Chapter 96

Li Lan had applied to Cambridge's chemistry department, and the offer had come in January. Unlike other countries, Cambridge's autumn term starts on the first of October, and with the visa done she'd booked a flight for mid-September. It was mid-July. Two months.

Two months is neither long nor short. By her schedule she'd meant to spend it settling Rejuvenate's formulation — tight, and with the shop behind her she was confident about the technique.

Plans, however, do not outrun events.

Li Cheng, having made herself thoroughly at home in the flat for a week, received an order from their mother to come home.

"Term's over and you're not home. What are you doing at Lanlan's?"

Chen Ying's voice carried as ever, and on speaker Li Lan heard it from the door.

Li Cheng, lying on the sofa in a sheet mask, argued at volume. "What's the difference between being here and being at home? A few days at home and you'd be sick of me."

Her mother softened. "Sick of you? How could I be? And your grandmother misses you. Jingyu's away, Lanlan's working, and you've nothing on. She asked when you were both coming back only the other day."

Which weakened her; she might sometimes argue with her mother, but she wouldn't contradict Song Qiulan. "Mm. I miss Grandma too. I'll come in a few days. How are they both?" She'd been planning to go home this week anyway.

Chen Ying was pleased. "One mention of your grandmother and you'll come. They're both well. Oh—"

She paused. "Ask Lanlan whether she can come. She's busy and I haven't dared ring in case I'm interrupting her work."

Seeing Li Lan change her shoes, Li Cheng held up two fingers and lifted the phone. "She's here, ask her yourself. I'm going to wash my face."

Li Lan took it. "Mum, I'll come back with Li Cheng in a couple of days."

Chen Ying hadn't expected that, and took a moment. "Really? Work isn't busy? You can take leave?"

Li Lan sat down. She hadn't dared ring made her realise she'd been neglecting them. "Mm. I'll ask tomorrow. Why don't we go somewhere — take Grandad and Grandma?"

"Yes, yes. Your father and I were discussing it. You'll be going abroad soon, and I thought we could all get away for a few days first."

Li Lan listened to her mother go on without impatience. "You and Dad decide."

Off the phone, Li Cheng put her head out from her skincare. "You're coming too? When are we going? Shall I book the tickets or will you?"

Li Lan had decided. If she couldn't be with her parents properly, she'd take presents. "I'll hand over my work tomorrow, we'll buy presents the day after, then go."

Li Cheng nodded. "All right. I'll pay half for whatever we buy, I've savings now." And went on patting her face, and failed to notice that Li Lan hadn't mentioned tickets.

She found out soon enough. The day after the handover, Li Lan took her to a car dealership in Beijing.

Inside, Li Cheng watched her listen attentively to a salesman and felt herself coming apart.

"This one is the BMW X series SUV, launched this year. High clearance, which suits the difficult rural surfaces you mention—"

Seeing Li Lan about to get into the driver's seat, Li Cheng grabbed her. "You're buying a car — have you got a licence?"

Li Lan looked at her as at an idiot. "Of course. How would I drive it home otherwise?"

"For heaven's sake." Li Cheng made frantic eyes at her and hissed, "It isn't about the licence. Have you got that kind of money? These are five or six hundred thousand."

Not that she underestimated her. Li Lan had told her about Cerulean, and her impression of Li Lan remained my sister — freshly graduated, off to a doctorate, top of everything. The rich part hadn't had time to make an impression.

Watching her actually go to sign, Li Cheng followed the two of them in a daze, and when Li Lan said she'd pay in full, finally grasped that her sister genuinely had money.

Before the card went in, Li Lan seemed to remember something, paused and held out a hand. "Half each. Money."

Li Cheng looked at the hand in front of her, restrained herself, failed, and slapped it. "No."

Contract signed, the salesman went off to do the paperwork, and Li Cheng, who had been holding it in, said disbelievingly, "Is running a company that profitable?" She'd thought a Weibo account approaching a million followers and a hundred-odd thousand in under a year made her well off; Li Lan was richer, and being a Fudan student herself, an idea began to form.

Ten years of sharing a room told Li Lan exactly what she was thinking. "It's all right. You've been at the Weibo a while now — any other thoughts?"

