The Art of Teasing - Chapter 36

Chapter 36

In the afternoon, Wen Zhengyu did not return to the art studio. She went to a guzheng shop to look at guzheng.

Her mood was somewhat unsettled. To be precise, her thoughts were in disarray, and she couldn't sort them out—she wanted to go out and clear her mind.

She had always believed that who Ye Ling liked or didn't like had nothing to do with her, that she simply needed to ignore it and not take it to heart. But Ye Ling's unusual behavior yesterday, and Wen Li's concern today, made her realize that the situation had developed—without her noticing—to a point she could no longer disregard.

Ever since Old Master Mu approached her grandfather and became her partner in opening the art studio, she had already stepped into Ye Ling's design.

Drop by drop, grains of sand had accumulated into a tower. Now, Ye Ling's feelings for her had imperceptibly begun to affect the studio's operations and development, forcing her to confront those feelings face-on.

Running a traditional art studio was more like operating a handicraft workshop—what you sold was the proprietor's skill and reputation. If she ran a traditional studio, she would open a modest shop, display her finished paintings for sale, help others consign their artworks for a commission, and occasionally participate in exhibitions, industry networking events, and such. A small business—simple, leisurely, with little risk, but also limited earnings. It would be somewhat difficult to sustain her family's current expenses on that income. Given her present reputation and painting speed, she likely wouldn't even earn enough to pay Zhan Cheng and Sun Yuan's wages.

Running an enterprise, on the other hand—high returns, high risk. She could earn a great deal, but she could also find herself saddled with crushing debt overnight. As a newcomer just stepping into the business world, there was far too much she didn't know or understand. She did not yet possess the capabilities required of an enterprise leader.

If she lacked skills in other areas, she could find a teacher. But when it came to running a business—how to be a boss—aside from guidance from family, she could basically only fumble her way forward on her own.

Ye Ling was willing to teach her because Ye Ling liked her, because Ye Ling wanted something from her, and was therefore willing to invest—in hopes of receiving a return.

She did not wish to accept Ye Ling's feelings. She had no desire for any personal intersection with Ye Ling. She did not want entanglements appearing at her side to disturb her current life.

From its opening, the studio had never operated as a traditional art studio. It had followed an enterprise model, and now stood at a crossroads facing expansion. If she chose expansion, she chose high risk—and she currently lacked the ability to handle enterprise expansion. If she refused Ye Ling's help and chose a conservative approach to maintain the status quo—the marketplace was a battlefield; if you didn't advance, you retreated. Without development came gradual decline and elimination.

Sell off her shares, pull out, and go seek her Second Aunt?

After so much heart and effort, she couldn't bear to let it go. Besides, selling her shares wouldn't solve the problem. She needed to stand on her own feet. She needed to earn money to support her family. She couldn't rely on others for everything—couldn't let her Second Aunt worry about her, and certainly couldn't let her grandfather worry about her anymore.

The most common guzheng nowadays was the twenty-one-string model, one meter sixty-three in length. Her zither had been her grandmother's dowry—fifteen strings, one meter ten long—a Hangzhou zither. The materials were excellent, and it had been well maintained. Passed down for a hundred or two hundred years, it showed no signs of drying, cracking, or moisture damage. It had been played often, the string tension was stable, and the tone was superb. If she sold that zither, finding another like it would be difficult. But as a region where the Hangzhou zither had once flourished, buying an ordinary-quality Hangzhou zither was still fairly easy, and the price wasn't expensive—ranging from a few thousand to ten or twenty thousand yuan.

If you wanted to buy a guzheng, it was best to go to a guzheng shop. Although music stores sold them too, music stores predominantly carried pianos, saxophones, guitars, violins, cellos, and other popular instruments. They sold comparatively fewer guzheng, and Hangzhou zithers were scarcer still—the selection was limited. Guzheng shops offered instructional courses and sold guzheng, with a relatively complete range of types.

Today was Saturday and it was afternoon. The guzheng shop had quite a few children learning guzheng. Their young, unpolished finger techniques and fragmented, halting melodies reminded her of learning to play the zither herself as a child. When she first started learning, her grandmother had been afraid she would damage that old heirloom zither, so she had gone to a guzheng shop and bought her a new one. To motivate her enthusiasm for learning, her grandmother told her that when she reached Grade Ten in guzheng, she would give her the dowry Hangzhou zither. Her grandmother knew she didn't have much interest in musical instruments, so she had her take the amateur examinations—they were easier to pass.

