After I finished speaking, everyone fell into silence. After all, this was a huge sum of one million. Whether to lend it or not was not something that could be decided in an instant.
Xiang Chen didn’t express his stance. Circle, who was always calm, said to me, “Zhao Yang, after all, this is a sum of one million, equivalent to the income of a wage earner for decades. You must explain to us the ins and outs of this matter.”
Circle’s words were agreed upon by everyone, so all eyes were once again focused on me.
I took a moment to gather my thoughts, and finally told everyone the whole story, which was followed by a dead silence.
After a while, Circle lit a cigarette and said to me, “Zhao Yang, there are some things you might not want to hear, but if I don’t say them, I feel uncomfortable… You shouldn’t and can’t handle this matter… If you take my advice, go back to Xuzhou, apologize to Xiaoyun, and continue to live your lives. I think it’s not too late for you to turn back now. My intuition tells me that Li Xiaoyun will forgive you.”
I shook my head and said, “You’re not the only one who’s tried to persuade me. I know better than anyone that I can’t handle this. That’s why I came to Xiang Chen. No matter what, I can’t just stand by and watch her fall into the abyss… “
Circle’s tone was filled with anger, “Zhao Yang, can you stop acting like a savior? Last time, you lost a job opportunity for Mi Cai, and this time… for a woman you barely know, you even abandoned your fiancée… How can this be justified?”
My mood plummeted in an instant. I took out a cigarette from the pack and lit it. After calming down for a while, I said, “I’ve weighed whether it’s worth it to do this, considering the high cost… But every time I think of a woman who is full of desire for the entertainment industry, who helped me again and again when I needed it, regardless of her own career, even enduring humiliation without hesitation, I can’t choose to stand by… Because in this world, the only person willing to sacrifice what they dream of to help me, is her… I haven’t met anyone else like that, including you, my closest friends…”
My heartfelt but obviously emotional words left Circle and the others in silence.
Finally, Yan Yan asked me, “Since you both can risk everything for each other, why not be together? I find it hard to understand. Or are you already together?”
I shook my head at everyone who was looking at me and said, “We’re not together, and we’re willing to maintain our friendship… I’ve explained everything I can. Xiang Chen, can you give me a clear answer?”
Xiang Chen looked troubled, then said to me, “I recently set up a tobacco and alcohol counter in Baoli Department Store, which was invested in according to the highest standards. Currently, my available funds are also very tight…”
I nodded and said, “If it’s inconvenient for you, then forget it.”
Xiang Chen apologized to me, “Zhao Yang, it’s not that I don’t want to help you this time, but I really have difficulties…” Then he turned to Jian Wei and asked, “Do you have enough funds? If not…”
Jian Wei was taken aback by Xiang Chen’s sudden question, and after a moment, she shook her head and said, “I can’t come up with that much money either.”
I smiled and said, “After all, the amount is so large, I can understand… Let’s not talk about this anymore, let’s eat. I’m treating today, no one should argue with me.”
Yan Yan apologized to me, “Zhao Yang, I’m sorry, Circle and I can’t help much either!”
“It’s okay.” I said with a smile. I could understand her and Circle even better. I guess Circle’s new car was bought on loan, so it was even less likely for them to come up with one million.
…
Finally, we finished this depressing dinner. I declined Yan Yan and the others’ suggestion to go to KTV. Firstly, I was not in the mood, and secondly, I had arranged to meet Robben and the others at Le Yao’s bar in the evening. I wanted to see the state of the bar during business hours.
After parting with everyone, I took a taxi directly to the commercial street where the bar was located. I stopped at the street and walked the entire street again, finding that the businesses on this street were not doing very well.
However, I searched online for the bars and KTVs currently operating on this commercial street and found that they were all chain businesses. I understood that these powerful entertainment companies were planning to seize the market first. They also had enough funds to sustain such consumption.
If Le Yao had consulted with me again before opening the bar, I would definitely have helped her make a detailed analysis from a business perspective and dissuaded her. But she didn’t even give me a chance to know, which led to the current predicament.
I lit a cigarette in frustration, realizing that there were no ifs in this world. I still had to face reality, help the bar out of its predicament bit by bit, and help Le Yao out of her life’s predicament.
I put out the cigarette in my hand and walked into the bar. This should be the peak consumption period for the bar, but there were not many people inside. Because there were few people, there was no bar atmosphere at all. It was more like a teahouse, which was the so-called vicious cycle in operation. Because there was no consumption base, there was no atmosphere. The lack of atmosphere led to even fewer consumers. The few consumers sitting in the shop might not like the bustling atmosphere of traditional bars and prefer this quiet bar atmosphere. But this unconventional consumption behavior was somewhat ironic to the current operation of the bar.
At this time, CC was holding a guitar and singing on the small stage. Le Yao and Robben were sitting in a corner. Robben was playing with the lighter in his hand, while Le Yao was looking at the wooden screen across from her with a somewhat scattered gaze.
I came to their side, patted Robben on the shoulder, and signaled him to make some room for me. Then I sat down next to him.
Robben handed me a cigarette and asked with concern, “How is it? Any progress with the money?”
Le Yao came back to her senses and looked at me eagerly.
I lit the cigarette, took a deep drag, and said with a sense of loss, “Not yet… But I’ll keep trying.”
Robben patted my shoulder, signaling me not to put too much pressure on myself.
I nodded, but took another deep drag on my cigarette. After Xiang Chen refused me, I basically had no other options, unless… unless I went to Mi Cai. But should I really do that?I was having a hard time making up my mind.
In the midst of my endless frustration, my phone rang again. I picked it up and saw an unfamiliar number.
Confused, I answered, “Hello, who is this?”
A familiar voice that made my heart flutter came from the other end, “I called you before, didn’t you save my number?”
Faced with Jian Wei’s question, I was a bit flustered. About three months ago, Jian Wei did call me for a meeting, but I didn’t save her number.
“I forgot to save it,” I finally replied.
Jian Wei paused for a moment before saying, “Where are you now? I’ll come to you.”
“Is there something wrong?” I asked, full of doubt.
“We’ll talk when we meet.”
I was helpless against Jian Wei’s assertiveness. She never gave others a chance to refuse, but I still accepted her request and said, “Shall we meet at the usual place?”
“The moat?”
“Yes.”
After Jian Wei said a single “okay”, she hung up the phone, leaving me even more puzzled: what on earth did she want to see me for?
———————–
The mass release week has ended, it seems to be the first, I wonder if there will be other books madly voted at the end.
The owed chapters, I will pay back within this week. So there will still be additional updates recently.
Because there were many voters for this mass release week, some people reached the level of alliance leader fans, but they couldn’t make it into the top nine of the fan list. I discussed with others and decided to add a few more book-giving places. As long as they are alliance leader fans on the computer station, they will be given physical books.
In a few days, I will announce the list of readers who have received the books.