It was getting close to the Lunar New Year, and our company was getting busier, especially the gaming company, which was in the midst of intense preparations for its New Year celebrations. The gaming company’s rapid success gave me infinite possibilities to realize my idealism. Recently, the financial report of “Wen Yi Zhi Lu” (Literary Path), a project that outsiders didn’t expect to be profitable, confirmed a profit of more than 20 million. I felt fortunate that while pursuing my ideals, I was also able to make a profit. I admit that I have been quite successful in my career, and of course, this is also due to the support of a group of like-minded friends around me, such as Zhang Yixi and Leyao. It’s easy to imagine how difficult things would have been without them. Therefore, society is indeed very realistic, and having a few friends who will stand by you through thick and thin is the greatest wealth and reward in life. Perhaps this is the best thing I have done all along.
After the financial settlement, I gathered the senior management of Literary Path and consulted with Zhang Yixi, our investor. We unanimously decided to allocate 10 million from next year’s profits to continue helping patients suffering from depression, enabling them to walk this path with the support of psychotherapists. At least for me, this public welfare action is not a gimmick but something that must be done because living requires a conscience. This is a shared belief among all of us in the company. Therefore, we, who have gathered together for this project, all have the sentiment of giving. If that is the case, are idealists really seen as monsters by the world and despised by others?
No, we are not wrong; we just tend to imagine everything as too beautiful, while the world is too realistic!
At noon, I went to a restaurant outside the company with Chen Jingming. As we summarized the past year, we also discussed the company’s future. I said to him, “Mr. Chen, I need to ask for your opinion on something.”
“Go ahead.”
“I have a friend who helped me find an abandoned factory in the suburbs. I want to buy the land and the factory and convert it into our new office location. This will require a significant amount of capital, so I want to consult with you first.”
Chen Jingming smiled and said, “I understand your intention. We shouldn’t view our endeavors through overly conventional eyes. If you believe this is the right thing to do, then go ahead boldly. I support you because you have already proven yourself in this market environment, achieving what others have not.”
“Thank you for your support, Mr. Chen. What we are doing is materializing the sentiment of idealism. Therefore, I hope our office environment can reflect this atmosphere. Let’s get this project started and implemented before the New Year.”
“No problem. I look forward to seeing you, Mr. Zhao, bring your vision to life and make it our office space!”
“I am even more excited!” I nodded in response, thinking again about the Sky City I wanted to build in reality. Yes, I want to transform that abandoned factory into a Sky City. Although the transformed effect may not be as realistic as I imagined, it will still be crystal clear. Most importantly, there will be an essential backyard garden with a hundred flowers blooming and some somewhat discordant weeds. When the wind blows, they will sway in the same posture, swaying out the myriad aspects and bittersweet experiences of the world. Then, after some reflection, whether we live well or not, the essence of life is simply sometimes good and sometimes not…!
…
In the afternoon, I tried my best to improve my work efficiency and left the company early because I needed to pick up my father and mother at the train station. Before going, I called them and found out they had already arrived in Suzhou and would reach the station soon.
By then, I had already bought a house near the suburbs of Suzhou, though it was conveniently located with good transportation. I knew my father and mother could not completely leave Xuzhou to live in Suzhou, but I hoped they could visit Suzhou more often in the future. Having this house would make things much easier for them. As for me, I could either live in the old house Mi Cai left behind or stay with my parents. In short, this was much better than living alone, and these were the pleasant calculations I made on my way to the train station!
When I arrived at the train station, my father and mother were already waiting for me in the square with their suitcases. Especially my mother, who was carrying many pickled products from Xuzhou, all of which were my favorites. I finally felt the long-lost sense of home.
Soon, I took my father and mother to the newly purchased house. They couldn’t wait for me to settle in and went straight to the kitchen to start preparing dinner. When the fragrant smell came from the kitchen, I naturally thought of Lu Ben’s sad donkey. I wanted to invite him to have dinner with us to avoid him being too lonely on the approaching night!
Sure enough, Lu Ben was being tormented by loneliness. Twenty minutes after receiving my call, he arrived at my new home in Suzhou on his beloved motorcycle. I opened the door for him, and he was shivering like a grandson, stamping his feet. When he felt the warm air from the air conditioner indoors, he sighed in relief, feeling as if he had come to paradise.
During dinner, both Lu Ben, my father, and I drank a lot, which inevitably led to scolding from my mother. She said we were negative examples for young people, two people who didn’t understand life well. Lu Ben, as always, maintained his high standards, saying he was busy with his career and had no time for relationships. When it came to careers, I was much busier than him, so I also complained about life by saying I was busy with work, avoiding them suddenly mentioning Mi Cai and making me feel sad.
At nine o’clock in the evening, the three of us men finally ended the dinner. My mother had already gone to bed due to fatigue from the journey. I let my father go to rest and cleaned up the dining table with Lu Ben.
That night, both Lu Ben and I didn’t go back home because we had drunk a lot. We slept in the bedroom closest to the living room. As usual, we lit a cigarette and talked about recent events. I said to him, “CC is about to give birth. Are you planning to go to Shanghai to see her?”
“We’ll see.”
“When did you become so indecisive?”
“I don’t know how to face her. She might not even want to see me.”
“It’s hard to say, but women really change a lot after having children. When I visited her in Shanghai last time, she talked to me the most about her unborn child. She had already planned how to educate the child in the future. Can you imagine she is the same CC who used to drink and smoke and had tattoos?”
“Is that strange? She is destined to become a mother, and feeding the baby is a woman’s fate. She is no exception!”
“Right!”
Lu Ben took a deep puff of his cigarette and finally changed the subject to ask me, “Jian Wei has left. How do you feel about it?”