What neither she nor her grandmother had anticipated was that she hadn't been able to keep that zither.

Her thoughts were somewhat disordered, and as she tested zithers by playing, she unconsciously finished an entire piece. "Si He Ru Yi"—"Four Harmonies as Desired"—came out somewhat less than desired under her fingers.

At this hour, the guzheng shop was mostly filled with children learning guzheng and their unversed parents. There were parents leading their children over to watch, even saying to their kids: "See how well this older sister plays? You need to study hard and learn to play like her." This left Wen Zhengyu feeling a little embarrassed in front of the old master craftsman who sold guzheng and understood music.

After trying several instruments, she selected a relatively satisfactory Hangzhou zither and took it home.

When her mind was troubled, playing the zither helped empty her thoughts and ease her mood.

Her vexations transformed into musical notes drifting away as the zither strings vibrated. Her chaotic mind gradually returned to calm, and she was able to sort through the disorder and find clarity.

The greatest difficulty before her now was not that Ye Ling liked her—it was that she lacked the capability to manage the art studio.

What she didn't know, she would learn. What she didn't understand, she would seek guidance on.

She couldn't turn to Ye Ling, but that didn't mean she couldn't turn to others.

She had an excellent candidate right at hand.

She finished a piece and removed the tortoiseshell fingerpicks from her fingertips. Out of the corner of her eye, she glimpsed someone beside her. Turning her head, she found Old Master Wen had become a second Ye Ling—sitting next to her like a ghost.

Wen Zhengyu's already straight back immediately stiffened further. She asked, "Grandfather, when did you come back?" Then, pretending nothing was amiss, she put the tortoiseshell picks into their box and put them away. Only then did she notice it was already evening—nearly past dinner time.

Old Master Wen asked, "Something troubling your mind?" He glanced at the guzheng and said, "You even specially bought a zither to soothe your heart. You've been playing all afternoon, I take it?"

Hearing her grandfather's tone, Wen Zhengyu suddenly had the sense this was not her biological grandfather. She gave an mm and didn't dare deny it, saying, "There are many parts of the financial statements and assessment reports Lili prepared that I can't understand."

Old Master Wen made an oh sound and asked, "And that vexes you?"

Wen Zhengyu observed the old gentleman. He clearly didn't believe her. She suspected the old gentleman might be about to ask her about Ye Ling too. Wen Li only saw her once every several months and could still detect something amiss. She was before the old gentleman every day—there was no way he didn't know. She made an mm sound and said, "Opening the doors to do business, yet I can't even understand the financial reports—it is rather vexing. Grandfather, I think one shouldn't trouble two people for one matter. Since I can't understand the reports Lili gave me, I'll move to her place and stay for a while, and ask her to tutor me."

Old Master Wen asked, "You won't be coming home in the evenings?"

Wen Zhengyu truly feared the old gentleman might once again come out with, "You don't want your grandfather anymore?" She quickly said, "Lili is very busy. I figure only in the evenings when she comes home could she spare some time for me."

Old Master Wen thought it over and said, "Fine. If you go to her place, I'll be at ease too. Let's eat." He then told Zhan Cheng to help carry her guzheng inside.

Wen Zhengyu ate dinner, accompanied the old gentleman on his walk, and once back in her room, called Wen Li: "Lili, begging for shelter."

Wen Li was very straightforward. "Done. Come on over."

Wen Zhengyu said, "It's a bit late today. I'll come tomorrow."

Wen Li responded, "Fine. Just come directly tomorrow."

Wen Zhengyu thanked her and hung up.

She lazily curled up in the armchair in her bedroom, stared blankly into space for a while, then rose and went to the wardrobe to pull out her suitcase and pack her things.

The next morning, Wen Zhengyu went to the art studio to handle routine matters.

At noon, she returned home to eat lunch with the old gentleman. After a nap, she had Li Bin drive her to Wen Li's place.

Wen Li's home was a forty-to-fifty-minute drive from hers—a three-story standalone villa. Wen Li had just moved there last year from a high-rise.

