The next day, Zhang Yixi and An Qi departed from Shanghai, setting Osaka, Japan as the first stop of their global journey. They took with them my hopes, as I wished that one day they would bring me a reply from Mi Cai.
As usual, after having a simple breakfast at the steamed bun shop downstairs, I went to the company. I gathered the members of the game development department for a lengthy discussion meeting. At this point, our game development had reached the mid-to-late stages, and it wouldn’t be long before the first internal test could be conducted.
During the meeting, we discussed some of the operation methods in the game. I shared with them my experience after testing “Dragon Journey,” hoping they could make the game operations more user-friendly. In my view, game quality is the foundation of all competitive strategies and marketing efforts. If a game cannot surpass its competitors in quality, how can it possibly attract customers away from them?
At noon, while I was having my work lunch at the office, I received a notice from the company’s operations department. The “Mo Chou Coffee Shop” in Nanjing had completed all its renovation work two days ahead of schedule. They hoped I could come in the afternoon to inspect it. If there were no issues on my part, the coffee shop would begin its trial operation the day after tomorrow.
I was filled with anticipation for the “Mo Chou Coffee Shop.” Immediately, I rescheduled my current tasks for the next day and instructed my assistant to book me a train ticket for the afternoon trip to Nanjing. I truly did not want to miss any opportunity to walk down Mo Chou Road. Even though it was now summer instead of the spring when we had parted, I still clearly remembered every moment and detail of that day on Mo Chou Road!
After lunch, I didn’t even give myself time to rest. I immediately asked my assistant to drive me to the train station, and shortly after, I boarded the high-speed train from Suzhou to Nanjing.
……
At two in the afternoon, I arrived in Nanjing. As soon as I got off the train, I hurried straight to Mo Chou Road. The road had changed somewhat. The most noticeable changes were the addition of ice cream freezers and sunshades along the roadside. Elementary school children were lingering around these freezers, using their pocket money to buy ice pops and cold drinks that brought them joy. They then chattered excitedly about whose flavor was better. Despite this, the road had become quieter due to the scorching weather, with only the children, ice pops in hand, running and playing fearlessly in the heat.
After walking 200 meters west from the start of Mo Chou Road, I saw the brand-new sign of the “Mo Chou Coffee Shop.” I stood outside, taking it all in. This was exactly the feeling I had envisioned. I especially loved the rainbow-shaped glass windows and the irregularly placed flowers and plants outside the windows… I could almost see Mi Cai standing in front of that colorful glass window one day, just as she had in Xuzhou, watching me work busily inside the coffee shop while bathed in the golden glow of sunset, as leisurely as ever.
Yes, in my mind, I never wanted her to become a company president burdened with the livelihoods of many people. What I loved most was that carefree woman who devoted all her energy to me and our family. But reality often diverged from expectations. Perhaps in this lifetime, she would never be as relaxed as she once was in Xuzhou again!
I pushed open the brightly painted door and entered this coffee shop that I had personally designed. Standing at the bar counter, I looked around. The interior style was casual and free-spirited, with tables and chairs placed irregularly, and even the drinking utensils were not uniform… This was exactly the style I wanted. I nodded in satisfaction, then chose a seat near the window according to my preference and ordered an iced tea from the barista.
During the wait, the store manager approached me hesitantly and asked, “Excuse me, are you President Zhao?”
I smiled and nodded, gesturing for her to sit down and chat. She seemed to have a lot to say. Before I could even order her a drink, she said, “President Zhao, I was hired by the company at a high salary to serve as the store manager, and I am directly responsible to the company for this coffee shop… With all due respect, I believe the difficulty of making this coffee shop profitable is quite significant. I’ve discussed this with Director Shen from the company’s market development department, and we share the same view because this coffee shop indeed has many limitations. However, Director Shen said you don’t think so. Therefore, I’m very curious, President Zhao. What methods do you have to make this Mo Chou Coffee Shop profitable?”
“In fact, both you and Director Shen have fallen into the trap of habitual thinking. You’ve also underestimated the influence that the Literary Path project has already achieved. Therefore, what you’re seeing now are only the local shortcomings of this coffee shop, while overlooking the overall environment… Nanjing is the capital of Jiangsu Province and an advanced second-tier city with a huge tourism market and convenient transportation. Moreover, Jiangsu is the birthplace of the Literary Path, where our followers are most densely concentrated. Therefore, we can completely ignore the market environment of this street and rely solely on tourists coming from afar to sustain the operation of this coffee shop!”
The store manager looked at me in disbelief, but I wasn’t angry about her doubts. After all, on the Literary Path, the Mo Chou Coffee Shop was the second coffee shop, following the Old City West, to completely ignore the surrounding market environment. However, Old City West had been operating at a loss, which led them into this habitual thinking. However, based on the latest statistical data from the data center, I judged that this Mo Chou Coffee Shop would differ from the Old City West in Suzhou in terms of profitability.
I took out my phone from my pocket, took a few pictures of the Mo Chou Coffee Shop, and then posted them on my Weibo, stating: “Tonight, I will hold a small acoustic guitar performance here.”
All the company employees followed my Weibo, so the store manager, who had not yet left, saw my updated Weibo post right away. She exclaimed, “President Zhao, you have such a special affection for the Mo Chou Coffee Shop. You’re dedicating your first personal public performance to this most ordinary coffee shop… This, I want to know why you love this coffee shop so much. In fact, I was already very surprised that you came here in person today!”
Caught up in some thoughts, I lit a cigarette, took a deep puff, and then replied, “This is not just an ordinary coffee shop… My wife and I… parted ways on this Mo Chou Road. This coffee shop carries my longing for her. I’ve always been waiting, hoping that one day I will reunite with her here!”
