Circle was still anxiously waiting for my response. After a fierce struggle in my heart, I finally said to him, “You’re right, I’ll pretend I didn’t hear it.”
Circle asked me seriously again, “Are you sure?”
I nodded, turned around and left the staff lounge. My heart was filled with an indescribable sense of depression. Circle was right, this matter was of great importance, even related to the fate of two shopping malls. The people involved were numerous, and Chen Jingming had told us about it because of trust. If I couldn’t bear it and leaked it to Mi Cai, I would be unfaithful to Chen Jingming. But if I kept it in my heart and watched the lonely, indifferent woman being calculated by her own uncle, I would be aiding and abetting!
I was distracted all day, as if I had been tormented for a long time before it was time to get off work. Looking at the complex neon lights outside the floor-to-ceiling windows, my heart was filled with a sudden struggle.
After staring at the world outside the floor-to-ceiling windows for a long time, I finally picked up my backpack and said to Circle, who was still working, “I’m going to leave work early.”
Circle instinctively responded with a “Hmm”, then suddenly looked up at me and said, “It’s only seven o’clock, are you leaving now?”
“It’s not early, it’s been an hour and a half since work ended.”
Circle nodded and said, “Staying in the office won’t help you think. You can go home first. If you have any good promotional ideas, we can keep in touch at any time.”
I made an OK gesture, didn’t have time to say “see you tomorrow” to Circle, and hurriedly left the oppressive office.
……
Carrying a shoulder bag and smoking a cigarette, I swayed along the street with the crowd, not knowing where to go, but my mood became increasingly heavy.
50 meters ahead, the giant logo of the Zomei Shopping Center was flashing on the top of the building. But who could see the struggle under this light? Who could penetrate this light and see the ugliness of human nature?
I walked mechanically towards the Zomei Shopping Center, then my chaotic thoughts controlled my body and I followed the crowd into the mall.
Actually, I didn’t know why I came to Zomei. Perhaps subconsciously, I wanted to tell Mi Cai about this conspiracy against her and save her from this disaster. But I was held back by another force, so I was lost as if I had lost my mind.
I took the elevator from the first floor to the sixth floor. There were no more floors above the sixth floor, so I had nowhere to go. I found a bench for customers to rest and sat down, looking at the passing customers in a daze.
The elevator door to the Zomei office area suddenly opened, and I saw Mi Cai coming out with a young female assistant. I instinctively didn’t want her to see me, so I stood up from the bench and slipped into the nearest shop.
The receptionist’s “Welcome” rang in my ears. I looked up and was dazzled by the various colors of women’s underwear.
“Sir, are you looking for underwear for your wife?” The receptionist greeted me warmly.
“I…” I swallowed back the words “Do I look like a married man?” and smiled at the receptionist, “Yes, can you recommend something sexy?”
The receptionist immediately showed me a piece and enthusiastically introduced it. I echoed her praises, but my eyes were scanning outside. I didn’t see Mi Cai, maybe she had gone downstairs. I breathed a sigh of relief, then interrupted the still chattering receptionist, “This underwear is good, but it’s too cheap. Didn’t you learn in training to judge customers’ purchasing power based on their clothes?” I lifted my shoulder bag to show the logo to the receptionist, “See, it’s a Rickdas. You’ve never heard of Rickdas, have you? Let me enlighten you, Rickdas is the latest luxury brand created by Reebok, Nike, and Adidas. This bag is their latest limited edition worldwide. In three words, super luxurious! Do you think I would buy underwear from a second-tier brand?”
The receptionist was a bit speechless. I put on my shoulder bag and prepared to leave, but suddenly saw Mi Cai looking at me with a strange look outside the underwear shop.
I braced myself and walked towards Mi Cai, squeezing out a smile and saying, “What a coincidence to meet you here.”
“I work here… But what are you doing in a women’s underwear shop?” Mi Cai asked with a look of disgust.
I avoided the question and exclaimed, “So you work here, are you the building manager of the mall?”
Mi Cai shook her head, her eyes still full of contempt as she asked, “You still haven’t answered my question, what are you doing in the underwear shop?”
I answered impatiently, “Can you stop looking at me like I’m a pervert? I went into the underwear shop to avoid you. I saw you coming down from the elevator just now.”
“You avoiding me, I should be thanking my lucky stars!” Mi Cai said with a skeptical expression.
I sighed and said, “I feel guilty!”
This was the truth. If I chose not to tell Mi Cai about Mi Zhongde’s power conspiracy against her in the end, I would feel a strong sense of guilt and sin.
Mi Cai laughed and said, “You should have felt guilty a long time ago. It’s good to find a place to live and settle down temporarily, isn’t it?”Mi Cai seemed to have misunderstood the true meaning of my guilt, but I couldn’t explain it to her. So, I changed the subject and said, “You haven’t eaten yet, right? Let’s have a meal together, we’ve run into each other anyway.”
Mi Cai glanced at her watch and nodded, “It’s time for a meal. I heard there’s a new rice noodle shop on the first floor. It’s supposed to be good.”
“Are you treating me?”
Mi Cai replied with a smile that wasn’t quite a smile, “Your backpack is all Ruike Dasi, do you really need someone else to treat you to a bowl of rice noodles?”
Me: “……”
……
Although Mi Cai said she wouldn’t treat me, she still lined up with the crowd once we got to the rice noodle shop. At that moment, she, lost in the crowd, seemed like an ordinary girl, without a trace of her CEO demeanor. I felt a wave of inexplicable sadness and struggle. Maybe I really shouldn’t have invited her to dinner, even if it was just for a bowl of rice noodles.
A little while later, Mi Cai sat down across from me with her order ticket. She glanced at my backpack and asked with a smile, “When did Ruike Dasi come out with this? It seems pretty impressive!”
Seeing her smile, I realized: after countless arguments, we had come to see each other as acquaintances. We would tease each other, invite each other to meals, and help each other with small things within our capabilities. As long as it didn’t involve that old house, we were gradually becoming somewhat like friends.