-36- Success
"It really doesn't feel good to be a clown." Zhao Jinghuan understood what Lu Kai meant. The video of him failing a backflip at the graduation ceremony was everywhere, reposted repeatedly by various marketing accounts. Even some bloggers who created "Human Error Compilation" clips included Lu Kai's face-slapping the ground. Plus, the push notification mechanism on video websites is such that once you click on it, you'll be pushed endlessly. The homepages of the major apps on Zhao Jinghuan's phone constantly refreshed with new videos featuring Lu Kai, and presumably Lu Kai himself was the same. Lu Kai forced a smile, saying he was fine, just casually expressing his feelings, but he looked clearly concerned. Zhao Jinghuan felt a pang of heartache, but without thinking, she followed her instinct and touched Lu Kai's head through the open car window. Their eyes met, and Zhao Jinghuan realized she had done something stupid again. Her hand withdrew as if she had received an electric shock, and they both blushed deeply. Zhao Jinghuan was a little embarrassed. "Yeah, I'm sorry... I didn't mean to... I don't know what I was thinking..." Lu Kai shook his head and said, "It's okay, it's okay... I quite like it..." They were both stunned, and Lu Kai hurriedly explained, "No, no, I mean I don't dislike it... No, I mean I'm not unhappy, I'm very happy..." He felt the more he explained, the more confusing it became, so he simply stopped. "Well... well, I'm going home." Zhao Jinghuan nodded and agreed. Lu Kai hurriedly started the car, then suddenly remembered that he should let Zhao Jinghuan go first. "You... you go back first. Go upstairs and tell me, and then I'll go." "Oh... okay." Zhao Jinghuan turned and started walking, but she could feel Lu Kai's eyes fixed on her back, making it difficult for her to walk. Before entering the door, she thought about looking back, but she was afraid to meet Lu Kai's gaze again. So she quickly turned her head, then turned back again. With her mastery of time, she roughly estimated that the whole process took only about 0.1-0.5 seconds. So she didn't see Lu Kai clearly, and her neck was slightly twisted. Going upstairs to the dormitory, Zhao Jinghuan opened the door and entered, her face still red enough to boil a pot of water. Ji Anya squinted at her. "Did you kiss?" Zhao Jinghuan was so anxious that she almost jumped up. "No! What kiss? Kiss what? Don't talk nonsense!" Ji Anya nodded. "Looks like they really did kiss." She was about to go to the bathroom, but Zhao Jinghuan grabbed her and said, "I didn't! How could I kiss him? We're serious colleagues..."
“It’s not a good feeling to be a clown.”
Zhao Jinghuan understood Lu Kai's meaning. The video of him failing a backflip at the graduation ceremony was everywhere, reposted repeatedly by various marketing accounts, and even some bloggers who created "Human Error Compilation" clips included Lu Kai's face-slamming onto the ground. Plus, the push mechanism on video websites was such that once you clicked on it, you'd be bombarded with videos endlessly. The mainstream apps on Zhao Jinghuan's phone would constantly refresh the homepage with new videos featuring Lu Kai, and he figured the same thing would happen to Lu Kai himself.
Lu Kai forced a smile and said that he was fine and was just expressing his feelings casually, but he looked like he was extremely concerned.
Zhao Jinghuan felt distressed, but without thinking much, she followed her subconscious and touched Lu Kai's head through the open car window.
Their eyes met, and Zhao Jinghuan realized she had done something stupid again. Her hand withdrew as if she had received an electric shock, and they both blushed deeply.
Zhao Jinghuan was a little embarrassed: "Yes, I'm sorry... I didn't mean it... I don't know what I was thinking..."
Lu Kai shook his head and said, "It's okay, it's okay... I like it very much..."
Both of them were stunned, and Lu Kai quickly explained: "No, no, I mean I don't dislike it... No, I mean I'm not unhappy, I'm very happy..."
