Chapter 71: Recommendation

Chapter 71: Recommendation

"Yesterday, the exhibition closed. Did everything go smoothly with your liquid soap?"

Early Monday morning at school, Principal Zeng asked carefully, without directly inquiring if Lin Qiao had won an award.

Lin Qiao smiled and nodded, "It went pretty well. I ended up winning a bronze award."

The invention exhibition handed out quite a few awards, and the bronze award was basically just a participation award, not holding much weight.

However, Lin Qiao's formula wasn't very complex, and no one had previously worked on liquid cleaning agents, so Principal Zeng wasn't disappointed. "Even a bronze award is good. Having an award makes it easier for the school to recommend you." He then asked, "Did you bring the certificate?"

"I did," Lin Qiao replied, lifting the bag she was carrying. Principal Zeng then took her to his office.

The certificate was small, about the size of a palm when unfolded, but it was printed beautifully since it was issued by the invention association.

Principal Zeng held it and pondered for a moment, "I remember you said you were planning to apply to Yandu Tech, right?"

Lin Qiao nodded, then took another identical certificate out of her bag.

"You have another one?" Principal Zeng was surprised, his expression more solemn than before.

He took it and unfolded it. This time, it read—"Gold medal winner at this year's national invention exhibition."

This was highly valuable. Being selected meant it had both innovation and practicality, a future-proof invention.

Principal Zeng looked at the certificate, then at Lin Qiao, "If you became a teacher, it would be a waste of your talent."

Just as he was speaking, Vice Principal Qi knocked and entered, "I heard Xiao Lin is here. Did she win an award yesterday?"

"She did," Principal Zeng said, lifting the certificates in his hand, "And she won two."

"I noticed Huaiwen seemed quite happy when he returned yesterday, but when I asked him, he wouldn't say anything," Vice Principal Qi took the certificates, his face showing surprise, "A gold award?"

Last year, during the open class, we were worried about getting Lin Qiao a special recommendation, even though we knew she made the liquid soap. We only hoped she would win an award. Surprisingly, after some preparation, she submitted another project and ended up winning two awards, including a gold medal.

Vice Principal Qi pondered for a moment, then asked Principal Zeng, "Should we try recommending her to Tsinghua University? If it doesn't work, we can still recommend her to Yandu Tech."

If she wanted to pursue a research path, Tsinghua University was indeed much stronger than Yandu Tech.

"Let's give it a try," Principal Zeng said, "We'll prepare a separate recommendation package. If it doesn't work out, we'll immediately recommend her to Yandu Tech."

"Alright, to avoid wasting time. There are only about two months left until the college entrance exams."

Soon after, the school prepared a thick package of recommendation materials and submitted it to Tsinghua University. It included recommendation letters from both the principal and vice principal, records of Lin Qiao's two invention awards, and the changes and contributions she had made to the school and the education field over the past year.

Her ability to mentor students was also a big plus. After all, universities are places to cultivate talent and require excellent teaching staff to stay and teach.

Compared to the two principals, the students who heard about her awards were purely shocked and happy for Teacher Lin.

The students who helped out, especially Junzi, were super excited. "You guys didn't see it. Over a hundred people were there, and our Teacher Lin was the youngest, and she won two awards all by herself. When Teacher Lin went up to receive her second award, everyone's eyes almost fell to the ground."

In his excitement, he even stood on a chair, mimicking the award presenter, making those who didn't know about it regret not being there.

The show-off Junzi was greatly satisfied, "You really missed out. Shiniang was there too yesterday. After the exhibition ended last night, she treated us to a meal."

"Shiniang?" The students who didn't go were confused.

"She's Teacher Lin's partner, oh—I'm getting down, I'm getting down right now!"

Junzi felt someone tugging at the back of his shirt and turned around to see Lin Qiao. He quickly jumped down from the chair again, "Teacher Lin."

"Study hard and stop messing with these useless things." Lin Qiao patted him before heading back to the office with the newly written down phone number.

After the exhibition ended, some units indeed called her, wanting to purchase the formula for the industrial degreaser from her.

Most of them were state-owned enterprises of varying sizes, though there were some private individuals interested as well. She filtered out a few and planned to meet them for further discussions.

Selling the formula outright wasn't a good deal—prices were rising every year, and the money would depreciate in just two.

However, if she were to invest the technology as shares, she'd need to carefully select the partner. If the other party tweaked the formula slightly and claimed it as their own research, they wouldn't pay her a dime, and there would be nothing she could do about it. Such lawsuits were hard to win even decades later, and it was especially tough in 1981 when there wasn't even a patent office in the country.

Lin Qiao trusted Ji Duo's character, and she had taken precautions when giving him the formula. She hadn't expected that Ji Duo's "friend" was someone real.

