When Mi Zhongde asked the question, Mi Cai smiled and replied, “Yes, he is my friend.”
Mi Zhongde responded with a smile, and then the people behind him respectfully addressed Mi Cai as “President Mi.” Mi Cai nodded politely in response.
Mi Zhongde then said to Mi Cai, “I have to go to Nanjing for meetings these few days. Please take extra care of the affairs in Shanghai.” He looked at me again after speaking.
I felt a genuine dislike for Mi Zhongde, but still managed a smile as I replied. At the same time, Mi Cai nodded and said to Mi Zhongde, “Uncle, please also take care of your health and don’t overwork yourself!”
Mi Zhongde gently patted Mi Cai’s shoulder to reassure her, and then walked toward the exit surrounded by his entourage.
After Mi Zhongde had walked far away, I glanced at his retreating figure again, feeling even more that this man was unfathomable. In contrast, Mi Cai seemed so fragile in front of him, clearly not on the same level of competition. Of course, this comparison was only in terms of appearance; Mi Cai certainly had her own methods. Otherwise, she wouldn’t have managed to dismantle Mi Zhongde’s plot against her within a week last time.
However, judging from the recent situation, Mi Cai and Mi Zhongde had not yet completely broken ties, which suggested that they were currently in a balanced state of power, restraining each other. As for who could ultimately control Zhuomei, it was hard to say. But instinctively, I always felt Mi Zhongde had a better chance of winning, after all, his roots in Zhuomei were far deeper than Mi Cai’s.
I followed Mi Cai to her office again and jokingly asked, “When you told Mi Zhongde to take care of his health just now, what were you thinking?”
“Nothing in particular.”
“Come on, after how he treated you, you really hope he lives a long life?… Well, actually, scoundrels usually live for a thousand years anyway!”
Mi Cai stopped walking and frowned, saying, “I won’t let you talk about him like that.”
I was shocked by Mi Cai’s attitude and remained stunned for a while before asking, “He’s not worth you defending like this, right?”
Mi Cai’s expression became somewhat gloomy. After a pause, she replied, “He is still my uncle.”
I looked at Mi Cai, helpless in the face of her answer. Her kindness was a fatal weakness in business competition, but what could I say? A woman like her, highly educated and independent-minded, would not easily be influenced by others’ values. Besides, as an outsider, I could certainly despise Mi Zhongde’s character in every way, but the fact remained that he was indeed Mi Cai’s real uncle.
…
Upon arriving at Mi Cai’s office, I still didn’t see myself as an outsider. I sat in Mi Cai’s office chair and then openly opened her drawer, taking out the remaining photos to examine them carefully.
“Zhaoyang, don’t you think it’s very impolite to rummage through someone’s drawers like that?” Mi Cai asked me with an annoyed tone.
“I know, but you always say I’m like an elementary student, so it’s normal that my self-control is a bit poor!”
Mi Cai gave me a speechless look, clearly too lazy to deal with me, and continued eating her food with her head lowered.
In my boredom, I escalated my mischief by taking out her camera and snapping random photos of her while she was eating. It was a classic case of a petty person reveling in their small triumph, yet I was delighted by it…
After stuffing all the developed photos into my pocket, I finally asked Mi Cai seriously, “Comrade Mi, have you started the plan for that man who helped Wei Xiao’s grandfather set up a counter in your Zhuomei?”
Mi Cai nodded, “This morning I’ve already notified the planning department to come up with a proposal…” She paused briefly before asking me, “By the way, do you have any ideas for the marketing campaign after the bar reopens?”
I replied with a helpless smile, “Not yet. You understand as well as I do that under the current poor marketing environment, it’s really difficult to realize many creative marketing ideas!”
Mi Cai nodded and said, “This is indeed a very challenging task, but isn’t it also a great opportunity for personal growth?”
I smiled and said, “If you’re willing to perform there every night, I can create a marketing campaign with minimal resources that will create a huge impact!”
Mi Cai gave me a half-smile, half-serious look and said, “Sure, I can perform there, as long as you pay me performance fees.”
Of course, I knew Mi Cai was just joking with me, but I went along and said, “Name your price. Money is absolutely not an issue for me.”
“The problem is, there’s no money, right?”
“You know me too well… However, are we hurting our feelings by talking about money? After all, we’re still friends, right?”
“Who said I’m your friend?” Mi Cai instinctively snapped back.
I wasn’t bothered and asked, “Then what kind of relationship are we, if not friends?”
“I’m your landlord, and you’re my tenant…”
“That’s it?”
Mi Cai looked up and stared at me for a while before saying, “What do you think?”
“Actually, that definition works pretty well. I’m your male landlord, and you’re my female tenant…”
Even though I intentionally mixed up the roles of landlord and tenant, Mi Cai’s habitual indifference didn’t prompt her to say anything else. She simply lowered her head again and continued eating, while I felt a bit disheartened inside. If we were only landlord and tenant, why did I still feel so emotionally entangled?
…
The entire afternoon after leaving Zhuomei, I was at the bar supervising the renovation work. The bar’s renovation progress was already halfway done, and it wouldn’t be long before it could reopen to the public with a brand new image. This was good news and something we were looking forward to, but it also made me anxious because I still hadn’t come up with any marketing ideas. If things continued like this, I was worried that even after spending a lot of money on renovation, the bar might still end up failing just like before.
I thought: I would find it hard to bear such a blow, because this bar carried the hopes of too many people. Also, the 500,000 yuan I owed to both Jian Wei and Mi Cai could best be repaid through the bar’s profits. I was really worried that Yueyao might go down the wrong path under such a heavy debt burden. Her temperament was the most unstable among all the women I knew.
This evening, I was a bit lonely as I played with my remote-controlled car at the plaza, and this loneliness would continue deep into the night because Mi Cai had gone on a business trip to Shanghai in the afternoon and would naturally be with Weiran in the evening.
Thinking about the image of her being with Weiran, I felt an inexplicable discomfort in my heart. I knew I shouldn’t feel this way, but who could really control their own thoughts? So I started blaming myself, but in the midst of my self-blame, I felt even more lonely.
As the sky darkened, I packed up my car and prepared to leave, but suddenly I received a WeChat message from CC, asking me to check today’s entertainment news. I was a bit surprised but still took out my phone.
Then, on a prominent position of the entertainment section of a certain website, I saw a news story about Yueyao. The report stated that she had spent a night in a hotel with a famous male actor in the country, suggesting a possible romance.
Of course, the highlight of this news was that famous male actor, after all, Yueyao was still an unknown newcomer.
I couldn’t confirm the authenticity of this news, so I immediately called Yueyao to verify it. I hoped this was just a hype story from the entertainment industry. But if it was indeed a publicity stunt, why would the target be Yueyao, an unknown rookie? After all, her value for publicity was not high, and the gap in status between her and the other party involved in the hype was too great, which clearly didn’t fit the usual pattern of such stunts.
So, as I listened to the ringing tone after dialing her number, I became even more eager to know the truth!
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