When you truly need to refamiliarize yourself with a business, you have to process countless pieces of information. At this stage, Shang Zhitao only required her team to learn. She said during the meeting: “Except for Fang Ke and the operations girls, none of us understand this business. What do we do when we don’t understand? We need to learn. So I’ve asked Fang Ke to help create a learning plan. For the next two weeks, we’ll have closed-door learning at the company. Starting from next Monday, everyone, enjoy your weekend first.”

“Let me share the learning plan,” Fang Ke said.

“Sure. I have one more requirement. Since we currently don’t understand anything, decision-making should be done by those who understand first. That means during this period, everyone follows Fang Ke’s instructions.”

Shang Zhitao was willing to delegate authority. She always remembered Lingmei’s principle: whoever is capable takes the lead.

During her meeting, Luke lay beside her. After the meeting ended, he became her shadow, following her everywhere with his tongue hanging out, looking quite happy.

“Are you happy?” Shang Zhitao asked him.

“Woof!”

“Alright, I understand. You old traitor, you like him that much? Oh right, you two are the same, both old ‘men’ now.” Shang Zhitao tapped Luke’s forehead with her finger. Luke seemed to sense these weren’t nice words and gently bit her fingertip playfully.

“I’ll come see Luke once more before I leave tomorrow,” Luan Nian texted her.

“Okay.”

Shang Zhitao scrolled through their message history. Luan Nian always kept his messages brief; he never liked being wordy. In nearly half a year, they had fewer than fifty exchanges, mostly like: “Sent. Please check.”

He didn’t even say what he had sent.

Shang Zhitao replied: “Okay.”

“How’s your health?”

“Pretty good.”

With this frequency and content of communication, it felt like a playboy communicating with someone in his backup pool.

Shang Zhitao had never asked about Luan Nian’s relationship status. For someone like Luan Nian, how could he not have women around? It seemed that Luke had become the only bond between them. The reason they could still talk and meet so calmly was that Luan Nian loved Luke too much.

But it wasn’t just that.

Shang Zhitao couldn’t explain clearly. She felt that an invisible string had been stretched between her and Luan Nian. Usually, it couldn’t be seen, but she knew the string was there. Yet this string was different from before. Before, she knew the string would break, but this time it had greater elasticity. Neither of them dared to pull too hard, fearing the rebound would hurt themselves.

When Luan Nian came to walk Luke the next day, Shang Zhitao had just gotten out of bed.

She opened the door, let Luan Nian take Luke downstairs, then turned to fix something to eat. She still couldn’t cook, so there were always bread slices and milk in her home.

Tearing off a slice of bread and stuffing it into her mouth, she suddenly remembered the delicious breakfasts she had eaten at Luan Nian’s home, making her current meal seem tasteless. She put down the bread slice and rummaged through the cabinets looking for food, but found nothing.

When Luan Nian returned, he saw her sitting there, staring blankly. He unleashed Luke and asked, “What’s wrong?”

“I’m hungry,” Shang Zhitao said, looking at him. “Have you eaten?”

“No.”

“Want to go out for breakfast? My treat.”

“No need, I don’t like eating out.”

Luan Nian’s taste was still so finicky. There were too few things he liked to eat; he preferred to cook for himself.

He rolled up his shirt sleeves and went to the kitchen, only to discover she didn’t even have eggs at home.

“Is this how you live?” he asked her. He was a bit angry. Her home looked clean and tidy, yet she had no food. If this continued, she could starve to death in this house, and no one would know. It would make the news: “Single Middle-Aged Woman Who Couldn’t Cook Starves to Death at Home.”

“I can go to my mom’s to eat.”

“You could also learn to cook for yourself.”

“I can’t. I tried seriously, but failed.”

Luan Nian looked at her: “So you can’t tell salt from sauce, right?”

“Or you don’t know how to add water when boiling eggs?”

“Or perhaps you don’t even know how to shop at the supermarket?”

“Honestly, I don’t understand why this is so difficult,” Luan Nian couldn’t comprehend. Were the data formulas difficult? She input them manually. Were the project documents hard to write? She wrote dozens or hundreds of pages. How could cooking be so difficult?

“Why should I learn to cook? I can order takeout, I can eat at my mom’s, or I can find a boyfriend who knows how to cook.”

The boyfriend who could cook was something Shang Zhitao said casually, but when Luan Nian’s glance came her way, she sensed coldness.

Luan Nian didn’t like that statement. All of Tan Mian and others’ advice had been wasted. He couldn’t give her a pleasant face when she spoke such nonsense. His mouth twitched as he walked out of the kitchen. He lifted his forearm, using his thumb and index finger to fasten his cuff links. After so many years, he still dressed impeccably, right down to each cuff link, which had to be to his liking.

A man who never settles must be very tired, right?

