About five minutes later, I was taken aback when I saw Le Yao walking out of the exit. Why wasn’t it Wei Ran, but Le Yao instead!

I looked at Mi Cai incredulously, unwilling to accept this outcome because it didn’t make sense.

Mi Cai smiled and said, “She’s been wearing a mask since she entered the mall. I think she must be feeling more stifled than the others.”

With her analysis, I had no choice but to admit defeat. I blamed myself for judging the outcome emotionally, while Mi Cai made a more accurate prediction from a physical perspective. It seemed emotions were indeed unreliable.

Le Yao came over to me, took off her mask, gave me a slight smile, and then took a deep breath as if a weight had been lifted off her shoulders.

Mi Cai conscientiously said to us, “You two chat, I’ll go in first.”

“Okay.”

Mi Cai reminded me, “Remember, you agreed to admit defeat!”

“Don’t worry, I always keep my word.” I immediately patted my chest and said.

Mi Cai glanced at me, seemingly unimpressed by my so-called promise, but she didn’t say anything more and headed towards the mall entrance.

Le Yao asked me, “What did she mean by admitting defeat?”

“It’s all your fault!”

Le Yao looked puzzled, “How did it become my fault? Did you guys use me as a betting chip?”

“Sort of. We were betting on who would come out of the mall first. Your name was on her list, and you really were the first to come out, so I lost.”

“What happens if you lose?”

“I’d rather talk about what would happen if I won… If you hadn’t come out, she would have had to treat us to dinner tonight.” I complained a bit, after all, that was a bet equivalent to a thousand yuan, and I was so broke I was almost ready to sell myself.

“I thought it was something serious. I’ll take care of the dinner, after all, everyone is helping out at the bar, which is also helping me.”

Le Yao’s words stunned me. Subconsciously, I always thought she was worse off than me, so I never thought of asking her to treat us to dinner. But the truth was: she was not the same person she used to be, she could easily handle something as small as a meal.

I didn’t stand on ceremony with Le Yao, after all, I’m not the kind of man who likes to put on airs.

After finishing this topic, we stood in the cold wind, waiting for the other to bring up the next topic.

“Zhao Yang, do you regret giving up your fiancée to come to Suzhou to help me?”

This was a topic I wasn’t prepared for, and I was somewhat caught off guard. But I couldn’t help but wonder, what would the situation be like now if this hadn’t happened.

I believe that at this moment, I would have been planning our engagement ceremony with Li Xiaoyun, and then continuing to work hard for our career and family. Although we wouldn’t be rich, we would have no worries about food and clothing.

I sighed softly in my heart, wondering how Li Xiaoyun was doing now. Was she still on the path of blind dates, or did she already have someone to be with?

Le Yao asked me again in the silence, “Do you regret it?”

“Some things are just instinctive for me, so can you stop asking such silly questions?”

“Do you mean: being good to me is your instinct?”

“Damn… not this nagging question again!” As before, I cursed at her in annoyance.

But Le Yao didn’t mind at all, she gave me the same response as before, “You can curse…”

I stared at Le Yao for a long time and said, “I won’t say ‘damn’ in front of you anymore!”

“Why?”

“Because it’s a vulgar word.”

Le Yao looked at me with a wry smile and said, “But you’re not exactly a gentleman!”

I looked at my reflection in the shop window and thought I looked quite gentlemanly, but that wasn’t important. Because Le Yao had misunderstood my meaning. For us, the so-called cursing or not cursing was a thing of the distant past. Since it was in the past, there was no need to bring it up again.

…

Le Yao and I returned to the mall. At this time, CC and Robben were performing a duet, Wei Ran was playing the piano, and Mi Cai was standing in the crowd, listening attentively.

It wasn’t until I stood next to her that she noticed my presence and asked, “Finished talking?”

“Yes.”

“You’re a man of your word, right?”

“It’s just singing a more upbeat, normal song, right? So, what do you want me to sing?”

Mi Cai seemed to have prepared in advance and said to me, “Xiao Long Ren.”

“What?”

“Xiao Long Ren, we all watched that TV show when we were kids.”

I frowned and said, “The song is indeed upbeat, but do you think it’s normal?”

Mi Cai argued, “If you think this song is not normal, then you’re denying your childhood!”

“Stop messing around, okay?… You’re making fun of me, I can’t afford to lose face!””I know you like songs with substance and depth, but there’s a saying that ‘extremes meet.’ Those seemingly childish songs are actually the ones with real meaning!”