He felt that the more he explained, the more confusing it became, so he simply stopped talking: "Um...um, I'm going back."
Zhao Jinghuan nodded and said yes. Lu Kai hurriedly started the car, but suddenly remembered that he should let Zhao Jinghuan go first.
"You...you go back first. Tell me when you get upstairs, and then I'll leave."
"Oh... okay." Zhao Jinghuan turned around and walked back, but she felt Lu Kai's eyes were always on her back, making it difficult for her to walk. Before entering the door, she wanted to look back, but was afraid of looking at Lu Kai again, so she turned her head quickly, and turned back quickly. With her grasp of the speed of time, she roughly estimated that the whole process took only about 0.1-0.5 seconds.
So she didn't see Lu Kai clearly and her neck was slightly twisted.
After going upstairs to the dormitory, Zhao Jinghuan opened the door and entered the room, but her face was still red enough to boil a pot of water.
Ji Anya squinted her eyes and looked at her: "Kiss?"
Zhao Jinghuan was so anxious that she almost jumped up: "No! What kiss? Kiss what?! Don't talk nonsense!"
Ji Anya nodded: "Looks like they really did kiss." As she was about to go to the bathroom, Zhao Jinghuan grabbed her and said, "I didn't! How could I have kissed him? We are serious colleagues. If you don't believe me, go ask Lu Kai."
Ji Anya said, "Okay," and then went to get her phone. Zhao Jinghuan was startled: "What are you doing!"
"Didn't you ask me to ask Lu Kai if you two kissed?"
Zhao Jinghuan hurriedly snatched the phone from her hand: "You really ask! I said no, then no. He and Sister Zou's affairs are still unclear, why would I kiss him?"
"So if there's no Sister Zou, we'll kiss?"
"You're deceiving me again. That's not the case."
Ji Anya shrugged, saying she'd been paying extra attention these past few days and that Sister Zou probably hadn't spoken to Lu Kai. Zhao Jinghuan glared at her, "You were the one who said there was something going on between them in the first place."
"I only heard your story back then and never met them in person. During those few days at HEC, I observed them carefully and they were just ordinary colleagues. There was absolutely no romantic connection between them."
Zhao Jinghuan shook her head and said that Sister Zou had admitted it that day. Ji Anya was too lazy to argue with her: "Whatever. Anyway, you should kiss her, or he can kiss her."
She took her phone back from Zhao Jinghuan and went to the bathroom. After closing the door, Ji Anya's voice rang out from inside: "You're almost 25, and you're acting like you're in a premature relationship. I don't know what you're so shy about."
Zhao Jinghuan outside the bathroom shouted, "I can hear you!"
Ji Anya in the bathroom also raised her voice:
"Nonsense, I'm just telling you what to say!"
…………
Lu Kai's problem had not been resolved yet. The next day at work, Dorasi suddenly called again, scaring Zhao Jinghuan who was slacking off at her workstation.
When Zhao Jinghuan was working in Waikiki, she and Dorasi exchanged phone numbers. At that time, she just thought that they were not only colleagues but also friends, and it was a bit strange not to have each other's numbers. But she never thought that Dorasi, who always kept to himself, would actually call her.
Zhao Jinghuan hid in the bathroom and answered the phone, asking Dorasi what was wrong. Dorasi sounded like he hadn't thought of how to start the conversation, he mumbled for a long time, and the few words he managed to say were a bit confusing. In the end, he asked Zhao Jinghuan in a roundabout way about how he was doing in the new company.
Zhao Jinghuan could tell something was wrong with her, so he slowed down his speech and said as if to comfort a child, "Dora, it's okay. You can tell me anything. We are from the planet Doraemon."
Dorasi on the other side of the phone suddenly choked up. She took a few deep breaths and opened her mouth with a sobbing tone:
"Sister, I'm a little sad."
Dorasi on the phone started crying while talking, and in the end she couldn't explain clearly what she was sad about. Zhao Jinghuan had no choice but to ask her to meet at Wanda after get off work for a simple meal.