Shang Zhitao sat watching him fix his shirt and asked, “Leaving?”

Luan Nian didn’t speak, walking toward the door. Luke followed him, wanting to go out too. He stopped, crouched down: “I need to go back to work. You stay and play with your mommy.”

“Sister,” Shang Zhitao corrected him.

“You stay and play with your thirty-something sister.” Luan Nian said this and stood up, walking out.

After just a couple of steps, he heard Shang Zhitao saying to Luke: “Say goodbye to your forty-something brother.”

Luan Nian turned back to look at her. She held her neck up defiantly, her expression showing unwillingness to be defeated in this verbal sparring. Luan Nian’s mouth twitched, almost forming a smile, though with a hint of mockery: “I wish you success in your second entrepreneurial venture.”

“Thank you.”

Shang Zhitao and Luke watched from the window until Luan Nian disappeared, then she casually ate some bread and milk.

By Monday, a courier called her: “You have a cold chain delivery.”

“Huh?” Shang Zhitao was puzzled. She took a taxi home from the company and received a foam box. Opening it, she found it was indeed a cold chain; the ice hadn’t completely melted. Inside were fresh milk and a small box of osmanthus flowers.

Luan Nian’s osmanthus milk was delicious because the dried osmanthus flowers were drizzled with syrup, then dried again and sprinkled on milk. When drinking, there was the sweetness of the syrup and the barely noticeable fragrance of osmanthus, creating an addictive, sweet, and crisp taste.

Shang Zhitao had tried to make it herself but couldn’t get it right. She eagerly boiled the milk, poured it out, sprinkled the osmanthus on top, and took a sip. It was like going back to those mornings many years ago when she woke up at his place and he had prepared breakfast, casually pushing a cup of osmanthus milk toward her.

Her heart softened momentarily.

She took out her phone and added him as a friend.

Luan Nian was in the middle of a boring, lengthy board meeting when he saw a new friend request notification. The request was from Shang Zhitao. He felt as if a part of his heart had been illuminated, and the good mood spread from his heart to the corners of his lips.

He smiled.

He accepted her friend request and clicked on her profile picture to look. It seemed to be a photo of her out playing—a close-up of her face in a snowy landscape, her cheeks bright red, smiling happily. Looking at her moments, they were clean and empty, with nothing posted.

Around 2017, the chat app launched a retrospective feature. Luan Nian casually participated out of boredom. The first item in the retrospective was: Who was your first friend, and are you still in touch? Luan Nian saw Shang Zhitao’s tiny avatar from years ago. He remembered the day they added each other as friends; she seemed to be on a business trip and sent him an invitation.

He asked her: “What?”

“Just download it.”

Luan Nian added her.

That retrospective hit Luan Nian hard. He thought that the first person had disappeared.

I’ve looked for her, I know where she is, I’ve been seeking a good time to appear, but the right moment never came.

Now sitting in the meeting room, he sent Shang Zhitao a “?”.

“Thank you for the osmanthus milk.”

“You’re welcome. Hope you find a boyfriend who can cook soon.” He was speaking out of spite.

Shang Zhitao laughed when she saw this message in the taxi.

The driver asked her: “Something good happen, miss?”

“No. Just met someone quite amusing.”

Shang Zhitao began her intense learning period.

The logic of online advertising was very complex. The core was to thoroughly understand data metrics, and then the methodology would naturally emerge. She required everyone in the company to be able to calculate numbers and remember all industry terms.

CPM, CPC, CPA, CTR… over a hundred abbreviations were presented. Anyone could be randomly asked to explain what any of them meant, and when data was shown, everyone had to know how to calculate it. The girls had no problem; they had always been immersed in the system and backend, working with materials and researching data. The guys, however, complained bitterly. A group of rough men who used to work at venues suddenly had to deal with data metrics, and their brains were fried.

Seeing their worried faces, Shang Zhitao couldn’t help but laugh for a while, thinking: You bunch of little fools.

She suddenly remembered how Luan Nian always said to her:

“Did you bring your brain?”

“Can you use your brain for once?”

“What are you saving your brain for?”

She would never speak to her employees like that. Luan Nian was too harsh with people.

At noon, she went to the company rooftop to eat. Lumi sent her a video: Luan Nian blasting someone in a meeting, with no one daring to speak. Shang Zhitao was instantly transported back to the terror of attending meetings with Luan Nian.

“See? A stubborn mule can only get more stubborn, turning into the most stubborn old mule with a male orientation. But a mule is forever a mule.”

“Aren’t you afraid he’ll find out you said this?”

“I’m not afraid of him.” Lumi sent an image saying, “I’ve never been afraid of anyone.” “I dare say, I’m the second person in the company who dares to provoke him. The first is Tracy.”

“Outside the company, I think only someone named Shang Zhitao dares to provoke him.”

