Chapter 109: It’s not too late to quit now
In front of him was an ordinary residential community with a non-existent access control system. Zhu Yingning entered the community very smoothly and found the building where Zhu Zhiwei was very smoothly.
The elevator went up one floor at a time and took her to Zhu Zhiwei's door. She raised her hand to press the doorbell, but she didn't hear any sound from inside. She guessed that the doorbell was broken, so she knocked on the door instead.
Knock knock knock.
The sound of knuckles knocking on the door was slow and powerful.
After about two minutes, the door was finally pushed open from the inside, like a coffin in a tomb suddenly being opened by the zombie lying inside.
The first thing that hit her was the smell of alcohol. Not the naturally mellow aroma of a bottled bottle, but rather the dull, astringent aroma of alcohol fermented through human organs and nurtured by body heat. It reminded her of her days in the mountains, when the village men would collectively smelt of alcohol during New Year and other festivals at the ancestral hall.
Zhu Zhiwei's face appeared next. She was still wearing the same makeup as when they parted that night, and even her clothes hadn't changed. The only difference was the tiredness on her face, which had accumulated over the past few days and nights, forming a thick layer on her face. Although it was transparent, it looked even stickier than powder.
“…Ningning?”
Fortunately, the person was not drunk and could still recognize others.
**
Seeing Zhu Yingning, Zhu Zhiwei looked a little embarrassed. He was not ready to let her in to observe the chaos in the room. He was also a little afraid that she would talk to him about Huang Yuliang and analyze her weakness and incompetence in an enlightening way. Therefore, his movements and expression seemed hesitant.
Zhu Yingning seemed oblivious to the subtle change in the air and nodded, saying, "It's me."
Then, ignoring the fact that the host had not invited him yet, he walked into the house and first glanced around nearby - the coffee table was piled with takeout boxes and instant noodle buckets that had not been thrown away, the blanket on the sofa was messy, and there were a few beer bottles scattered in the gap between the sofa and the coffee table. Of course, some of them had been kicked over, and the malt-colored liquor had spread out on the floor, leaving wet marks that seemed to have dried up but were not really dry.
Zhu Zhiwei followed behind her, her status reversed, like a child who had done something wrong, and said in a timid tone: "It's a bit messy..." She asked anxiously, "It's so late, what are you doing here?" Her words implied that she wanted to drive her away.
Unfortunately, these tricks were useless to Zhu Yingning.
She didn't immediately answer what she was doing there. Instead, she took off her shoes, walked forward, and first cleaned up the food boxes on the coffee table that were about to be infested with fruit flies, put them all into garbage bags, and then picked up the beer bottles that were either standing upright or lying on the ground one by one.
Zhu Zhiwei felt a little embarrassed watching from the side. She wanted to go forward to help, but she felt weak all over. Her brain was dizzy from consuming too much alcohol. She took a few steps and sat down on the sofa, putting her hand on her forehead to calm down.
After Zhu Yingning had finished cleaning up everything, even going into the kitchen to get a bowl of egg drop soup and placing it on the coffee table, she raised her heavy head and whispered to herself, "I'm sorry... I let you see me in this awful state again."
Zhu Yingning sat cross-legged on the ground, shook her head and said, "Don't say sorry today."
"...Yes." She smiled bitterly, her words tinged with self-pity, "I'm sorry, it's boring to hear too much."
At this point, the conversation briefly hit a bottleneck and the atmosphere became stagnant.
Zhu Zhiwei didn't have the energy to break the silence. Finally, it was Zhu Yingning who spoke first. She was so calm, as if she was just here to chat with her. She put her hands on the coffee table, looked up at her, and said, "Sister Weiwei, the main reason I came here today is to ask you, what are your plans for the future?"
Zhu Zhiwei was stunned. She didn't expect her to ask this question.
She hadn't had the energy to think about this question before, but after being asked this question, her brain started to work slowly.
