Chapter 46

Chapter 46

Shu Qianfei shot a cold glance at Shen Lin. Shen Lin believed his words were reasonable and didn’t flinch under his mother’s intense gaze. He was even ready to argue back.

However, a weak but meaningful glance from Shen Yan made him immediately back down.

The porridge was simmering in the kitchen, prepared so that Shen Yan could have a hot meal when he woke up.

A few minutes later, Shen Yan, holding the bowl of porridge, took a sip and then asked anxiously, "So, what exactly happened to the company?"

Neither Shu Qianfei nor Shen Lin would say a word if he didn’t eat.

Within minutes, Shen Yan was so anxious that he felt like he needed an oxygen mask.

Shen Lin, putting on an adult act, said, "There are things in the company that Mom is handling. Why should a student like you be worried about that?"

Shen Yan ignored him and looked directly at Shu Qianfei.

Shu Qianfei said, "It’s just a minor issue. I can handle it."

Shen Yan furrowed his brow, his resolve unwavering, "I want to know what exactly happened."

Shu Qianfei felt a mix of warmth and helplessness as she met his determined gaze.

Shen Lin also watched her intently, his eyes wide and expectant.

She had always tried to be good to Shen Yan, but she sensed that he was afraid of her.

She had thought that one son feared her and the other son disliked her.

Unexpectedly, both sons actually cared about her very much.

Her approach to parenting was to provide them with the best material comforts. Beyond that, she didn’t know how else to express her feelings as a mother.

Now, being cared for by both sons, what could be more blissful than this?

Even the company’s troubles seemed insignificant by comparison.

"You should have heard about the recent collaboration between the company and the traditional gold jewelry artisan Fei Wenfang?" Shu Qianfei said calmly.

Shen Yan naturally knew about it. He had always been fond of jewelry design and was very interested in the combination of traditional and modern craftsmanship.

Moreover, the collaboration between G.E and Fei Wenfang would have a jewelry exhibition at the end of December, which he was looking forward to. The company had already done a lot of promotion.

Being somewhat of an insider, he understood the significance of the collaboration between G.E and Fei Wenfang.

Shu Qianfei’s positioning of the company was fashionable, high-end, and luxurious. It had taken her over twenty years to push the company to its current height.

The collaboration with Fei Wenfang was meant to expand the company’s breadth.

In simple terms, as the country grew stronger and the consumption level of ordinary people gradually increased, if the company wanted to capture the ordinary people’s market, the collaboration with traditional gold jewelry inheritors would be the key.

After all, the aesthetics of the ancestors had become increasingly popular in recent years.

The collaboration with Fei Wenfang was also meant to enhance G.E’s national reputation.

But what did this have to do with the company’s crisis?

Shu Qianfei said, "Fei Wenfang suddenly backed out of the contract, rendering all the company’s initial investments and promotional efforts useless."

"It’s not the end of the world, right?"

A faint smile tugged at the corners of Shu Qianfei's lips, not one of pain but of a faint sense of freedom.

Shen Lin might not realize this, but Shen Yan had once been the general manager of G.E. He mentally calculated the losses involved, and his face turned even paler.

However, the financial loss wasn’t the most fatal. After the initial publicity, a large number of consumers had made advance bookings, which were now all canceled. How could they salvage their reputation? How could they pacify the consumers?

Observing Shen Yan's expression, Shu Qianfei gently patted his thin shoulder. "When I started, I only had a small gold accessories shop. What's wrong? If I'm out of money, am I not your mother anymore?"

Shen Lin hugged a pillow, legs crossed, and upon hearing this, a look of joy appeared on his face instead of sorrow. "That's great. We'll earn money to support you, and you just need to be happy every day."

"But let's be clear. If you run out of money in the future, you won’t have the confidence to be tough with me."

Shu Qianfei was both amused and exasperated to see Shen Lin actually fantasizing about life after the company's bankruptcy.

Shen Yan knew Shen Lin was just trying to cheer Shu Qianfei up. Even without the company, she still had two sons.

