The next afternoon was the monthly meeting attended by all the team leaders of Ping’an Xile. Chen An never missed these meetings, so he had to drive nearly two hours back to the provincial capital again.
Actually, yesterday evening when his return flight landed at the provincial capital airport, there was no need for him to make the extra trip to Taixi. But given that he was extremely concerned about the cinema’s work progress, he preferred to travel back and forth tirelessly between both places.
At the meeting, each of the key personnel took turns reporting on the investment projects they had handled this month and the projects they were interested in pursuing. Chen An put on his glasses, staring at the slides in the distance, his slender fingers tapping lightly on the table one tap at a time.
This was the boss’s habitual thinking gesture. However, the boss had been pondering for a long time without saying a word, indicating that none of these proposals were impressive enough. One of them was even the corneal contact lens project that the boss had previously paid special attention to, yet for some reason, it also failed to spark the boss’s interest.
No one could tell that Chen An’s mind was wandering far away.
Cheng Lele said she would be with him until things got better. But Chen An believed the cinema wouldn’t get better, so Cheng Lele’s promise meant she would be with him forever and ever.
She wouldn’t leave again, and she would earn money to support him. This sounded as if he were some not-very-useful kept man. Though he was still young, he had started making his way in the world much earlier than others. Over these years, he had been working under high pressure almost every day from dawn to dusk, barely resting at all. He thought that stopping to be a kept man for a bit would be beneficial for his physical and mental health—he wasn’t opposed to the idea.
Cheng Lele could even sell her house for him at any time. Although she hadn’t lived in that house for seven years and it didn’t hold much weight in her heart, given Chinese people’s innate attachment to houses, this gesture of hers was still sincere and precious.
Speaking of houses, when he went back last night, the weeds in the yard were still half-leg high, a swath of green and yellow, and he hadn’t heard any sounds of anyone coming home all night.
These past few days, where had Cheng Lele been staying? Would she be living with Zhong Ming? Probably not—Cheng Lele was dispatched to work in Taixi, and what would Zhong Ming, a psychology student, be doing back in Taixi? He recalled running into Zhong Ming calling her on the first day they met—they probably hadn’t broken up yet, so they were now in a long-distance relationship.
After that earth-shattering conversation seven years ago, Zhong Ming had taken Cheng Lele away like a victor. After that, the two of them went to Beijing together, inseparable. After that, he had secretly followed a bunch of Cheng Lele’s friends and classmates, and then late one night, he saw a group photo of the three of them on Chen Xiaomu’s Weibo. None of the three liked social media and didn’t update frequently, but Chen Xiaomu used Weibo like Instagram, and every so often she would post photos of her going to Beijing to hang out with the two of them. Only once did Chen Xiaomu include text: They’re wearing matching outfits today!!! Feel like I’m the third wheel!!! Goodbye Beijing!!!
Those nine exclamation marks had pierced nine holes in him.
Chen Xiaomu, who dreamed of Chen An paying her one day, naturally didn’t know that for these seven years, she had been playing such a cruel and tyrannical role.
Now, Chen An could recall these things relatively calmly, including thinking about this person Zhong Ming.
He was now Cheng Lele’s superior. As a superior, it wasn’t appropriate to know too much about a subordinate’s romantic situation. When they broke up and she needed time off, she could just come to him to approve her leave.
Toward evening, Chen An received a call from a Taixi landline number. He generally wouldn’t answer during meetings, but he recognized it—this was the cinema’s number.
He thought about it—perhaps Manager Cheng had something important to discuss.
It was all work, and he couldn’t show favoritism, so he told everyone to take a break for a moment. Taking his phone, he went into the office, preparing to listen carefully.
It turned out to be that kid from last night’s shift, Tao Yu.
“Boss Chen, the welcome party for the manager is set for tonight at Taida KTV.”
“…”
Chen An accused him angrily and urgently: “Didn’t you say you’d notify me in advance?”
Tao Yu sounded aggrieved again: “Manager Cheng said there’s no day like today, so it’s tonight at nine-thirty. By then everyone will be off work. Boss Chen, this counts as advance notice, doesn’t it? It’s not even seven o’clock yet.”
Chen An was exasperated. Grabbing his car keys, he walked out. Passing by the conference room, he hurriedly said to the people inside: “I have an urgent matter and need to leave first. Send the content of today’s meeting to my email. I’ll reply to each of you separately tomorrow.”
Tang Xin had never seen the boss this urgent before. She quickly stood up and followed him out, catching up to him at the elevator and pressing the down button for him: “Boss, what happened? Do you need my help?”
Chen An looked at his watch: “I’m going back to Taixi to participate in a team-building event.”
Tang Xin: “…”
The boss’s thinking was different from normal people, too jumpy—she could never become the parasite in the boss’s belly that understood his every thought.