Chapter 67 - 50: More Handsome in Person Than Imagined
Sun Yu: [Chen, are you there?]
Chen Lin: [Yeah, what’s up?]
Sun Yu: [Chen, another project design at the firm is stuck. We need your help with the math problems involved.]
Chen Lin: [Sure. But I’m back in Jiangdu for the holidays. Sorry, I forgot to tell you earlier.]
The moment he sent the message, the top of the chat window immediately displayed "Typing..."
Evidently, Sun Yu was starting to panic when he saw the words "back in Jiangdu."
Sun Yu: [Huh? You’re back in Jiangdu? What do we do, Chen? This is pretty urgent. President Peng wants to see the results before work on Monday.]
Sun Yu: [How about I take the next high-speed train to Jiangdu to meet you? Would that work? I’ll get the materials ready overnight!]
Staring at the text on the screen, which was practically dripping with desperation and anxiety, Chen Lin could almost picture Sun Yu on the other end of the line, tearing his hair out and pacing in circles.
A rookie at a design firm, having to travel across provinces on his own dime over the weekend, all for work.
Chen Lin clicked his tongue inwardly.
Sun Yu: [Can we do it remotely?]
Sun Yu cautiously added, but then quickly unsent the message.
Sun Yu: [No, no, that won’t work. Doing it remotely last time was already against the rules. I don’t dare ask President Peng again. What if he finds out I didn’t even know you went back home...]
Chen Lin looked at the message and shook his head, exasperated.
’Poor workhorse.’
Rather than let Sun Yu agonize and torture himself, it was better to just solve the problem in one go.
Chen Lin: [Alright, stop worrying. I’ll talk to President Peng about this directly.]
After sending the message, Chen Lin didn’t wait for Sun Yu to reply. He went straight to his WeChat contacts, found President Peng’s profile, and initiated a voice call.
The call rang for a moment before it was answered.
"Hello? Chen Lin?" President Peng’s cheerful, amused voice came through the earpiece.
"President Peng, hello," Chen Lin got straight to the point. "Sun Yu just contacted me, saying the company has a project that needs consulting. As it happens, I’m traveling in Jiangsu Province for a few days, and it’s quite close to Modu. How about I just come directly to your company? It’ll save Sun Yu the trouble of reorganizing the proposal and sending it all over."
On the other end of the line, President Peng was clearly taken aback for a moment before bursting into even more enthusiastic laughter.
"Oh, that’s absolutely fantastic! You’re more than welcome! We couldn’t ask for more!"
He continued in a rush, "Chen Lin, where are you now? When can you get here? I’ll drive over to pick you up myself!"
While still on the call, Chen Lin had already quickly opened a railway app with his other hand, his gaze sweeping over the list of departures.
"One moment, please."
He unhesitatingly selected a high-speed rail ticket for a train leaving in an hour, tapped to confirm, and paid for it—all in one smooth motion.
"President Peng, I just bought my ticket. I’ll be at Modu Station at 1:00 PM sharp."
"Great! No problem! 1:00 PM, I’ll be waiting for you right at the arrivals gate!"
After hanging up, Chen Lin glanced at the time and got up to prepare.
He said "prepare," but there wasn’t much to it. He had planned on making it a same-day trip anyway, so he just grabbed his phone and ID, snagged a pair of Bluetooth earbuds from a drawer, stuffed them in his pocket, and walked out the door.
The high-speed rail trip from Jiangdu to Modu was less than two hours.
At 12:57 PM, the train pulled smoothly to a stop at Modu Station. Chen Lin followed the flow of people out of the carriage, calling President Peng as he headed for the exit.
"President Peng, I’ve arrived."
"Great. Just head straight for the exit; I’m waiting for you at the passenger pick-up area outside. I’m in a black sports car, license plate starting with Hu A-XXXXX."
He grunted in affirmation and picked up his pace.
A blast of hot air hit him the moment he walked out of the exit.
He immediately spotted the black sports car parked on the side of the road. Its sleek lines shimmered with a deep luster in the sunlight, drawing subconscious glances from many of the surrounding pedestrians.
Although Chen Lin couldn’t recognize the brand, he could tell from the onlookers’ reactions that it was a luxury sports car.
A man was leaning against the car door, and upon seeing Chen Lin, he immediately smiled and waved.
The man had meticulously slicked-back hair and a neatly trimmed mustache. He wore a high-quality, light-gray casual blazer, and his entire demeanor radiated the suave charm of a successful professional.
It was President Peng.
"President Peng," Chen Lin said, walking over to greet him.
"Chen, it’s great to finally meet you in person!" President Peng clapped him enthusiastically on the shoulder and opened the car door for him. "Quick, get in. It’s hot out here."