Although the elder brother's health wasn’t great, he was also working hard to improve it.

Despite all the drinking and skipped meals, he hadn’t ended up in the hospital, which was real progress.

However, Shen Yan, having been a manager for some time, had already started thinking of solutions.

While this was a big hit for the company, it wouldn’t bring it down completely.

Shen Lin’s fantasy probably wouldn’t come true.

"Do we have a solution for the company?" After calming down, Shen Yan asked, sipping a slightly hot porridge.

Shu Qianfei: "The pre-production products have been halted. Due to copyright issues, they certainly can’t be used, but many materials can be repurposed for other uses. It’s not a big problem."

"As for the company's reputation..."

She shook her head. "Unless we partner with someone even more respected in the industry, but Fei Wenfang's status in traditional gold accessories design is already very high."

"So, for now, the best remedy is to collaborate with well-established celebrities who have a following. The public would be more likely to accept it, and it would help minimize the damage."

This plan was only a backup in Shen Yan's mind. "If we switch to a more prestigious designer, wouldn’t customers think the company is bullying Mr. Fei?"

In fact, a better solution would be for Fei Wenfang to explain the reason for terminating the collaboration and recommend another traditional designer on Fei Wenfang's behalf.

This would minimize the damage to the company's reputation.

Of course, if Fei Wenfang could cite health issues as the reason for canceling the collaboration, the effect would be optimal.

And if the subsequent designs were also licensed, the company’s losses might be reduced to a third of the current estimate.

However, when Shen Yan made his suggestion, Shu Qianfei’s eyes flashed with a sharp intensity.

No matter how hard she tried to hide it, the brothers picked up on it.

Shen Yan and Shen Lin exchanged glances. Was there something shady going on with the collaboration?

But Shu Qianfei didn’t seem inclined to explain, perhaps not wanting them to know the messy details.

Shen Lin, however, didn’t hold back with his mother and asked bluntly, "What exactly did Fei Wenfang do?"

Shu Qianfei looked at Shen Lin's burning anger and responded with a question of her own: "If you knew that Fei Wenfang deliberately set up a scheme to trap the company for money and then turned around to collaborate with the Bai family, what would you do?"

Shen Lin answered without hesitation, "Then he better not let me see him, or I’ll show him how fast hospital WiFi can be."

Shu Qianfei's expression darkened immediately, and Shen Yan also caught on to the situation.

Shen Lin, a step slower, looked suspicious. "So, this was a setup from the start? Fei is in league with the Bai family?"

Shen Lin's conclusion was probably spot on. Shen Yan continued to ponder. Shen Lin had accidentally heard the conversation between Shu Changyun and Shu Kai and learned about this.

Given Shen Lin's personality, he would definitely try to uncover the truth.

Before he found out the truth, he’d probably get into a huge fight with Shu Qianfei.

Eventually, someone would fill Shen Lin in on the whole truth. As he said, if he encountered Fei Wenfang, he would most likely resort to violence.

At that point, interested parties could use the news of Shen Lin attacking Fei Wenfang for widespread publicity, with consequences too terrible to imagine.

Most people would blame Shen Lin's act of violence on Shu Qianfei's instigation, thinking that her son acted only on her orders.

Even if Shen Lin came out to clarify, people would only believe what they had heard.

After these incidents, Shen Lin and Shu Qianfei would probably end up on bad terms.

So, was Shen Lin really 'accidentally' overhearing their conversation?

Would Shu Changyun, despite disliking Shu Qianfei, really risk the company like this?

It seemed I had underestimated Shu Kai.

Shu Qianfei's question to Shen Lin indicated that she also harbored suspicions about Shu Kai.

"I really underestimated Shu Kai. If his useless act was all an act, why would he compete with me for the company? He’s got so much talent, he should be in Hollywood." Shu Qianfei sneered sarcastically.

What Shu Kai didn’t expect was that Shu Qianfei and Shen Lin would sit down and have an honest conversation about it.

Although Shen Lin was a bit young, after being enlightened by Shu Qianfei's two remarks, he also immediately understood.

