Why didn't you tell me earlier that my little sister is still waiting for me?

Chapter 551 Tonight...I Don’t Want to Go Back

Jiang Nansun was originally drinking tea with her head down, but after hearing Andy's introduction, her eyes widened. As a top student in the Department of Architecture, she knew very well what a project like the Universal Pearl meant.

Ye Jinyan took the tablet and slid his finger across the screen: "This curved structure..."

"It requires a specially customized steel structure," Jiang Nansun blurted out, then felt a little rude and quickly added, "I mean, from an architectural structural perspective, this fully curved design poses a huge challenge to both materials and construction."

Ye Jinyan nodded thoughtfully and handed the tablet to Jiang Nansun: "Ms. Jiang is an architectural designer? What do you think of this project?"

Jiang Nansun took the tablet and unconsciously magnified a few key nodes with her fingers: "Mr. Ye, look at this connection. If we use traditional steel structure, the stress on the node will be very complicated. But if we use..."

Jiang Nansun suddenly realized that she had said too much. She looked up at Lin Bufan and saw him nod with a smile before continuing, "The most difficult part of this spherical structure is the precision of the splicing of the outer LED modules. The curvature of each panel must be..."

It wasn't until she felt thirsty that Jiang Nansun realized she was too engrossed in what she was saying. She put down the tablet with a slightly red cheek and said, "Sorry, I've said too much."

"No, Miss Jiang's analysis is very professional." Ye Jinyan's eyes flashed with admiration, and he turned and winked at Fan Jingang.

Fan Jingang immediately understood and poured Lin Bufan a Coke. Then he said with a smile, "Mr. Lin, Jingyan has extensive experience in special-shaped buildings. The Genting project completed last year was a fully curved design and won the Asian Architecture Gold Award!"

Lin Bufan picked up his Coke cup and echoed sincerely, "Ah, the strength of Jingyan Group is obvious to all! I went to see the Genting project specifically, and the curved surface craftsmanship is simply amazing!"

Fan Jingang's eyes lit up, and he quickly struck while the iron was hot: "That's right! Our Jingyan construction team is the best in the country, especially in the steel structure construction of special-shaped buildings. That technology..."

"It's really amazing!" Lin Bufan interrupted, slapping his thigh. "The last time I went to see it, I even touched the seams. Wow, the smoothness was incredible!"

Fan Jingang was choked and quickly changed his angle: "Mr. Lin, you may not know that we have recently introduced the most advanced foreign..."

"Foreign equipment is great!" Lin Bufan interrupted again, looking longing: "That precision, that efficiency, let me tell you, I saw it once in Munich..."

Fan Jingang praised Jingyan Group's construction capabilities, mentioned Jingyan's rich experience in the field of special-shaped buildings, emphasized the team's technical strength, and even went so far as to bring in advanced equipment imported from abroad. His purpose was obvious, which was to hope that Lin Bufan would take the initiative to entrust the Universal Pearl project to Jingyan.

After all, Lin Bufan took the initiative to bring up this matter today, and in Fan Jingang's opinion, it meant that he was interested in cooperating with Jingyan. Therefore, Fan Jingang still wanted to adjust his stance a little so that he could take the initiative in the negotiations later.

Lin Bufan naturally saw through Fan Jingang's purpose, but he would not be stupid enough to say it out loud, so he just agreed with Fan Jingang with a smile, and was even more excited than Fan Jingang. This evasive approach made Fan Jingang's attempts like a fist hitting cotton, with no effect.

Ye Jinyan sat aside, his fingers tapping lightly on the table, his gaze flickering between Lin Bufan and Fan Jingang. He could see that Lin Bufan was playing dumb, and he understood Fan Jingang's eagerness. Seeing this business game at an impasse, he took a sip from his teacup, finally deciding to break this delicate balance.

"Boss Lin!" Ye Jinyan put down his teacup and finally stopped letting Fan Jingang beat around the bush. "Jingyan is very interested in this project. Why don't we talk about it?"

Lin Bufan put down his Coke cup and showed just the right amount of surprise: "Mr. Ye means... Jingyan wants to participate in the Universal Pearl project?"

Then, Lin Bufan turned to look at Andy, blinked, and said, "Andy, where were we talking about just now? Didn't you say that this project still lacks a reliable contractor?"

Andy cooperated and opened his notebook: "Indeed, there are currently three companies bidding, but..." Andy glanced at Ye Jinyan meaningfully: "If Jingyan is interested, we can indeed discuss it!"

Ye Jinyan chuckled and tapped his fingers twice on the table. "Boss Lin, let's be frank. Jingyan's experience with alien-shaped buildings should save you a lot of trial and error costs."

"Ouch!" Lin Bufan slapped his thigh so hard that Fan Jingang, who was drinking tea, almost choked. "Boss Ye, what you said hits the nail on the head!"

Lin Bufan leaned closer to Ye Jinyan and lowered his voice, "Boss Ye, to be honest, the three companies currently bidding, Wansheng, Longteng, and Huajian, are all quite good. Wansheng's bid is the lowest, Longteng promises the shortest construction period, and as for Huajian... their CEO has had drinks with me a few times."

When Fan Jingang heard that Lin Bufan had already contacted other companies, he immediately became anxious: "Boss Lin, our Jingyan construction team has won--"

"Secretary Fan!" Ye Jinyan raised his hand slightly, and a glance made Fan Jingang swallow the rest of his words. "Boss Lin is still a shareholder of Jingyan. He knows these things better than you do. Do you really need to emphasize them here again and again?"

"Mr. Ye, you've hit the nail on the head!" Lin Bufan raised his Coke cup and tucked in. "I invested in Jingyan because I was impressed by the team you, Mr. Ye, have at the helm! Look at the precision of the curved surfaces in the Genting project, and then look at the cantilevered structure of Riverside One—wow, it's unique in the domestic architectural world!"

Then, Lin Bufan looked around and whispered, as if afraid others might hear him: "To be honest with Mr. Ye, I'm particularly optimistic about Jingyan. However, we can't just hand over such a large project to Jingyan just because of our personal relationship, don't you think?"

Ye Jinyan nodded slightly, his fingers unconsciously rubbing the edge of the teacup: "Mr. Lin is right, but..." Ye Jinyan looked up at the tablet in Andy's hand: "This project is indeed very interesting."

Fan Jingang handed over a document at the right time: "Mr. Ye, this is a summary of Jingyan's key projects in recent years."

"No thanks." Ye Jinyan waved his hand and looked at Lin Bufan with a sharp gaze: "Boss Lin, how about this - give Jingyan a week, and I'll have the team make a detailed plan. Then we can discuss the details of the cooperation in detail?"

Lin Bufan snapped his fingers briskly upon hearing this. "No problem! President Ye, please arrange for the team to prepare a plan. Andy will be fully responsible for the subsequent specific coordination." As he spoke, Lin Bufan winked at Andy. "Our President Andy is a well-known negotiator. President Ye will have to send the best and brightest."

Andy elegantly picked up the teacup and took a sip, a faint smile on his lips. "Don't worry, Mr. Ye. As long as Jingyan's plan is professional enough and the price is reasonable, cooperation will not be a problem."

Ye Jinyan's gaze lingered on Andy's calm face for a moment, and he smiled bitterly, "I've experienced President Andy's methods before. It seems I need to be well prepared this time."

Ye Jinyan had experienced Andy's tactics during the share negotiations. At that time, Andy retreated to advance and sold 20% of the shares at a high price of 15% premium over the market, causing Jingyan Group to suffer a loss.

Seeing that they had almost finished talking about boring things, Lin Bufan finally stated his second purpose for today: "By the way, Mr. Ye, I have another unwelcome request. Our Secretary Zhu has just changed careers, and I see that Secretary Fan is so professional. Can Zhu Zhe learn from Secretary Fan for a while?"

Fan Jingang was drinking tea and almost choked when he heard this: "Ah?! Me?"

Zhu Zhe was also stunned. She didn’t expect that the teacher Lin Bufan found for her was Fan Jingang in front of her!

Ye Jinyan glanced at Zhu Zhe thoughtfully, then at the bewildered Fan Jingang, and suddenly smiled and said, "That's a good suggestion. Secretary Fan has been with me for more than ten years and has indeed accumulated a lot of experience."

"Boss Ye!" Fan Jingang rubbed his hands anxiously. "My schedule is packed every day. I'm afraid I don't have time..."

"There's always time to squeeze in." Ye Jinyan interrupted Fan Jingang without question: "Besides, with Miss Zhu here, it will be convenient for both of us to communicate about the progress of the Universal Pearl Project."

Lin Bufan struck while the iron was hot and said, "Zhu Zhe has been working in management in the hotel industry for eight years. There is absolutely no problem with his execution ability, but he lacks experience in secretarial work in large companies." As he said that, Lin Bufan winked at Zhu Zhe.

Zhu Zhe immediately understood and stood up, respectfully handing his business card to Fan Jingang. "Senior Fan, I've heard of your name since I was working at the hotel. It's my honor to learn from you."

Fan Jingang was completely flustered by the sudden address of "senior." He blushed as he took the business card. "Ahem, well... Miss Zhu, you're too polite..."

Seeing this, Lin Bufan immediately added, "It's settled then! Starting tomorrow, Zhu Zhe will report to Secretary Fan at Jingyan Group!"

"Sure!" Ye Jinyan nodded readily: "Secretary Fan, remember to arrange a seat for Miss Zhu in your office."

Seeing that Lin Bufan and Ye Jinyan had already reached an agreement, Fan Jingang could only agree with tears in his eyes: "...Okay, Mr. Ye."

Andy couldn't help laughing as he watched from the side. He pinched Lin Bufan secretly under the table and whispered, "What evil plan are you up to now?"

Lin Bufan replied innocently in a low voice: "I really didn't do that this time. I simply admire Secretary Fan's work ability, so I asked Xiaozhu to learn from him!"

Although Lin Bufan was telling the truth, Andy obviously didn't believe it. He just rolled his eyes at Lin Bufan and let Lin Bufan experience it himself!

After three rounds of drinks, Ye Jinyan suddenly asked, "Mr. Lin, I'm curious why you chose to build a spherical theater like this? This kind of project has a long payback period."

