I lit a cigarette, weighing the importance of the matter at hand. In fact, I hoped that Chen Jingming and Circle could work at Zhuomei because they were both very capable and could potentially become a great help to Mi Cai in the future. After all, Mi Cai’s foundation at Zhuomei was still unstable, and she needed to cultivate her own power.

Finally, I said to Circle, “I’ll talk to her later.”

“How sure are you?”

I shook my head and said, “It’s hard to say…”

“Do your best. You know, there are only two large department stores in Suzhou, Zhuomei and Baoli. If I can’t work at Zhuomei, I might have to leave Suzhou. I really don’t want to leave unless it’s absolutely necessary, because it’s not fair to Yan Yan… Sigh! I have no other choice, otherwise I wouldn’t have asked you and put you in a difficult position.”

I patted Circle’s shoulder to comfort him, “We’re brothers, don’t make it sound like it’s a big deal. Don’t worry! I will definitely talk to Mi Cai clearly, and strive to give you a better development after you go to Zhuomei. After all, your qualifications and Chen Jingming’s are here, I believe it’s a good thing for Mi Cai.”

Circle nodded and said, “Hmm, I won’t thank you then.”

I smiled, then remembered a key issue. I said to Circle, “By the way, if I go to Mi Cai through me, it will be impossible to hide the last incident from Chen Jingming. You help me explain to him someday, I’m too embarrassed to face him.”

“The explanation is not urgent. If we can get the job at Zhuomei, he will accept the explanation then. If we can’t, there’s no need to say it. Let’s just keep this matter to ourselves.”

I had to admit that Circle was very thorough in his thinking. For example, if I went to explain to Chen Jingming before I got the job, he would probably find it hard to let go. If I got the job, it would be a psychological compensation for him after I made up for my mistake.

…

I left the small restaurant with mixed feelings. When I got home, I was about to call Mi Cai to discuss the matter preliminarily, but I saw her shoes on the shoe rack and heard the sound of water from the bathroom. She had actually come back from Shanghai tonight!

I sat on the sofa waiting. After a while, she came out of the bathroom after washing up, came to me and asked, “Where did you go just now?”

“I was invited out by a friend to discuss something… Why did you come back from Shanghai? Weren’t you supposed to be with Wei Ran?”

Mi Cai’s expression suddenly became complicated, and after a while, she asked me, “Zhao Yang, are we good friends?”

I was a bit surprised why Mi Cai would suddenly ask this, but I still nodded and said, “Of course!”

“Then I’ll tell you…”

I was even more surprised, and after a long time, I asked, “What do you want to tell me?”

Mi Cai fell silent again, as if it was hard to speak. This made me feel a bit anxious, so I urged, “Just say it…”

Mi Cai finally plucked up the courage to say to me, “…Wei Ran confessed to me today…”

My emotions suddenly surged, as if I saw the scene of Xiang Chen confessing to Jian Wei at Yan Yan and Circle’s wedding again, and a sharp pain that I couldn’t block suddenly arose in my heart.

After a long time, I forced a smile and said to Mi Cai, “I think you also have a good impression of him, so this should be a good thing, right?”

“Do you really think so?” Mi Cai looked at me and asked.

I suddenly wanted to smoke, but I couldn’t light a cigarette in front of Mi Cai, because it would reveal my true emotions. If Mi Cai really accepted Wei Ran’s confession, I would be sad for a long time!

Seeing that I didn’t speak, Mi Cai sighed as if talking to herself, “Sigh! Why do long-term friendships with the opposite sex always go sour in the end?…”

In fact, Mi Cai’s sigh was a bit biased. At least my friendship with CC has never gone sour over the years.

Mi Cai sat down next to me and suddenly asked, “Zhao Yang, will you do the same as Wei Ran if we spend more time together in the future?”

“Uh… You don’t like what Wei Ran did?” I finally didn’t panic and changed the subject.

“I don’t know…”

Mi Cai’s somewhat confused answer finally gave me a chance to breathe. I quickly played the role of a relationship expert and asked, “Haven’t you ever liked a man in all these years?”

Her expression darkened again, and after a long time, she said, “I don’t think so. Since my father passed away, I seem to have lost interest in everything.”

At this moment, I finally understood why her temperament was so cold. Perhaps before Mi Zhongxin passed away, she was just like a normal girl, she would laugh, she would act coquettishly…

After a long silence, I asked indirectly, “Is it because Wei Ran’s confession wasn’t creative enough to move you?”

Mi Cai shook her head and said, “He recorded many moments we spent together with a DV. Today, he booked a cinema, filled the entire cinema with flowers and balloons, and then played those moments in a screening room with only the two of us… I was very moved…”

“So melodramatic!” I muttered.

“What did you say?”

“So touching!” I quickly corrected myself.

Mi Cai nodded, as if she was still reminiscing about the scene of Wei Ran confessing to her.

“Then, did you accept?” I asked nervously.

Mi Cai looked at me again, and after a long time, she said softly, “Then… I ran back to Suzhou.”The image of Mi Cai fleeing from the cinema suddenly surfaced in my mind, but this didn’t necessarily mean she didn’t like Wei Ran. At least she didn’t reject him, it was just that her attention had never been on love, so Wei Ran’s sudden confession didn’t give her enough mental preparation.

After another period of silence, I asked with lingering confusion, “You returned to Suzhou, why didn’t you stay there, but instead came to me?”

“I’m a bit confused, can I find someone to talk to?”

“Why didn’t you go to CC?”

Mi Cai’s expression instantly turned displeased. She picked up her handbag from the coffee table and said to me, “Since you’re so unwilling to talk to me, I’ll go find CC. I don’t care to talk to you anymore!”

In fact, I didn’t mean to be unwilling to communicate with Mi Cai. I just felt that it would make more sense for Mi Cai to talk to CC about this kind of thing, after all, they were both women.

I grabbed Mi Cai who was about to leave, frowned and said, “What a bad habit, running outside whenever something is said wrong. Do you know you’re acting like a princess?”

Mi Cai broke free from me and angrily said, “Why are you always so harsh on me? And yet so… nice to me?… How do you expect me to react to you?”

I was suddenly stunned. I never knew what kind of person I was in Mi Cai’s eyes. It turned out that I made her so indecisive… But this was not intentional. Being harsh or nice to her seemed to be just a primitive instinct, just like my liking for her, without much reason, just an instinct.

In my speechlessness, I skipped the so-called topic of Wei Ran and Mi Cai’s confession, and put on a serious expression, “Don’t rush to quarrel with me, I have something important to tell you.”

Mi Cai looked at me, waiting for the serious matter I was about to say.

Finally, I collected my emotions, thinking about how to tell Mi Cai about Circle and Chen Jingming’s intention to jump ship to Zhuomei.