With such a mess, the store is definitely closed. Huang Yuliang's wife declared that if she dared to open it, she would come back and smash it again. The rent was due at the end of the year, so they had no choice but to sublease it and find another way out later. However, after this incident, subletting would be difficult, and word would surely spread throughout the mall. Clothes are time-sensitive, and if they can't sell in the short term, they'll be stuck with the changing seasons. The next few months will definitely be tough.
The more Zhu Zhiwei thought about it, the more confused she became. She felt her entire life was bleak. Just as she was about to organize her words and say something to brush Zhu Yingning off, she heard Zhu Yingning say, "Continue to open the clothing store."
"...What?" She was stunned for a moment, then smiled helplessly and bitterly, "Don't talk nonsense, Ningning, the current situation is simply..."
"Sister Weiwei, you told me before that online trading platforms like Taobao have been booming in recent years," Zhu Yingning interrupted. "You said you wanted to try to expand into the online market, but you're too busy offline. You're worried that a hasty transition wouldn't balance the two. But, look, isn't this a heaven-sent opportunity?"
She smiled and said, "You won't have to worry about anything in the next few months. You can focus on trying to transition online."
Indeed, offline stores are temporarily out of business. While relocation is possible, finding such a prime location quickly is difficult. Renting a random spot would be just as risky as transitioning online. While both involve risk, it's better to take a gamble and ride the wave of the times. Innovation always offers a better future than conservatism.
The booming e-commerce in recent years has actually created a latent sense of crisis in Zhu Zhiwei's heart. She has a vague premonition that the business of physical stores will become increasingly difficult as the Internet grows and develops.
However, "no worries" was an exaggerated statement. The real situation was so dire that she was surprised by Zhu Yingning's optimism and insight, but also worried about the shadow left by Huang Yuliang. She subconsciously denied it first: "No way, even if I open an online store, Huang Yuliang's wife can still give me bad reviews. She has many ways to mess with me. Wherever I go, she will follow me..."
"It's okay." She still had that indifferent expression, and her tone was not very rhythmic, but she was inexplicably convincing. "She's here, we'll find a way to solve it."
She didn't say anything insightful and refreshing, nor did she tell you not to set difficult problems for yourself, nor did she blame her for her weakness. She simply said that if a problem arises, we will find a way to solve it.
What an ordinary sentence, so ordinary that it could even be called boring, but the anxiety and fear in Zhu Zhiwei's heart were actually soothed by her, as if all the problems in the world could be dealt with by the sentence "when soldiers come, soldiers will block them; when water comes, earth will cover it", and all the branches and vines could finally be condensed into the simplicity of the great way.
Before she could fully recover, she heard Zhu Yingning say in a firm tone, "As long as you don't give up your shop, I will definitely help you."
**
After leaving Zhu Zhiwei's house, he took the subway back to Xu Sirui's house.
On the way, Zhu Yingning wanted to take out her textbook to review some English words, but unfortunately she encountered the evening rush hour and couldn't even raise her hands, let alone memorize the words.
She narrowly avoided being squeezed like a crowd on the subway. She was worried about her homework and the Model United Nations competition, so she ran as soon as she got off the subway and rushed home. She didn't even eat and first lay down on the desk to study.
She hurriedly finished her homework, then craned her neck to look up. It was eleven and three minutes past midnight. She hesitated for a moment between going to Xu Sirui's room to find him or taking a shower first, and finally, strangely, chose to shower first.
When everything was packed and she came to his door and knocked, there was no sound from inside. She was unwilling to give up and looked down at the crack of his door. It was dark inside and there was no light on.
Is he really asleep?
Zhu Yingning was almost going crazy, but her conscience would not allow her to cruelly wake someone up after they had gone to sleep, so she could only sigh and leave.
Behind the door, Xu Sirui heard her footsteps gradually fading away, breathed a sigh of relief, and continued to play with his phone secretly under the quilt.
He hadn't experienced this kind of thrilling feeling since he was ten years old. He didn't expect that he would have to pretend to sleep like a thief even though he was in high school.
After playing for a while, the light in the living room outside did not go out as he expected. On the contrary, there was a rustling sound outside. It could be heard that she was trying her best to control the noise and did not want to wake up him and Xu Zhengkang who were already "asleep".