Li Cheng nodded, and admitted it. "I don't want to keep doing it. I want to start a company. Make money."

She did enjoy it, and enjoyed the benefits of it more, and while she didn't know how much Li Lan had made, somebody who buys a car with a card without blinking has made a great deal more. She made no attempt to conceal being tempted.

Li Lan glared at her. Money-mad. "Don't stop. How much have you made from it so far?"

"A hundred-odd thousand. I've not taken much advertising."

Li Lan knew how Weibo would come to work. "You've made a hundred thousand in under a year — and while it's you, the value actually comes from the account. So has it occurred to you what a company could earn producing accounts like that at scale?"

Which opened it up. Of course. Why hadn't she thought of it?

Seeing her grasp the money in it, Li Lan said, "Spend the holiday thinking through whether it's viable and write me a proper proposal." She'd had the idea since Li Cheng accidentally became a big account; at the start Li Cheng had known nothing and there'd been no point saying it, and now she had a million followers and understood the mechanics, and acting on it would be much easier.

Li Cheng nodded and drifted off into calculating, and got more excited the further she went.

She grabbed Li Lan's wrist, eyes shining. "Let's go home, I want to get it out of my head onto paper and have you look at it."

Li Lan removed the hand. "Home nothing. We haven't bought Mum's presents or the grandparents'. What's the hurry?"

Knowing it wouldn't happen in a day, she contained herself, and only stopped thinking about it once she was in the passenger seat.

The family being numerous and every one of them large, Li Lan had deliberately chosen something roomy. Li Cheng stroked the trim. "BMW indeed. It looks expensive." She knew nothing about cars, only that this one looked imposing and plainly cost a great deal, unlike a cheap car — her comparison being the Wuling she'd ridden in since high school, which doubled as a goods van.

Li Lan pulled away slowly, and feeling the car move, Li Cheng realised she had never seen her sister drive, and gripped the handle, tense. "Can you actually do this? Slowly. Don't rush." Licence or not, she felt no security whatever, and in her anxiety picked up a trace of the north-eastern accent she'd caught off a roommate.

Li Lan was slightly nervous herself; the licence was last year's, and while this life had no driving in it the previous one had, and she was out of practice. After a while the feel came back and it steadied.

Watching her go half an hour without incident, Li Cheng relaxed. "You really can drive. Where now?"

"To buy the rest."

Having a car, neither of them held back, and they bought a great deal — though Li Cheng appeared to have forgotten about paying half, and stepped aside at every till with no dignity at all.

---

"Are Lanlan and Chengcheng here? Shall I go and fetch them?" Li Quan came upstairs, back from a delivery.

Chen Ying was in the kitchen in an apron, and checked the time and panicked. "Look at me, I forgot. They said about one, and it's twenty to."

He panicked too. "Why didn't you say? I've just got back from the county town — I'd have waited and brought them."

"I'll ring them." She wiped her hands and dialled.

"Hello, Mum." Li Cheng answered.

"Lanlan — when are you getting here? I'll send your father. I was cooking and forgot."

"It's fine, we're at the supermarket door. We've a lot of things, though — could you and Dad come down and help?"

"I knew you'd have a lot. Why didn't you ring earlier and have your father fetch you? A bus with all that must have been a business."

"Er, it was all right. Come down, both of you." Li Cheng said something vague and hung up.

Assuming their hands were full, Chen Ying took off her apron. "They're at the door with a lot of things. Come and carry."

Reassured, Li Quan said much the same thing. "All that and they couldn't ring earlier. Those two girls."

At the supermarket door they couldn't see them — and Li Quan noticed at once the new black SUV parked outside, and thought: that's a very good car. Somebody in this town can afford that? The only one, surely. Who's got that kind of money?

Chen Ying looked round and was about to ring when somebody ahead called Mum, and she turned, and who should be sitting in the car waving but her two daughters.

It came without any warning at all. Seeing Li Lan get out of the driver's seat, Chen Ying was struck stupid, and Li Quan was no better — a moment ago wondering who owned it, and now watching the daughter who was supposed to be laden with bags step out of it.

