Chapter 64: Chapter 64: Lin Hongnian’s Decision

Lin Hongnian spoke a few brief words into the phone before hanging up.

He was lost in thought for a moment.

His gaze fell back to the quality inspection report in his hand, and he heaved a deep sigh.

Lin Hongnian knew this report was possibly the greatest opportunity of his life, but it was also accompanied by a danger that could destroy the Lin Group.

At this thought, the image of Gao Yuan once again surfaced in his mind.

From the moment they first met, he had sensed this young man was anything but ordinary.

At his age and status, he was long past the stage of judging people by their looks. And while Gao Yuan wasn’t exceptionally handsome, the aura he carried was unmistakable.

He moved with a casual, natural elegance, and his every gesture exuded a sense of calm composure. But what Lin Hongnian remembered most vividly were Gao Yuan’s eyes.

They were eyes that held boundless wisdom. His gaze wasn’t pressuring, but its profound yet gentle nature made even him feel somewhat inadequate in comparison.

Their second meeting was when Gao Yuan brought the secret mask formula to discuss a partnership.

Even on Lin Hongnian’s own home turf, Gao Yuan had remained perfectly composed. It looked as if they were negotiating, but Gao Yuan had actually let Lin Hongnian’s daughter do the talking, stepping in only to make the final decision himself.

It was after that meeting that he hired someone to run a background check on Gao Yuan.

His background was simple. Squeaky clean, in fact.

They had dug up not only Gao Yuan’s personal and professional history but had also thoroughly investigated his entire family.

Gao Yuan’s father worked for one of the country’s top pharmaceutical companies, holding what could barely be called a mid-level management position at a subsidiary. He was nearing retirement.

His mother was an elementary school teacher who was already retired.

Gao Yuan’s sister worked at the local labor bureau, a very ordinary, low-ranking civil servant.

When Lin Hongnian saw the investigation report, his eyes nearly popped out of their sockets.

He contacted the investigative agency again and again to confirm the report’s authenticity.

The agency’s response was direct: in the age of big data, every ordinary person is an open book.

That sentence was what made Lin Hongnian abandon any thought of investigating Gao Yuan further.

’That’s right!’

’In this day and age, every ordinary person is an open book.’

’But could an ordinary family really cultivate the kind of aura and presence Gao Yuan possessed?’

Lin Hongnian refused to believe it. Take his own son, for example. He had grown up with every advantage, countless times more than Gao Yuan, yet the difference between the two was like night and day! A world apart!

’So, is Gao Yuan really just an ordinary person?’

If that were truly the case, Lin Hongnian wouldn’t be in such a dilemma.

Before the power of capital, Gao Yuan’s so-called patents were nothing but a joke.

All he had to do was join forces with a few domestic and international skincare conglomerates, and he could upend the entire market.

The Lin Group would secure a massive market share in the process, and becoming a hundred-billion-dollar corporation wouldn’t be out of the question.

The group’s senior executives had proposed two options.

First: improve the secret formula behind Gao Yuan’s back, then join forces with several other major skincare conglomerates and announce it to the public as their joint R&D achievement.

Second: use Lin Wanyu to bind Gao Yuan to the Lin Group’s chariot, making him one of their own.

But Lin Hongnian had no idea where his divorced daughter truly stood in Gao Yuan’s heart.

And what woman could possibly compare to a fortune that countless generations might never obtain!

The call Lin Hongnian had just made had been to Lin Wanyu.

He hadn’t told his daughter what was going on, only that there was a family matter to discuss and that she should come to his office.

「Ten minutes earlier, at Gao Yuan’s home in No.1 Courtyard.」

He was on a call with He Lang, discussing the trademark registration, while Lin Wanyu sat on the sofa, blissfully binge-watching a show.

Neither of them had any idea that a storm, one in which they were deeply entangled, was brewing.

"A seed is planted in the heart, da-la-di-da-la..."

Lin Wanyu’s phone suddenly rang. She glanced at the screen and saw it was a call from her old man.

She answered without hesitation. "Pops, what made you think of calling me?"

"Can’t a father miss his baby girl? Anyway, a little family business came up. Why don’t you swing by my office?"

