Fangyuan kept walking north along Panmen Road. His figure under the streetlights stretched loneliness across the entire road. I seemed to be infected by this atmosphere, so that my senses were left only with Fangyuan’s increasingly distant back and the bubbling sound of water on the coal stove.
I lowered my head and dipped the last dumpling into vinegar, preparing to finish this simple night snack. But when I raised my head again, Mikan was already surrounded by a group of dubious drunkards. They were all life’s rejects, so seeing a beautiful woman crying on the street stirred their inherent lewd desires, and they quickly acted upon them. I even saw one of these scumbags feign helping Mikan up, placing his hand on her chest…
I could no longer bear it. I pushed open the dumpling shop door, yet suppressed my anger and approached the group of drunkards like a passerby. I grabbed that scumbag’s hair and smashed my knee into his abdomen, instantly knocking him down. While the others were still stunned, I seized the bewildered Mikan’s hand and ran toward the bustling crowd. When those drunkards finally regained their senses and wanted to chase us, a patrol car happened to come by, and they gave up chasing us amidst grumbling, walking in the opposite direction.
This commotion didn’t escalate. I said to the still-frightened Mikan, “Did you drive? If not, I’ll drive you home.”
Mikan didn’t answer me. She lowered her head and soon began sobbing uncontrollably, crying so hard that even breathing became difficult. I thus became the target of everyone’s disapproval, with all the condemning gazes directed at me, assuming that Mikan’s grief was caused by me. I couldn’t defend myself but didn’t leave either. I just avoided their stares and looked toward the distant flashing neon lights.
At this moment, Mikan finally pushed through the crowd and ran toward the other side of the street. Only then did I see her Audi R8 parked at a temporary roadside parking spot. After she started the car, she quickly disappeared into the street that held little kindness, while that sorrowful atmosphere seemed to linger. In the end, I was left standing on the street, bewildered for a long time…
I somewhat understood: setting aside people’s morality and character, we all live in this world with great bitterness and anger! I smiled bitterly out of helplessness and walked along Panmen Road that Fangyuan had taken, leaving this troublesome place behind me…
…
It was another weekend night. Roben brought his Torn Nerves Band to the “Fifth Season” bar. We chose this place as the first stop of our tour on the “Arts Road.” As always, Roben remained silent, smoking while tuning his guitar. His black jacket and white undershirt didn’t cover the sun tattoo on his chest. He occasionally exchanged a few words with Xiao Wu beside him, who usually was arrogant but now obediently nodded continuously while plucking the bass, trying to find the feeling Roben wanted.
At 7:30 PM, this small concert, our first proper rehearsal, officially began. Due to spatial constraints, attendance was strictly controlled. We sold only about 300 tickets. Yet, despite this, the open space in front of the Fifth Season bar felt almost bursting. The on-site atmosphere was no less exciting than a stadium concert, so much so that even before Roben started singing, applause and whistles were already erupting continuously. Among the crowd, some crazy fans even took off their bras, revealing tattoos identical to Roben’s. Yes, even after being away for so long, Roben’s most loyal fans still loved him as passionately as before.
During the performance, we continued to release our emotions in the most fiery manner, especially Roben. When he sang “Who Hurts So Deeply,” he directly tore off his jacket, wore just his undershirt, took the drumsticks from the drummer, and personally played a drum solo that could blow up the venue… I knew then that the old Roben was back!
After the show, Roben, his band, and I went to a street food stall to celebrate our successful performance. We celebrated in this street-style way, just like old times, forgetting all the messy trivialities, speaking loudly, drinking heartily, until no one visited the food street anymore.