It was the weekend. Wen Li was home.

Li Bin delivered her, carried her suitcase through the door, and then left.

Wen Li helped Wen Zhengyu carry her suitcase upstairs to the bedroom. "Take a look. If anything's not to your liking or you're missing anything, tell me," she said.

Wen Zhengyu had not the slightest dissatisfaction. "It's perfect. Thank you, Lili."

Wen Li said, "Don't thank me yet. I need to be clear upfront: I only have a housekeeper who comes on a fixed schedule each week to clean. As for meals, I solve that problem casually eating out." She asked Wen Zhengyu, "You haven't forgotten your driving skills, have you?"

Wen Zhengyu shook her head.

Wen Li secretly breathed a sigh of relief. "Good. I'll give you the car keys in a bit, so it's convenient for you to go out to eat or commute to work."

Wen Zhengyu answered, "Alright," and didn't refuse. Li Bin's home was quite far from here. When she needed a car, calling Li Bin would be inconvenient. She took her clothes out of the suitcase and hung them in the wardrobe. She had brought her computer and the several documents she barely understood, and placed them on the small writing desk.

Wen Li was seated in the chair beside the desk. She casually picked up those documents, flipped through them, then put them back down. She said to Wen Zhengyu, "Setting aside the matter of Ye Ling having some history with your father, I think Ye Ling's qualifications are quite good. For someone to go to the lengths she has—that's truly rare."

Wen Zhengyu finished hanging her clothes and glanced back at her cousin. She couldn't tell whether her cousin was gossiping or worrying about her.

Wen Li looked Wen Zhengyu over a few times and asked, "You haven't felt the slightest bit moved?"

Wen Zhengyu shook her head. She said, "Everything's put away," and pointed to the documents on the desk, changing the subject. This was the main point.

Wen Li glanced at Wen Zhengyu and said, "If you're really asking me to give you remedial tutoring, I wouldn't know where to begin either. What I have here are some real-world case studies and a jumble of materials. Read through them first, then try to work things out on your own. Don't be afraid of failure—in business, there's no such thing as guaranteed profit without loss. Experience and insight are both accumulated through failure. You only need to pay attention to one thing: prepare in advance for the possibility of failure, and keep risk within a range you can bear. As for loans—the procedures, the tricks—go through the process yourself once or twice and you'll understand. First, take out a small loan of a few million to try things out. Judging by the studio's operating situation, repaying that amount of debt won't put any pressure on you. But you must pay special attention to repayment schedules and cash flow." She stood up and said, "The materials are all copied onto a portable hard drive. I'll go get it for you now. They're all materials compiled by the consulting team—some on analyzing enterprise operating conditions, some on the management of large and medium-sized enterprises, and some on management systems. Anyway, it's quite a mix. Read through it all."

Wen Zhengyu listened, utterly bewildered, with the sensation she was being force-fed.

A short while later, Wen Li brought the portable hard drive to Wen Zhengyu and said, "It's fine if you don't understand." She handed Wen Zhengyu a small stack of business cards. "The consulting team's cards are all here. Go ask them yourself."

Wen Zhengyu silently looked through all the business cards in her hand, then quietly sighed in her heart: I studied painting. And then she pushed the matter of studying painting out of her mind as fast as she could. If she wanted to run this studio well, she didn't just have to learn painting—she also had to study economics, finance, management, and accounting.

Wen Li had found her everything she needed, and had even found her teachers. She had already helped her tremendously.

Wen Zhengyu expressed her thanks and connected the portable hard drive to her laptop. When she opened the drive, she saw folders organized by category.

Wen Li said, "With this stuff, knowing the general idea is enough. For things that are highly specialized, let professional people handle them. Find good people, keep an eye on them to make sure they handle things well, and that's all."

Wen Zhengyu made an mm sound and said, "I'll look through them first. Lili, go on with what you need to do."

Wen Li gently patted her on the back and said, "Even though I don't cook here, the fridge is stocked with milk, fruit, and coffee. There's tea too. Help yourself. Take good care of yourself."

Wen Zhengyu answered with a smile, "I will. Don't worry about me."

Wen Li said, "Alright, you get to work. I've got a dinner engagement tonight." She finished speaking and left.

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