Was he almost manipulated by his uncle, whom he had always looked down on?

Shen Yan started to think that in his past life, Shu Kai must have done something terrible for Shu Qianfei to cut him off financially and send him overseas.

The three of them had their own thoughts, and for a moment, the living room fell silent.

A few minutes later, Shen Lin couldn’t hold back any longer. "Brother, your phone has been getting non-stop messages."

He had noticed it since they sat down, but with the serious discussion going on, he ignored it. The phone screen was still flashing.

Shen Yan finished the last bit of porridge in his bowl before attending to his phone.

He was a student now, unlike in his previous life when he was a CEO, and work messages would come in even late at night, which had been really annoying.

After being reborn, he found himself avoiding phone messages, partly because of this.

There were messages from many people on Shen Yan’s phone, and among them was a message from a particularly special person.

Of course, there were also messages from Hu Chengyu, which Shen Yan subconsciously ignored and saved for last.

The first message he opened was from Tang Yun. Yes, Shen Yan and Tang Yun were WeChat friends.

However, they had only chatted a few times, and their conversations were limited to jewelry or jade designs.

Shen Yan was surprised to see over a dozen messages in a row.

Tang Zizai: *Kid, your "Transformation" piece came in first! Not bad.*

Tang Zizai: *Don’t get too full of yourself. You’ve got to keep working hard. I checked out the second-place guy—his skills are solid, but he lacks the spark you have.*

These two messages were sent in the afternoon, when Tang Zizai was already drunk and had just been brought back to his bedroom by Hu Chengyu.

Shen Yan’s eyes widened in shock.

He suddenly realized that when he woke up, he was still wearing the shirt from earlier, but was only in his underwear below!

Shen Yan’s face flushed red, his ears tingling, and he didn’t dare to think further.

He even forgot to dwell on what "first place" meant.

Just keep reading the messages, he tried to distract himself.

Two hours later, Tang Yun sent another message, and this time his tone was much more intense.

Tang Zizai: *What kind of luck do you have, kid? You’ve actually caught the eye of She Wenjun!*

He even used an exclamation mark.

Shen Yan’s mind went blank for a moment before he remembered who She Wenjun was.

His eyes immediately widened in surprise.

Shen Lin, curious, asked, “Brother, whose message is it? You’re turning red and then looking shocked. Did you find someone to be my sister-in-law or what?”

Shu Qianfei also immediately looked at Shen Yan.

However, Shen Yan didn’t notice their gazes at all. He was just as excited as Tang Yun at that moment.

After all, She Wenjun was a legendary figure in the world of traditional gold jewelry design.

Tang Yun probably thought Shen Yan didn’t know who She Wenjun was, so the next few messages were him listing her achievements, which to Shen Yan seemed like the old man was showing off his idol in a creative way.

The last message, sent a few minutes ago, read: *“Say something, are you meeting her or not? I’m waiting to reply to her.”*

The previous message was Tang Yun relaying She Wenjun’s words, expressing her wish to meet Shen Yan.

Shen Yan’s heart raced, as if he had just seen his crush.

Truth be told, he had been considered half a disciple of She Wenjun, but that was from his previous life.

Their first meeting was quite dramatic. In his past life, Shen Yan had become a jewelry design blogger, and somehow, She Wenjun had stumbled upon his work and started following him.

They exchanged design ideas online, and because of her bold and unique designs, Shen Yan had initially assumed she was a man, based on his own stereotypes.

After taking over the company, Shen Yan lost touch with her. It wasn’t until the company was going through a major transition that she reached out again.

Only after working together did Shen Yan realize that she was the very person he had admired as his online mentor.

Seeing his mentor’s name, Shen Yan felt a wave of respect and nostalgia wash over him, leaving him momentarily speechless.

Unfortunately, Shen Yan’s health took a turn for the worse soon after meeting his mentor. He passed away before she did, despite being her newest disciple. Tragically, Shen Yan, her newly taken-on disciple, passed away before she did.