While I was troubled about where to find a full-time photographer to meet the photo-shooting needs of this group of women, Mi Cai skipped past me and said to them, “Ladies, actually, I am a professional photographer with rich experience in individual portrait photography. I will be the one taking your pictures today.”
One woman exclaimed, “So this café is actually a husband-and-wife operation. What a great marketing idea! I really should bring our company’s planning team here to learn from this creative approach!”
Mi Cai politely smiled, thanking the senior female executive from a certain company for complimenting our idea. I pulled her aside and whispered, “You work so hard every day already; there’s no need for you to take on this task… You must realize that once they accept you, they’ll definitely ask you to take photos for their other friends in the future. Plus, after taking these pictures, you’ll still need to edit them on the computer, which is a huge workload… No, I won’t let you get so exhausted!!” Saying this, I prepared to politely decline the group of women’s request and honestly inform them of the café’s current situation, hoping they could find a professional photography studio to collaborate with us for the photo session, as we temporarily couldn’t provide such a service.
Mi Cai, however, held me back, shaking her head and saying, “Zhaoyang, it’s okay. Doing something I love after work every day and helping the café earn more income makes me genuinely happy… Most importantly, I feel that we are one, working together for our future life. This feeling is priceless and will stay with us for a lifetime!”
Right after she finished speaking to me, Mi Cai had already taken out her camera, mounted it on the tripod, and addressed the group again, “We’ll start taking photos now. Please discuss among yourselves the order for shooting.”
After a few brief exchanges, the women decided who would be first. The rest went to the bar counter to order some drinks and waited while chatting.
In the middle of the shoot, Mi Cai’s phone rang. From her conversation, I judged it was a call from Dai Wenshan, inviting us to have dinner. However, Mi Cai politely declined again due to being busy with the photo session.
…
It was already 9 PM. Mi Cai finally completed all the photo sessions. The long period of intense concentration left her exhausted but rewarded. These women paid half of the deposit first and also covered the cost of their coffee. This single transaction brought us 2000 yuan, and once they received their portraits and paid the remaining balance, we would receive a total of 3500 yuan. For this café, which lacked a customer base, this was an unprecedented breakthrough. Just this one deal alone was enough for me to pay Xiao Nuo’s monthly salary, which renewed her confidence in this seemingly unpopular café!
I helped Mi Cai pack up the photography equipment, while Qin Yan brewed her a cup of milk to replenish her energy. I felt a bit uneasy inside because, besides her current job at the advertising company, she also had to study for the civil service exam. I was really worried she couldn’t handle such a heavy workload.
I sat beside her, put my arm around her shoulder, and softly said, “After finishing this job, I absolutely won’t let you take on any more orders. I’m really afraid you’ll get too tired!”
Mi Cai smiled and held my face with both hands, saying, “You really don’t need to worry too much… Compared to my time at Zhuomei, this workload is nothing. At least I don’t have to travel domestically and internationally anymore, nor do I have endless meetings… If you really care about me, find someone who can do the post-processing editing later, and that will ease my workload a lot!”
I nodded, already determined to find a full-time photographer as soon as possible. In the future, Mi Cai could do photography for fun, but I absolutely couldn’t let her bear the entire shooting responsibility. I hoped she could live a peaceful life in Xuzhou. If she remained as busy as before, it would be better to reignite her fighting spirit to take down those villains who had taken over Zhuomei!
…
It was already 10 PM when we left the café. We didn’t want to trouble Ban Die and my mom to prepare dinner again for us, so the two of us went to a nearby noodle shop and ordered two bowls of egg noodles for a simple dinner…
Thinking about Zhou Zhaokun’s upcoming visit tomorrow, I told her, “By the way, Zhou Zhaokun will come to Xuzhou tomorrow to meet me. We’ve made plans to have a few drinks together.”
Mi Cai reacted calmly and replied, “Then you should treat him well tomorrow. Don’t drive, in case you lose control and drink too much when you see him.”
I smiled and said, “Yeah, it seems I haven’t outgrown the stage where meeting a bosom friend means drinking a thousand cups. Anyway, he’s really a great friend… Tomorrow, if you have time, come and have dinner with us.”
“Okay, tomorrow is the weekend. I’ve already made plans with Xiao Yun to go look at some home appliances we want to buy. If I have time, I’ll come find you two.”