“Pah!… So that song about having horns on my head and a tail behind me is meaningful?”

Mi Cai replied with a displeased expression, “If you can’t afford to lose, don’t bet with me.”

I quickly racked my brains and said to Mi Cai, “Who said I can’t afford to lose? I just can’t remember the guitar chords for that song.”

“I’ll accompany you. If you can’t remember the lyrics, I can write them down for you.”

I felt wronged and couldn’t find a reason to refute her. I didn’t understand why this woman always found new ways to embarrass me.

……

After Robben and CC finished their performance, Mi Cai walked to the center of the stage, whispered a few words into CC’s ear, and CC burst into laughter, nodding repeatedly.

“Zhao Yang, come on up. CC and I will accompany you. You need to perform well because this will be the finale of the concert.”

With Mi Cai’s words, the audience showed anticipation. After all, the previous performances were brilliant due to everyone’s efforts, so this finale must be the cream of the crop.

I silently walked onto the small stage and stood in front of the microphone, feeling inexplicably nervous and extremely uncomfortable. Yet, the anticipation on the faces of the audience below the stage only grew stronger.

Robben, who seemed to have received Mi Cai’s message, returned to his drum set with a serious expression. The more serious he looked, the more pretentious he seemed. I thought, ‘Why don’t you come up and sing?’

The lively and lively music prelude had already started. I subconsciously touched my nose, feeling resistant, but still, in the spirit of professionalism, I started singing along with the rhythm of the music: “I have horns on my head, I have a tail behind me, no one knows how many secrets I have… I am a little Orient Loong God, I have many little secrets…”

The audience first showed a stunned expression, then burst into laughter. Naturally, I was the object of their laughter. After all, I had just sung a greasy rock song that they couldn’t understand, and now I was singing this song…

As I sang, I muttered in my heart: “You all do your best to show off, so I’m supposed to be the clown who livens up the atmosphere… Damn it, what kind of shitty friends are these!”

Because of my negative emotions, my voice got smaller and smaller. Unexpectedly, Mi Cai, who was playing the guitar, suddenly pushed me aside and continued singing in a childlike voice.

I was stunned, attracted by her playful childlike voice, and more certain that she didn’t mean to embarrass me.

After Mi Cai sang a section, she handed the microphone to CC. CC also pinched her throat and sang in a childlike voice. This sudden change caught the audience off guard. After a moment, applause broke out, and they even started singing along.

After CC finished singing, she took the microphone to Robben. Robben improvised and inserted a very high rap, which made the atmosphere even more lively. In the end, even Jian Wei, Le Yao, Circle and others came onto the small stage and sang together… Watching this moment of revelry, I finally realized: I was the one who was the most uptight in the whole venue!

I don’t know what will happen to us in the future, but at this moment, we indeed put aside all prejudices and cooperated with the most genuine emotions to perform this “childish” song.

And I finally understood Mi Cai’s good intentions. We, who are under high pressure in the city, need such a way to relieve stress. Those seemingly profound and deep songs now seem to be nothing more than pretentious moaning.

……

As time passed, we finally finished this extended version of the children’s song. Mi Cai, who had been bouncing around with everyone, had some sweat on her forehead. She gently wiped off the sweat, stood in the center of the stage with the microphone, paused, and finally said sincerely, “Thank you all again for attending this impromptu concert. The reason we chose this song as the finale is to let everyone feel the power of returning to simplicity… We all hope to live a little easier, but reality ultimately gives us too many shackles. Although we can’t break free, we can relieve the long-term repression under the shackles in our own way… So, please be sure to pay attention to our Fifth Season Theme Music Bar. Here, you will definitely feel the simplicity and fun of returning to simplicity…”

Thunderous applause erupted from the audience. At this moment, I firmly believe that these applause have nothing to do with Mi Cai’s beauty, but are the audience’s heartfelt praise, because Mi Cai’s words have touched their deepest desires.

Once again, she used her wisdom to amplify the effect of this concert. I believe this concert is the initial driving force for the bar’s voyage.

But is such a woman who combines wisdom, beauty, kindness, and wealth real?I seem to be even less able to imagine the time when she became my girlfriend, let alone dare to fantasize about that one day……

——-

This is a big chapter of 3000 words, so it’s a bit late.