Thinking of this person unconsciously, Lin Qiao paused, then quickly resumed her usual expression and started grading the students' assignments.

After grading two, someone from the guard post came and told her there was a phone call for her.

"You're really busy." Mr. Gao, who was sitting nearby, laughed. "When you sell the formula, don't forget to treat us to a meal. We're all waiting to make a big profit off you."

Hearing Mr. Gao's joke, she smiled and agreed, "Sure thing." Then, she politely apologized to the guard, "Sorry to keep you waiting."

When she picked up the phone, it was a familiar voice, "Lin Qiao, I am the director of Yandu Muzi Chemical Plant..."

"Ji Ze," Lin Qiao interrupted before the other party could finish, already feeling a bit exasperated.

"Yes," the other party remained formal, "It is understood that you won a gold award for an invention at the recently concluded national invention exhibition. Our factory is interested in your invention, the degreaser, and would like to invite you to collaborate with us by investing the technology as shares. Are you available recently?"

Though she had an idea, Lin Qiao paused for a moment after hearing this.

Ji Ze knew they were in an awkward situation, "I am inviting you in my capacity as the director of the chemical plant. You can just see me as the director. Let's only talk business and not about other things. You don't have to agree immediately. Listen to my terms, compare them with others, and then decide."

"Alright, I'll think about it." Although Ji Ze had kept things from her, his accounts were always clean, and he wasn't a bad choice as a partner.

Hearing that Lin Qiao didn't reject him outright, the other side breathed a sigh of relief, "Call this number when you've made a decision."

After reporting the factory's number, seeing that Lin Qiao was about to hang up, he suddenly added, "Actually, if I were my uncle, I wouldn't want you to know about the change either. It's awkward to bring up, especially when it involves your wife being connected to someone else."

Lin Qiao didn't respond, and over the next few days, she took time to meet with the two most interested parties.

One was a large state-owned factory that was already in the degreaser business. They wanted to purchase Lin Qiao's formula mainly to upgrade their products.

However, in those days, state-owned enterprises hadn't yet been significantly impacted by private enterprises. They had an inherent arrogance, thinking of themselves as holding a national iron rice bowl. They started by giving Lin Qiao a lecture on patriotism, encouraging her to contribute to the country. But when it came to price, they became stingy and only offered her 10% after some hard bargaining.

"State-owned enterprises, if nothing else, are absolutely stable. The country's credibility in this regard is guaranteed. You can count on us. We won't cheat you like privately-owned small factories."

They probably thought she was turning to them because she hadn't reached a deal with her previous partner or had a falling out.

Lin Qiao didn't show any reaction on her face, "I will call you if I decide to cooperate."

"Make sure it's soon," the other party said, "Although your degreaser won an award, the technological lead isn't significant. Our engineers are very capable."

It was like they were saying that if Lin Qiao didn't sell it to them soon, her formula would lose value once they figured it out on their own.

Lin Qiao shook her head inwardly, feeling that after talking to this one, she didn't want to negotiate with the other state-owned factories.

After the reform and opening-up, state-owned enterprises revealed several issues. Workers lacked motivation, and procurement and sales personnel took kickbacks. Some even kept the sales proceeds for themselves, depositing the money in banks to earn interest. Or they'd sell the products, pocket the money, and then return fake goods to the factory, claiming they hadn't sold anything.

No wonder many of them went bankrupt later because of this approach. Lin Qiao definitely didn’t want to give her formula to a partner destined for a short future.

Confidentiality in state-owned enterprises wasn’t particularly strong—just look at how the Qin family used the factory’s formula to start their own business. She’d be better off considering private individuals instead.

In the end, the individual offered a larger share, starting with a 50-50 split, and then, during the conversation, tried to get her to invest money.

Lin Qiao probed a bit and did some background research. She found out that the other party had only applied for a business license and didn’t even have a factory yet, clearly aiming to gain something for nothing.

Even if she invested, the factory might not get started. The other party could easily run away with the funds and sell the formula to someone else.

Does my face say "easy to fool"?

Back home, Lin Qiao glanced at herself in the mirror hanging by the door. Just as she was about to look away, she heard the sound of the gate. Ji Duo had returned.

The man entered and first checked her expression. Recently, he always seemed to look at her first before saying, "Old Master is in the hospital."

"Old Master is in the hospital?" Lin Qiao was taken aback. "When did it happen? How serious is it?"

"It was today. There was a letter from our hometown that no one had picked up, so I delivered it. After reading it, Old Master was hospitalized in the afternoon."

Ji Duo looked tense, but looking at Lin Qiao, he softened his tone and asked, "Would you like to come with me?"

Lin Qiao looked at him. "Even if we weren’t close, Old Master is an elder who’s helped me. Of course, I can’t ignore the fact that he’s been hospitalized."