The air-conditioning inside the car was on full blast, instantly sealing off the sweltering heat outside.
"I figured you’d be a bookish academic type, maybe with glasses," President Peng said as he started the car, studying Chen Lin in the rearview mirror with unconcealed admiration. "I never expected you to be so sharp and handsome in person! Full of energy!"
Chen Lin simply smiled.
’These days, it’s hard for anyone who isn’t handsome to get the System’s favor.’
’It would ruin the reader’s immersion, after all.’
On the way, President Peng chatted about everything under the sun, from the recent weather in Modu to the local culture of Jiangsu Province. The conversation was light and engaging, his sense of timing and propriety flawless.
Chen Lin couldn’t help but marvel internally. ’This President Peng is really something else.’ His hospitality was thoughtful without feeling deliberate; this brief encounter alone was enough to put anyone at ease.
"By the way," President Peng asked, as if it were an afterthought, "I’ve already booked a hotel for you. It has a fantastic view of the city at night. A river-view suite happened to open up today."
"President Peng, you’re too kind," Chen Lin said, quickly waving his hand. "I was planning to head back as soon as I’m finished today. I’ve already bought my return train ticket."
Upon hearing this, a perfectly calibrated expression of surprise appeared on President Peng’s face. "Oh? Heading back the same day? Are you that confident?"
Chen Lin countered, "Is this problem any more difficult than the last two?"
President Peng thought for a moment before admitting frankly, "No, not really. The first one was still probably the most complex."
"Then there will be plenty of time," Chen Lin stated, his voice calm yet filled with an undeniable self-assurance.
"Haha, alright then!" President Peng laughed good-naturedly and didn’t press the issue. "I was hoping to show you around Modu after you finished, maybe grab dinner and get to know each other better. I guess we’ll have to save it for next time."
Just then, the car came to a stop at a red light.
President Peng picked up his phone and quickly tapped on it a few times.
A second later, Chen Lin’s phone chimed with a WeChat transfer notification.
[Peng Yifeng has sent you a transfer of ¥21,000.00]
"Chen, I’m sorry for making you come all this way and interrupting your vacation," President Peng said sincerely. "The time you’ve spent traveling has to be factored into the consulting fee. I’ve calculated it as twelve hours of express consulting, plus your round-trip high-speed rail fare. It’s all covered."
While his mouth said, "President Peng, you’re being far too generous," his finger had already honestly tapped [Accept].
The instant the transfer completed, he immediately opened his system panel.
[Little Financial Planner (Enhanced): Your net worth increases by 20% each month! (Current Net Worth: 58,921.132) (Time until next increase: 635:21:12)]
Gazing at the new number, Chen Lin felt a surge of pure delight.
"So, President Peng, what project difficulty are we dealing with this time?" he asked.
"It’s for the design of a large deep-water port," President Peng answered. "The problem is with the breakwater’s caisson structure. Once we get to the office, an engineer will give you a detailed briefing."
Not long after, the black sports car glided smoothly into the underground garage of a high-rise building.
The two of them took a private elevator straight to the seventeenth floor.
The elevator doors opened onto the design firm’s wide, brightly lit office space. As he walked, President Peng instructed an administrative assistant at his side, "Go get all the engineers from Project Team Two, the ones handling the port project, and have them meet in the main conference room."
A few minutes later, seven or eight people were already seated in the main conference room.
President Peng led Chen Lin to the front of the room, cleared his throat, and made the introduction.
"Everyone, allow me to introduce you all. This is Chen Lin. The two thorny mathematical problems we encountered in our previous design proposals were both solved thanks to this master’s help. Today, our project has hit a new snag, so we’ve invited him back."
He led the applause.
Inside the conference room, everyone first sized up this "master," who looked so much younger than them, with expressions of shock and skepticism. Then, they followed suit with a smattering of applause.
"Engineer Pan," President Peng said, his gaze landing on a middle-aged man in his forties with glasses, "why don’t you brief Chen Lin on the specifics of the project."
He then turned his head and added to Chen Lin in a low voice, "This is Engineer Pan. He was Sun’s team leader before Sun went to Jinmen."
Chen Lin nodded with understanding.
The man known as Engineer Pan stood up, adjusted his glasses, and turned on the projector.
"Hello, Chen." He offered a polite greeting before getting straight to the point, his tone shifting to one of serious professionalism. "We’re currently designing a breakwater for a major deep-water port. Its core structure uses extra-large, reinforced concrete caissons. A single caisson’s dimensions are approximately eighty meters long, forty meters wide, and thirty meters high, with a designed draft of twenty-five meters. Our requirement is for the caisson to maintain structural stability under a set of complex maritime conditions. Therefore, its dynamic response under the force of the waves is the critical component of the entire design..."