Lin Wanyu didn’t detect anything unusual in Lin Hongnian’s tone, and since she didn’t have anything better to do, she happily agreed.

"Babe, something came up with my family, so I have to head out for a bit."

Hearing Lin Wanyu mention a family matter, Gao Yuan assumed she was heading back to her place in Jiangnanli and didn’t think anything more of it.

"Are you okay to drive?"

"I’m fine, my period is almost over!"

Lin Wanyu changed her clothes, gave Gao Yuan a quick hug, and left.

Gao Yuan was left alone in the house—no, that’s not right. There was also a dog.

Thinking of the dog, Gao Yuan went to check the Sheltie’s food bowl. The pup hadn’t finished the kibble he’d poured out for it earlier, so he didn’t add any more.

The little guy certainly ate well. The packaging on its K9Natural dog food listed cod &牛肉 as ingredients—all top-shelf stuff.

And on top of that, it got a serving of fish oil with every meal.

Speaking of the brand, Gao Yuan was actually a little intrigued—specifically by the "K9" part.

’Isn’t that a designation used in a certain niche subculture?’

’How did that end up as a dog food brand?’ While feeding the Sheltie today, Gao Yuan had actually looked it up online.

K9Natural dog food, made in New Zealand, was a high-end brand of pet food.

Gao Yuan couldn’t be bothered to read about how high-quality or tasty the food was; his eyes were fixed on the price: 718 yuan/kg.

Add in the fish oil, and a single meal for this dog cost three to four hundred yuan. That added up to over ten thousand a month.

In that instant, Gao Yuan felt that for the past thirty years of his life, he had been living worse than a dog.

Of course, you get what you pay for. The Sheltie was truly a beautiful dog, especially with its silky smooth coat. It looked so soft that Gao Yuan had the fleeting, absurd thought of skinning it to make a cushion.

Just then, the Sheltie, dozing on the living room carpet where a patch of sun fell, seemed to feel a sudden chill. It lifted its head and gave Gao Yuan a confused look.

Seeing that Gao Yuan was still just sitting at his computer, it lay its head back down and went back to sleep.

Earlier that morning, Gao Yuan had contacted He Lang. The trademark registration was still processing, and there was no use in trying to rush it.

So, he decided to work on the product page template and marketing copy for the mask. That way, once the product photos were ready, he could just plug them in and put the item up for sale.

...

At the Lin Group headquarters, Lin Wanyu cheerfully pushed open the door to Lin Hongnian’s office.

The moment she stepped inside, she covered her nose.

"Pops, have you lost your mind? How much have you been smoking in here!"

"The doctor told you to cut back! What gives? Do you have a death wish or something?"

Lin Wanyu marched right up to Lin Hongnian and started laying into her father.

Faced with his daughter’s reprimand, Lin Hongnian could only offer a weak smile.

What could he do? He couldn’t bring himself to punish her, and reasoning with her was pointless. His only option was to wait for her to run out of steam before trying to get a word in.

This was their typical father-daughter dynamic, not much different from any ordinary family. Fathers always have a little extra patience and affection for their daughters.

Lin Wanyu’s nagging was, in its own way, an expression of her love.

Sometimes she felt incredibly lucky to have been born into her family. If she had ended up with parents like Li Mengqing’s, she probably wouldn’t have been nearly as strong as her friend.

As she was chiding her father, her eyes suddenly landed on two documents on his desk.

One was a report from the company’s lab, which she couldn’t care less about.

But the other document had a photo of Gao Yuan on it, which immediately cut her tirade short.

She reached over, picked up the file from the desk, and began to read.

Lin Hongnian didn’t stop her. He had placed the file on his desk intentionally, wanting to see how his daughter would react to this situation.

"Pops, did you run a background check on Gao Yuan?"

After she finished reading the background check on Gao Yuan, Lin Wanyu didn’t fly into a rage like a character in a TV drama. Instead, she asked Lin Hongnian with a perfectly calm expression.

Lin Hongnian nodded. He leaned back in his large executive chair and asked, "Wanyu, what are your thoughts on this report?"

(Author’s note: Caught a cold today, this northern weather is freezing! Stay warm and take care of yourselves, dear readers!)

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