"Let’s go eat first." Ji Duo helped her pick up the bag she had just placed on the sofa, and the two of them headed to the hospital after eating.

This time, Old Master clearly wasn’t admitted due to anger. He looked somewhat downcast and revealed a hint of embarrassment upon seeing Lin Qiao. "Qiao Qiao is here."

When he decided to keep things from Lin Qiao, he genuinely thought it was for her own good. But as a patriarch for too long, he became too presumptuous and forgot that there are no secrets that won’t eventually be revealed.

Lin Qiao had come to visit the patient, so naturally, she wouldn’t bring up other matters. She simply put down the items and asked about Old Master’s health as usual.

Xu Li sighed, "The second son helped deliver a letter. It’s about your uncle. He’s gone."

Ji Duo’s uncle?

If Xu Li hadn’t mentioned it, Lin Qiao would have forgotten that such a person existed in the Ji family.

In fact, if Ji Duo didn’t actually have an uncle, even if the Ji family had intended to hide the change from her, Lin Qiao, who knew a bit of the storyline, would have guessed it by now.

But Ji Duo really did have an uncle, and the Ji family rarely mentioned him. They didn’t visit during the holidays, and she still hadn’t met him until now.

Surprisingly, the first time Xu Li mentioned him was to tell her he had passed away, which led to Old Master’s hospitalization.

Lin Qiao glanced at Ji Duo but said nothing. It was Ji Duo who asked, "How did he pass away?" His tone was flat.

"He had a heart condition. He was even six years younger than your father," Xu Li, being a soft-hearted person, couldn’t help but lament.

Old Master didn’t show much sadness. "If you have time, Second Son, you should go back. Now that he’s gone, some matters should be settled."

Ji Duo didn’t respond directly. "I’ll go back and take a look." It was clear his mood wasn’t high.

Neither Old Master nor Xu Li seemed to want to talk much. After sitting for a while, the two of them left.

"Old Master and my uncle haven’t spoken in over thirty years," Ji Duo suddenly said in a low voice as soon as they left the ward.

Lin Qiao looked up in surprise and met the man’s gaze. "When you looked at me just now, you were wondering about this, right?"

She did want to know. After all, she hadn't realized she had recognized the wrong person, and this younger uncle was partly to blame, but there were many other things about the Ji family that she didn’t know...

Lin Qiao didn’t say anything, but Ji Duo seemed to know what was on her mind. "No one in the family, not even Xiao Ze and Xiao Ling, knows they have an uncle."

This was something Lin Qiao hadn’t expected. After all, if she was considered an outsider, Xiao Ze and Xiao Ling were still part of the Ji family, right?

And on our wedding day, he had told her straight away.

Ji Duo stopped by the window of the stairwell and said, "I was born when our mother was in her thirties. Before me, she had another daughter."

But apart from Ji Yan, our elder cousin, there were no other sisters in the Ji family. This daughter probably wasn’t around anymore.

Sure enough, Ji Duo looked out the window and said, "The place where our mother was became unsafe and required an emergency evacuation when the child was six months old. Our mother, being pregnant, had to take our eldest brother with her. It was inconvenient to travel with a child, so they planned to leave him in the hometown since our father had used an alias during the revolution, and no one knew where his hometown was."

In the early days of the revolution, many people used aliases because they were afraid their families would be implicated by the ruling party at the time.

Sending Ji Jun back to the hometown was actually safer for Xu Li.

Lin Qiao thought for a moment and understood why Ji Duo was telling her all this. "Did the younger uncle not agree?"

"No, he agreed," Ji Duo said, his voice cold. "But as soon as our mother left, he secretly threw our eldest brother out."

"Secretly threw him out?"

It would have been better if he had just refused. Lin Qiao hadn’t expected such a move. "How old was the eldest brother then?"

"Six years old. It was winter at the time."

That was truly heartless. They were probably afraid of being implicated and didn’t want to offend Old Master Ji, so they pretended to agree but secretly abandoned the child.

A six-year-old kid in the middle of winter—how long could he have survived out there? Afterward, they could just claim he had wandered off.

"So how did they find the eldest brother after that?"

"He had a good memory and remembered the road our mother took to send him there. He chased after her, calling out for Mom."

Given Xu Li’s kind heart, she must have felt both regret and heartbreak. After that, even if there was a knife at her throat, she would have protected this stepson.

Ji Duo’s mention of Xu Li’s lost daughter suggests that something dangerous happened during this time.

"He was married to our eldest aunt to ward off bad luck, but they had no children for over a decade, so he had little influence in the family."

No wonder Ji Yan, despite being the child of the eldest uncle, was nearly ten years younger than Ji Jun and had no other siblings.

Lin Shouyi, a member of the Gu family, and Ji Duo’s younger uncle—when their interests were at stake, human nature really couldn’t stand the test.

