The next morning, I was still deep in my dreams when my mother woke me up. I complained groggily, “Mom, what time is it? You woke me up so early, let me sleep a little longer.”

“Stop sleeping, I have something to ask you.”

“Don’t ask, I’ve told you I have nothing to do with that girl, really nothing.” I yawned heavily, closed my eyes and lay back down on the bed.

“I’m asking what that girl likes to eat. You said she’s coming to our house today, right? I’m going to buy groceries later.”

“Just buy some lotus root, bell peppers, gluten, river shrimp, and make some spicy chicken or something.”

“Aren’t these all your favorites?”

“Young people’s tastes are all similar, just do as you see fit.”

“This can’t be taken lightly…”

Before my mother could finish, I interrupted, “Just go shopping with ease, she will definitely love it.”

Finally, my mother stopped nagging, thought for a moment, and asked me again, “Have you called to check if the girl has had breakfast?”

“Mom, we are from different generations. Don’t impose your lifestyle habits on us. We don’t even know if she’s up yet. Just go buy the groceries first.”

“You always complain about my nagging, but I’m doing this for your own good. Hurry up and call the girl, ask her when she’s coming over, and you go pick her up.”

“I’ll do as you say, can you let me sleep a little longer? Just a little while.” I pleaded.

“Don’t forget what I just told you, got it?”

I quickly nodded in agreement, and my mother nagged a few more words before finally leaving my room.

……

After my mother left, I gradually lost my sleepiness. I tossed and turned in bed for a while, and finally picked up my phone to call Mi Cai.

Mi Cai quickly answered the phone and politely said to me, “Good morning.”

I also replied “Good morning”, and then asked, “Have you had breakfast?”

“I’m eating in the hotel restaurant.”

“Oh, you have good living habits. It’s just the right time for breakfast.”

Mi Cai responded with a “Hmm”.

The conversation felt a bit stiff, so I thought for a moment and asked, “What are you planning to do after breakfast?”

“I’m going to visit your Xuzhou department stores and shopping centers.”

“So, Mr. Mi, you came to Xuzhou specifically for market research!” I exclaimed.

“No, I came specifically to see you. The market research is just incidental.” Mi Cai said to me very seriously.

I’m afraid of people talking to me so seriously, and I was silent for a while.

Mi Cai then said to me, “Xuzhou is your home turf, aren’t you going to be my guide?”

“That’s no problem, I have plenty of time now.”

“Then I’ll wait for you at the hotel entrance.”

……

After ending the call with Mi Cai, I quickly got out of bed, washed up quickly, and in less than 10 minutes, I was ready. I wish those dawdling women could see what real speed is.

Without having time for a bite of breakfast, I drove Mr. Ban’s Santana 2000 to the hotel where Mi Cai was staying.

A moment later, when I arrived at the hotel, I saw Mi Cai waiting at the entrance. I rolled down the window and asked her, “Do you want to ride in my car, or drive yourself?”

Mi Cai didn’t say a word, she just opened the passenger door and sat down next to me. I immediately started the car.

On the way to the city center, Mi Cai was intently looking at a photo in the car. The photo was a family portrait of us, but I was very young in the photo, with a naive smile, hugging Mr. Ban’s leg.

Mi Cai looked a bit gloomy, then smiled. I understood that her gloominess was because of her deceased father, and her smile was out of envy for our family’s reunion and happiness.

I put down the photo frame, not wanting this photo to continue to tug at Mi Cai’s emotions, and changed the subject, “I heard that your Zhuomei stores in Shanghai and Nanjing are in preparation. Doing market research in a third-tier city like Xuzhou doesn’t quite fit with your big city strategy, does it?”

Mi Cai shook her head and said, “Actually, there is disagreement among our senior management about the future direction of Zhuomei’s development. I personally believe that Zhuomei’s strategic focus should be on second-tier and top-tier third-tier cities. The competition in first-tier cities is too fierce and will consume a lot of our resources. If we can’t make a profit, it will soon affect the operation of the entire group.”

I nodded, understanding that Mi Zhongde’s strategic plan for Zhuomei is focused on first-tier cities, while Mi Cai leans towards second-tier and top-tier third-tier cities. This disagreement will surely deepen the conflict between the two of them. I have a premonition that in the future of Zhuomei, Mi Cai and Mi Zhongde cannot coexist. As for who will ultimately control Zhuomei, I can’t say for sure.Throughout the morning, I accompanied Mi Cai as we visited several large department stores and shopping centers in Xuzhou. We exchanged some views on the market, which was one of the few common topics we shared.

Before going to my house as a guest, Mi Cai insisted on buying quite a few gifts for Mr. Ban and my mother. I ended up carrying these gifts and complained, “You’re just visiting our house, you really don’t need to buy any gifts. It makes you look like my girlfriend.”

“Do I have to be your girlfriend to buy gifts?”

“Not necessarily, but we are at the age where men should be married and women should be wed. The elders might misunderstand. When you meet Mr. Ban and my mother later, you need to explain our relationship to them.”

Mi Cai asked me back, “What do you think our relationship is?”

I thought for a moment and replied, “More like adversaries, less like friends.”

Mi Cai shook her head in denial, “I don’t see you as an adversary.”

“Then what do you see me as?” I asked with interest.

“A friend, a trustworthy friend.”

I smiled and said, “Just say that when you introduce yourself to my parents later. But don’t change your opinion of me because of that incident and blindly trust me. I’m really not a good person!”

Mi Cai shook her head and said, “I don’t like to think of people as too complicated. It’s exhausting. So, I prefer to trust my intuition.”

“Did you think the same when we first met?”

“No, at that time I just thought you were a jerk, a rare kind of jerk!”

I said, “So, you didn’t judge me by intuition, or rather, in your first intuition, I was still a jerk.”

Mi Cai laughed and said, “Let’s not discuss this anymore. I’m hungry after shopping for half a day. Let’s hurry and taste the food Mr. Ban made.”

I grabbed Mi Cai, who was about to move forward, and asked in confusion, “What did you just call my dad?”

“Mr. Ban!” Mi Cai answered, then quickly realized and hurriedly explained, “I just thought it was fun to call him that, so I followed your lead. I didn’t mean anything else.”

“You can’t call him that in front of him. He always thought Mr. Ban meant ‘my dad’. If you call him that, it will really cause a big problem.”

Mi Cai realized the seriousness of the situation and nodded earnestly. Then we looked at each other and inexplicably laughed together. Her smile in the bright noon sun was so heart-stirring.