Sail across the sea

Chapter 451 You're only talking about rare earth elements

"I am Xia Shihui, from the Department of Geology."

A round-faced girl sat down opposite Gao Min and introduced herself in a poised and confident manner, while casually taking off her backpack and placing it on a chair to the side.

The meeting was arranged in the student union office, and Xia Shihui was invited by Yuan Xiaoyan.

Yuan Xiaoyan has been officially employed by Gao Min and has become Gao Min's full-time writer.

Gao Min initially assigned her only the task of helping write a few promotional articles for press releases.

After listening to Gao Min's introduction of the marketing plan for Canghua Science and Trade's cleaning of the Army Memorial Monument, and after reviewing the press releases that Gao Fan had his reporters publish in several major media outlets in Maolin Province, Yuan Xiaoyan drew inferences from the experience and came up with a complete set of public relations ideas for Xinglong Company's paint promotion. Gao Min was amazed and immediately offered to hire her as the company's part-time public relations manager, promising her a monthly salary of 100 yuan, with additional payment for writing articles.

Yuan Xiaoyan was a student in the Chinese Literature Department, class of '82, the same year as Gao Fan. The Chinese Literature Department also offered some journalism courses, and the teachers would introduce some international public relations and publicity cases during their lectures. What Yuan Xiaoyan lacked was simply practical experience.

With Gao Fan's vivid case studies as a reference and Xinglong Company's practical needs, Yuan Xiaoyan's journalistic talent was instantly ignited. She came up with a plethora of good ideas, and her news articles were splendid and far superior to the writing that Gao Min put together on her own.

In the press release provided by Gao Min, Yuan Xiaoyan discovered Gao Fan's name and realized that Gao Min was actually Gao Fan's famous older sister at school.

Gao Min tentatively inquired whether Yuan Xiaoyan knew Gao Fan and whether she was interested in getting to know him. The clever and quick-witted Yuan Xiaoyan immediately understood the subtext in Gao Min's words and began gossiping about Gao Fan and Xia Shihui from the Geology Department with a giggle.

After all, they were all alumni of the same year, and Gao Fan had such a great reputation, so it wasn't surprising that Yuan Xiaoyan knew about such gossip. You see, among the girls in the class of '82, quite a few had privately said that Gao Fan was young, rich, and a rare catch.

Gao Min, recalling the information Yang Kai had revealed, asked Yuan Xiaoyan for help in inviting this Xia classmate to meet her.

"I am Gao Fan's older sister, my name is Gao Min."

Gao Min observed the girl in front of her, her eyes glancing at Yuan Xiaoyan, who was writing a manuscript on the nearby desk, and she felt a slight disappointment.

Xia Shihui wasn't ugly; she had bright eyes and seemed cheerful, enthusiastic, and intelligent. However, compared to Yuan Xiaoyan, who was a school beauty, she was slightly less attractive. Gao Min always felt that her younger brother should find a prettier girlfriend.

“Gao Fan has an older sister? He never told me.” Xia Shihui said, then commented, “Hmm, now that you mention it, I also think you and him do look a bit alike. However, you look younger, while Gao Fan looks so old-fashioned, I would believe you if you said you were his sister.”

Honestly, Xia Shihui spoke the truth and had no intention of flattering Gao Min whatsoever. But the moment she spoke, Gao Min's goodwill towards her immediately increased by several tens of percentage points.

"He didn't say he had a sister, so what did he tell you?" Gao Min asked with a smile.

Xia Shihui shook her head: "How could I remember clearly? I remember the last time I had dinner with him, we talked about rare earths. Later, he and I even wrote a report together and submitted it to Minister Zheng of the Ministry of Chemical Industry."

"You're just talking about rare earth elements?" Gao Min asked curiously.

“Last time we talked about rare earths. We’ve also talked about other mines in the past, like copper and kaolin,” Xia Shihui said.

Yuan Xiaoyan burst out laughing and couldn't help but look up and interject, "Why do you guys keep talking about mines?"

“I’m a geology major, specializing in mineral exploration,” Xia Shihui said confidently. Then, as if remembering something, she added, “It’s not just about minerals; Gao Fan also talked to me about ammonia synthesis.” “Are all the things you science students talk about so…cutting-edge?” Yuan Xiaoyan asked.

She originally meant to say that the topic was too boring, but she quickly changed her mind before she could finish, as it wouldn't be appropriate to start a debate about arts versus sciences.

Gao Min felt something was off, but couldn't quite put her finger on it. After a moment's hesitation, she asked, "You said you're a geology major, so how do you know Gao Fan?"

"I think it's because we had a class together," Xia Shihui said, though she couldn't quite remember.

It seems like it was three years ago. What was the reason that I met Gao Fan?

This matter doesn't seem that important, does it?
"Oh……"

Gao Min was speechless. This didn't match the scene she had imagined of her sister-in-law meeting her future sister-in-law.

Normally, if this girl had even the slightest interest in Gao Fan, she would probably feel a little awkward upon learning that she was Gao Fan's older sister, right? It's like meeting the parents.

However, the man in front of me spoke of Gao Fan as if he were talking about a half-brother, without a hint of ambiguity.

The two should be quite familiar with each other; at least Gao Fan had dined with her before. But the topic of their conversation during the meal was rare earth elements and synthetic ammonia.

"By the way, Minmin, are you in Beijing on a business trip?"

Seeing that Gao Min remained silent, Xia Shihui turned to her and asked a question. She was quite outgoing and immediately addressed her as "Sister Minmin".

Yuan Xiaoyan grinned slightly. She suddenly realized that she really did have something she couldn't compare to Xia Shihui in: she wasn't as innocent as Xia Shihui. She could only call Gao Min "Sister Gao," but couldn't bring herself to use a more intimate term like "Sister Minmin." She just couldn't let go of that.

Gao Min felt her heart melt at Xia Shihui's words. She smiled and said, "Yes, I'm in Beijing on a business trip. I'm collaborating with your school's student union on an event."

“No wonder.” Xia Shihui glanced at Yuan Xiaoyan, then turned to Gao Min and said, “Is there anything I can help you with? If so, Minmin, just let me know. However, I studied science, unlike Minister Yuan and the others who can write. But if there’s something to do, I’m quite good at running errands. I walk fast. By the way, Gao Fan always says I’m elusive.”

"Appearing and disappearing like a ghost?" Gao Min felt like she was struck by lightning; what kind of evaluation was that?

"Hehe, it's just a metaphor, I don't care," Xia Shihui said.

“There’s nothing I need your help with right now,” Gao Min said. “I just heard from Xiao Yan that you know Gao Fan, so I invited you over to chat. It’ll be dinner time soon, right? How about I invite you and Xiao Yan to go out for dinner together?”

"Let me treat you," Xia Shihui said. "I just went on a business trip with my teacher, and he gave me a 40 yuan travel allowance."

　The update pace has slowed down a bit, mainly because I've been revising students' thesis proposals these past few days... I'm getting old, my hands are getting slower.

　　(End of this chapter)