I was silent for a while before managing a slightly disappointed smile and replying, “Past love is hard to recapture…”
“Yes, after being separated for too long, everyone has their own understanding of life and love. Many ideas and concepts can no longer be unified, so this is the root of the saying ‘past love is hard to recapture.'”
“Don’t analyze this sentence so scientifically. In my opinion, ‘past love is hard to recapture’ is simply about mistakes and missed opportunities. It’s not that complicated!”
Lu Ben narrowed his eyes, smiled again, and exhaled the smoke heavily. I felt like cursing him a bit. He brought up the topic, but in the end, he acted as if he was more distressed than me. But in an instant, I suddenly understood: there was a woman named Jian Wei who left a deep mark on my life, and wasn’t there a woman in his life too? Only that woman was Wei Manwen, and she was much more decisive about her feelings than Jian Wei. She quickly married that doctor named Zhou Hang and since then, there had been no news about her.
Finally, I said to Lu Ben again, “Some things have been in the past for so long. You should also consider your personal issues. Living alone like this isn’t very wise… because it’s too lonely!”
“You’re the same.”
“I’m alone because someone made me wait… But you, who are you waiting for?”
Lu Ben’s expression was very desolate. He probably knew in his heart better than anyone else that CC had already become a mother, and Wei Manwen had already become someone else’s wife. Now, everything about these two women had nothing to do with him anymore…
In fact, there were no more problems in his life, but he still stubbornly created problems for himself, unwilling to let go. Despite the fact that he had recently written a very Zen-like song, he himself didn’t have the Zen realm at all. Of course, this was also part of his “coolness”.
After a long time, he finally said to me, “I don’t believe that my relationship with Manwen has really come to an end. I also don’t believe that there’s no such thing as a first love that can be reclaimed. Even if she has already married someone else, I am still willing to wait. After all, no one in our circle is in a hurry to get married!”
I looked at him incredulously and then put out the cigarette I hadn’t finished smoking, replying, “Lu Ben, this idea of yours is very dangerous. Teacher Wei doesn’t want you to do this!”
“She couldn’t stop me from leaving, and likewise, she can’t stop me from waiting for her…”
“You’re crazy!”
“I’m absolutely not crazy… She is the one hurdle I can’t get over in my life, the one person I can’t let go of!”
The struggle and anguish in Lu Ben’s tone left me at a loss for how to persuade him, even though I knew what he was doing was wrong… or maybe he wasn’t wrong, it’s just that people in the world too readily believe that past love is hard to recapture!
Seeing my silence, Lu Ben continued, “We both know: if there isn’t a suitable kidney donor, Zhou Hang’s health won’t last much longer. Suppose one day he’s gone, and I’ve already remarried, what should Manwen do?… Find another man to start over? She can’t, and I won’t watch this happen with my own eyes… So I choose to wait. If Zhou Hang can fully recover, I won’t wait anymore and will peacefully watch Manwen live with him, and then go find the woman who can spend the rest of her life with me… wouldn’t that be right?”
I was shocked… and felt ashamed of myself. I didn’t understand what kind of force was driving him to make this decision that transcends convention. Finally, I asked him, “You have so many paths in front of you, each broader than the last, so why do you choose the most difficult one?”
“Because she was the first woman I ever loved, and because I know she isn’t happy!”
“If CC hadn’t married, and she came back to you, would you still do this?”
“Yes… I care about CC, but if I could really let go of Manwen, I would have married CC years ago. The truth is, I just can’t let go!… Zhao Yang, in the past, we always used each other as references, but in the end, you are you, and I am still me… We aren’t comparable. So you chose Mi Cai, but I could only keep disappointing CC… However, you aren’t perfect either. You ultimately disappointed Jian Wei and the initial feelings you had for her…”
I lowered my head and after a long silence, I said, “Where there is emotional entanglement, there will inevitably be someone who is disappointed. We are both people who have been disappointed… So CC is a smart woman. She made the smartest choice a year ago!… If she could see even a glimmer of hope in you, she wouldn’t have married someone else!”
“Yes, I feel the same… If Manwen and Zhou Hang’s life together was truly a blissful one, I would also make a seemingly smart choice. But the reality I face now is quite different from what I imagined… I can only keep guarding and waiting… I have no other choice!”
Just as I was talking with Lu Ben, my phone suddenly rang. It was my assistant, Ye Luo, calling. I answered the call with some confusion. Before I could speak, she urgently said, “Mr. Zhao, Ms. Mi is facing off against the investors behind Wanshen Group in the European market!”
“What?”
“Ms. Mi is clashing with Chu Xinrui in the European market!!”
It had been a long time since I had heard the name Chu Xinrui, but this woman was an unforgettable presence in my mind. It was precisely her interference that had prevented Tianyang Group’s An Qi from successfully investing in Zhuomei back then. So, for Mi Cai to now be clashing with her group in the European market, her intentions were obvious!
As I was pondering, Ye Luo continued, “Mr. Zhao, are you available now? I’d like to talk to you in person because this incident reveals too many signals. At the very least, I think Ms. Mi, after a year of restraint, is finally taking action to reclaim Zhuomei…”
“Alright, come to the Seaview Café in the city center and wait for me. I’ll be there in about 20 minutes!”
“Okay, let’s talk when we meet!”
…
On my way to meet Ye Luo, I was deeply lost in thought. I was wondering: how exactly would Mi Cai conduct this battle, and what role should I play in it?
I really hadn’t expected Mi Cai to have the audacity to confront Chu Xinrui in the European market, where New Green Energy’s foundation was very weak. But I believed she wouldn’t do anything without confidence. I also had a premonition that many unknown changes would happen after this battle!
Tai Sui Yellow Amulet Paper FuLu Taoist Love Talisman Traditional Chinese Spiritual Charm Attracting Love Protecting Marriage