After temporarily saying goodbye to Leyao, I returned to that attic, opened the door, and found Luo Ben sitting on the rooftop, holding a guitar but not practicing, with scattered beer cans around him, giving him a somewhat decadent look.
I handed him a cigarette, then jumped up onto the railing, lit the cigarette, and listened to the sound of raindrops hitting the awning, like a sad sob, wetting the dark night while waiting for dawn.
“Why are you so down again?” I smiled and asked.
Luo Ben opened a beer can and handed it to me, as if our night was left only with cigarettes and beer. He said, “Everyday I’m down.”
“Well then, you keep being down, buddy. I’ve decided to become a positive and upward man.”
“Really? Just don’t get erect without being firm.”
Though Luo Ben was teasing me, I didn’t mind and replied with a smile, “I will get erect, and I will be firm.” I paused, then turned serious, “It’s already been more than three years since graduation, and I still haven’t achieved anything. Seeing classmates and friends around me getting married one after another, my heart feels quite empty.”
Luo Ben nodded without saying a word, just tossing away the empty beer can in his hand and taking a heavy puff of his cigarette.
I stood up from the railing, shouted at the huge city below, which was tightly shrouded in darkness, “I’m not playing anymore. I want to work every day, buy a house, marry a beautiful girl, have someone to talk to and sleep beside when I get home…”
Suddenly, Luo Ben strummed his guitar, and hummed out the song “Don’t be silly,” which made me realize, Luo Ben was indeed quite mean!
…
The next day, I arrived at the company early, and Leyao also came to our company to meet with a marketing manager from GUCCI. Upon first sight, the manager praised Leyao’s image and temperament, saying they perfectly matched GUCCI’s product positioning. I didn’t doubt this at all. Although Leyao often behaves casually and freely among us friends, when she enters work mode, her temperament is noble, with a sense of fashion and avant-garde, and a touch of mixed-blood beauty. Therefore, GUCCI’s decision to choose Leyao to shoot promotional posters for them might not be entirely a test of our department store’s cooperation sincerity, but mainly because Leyao fits, which precisely highlights the brand awareness of international top brands. They are often very cautious in marketing and publicity.
While Leyao was shooting GUCCI’s promotional posters, GUCCI’s Vice President for China also signed the contract for setting up counters in our department store as agreed. This signing ceremony was held very prominently. Many media outlets came to the signing site, and our company also used this signing ceremony to officially announce to the outside world: Baoli Department Store has powerfully entered the ranks of top department stores.
The high-profile nature of this signing ceremony was precisely to create hype and build momentum for the full marketing campaign I was about to take charge of. Thus, my first real challenge in life officially began along with GUCCI setting up counters in our department store.
That evening, our company hosted a banquet for GUCCI’s Vice President in China and several accompanying staff. Of course, as one of the contributors, I was exceptionally invited, which made me feel quite flattered. You know, after working at the company for two years at the grassroots level, I had barely exchanged a few words with the company’s top management, let alone sharing a dinner with them.
At the banquet, Chen Jingming highly praised me in front of the company’s senior management, so much so that when the banquet ended, our Baoli Department Store’s Executive Vice President, Li Junren, personally came up to me, patted my shoulder, and said, “Young man, I remember you now.”
Of course, this was just remembering. If I wanted the company’s senior management to truly value me, I needed to seize this rare opportunity and do my best to make this marketing event a success, creating value for the company.
…
After leaving the celebration banquet, I went to find Leyao. She had completed the GUCCI shoot and would be leaving Suzhou the next day to return to Hengdian, continuing to strive for her acting career.
We sat beside a stretch of railway tracks. In the darkness, the tracks extended infinitely in the direction of the wind, appearing so free, but I knew that perhaps the next city would be the end of this railway line.
An old-style green train, one rarely seen nowadays, passed quickly before us, carrying a group of seemingly lonely people. It left behind only some lights and a lingering sense of something.
Leyao was sitting beside me, wearing thick clothes, and there was some distance between us, making us seem more and more like just friends.
I tucked my coat tighter, lit a cigarette, and said to Leyao, “When you return to the set, don’t let others bully you anymore.”
Leyao hugged her knees and looked somewhat absentmindedly at another passing train. After a long while, she nodded and said to me, “Mm… You should also work hard.”
“Mm… Actually, I feel quite guilty because of what happened to you because of me. These past few nights when I couldn’t sleep, I always thought about going to hit that actress.”
Leyao smiled and said, “Don’t act like a child. Actually, I don’t even want to think about it anymore.”
“Then what are you thinking about?”
“Nothing. Thinking too much just makes me sad.”
I really agreed with Leyao’s words, but could she really do it? At least I often find myself trapped in my flesh and blood, filled with endless thoughts that only bring more pain.
We were silent for a long time. Then I took an envelope from my bag and handed it to Leyao, saying, “This is your payment for this time. It’s a total of ten thousand, please count it.”
“Why so much?”
“Our manager said that as long as you could spare the time to participate in the shoot, he was willing to pay triple the payment personally. Take it, this is what you deserve.” I said and pushed the envelope further into Leyao’s hands.
Leyao took the envelope and put it into her handbag. After that, we kept silent until it was time to leave, and we saw many trains rushing past with a whistling sound.
…
On the way back, it was just past 10 o’clock. Actually, I hadn’t sat by the railway tracks with Leyao for very long, but my heart had traveled far with each passing train, and I couldn’t pull it back.
When I got home, I found that Luo Ben wasn’t at the bar tonight. As I was about to open the door, I heard a woman’s soft moaning from inside the room. It might be Lily, the girl he brought home last time, or maybe someone else.
I didn’t feel comfortable interrupting, but I had nowhere else to go. I sat downstairs for a while, and finally remembered that a few days ago I had promised Mi Cai to help her deal with the cockroach corpses, so I might as well do it for her now.
I called Mi Cai, and she told me she had been waiting for me to get rid of the cockroaches in that old house, so she was still staying at Liuan Jingyuan.
I told her that I had time to take care of it now, and she immediately said she also had time right now. So we each set off from opposite ends of the city, heading towards that old house at the same time.
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