The two of them were still looking at each other in disbelief when their daughters reached them, smiling.

"Lanlan, Chengcheng — what's this?" Li Quan looked at the car, then at them, not caught up.

"Heh. We drove." Li Cheng supplied it helpfully. A comfort to her parents, that girl.

Chen Ying got there first and smacked Li Lan, having not misseen which door she came out of.

It was not a light smack, and Li Lan winced. "Mum, what was that for?" She hadn't been hit since the high school entrance exam and wasn't braced.

"Don't laugh. I saw you get out of the driver's seat — did you drive? From Beijing? All that way? What is the matter with the two of you?" Never mind where the car came from; the thought of them driving from Beijing frightened her and brought her out in a cold sweat.

Li Lan explained quickly. "It's fine. I've had the licence a long time and I drive in Beijing all the time."

"That's not the point. On a motorway with no adult with you? You'll be the death of me." She was still frightened. If anything had happened — she couldn't think about it.

Li Lan hadn't expected that reaction. "What adult? I am an adult. I've graduated."

Li Cheng helped. "She drove very steadily, Mum. Slowly, too. Nothing happened at all." Making no mention of her own performance yesterday.

Chen Ying steadied, and seeing them unharmed, calmed. "Thank goodness. Not again, though." Graduate or not, Li Lan was a child in her mother's mind, which is why driving alone produced that.

Li Quan, thinking about the distance — he'd driven long-haul and knew exactly what it was — was frightened too, less visibly, and nodded along.

Seeing her calm, Li Lan glanced at Li Cheng, who took the point at once and diverted her, leading them both to the car. "Well — Mum, Dad, what do you think of it?"

Too busy being frightened to have thought about the car, they turned to it, and both looked at their daughters first. "Where did you get this?"

Li Cheng was ready and moved smartly to their side. "Your eldest bought it. Nothing to do with me."

Both looked at Li Lan, who produced the line she'd prepared, without much detail: she'd started a company at university.

They followed about half of it, and were puzzled about how she'd started a company with no money. It had taken them five or six years of collecting scrap plus a good deal of borrowing to open the supermarket. How had their eldest opened a company without asking for a single fen?

Hearing that she'd developed some products and they'd sold well, Chen Ying got the gist, and then enquired solicitously whether Li Lan would like a shelf cleared in the supermarket to help with sales — which was hastily declined.

Li Lan had given them a great many surprises, and knowing their daughter had started a company in Beijing while at university, it wasn't possible not to be astonished. Small wonder she hadn't come home every holiday like everybody else. She'd been building a business.

And looking at the car they were proud. Li Quan walked round it twice. "How many horsepower is this?"

Which stumped both of them. Li Lan had bought it and had no idea; she'd bought it on Feng Jiang's advice and hadn't taken in the details.

Chen Ying knew nothing about cars either, and looked at the badge. "BMW? No wonder it looks nice.

"Lanlan, what did this cost?"

Li Lan estimated and hedged. "Two or three hundred thousand."

Chen Ying knew evasion when she heard it. Two or three hundred thousand? Halved, more likely.

Then she was curious. "How much does that company make in a year?"

Sales being Feng Jiang's department, Li Lan genuinely didn't know, and estimated from her dividends. Cerulean's revenue had passed a hundred million last year, thanks to a first shot fired on the eleventh, then heavy advertising and good word of mouth; sales climbed every year and so did the dividends. Unlike other cosmetics companies, the shop kept Cerulean's development costs eighty per cent below everybody else's.

Afraid the real figure would frighten her mother, Li Lan slashed it. "About a million, I should think."

Even that made both of them breathe in. "Goodness. On our best day the supermarket makes three or four thousand, and seventy or eighty thousand in a month is doing well. And your company makes a million."

Li Cheng didn't know the figures and knew the sea buckthorn sunscreen alone had broken records last year, and that one sunscreen's profit was certainly more than a million.

Chen Ying said to her husband, "Our daughter really is something."

He nodded, and then thought of something. "Wait, though. You're off to do a doctorate — who runs the business? I don't think you need to go."

Chen Ying smacked his back. "What are you talking about? Didn't you hear her say it sells because she developed it? How does she develop anything without a doctorate? On what she's got already?"

