-83- Romance
Tomato sat on a desolate mound in the backyard, scratching and scrabbling at the ground with a scavenged branch. He had made a thorough plan to escape from the company and flee to a place where no one could find him—a cat cafe called "Your Cat's Yard." According to the owner, a man had also gone into seclusion there six months earlier, remaining unseen for months. This emboldened Tomato, and he decided to live there with the cats for the rest of his life. As for his friends, or rather...his former friends, they would resent him from afar. At least that way, he wouldn't have to face their wrath directly. Tomato shed a few tears of sorrow. Until that moment, he couldn't believe he had actually recorded that video. He tried to convince himself that he had recorded the video while intoxicated, under the influence of alcohol, and that the words weren't his, but the alcohol's. The Second Red Silk Winery was to blame, not him. But Lu Kai, Zou Jie, and even Zhao Jinghuan wouldn't accept such an explanation. But it didn't matter. He had already decided never to see Lu Kai and the others again. He called Lu Kai that morning to say goodbye. Lu Kai was still as impatient as ever, but over an hour later, he was calling him like crazy again, figuring his boss had already sent the video. Tomato gritted his teeth and said to the ringing phone, "I gave you a chance to scold me earlier, but that window has passed. You can't blame me." As if in response, the ringing stopped. However, Tomato was silent for only a few seconds before it rang again. This time, the screen displayed not Lu Kai's name, but "The Most Evil Female Monster in the Universe." It was Sister Zou who was calling. Tomato jumped up instinctively, nearly twisting his ankle on the bump of dirt under his feet. He yelled into the phone, "I didn't see you calling! No one called me!" He kept yelling, but finally, he gritted his teeth and answered the phone. "What...what are you doing? You're not from Waikiki anymore. This has nothing to do with you!" Sister Zou on the other end of the line tutted, and Tomato immediately reacted with a jolt of anger, "Do you think I want to say that? I signed a ten-year contract with them. What can I do? If I don't record that video, Dragon Palace Elementary School will be frozen out for ten years! Ten years, ten years! I'm already 27, and in ten years I'll be 37. I'm so fat! At 37, I might be dead!" Tomato yelled, "So in the final analysis, it's all Lu Kai's fault. If he doesn't plan to disband the studio...
Tomato sat on a desolate pile of dirt in the backyard, poking and scratching at the ground with a scavenged branch. He had made a thorough plan to escape from the company and flee to a place where no one could find him—a cat cafe called "Your Cat's Yard." According to the owner, a man had also gone into seclusion there six months ago, and no one had found him for months.
This gave Tomato confidence, and he decided to live here with the cat for the rest of his life.
As for his friends, or rather... his former friends, let them hate him from afar. At least this way, he wouldn't have to face their anger directly.
Tomato shed a few tears sadly. Until this moment, he couldn't believe that he actually recorded that video.
He tried to convince himself that he recorded the video while drunk and that he was under the influence of alcohol, so those words were not said by him but by the alcohol, and that the one who should be held responsible was not him but the Second Red Silk Winery.
But Lu Kai, Sister Zou, and even Zhao Jinghuan probably cannot accept such an explanation.
But it didn't matter anymore. He had already decided not to meet Lu Kai and the others again in this life. He called Lu Kai to say goodbye in the morning, and Lu Kai was still impatient. But more than an hour later, he was calling him like crazy again, thinking that his boss had already sent the video.
Tomato gritted his teeth and said to the ringing phone, "I gave you a chance to scold me just now, but now that window of opportunity has passed. You can't blame me."
As if responding to his words, the phone stopped ringing. However, Tomato was silent for only a few seconds before the phone rang again. This time, the screen displayed not Lu Kai's name, but "The First Evil Female Monster in the Universe."
It was Sister Zou who answered the phone.
Tomato jumped up subconsciously and almost sprained his ankle because of the bump on the ground under his feet.
He yelled into the phone, "I didn't see you calling! No one's calling me!"
He kept shouting and yelling, but finally he gritted his teeth and answered the phone.
"What...what are you doing? You're not from Waikiki anymore. This has nothing to do with you!"
Sister Zou on the other end of the line uttered a "tsk!", and Tomato immediately reacted with a jolt of anxiety, "Do you think I want to say that? I signed a ten-year contract with them. What can I do? If I don't record that video, the Dragon Palace students will be frozen out for ten years! Ten years, ten years! I'm already 27, and in ten years I'll be 37, and I'm so fat! At 37, I might be dead!"
Tomato yelled, "So in the end, it's all Lu Kai's fault. If he hadn't been planning to disband the studio, I wouldn't have gone out looking for a job. If I hadn't been looking for a job, I wouldn't have met this bad boss. If I hadn't met this bad boss, I wouldn't have signed that crappy contract. If I hadn't signed that crappy contract, I wouldn't have recorded that video! So it's all Lu Kai's fault, not mine."
He suddenly felt a little guilty at this point and added, "I was drinking at the time, so I blame it on the alcohol as well."
Sister Zou said, "Those words you said certainly don't sound like something you would say when you're sober... Where are you now? Come back and let's discuss what to do if Hu Mingyuan accuses you of defamation."
Tomato was stunned for a moment: "Why did Hu Mingyuan accuse me of slander? Shouldn't he be happy that I scolded Lu Kai? He and Lu Kai have reconciled?"
Sister Zou on the other end of the phone was silent for a moment before asking him, "Don't you remember what you said in the video?"
Tomato said, "Ah? I remember, I scolded Lu Kai right when I got here..."
Sister Zou said, "And then?"