“No way, I don’t dare,” Shang Zhitao immediately admitted defeat.

The rooftop breeze was comfortable, making Shang Zhitao drowsy. With the boost from a cup of osmanthus milk, she felt today had been quite good. Continuing this intense learning, by the weekend, she suddenly wanted to go out for a walk.

So she rented a car and drove toward the outskirts of the city, taking Luke with her.

She checked into a random farmhouse stay and took Luke out for a run. Luke loved countryside outings; the dog and his owner had a great time. Luan Nian called three times before she heard it. She answered and asked him, “What’s up?”

“Where are you?”

“I’m out playing.”

“I came to see Luke.”

“Luke is with me.”

Luan Nian hadn’t expected to take an early flight only to find no one home. He asked her, “Could you give me a heads-up next time you go out?”

“Did you give me advance notice that you were coming to see Luke?”

The next time, Luan Nian gave notice. Shang Zhitao left Luke with him and went out by herself. They didn’t even see each other.

“If you find it inconvenient to go back and forth from the hotel to my place, you can stay in the second bedroom. That way you can spend more time with him,” she said to Luan Nian.

“Aren’t you afraid of neighbors gossiping?”

“What am I afraid of?”

Wasn’t there enough gossip already? A middle-aged single entrepreneurial woman had been labeled in so many ways. Complete stories had been fabricated about her, even describing the appearance of the man who kept her—a fifty-something, balding man with a paunch and a gold watch, looking wealthy, leaving her home in the early morning.

If the neighbors saw Luan Nian, perhaps the rumors would sound better. A man in his thirties, handsome and charming, with an arrogant demeanor and distinguished tone—they might think she was using her old lover’s money to keep a young man.

Luan Nian stayed in the second bedroom.

His suitcase contained everything; he treated Shang Zhitao’s home like a hotel. Her place was fine in every way, except for the lack of food. Luan Nian couldn’t understand why a woman would live like this. He went out to the supermarket and bought many fruits, vegetables, fish, meat, eggs, and seafood, filling the refrigerator.

In the evening, he made meat paste, steaming meat balls for Luke just like in the old days.

Luke never thought he would taste this again in his lifetime. He sat waiting with his tongue out, drool dripping onto the floor. Luan Nian heard the sound, turned around to look at him: “Aren’t you embarrassed?”

“Haven’t you eaten meat before?”

“Look at yourself!”

Luan Nian scolded Luke while grooming him: “The bath card I bought years ago still hasn’t been used up after four extensions. Will I ever have the chance to take you for a bath in this lifetime?”

Luke nudged his head, as if saying: I think so.

When Luan Nian left, Shang Zhitao was still stuck in traffic at the edge of the city. She saw his message: “I’m leaving.”

“Safe travels.”

Returning home, she opened the refrigerator looking for food and saw it filled with fruits, vegetables, and everything else. Opening the freezer, she found seafood, fish, and meat.

There was also a note: “Luke’s meatballs are on the first shelf. Heat three for him each time.”

She called him, heard the boarding announcement in the background, and asked, “Will you come see Luke next week?”

“If time permits.”

“Did you see my neighbors when walking the dog?”

“Yes.”

“What did they say?”

“They asked if I was your boyfriend.”

“Oh.”

Shang Zhitao said “oh,” and after a while, heard Luan Nian say: “I said yes.”

“That’s fine. My reputation isn’t good anyway.” Shang Zhitao hung up after saying this.

The next day, while walking the dog, she saw a neighbor who nodded to her: “Your boyfriend isn’t walking the dog today?”

“Which boyfriend?” Shang Zhitao teased the gossipy neighbor.

“How many do you have? Which one? That young man who looks like a star!”

“Oh, oh, oh!” Shang Zhitao nodded. “He left, went back to work.”

She just laughed it off casually.

During a holiday, she chatted with Shang Zishu. They both felt that the criticism directed at single women was nothing. Some people even labeled you as having an indecent profession, a label you could never wash off.

“How much better could my balding, pot-bellied, gold-watch-wearing uncle be?” Shang Zhitao joked.

====

By July, when Shang Zhitao had everything prepared, the channel manager from Zhang Lei’s company came for an inspection. Zhang Lei came along.

When Sun Yu heard that Zhang Lei was going to Ice City to inspect Shang Zhitao’s company, she also found time to fly over.

Sun Yu’s company was now a KA client of Zhang Lei’s company, with an annual advertising investment of 150 million yuan placed with them.

The group sat in Shang Zhitao’s company office, looking at each other, and suddenly all laughed.

Zhang Lei said to the channel manager: “You don’t know why we’re laughing, right?”

“In the past, we all lived in the same rented house.”

Looking back, that was many, many years ago. They were all young then, pushed along by fate. Thinking about it now, those innocent days were the most worth remembering.