I nodded. Then both of us turned our attention back to our unfinished noodles until we left…
On the way home, I was driving, and Mi Cai was sitting in the passenger seat, already asleep. She had been so exhausted today. Wanting her to lie down and rest earlier, I sped up a bit. As we were almost home, my phone rang. I put on my Bluetooth headset and answered, “Hello, this is Zhaoyang. Who is this?”
“It’s me, Luo Ben. Didn’t you check the caller ID?”
“I’m driving now…” I replied and then added with emotion, “You’ve been quiet for quite some time. Why did you call me today?”
“I saw the post you shared on your social media… I just wanted to say in advance: Congratulations on your wedding.”
“Aren’t you coming back for it?”
“I’ll come back.”
Although Luo Ben only replied with “I’ll come back,” the deep brotherhood was truly contained within those words. After all, the United States is not China; coming back and forth is quite a hassle. I was silent for a moment and then said, “When you come back, brother really misses you.”
“Yeah.” Luo Ben’s reply was again just one word. His tone was still so low, so I heard him lighting a cigarette on the other end of the line.
I asked him, “How have you been lately in the U.S.? Have you found a girlfriend to accompany you?”
“Zhaoyang, I’ve played around for years, and I’ve been deeply hurt by love. Now, for me, whether or not I have a girlfriend isn’t the most important thing anymore. I just want to improve my musical quality and, after returning to China in a few years, be able to present convincing works and make a comeback in the music industry.”
“You’ve really become enlightened… Sigh, if you had this mindset a few years earlier, you wouldn’t have had such a winding path!”
Luo Ben remained silent on the other end of the line, and I could only hear his breathing as he inhaled and exhaled smoke. After a long silence, he finally said, “None of us are prophets. Whether we walk smoothly or face twists and turns, it’s all just a path. The only thing it reminds us is that people must always pay the price for their actions. Just like me, in the end, I have nothing left except my pursuit and faith in music!”
I felt sad for Luo Ben, but I couldn’t tell him the truth about Wei Manwen leaving him. Because both Mi Cai and I, who knew the truth, couldn’t be certain whether Wei Manwen’s decision to be with Zhou Hang, who suffered from a serious illness, was out of a sense of responsibility and sympathy or came from true love deep in her heart. If it was the latter, telling Luo Ben the truth would only cause him endless pain again. I didn’t want to take that risk. Besides, I had some selfish thoughts—I hoped Luo Ben could end up with CC. Perhaps the two of them, who were so unique and independent, were actually the most suitable for each other in this complicated world. And Wei Manwen was destined to become a great woman carrying her own secrets! Or maybe, as the saying goes, lucky people will always have divine protection, and Zhou Hang might survive this crisis, achieving a legendary love story with Wei Manwen, which would be the best outcome everyone wished for.
That night, Luo Ben and I didn’t talk deeply. Eventually, we ended the call with some indescribable regrets. Once again, I thought about CC. She had left too cleanly. Except for knowing that she had once come to Xuzhou, there was no other news about her. I didn’t know whether she now had someone special in her heart and was preparing to get married in a city we didn’t know.
…
After returning home and washing up, Mi Cai, exhausted, fell asleep on the bed. I was still focused on the promotional post I had published that morning on the forum for the café, answering questions from users one by one, and the time had already become late at night… I pulled the curtain aside and looked outside. The moon had already passed by our window, casting its light onto the parking lot in the distance… It seemed to tell me that the weather had already shaken off today’s gloom, and tomorrow would be a sunny day!
Feeling tired, I finally changed into my pajamas, trying not to make any noise, and lay beside the already sleeping Mi Cai. Before falling asleep, I once again opened WeChat, receiving blessings from friends.
As a day had already passed, the number of people sending blessings had gradually decreased, so the greetings from Yan Yan and Jian Wei became even more noticeable. In fact, Yan Yan had sent a text message with words, while Jian Wei had only clicked a “like” under the message without leaving any words…
This seemingly insignificant “like” made my emotions suddenly complicated. Unable to contact Jian Wei, I sent a message to Yan Yan, asking, “How has Jian Wei been lately? Any new updates regarding her parents?”
Yan Yan replied shortly after, “Since you came to Suzhou, her mood has improved a lot. At least she can eat regularly every day now… As for her parents’ situation, it’s still not very optimistic. The only relief is that the authorities seem unwilling to allow the media to report it extensively, so the information is tightly controlled. Perhaps if her parents cooperate actively, there might still be some leniency…”.
Yan Yan’s reply eased my heart slightly. The official control of the news meant that there was still room for handling the situation. Perhaps there really could be a lighter punishment. I hoped it would be so!
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