Dora Xi arrived earlier than Zhao Jinghuan, and stood at the entrance of the mall with her exclamation mark on her face. Many passers-by mistook her for a mall staff member. Within ten minutes, six or seven groups of people came to ask for directions. When Zhao Jinghuan arrived, she was even asked to help carry a wheelchair, and she was sweating all over.
Zhao Jinghuan was a little annoyed, wondering how someone could bear to let the short little girl, Dorasi, do manual labor. She wiped Dorasi's hands with a wet towel and then led her to the restaurant on the third floor of the mall. Zhao Jinghuan, who had just received a 4,500 yuan salary, was very generous. After they sat down in the restaurant, she pushed her phone, which had scanned the code, to Dorasi and told her to order whatever she wanted. Dorasi, however, was clearly not interested.
On the way here, Zhao Jinghuan thought about how Zou had asked Lu Kai about placing an additional order for Little Freckles last night at the food stall, but Lu Kai had given a vague answer. Zhao Jinghuan guessed that Dorasi had come to her about this. However, after ordering, she asked Dorasi what was wrong, but Dorasi said:
"Freckles sold very well, but it had nothing to do with me... I just felt like she wasn't my child anymore, not my Freckles anymore."
Dorasi's words were vague, but Zhao Jinghuan quickly grasped her meaning. Sales of Little Freckles had skyrocketed, and as the designer, she should have been the happiest person. However, the reason for the reversal in sales wasn't the exceptional Little Freckles' designs, but rather a farcical coincidence. She couldn't help but doubt herself.
Zhao Jinghuan felt a little emotional for a moment. Waikiki finally had his day and was out of danger, but Dorasi and Lu Kai didn't seem as happy as he had expected.
People always say that success is success, regardless of the process or path. But Dorasi and Lu Kai clearly don't think so.
The food arrived quickly. Zhao Jinghuan comforted Dorasi, saying, "Don't overthink it. The success of any product is inseparable from marketing. Little Freckles' design is great; she just hasn't been lacking a catalyst. Lu Kai's backflip is the trigger we've been waiting for."
Dorasi nodded blankly, but judging from her expression, she didn't seem to believe it.
Dorasi and Zhao Jinghuan were not very talkative to begin with, so the meal went on in silence. But after leaving the restaurant, Dorasi's mood was noticeably better, as if she just needed some company.
As the two of them were walking downstairs, Zhao Jinghuan suddenly thought that he could take her to see the people queuing up to buy Little Freckles. Perhaps this would make her happier, so he took Dorasi to Cool Fun on the first floor.
However, when they arrived at the store, they found that the queue had disappeared and only a few customers were coming in. Dorasi was a little confused and asked Zhao Jinghuan why he brought her here.
Zhao Jinghuan blushed, and then she thought quickly and pulled the clerk over to ask her how the sales of the Little Freckles series of blind boxes have been in recent days.
The clerk nodded and said that it was selling very well, and there was a very long line during the holidays. Zhao Jinghuan quickly took the opportunity to ask Dorasi: "So everyone likes this blind box, right?"
The clerk nodded and said yes, everyone must like it very much, otherwise they wouldn't have lined up to buy it. Only then did Zhao Jinghuan contentedly "let" the clerk go. After the clerk left, she turned back to comfort Dorasi, saying that not everyone can handle the sudden influx of traffic. The design of Freckles is good enough and everyone likes it. Otherwise, even if Lu Kai did ten somersaults, it would be useless.
Dorasi was easily influenced, so when Zhao Jinghuan said that, she nodded heavily, as if to shake off all the entanglements in her heart.
However, after visiting Cool Toys that day, Zhao Jinghuan suddenly felt a little uneasy. When she led Dorasi out of the toy store, she couldn't help but look back at the shelf with the freckles.
No one stopped there.
"It seems like it's slowing down." Zhao Jinghuan thought.
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