Linlin hadn’t slept well all night. She got up early in the morning, intending to go find Yan Yuan.
As soon as she came downstairs, she saw Yan Yuan standing at the door, dressed impeccably and holding several portions of steaming-hot breakfast.
“You’re up?”
When he saw Linlin, the corners of Yan Yuan’s mouth lifted. “You’re up early today, so I didn’t have to wait in line. I bought you some Xisi steamed buns and lotus-leaf porridge. Come and try them.”
“Yan Yuan, are you all right?”
Linlin ran over and threw herself into his arms, wrapping both arms tightly around his waist.
Yan Yuan still had the breakfast in his hands, so he could only raise his arms a little higher to keep it from spilling onto her.
He lowered his head and gently kissed her forehead. “I’m fine. I’m back, aren’t I?”
Linlin tilted her head up. There were still dark circles beneath her eyes from her sleepless night. “Really? Don’t lie to me. If anything happens, you have to tell me. I can help you, too.”
Looking into her eyes, Yan Yuan’s heart softened. He put one arm around her shoulders and led her into the dining room. “Relax. We studied all the relevant policies before opening for business. Every one of our operations falls within the permitted scope, and we haven’t crossed any red lines.
“They’re only conducting an investigation right now. I was just asked to give a statement, and then they let me go. We haven’t done anything wrong, so we have nothing to fear. Don’t scare yourself. Now eat your breakfast.”
Linlin stared at him for a long while, as though trying to determine whether he was telling the truth.
Yan Yuan rubbed his forehead against hers and said with a laugh, “I’m really fine. I’m standing right here, aren’t I?”
In fact, the investigation had already been going on in secret for several months. This was simply the first time Yan Yuan had been taken in for questioning.
But after going through the questioning, the weight in Yan Yuan’s heart had finally lifted.
If there had been a problem, he would have been taken into custody immediately.
Since they had let him go, it meant the investigation team had failed to find anything substantial.
Something this serious had kept everyone else awake as well, and Shen Man had arrived early too.
Yan Yuan explained what had happened and told everyone not to worry. He also made plans to show Su Li around.
No matter how much Su Li wanted to have fun, he knew this wasn’t the time.
“Brother Yuan, I can just have my brother accompany me. You should focus on your work.”
Yan Yuan wanted to tell them that everything really was fine, but apparently no one quite believed him.
With a helpless smile, he said, “Those of you who need to work, go to work. Chengzhou, go spend some time with the elderly. Li Li, how about you come to the company with me?”
Su Li glanced at his brother and sister. “Okay!”
He wanted to see for himself whether everything really was fine.
It was Su Li’s first time visiting Yan Yuan’s company.
In just a few short years, Yan Yuan’s company had become the most prominent business on Baiyi Road’s electronics street.
The office occupied a two-story building made of corrugated metal, converted from an abandoned supermarket.
The ground floor housed the showroom, where products were displayed and clients received. Upstairs, the space had been divided into a research and development room, a finance office, and the general manager’s private office.
Compared with the crude little houses around it, the company had even gone to the trouble of having the place properly renovated.
With its glass display windows and floor-to-ceiling curtains, it was the only stylish-looking business on the entire street.
Yan Yuan’s office was at the very end of the second-floor corridor and measured only a little over ten square meters.
A large solid-wood desk stood beside the window, covered with modification blueprints for printers as well as equipment manuals in English and Japanese sent by foreign clients.
Although he was the owner, his office was far from luxurious—in fact, it could even be called shabby.
All the money had been invested in equipment, supply channels, and research and development. Everything else had been kept as simple as possible.
Yan Yuan took Su Li around both floors before bringing him back to his office.
“Well? Feel reassured now?”
Yan Yuan had Su Li sit down and poured him a cup of tea.
“Hehe.” Su Li grinned foolishly. “I never doubted you in the first place.”
There were bicycles parked all over the area outside the first floor, along with a few sedans and motorcycles belonging to various work units. They were all clients who had come to collect goods or inspect the business.
There were also many employees working inside the building.
At a rough estimate, there were at least fifty or sixty of them.
Yan Yuan had introduced some of them earlier. They were technical experts from major universities, all highly talented.
Everyone was busy working at full speed. Some were engaged in technical research and development, some handled debugging, and others focused specifically on sales. Everything was orderly, with each person performing their own role.
If something had really been wrong, how could the company have looked like this?
Yan Yuan gave him an amused sidelong glance. “Sit here for a while. I have a few things to take care of. Once I’m finished, I’ll take you out to have some fun.”
“I’m in no hurry. Take your time.”
Su Li spoke with complete sincerity.
Yan Yuan called a restaurant to reserve a table, then went downstairs to deal with some business.
Su Li had also slept poorly the night before. The moment Yan Yuan left, he stretched out on the office sofa and fell asleep.
By the time Yan Yuan returned, he was sleeping soundly, beads of sweat dotting his forehead.
The company now had its own server room and printers, along with many oscilloscopes and chip samples.
High temperatures could easily cause these precision devices to malfunction or crash.
That was why the company’s server room had been equipped with a window air conditioner.
Yan Yuan turned on a fan and aimed it at Su Li. For the first time, he considered whether he ought to install an air conditioner in his own office as well.
At noon, Yan Yuan picked up Linlin and took her with them to a restaurant.
When they arrived, Jiang Chengzhou and Shen Man had already ordered the food.
The moment Su Li saw Jiang Chengzhou and Shen Man holding hands, his eyes nearly popped out of his head.
“What are you two doing? Jiang Chengzhou, let go of her! Are you trying to take advantage of her?”
Jiang Chengzhou fell silent.
He was truly about to lose patience with his foolish little brother.
“Su Lili, call her Sister-in-law.”
Su Li pulled a long face. “Sister Shen, what do you see in him?”
In Su Li’s eyes, Shen Man was an elegant and aloof older sister. How could she possibly have fallen for his scatterbrained, ridiculous older brother?
Was she crazy?
Shen Man gave a light laugh. “I think your brother is a good man. I like him.”
Su Li shuddered. “I don’t understand you old people.”
The “old people” fell silent. Linlin promptly smacked him on the head.
“Eat!”
The outcome of the investigation into Yan Yuan’s company was announced two days later.
Since the authorities had failed to uncover any other problems, they could only penalize the company for violating the price regulations. The total amount of fines and confiscation came to nearly one million yuan.
At a time when even being a ten-thousand-yuan household was considered remarkable, one million yuan was an astronomical sum.
Even Cheng Qingshan called to ask Yan Yuan what had happened.
Yan Yuan only said that he would accept the punishment.
At that time, the pricing system was strictly regulated. Under the rules set by the industry and commerce and pricing authorities, the maximum markup for goods sold by commercial enterprises was twenty percent. Anything higher would be deemed price gouging and illicit profiteering.
The markup on one model of printer sold by Yan Yuan’s company had indeed exceeded the twenty-percent limit.
Nearly a thousand of those printers had been sold, and that single batch had generated more than 1.7 million yuan in book profits. This was the direct basis for the fines and confiscation.
There were actually aspects of the case that could be debated.
Their printer sold for 4,500 yuan per unit, and its markup had indeed exceeded twenty percent. However, a state-owned company was selling a printer of the exact same model for 9,000 yuan—twice their price—and that was considered fully compliant.