"Then?" Tomato frowned, his mind blank. "Then...didn't I keep scolding him?"
Sister Zou was a little speechless. She said, "Just take a look at your video first," and hung up the phone.
Tomato was a little dazed. He didn't want to recall what happened at that time, so he never watched the recorded video again.
"Didn't I just curse at Lu Kai? Did I say anything else?" Tomato frowned and found his new company's Weibo account. He mentally prepared himself for a moment before clicking on a video titled "The Belated Truth: Some Clarifications, Some Revelations."
The video opened, and his large face filled the entire screen. Tomato muttered, "Drinking really makes your face look bigger." Then, the person in the video spoke:
"Lu Kai, the Lu Kai from Waikiki, the Lu Kai who does backflips, is a complete bastard..."
You see, isn’t this just scolding Lu Kai?
"You're giving up your good studio and insisting on dating a young girl. Oh, don't talk about that, didn't you tell me to? Just listen to me first, don't interrupt! Where was I? Yes, Hu Mingyuan, you know Hu Mingyuan, the designer and boss of Mr. Hu Zi! He used to have a girlfriend named Zhao Jinghuan. Let's call her Little A.
"Hu Mingyuan is rich, and his parents are both professors. He's using his power to control his girlfriend, yes, Zhao Jinghuan, by not letting her be a designer or make trendy toys. What's this "Xiao A"? Who is Xiao A? There's no such thing as Xiao A here. He's controlling Zhao Jinghuan. What's that word? DNA! No, right, right, you're right... it's PUA!"
"Xiao Zhao went to work as a delivery boy to get rid of him! Huh? Why didn't she find a proper job? How should I know? Yeah, you're right, she was being PUAed, told she couldn't do anything but deliver food!"
"Then, while delivering food, Xiao Zhao met our boss, Lu Kai. Lu Kai saw at first glance that Xiao Zhao had talent and could make trendy toys."
"Huh? What do you mean by how to tell? I can tell! What do you care? Lu Kai saw that Xiao A has swirls on his head. Haven't you heard of it? You can tell his fate by how many swirls there are. One Dou means poverty, two Dou means wealth, three means Dian Wei, four means Guan Yu, five means Ma Chao, six means Zhang Fei, seven means Kong Ming, eight means Liu Bei, and self-help means 135, one."
"What was I saying? Stop interrupting! Yeah, Lu Kai saw Xiao Zhao had talent, so he let her join, and then... then Xiao Zhao and Hu Mingyuan broke up, and Hu Mingyuan refused to accept it. He threatened Xiao Zhao, saying, 'If you don't get back together with me, I won't let Waikiki attend HEC.' Xiao Zhao refused, but she didn't want to drag us down, so in the end... in the end, we both compromised, and Xiao Zhao went to work for Mr. Hu Zi, so Waikiki could attend HEC."
"If you don't believe me, go ask Mr. Huzi's employees. Didn't Xiao Zhao work there for several months? Those were the months before and after HEC. And then? Didn't Lu Kai become famous for his backflip? So we weren't afraid of Hu Mingyuan anymore. Oh, there were a lot of ups and downs in between, but Xiao Zhao eventually came back to work."
"Why did I scold Lu Kai? I was scolding him! I...why did I scold him? Yes, yes, he hit Hu Mingyuan! Just talking about this makes me angry. The studio was fine, but he insisted on dating Zhao Jinghuan, and then it was ruined. Hu Mingyuan targeted us. We were holding a joint event with Wanda, and he came to pick a fight! You can't hit people just to pick a fight. Hu Mingyuan is so mean, he had people prepare in advance and record the video there!"
"Yes, they found someone to record the video in advance and edited it. Otherwise, how could the recording be so accurate? The person he found hid himself and held up his phone, and then he came over to provoke me. What did he say? I wasn't there, so how would I know? Lu Kai didn't tell me, but he must have said some very nasty things. Xiao Zhao was the first to hit Hu Mingyuan, so he must have said some dirty words. She was a weak girl, and she rushed up to hit Hu Mingyuan. She must have been very angry. And then guess what, Hu Mingyuan..."
Tomato in the video slapped his thigh and said, "Hu Mingyuan fought back!" "Yeah, that's why Lu Kai fought back. If it were you, you would fight back too, right? The girl you like is being beaten by another man, wouldn't you fight back? I'm not lying, they went to the police station later, and the whole process is recorded!"
"Yes, he was right to hit me, but once he hit me, our studio went bankrupt. My Dragon Palace Elementary School students were about to be fired! But I killed them with just one punch. How can I not be angry..."
The video is only halfway through, but the rest of the video is him holding the printed three-view drawing and introducing his trendy toys in a daze.
Tomato squatted on the mound of dirt and watched the video. Then he vaguely remembered that after recording the video that day, Mr. Wu seemed to have said something good, which was also a way.
"No wonder Mr. Wu has been giving me random nicknames lately, sometimes 'The Expert in Clearing Wrongs', sometimes 'The Fat Matchmaker of Justice'. It turns out he's trying to come up with a new online persona for me..."
He didn't know what to say for a moment. Thinking carefully, although he was talking nonsense most of the time... it seemed that he didn't fabricate any key events. If he said more, it could only be regarded as a fiction, not a rumor.
"Not enough...right?"
He sighed: "What kind of wine am I drinking? Shi Naian wine..."
No, Romance of the Three Kingdoms was written by Luo Guanzhong.
At this time, Sister Zou called again and asked him if he had finished watching the video.
Tomato said: "Well... I've finished reading it..."
“Come to Waikiki.”
Tomato said, "Okay."
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