I changed the world.

"Honey, where's my uniform?"

Which set?

"It's the one we bought at the beginning of the year..."

"Oh, it's done and I put it in the cabinet. Wait a minute, I'll get it out for you..."

...............

"Honey, why are you all dressed up so formally? Where are you going?"

"I have an important client today. Okay, honey, I'm heading out..."

"Be careful on the road, I'll be waiting for you to come home for dinner!"

..........................................

After parking his car in the parking lot downstairs at the Dongrui Building, Jiang Shanlin glanced at his watch; it was 9:03. He rolled down the window, turned off the engine, and sat inside waiting. He waited until 10:00, then closed the window, locked the car, straightened his clothes, picked up his briefcase, took a deep breath, and headed towards the elevator.

After registering in the lobby, Jiang Shanlin paused for a moment next to the owner sign in the lobby. He noticed that it indicated that only one owner was currently living on the 33rd floor, using a temporary sign that read "Historical Relics Protection and Research Foundation," suggesting that they had just moved in.

The staff member in charge of lobby reception swiped Jiang Shanlin's card, and as the button for the 33rd floor lit up, the elevator began to slowly ascend.

The number 33 lit up in the elevator lobby, and the elevator doors opened again. Jiang Shanlin stepped out of the elevator with a slightly uneasy look. He looked around and saw a piece of paper with the words "Historical Relics Protection and Research Foundation" printed on it on the glass sliding door on the left. It was obviously a temporary sticker.

So he walked to the left, and the sliding door opened automatically, revealing a spacious reception desk. A young woman dressed in a navy blue women's uniform and a matching knee-length skirt greeted him with a polite smile and a bow: "Hello, are you Mr. Jiang?"

"Hello, I am Jiang Shanlin." Jiang Shanlin quickly returned the greeting with a cupped hand.

"You've arrived a bit early, but Mr. Zhang is already here. I'll go and let him know. Please wait a moment." The woman led him to the reception area and gestured for him to arrive.

“Okay.” Jiang Shanlin nodded, watched the woman turn and leave, then sat down and looked around at his surroundings.

His first impression of the place was good. The spacious office area, with a floor-to-ceiling window offering a direct view of the Lanjiang River in the distance, made the environment much more open and airy than his previous office at Roosevelt. In this environment, his mood seemed to brighten up.

Everywhere you could see the signs of new businesses moving in. Apart from the receptionist, he didn't see any other employees, nor did he see anything on the walls such as work schedules, visions, or slogans. It seemed that nothing had been arranged yet.

He composed himself, silently reciting his resume and the questions he might be asked later. Just then, as footsteps approached, the woman returned.

"Mr. Jiang, please come with me."

Following the woman, we walked around a corner and stopped in front of a glass office with blinds. The woman respectfully knocked on the office door, and a voice came from inside: "Please come in."

At the suggestion of the lady beside him, Jiang Shanlin carried his briefcase and went inside. Behind the large desk sat a young man dressed in a blue Taoist robe, his hair simply tied in a small bun with a jade hairpin. The young man's eyes were bright and intelligent, exuding a unique and confident aura. At first glance, Jiang Shanlin judged that this was likely a scion of some noble or aristocratic family.

As Jiang Shanlin walked in, the young man had already stood up from behind his desk with a smile, cupped his hands and said, "Are you Mr. Jiang? My surname is Zhang, and my courtesy name is Hongjian. It's a pleasure to meet you."

"It's a pleasure to meet you. You may call me Zhixing."

"Alright, Zhixing, have a seat." The young man pointed to a swivel chair placed in front of his table.

The young man was none other than Zhang Jing, and the receptionist at the door was Wei Manling from Guanghe Management Consulting Company, whom he had temporarily transferred there.

Zhang Jing has already reached an agreement with Wei Manling that the foundation's future financial work will be outsourced to them. Guanghe Management Consulting Company owns its own accounting firm—Guanghe Accounting Firm, which is also a world-renowned accounting firm with highly standardized management practices.

Of course, it wasn't handled through a simple affiliation arrangement. Instead, they needed to hire a dedicated financial director and two full-time accountants to work at the foundation on the 33rd floor of the Dongrui Building every day. Management was also dual-management, with Guanghe Accounting Firm handling business training and financial standards.

This is a measure Zhang Jing took to ensure financial independence without having his own dedicated finance team. Similarly, the auditors will handle the matter accordingly. After all, absolute power corrupts absolutely; although he's preparing to relinquish control, it doesn't mean he won't make any arrangements—that would be tantamount to encouraging employee embezzlement. Even with the guarantee of a written promise, this cannot be done.

"I invited you here today just for a casual chat. Feel free to speak your mind," Zhang Jing said with a smile. At that moment, the door opened again, and the lady from the front desk brought over two cups of freshly brewed tea.

