Manhattanhenge

Ning Yixiao was late for the dinner, but no one blamed him.

Those prominent entrepreneurs who were above the top two years ago greeted him with a smile as if nothing had happened, and toasted him who was late.That kind of stereotyped smile looks like admiration for young talents.

But Ning Yixiao always remembered their cold eyes during the A round of financing.

He also changed his expression quickly, sweeping away the gloom just now, and a smile appeared on his face.

"Sorry, I was delayed by something, I hope I'm not too late."

"As I said, Shaw is an out-and-out workaholic and the most trustworthy. Today must be because of work delays." Mr. Ovis, who was near the main seat, smiled, "This is just the beginning, and the appetizers are not even served. Shaw, for my sake, you've got to have a good time tonight."

Others present also echoed, and the scene was lively.

Ning Yixiao responds to every request, and sits at the long table with these well-known entrepreneurs. With his qualifications, sitting next to the chief seat, anyone would feel that the high place is too cold, but Ning Yixiao's ambition makes him feel at ease.

After receiving the hot towel from the waiter, he wiped his hands and took a sip of his pre-dinner wine.The room was very warm, and Ning Yixiao felt his body temperature rise little by little.

Most of the people at this table are still white men. In other words, the business empires of Wall Street and the Bay Area belong to them. They compete with each other and defend each other, and no one can shake them.

Ning Yixiao has always been full of energy for work, but today it is difficult to concentrate. He clearly listened to the conversations of these investors and colleagues, but the appearance of Su Hui appeared in front of him. The dim light of the evening sky surrounded him, so white that it was almost transparent. There was no smile on his face.

"It's rare to see such a fresh face!"

A strange woman's voice appeared, and Ning Yixiao keenly sensed that the person she was talking to seemed to be herself, so she raised her eyes following the sound, and it was a red-haired girl who came in together holding Mr. Jones's hand, who looked older than herself how old.

She took a seat diagonally opposite, and Mr. Jones sat on the main seat, and both of them looked at themselves.

Ning Yixiao subconsciously wanted to take out the business card from his pocket, but when he took it out, he suddenly realized that when he was sitting in the coffee shop, he had already pinched the business card for a long time, it was wrinkled, and he couldn't take it out.

He paused, then opened his wallet, took out a brand new business card, and handed it to the woman in front of him.

"I thought you had two kinds of business cards so you could give them to different people." The other party smiled, and the hand that received the business card was painted with bright red nail polish. She took a closer look at the business card, as if she was showing her hole cards in a gambling game He showed his business card and joked, "Oh, it seems that I got the official one."

All the other guests at the dinner party laughed, and Ning Yixiao just smiled without explaining.

"Nice to meet you, I'm Julie Swell, you can just call me Julie." Through the flowers and expensive dishes on the table, she smiled and reached out to Ning Yixiao.

"Ning Yixiao." He only lightly shook her fingertips, which were bright as fire, to show his courtesy.

"I like oriental men." Julie brushed the curly hair on her shoulders and said with a smile, "Oriental men have a very special kind of reserved and gentlemanly character."

The investment bank boss on the other side joked unceremoniously: "Come on, you just like handsome men!"

Julie gave the other party a playful wink, pretending to be angry, and then looked at Ning Yixiao: "It's so strange, I've never seen your cover on magazines like "Fortune" and "Entrepreneur."

She joked, "Maybe there will be more positive marketing effects if you show up in person to promote it."

"Shaw didn't even hold the roadshow himself, but let the slender researcher of their company go, almost the most mysterious founder in Silicon Valley."

"Forget it, if he really appears on the cover, I'm afraid "Fortune" magazine will be directly mistaken for "GQ"!"

Ning Yixiao smiled, "It's not that exaggerated, my appearance does not conform to the mainstream aesthetics here."

"Who said that?" Julie's smile remained undiminished, because her cheekbones flushed from drinking, and she spoke more directly, "You look like a Eurasian mixed race, you have the characteristics of both sides, and both are good When you are studying, many people should pursue you, right?"

Women in Vanity Fair are interested in Ning Yixiao, such things happen from time to time, and everyone present has seen it several times.

"Julie, do you still want to get his idea?" Others simply joked, "Don't think about it, Shaw has long been famous."

The smile on Ning Yixiao's face was faint.In the eyes of others, this face has an incompatible and noble oriental temperament, even though his life has nothing to do with the word "expensive".

Listening to their joking and laughing, Ning Yixiao looked on coldly in his heart, but smiled on his face, without showing the slightest disgust.He knew very well that these people who flattered him on the surface were ridiculing him in private.Climbing the dragon and attaching to the phoenix, flattering, shrewd, these words he has heard too much in private.

The host and actual organizer of the banquet—Mr. Jones just smiled and watched the others talk, and occasionally had a chat with Ning Yixiao, talking about their company’s upcoming new products.This business tycoon looks very friendly, but when he is not smiling, he is serious without anger.

At the dinner party, Ning Yixiao hardly ate much, and only ate a few bites of steak. The rest of the time was spent talking with several investors, talking about ideas, plans, and future plans, and advancing the company's imminent C round of financing.He speaks at a steady pace, calm and confident.

But in the middle, one of the investors talked about another topic, but hit the nail on the head.

"Shaw, you look very upset today. It wasn't like that when I saw you yesterday. What happened?"

Ning Yixiao was slightly taken aback, then smiled.

"No, maybe it's because I have been working too long recently, so I look haggard."

After the meal, the wait staff served them dessert, which they claimed was a cherry-almond bavaros from the highest-quality pastry chef in Seattle.When it was served, Ning Yixiao kept staring at the cherries on the cake, but didn't intend to eat it.

"Shaw?" Mr. Jones even caught his trance, "Try this, you'll like it."

