Chapter One Hundred and One: Three Phone Calls

By the time I got home, the sky was already beginning to brighten.

I sank wearily onto my bed, still replaying in my mind what had happened at Gu Ruoyan’s place. When she had said that if it were me, she would never regret it, I knew she was only speaking out of gratitude toward me, not because she truly had feelings for me. I had not said much then, only urged her to go to sleep.

I understood clearly that as long as she had not found someone who could truly love her and take care of her, this burden on my shoulders could not be set down. I decided I would have to help her solve this problem myself. I had once thought of introducing Xu Jian to her, and it seemed I ought to ask Xu Jian whether he already had a wife or a girlfriend. If not, and if the two of them happened to work out, would that not be the best of all possible outcomes? I would have found Gu Ruoyan a good home, brought together a handsome pair, and at the same time freed myself. Why should I not do it?

As I thought about it, my own troubles came to mind. As for Qiu Jieqin, I did not even know how to bring it up, let alone how to keep the damage to a minimum.

Ah, what a headache.

Before I knew it, I had fallen asleep, but not long after, my mobile phone rang and woke me again. Frowning, I glanced at the clock. It was only nine in the morning. My God, I had slept barely three or four hours.

Suppressing my anger at having my dream disturbed, I answered the phone irritably. "Hello?"

"Good morning, Brother Tang Qian! Are you up yet?"

I let out a sigh. "You. I just fell asleep. What do you want so early in the morning?"

"Hee hee! I missed you! In a couple of days my sister is going to drag me back home. I probably won’t be able to see you very often after that, so I want to spend more time with you these next two days. Brother Tang Qian, once you wake up, come keep me company and play with me!"

"Haah. I'm nothing like you. You live a carefree life and never worry about food or clothes. I still haven’t found a job yet. If I keep living like this, I’ll be eating through my savings before long. Where would I find the time or the leisure to play with you?"

"Looking for a job? That’s easy! Let my sister arrange something for you. Anyway, there are plenty of people working for her, and one more or less won’t matter. Besides, you’re my sister’s good friend. Do you think she’d treat you badly? I won’t dare promise a huge salary, but if it’s less than twenty thousand a month, I won’t agree to it!"

I could only laugh. "You want your sister to arrange a job for me? What could I even do? I can’t handle her entertainment business. And besides, your sister and I are friends. If I worked for her and she ordered me around every day, forget it."

"Then... you can be my tutor! My grades are terrible. I really need a top student from Z University like you to give me lessons. And then we’d be together in a perfectly proper way. How wonderful! As for the salary... that’s easy. You name the amount, and I’ll pay it!"

I said in surprise, "How do you know I graduated from Z University? I don’t think I ever told you that."

"Ah? That... hee hee! Anyway, I just know, so what? You’ll take the job, won’t you? Brother Tang Qian, you don’t know this, but my mother used to hire several tutors for me. Every single one of them was driven off by me and never dared come back. But if it’s you, I’ll definitely be good, obedient to the extreme. I’ll be very happy to be with you, and I promise I won’t make you angry!"

I sat up in bed and said, "No, that’s different. Given the relationship between your brother and me, how could I charge you for tutoring? If you’re truly obedient, I can tutor you for free. But that can wait until later. I still have to find a job and support myself with my own ability. I don’t want to live off your family. Do you understand?"

"Haah! You really are... stubborn. Fine, fine, if you don’t want to do it, then don’t. And also, what do you mean, the relationship between you and my brother? Am I not closer to you than my brother is? I’m your future wife, after all!"

I laughed. "That’s still a long way off. Right now your main task should be studying. Only by studying well can you amount to anything when you grow up. Let me make this clear first: if you don’t get into a top university, I don’t want you."

"A top university? That’s too hard, isn’t it? You’re deliberately making things difficult for me! You’re not sincere at all!"

"Don’t shout. I’m doing this for your own good. If I don’t put some pressure on you, how will you work hard? If you really think it’s difficult, I can help you, and we can ignore the five-year agreement. Studying is for your own sake. You need to understand that."

"Hmph! Anyway, you’re just going to bully me! I’ll endure it. Who told me to be so fond of you? But if you try this again in five years, I’ll never let you off!"

Hey, that sounded a lot like her sister.

I smiled. "All right, all right, we’ll talk again in five years. I’m sleepy. Can’t you let me sleep a little longer?"

"No way! Stop trying to dodge the question. Let me ask you something: my sister said that after you went back, you went to someone else’s house. What were you doing there in the middle of the night? Was it a man or a woman?"

I laughed. "A woman."

"I knew it! I only just said you were allowed to stray a little now and then, and you immediately went and did it! I don’t care, you’d better come over at once and explain yourself clearly. What was that woman’s name? How old was she? What exactly did the two of you do all night?"

Seeing that the little devil was truly getting anxious, I dropped the joking tone and said seriously, "Don’t talk nonsense. She was an old superior of mine. She ran into some trouble, and I went to talk things through with her. It’s nowhere near as filthy as you’re imagining."