Seeing Jiang Shanlin nod somewhat reservedly to indicate that he understood, Zhang Jing then said, "I have already seen your previous resume, but I would still like to hear you introduce yourself again, Zhixing."

"Okay, then I'll briefly share my experience..."

Zhang Jing listened attentively to Jiang Shanlin's story. In fact, his experience was not complicated. He was born in a small county in Jiangdong Province and graduated from a well-known local university with a major in finance. Since it was not a top-tier university, he worked for several companies and in several different industries after graduation.

At the age of 25, I joined a local investment company in Linzhou through the introduction of a senior classmate.

At the age of 28, having accumulated certain qualifications, he successfully joined Rolish-Zhaoguo Investment Co., Ltd., which had just entered the Dazhao market. He has remained there ever since. However, from the clearly presented investment experience data he has compiled, Zhang Jing reveals himself to be a pragmatic talent with extensive investment banking experience and a very solid business foundation.

Although Zhang Jing had never been involved in the financial industry in either of his two lives, except for buying a few stocks in his previous life, he had heard how difficult it was for someone without a prestigious university background to make a name for themselves in seemingly glamorous fields like investment banking and law.

The man in front of me, having climbed to the P7 position in a foreign company, would have had to have solid achievements, especially without any family connections.

..............................

After asking a few professional questions, Zhang Jing suddenly posed a question.

“Zhixing, forgive my bluntness, but you have worked at Lawrence for a full twenty years. Why would you suddenly think of leaving?”

Jiang Shanlin hesitated for a moment, but finally decided to tell the truth. He then recounted how he had offended the new company boss and subsequently received a dismissal notice a few days later. Jiang Shanlin repeatedly explained that it wasn't due to any problems with his work…

However, what puzzled him a little was that Mr. Zhang seemed to focus mainly on the time when he received the dismissal notice and left the company, and even specifically confirmed the exact time with him.

In Zhang Jing's view, the timing of Mr. Jiang's dismissal was precisely shortly after he made a new wish in the wishing book, which added a heavy weight to his decision.

"Drinking leads to mistakes, and words can cause trouble..." Zhang Jing sighed softly at the end.

Jiang Shanlin's heart sank, but he could only nod silently.

"A virtuous person is cautious in solitude, and careful in speech and action. If you understand this and want to serve me in the future, you must keep this in mind."

Upon hearing this, Jiang Shanlin felt no humiliation at being lectured by a young man. Instead, he felt relieved because he understood the implied meaning. He quickly clasped his hands in a solemn gesture and said, "I will keep it in mind."

"Alright," Zhang Jing didn't dwell on the issue any further, and changed the subject with a smile: "I suppose you, Zhixing, are also curious about our foundation's situation?"

"I am indeed a little curious," Jiang Shanlin said with a timely smile.

"Actually, our 'Historical Relics Protection and Research Foundation' is newly established. Mainly, it is to put some of my personal ideas into practice."

"What are your thoughts on the current hot sectors in the investment market, Zhixing?"

"In recent decades, investment hotspots have been concentrated in aerospace, deep space exploration, energy, emerging electronics industries, and other related sectors, which are basically all related to cutting-edge technologies..." Jiang Shanlin immediately continued, "Especially the space jump technology that was just announced as a breakthrough not long ago, now major investment companies are making heavy bets on related industries..."

Jiang Shanlin spoke eloquently, while Zhang Jing listened patiently. Some of this information was already known to him, while some was cutting-edge information that only professional investors like Jiang Shanlin could capture with their keen sense of smell.

After speaking for a good fifteen minutes, Zhang Jing clapped his hands in praise and said, "Very insightful. However, Zhixing, as you can see, what we are going to do is different from the purely commercial investments you have done in the past."

"The Historical Relics Conservation and Research Foundation is a public welfare foundation. Our vision is to safeguard the spirit and memory from the earliest times of humankind in this era in which humanity's frontiers are constantly expanding into deep space."

"Personally, I believe that the development of science and technology needs to be based on the corresponding culture, tradition, and humanistic soil. Sometimes, we go too far and run too fast, just like a kite that has been released into the air. If there is no string that is always held in our hands, then even the kite itself will not know where it will eventually fly."

Jiang Shanlin looked at Zhang Jing, who was speaking eloquently, and outwardly appeared to be listening attentively, but his mind was racing. He pondered that this Mr. Zhang seemed to be a believer in "Castism."

The so-called "Castism" refers to an ideology originating in the New World, proposed by the original Orthodox priest Casti. It believes that humanity should pursue its own spiritual world more and use more resources to improve people's lives, while spending a lot of resources to explore deep space is completely useless.

In Dazhao, official mainstream opinion on some television programs holds a critical attitude towards this idea.

Zhang Jing, of course, had no idea what Jiang Shanlin was thinking, and he continued to spout nonsense: