was essentially an individual providing services. Both parties clearly defined their cooperative relationship from the outset, rather than a simple employer-employee relationship.

Secondly, this could reduce personal income tax payments.

If calculated as personal income, the ten million remuneration Lin Yuan requested would naturally fall under the highest 45% personal income tax bracket.

But now, it could be treated as incidental income, requiring only a 20% tax payment.

20% of ten million is two million.

While still a lot, it was significantly lower than 45%.

In fact, few high-level talents with annual salaries of several millions or tens of millions truly pay taxes at the 45% rate.

Lin Yuan's actions were also understandable.

If Lin Yuan were a bit more scummy, he could completely apply for a company, a company specializing in IT consulting services.

After all, IT consulting services don't have a 20% tax rate; if he were even more scummy, he could also apply for a high-tech enterprise, and then find some deductible expenses to offset it.

After that, he could put personal expenses on the company's books.

For example: office expenses, buying a car, etc.

However, Professor Zhang's teachings showed their effect at this moment.

Lin Yuan felt in his heart that doing so was wrong.

The 45% rate pained him greatly, and the 20% rate still pained him a bit. But out of a desire to benefit society, he accepted the choice that “pained him a bit.”

However, Lin Yuan was not without his concerns.

Because Lanbiao Factory's requested payment method was 1:1:8.

One-tenth would be paid upfront to support Lin Yuan in starting the relevant work. Another one-tenth would be paid after the algorithm passed acceptance.

The remaining eight-tenths would be gradually paid after Lanbiao Factory completed its catch-up with Good Group.

Since no one could foresee what the process of Lanbiao Factory catching up to Good Group would be like, there was no specific payment milestone for the largest portion, the eight-tenths.

This was Lin Yuan's biggest concern.

He did not have a good impression of such large companies.

What Good Group could do, Lanbiao Factory couldn't?

However, even after Lin Yuan discussed it with Lanbiao Factory multiple times, the other party wouldn't budge.

The other party only accepted two options: either sign a formal employee onboarding contract, plus a non-compete agreement. The contract would be for a minimum of three years, and the ten million would be gradually disbursed over three years in the form of salary + stock dividends + non-compete compensation.

Or, it would be the 1:1:8 payment contract as currently discussed.

After multiple communications, Lin Yuan also realized that it wasn't that Lanbiao Factory didn't want to compromise further with him, but rather that the person he was negotiating with only had limited authority.

In other words, to break the rules, he would have to talk to a higher-level leader.

And behind Lanbiao Factory was Alibaba.

Lin Yuan had no choice but to make a trip to Shanghai to meet a senior leader from Alibaba. To be precise, it was the president of Alibaba's “Local Life Services Group.”

Alibaba has multiple business groups internally, and food delivery is just a branch system within Alibaba, not even considered an independent large business group. Therefore, Lin Yuan wouldn't be able to meet a giant like Jack Ma right away.

Lin Yuan's trip to Shanghai was, as expected, accompanied by Zhang Yan, because Lin Yuan simply couldn't shake off this clingy person, and Xia Ye was busy practicing dance for her tutoring class and had no time to come out.

However, Xia Ye was quite nonchalant about Zhang Yan accompanying Lin Yuan on his trip, not saying much, only reminding Lin Yuan to be careful on the road.

Lin Yuan always felt that Xia Ye had changed a lot recently. She had become distant, no longer expressing her thoughts and emotions passionately as before. The most she would say was, “Okay,” “That's good,” etc.

Lin Yuan was also very helpless, but there was nothing he could do.

Sometimes he even thought: Maybe I should just forget about this whole thing with Good Group, and not bother with revenge. Anyway, many people have been bullied by big companies, and in the eyes of ordinary people, his experience isn't even considered being bullied. If he spoke out, people would just think he was humblebragging. After all, Good Group offered him an annual salary of over a million.

Let go of the grudge with Good Group, and then take Xia Ye and fly away, not caring about any of this. Anyway, with the seven or eight million he had on hand, and the system he possessed, he could live a good life anywhere. It wouldn't even be a problem to bring Song Xiaoxiao along.

Lin Yuan had mentioned it to Xia Ye before, but Xia Ye actively refused.

Xia Ye didn't want to follow Lin Yuan to a distant place to live anonymously. Her reason was simple—Lin Yuan shouldn't live that kind of life. Lin Yuan's life should be grand and eventful, not buried in some unknown corner.

Xia Ye sometimes even jokingly said, “Why don't you take my body, give me some money, and let me go back to the world I came from.”

The old Lin Yuan would have found such words very crude and violent; now, he only felt helpless. He couldn't transfer power to Xia Ye to make her grow quickly.

Even if Lin Yuan tried to maintain it deliberately, even if they still slept in the same bed at night, a rift had already begun to appear between them.

Lin Yuan even wondered: Should he and Xia Ye have a child soon?

In short, whenever he thought of these things, his heart was in turmoil.

"Brother, something on your mind?"

In the business class cabin of the high-speed train bound for Shanghai, Lin Yuan had been looking out the window for a long time when Zhang Yan, sitting beside him, asked with concern.

"I'm thinking, if I hadn't foolishly provoked you back then, Xia Ye and I wouldn't have so many worries now."

That's the good thing about Zhang Yan; you can complain about her to her face, and it's fine.

"I don't see it that way. You like to study Daoist philosophy, don't you? Do you think what you're saying now is reasonable?"

Lin Yuan turned his head to look at Zhang Yan.

She was indeed different from Xia Ye, possessing a keen insight into such crucial issues.

"Are you saying that as long as I can't let go of the idea of achieving success and fame, I will sooner or later encounter the current predicament in different ways?"

"Exactly. Your problem has always been yourself, not me. I am merely the manifestation of cause and effect, and you are the source of cause and effect."

"When did you become so profound?"

"Senior Brother, how many times have I told you? I may seem a bit reckless, but I'm not stupid."

Lin Yuan smiled knowingly; Zhang Yan's ability was likely an instinct cultivated from a young age.

"I think I understand. Xia Ye and I were meant to be a fleeting romance, but I insisted on turning an interlude into the main melody."

Zhang Yan quickly defended herself, "I didn't say that!"

Lin Yuan smiled softly, "But I insist on doing it. I don't believe a person can't look up at the sky while also having their feet deeply planted in the ground."

Zhang Yan rested her chin on her hand, looking at the person beside her, "Well, I have to admit, you look quite charming when you're being silly like this."