-57- News
Wanfeng picked up the contract on the ground and tore it up calmly and slowly. Lu Kai, who was standing by, didn't even dare to stop him. "Please tell Boss Chen again." Wanfeng threw the torn contract into the trash can, pursed his lips, trying to hide the sadness on his face. He nodded to Lu Kai and turned to leave the studio. The three people in the room stayed in silence for a long time. Finally, Tomato, who had been silent the whole time, spoke up: "So... I want you to give birth to a child for me, but you don't agree. Wanfeng doesn't want to give birth, but you insist on giving it to him." Lu Kai glanced at Tomato and said nothing. ………… Zhao Jinghuan, who resigned from Mr. Hu Zi, finally returned to Waikiki, but the atmosphere in the studio had changed a little. After the conflict that day, Wanfeng never came to work. A few days later, Dorasi came by the studio and, upon discovering Zhao Jinghuan's return, jumped for joy. Unaware of Lu Kai and Wanfeng's conflict, she beamed and asked when they'd meet for dinner: "Young girl returning home, the darkest night is over. We meet again before the fires that summon the dawn. It's worth a barbecue!" Given Lu Kai and Wanfeng's current state, a dinner was out of the question. Zhao Jinghuan didn't want to worry Dorasi, so she just said the studio had been busy lately and asked her to go back and wait for news. Zhao Jinghuan hadn't lied about her busy schedule. Little Freckles' sales were soaring, and with them, the number of contracts and other miscellaneous matters to deal with increased. Add to that the constant influx of partners, and Zhao Jinghuan had enough work to do, and even hiring three or four more employees wasn't a luxury. Although the timing wasn't ideal, she had mentioned hiring more people to Lu Kai a few days ago. Lu Kai readily agreed, even taking on the task of writing the recruitment letter after understanding Zhao Jinghuan's needs. But the matter quickly fizzled out. Zhao Jinghuan could understand this. Before repairing his relationship with Wanfeng, Lu Kai would probably remain in this absent-minded state. The collaboration with Wanda quickly entered its preparation phase, and Zhao Jinghuan was so busy she felt like dying. In the end, it was Tomato, who was always unreliable, who noticed Zhao Jinghuan's predicament and dragged Lu Kai to help. The two of them took over some of the work, and Zhao Jinghuan finally had a chance to breathe. At least she finally had the energy to ask Lu Kai, "Do you want to apologize to Wanfeng?" Lu Kai said, "I sent him a WeChat message yesterday, but he didn't reply. He must still be angry." Tomato said slyly, "I understand. Buy him a bunch of roses, go to his door, and yell, 'If you don't forgive me, I'll...'"
Wan Feng picked up the contract from the ground and tore it up slowly and calmly. Lu Kai, who was standing by, didn't even dare to stop him.
"Please tell Boss Chen again." Wan Feng threw the torn contract into the trash can, pursed his lips to hide the sadness on his face, nodded to Lu Kai, turned around and left the studio.
The three people in the room stayed silent for a long time. Finally, Tomato, who had been silent the whole time, spoke up: "So... I wanted you to give birth to a baby for me, but you disagreed. Wanfeng didn't want to give birth, but you insisted on giving birth to him."
Lu Kai glanced at Tomato and said nothing.
…………
Zhao Jinghuan, who resigned from Mr. Hu Zi, finally returned to Waikiki, but the atmosphere in the studio had changed a little.
After the conflict that day, Wanfeng never came to work. A few days later, Dorasi came to the studio and was so happy to see Zhao Jinghuan back that she jumped up and down. She didn't know about the conflict between Lu Kai and Wanfeng, and she smiled and asked when they would have dinner together.
"Girl returning to her homeland, the darkest night has passed. We meet again before the fire that summons the dawn. It's worth having a barbecue!"
Given Lu Kai and Wan Feng's current state, there was no need to think about having a dinner together. Zhao Jinghuan didn't want to make Dorasi worry, so she could only say that the studio was a bit busy recently and asked her to go back and wait for news.
Zhao Jinghuan actually did not lie about being very busy at work. The sales of Little Freckles had been rising, and accordingly, there were more and more contracts and miscellaneous matters to deal with. In addition, there were partners coming to the door every now and then. For Zhao Jinghuan's work, it would not be a luxury even if he hired three or four more employees to work together.
Although the timing was not right, she still mentioned the matter of recruiting more people to Lu Kai again in the past few days. Lu Kai agreed readily and even took on the task of writing the recruitment letter after asking about Zhao Jinghuan's needs. However, the matter soon came to nothing.
Zhao Jinghuan could understand this. Before repairing his relationship with Wanfeng, Lu Kai would probably always be in this absent-minded state.
The collaboration with Wanda soon entered the preparation stage. Zhao Jinghuan was so busy that he wanted to die. In the end, it was Tomato, who was always unreliable, who noticed Zhao Jinghuan's predicament and pulled Lu Kai to help Zhao Jinghuan.
The two of them took over some of the work, and Zhao Jinghuan finally had a chance to breathe. At least she finally had the energy to ask Lu Kai: "Do you want to apologize to Wanfeng?"
Lu Kai said, "I sent him a WeChat message yesterday, but he didn't reply. He must still be angry."
Tomato said in a mean way, "I know what you're talking about. Buy a bunch of roses, go to his door, and yell, 'If you don't forgive me, I'm going to jump off the ground.' I've seen movies play that way."
Lu Kai glared at him and poked him hard in the heart: "Is this how you apologized to Sister Zou? How did it work?"