On the way back, Roben put his arm around my shoulder and started talking drunk talk about his once foolish and laughable ideas. Surprisingly, I was moved by his words. I lit a cheap cigarette, sat on a pile of sand, and muttered about how time had turned me into a callous person… But in the end, it was pitiful Xiao Wu who burst into tears, recalling the Nanjing girl who had abandoned him last week… Thus, this group of drunken men, talking about youth and right or wrong, exposed their ridiculousness on the late-night streets. But that’s okay—we’ve always been like this. We are a bunch of fallen youths with ideals that we always fail to realize, just like pieces of callous meat in life…
Or maybe I shouldn’t say that, shouldn’t deny my current achievements. I’m already on the path toward my ideals, gradually building a cultural and artistic road filled with humanistic sentiment. And after returning to China, Roben is still the same rock messiah as before. Today’s concert was merely a warm-up for him, and eventually, he will tour across China with stadium-level specifications… Although we are no longer the people we once were, we still place our wild hearts in the past after drinking, speaking foolish words. Perhaps this is the effect of alcohol! It makes us unable to let go of the past and forget our scarred youth. And the titles of young entrepreneur and rock messiah posed no constraints on us during this late-night street encounter because, in the end, we were still fools, still lost in this foolish life…
…
The next day, I woke up with a hangover headache. After drinking several glasses of plain water, I didn’t eat breakfast but went straight to the company. Fortunately, my considerate assistant knew I had drunk heavily the previous day and specially bought some stomach-friendly breakfast to deliver to my office.
As I was eating this breakfast, my former boss, Chen Jingming, came into my office. After I invited him to sit down, he didn’t, as usual, start with some casual conversation but instead looked very serious and said, “Zhaoyang, do you still remember Mr. Zhou, the vice president at Zhuomei Shopping?”
I searched my memory but couldn’t recall this person, so I shook my head.
Chen Jingming continued, “He used to be responsible for traditional channel development at Zhuomei. He’s a very experienced mid-level manager. However, since Fangyuan now focuses on e-commerce, traditional channel development is no longer prioritized, so he’s been sidelined by Fangyuan. I hope our company can give him an opportunity. Personally, I believe he can greatly help our company in channel development.”
Chen Jingming’s request put me in a difficult position because our company’s business is completely different from that of Wansen Group. From the company’s perspective, I didn’t want to pay a high salary to a retail channel development manager.
Just as I was about to refuse, Chen Jingming whispered again, “Mr. Zhou is an old guard who helped Mikan’s father build his empire. Now he’s really struggling to survive at Wansen under Fangyuan’s pressure. Since Wansen merged with the former Baoli Department Store, there are no large department stores left in Suzhou that can employ him… At his age, if he still has to seek work in a different place, it would be quite pitiful. So I hope you can give him this opportunity. I believe that, if properly utilized, he can create significant value for our company in the position of channel development manager!”
Unknowingly, Mi Cai had become the softest spot in my heart. Learning that this Vice President Zhou had worked alongside Mi Zhongxin during the early days, I made the first seemingly incorrect decision since taking over the company—I decided to hire this Vice President Zhou. But the feeling was a bit strange. The projects I was managing had nothing to do with department stores, yet I had already recruited two senior managers from the retail industry into my company—one was Chen Jingming, and the other was the soon-to-be-joined Vice President Zhou. Moreover, they shared a commonality: both came from the former Zhuomei, now known as Wansen…
Therefore, I began to suspect that Chen Jingming might still be in contact with Mi Cai, and that Vice President Zhou’s joining my company might have been orchestrated by Mi Cai. When I raised this doubt with Chen Jingming, he firmly denied it, repeatedly assuring me that this was purely his own initiative and had nothing to do with Mi Cai… Looking at his earnest expression, I had no choice but to believe him. I also realized that my excessive longing for Mi Cai often caused me to exaggerate even the slightest possibilities and link them to her, which wasn’t actually logical…
…
That evening after work, I visited the sanatorium where Jian Wei was staying again. It had been over a week since I last visited her, and this time I bought her a warm down comforter because the temperature had dropped significantly these days.
The door to her room wasn’t locked from the inside. After getting her permission, I opened the door and entered. She was leaning on the sofa, holding a tablet computer and watching something. Her expression was somewhat serious… My heart sank. I didn’t know whether she had seen that password-protected folder or if she would remember something because of it.
Actually, at this point, I no longer hoped much for her to recall the past. These days, I had personally witnessed how much more relaxed she was without being burdened by the past. She even learned to do cross-stitch and grow flowers during this recovery period. Previously, when would she have had the leisure to do such things!
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