Ning Yixiao responded, picked up a fork at the side, scraped off only a small piece, and deliberately avoided the crystal clear and beautiful wine-stained cherries on the top.

After the dinner he stayed to talk to Mr. Jones, who gave him some helpful advice, but nothing about his private life, except to take care of his health.

"I will."

Leaving the hotel where the dinner was held, Julie saw that he was not driving, and offered to drop him off at the hotel, but Ning Yixiao declined.It was probably rare for someone to be so ignorant. Julie was stunned for a long time before remembering to raise the driver's window.

"Then I wish you a good night."

Ning Yixiao was walking alone in the cold and unfamiliar streets of Seattle, the snow was getting bigger and bigger, and it seemed that she didn't want to stop.He remembered what others said at the dinner just now, and hoped that the snow would not fall too much, otherwise there would be a strike tomorrow.

What a fragile city, a night of snow would bring it to a standstill.

He suddenly felt a little envious, and stopped in front of a convenience store.After struggling for a few seconds, Ning Yixiao still walked in. When she came out, she held a pack of Marlboro and a pair of disinfectant wipes. She borrowed a lighter from the shop and went outside to sit down.

The umbrella covers used for shading in summer were left in winter, and the tables and chairs sheltered under did not snow.

I haven't bought this cigarette for a long time, and the packaging seems to have changed again. It is no longer the "Aurora" that someone said, but the ordinary black and blue.

As soon as he lit one in his mouth, Ning Yixiao received a call from Jingming.

"Where is it? Is it over?"

Ning Yixiao exhaled a puff of smoke, and the white smoke lingered in front of his eyes.The alcohol evaporated on the skin of his hand, it was very cold, with some tingling, his tone became a little lazy, "You still care so much if you don't participate?"

"I'm too lazy to go, please."

Ning Yixiao always felt strange listening to his Chinese accent, "You should speak English."

Jing Ming is a friend he met when he was studying at S University. He is a good match. He is a real Eurasian. His father is a French real estate businessman and his mother is a Chinese-American. As an angel investor, Ning Yixiao's entrepreneurial journey will not start so fast.

Although he is a native of California, he likes Chinese culture very much. At the beginning, it was because Ning Yixiao was a Chinese talent that he took the initiative to make friends. He even chose a Chinese name for himself in "Yueyang Tower", and his friends were not allowed to call him Luka. Encouraging everyone to call him "Jing Ming", it made some American friends around me unable to straighten their tongues. They must speak Chinese when talking to Ning Yixiao.

"I don't, what are you doing?" Jing Ming didn't change his English, and even deliberately brought in some immature Beijing accents.

"smokes."

Jing Ming seemed to be grasping something, and his tone became high, "Didn't you want to quit smoking? Did you actually relapse?"

Ning Yixiao hummed, "I feel a little uncomfortable today, I want to smoke."

Jing Ming sighed, "According to me, you should stop quitting at all. What can you do if you smoke? It's not like you will die tomorrow. Besides, life is so long. People like you who don't do anything but work have to There is a way to have fun."

Ning Yixiao didn't hear a few words, just smoked quietly, exhaling gray smoke under the unseasonable parasol.

"Workaholics are terrible. I think your only rest activity is to go home and stare at your kitten doll in a daze..."

Ning Yixiao interrupted abruptly and got up, "I'm going back."

"Hey, hey, where are you going?" Jing Ming had no eyesight, and didn't feel anything, so he asked again, "By the way, I'm going to a party later, are you coming?"

"No, I'm going back to the hotel, I haven't finished my work." After Ning Yixiao finished speaking, he extinguished the cigarette butt, and threw it into the trash can together with the vague emotions in his heart.

"You relax occasionally." The other party sighed again.

Ning Yixiao returned the lighter, hailed a car, and said casually, "Your partner also works occasionally."

Jing Ming said in Chinese, which is completely a Western expression habit, "Okay, I wish you a happy night!"

It sounds funny, and it sounds funny.

Ning Yixiao didn't expect any good night for himself, let alone tonight.

When he returned to the hotel, he turned on his laptop for meetings, but most of the time he listened to other people's reports.Ning Yixiao is very good at double-tasking, so he listened and read the report sent by the financial officer.The entire meeting lasted for two and a half hours. At the end of the day, he clicked on the mailbox to reply one by one, only to find that he had received an email from Carl about the person he asked the other party to check today.

There were many attachments in the email, many of them were papers, Ning Yixiao clicked to download, and then called Carl.

"If I'm not mistaken, he should be a clinical psychiatrist in New York. He has his own outpatient clinic. I collected some journals and conference papers he has published. Dr. Liang should be focusing on the treatment and research of bipolar disorder .Do we have a project to work with him on?"

Carl misunderstood Ning Yixiao's intention to come, but he didn't hear Ning Yixiao's denial, so he continued: "Actually, there is a doctor in our laboratory who is from the same school as Dr. Liang, and that is Elvis. If you need cooperation, I think it's possible to talk through him."

Ning Yixiao was noncommittal, paused before continuing: "Others, information that has nothing to do with majors."

"It has nothing to do with major..." Carl thought for a while, "Private life?"

He didn't fully understand Ning Yixiao's thoughts. After thinking for a long time, he suddenly remembered a paper he had just read, "Oh, by the way, Dr. Liang published a paper on homosexual psychology during his undergraduate period, and he was still in that paper." The article stated his sexual orientation, he is gay."

Is that personal enough?

Karl quietly waited for a response, thinking that Ning Yixiao would praise his meticulousness.

Unexpectedly, Ning Yixiao hung up directly.

Carl suddenly had an idea: If there is a subject of boss psychology, he must sign up for advanced studies.

The author has something to say:

It's not easy to work, Carl sighed