Zhao Jinghuan quickly separated the two and said that although Fanqie was just stirring up trouble, one thing he said made some sense. If Wanfeng didn't reply to your message, you might as well go to his house to find him.
"After all, you are such good friends. Even if you are angry, you will feel better after meeting each other."
Lu Kai was still a little hesitant about going to their house, but the next morning, he suddenly received a call from home, and then left the company with a serious face, without even saying hello to Zhao Jinghuan or Fanqie.
After he left, only Zhao Jinghuan and Fanqie were left in the studio. They were busy with work in the morning and didn't think anything of it. But during lunch break, they felt a little awkward as they ate their takeouts.
They weren't close enough to be comfortable with each other in silence, neither were they strangers enough to ignore each other and say nothing. They were already at a moderate level of familiarity, just enough to chat a few words, but Tomato had ordered a bowl of noodles for lunch, and he had slurped them loudly.
At the end of the slurping, both of them felt that they had to say a few words, so Zhao Jinghuan asked Fanqie if he had ordered beef noodles for lunch. After asking, she seemed even more embarrassed, and Fanqie asked her:
"Do you think Lu Kai will finally give my Dragon Palace Girl a box?"
Zhao Jinghuan replied, "I guess so." But it sounded a bit perfunctory.
Tomato added, "Actually, I kind of understand Wanfeng. Art-related industries can be just as brutal as sports. Have you heard the story of Jeff Pendergraph?"
"who?"
Tomato said, "A basketball player. An American player."
Zhao Jinghuan shook her head: "Is he famous?"
Tomato said: "It's just the opposite. Not many people know him. Or perhaps, many people who know him only know him because he's not famous."
Tomato explained: "He's a bench player on an NBA team, the very end of the bench. Although he's a member of the team, he hardly ever plays. There's a term called 'water cooler player', which means players like him have no sense of existence and can only stay at the water cooler."
Tomato said, "But in one game, his team was outscoring their opponent by over 30 points in the first three quarters. At that time, a team would only score over 100 points per game, and a lead of over 30 points was almost impossible to recover. So, at the beginning of the fourth quarter, the coach subbed out all the starting players and gave Pendergraph a chance at the end of the bench. He probably wouldn't play more than a dozen minutes in an entire season, but on that day, he could have played the entire quarter."
Tomato said, "But he made all sorts of stupid mistakes right from the start. He couldn't attack or defend, and the opponent quickly overtook him. The 30-point lead was quickly recaptured, forcing the head coach to bring back the starting lineup. They still won the game. But when he finally left the court, that Pendergrave guy, a muscular, tattooed, over two meters tall man with a beard, walked off the court with tears streaming down his face."
Zhao Jinghuan put down his chopsticks unconsciously.
Tomato said, "He played awfully, like an amateur, but the fact that he made it to the NBA actually meant that at that moment, he was a top 500 player on the planet. Top 500! Just imagine, if you were a top 500 doctor, how much respect would you receive? You're a top 500 professor, teacher, police officer, nurse, or even a top 500 thief... but only in sports."
Tomato said: "You are already one of the 500 best players in the world, but you are still too fucking bad. The only time you are remembered by the world is when you are beaten by your opponent and cry because of your own weakness."
Zhao Jinghuan frowned.
Tomato sighed. "It's the same with trendy toys. Labubu makes billions a year, and there are brands like Molly, Ono, and Dimoo. It sounds like they have a ton of IPs, but in reality, the entire market combined has no more than 20, maybe 25 profitable brands at most. So it's pretty much the same. If you're the 26th-ranked original designer in this industry, you're basically delivering food."
Zhao Jinghuan was stunned. Tomato then remembered that she used to be a rider. "Ah, that's not what I meant." Zhao Jinghuan waved her hand and said it was okay. Tomato then said, "I'm saying this because I'm actually a little scared. I might be that 26th place too."
………
Tomato's story eased the awkwardness between them, but it also made Zhao Jinghuan worry that Tomato might one day find herself in the same situation as Evening Breeze. But honestly, she couldn't care less about Tomato right now. The troubles that had already erupted were enough to give her a headache, and she simply didn't have the energy to deal with the potential problems that hadn't yet occurred...
After working hard all afternoon, Zhao Jinghuan returned to the dormitory at night. Lying on the bed, she sent a message to Lu Fa, asking him where he had been during the day and whether he had gone to apologize to Wan Feng.
The screen displayed "The other party is typing" for a while, but no message came. Zhao Jinghuan waited for a while, without even washing her face, and actually fell asleep in a daze. She struggled to wake up in the middle of the night when Ji Anya came home from work.
Lu Kai still hadn't replied when he turned on his phone. Ji Anya, who had returned from the room, cursed and complained about another stupid customer. Zhao Jinghuan suddenly thought of something and sat up, asking if she wanted to work in Waikiki. He could bring her into the industry.
Ji Anya rolled her eyes at her: "2500 salary?"
Zhao Jinghuan blushed and said that the studio was now rich and her salary had increased. If she came here, her starting salary would not be so low.
As they chatted, they squeezed into the bathroom to wash up. Ji Anya complained to Zhao Jinghuan: "What time did you come back? Why haven't you washed your face yet?"
"I fell asleep as soon as I entered the room. I was so tired."
"You're so tired, yet you still want me to work for you? Don't you have any job that doesn't require any work, just counting the money?"
Zhao Jinghuan was chatting and joking with Ji Anya, so she didn't see Lu Kai's message at first.
The phone thrown on the bed stopped at the chat interface between the two of them, and the message he sent was only a few words.
"Myocarditis broke out and Wanfeng passed away."
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