But Song Yunhui discovered that even though no one at the scene treated him like a respected elder, he still had a great time. He seemed to have never let go of everything, and played so openly before. Thus, he became even more eager for group activities than Liang Sishen. When they finished eating, admired the osmanthus flowers, and everyone got in their cars to go home, Song Yunhui couldn’t help but ask Liu Jun and Shen Huadong what other activities they had planned. This greatly surprised both Liu and Shen.

What surprised Liu Jun even more was Jiali’s attitude. After they finished eating crabs and then barbecuing, Jiali said this was fighting poison with poison. After a day of playing, her face was flushed red, rarely showing such a quiet smile all over her face. When Liu Jun drove her home, Jiali almost jumped out of the car door and jumped upstairs. Therefore, Liu Jun didn’t hesitate to call Qian Hongming and reproach him for only caring about work and not his family.

“Jiali loves to play and has a lot of fun doing it. Why don’t you usually bring Jiali when you go out to play? From now on, when you ask me to come out and play, bring Jiali too.”

“The places we usually play aren’t suitable for Jiali. Jiali likes tranquility.”

“Are you sure? Why do I see a fire burning in Jiali’s heart?”

“Liu Jun, I know Jiali better than you do. Can you imagine Jiali drinking competitively with friends at a bar? She won’t even go out to watch movies, preferring to watch DVDs at home. But I knew she would like this activity, which is why I actively encouraged her to participate. You see, who’s right?”

Liu Jun thought about it and agreed. “What exactly have you been busy with lately? Not only can’t I see you, but you’ve even thrown your wife at me to take care of.”

Qian Hongming laughed, “You guys, your vocabulary has become increasingly rough since returning to the country. She’s my wife—don’t keep saying ‘old woman, old woman,’ it’s vulgar. When I’m done with this busy period, I’ll come back and have a good chat with you. I’ve been intensively studying WTO knowledge lately and will pass it on to you later. It looks like I need to start paying attention to imports.”

Liu Jun glanced sideways at Cui Bingbing beside him and asked vaguely, “Is it the imported model from when you helped me last year?”

“There are improvements, progress, and enhancements, haha.”

Liu Jun knew nothing about import-export trade. He hung up the phone in confusion and asked Cui Bingbing beside him, “Do you have any WTO study arrangements?”

“Yes, but very general. I collected some materials. If you need them, I’ll make copies for you tomorrow. There’s a question I want to ask you—my classmate said Aunt Li went home, saying you’re very improper, frivolous, and dissolute, scolding your father for amusing her family. What’s going on? The secret I taught you didn’t include this kind of effect.”

Liu Jun pointed to where the tooth marks had appeared, and Cui Bingbing immediately understood. “Couldn’t you cover it up? You’re not catching her eye is one thing, but you and your father lacking sincerity while teasing her is another. Don’t say it’s her—anyone would be angry. You need to consider how to clean up this mess.”

“Too lazy to pretend. She can go to whoever she wants. We’ve reached your home—is this how today ends? Let me treat you to Sichuan cuisine. I had boiled fish the day before yesterday—amazing! I want to share it with you.”

“Why do you want to share Sichuan cuisine with me?”

“In my opinion, most girls like to eat atmosphere, but you should be different. Let’s go together, come on. I’ll go home and change into clean clothes, then pick you up in an hour. OK?”

Cui Bingbing agreed with some skepticism. An hour later, she saw Liu Jun in casual but all designer clothing—this person dared to wear a sun-yellow T-shirt and khaki canvas pants. She also received a small bunch of white rose ball flowers and a bottle of perfume. Cui Bingbing became suspicious and asked directly, “What do you want to do? Bribe a financial system state official?”

“It’s the weekend, relax a bit.”

“Oh, I understand now. You want to be flirtatious on weekends, but unfortunately, the suitable person just had a falling out, so you can only pass the flowers to a buddy?”

Liu Jun just smiled without speaking. Only after the car slid out of the residential complex did he say, “I don’t know when I’ll be able to cultivate to Mr. Song’s level. I’d love to spend a month doing nothing but following behind Mr. Song, carrying his bag, secretly learning.”

“So that was your true feeling. When you said similar things at noon, I thought you were thick-skinned, flattering so loudly in public. Be more subtle.”

“I’m a self-employed person—what’s there to be subtle about? If I like something, I like it; if I don’t like it, I don’t like it. I say it directly. I’m not like you, financial system state officials.”

“You’re supposedly also a returned overseas Chinese, overseas scholar, high-level intellectual, PhD from Germany, wow…”

“Let me ask you a question—how did you get into the bank? I heard such state units are very hard to enter, especially lucrative units like banks, and your credit position is especially what everyone breaks their heads trying to get into, but can’t.”

“Parents lead you through the door, cultivation depends on yourself. A doctor, especially a famous cardiovascular specialist, knows all wealthy patients, and wealthy patients can’t leave good doctors for the rest of their lives. Why ask this? You can’t laugh at me.”

“Why would I laugh at you? I also relied on my father’s foundation to develop smoothly domestically. Otherwise, I could only work for others at the beginning. The starting line is too important.”