"Really?"

"Would I lie to a child?"

"Who are you calling a child? I’ve said it hundreds of times already, I’m almost eighteen. I’m practically an adult!"

"Almost is not the same as having arrived. Right now you’re still a child. One day short doesn’t count."

"You... Fine, fine. I can’t argue with you, so I won’t waste my breath. Are you coming or not? I’m waiting for you!"

"Forget it. With this time, I might as well go look for work. I’m hanging up now. I really haven’t slept enough, so please let me sleep a little longer."

"Tang Qian! You... oh no, my sister’s here. Hmph! Just remember this!" As soon as the words left her mouth, the little devil hung up first.

I gave a wry smile and put my phone away. That little devil really was a headache.

Yawning, I lay back down, intending to catch a bit more sleep.

But the moment my head touched the pillow, the phone rang again. Rolling my eyes, I took it out and looked at the number. It was Zhao Yanjin.

"Hello, Old Zhao."

"Old Tang, I just got back from a business trip. I heard you resigned. What happened?"

"Ah, it’s a long story. I’ll tell you carefully when I have time. By the way, I still owe you two thousand yuan. I’ll bring it to you tonight."

"I’m not calling to demand money. Do you still think of me as a brother? You resigned for so long and didn’t even say a word. What, your phone doesn’t work?"

"No, I’ve been busy handling some things these past couple of days and forgot about it. Since you’re my brother, just cut me some slack."

"Never mind, I was only saying. Oh, and I also heard you’ve fallen out badly with the new vice president, Hua Jingjing. Did you resign because of her?"

"Well... yes."

"I checked around. That woman’s father is the group president, Hua Qiming. He’s a formidable man. Since you’ve offended his daughter, there’s really no one who can help you! I’m afraid I’m powerless too."

"Old Zhao, thanks. Of everyone in the company, only you truly would have helped me. But I’ve already resigned, so you don’t need to worry about me."

"What are you planning to do after resigning? Have you found a job yet?"

"Not yet. Jobs are really hard to find these days, and I can’t do anything else. I’ll take it slowly."

"In that case, Old Tang, if you don’t mind being wronged a little, I have a friend who opened a small bookstore. It used to be watched over by his wife. But his wife is the sort of person who can’t sit still. After a short while she kept complaining about having no freedom, no time, and no fun. My friend has another job of his own and can’t look after it himself. They’re from out of town and have no relatives here, so a couple of days ago he asked me to help find someone honest and clean-handed to keep an eye on the shop. I was thinking, isn’t reading one of your biggest hobbies? If you’re free for the time being, why not go help out? It doesn’t matter whether you stay a long time or only a short while. You can keep doing it until you find a suitable job. The work isn’t tiring either. You’d just be selling a few books. You don’t even need to push sales; customers can buy whichever book they want. But as for the salary, I hope you’ll discuss that with him directly. My guess is it won’t be very high. What do you think? Want to consider it?"

I thought it over.

Right now, it really was hard for me to find a suitable job in a hurry, and if I stayed unemployed any longer, the little savings I had would probably not last many days.

It was rare for Old Zhao to be so loyal, to think of me when I was down and to be willing to help. What was there for me to be falsely polite about? He was a true brother, after all; there was no need to worry about saving face. Admittedly, a university graduate like me going to manage a little shop was a bit of a waste of talent, but even university graduates had to eat. Besides, in this day and age there were plenty of university graduates who couldn’t find work. Why should I care about face? And at least it was a bookstore. Books were elegant things; selling books to the world was a noble occupation. There was nothing shameful about it.

After weighing it all in my mind, I made up my mind.

"Old Zhao, there’s nothing to consider. I’m already worrying about having nothing to do. I think that bookstore job sounds good. Help me introduce me to them."

Zhao Yanjin said happily, "All right then. But don’t blame me later if the pay isn’t high. I’m warning you in advance!"

"No problem. This isn’t a long-term solution anyway. Once I find a suitable job, I’ll leave."

"Good. Since you agree, I’ll call him and let him know. I’ll tell you as soon as I hear anything."

"Thanks, Old Zhao."

"Between brothers, what’s there to thank me for? I’m hanging up."

"Goodbye."

I put down the phone, feeling both moved and wistful.

What moved me was that whenever I ran into trouble, there were always friends willing to lend a hand. Though I did not usually have many friends, the ones I did have were true friends in every sense of the word, the sort who could help one another and treat each other with sincerity.

What made me wistful was that the ambitious, talented university graduate I had once been had now come to the point where I could only help watch over someone else’s shop. And even this job existed only because a friend had helped me find it; otherwise I would still be unemployed. How utterly different this was from what I had imagined when I first graduated.

With a bitter smile, I lay back down once more, intending to nap a little while waiting for Old Zhao’s call. But just as I settled in, my phone began ringing furiously again.

Strangely, I thought, Old Zhao couldn’t be this quick. I had only just hung up.

With no choice, I glanced at the caller ID.

It was Hua Jingjing.