Everyone calls me Lao Fan… though that doesn’t really matter.
After fourteen years of running a company in China, I’ve learned one thing: names are worthless, people are cheap, and only contracts and cash flow matter.
But four years ago, I forgot that rule.
That winter, an old friend called me and said his daughter couldn’t find a job. He asked if I could “arrange something.” I didn’t think twice. I simply replied, “She’s family. Tell her to come.”
That was my first mistake.
I placed his daughter in the finance department — the most relaxed, most stable, most information-rich position. Less than six months later, I made my second mistake: I introduced her to one of our employees, a young man who worked hard and kept his head down.
Soon they started dating, and later, they got married.
At the wedding I drank too much and slapped the table, saying, “These two won’t go far. They’ll stick together for life.”
Looking back, that line feels like a joke.
— The ones who run away the fastest are the ones you did the most for.
Then came the pandemic.
Project payments stalled under mounting local government debt. Construction funds were delayed for seven months. Banks tightened credit lines. Our cash flow dried up completely.
I began selling my RV, mortgaging assets, negotiating with banks for loan extensions. At 2 a.m. I smoked outside the office, and during the day I pretended nothing was wrong and told my employees, “Just hold on a little longer.”
The most realistic sentence in the business world is:
“You think you’re keeping the company alive, but you’re actually keeping dozens of people’s mortgages and baby formula bills afloat.”
While I was carrying the burden of unpaid invoices, some employees quit, some stayed quiet, and some complained.
But I never expected the ones sharpening their knives behind my back to be the couple I had taken care of the most.
By the third month without performance bonuses, they started acting cold.
By the fourth month, they took me to court:
— Intentional withholding of pay
— Malicious wage reduction
— Violation of labor rights
When I read the complaint I laughed. Not at the lawsuit, but at the completeness of their evidence:
Payroll slips, performance sheets, attendance logs, stamped documents…
Even “salary confirmation papers” I never knew existed.
Ninety percent of those documents came from the finance department.
And the finance department was her territory.
That was when I finally understood:
Give someone a position and they’ll want power.
Give them power and they’ll want money.
Give them money and they’ll want your head.
I didn’t confront her.
I didn’t talk to her husband.
Feelings don’t matter in business. Rules do.
I submitted system attendance logs, stamp registries, raw financial data.
The case fell apart within twenty minutes:
— Salary sheets were internally generated by her alone
— Company stamps lacked authorization records
— Attendance conflicted with original digital logs
— Performance bonuses are variable compensation, not fixed wages
Judgment: all claims dismissed.
A man stormed out of the courtroom as though he’d just been wronged by the entire world.
His wife lowered her head. I couldn’t see her face.
I didn’t chase after them.
Because their punishment wouldn’t come from the court — it would come from life.
People asked me later, “Aren’t you angry?”
No.
Anger is the cheapest emotion in business.
The truly expensive thing is perception:
If someone has no bottom line, whatever you give them becomes their entitlement.
You think you changed a family’s destiny.
They think taking money back is their birthright.
You think you’re helping.
They think you owe them.
I only summarized three lessons after that:
First, never be the “good guy” in business. Good guys become the cheapest enemies.
Second, only help people with principles. Otherwise, favors turn into hatred.
Third, kindness isn’t a virtue — it’s a resource. If you give it to the wrong person, they’ll use it to destroy you.
Someone asked what happened afterward.
The company survived. I didn’t collapse.
The couple eventually divorced. Her father came to apologize.
I didn’t say anything harsh. I just asked him:
“When you asked me to take care of her, did you expect that ‘care’ to extend to court?”
He was silent for a long time.
When he finally left, he said a sentence I will remember for life:
“If you treat people too easily as family, you’ll eventually realize you were just an outsider.”
Now when I hire, I only look at three things:
— Bottom line
— Credibility
— Reputation
Skills are secondary.
Degrees are secondary.
Tragic life stories don’t earn points.
The business world is huge, but the number of people you can actually walk with is pitifully small.
Someone once asked if I regretted helping her.
I said:
I don’t regret helping. I regret not understanding sooner:
Not everyone deserves a hand. Some people are better left to fall.
