Ning You suddenly understood Li Mu completely.

Sometimes it’s not a matter of being in a high position and having money that you would be able to do what you want to do.

Li Mu stayed in the city and was surrounded by people who thought differently from him, but when he went to the mountains to volunteer, at least the people there were like-minded with him.

Ning You also felt that deep sense of powerlessness now, and he didn’t even know how to convince Ning Xin, because the difficulty of this matter was as difficult as persuading strangers on the road to pick up garbage. 

“Chief Ning, are you okay?” Xiao Zhao noticed that Ning You was in a bad mood when he came downstairs, so she purposely came into the office to ask.

“Xiao Zhao, I want to ask you something.” Ning You lay on the office chair, looked at Xiao Zhao and asked, “Do you usually pay attention to environmental protection?”

“Environmental protection ah…” Xiao Zhao was asked apparently, and after thinking about it carefully, she said, “Does not littering count?”

“If, hypothetically,” Ning You said, “A portion of our company’s benefits go towards environmental protection, but are you willing to reduce your salary a little bit?”

Ning You knew that Xiao Zhao wouldn’t be willing to answer this question. The reason why he asked this question was to bring up an issue for Xiao Zhao to think about, and then the two would discuss it again, so that he could look at this issue from different perspectives.

Who knows Xiao Zhao didn’t need to think at all, as soon as Ning You’s voice fell, she directly gave three words: “I don’t want to.”

“Well.” Ning You said, “It’s not surprising.” 

“Chief Ning, we are fundamentally different.” Xiao Zhao still gave her thoughts, “My salary is used for living, while your annual salary is used to generate money. If you give up part of the benefits, it will not affect your quality of life, but if I reduce my salary a little bit, I will directly decide whether the skin care products I use are Dabao or Lancome.”

“Dabao is fine.” Ning You couldn’t help but interject.

“Chief Ning, you are using an innumerable amount of facial creams, so don’t talk like that.” Xiao Zhao showed a faint look.

Ning You has really used Dabao, both inside and out. However, he had already understood what Xiao Zhao meant, and didn’t continue this diversion. 

“You are right. Compared with environmental protection, your own quality of life is more important.” Ning You said.

——But there are individuals who do their best to protect the environment by reducing their quality of life.

Ning You suddenly missed Li Mu a little.

The advantage of working in a family-owned company is that you can openly skip work and no one would dare to complain. 

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In the end, the front desk still did not notify, because they felt that between the two of them, Ning You is the one who has the last say. 

The secretary of the president’s office was surprised to see Ning You. He wanted Ning You to wait in the rest area, but it didn’t seem appropriate, so he had to take Ning You to the door of the general manager’s office.

“Young master Li and Chief Li are handing over their work.” The secretary said.

“Okay, thanks.” Ning You said.

When he walked into the office, he was greeted by a huge floor-to-ceiling window and a solid wood desk. Li Mu was standing in front of the floor-to-ceiling window with a stack of documents in his hand, while Li Zhao was lying lazily on the office chair. The two brothers were talking about the company affairs. 

“Ning You?”

Li Mu was the first to see Ning You and his expression was a bit surprised, while Li Zhao followed his eyes and opened his mouth to tease: “Yo, my lord sister-in-law is here.”

Ning You knew that Li Mu sometimes talked indecently, but did not expect that this turned out to be a trait passed down the Li family. 

“I’ve come to see you.” Ning You said to Li Mu.

“We’re looking at the financial statements.” Li Mu put the documents on the desk, “Do you want me to show you around?”

Ning You shook his head, he is currently not in the mood.

“What, has my sister-in-law been wronged?” Li Zhao jokes. 

Ning You didn’t deliberately hide himself in front of Li Mu, and all his emotions were shown on his face. It’s no wonder that Li Zhao could see that something was wrong with him.

Li Mu came to Ning You, embraced him from behind and asked, “What’s the matter?”

“My mom disagrees with the project I told you about.” Ning You said, “She doesn’t want to do charity.”

“It’s normal.” Li Mu comforted, “Making a symbolic donation to the Environmental Protection Foundation is different from investing in environmental protection causes. This is a change in the company’s strategic development direction, which is not so easy to achieve.” 

Li Mu has already experienced this kind of thing, so he is much more open-minded than Ning You.

“I know she has her considerations, but how can she…” Ning You said, hugging Li Mu’s waist and leaning on him listlessly, “She said I was led astray by you, and she said she wanted to reconsider the fiance candidate.”

“Oh?” Fiancé candidate number two expressed some surprise. 

“It’s not a big deal.” Li Mu glanced at Li Zhao and patted Ning You’s back, “You have many choices, she can’t decide your life.”

“That’s right.” Ning You nodded and looked at Li Mu, “I have thought of a solution.”

“What?” Li Mu asked.

“I’ll sell the company shares and invest as much as I can.” Ning You said. 

“You wait.” Li Mu hurriedly stopped Ning You’s thoughts, “How old are you and yet still so rebellious?”

Selling shares is not a trivial matter. The trading of stocks by shareholders like Ning You will not only be subject to regulatory scrutiny, but will also have an impact on stock prices.

“Aren’t you the same?” Ning You said, “Leaving the company behind to volunteer in the mountains.”

“But I didn’t make unnecessary investments.” Li Mu said, “Environmental protection is a bottomless pit, don’t do such unplanned things.” 

Ning You pouted, admitting that he was a little impulsive.

He looked at Li Zhao on the side, smashed the already broken pot and asked, “What can you do to make my mother feel less favorably towards you?”

“That’s a bit difficult.” Li Zhao straightforwardly said, “I’m naturally charming.”

“Li Mu.” Ning You frowned at the person in front of him, “Look at him.” 

They were having a hard time while Li Zhao was still on the sidelines as if watching a play.

“Ignore him, that’s all he is.” Li Mu said.

“Then what should we do now?” Ning You asked.

“There’s no need to rush. We’ll take it one step at a time,” Li Mu said. “Just like what you said, a business marriage isn’t as simple as signing a document. There are still many details to discuss.” 

Indeed, there is no need to worry.

It’s not uncommon for Ning You’s projects to last for three to five years. This time, this project involves so much capital, and many preparations and long-term plans must be made.

Thinking of this, Ning You suddenly felt very relieved, and leaned into Li Mu’s arms again.

Although Li Mu is sometimes a brat, he is still very reliable at critical moments. Whatever the final outcome of the project may be, as long as the two of them can be together, the possibilities are endless. 

“I say,” Li Zhao couldn’t help interrupting the two and said to Li Mu, “Do you know that brother-in-law is almost 30 years old?”

Ning You could tell that Li Zhao was mocking him for relying on Li Mu, who was younger than him, even though he was older. He immediately turned into a big white goose with explosive combat power. He said to Li Zhao angrily, “He knows!”

After speaking, he leaned back into Li Mu’s arms and turned back into a delicate white swan.

Li Mu couldn’t help but feel amused. He rubbed the back of Ning You’s neck and said to Li Zhao, “Cuteness has nothing to do with age.”

Li Zhao seemed disgusted, shivered, stood up and said, “All right, I’ll leave the office to you.”

“However,“ Li Zhao walked to the door of the office, suddenly turned around again, and said to the two people, “Environmental protection projects are not all about investment, and you must be able to find a suitable entry point. As for whether you can convince other shareholders, it depends on how far you can maximize the benefits in this entry point.”

After Li Zhao left, Ning You came out of Li Mu’s arms and said, “He doesn’t seem to be that annoying.” 

“Well.” Li Mu said, “As long as it doesn’t conflict with his own interests, he’s still an awfully good elder brother.”

“And what if a conflict arises?” Ning You asked.

“Then you have to fight him with knowledge and bravery.” Li Mu recalled his childhood and said with a smile, “Once during Chinese New Year, our parents gave us a certain budget and asked us to choose gifts within the budget. He wanted a computer and I wanted a game console, which was way beyond the budget given by my parents.”

“We discussed the pros and cons of the gifts with our parents, but our parents did not favor any of us, and told us all to give up the gift we wanted and choose another.” 

“Thus, we combined the money and just bought one game console. Rented the console to the other kids in the neighborhood. Later, we used the collected money plus the remaining money in the budget to buy a computer.”

Ning You felt strange: “Why didn’t Uncle and Auntie increase your budget?”

If placed in the Ning You family, as long as it is what he wants, his parents will definitely buy it for him. And according to his understanding of the Li family, it’s not as if they can’t even afford a computer plus a game console. 

“Because they deliberately set such a budget.” Li Mu said, “The purpose is to give us a challenge.”

“Is that so?” Ning You didn’t understand.

“Think about it, why do two people only have one budget? Normally, each has their own budget, and the amount should be the same to be fair.” Li Mu said, “So my parents did this just to see how we handle conflicts.”

“But you guys solved it well.” Ning You said thoughtfully, “After all, it’s a win-win cooperation.” 

“That’s right.” Li Mu said, “So it must be possible to find a balance of interests.”

In this way, it seems that Ning You grew up spoiled by his parents, and it is no wonder that Ning Xin is used to making decisions for him. He looked at Li Mu and said, “Don’t worry, I will never let my mother replace you.”

“I’m not worried.” Li Mu said amused, “I wouldn’t let that happen either.”

Editor’s note: I apologizes for disappearing for quite a while due to being lazy busy. Ahem. Now that prep for the lunar new year is over, hopefully we’ll be able to get back to weekly updates!