Zhang Lei said to Shang Zhitao: “I think I haven’t seen you for five or six years. But why haven’t you changed? I envy you.”

“I have changed. My mindset.” She smiled. “Let’s have the manufacturer’s boss inspect the business first, then I’ll treat everyone to dinner. Today, I’ll invite everyone to my family’s tavern for a home-cooked meal.”

“Will we be able to see Da Zhai and Old Shang?” Zhang Lei asked.

“Yes.”

“That’s good then.”

Shang Zhitao led the company leaders on the inspection. She had prepared meticulously because she knew they would write an inspection report covering the company’s office space, employee quality, the boss’s financial strength, and network resources. This report would determine Shang Zhitao’s initial track.

She brought the channel manager to the office area and clapped her hands: “Partners, let me introduce the manufacturer’s channel manager.”

The young women and men stood up with sincere smiles, all displaying the company’s characteristics.

“You can ask any professional knowledge questions you like,” Shang Zhitao said to the channel manager.

“Any?”

“Yes, any questions?”

Shang Zhitao had always known that learning was useful. She hadn’t expected that in her thirties, she would be forced onto a completely new track. When we don’t know anything, we must learn. Learning will show you the direction.

She was confident and determined.

The channel manager asked several random questions, including LBS positioning, crowd packages, information flow advertising, and data algorithms. He randomly selected company colleagues to answer. The young people answered concisely and added their insights, not inferior to the manufacturer’s operations managers.

Sun Yu and Zhang Lei sat in Shang Zhitao’s office listening to the commotion outside. Sun Yu smiled and said: “I knew it, she’s always serious.”

“Not being serious wouldn’t be Shang Zhitao.”

“And not giving up wouldn’t be Shang Zhitao either.”

Shang Zhitao took the channel manager to visit the company’s pantry, which was small but complete. She ground a cup of coffee for the channel manager, and they sat inside chatting for a while.

Shang Zhitao said to him: “I think I need to properly introduce myself.”

“I know you used to work at Lingmei.”

“Yes, I was a special contribution employee at Lingmei. My specialty is exploring new businesses and organizing methodologies.”

“I can see that. Some of the data interpretations your employees just mentioned are rarely covered in our internal training.”

“So I want a core track,” Shang Zhitao said. “Trust me, I know we can’t compare with Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, or Shenzhen here, and the internet environment isn’t good. But I can guarantee two things: first, growth rate exceeding the major cities; second, industry methodology, which means benchmark approaches. I know these are what you use for internal promotions too.”

The channel manager had met many agency bosses before. Most were middle-aged, wealthy, and confident, starting with: “I’ll invest money and people, guarantee to do a good job.” But if you asked how to do a good job, the boss would bring someone over and say: tell them how to do a good job.

Shang Zhitao was different. She analyzed the business clearly and even understood their internal promotion mechanisms.

But he said: “You’re an old acquaintance of Manager Zhang. You can get a core track.”

“No.” Shang Zhitao shook her head. “I also guarantee that I will never discuss any work-related matters with Manager Zhang alone. My first partner and reporting person is you.”

Shang Zhitao thought, this is also the workplace, social dynamics, she understood.

“Good.” The channel manager stood up. “Let’s end today’s inspection here. I’ll write a good report. You should also inventory your resources and then tell me which track you want to enter.”

“Alright. I’ll decide next week.”

During dinner at the old tavern that night, the channel manager praised her: “I’ve never seen such a professional agency boss.”

“Then you haven’t seen the cases she did before,” Zhang Lei said. “I wanted to poach her to lead the planning team back then, but she decided to return to Ice City.”

“Stop praising me,” Shang Zhitao covered her face. “I can’t take it!”

The group hadn’t drunk together for several years. Drinking today felt like they had caught up on all those years. When the drinking session ended, they all felt it wasn’t enough. Shang Zhitao invited them: “Want to come sit at my place?”

So the group went to her home.

Sun Yu saw Luke again, and Zhang Lei saw the wall of books. He stood in front, randomly pulled out a book, and saw the reading notes. Suddenly his eyes reddened, and he cursed: “Fuck!”

“You can have this book,” Shang Zhitao said to him. “Books are meant for those destined to have them.”

Zhang Lei wiped his eyes: “I’m quite envious of him. We’ll all get older and older, eventually becoming old folks. Only he will forever be young.”

“Isn’t that the truth?” Shang Zhitao said. She walked to the bookshelf, took out a book with a photo tucked inside—behind them were swirling clouds, the four of them grinning stupidly at the camera.

It was the best year, the best version of themselves on Mount Tai, overlooking the majestic mountains, their shouts penetrating heaven and earth, connecting the past with the present.

Shang Zhitao secretly asked Sun Yu: “Have you let go?”

“I have, and yet it seems I haven’t. What about you?”

I have let go.