When I proposed to go to the toy store to buy a 100,000 RPM motor, Mi Cai looked at me with some incomprehension and asked, “Is it really necessary to do this?”

“Do you think I’m being childish for competing with a kid?”

Mi Cai was silent for a while before she replied, “It’s not childishness. On the contrary, I think this behavior is a disguise after despairing of life.”

Mi Cai’s words stunned me, and I couldn’t help but recall when I had become so boring. To this day, I still remember that after breaking up with Jian Wei, I suffered from insomnia on the brink of collapse, and then used the money I won from the lottery to buy this remote control race car online. In the days that followed, I kept buying other toys. Looking back, I was desperate then. Perhaps Mi Cai was right, all the childishness and boredom were just to cover up the despair.

Feeling a sting in my heart, I subconsciously lit a cigarette for myself, took a deep puff, and then asked Mi Cai, “Why do you think so?”

After a long silence, Mi Cai answered me with a gloomy look, “Because I have experienced that kind of despair, so I learned to play the guitar and entertain myself.”

At this moment, not only did I hear my own wounds cracking, but I also seemed to hear the sound of Mi Cai’s wounds bursting. Our despair was different. My despair stemmed from breaking up with Jian Wei, while her despair stemmed from the death of Mi Zhongxin. Both were heart-wrenching. So we lived in our self-created holes, soothing our wounds in different ways…

Finally, I said to Mi Cai, “So, you will accompany me in my boredom and childishness tonight, right?”

Mi Cai gave a wistful smile and said, “Let’s go, let’s buy the 100,000 RPM motor. I wish you a victorious start tomorrow.”

…

After buying all the materials needed for the modification at the toy store, Mi Cai and I returned to the old house, and I immediately started the complex modification work.

In order to win big tomorrow, I reduced the weight of the car, removed the bumper, improved the battery slot, and replaced the tires with smoother ones…

As I busied myself, the sky gradually darkened. At some point, Mi Cai had made two bowls of noodles and brought them over, saying to me who was fully engrossed in the modification work, “Eat something first, and continue later.”

I finally looked up at her, smiled and said, “You’re doing a good job with the logistics. If I win against the chubby kid tomorrow, I’ll credit you and share a big chicken leg with you.”

“Don’t be too careless. If the chubby kid also modifies his car and installs a high-speed motor, you still won’t be able to win!”

I scoffed, “Don’t joke around. Not everyone knows how to modify, and his car doesn’t show any signs of modification. So, conclusion: the chubby kid doesn’t know how to modify cars.”

Mi Cai smiled and said, “Alright, then I’ll continue to have full confidence in you.”

I nodded and took the noodles from Mi Cai. We sat cross-legged on the floor and started eating. At this moment, we were like two ignorant children, living a simple but interesting life. The worldly struggles were far away from us at this moment. But I knew that this carefree moment wouldn’t last forever. After this night, we would still fall into the whirlpool of survival and struggle painfully.

During the meal, Mi Cai suddenly said to me, “Zhao Yang, can you give me a remote control race car?”

“What kind do you want? But I have to declare that I can’t afford the expensive ones.”

Mi Cai thought for a moment and said, “They sell them online, right? Let’s look online.”

I nodded, got up and turned on the computer. Then Mi Cai and I sat at the computer desk, eating and browsing online.

I was only willing to give Mi Cai a car worth about 300 yuan, but she had her eyes on a fuel-powered four-wheel drive race car, which was priced at more than 4,000 yuan. This was far beyond what I could afford, so I tried to persuade her, “You’re a beginner, this kind of fuel-powered race car is hard to control. Why don’t you buy a simpler one to practice first?”

Mi Cai shook her head and said, “I like to conquer challenging things.”

“Then you buy it yourself… you’re so rich!”

“But I want you to give it to me.”

“Don’t force me, I really don’t have the money…”

Mi Cai then looked disappointed and said to me, “If you don’t want to, forget it.”

“That’s not the right way to put it. It’s not that I don’t want to, it’s that I can’t afford it!”

Seeing my embarrassment, Mi Cai laughed and said to me, “Why are you taking it so seriously? I was just joking with you.” After thinking for a while, she changed the subject and said to me, “What do you think about the feasibility of combining traditional department store physical sales with online sales?”

“Did our online shopping just now inspire this idea?”

Mi Cai nodded and said, “I want to hear your opinion.”

“It’s difficult, because there are too many things to integrate. After all, there’s a huge difference between physical sales and online sales platforms. Moreover, online sales have been monopolized by a few e-commerce giants. Without substantial funds and human resources, it’s impossible to compete with them…”

Mi Cai nodded again, but didn’t say anything else. After all, what I could think of, she could definitely think of too. But her idea made me realize: the current chaos in Zhuomei’s business planning, to a certain extent, reflects the high degree of inconsistency between Mi Cai and Mi Zhongde’s business consciousness. Mi Cai’s interest in online sales platforms further proves that she is eager to break free from Mi Zhongde’s control. Perhaps she will soon confront Mi Zhongde.

…

By the time I finished modifying the car, the night had deepened, and Mi Cai had already fallen asleep on my bed. I gently covered her with a blanket, then sat by the bed and looked at the race car that I had painstakingly modified.

Looking at it, I couldn’t help but laugh. Perhaps Mi Cai would never know that the reason I was competing with a chubby kid was not because I was still a child at heart, but because with the agreement with the chubby kid, I could legitimately spend another day with her tomorrow.

You should know that recently, I’ve always been troubled about finding a suitable reason to ask her out. But many of the reasons I came up with made me seem to have ulterior motives towards her. I was afraid that she would sense this ulterior motive and keep her distance from me.Now it’s perfect! With this reason, I can finally take her out to play and have fun without any guilt…

I sat back at my computer desk, opened the webpage, and once again looked at the oil-powered race car that Mi Cai wanted me to give her. Then I took out my wallet from my pocket, counted the money, and found that I had less than 3000 yuan left.

Of course, I wouldn’t use the bar’s funds to buy her a race car, but I really wanted to give her this car. So, I comforted myself, there must be other ways.

Thinking of her surprise when she received the race car, I smiled from the bottom of my heart. Is this what they call “your happiness is my happiness” in a secret crush?