After teaching Jian Wei how to use the operation software, I left the inn and started searching along the street shops for Tongzi’s whereabouts.
I almost searched the entire street but didn’t find him. Then I started looking along the Xitang River and finally found him sitting on the riverside steps.
I approached him, handed him a cigarette, and said, “Why haven’t you gone back yet this late?”
“Watching pretty girls.”
I looked around and asked, “Where are these pretty girls?”
“She just left a while ago.”
“Is it that woman who likes wearing red coats?”
Tongzi nodded but didn’t say much, clearly still holding some resentment toward me.
I patted his shoulder and asked with a smile, “What’s wrong, are you still angry with me?”
“A little.”
“I wasn’t in a good mood today, and I want to apologize for that. But we’re both men, so don’t keep your feelings bottled up. If you’re really uncomfortable, you can punch me. If you don’t even furrow your brow, you’re not a real man!”
“Come on, your face is already messed up like this, how can I bring myself to hit you?”
Tongzi’s dry humor made me laugh again. I then put my arm around his shoulder and said, “You can joke with me, which means you’re not angry with me anymore, right?”
“You already apologized to me, why would I still be angry with you… Besides, I know you’re doing this for my own good.”
I nodded and said, “Actually, when I first graduated from college, I was even more messed up than you… That’s why I don’t want you to follow my old path because years later you’ll regret accomplishing nothing… Besides, we’re now on the path of entrepreneurship. We must have the mentality of enduring hardships and fighting. You also know how difficult it is to run the inn now. We have to work twice as hard to catch up with other inns. Don’t you think so?”
“Brother Yang, I understand. I’ll work hard from now on.”
“Yeah, I believe you… Let’s go back after finishing this cigarette. There are guests at the inn.”
“Ah! Really? Guests have come?”
“Absolutely true.”
“Are they beautiful girls?”
I pictured Jian Wei in my mind and nodded, saying, “Yes, a very beautiful girl.”
Tongzi immediately became excited. I couldn’t quite understand why he was so thrilled when there was no way for him to interact with these beautiful girls.
…
After returning to the inn with Tongzi, Jian Wei was still sitting beside the service desk helping me watch over things. Tongzi whispered in my ear, “Brother Yang, she’s really beautiful, almost as beautiful as Leyao!”
I also lowered my voice and replied, “They’re not the same type, so there’s no need for comparison.”
Tongzi nodded in agreement and said, “Right… She has a stronger presence than Leyao, but lacks that little bit of charm.”
During my conversation with Tongzi, Jian Wei put down the mouse and said to me, “Zhaoyang, I need a single standard room. Show me the room, please.”
“Give me your ID, I need to register it.”
“I already registered myself just now.”
I nodded. Tongzi beside me looked surprised and pulled my sleeve, asking, “Brother Yang, do you know this beautiful girl too?”
“Yes.”
“Crazy! Why are there only beautiful girls around you?”
“Must be my personality.”
“You’re really impressive!”
I didn’t respond to Tongzi anymore. I stepped forward to approach Jian Wei, ready to show her to the guest room, but unexpectedly, she took out 200 yuan from her wallet and handed it to me as payment for the room.
I shook my head and said, “No need.”
“I’m the first guest of this inn. You can’t refuse payment for such a lucky first business deal!” Jian Wei said and pushed the money closer to me again.
After thinking for a moment, I took one 100 yuan note from Jian Wei’s hand, then took 12 yuan from the drawer and handed it back to her, saying, “I’ll take 88 yuan. For the first business deal, we should go for good luck.”
Jian Wei didn’t insist further. She said “Thank you” and accepted the change from my hands. Then, under my guidance, she walked toward the guest room.
…
After entering the guest room, I turned on the light. Jian Wei looked around the room and said to me, “The decoration of this room is quite average, and the location of this inn is relatively remote. Why did you choose to take it over?”
“If an inn has a good location and is profitable, do you think the owner would transfer it?”
“That’s true!”
I nodded and said, “I will redecorate this inn and find the right business positioning. I believe there’s still hope.”
“Redecorate? That will require a significant amount of money, right?”
“I won’t replace the electrical appliances in the room. I’ve calculated that it can be done with 80,000 yuan.”
“Where would you get 80,000 yuan from?”
I hesitated slightly and then said, “That’s none of your concern.”
After a brief silence, Jian Wei said to me, “After you left Suzhou, I couldn’t find any news about you anywhere. I was really worried… I’m so glad I could meet you in Xitang, but I don’t quite understand why you chose to stay here and run an inn that’s nothing special.”
“An inn that’s nothing special?”
“Sorry, that was the wrong way to put it. What I mean is: you shouldn’t waste the most precious time of your life on an inn that used to be losing money.”
“I don’t think it’s a waste. As long as I have strength in my heart, a small inn can also become a big dream.”
Jian Wei looked at me as if she wanted to say something but hesitated.
“I’m going to get you a bottle of hot water.”
Jian Wei grabbed my arm and said, “Wait, don’t go yet.”
I didn’t speak but just waited for her to say whatever she wanted to say.
“After you left Suzhou, Mi Cai came to see me… I caused the misunderstanding between you two!”
“All of this is in the past. There’s no need to bring it up again.”
“You really don’t plan to go back to Suzhou anymore?”
“Under the circumstances, I shouldn’t go back to Suzhou.”
“What about Mi Cai? Can you really let her go?”
I looked at Jian Wei and felt it was so awkward that she would ask me this question. After a while, I said, “Some people, even if they end up together, are destined to be from different worlds. You should understand this better than me.”
“I just don’t want my mistake to affect your relationship… Zhaoyang, no matter how things turn out between us, I definitely wish you happiness.”
“The root of the problem isn’t your mistake, but the fact that we couldn’t trust each other.”
Jian Wei finally fell silent, probably understanding that how many couples who had once made vows of eternal love eventually collapsed due to a crisis of trust, just like her and me in the past.
After a long while, she finally said to me, “In my opinion, you shouldn’t stay in Xitang, but I also have no position or qualification to ask you to leave… I just hope that when you encounter difficulties, you’ll let me know, and I’ll do my best to help you.”
“I never doubt that you have a heart willing to help me, but I really don’t need your pure help. Don’t you understand this by now?”
“Zhaoyang, you’re wrong. This isn’t just pure help, it’s my way of repaying your help… Sometimes, I really wish we were strangers, so you wouldn’t have so many thoughts… I admit that getting the advertising contract with Golden Summit Property had something to do with my senior (Director Wang), but can such a big business really be secured just by connections?… In fact, before you went to Golden Summit Property, we had already presented our proposal twice, but both times we failed because we didn’t come up with the creative ideas that Golden Summit wanted. My senior’s role was simply to secure us a third opportunity to present our proposal. In the end, it was your creative idea of ‘Cracked Life’ that impressed them. You deserve to keep the 500,000 yuan commission with peace of mind. You should understand that in our advertising industry, a good idea or even a single advertising slogan can often be worth hundreds of thousands of yuan!”
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