Chen Ying knew little and had done business long enough to believe firmly that knowledge is capital — Li Lan being the proof.

He knew he'd misspoken and dropped it, laughed and conceded readily. "True."

Li Lan handed him the keys. "Dad, take it round the block?"

He didn't stand on ceremony, and said to his wife, "Come on, old Chen, I'll take you for a spin."

The car question being closed, the sisters grinned and got in too.

After a few days at home the whole family went away — not far, with two elderly people along — and half a month passed in eating and sightseeing. August came, and Li Lan began thinking about Beijing: she'd rested long enough and had nothing to do at home, and the Rejuvenate team had rung to say the work had hit a wall.

"Off to Beijing? And straight to England after that?" Chen Ying watched her pack, reluctant.

"Mm. I shan't come back before I go. Grandad and Grandma know; I'll say goodbye tomorrow. There's no direct flight from here, so Beijing is easier."

Chen Ying hadn't wanted her to go this early, and thinking about the state of the house lately, minded less. "Beijing's all right. There have been far too many people here."

Li Cheng, reading comments, laughed. "That's because you and Dad told everybody about her. Now people we know and people we don't turn up daily, wanting to borrow money."

The cause was the car. Plenty of people had cars by now, but a good car was still uncommon, particularly in the countryside. Seeing Li Quan driving a good one round town, people couldn't help asking, and neither parent had any intention of concealing it: their daughter's company had bought it.

A small town — a stir doesn't quite reach every household, and Li Lan being a famous top student and already watched, everybody who was going to know soon knew. Those who were merely envious were fine; some of the thicker-skinned came to the door on the strength of an acquaintance to borrow money.

Li Lan had foreseen it when she bought the car, and left the whole thing to her parents; running the town's largest supermarket already made them conspicuous, and one car changed nothing.

Sure enough, Chen Ying chatted with callers, laughed off any mention of lending, and then poured out her troubles: Li Lan's company was a small affair, fees in England were over a hundred thousand a year, with living costs it barely covered living there, and one couldn't tell a child that good at school not to go, and she'd bought her father a car on finance out of filial feeling.

Which set the listeners' teeth on edge while obliging them to agree — and heard often enough, some people believed it, because it stands to reason: a student, company or no company, how much can she possibly make?

She headed a good many off, and some were unavoidable, and acquaintances who saw Li Lan wanted to talk and to see whether she could find work for their children, which she found more than she could bear. Another large reason for going back.

Chen Ying looked at her. "Your father and I will come to Beijing to see you off when you go. Tell us in advance if there's anything you want and we'll get it ready."

The next day, knowing she'd be away until Spring Festival, her grandparents lifted a pillow and took out a wad of notes, so neatly stacked that Li Lan knew it had been ready for a while.

Song Qiulan pushed it into her hands. "We know you've got money. This is what we've saved. It isn't much. Take it."

Li Lan wasn't going to take their money, and after some pushing back and forth Li Tieshi drew on his cigarette. "Take it. Eat properly over there. Don't grudge yourself."

Her eyes stung, and she made herself grin. "Money as well? I'll take it, then. I'll buy you something nice when I'm back."

Before leaving she transferred her parents another million. She'd sent them money repeatedly through university towards what they'd borrowed for the supermarket, and with decent takings it was about cleared; she'd meant this for the bank loan, and Chen Ying refused — Li Lan needed money everywhere in England, and the interest was low, and there was no hurry, and it could be put to other use.

What Li Lan didn't know is that Chen Ying gritted her teeth and used half of it to rent a larger site on the other main road through the town, meaning to open a second supermarket, and the other half as a deposit on a flat in the city — her third — bought, on Li Lan's advice, out in the unfashionable east, where prices were still low enough to bear.

Li Lan sent Li Cheng no money and lent her start-up capital, along with a good deal of what she remembered about the coming explosion in short video, and what to watch out for.

With a heavy thousand yuan in her bag, she went back to Beijing, and the familiar surroundings put her straight into Rejuvenate, and what she'd felt on leaving soon dispersed. She wasn't going for good. Spring Festival was only months away.