The marketplace is a battlefield. Good men don’t die by the swords of their enemies —
They die in the mouths of the wolves they once fed.
原文
帮人要看人品，不然恩情会变成债
大家都叫我老范…不过名字不重要。
在中国做企业十四年，你会发现名字不值钱，人更不值钱，只有合同和资金链值钱。
但四年前我忘了这个原则。
那年冬天，一个老朋友给我打电话，说他女儿找不到工作，问我能不能安排一下。我当时没多想，只回了句：“自己人，来就来。”
那是第一次犯傻。
我把老朋友的女儿安排到财务岗位——最稳、最轻松、最能下口子的地方。结果她进来不到半年，我又犯了第二个傻：给她介绍了对象，一个公司里老实干活的年轻人。
后来两个人结了婚。
婚礼上我喝多了，拍着桌子说：“这俩孩子以后跑不远了。”
现在回想，那话像个笑话。
——真正跑得最快的，就是欠你的人。
疫情来了，公司项目回款被地方债卡死，施工款压了七个月，银行抽贷，财务现金流滴水不出。
我开始卖房车、抵押资产、跟银行低头谈展期。晚上两点我在公司楼下抽烟，白天还要在员工面前讲“坚持一下就过去了”。
商业世界最现实的一句话是：
“你以为撑的是公司，其实撑的是一群人的房贷和孩子的奶粉。”
我扛着账款压力时，有人辞职，有人安静，有人抱怨。
但我没想到背后磨刀的会是我最照顾的那对夫妻。
绩效停发的第三个月，他们开始变脸。
第四个月，他们告了我：
——恶意拖欠工资
——克扣薪资
——侵犯劳动权益
看完材料我笑了，我笑的不是诉状，而是证据链的完整程度：
工资条、绩效表、考勤记录、公章印迹……
甚至还有我从不知道存在的“工资确认文件”。
那些文件90%出自财务部。
而财务部，正是她的地盘。
这时我才明白：
你给一个人位置，他会要权；
你给一个人权，他会要利益；
你给一个人利益，他会要你的命。
我没有去堵她，也没有找她老公谈。
商业世界不讲情怀，讲规则。
我把原始考勤、系统记录、公章登记簿都提交了。
开庭二十分钟，证据链就崩了：
——工资报表系她本人在公司内部单方印制
——公章无合法审批记录
——考勤与钉钉原始记录冲突严重
——绩效属于浮动薪资并非固定工资
判决：驳回全部诉求。
男的怒气冲冲地冲出法庭，像个受了天大委屈的孩子。
女的低着头，我看不见她的脸。
我也没追。
因为我知道他们的报应不会在法院出现，而是在生活里出现。
后来有人问我：“你气吗？”
不气。
商业里最不值钱的就是“气”。
真正贵的是认知：
没底线的人，你给再多恩惠，他只会当成理所当然。
你以为你改变了一个家庭的命运，
他们以为拿回点钱是天经地义。
你以为你是在帮忙，
他们以为你欠着。
我从那之后只总结出三句话：
第一，商业里不要做老好人。老好人是最便宜的敌人。
第二，扶人要扶有底线的人，否则功劳会变成仇恨。
第三，做人别太善。善不是美德，是资源。如果你给了不该给的人，他就会拿来砸你。
有人问后来怎么样？
公司挺过来了，我没倒。
那对夫妻听说离了婚。父亲来找我道过歉。
我没有说狠话，我只问他一句：
“当年你让我照顾她，是不是没想到后面会照顾到法庭上？”
他沉默了很久。
离开前他说了一句我这辈子都记住的话：
“做人，如果太容易把别人当成自己人，最后会发现自己成了外人。”
我现在招人，只看三件事：
——底线
——信誉
——风评
能力其次，学历其次，苦难经历也不加分。
商业世界这么大，可能一起走的人太少。
后来有人问我后不后悔当初帮她？
我说：
帮人不后悔，后悔的是没早点看懂：
不是所有人值得被拉一把，有的人只适合看着他掉下去。
商场如江湖，好人不会死在仇人刀下，
好人只会死在自己养出来的白眼狼嘴里。
