Driving the little Alto and breaking through the constraints of the night, I finally arrived at the moat. It was still the familiar stretch of river, but this time I was completely alone.
It was nothing really. I had long been accustomed to solitude here. Not really alone either—at least I still had cigarettes, those leafless trees, and the gusts of cold wind.
I took the cigarette pack from my pocket, pulled one out, and placed it in my mouth. After repeatedly patting down my pockets, I suddenly realized: I had left my lighter on the bar table.
I felt annoyed, but not enough to warrant the trouble of driving all the way from the suburbs back into the city just to buy a lighter.
But without cigarettes, I became vulnerable to the poison of loneliness. At that moment, I thought of Jian Wei. If she were here now, she would definitely use her blue lighter to light my cigarette.
But this was only a hypothetical situation. She was probably not in Suzhou at this moment. Otherwise, why hadn’t she shown up at lunch when Yan Yan treated us today?
So I forcibly suppressed my craving for a cigarette, lay on the dry patch of grass, and stared at the sky. My eyes were filled with twinkling stars, but my mind was completely blank.
At that moment, the riverside was incredibly quiet—so quiet that I could clearly hear my own heartbeat and the sound of wind rustling through dead leaves. Eventually, I could no longer endure the bitterness of being without a cigarette, so I began to sing loudly, until the vast and colorful world was reduced to just myself…
“Zhaoyang, is that you?”
The voice was soft, and I thought I was imagining things. Yet she was already standing beside me—it was none other than Jian Wei.
“Why are you still in Suzhou? And why did you come here again?” I asked two questions in disbelief.
“I’ve been in Suzhou all along because the advertising company is being set up… Recently, I’ve been under a lot of pressure, so I come here to sit for a while after work every day.”
Looking at her, I seemed to catch a glimpse of loneliness in her demeanor. After all, how lonely must she be—every night when the city was quiet, sitting alone by this seldom-visited moat, lonelier than my own loneliness!
After a long silence, I said to her, “Why do you have to do this?”
Jian Wei smiled and replied, “Are you pitying me?… I don’t think I’m pitiful because I often imagine this place as a beautiful oil painting.”
“But you are the most desolate fallen leaf in that painting!… If you’re willing, you could live a much better life. Why burden yourself with running an advertising company?”
Jian Wei looked at me with a questioning expression and said, “Didn’t you say last time that I would definitely succeed in running a top-tier advertising company?”
“But that was under certain conditions—those conditions being that you could take it easier, not like this.”
“What’s wrong with now? I live a fulfilling life every day. Coming here is just a way for me to relax, just like some people going to bars for entertainment!”
Seeing her strong-willed expression, I didn’t want to argue with her anymore. I shook the cigarette in my hand and asked, “Got a light? Mind giving me a flame?”
Jian Wei hadn’t expected me to back down so easily. She hesitated for a moment before taking out her lighter from her handbag and lighting my cigarette in the cold wind.
I took a deep puff of the cigarette and then exhaled heavily before asking Jian Wei, “Aren’t you going back to Shanghai for the Spring Festival?”
“Shanghai is so close to Suzhou; I can go back and forth anytime.”
After a long silence, I finally said, “What I meant was: what do your parents think about what you’re doing now?”
“Then why don’t you just ask directly instead of beating around the bush?”
“To highlight my depth and cultivate your intelligence…”
Jian Wei let out a soft laugh looking at me, as if, in my memory, she hadn’t laughed like this since she came back.
“You’re still the same as before—always saying whatever comes to mind, making people both laugh and cry!”
“We shouldn’t bring up the past anymore. Although I’m still the same me.”
“I know, because I’m no longer the same me…” As Jian Wei spoke, the smile on her face faded, and she gazed blankly at the flowing river.
“You still haven’t told me what your parents think about you starting an advertising company.”
Jian Wei turned to look at me, frowning slightly, and said, “Please don’t ask me this question again. I told you before, no matter who opposes me, I will treat this endeavor as my dream and realize it.”
“Jian Wei, don’t you think you’re being too stubborn?”
“Hehe, am I…? But have you ever thought about it—if I hadn’t been stubborn, why did I fall in love with you and follow you back then? Otherwise, I could have fallen for someone else, and I wouldn’t have gone through so much pain!”
Jian Wei’s words made me feel guilty and depressed. At this moment, she had negated everything we had once shared. She regretted it—regretted her stubbornness back then and the pain that followed.
“Are you regretting being with me back then?… Yes, I never denied it. I’m not worthy of you. It’s all my fault!” I said in a low voice, not sarcastically but genuinely feeling guilty. If there were a second chance, I would have been wise enough not to start this relationship that eventually tore us apart.
But Jian Wei looked at me and said, “Zhaoyang, I don’t regret it because I’m still being stubborn. You’re not wrong—it’s me who’s wrong…”
Jian Wei and I looked at each other. Just now we had clearly said we wouldn’t talk about the past, but why were we saying so much now? What meaning did this have for us? It would only make us sink deeper into the pain and oppression of the past.
Before I could think further, Jian Wei changed the subject first: “Let’s not talk about this anymore. Tell me about yourself. How’s the bar business lately?”
“It’s much better than before.”
Jian Wei nodded and said, “That’s expected. Your marketing strategy accurately captures the psychological needs of your target consumers… However, the emotional marketing you mentioned earlier hasn’t been reflected yet.”
“Do you have any ideas?”
“Just a small suggestion. Uh… Recently, I’ve been following the microblogs of customers who frequent your bar. Many of them expressed regret on their microblogs about not being able to go home for the Spring Festival due to various reasons. Do you think this could be an opportunity for emotional marketing?”
Looking at Jian Wei, I immediately asked, “You mean: invite them to spend New Year’s Eve at the bar, letting them experience the festive atmosphere and the warmth of family while away from home?”
Jian Wei nodded and said, “Exactly. You know, people are often most sentimental during holidays. This is the best time for emotional marketing. We can prepare New Year’s Eve dinners tailored to the tastes of customers based on the characteristics of their hometowns. This kind of emotional marketing will create a strong sense of belonging to the bar. Then we can smoothly transition to a membership system and move towards a club-style bar. Once this transition is successful, it means the bar has successfully transformed and even begun to build a brand. Further development will eventually lead to the formation of a brand.”
I applauded Jian Wei. This was a very accurate and complete idea. No wonder she was born into an advertising family. Her insight made me, who had long been engaged in planning work, feel inferior. At this moment, I had a premonition that perhaps this time I could really solve the bar’s operational problems, fulfill my promise to Leyao, and regain my freedom to choose my own life again.
I just didn’t know what Mi Cai, who was probably still on a plane at this moment, had decided. Perhaps she really needed some time to figure out her feelings for me, and all I needed to do was give myself some patience and continue to wait…
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