This was one of countless confrontations between me and Mi Cai, but this time I chose to back down and fell into silence instead. However, the customers’ mood remained high, and they kept urging Mi Cai to sing another song for them.
CC winked at me, hinting that I should take the opportunity while the audience was clamoring and invite Mi Cai to sing a duet. But I had already lost my desire to sing. I took out a cigarette from my pack and walked outside the bar—I wanted to breathe some fresh air again, even though it was damp and cold.
Since returning to Suzhou these past few days, I seemed to be frustrated every day. This frustration came both from within myself and from external factors, but for now, I couldn’t find a way to overcome it. So my emotions often fluctuated dramatically over trivial matters.
Halfway through my cigarette, I suddenly realized someone had approached me. Glancing sideways, I saw it was Mi Cai standing beside me. Interestingly, my Auto and her Audi were parked side by side not far away.
I took another puff of my cigarette, exhaled slowly, and finally asked Mi Cai, “Why did you come out?”
“I wanted to see you and figure out whether you were upset because I refused to sing with you.”
“There’s nothing to be upset about—I’ve gotten used to your rejections.”
Mi Cai didn’t respond immediately. After a long pause, she said thoughtfully, “Actually, liking a song doesn’t necessarily mean you really like it—it’s often just a way to remember someone… That’s why both you and Jian Wei sang ‘Runaway.'” She paused, then looked at me and asked, “Zhao Yang, am I right?”
That was a statement worth deep reflection, but I was tired—too tired to think about anything. I changed the subject with a smile, saying to Mi Cai, “Have you noticed the car across there? It’s mine now. Cool, right?”
“Oh, you mean that Auto?”
“Yeah, I once drove this car to invite you to eat at The Empty City. Do you remember?”
Mi Cai merely nodded without responding further, because the topic we were discussing had become somewhat dull.
So we fell silent again, but I wasn’t afraid of this silence at all, because the cigarette in my hand could rescue me from any embarrassment or discomfort brought on by silence.
Indeed, it was Mi Cai who finally broke the silence. She said to me, “I have tomorrow off. If you’re free, would you mind cooking me a meal?”
“No way! You won’t even sing a duet with me, so why should I cook for you?”
“Must you be so petty?”
I replied earnestly, “No, that’s not being petty—it’s called getting even.”
Mi Cai frowned and said, “That phrase ‘getting even’ doesn’t sound right. I remember telling you before that I’ve never considered you as my rival.”
Seeing that Mi Cai was taking this seriously, I decided not to joke with her anymore and said, “Actually, I’m busy tomorrow. I’ve just finished the renovation plan, and I need to visit the decoration company all day tomorrow.”
Mi Cai looked slightly disappointed and said, “Then maybe next time.”
I nodded, then suddenly remembered that I hadn’t given her the rent yet. I immediately took out my wallet, counted 1500 yuan, and handed it to her, saying, “This is the rent for this month. Please take it.”
Mi Cai didn’t reach out to take it. She said to me, “Keep the rent for now. Use it to buy some potted plants for your home. They’ll look really nice in spring.”
I imagined how beautiful those potted plants would look in spring and instinctively nodded, then put the money back into my wallet.
“Zhao Yang, when spring comes and all those potted plants bloom, you’ll surely have your bar business well-established by then, right?”
Mi Cai’s question surprised me. Even with my abilities, there was no way I could successfully run the bar within just a few months—it would take a long time. As a graduate from the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School, how could she ask such an uncharacteristically naive question?
Puzzled, I asked Mi Cai, “When you say ‘well-established,’ do you mean getting the bar up and running smoothly, or making it popular and profitable?”
Mi Cai was silent for a long time before replying, “Neither. When I say ‘well-established,’ I mean you can leave this bar and end your assistance to your friend.”
I laughed and said, “Oh, that’s what you meant! But why do you hope I’ll leave this bar? Besides, you’re now also one of the bar’s shareholders. That doesn’t make much sense—you should hope that I continue to make this bar more and more successful!”
Mi Cai turned around to face me directly, her expression serious but her tone low as she said, “I hope you’ll come work at Zhuo Mei… Right now, there’s no one around me I can truly trust. I feel tired… and helpless!”
This time I stared at Mi Cai in even greater shock, unable to speak for a while.
“I’m not asking you to work at Zhuo Mei as a way to repay me. I’ve seen your abilities and talents. I studied the promotional theme ‘Love Is Not a Luxury’ that you created for Baoli Department Store before leaving Suzhou, and I think it was really well done. Also, the artistic positioning of your bar ‘The Fifth Season’ is very creative and innovative. Zhuo Mei needs people like you, and I believe Zhuo Mei will become the best stage for you to showcase your talents!”
Mi Cai’s tone remained sincere, but at that moment, she seemed unfamiliar to me, exuding the aura of a professional CEO. I couldn’t connect this version of her with the one who often quarreled with me with her little temper tantrums.
Yet she also seemed helpless at that moment, which was why she had invited me to Zhuo Mei. I knew in her heart, she considered me someone trustworthy. However, accepting her trust would mean taking on additional responsibility, and the responsibility born from trust is often the heaviest. Therefore, I wouldn’t give her an answer—not yet. At this moment, I already carried a heavy burden from Yue Yao’s trust, and I wouldn’t consider myself a savior nor could I shoulder so many responsibilities.
Finally, I said to Mi Cai, who had been waiting patiently for my response, “Right now, I only want to focus on running this bar well, and that will be a long process. So what you’re talking about feels too distant for me to make any decision about it now.”
Mi Cai merely nodded at my polite refusal. She didn’t say anything else, maintaining her usual calmness. But how must she have felt? Disappointed and helpless, no doubt. However, she was much stronger and wiser than most women, so whether I was there or not wouldn’t affect her ability to fully control Zhuo Mei. Her extending the dependency she felt in her personal life into the business realm was merely a habit, without any special meaning. I think precisely because she understood this, she didn’t say anything else after I declined her offer.
A cold wind blew up the snow on the ground, swirling it into the air, amplifying our silence infinitely. Finally, after a long silence, I said to Mi Cai, “Let’s go back inside. It’s the weekend today—let’s have some fun!”
Mi Cai nodded and followed me back into the bar. At the moment we stepped inside, I seemed to have already forgotten everything she had just said to me, because I preferred our usual little quarrels and playful teasing rather than the serious and solemn conversation we’d just had.
Besides, even if I did manage to successfully run this bar, I wouldn’t go to Zhuo Mei, because I still owed Chen Jingming for his trust in me and the years of support he’d given me. To this day, I still couldn’t forgive myself for ruining his hard-earned promotion opportunity. Although that opportunity seemed somewhat underhanded, Chen Jingming hadn’t been the one who orchestrated the entire incident—he was merely someone who might have benefited from it. Therefore, this sense of guilt had always haunted me.
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