While Lin Bufan was enjoying his meal, he said casually: "It doesn't matter whether it makes money or not, or whether it returns or not. I just want to build a place for myself to watch movies."

The box suddenly became so quiet that you could hear a pin drop. Fan Jingang's chopsticks clattered onto the plate, and Ye Jinyan's half-raised teacup froze in mid-air.

Not to mention Fan Jingang and Ye Jinyan, even Zhu Zhe and Jiang Nansun didn't believe it. They all thought that Lin Bufan was pretending again. Only Andy believed that Lin Bufan could do such a thing!

"Mr. Lin is really good at joking." Ye Jinyan laughed out loud, obviously not believing it!

Seeing that Ye Jinyan didn't believe him, Lin Bufan shrugged and didn't continue to explain, but just focused his attention on the delicious food in front of him!

After Lin Bufan and Ye Jinyan agreed to sign the share transfer agreement tomorrow, the dinner ended.

"Andy, drive carefully." Lin Bufan stood at the door of the restaurant and opened the car door for Andy.

Andy nodded, his gaze lingering on Jiang Nansun for a second: "You should go back early too." Then he started the car and drove away.

On the other side, Zhu Zhe also walked towards a brand new white Audi. Before getting in, she turned and waved to Lin Bufan: "Boss Lin, I'll be going back first?"

"Go ahead, and remember to report to Jingyan on time tomorrow." Lin Bufan smiled and warned, "If Fan Jingang dares to give you a hard time, feel free to call me."

Zhu Zhe pursed his lips and smiled: "I know!" Then he drove away.

Yes, that's right!

Zhu Zhe’s car was given to him by Lin Bufan!

As for the remaining Jiang Nansun, she naturally followed Lin Bufan back.

"Do you know why I brought you here today?" Lin Bufan suddenly spoke, tapping his fingers on the steering wheel.

"Didn't they ask me to participate in the park renovation?" Jiang Nansun paused while fastening her seatbelt. "It can't be because I know Ye Jinyan, right? Although my aunt has some friendship with him, but..."

Lin Bufan rolled his eyes at Jiang Nansun in anger. "How much is your aunt's face worth? A project worth tens of billions of dollars, is it true that just because your aunt knows Ye Jinyan, Ye Jinyan will give you a discount of several hundred million?"

Jiang Nansun was stunned by the retort. After thinking about it carefully, she felt that her aunt did not seem to have such a big face: "Then... why is that?"

"Stupid!" Lin Bufan reached out and flicked Jiang Nansun's forehead. "Remember that day at the museum when you said you wanted to design a building like that? I want to give you the responsibility of designing the Universal Pearl project."

"What?!" Jiang Nansun turned her head sharply, not even noticing the seatbelt digging into her collarbone. "But I'm still just a PhD student!"

Lin Bufan looked at Jiang Nansun's shocked expression and couldn't help laughing: "Why, are you scared?"

"I'm not afraid..." Jiang Nansun bit her lip. "I just think such an important project should be handed over to a more experienced designer..."

"Experience can be accumulated." Lin Bufan held the steering wheel with one hand and gently held Jiang Nansun's hand with the other. "Besides, I didn't say that you have to do it alone. Jingyan and Xiaobaizi will send professional teams to cooperate with you, and Andy will also supervise the whole process."

Although Jiang Nansun still felt a little guilty, she couldn't resist such a huge temptation, so she asked in a low voice: "Can you really let me participate in the design?"

"It's not participation, it's leadership." Lin Bufan gripped the steering wheel again and looked ahead: "Nansun, just treat this project as practice. Learn more from the professional team and ask if you don't understand anything.

After this ball is built, I also plan to build a big sword and a big flying saucer. Of course, these are all my own projects. If you have anything else you want to build, you can tell me. But when the time comes, you will have to take the lead."

Jiang Nansun's eyes suddenly felt warm. She remembered her mentor once saying that architecture is solidified music, and now she had the opportunity to compose her own music.

Jiang Nansun's fingertips trembled slightly. She lowered her head, not wanting Lin Bufan to see her red eyes: "Why... are you so nice to me?" Jiang Nansun's voice was so soft that it was almost drowned out by the inaudible sound of the engine.

Lin Bufan raised a playful smile and tapped the steering wheel lightly with his fingers: "If I say it's because of love, would you believe me?"

Jiang Nansun raised her head suddenly, and met Lin Bufan's mischievous eyes. She immediately turned her face away angrily: "I don't believe you!"

I don't know how long it took, but just as Ode to Joy was about to begin, Jiang Nansun suddenly whispered, "Tonight... I don't want to go back."

Lin Bufan paused slightly as he gripped the steering wheel, a wicked smile forming on his lips. "What? Miss Jiang, are you planning on sleeping under the bridge?"

"You!" Jiang Nansun's cheeks flushed with anger. She clenched her fist and punched Lin Bufan: "Can you be more serious!"

"Hahahaha——" Lin Bufan suddenly burst into laughter, swerving the steering wheel and making a sharp U-turn at the intersection: "Okay, let's go somewhere serious then."