Yang Sisi stared at the money on the table for a good ten seconds, then said to Chen Jin and me in astonishment, "Where did all this money come from? Did you two rob a bank?!"
Chen Jin slapped his hand on the two stacks of money, then lit a cigarette and said, "Are you stupid? If the two of us really went to rob a bank, would we only take this little bit? Besides, with our shining noble character, would we really do something as heinous as robbing a bank?!"
"so what?"
"So this money was earned through our wisdom and hard work."
"You guys are really amazing!"
As Yang Sisi spoke, she sat down opposite us. She seemed to be deliberately trying to get me to talk, and said to me with a smile, "Michael, I've never seen so much money in my life. Can I touch it too?... I want to share in your good fortune."
I glanced at her and replied, "Touch it."
Chen Jin, however, hoarded the money for himself and said to Yang Sisi, "I dare not touch it, I dare not touch it, if I touch it our studio's wealth will leak away."
"Look at you, you're the most superstitious person I've ever met!"
"Miss, am I being superstitious, or are you just making fun of us...? You're a well-bred second-generation rich kid from Shanghai, how could you have never seen this much cash before?"
Yang Sisi laughed: "I just want to see how you two can be so smug about being poor. Is it really necessary to withdraw all the money in cash?"
"You can't say that. This is our studio's first income, so it's very significant. I'm withdrawing all of this money in cash as a kind of ceremony, to motivate us to work even harder in the future!"
Yang Sisi glanced at me and deliberately lowered her voice, saying, "This struggle isn't just your responsibility. Look at Michael, he's really dejected right now!"
Chen Jin glanced at me subconsciously because of Yang Sisi's words, and then replied, "Don't underestimate him. He's outwardly tired but inwardly stressed... If we consider the money we earned this time as a kind of achievement, at least 90% of it is his, because he handled all the shop and investment promotion matters by himself. He's really amazing!"
"If that's the case, where does your one-tenth of the credit come from?"
"Go to the bank and withdraw the money, otherwise would you see this huge stack of money on the table!"
Chen Jin laughed loudly, Yang Sisi rolled her eyes at him, and then continued to ramble on and on...
I stopped paying attention to them and, after a habitual moment of absentmindedness, my phone vibrated in my pocket. I took it out and saw a message from Coach Ma: "Are you free later? I've had some new insights these past few days and I'd like to discuss them with you..."
This is the only thing that can pique my interest, so I replied immediately: "When you're free, would you like to come to the ancient city, or should I go to Jizu Mountain?"
"I'm going to the ancient city because I have some things to take care of."
"What business could a monk like you possibly have to attend to?"
“Monks also need to eat, drink, relieve themselves, and sleep. I came down here to raise funds for our temple.”
"Okay, you go ahead and take care of your business. We'll have dinner together later."
Before Coach Ma could reply, Chen Jin, who was chatting with Yang Sisi, suddenly patted me on the shoulder and said, "We can't just make money without enjoying ourselves... Tonight we're going to **... Let's pick the best food and the most expensive drinks!"
I stared at him blankly for a long time before replying, "I have plans tonight, you guys go ahead."
“Even if you had an appointment with the Party Secretary, you have to cancel it for me… How many times in your life can you have such a good day like today? Instead of enjoying the fruits of your labor with your close comrades, you go out to eat with other people. Isn’t that just being disrespectful?”
After saying these words, Chen Jin looked at me with a particularly incomprehensible expression.
I pulled a cigarette out of the pack, lit it, and replied in a remarkably calm tone, "How did you know that the person who invited me to dinner was the Party Secretary?"
"Stop talking nonsense. Would the municipal party secretary invite you to dinner?"
I lied and replied, "When I first came to Dali, I saved a mother and child who fell into Erhai Lake. Today, the city held an awards ceremony to commend good people and good deeds of the year, and I was one of the people who were commended. The ceremony was presided over by the Party Secretary of the city, and there was a banquet afterwards, also hosted by the city. Does that mean the Party Secretary of the city invited me to dinner?"
The lie was quite convincing. Chen Jin was taken aback for a moment, then exclaimed, "Wow, it's really hard to refuse the face of the municipal party secretary!"
"Then take Sisi with you, and invite the other friends too... All expenses tonight will be covered by our studio."
As I spoke, I picked up my backpack from the table, ready to leave before they suspected anything...
Unexpectedly, I had barely gotten up from my seat when Yang Sisi grabbed my backpack strap from behind and said to Chen Jin, "You don't believe him for a second. Who remembers that he saved someone now... He's probably made an appointment with that bald monk, Coach Ma; if you don't want him to end up on Jizu Mountain with you, you'd better come and help..."
Upon hearing Yang Sisi's words, Chen Jin quickly stepped in front of me and looked at me with a disappointed expression.
While he and Yang Sisi were holding me back, they called other friends and then dragged me to Tina's bar, making me face a bunch of ordinary people who didn't know anything about life or suffering... They were quite vulgar, so all they knew was drinking beer and wiggling their butts.
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