No wonder Lin Qiao noticed his hesitation when she asked earlier—he didn’t want to risk disturbing the wrong people.

"The letter we received today was sent through an intermediary."

Ji Duo paused, then continued, "This morning, the eldest brother left for the Southern Province to investigate the situation."

Before she could react, he added, "Because of that accusation letter, he went back to ask Dad to convince you to sell the formula to his brother-in-law."

The letter of complaint about Ye Minshu was something Lin Qiao had already anticipated, which was why she had reminded the man to go back and handle it.

However, the matter regarding the formula was the first time she had heard of it. She looked up into the man's focused and gazing eyes, suddenly realizing something.

Since that day they discussed the divorce, they had barely spoken. Lin Qiao had been avoiding any communication. Ji Duo saw this as a chance to talk about everything he hadn’t gotten to say, now that she was interested in what happened with his brother.

"I proposed to separate the eldest brother and his wife, so that there would be no one to incite her. Old Master Ji agreed."

His voice lowered, "Dad has very few relatives left, only me and our eldest brother. He always hopes that the family can be harmonious, which is why he often tries to mediate conflicts. But if you're truly hurt, the family won’t stand by and do nothing. Some things were handled poorly by the family, but we don't intend to treat you as an outsider."

Lin Qiao believed this. If Old Master Ji really saw her as an outsider, he wouldn't have allowed his youngest son to marry her.

If she had been the one involved, and Ye Minshu the victim, Old Master Ji would have handled it the same way—by trying to smooth things over and keep it hidden.

Ji Duo was the same; he didn't like to talk about family matters with her, and they didn’t discuss their own issues with the family.

But she didn’t want to talk, and Ji Duo noticed. He suddenly asked, "Have I disappointed you?"

Since the day they met, Ji Duo had always given the impression of being steady, composed, and reliable, able to handle any situation with ease.

This was the first time Lin Qiao had heard him sound so unsure of himself, but he did say, "I don't know how to buy you soda, I don't know how to watch a movie with you, I speak to you as if I'm briefing a subordinate, and even our marriage started with secrecy. Yet, I still hope you can rely on me more."

Ji Duo paused, "But, Qiao Qiao, I can learn what I don't know. If there's anything you think I'm doing wrong, you can tell me. Can we not get a divorce?"

Indeed, he had been learning what he didn't know, buying her soda, watching movies with her, explaining everything clearly even when going out, and even arranging things for her, something no one had ever done for her before.

But why did she still feel so upset?

At the beginning, she had married him to escape a difficult situation, even expecting him to bring up the divorce at any time.

She hadn’t taken the marriage seriously either, so why was she upset that he’d kept things from her?

Lin Qiao's gaze drifted towards the window, "Do you know that before this incident, I had thought about trying to live a good life with you?"

Ji Duo was visibly shaken.

Lin Qiao's voice was lighter than the night breeze outside, "That time when I asked you about your thoughts on the divorce."

Ji Duo was tall, handsome, successful in his career, steady and reliable, and chaste. Although he had some old-fashioned ways and a bit of patriarchy, he never interfered with anything she did. In fact, he often supported her, becoming her strongest backer, something no one had ever been for her before.

Lin Qiao wasn’t heartless. Seeing that he cared and was trying to change, she had thought about giving it a chance.

Why should she let someone else benefit from what she had built?

So she asked him how he felt about the divorce, wondering if he wasn’t ready to end things, maybe they could try making it work.

But then, the incident of him hiding things from her with the family was exposed, like a bucket of cold water poured over her head.

Lin Qiao was angry both at him for not respecting her and at herself for not being more careful.

Outside the window, an old willow tree was sprouting new leaves. It looked familiar, like the first time she came to the hospital with Ji Duo in April, standing by this very window.

At that time, they were still strangers testing each other, and now they were discussing whether to get a divorce.

Lin Qiao pulled her clothes tighter, "It's getting a bit chilly, let's go back."

As she turned, a warm jacket slipped over her shoulders, and she felt the heat of his chest against her back.

The window glass reflected two figures, one taller, one shorter. Lin Qiao stared out the window, but the man’s gaze was fixed on her.

The shadows were too indistinct for Lin Qiao to read his expression, but she heard his low, raspy voice clearly. "I'm sorry."

Neither of them spoke for a long moment. Not until someone approached did Ji Duo help her button her coat, then he took her hand and led her down the stairs, ignoring the stares.

The next day, Ji Ze got a call from Lin Qiao at the plant office.

"We can talk about the partnership, but I need to add two conditions to the contract. First, no other family members can be involved in the plant’s management. Second, if the plant seeks any external funding, it requires my approval. Otherwise, I will revoke the formula. If you continue to use it without authorization, I will take legal action."