The store manager looked at me with a touch of pity. She had heard a little about my deep love with Mi Cai, but she didn’t know that we had parted on this Mo Chou Road. The most painful thing in this world is perhaps this: never forgetting the day of parting until the day you die, yet never being able to wait for the day of reunion… And I am enduring this pain, though not entirely. I really don’t know when Mi Cai will return…
I stubbed out the cigarette butt and immediately called my assistant to bring my guitar from my office in Suzhou to Nanjing. Yes! This was an impulsive, spontaneous small personal performance, carrying my longing and releasing my loneliness…
……
After I posted on Weibo, people gradually began to arrive at the Mo Chou Coffee Shop, waiting for my impromptu evening performance. During this time, I kept interacting with everyone and gave away more than a hundred free cups of coffee. I never regarded these people as followers of the Literary Path, but rather as brothers and sisters walking on the path of ideals together with me…
However, the number of these brothers and sisters was overwhelming. Just because of my Weibo promotion, by the time it was not yet evening, the coffee shop was already packed, and even outside, there were crowds of people holding sunshades, all waiting for the concert I impulsively decided to hold tonight.
In the evening, my guitar was finally delivered to Nanjing. I immediately asked my assistant, who hadn’t rested for a moment, to go to the bank and withdraw 20,000 yuan in cash to buy chilled drinks and snacks to distribute to the people who had been waiting. I also temporarily borrowed the space from the neighboring shops to prepare for the upcoming small concert. My meticulous assistant had already taken out the camera he carried with him and captured the scenes in front of the coffee shop as promotional material for the Literary Path in the future.
I put the guitar aside, lit a cigarette, and looked at the surging crowd in front of me. A bitter feeling filled my heart. I thought of the impromptu concert we held years ago at the Zhuo Mei Mall in Suzhou to promote the “Fifth Season” bar. It was also impromptu, but this time there was no CC, no Robben, no Jane, no Mi Cai, no Fangyuan, no Yanyan, and no Xiao Wu and his band to liven up the atmosphere…
I really couldn’t bear so many absences, nor could I bear how time had brutally changed everything about us. But I still had to face it with gritted teeth. I believe that those loved ones and good friends who have left will meet again one day!
Just as I was about to start the concert, the crowd stirred again. I saw six burly men dressed like bodyguards parting the crowd and walking into the coffee shop. Following them were Leyao and Cao Jinfei, protected by the bodyguards.
I immediately gathered the coffee shop staff to maintain order at the scene. Some enthusiastic audience members also spontaneously began to help maintain order. The commotion caused by Leyao and Cao Jinfei was soon calmed down, but there were still people standing on tiptoe, curiously peering into the coffee shop. This might be their first time getting this close to Leyao and Cao Jinfei, the famous couple.
I stood up to greet them, surprised and asked, “How did you two get here?”
Cao Jinfei smiled and said, “I saw your Weibo post this afternoon, so I told Leyao. It just so happened that we weren’t busy today, so we discussed it and decided to come to the scene to listen to you sing… It’s to listen to you sing, not to support you. Tonight, we are all your fans!”
“Thank you, thank you…” I said, and then, urged by the crowd, I picked up my guitar and walked outside the coffee shop. To protect Leyao and Cao Jinfei, I asked them to stay inside the coffee shop and opened all the windows so they could enjoy the same sound quality.
It had been a long time since I last sang in front of so many people. I felt a bit excited and nervous. So I first chose a relatively easy song as the opening number. I strummed the guitar strings and said to the crowd, “The first song I’m going to sing is a piece by a folk singer I really like. It’s called ‘Castle in the Sky.’ I hope you all like it!”
As the familiar melody began, the lyrics came out of my mouth: “The plane flew across the sky, the city in the sky, the dusk of falling rain, we were there in the night of a foreign land, feeling you flicker in and out; I want to go back to the past, silent and joyful, the city in the sky is crying, becoming brighter and brighter, love is just a fart of life, tormenting me and tormenting you, Hong Kong sister, the Spanish pie you offered me melted me sweetly, the city in the sky is crying; Hong Kong sister, the sweet love we once had tore me apart crazily, the city in the sky is crying, someone passed by there, came back to tell me the city in the sky is crying, you who can’t breathe, I miss you more and more in the night of Nanjing…”
I sang more and more passionately, thinking of everything I had experienced in love over the years. Undoubtedly! Jane and Mi Cai were both the “Hong Kong sister” in the lyrics. I knew that this folk singer used the Spanish pie as a metaphor to subtly express a woman’s most important first time given to a man. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have deliberately used the word “offered.” So they had both been the women in my city in the sky.
Yes, but the city in the sky was just a beautiful and unrealistic wish. In the end, we still couldn’t remain pure and inevitably experienced so much right and wrong in this vast world. Whether these rights and wrongs were the fulfillment of life or the cruel deprivation, I still haven’t been able to figure it out clearly until now… Perhaps, one day, someone who has passed through the city in the sky will tell me the most obvious boundary between right and wrong.
After this song ended, I received the loudest applause I had ever had. I drank some warm water and without a moment’s pause, I sang “Past Times,” followed by “The Proverbs of Love.” I sang every song related to Mi Cai, and I would record this personal concert as a video to give to her as one of the gifts when she returned.
During the intermission, I turned around and looked at Leyao and Cao Jinfei inside the coffee shop. Leyao’s expression of lingering satisfaction was very genuine, while Cao Jinfei was concentrating on something on his phone, perhaps playing a game.
There had always been a rumor in the circle that there were two young masters in the capital city. One was enthusiastic about posting on Weibo, and the other was enthusiastic about playing games. Obviously, the young master surnamed Wang was fond of posting on Weibo, while this young master, who came to support me, was fond of playing games.
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