Lack of Love

Zhong Qiran has been staying in Country M for a month and has gradually adapted to life there.

Due to his sexual orientation, he was not comfortable living with others, so he rented a small apartment near the school. The courses at the institute had already begun, and as soon as they started, the professor assigned a pile of assignments. However, what bothered Zhong Qiran the most was his foreign language proficiency. He had been too comfortable in his home country, with fewer opportunities to use foreign languages. Reading was not a problem, but listening and speaking were more challenging for him.

Although he was older than the other students by a few years, he had a youthful appearance and looked like the youngest among the international students.

During his first week here, he didn’t have time to think about emotional wounds. He was busy studying, improving his foreign language skills, and focusing on his institute’s courses.

During his first month in the foreign Country, Zhong Qiran slept very well. The busyness kept him from having any unnecessary worries.

He chose to continue his research project in statistics, intending to specialize in the field of market economy. With his years of work experience, he hoped to have good prospects upon returning to his home country. Before graduating, he also needed to complete a one-year internship at a local company.

Zhong Qiran had already made plans and had a specific company in mind for his internship. Now, what he needed was to write a proposal that the company would accept before the end of the semester.

However, the school would not provide any assistance, and everything had to be pursued by the students themselves. That meant that he might have to face several obstacles before achieving his goal. He set a target graduation time of two years, and if things didn’t go smoothly, it might take three years to leave the school. But dragging it out would mean higher expenses, which was not within Zhong Qiran’s expectations.

This was his challenge and a new chapter in his life.

Yan Hao found out which school Zhong Qiran was attending in Country M. However, he  found out but hesitated to reach out.

Country M was too far away, and he couldn’t just drop everything and go find him, especially when he didn’t even know why he wanted to find him.

After the accident, Yan Hao showed uncertainty for the first time, but he was unaware of it and continued to live a routine and dull life every day.

It wasn’t until a company meeting a month later that the Overseas Planning Department proposed a desire for cross-border cooperation with a company in Country M. They wanted to launch a new sports equipment product in the domestic market, and the case was still in the preliminary negotiation stage without a conclusion. However, the Business Department and Sales Department disagreed because of differences in user habits and low acceptance levels among the local population.

As the boss, Yan Hao, who used to listen to his subordinates’ opinions before making decisions, this time deviated from his usual behavior and asked, “Where is that company located?”

Everyone was puzzled after hearing this, unsure if the boss had asked something unrelated to the discussion.

Yan Hao’s secretary was the first to react and said that it was in a city in Country M.

It was the same location where Zhong Qiran resided.

Yan Hao lowered his head and remained silent. Without a smile, he appeared serious, and his expressionlessness made it difficult to fathom his thoughts.

The atmosphere in the meeting was extremely eerie. The boss remained silent, and the employees dared not speak up.

Yan Hao looked at the pile of market evaluation data in front of him. It was evident that the acceptance and preferences among the local population were significantly low. He knew that taking on this project would not be profitable and would likely result in a loss. He was also aware that the company in Country M had identified the potential of the domestic market and was trying to force their sales. Nevertheless, he still said, “Let’s negotiate further with the other party and decide if we will send someone over.”

The boss had spoken, and opposing it would be futile. The group of people didn’t have the courage to ask why and simply added the project to the scheduled work items.

After the meeting, Yan Hao returned to his office and kept thinking about why he made such a decision. It wasn’t necessarily for Zhong Qiran because he didn’t have any feelings towards him. It felt as if it was merely an instinctual urge that compelled him. Although he had lost his emotions, his impulsiveness and instincts remained.

Soon after, his secretary came rushing in, holding a phone in hand. After a brief conversation with the person on the other end of the line, the secretary asked Yan Hao, “Regarding the schedule for negotiations in Country M, both the Business Department and Sales Department are inquiring about who would be the best choice to send.”

Yan Hao replied, “I’ll go.”

The secretary fell silent, and the person on the phone also became quiet. They had never encountered such a business negotiation where it required the boss to personally get involved.

Yan Hao noticed the secretary’s reaction and asked, “What’s wrong? Is there a problem?”

“No,” the secretary immediately replied, “I’ll handle it right away.”

Things that were personally instructed by the boss were indeed handled more efficiently. One week later, Yan Hao smoothly boarded the plane and headed to Country M.

───

Zhong Qiran wrote two proposals, both of which were rejected by the internships he had hoped to join. He stayed up all night and wrote a third one, sending it via email before dawn.

After eating something quickly, he went to sleep because he had to wake up at eight o’clock for classes.

Two days later, the company he applied to finally responded and invited him to come to the company for detailed discussions the following week.

Zhong Qiran knew that it was just an interview and it didn’t mean he had succeeded. He needed more detailed analysis data to convince the company to accept his ideas.

He chose a food company that mainly produced snacks, with potato chips as their popular flagship product. Food could resonate with people and spark conversations, and it was easier to obtain survey data. Over the past month, whenever he had free time, he wandered around supermarkets and streets, observing the types and flavors of snacks that people in that foreign country preferred.

He conducted surveys and consolidated the observation results, roughly outlining areas for improvement and people’s expectations. The content of his discussion with the company would come next. If the negotiations went well, he would be able to stay at the company as an intern and work on his research project. This was like an interview and test in the workplace, and it was only the first step.

With nothing to worry about, he could then focus more on his studies.

The following week, as scheduled, Zhong Qiran arrived at the company and communicated with the receptionist in a foreign language. Whether it was because he looked too young or there was some mistake, the receptionist didn’t believe him and thought it was a prank, so she was unwilling to make a call to confirm with her superiors.

Despite multiple attempts at communication, Zhong Qiran was at a loss about what to do. Suddenly, a voice from behind him resolved the situation, saying, “I can vouch for him. Please report to the upper management.”

Upon hearing this voice, Zhong Qiran froze. He didn’t turn around as he didn’t know who he would find.

The receptionist, looking at the tall and cold man behind Zhong Qiran, inexplicably felt a sense of fear and obediently made the phone call to confirm before reluctantly instructing Zhong Qiran to go upstairs.

Without realizing it, Zhong Qiran heard the footsteps behind him fading away.

He instinctively turned his head to look, but the man had already gone without a word, as if he had just happened to help him along the way.

For a moment, Zhong Qiran’s heart was in turmoil, but he quickly calmed down. The time he had agreed upon with someone was almost up, and he couldn’t be late.

He looked back for a brief moment only to find a farmiliar face ,he couldn’t make out the face so well but he could swear that was Yan Hao, “but what was he doing here?”

 Yán Hào’s expression revealed some confusion. He didn’t know what he was doing. When he saw Zhong Qiran being troubled, he acted without thinking and went straight to him.

Originally, he was just standing at the entrance waiting for the person in charge to come and pick him up because this was the largest landmark in the vicinity. He didn’t expect to coincidentally encounter his ex like this though somehow he hoped he did

He glanced at the company’s sign, which indicated that it was a famous snack company in that country.

At that moment, the person in charge of the M-country enterprise also arrived. He extended his hand and shook hands with Yán Hào, speaking in a very polite tone, “Mr. Yán, let’s go.”

Yán Hào nodded, took one last look behind him, and then walked with the person in charge.