Le Yao put the guitar she had given me back on her shoulder and wanted to take a walk by the moat before nightfall. I grabbed her arm. She looked at me in slight surprise, and I seriously said to her, “Last month, when I was resolving the debt issues for Simi Advertising, someone anonymously transferred 15 million yuan into Simi’s account through Sun, the bank manager at Bank of Communications. I’d like to ask, was it you?”
“Fifteen million! Zhao Yang, are you kidding me?”
“No, I’m not joking. Someone really gave me 15 million. I think it’s very likely you!”
Le Yao shook her head and said, “Zhao Yang, the person who provided that money definitely isn’t me. You can ask the producer of our film crew about it. Our current production budget is extremely tight. Where would I find an extra 15 million yuan to give you? Not only is the movie I’m currently filming under financial strain, but the entire company is also facing tight funding. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have partnered with that crooked businessman, Zhang Yixi!”
“No way! What about Cao Jinfei? Didn’t he invest in your company?”
“He didn’t really invest. I simply borrowed some money from him, which has already been mostly poured into company operations and film production. I’ll have to repay him after the movie is released and starts generating revenue… Therefore, I really can’t afford to give you 15 million right now!”
Once again, I was plunged into confusion. Who had actually helped Simi Advertising financially became my biggest puzzle. I then focused my suspicions on Mi Cai, immediately feeling uneasy. Could this money have come from Yan Zhuomei? And had Mi Cai already made some compromises to help me secure this funding?
I knew these were just baseless speculations. I didn’t want to become paranoid, so I pushed away these doubts and caught up with Le Yao.
…
Night seemed to instantly replace dusk as the streetlights along the moat gradually lit up one by one. Le Yao still needed some disguise to walk on the occasionally busy paths. She kept some distance from me, looking at the people strolling by the river while walking. Suddenly, she seemingly casually asked me, “Zhaoyang, did you find the days after Mi Cai left hard to endure?”
“Difficult, every single day was hard!”
“Won’t you really be afraid of repeating the past with Mi Cai, just like what happened between you and Jian Wei back then?… People always tend to lose to time and distance!”
“I am afraid… But I can’t give up just because I’m scared… Le Yao, I really don’t want to be the one who gives up first, no matter how hard it gets, I won’t give up…”
“You won’t give up because both your soul and body have already become inseparable from her, right?” Le Yao asked with a smile while looking down.
Once again, I recalled Mi Cai’s tenderness when she was by my side. I couldn’t imagine how lonely my life would be without her. Her presence had already blended into my very cells. Otherwise, I wouldn’t keep packaging myself so frequently, trying to get more exposure on various media platforms. I just wanted to tell her urgently that I’ve been waiting for her return with great effort… Unfortunately, she hasn’t been trying hard enough. It’s already been over a month, and I haven’t heard any news about her!
I don’t want to dwell on who loves the other more between us. I just want to know her latest news, hoping she can bring a ray of hope into my life, just a little would be enough!
Finally, I said to Le Yao, “Isn’t love supposed to be like this? If either the body or the soul isn’t sincere enough, it doesn’t deserve to be called love!”
“…Hehe, I really don’t know whether I should envy you two being able to love so passionately. But the loneliness you both give each other is truly enviable. Although Jinfei and I married for business reasons, at least we can meet whenever we want. Every time we meet, he brings me flowers, giving me everything he can as a husband except love. That’s also pretty good… Maybe I’m just more afraid of loneliness than Mi Cai.”
“There’s no need to envy or not. It’s all a matter of choice. What matters is: you must know exactly what you want.”
“Mm…” Le Yao responded softly, then continued walking along the riverside railing with the guitar I had given her towards the next streetlight. After a while, she suddenly turned around and impulsively said to me, “Zhaoyang, let’s go to Shanghai now, to see Jian Wei. Maybe a miracle is waiting for us!”
“Yeah, maybe a miracle really is waiting for us!”
…
As night just fell, Le Yao and I drove from Suzhou to Shanghai. Since I had been drinking, Le Yao was driving while I sat in the front passenger seat, somewhat dazedly watching the passing night scenery outside the window. In my memory of the past month, I seemed to have never been this idle before, so I closed my eyes, wanting to rest a bit.
When I woke up, the car had already entered Shanghai. I knew I had slept for almost an hour. Instinctively, I took out my phone from my pocket to check the time. Actually, it wasn’t that late yet, only around 8 o’clock. Le Yao and I could even find a place to eat something before going to see Jian Wei.
After entering the urban area of Shanghai, the car got stuck in traffic. Because of this delay, Le Yao and I discussed and decided to go see Jian Wei first before having dinner.
Traffic jams easily lead to boredom. This boredom prompted me, after countless disappointments, to once again open a highly specialized American financial news website on my phone, hoping to find any news about New Green Energy.
Despair seems to be something that doesn’t last forever. Once again, in the most prominent position, I saw a report about Mi Cai. Yes, I wasn’t mistaken. This time, Mi Cai was the main character in the news, while New Green Energy became the green leaf that highlighted her.
The highlight of this news was: within just over a month, Mi Cai, using her excellent negotiation skills and her network of connections in the United States, successfully facilitated a collaboration between the group and a well-known automobile manufacturer in her capacity as assistant director of the R&D department at New Green Energy. Moreover, Mi Cai had unusually agreed to an exclusive interview with a local media outlet regarding this matter, bypassing Yan Zhuomei!
She was still wearing a sharp black business suit, so the silver necklace I had given her stood out around her neck. The sail-shaped pendant seemed to express her longing for me. I swallowed hard, trying not to let myself, as a man, burst into tears of joy.
In the news interview, when the reporter asked her why she was confident in facilitating this collaboration with the automobile manufacturer, she smiled lightly and surprisingly answered in Chinese first, “Keep calm and carry on, no matter the outcome, don’t worry… don’t worry!”
I tilted my head back, breathing heavily. I could still feel tears welling up in my eyes, but I smiled anyway. It felt as if the past month of hardship had transformed into a beautiful process. Because I sensed that our hearts were locked together, and the key was in our hands. No one else had the power to unlock this lock and separate us!
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