I instinctively touched the wings of my nose with my fingertip, and finally replied to Jian Wei’s message: “Now that things have come to this, do you think I still have any reason to fear him? To me, he is merely ‘someone’ about to have a business meeting with me.”
At the moment the message was sent, I suddenly realized how glaring the term “someone” was. If he were just an ordinary person, I should have addressed him as a senior, so why did I use the term “someone”?
Thinking about it, I realized that I did harbor resentment towards him, even after all these years.
Once again, I leaned back in my office chair, staring blankly at the ceiling, but those painful memories flooded my mind all at once.
Perhaps Jian Wei was also struck by the term “someone,” as she took a long time before replying: “It’s good if you can face him with a normal mindset.”
“Um… you’re helping me so much, do you think Xiang Chen will have any objections?”
Jian Wei countered, “Should he have any objections?”
I was momentarily at a loss for words. Meanwhile, Jian Wei’s QQ profile had gone offline. Maybe it was better this way, saving me the trouble of figuring out how to reply.
…
That night, I was still busy until midnight. Just as I was about to rest, I received a text from Mi Cai from the U.S.
“I guess you haven’t slept yet.”
“I guess you haven’t had lunch yet.”
Mi Cai replied with a smiley emoji: “We’re both working hard for our careers!”
I sincerely replied, “Yes.”
“How’s the inn lately?”
After a moment of hesitation, I decided to confess to her that Jian Wei had offered help. I hoped that after everything we’d been through, trust could be built between us.
“Jian Wei introduced me to Yang Congrong from Yirong Network, who might help us with a feature advertisement for the inn.”
After sending the message, I anxiously waited, unsure of Mi Cai’s current mindset.
This time, she didn’t reply for a long while.
I became increasingly uneasy. Ignoring the international long-distance charges, I abandoned texting and dialed her directly.
The phone barely rang once before Mi Cai hung up. She indeed still had reservations. Annoyed, I threw the phone aside, only to hear it ring again moments later.
Instinctively, I grabbed the phone. It was Mi Cai calling. Without hesitation, I answered: “Why did you hang up just now?”
“You called an international line, right?”
“What’s wrong with that?”
“Let me call you back then.”
“Are you worried I don’t have enough credit? Let me tell you, I’m totally fine—I’m living luxuriously, buddy!”
Mi Cai calmly replied, “Fine, then I’ll give you the chance to splurge. I’ll hang up, and you call me back.”
“Don’t hang up, don’t hang up.”
“You’re not splurging anymore?”
“I’m still as luxurious as ever, but we’re both so busy, and with all this back-and-forth calling, we could have earned hundreds of dollars by now.”
Mi Cai chuckled, which eased my worries a bit. At least she still had the mood to make such meaningless jokes with me.
After a brief silence, I cautiously asked again, “Why didn’t you reply for so long just now?”
“I was trying to recall who Yang Congrong is—he sounds so familiar!”
“Didn’t I tell you he’s the founder of Yirong Network?”
“The thing is, I can’t even remember what kind of website Yirong Network is. I just feel like I’ve heard the name before!”
“Are you really thinking about that?”
“Yep.”
Still half-doubtful, I asked, “You’re not upset at all about Jian Wei helping me?”
Mi Cai fell silent.
Sighing inwardly, I said, “Actually, you do mind, right?”
After a long pause, Mi Cai finally said, “I know running the inn is tough right now, and you can’t manage it alone. Jian Wei is in the advertising industry, and among your circle, she’s the only one who can offer advertising resources. I’ll assume you’re doing this for the inn, without any personal motives.”
“I promise there are no personal motives.”
Mi Cai smiled and said, “That makes me feel much better. Well, I won’t chat with you anymore. This is an international call, and frankly, I’m not as rich as you!”
Mi Cai’s teasing finally made me feel more comfortable. I looked forward to successfully running the inn soon, so as not to let down her tolerance.
…
Two more days passed. Tomorrow was the day I was supposed to meet Yang Congrong. That evening, I drove back to Suzhou because I needed to meet with Jian Wei first before heading to Shanghai with her.
After returning to Suzhou, I booked a restaurant near Jian Wei’s company and invited Fang Yuan and Yan Yan to join me for dinner. However, the couple had returned to Fang Yuan’s hometown for this rare weekend, so Jian Wei and I had to meet alone once again.
Around eight in the evening, Jian Wei arrived at the restaurant I had booked. The waiter then brought the pre-ordered drinks and dishes.
I poured Jian Wei a glass of drink, and she politely said “Thank you” before taking it from me.
After taking a sip, she said to me, “Uncle Yang has a meeting tomorrow morning, so I arranged your meeting with him for lunch, so you can have a meal together.”
“No problem.”
Jian Wei nodded and said no more.
I asked her, “What about Xiang Chen? He seems to have been away from Suzhou for quite some time.”
Jian Wei looked at me, smiled slightly, and said, “He was still in Suzhou the day before yesterday. He only returned to Nanjing yesterday. You two haven’t been in touch much lately, so you have this illusion.”
It took me a while to respond, and then I said, “Right.”
Jian Wei started eating on her own, and I followed suit. We shared the same actions, yet silence divided us into two different camps.
A little later, Jian Wei finally put down her chopsticks and asked me, “You and Mi Cai should have resolved your recent conflict, right?”
I nodded, though my chopsticks in hand didn’t stop moving.
“When are you planning to get married?”
I suddenly paused. Instinctively, I felt this question shouldn’t have come from Jian Wei. After all, I had never inquired about her marriage to Xiang Chen through any means.
Looking at Jian Wei, I tried to find a sense of calmness before replying, “We don’t have plans to get married anytime soon, but I believe we will eventually… What about you? When are you and Xiang Chen planning to get married?”
Jian Wei gave me a calm smile in response before saying, “Right now, my advertising company is in its growth stage, and his trading company also needs development, so we’re not considering marriage for now.”
I nodded and then joked self-deprecatingly, “We’re both delaying marriage for our careers. But compared to you two, my career is barely a career at all.”
“Details don’t matter; all careers are equal. I believe that as long as you’re willing to strive, one day you will stand at the pinnacle of the business world, looking down on all those who once looked down on you!”
I looked at Jian Wei again. From the tone of her words, I could sense her intense dislike towards those who had once scorned me—even more than my own resentment towards them!
But really, did I have a chance to stand at the very peak of the business world?
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