Cui Bingbing didn’t understand why Liu Jun suddenly asked her an unrelated question. She asked Liu Jun to turn down a small street, but she was too embarrassed to say what she was doing. She had recently been craving butter-fried steaks, causing her waist to expand rapidly, forcing her to take several pairs of pants to a familiar tailor shop to widen the waistbands, and incidentally had two silk nightgowns custom-made there. But she encountered the person she least wanted to see at this moment—her classmate, Director Li’s daughter Shafei, because this tailor shop was originally their sisterhood’s hangout. Liu Jun was quite considerate—seeing Cui Bingbing’s bag was quite large, he jumped out of the car to do the heavy lifting. So he was seen by Shafei, who insisted on being a third wheel for the two of them. Cui Bingbing was dying of anxiety, but Liu Jun didn’t mind. It was the weekend, and he had nothing to do anyway—adding one more girl to dinner meant more fun.

The group got in the car, and the elegant flower ball and perfume immediately caught the eye. Shafei demanded that Cui Bingbing confess honestly. Liu Jun said from the front, “Nothing’s going on. I’m just bribing a financial system state official to cheat some small change.”

Shafei said, “Speaking so nakedly is what’s problematic.”

Cui Bingbing quickly said, “Well, Dongdong, let me introduce you—Shafei, my classmate. Her mother, Aunt Li, also likes me the most.”

Liu Jun immediately figured it out and temporarily pretended to be Dongdong (Shen Huadong), not daring to provoke someone like Shafei. When his phone rang later, he immediately used the excuse of an urgent company situation, pulled the two women to the restaurant, and slipped away first. Only then did Cui Bingbing breathe a sigh of relief.

Unexpectedly, Shafei secretly noted down Liu Jun’s license plate number and pestered her mother to check the car owner. Upon investigation, the car owner was indeed that Liu Jun, and the registration photo copy showed that this person calling himself Dongdong was none other than Liu Jun. After the mother and daughter deduced everything, they immediately figured out the cause and effect. This shameless Cui Bingbing had intercepted Liu Jun ahead of them, then created false impressions to anger them away. So it wasn’t the Liu father and son teasing Director Li—the real culprit was Cui Bingbing. Director Li also suspected that the tooth marks on Liu Jun’s arm came from Cui Bingbing’s mouth.

Since the problem was clarified, Director Li directly gave Cui Bingbing’s parents an ultimatum. With no choice, Cui Bingbing could only call Liu Jun with a bitter smile.

“Liu Jun, I’m saying goodbye to you. Are you free tonight? I’ll treat you to drinks.”

“Unfortunately, I’m on a business trip, back to my alma mater. I bought a return ticket for Thursday. I’ll find you on Thursday. What’s going on—goodbye?”

“Hehe, I did something bad. I said I was helping my classmate with a blind date, but… hehe, my classmate doesn’t have a boyfriend she likes. She and her mother are now very satisfied with you and very angry with me. I just wanted to tell you this—anyway, you have a chance. Don’t look for me on Thursday. I’m already packing up and rolling away.”

“Uh, you… Don’t give up your job. I can explain the situation to Director Li. I do have a girlfriend, really do have lifestyle problems, and it has nothing to do with you.”

“Thank you for your kindness, but no need. Director Li knows my personality better than my parents. I did steal someone’s love, hmph, what a coincidence—right after I made my birthday wish, you jumped out. Heaven’s will. I don’t blame anyone. Anyway, with my skills, I can make a living anywhere. I’m going to Shanghai. Joint-stock banks everywhere are recruiting now, and I’m in high demand.”

“Don’t be rash. This side is a city branch, a state enterprise, stable, and you’ve already established a solid foundation and gained a foothold.”

“No problem. Only when you’re unambitious after graduation do you mix in state enterprises. Now I just feel constrained. I happened to want to jump out and see the outside world, really understand market-oriented approaches. I’m very happy you said that. What are you going to your alma mater for? Research connections?”

“Also doing bad things. I’m applying for high-tech enterprise certification and want to ask my alma mater professors for help—engineering academicians. Will you be gone by Thursday?”

“Hehe, looks like Pandora’s box is officially open. Liu Jun, let me ask irresponsibly before leaving—do you like me?”

“I like you, but I don’t love you. So your rolling away is quite wrongful. Let me talk to Director Li. It’s all my responsibility anyway—I’ve already offended her once.”

“Pfft, what kind of person do you think I am? Can’t I survive without relying on ICBC? I’m just annoyed that ICBC’s loan system ties my hands and feet. When I get settled in Shanghai, I’ll call you. Remember to find me for dinner when you’re on business in Shanghai.”

“Please give me Director Li’s phone number. I’ll talk to her. Don’t make it so you can’t come back home later. I heard the Li family has quite a lot of influence.”

“Don’t make trouble for yourself. My classmate is very proud—she might not look for you anymore. You should also avoid bad luck. Unless you want to be a son-in-law riding a dragon, then I suggest you hurry.”

Liu Jun felt very guilty. Cui Bingbing packing up and rolling away was partly related to him, but Cui Bingbing was very carefree. She said it was rare for a person to have the experience of acting foolishly once—the feeling was more intoxicating than drugs. Having this once in a lifetime was also a gain, and she didn’t regret it at all. Everything looked forward. Liu Jun had previously been just so-so about Cui Bingbing, but now he looked at her with new eyes. However, Cui Bingbing no longer needed it.