What is she doing?
The answer to this question was soon revealed, because some sounds cannot be covered up, such as the sound of a gas stove being lit.
He suddenly remembered that she had not eaten since she returned home.
Sometimes, people's softness is unreasonable.
If you are soft-hearted once, you will lose everything.
He stood up and opened the door.
**
In the refrigerator were noodles purchased by the hourly worker. They had not been cooked last time, so there was a double portion left. Zhu Yingning divided the noodles into two halves, took one of them, and found an egg, intending to make some egg and soy sauce noodle soup to satisfy her stomach.
Turning around, Xu Sirui was leaning against the dining table.
She was stunned for a few seconds before she asked blankly, "...So you didn't sleep?"
He uttered a vague "hmm" and lied without changing his expression: "I just took a short nap, but now I can't sleep anymore."
After telling the lie, he even critically commented on the food in her hand, "You're just going to eat this kind of unnutritious food?"
"Eggs are very nutritious." She defended the reputation of eggs.
Xu Sirui scoffed, took out his phone, and started fiddling with it: "Save it, I'll get you something to eat."
She had to admit that for a second, Zhu Yingning did mistakenly think Xu Sirui was going to cook something nutritious for her. After all, his words were too easily misunderstood, and his actions were ambiguous. He lowered his head and fiddled with his phone as if he was looking up a recipe. She was almost moved to say, "Oh my God, this is too much trouble for you." But before she could say anything, she saw him raise the phone to his ear and said, "Yes, 1601, just like before, send over the A meal."
“…”
Well, it turns out it was takeout.
**
After ordering takeout, Xu Sirui put down his phone and looked at Zhu Yingning, who was still standing stupidly at the kitchen door with egg noodles in her hand. He raised his chin and asked, "What? Didn't you say you wanted to discuss the competition?"
"Oh, right!" She came to her senses, put the eggs and noodles back in the refrigerator, went back to the kitchen to turn off the gas stove, and became energetic again, "Let's go to your room."
When she handed the registration form to Hong Qingyang before school ended today, Hong Qingyang gave her a website and told her that the subsequent country assignments, background information and competition rules would be posted on the website, and asked her to log in to the website as soon as possible to familiarize herself with the competition topics.
There was only a computer in Xu Sirui's room at home, so his bedroom was requisitioned.
Zhu Yingning sat in his chair and logged into the website. After entering his account and password, a pop-up appeared showing the competition topics and the countries they were randomly assigned to. There was also an additional file called Background Guide at the bottom.
She glanced casually at the country - Greece.
Well, it’s okay, at least it’s not a country she is unfamiliar with.
Glancing at the topic again, she was instantly petrified.
The Global Debt Crisis and the Reform of the International Mary Fund.
……etc.
And so on and so forth.
What's this? !
How come it was completely different from what she imagined?
During registration, Hong Qingyang explained that Model United Nations competition topics generally went beyond what was covered in the curriculum. He cited a few examples, including "Carbon Emissions and Global Warming" and "Marine White Pollution and Environmental System Remediation." Zhu Yingning, listening from the podium, felt that while these topics were certainly outside the textbook scope, they were relatively simple and accessible, and not difficult to understand.
But why would financial literacy be on the agenda? She barely even understood what the global debt crisis was, let alone IMF reform.
"Xu Sirui..." She looked behind her with a sad face.
Xu Sirui propped himself up on the table with one arm, his other resting on the back of her chair. His gaze was fixed on the computer screen, but his expression wasn't as panicked as hers; instead, he looked remarkably calm. Hearing her voice, he slowly turned his gaze, looking down at her from above, his lips curled in a half-joking, half-faced smile, "Are you scared? It's not too late to withdraw now."
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The author has something to say: There is only one update today orz
Since I have work during the day, I basically write in my spare time. After a period of double updates, I finally got cervical spondylosis these two days TT
Sorry I'm a very fragile human being...
Therefore, in the next few days, there may be occasional alternations between single and double updates.
I will continue to update twice a week once I have adjusted my condition [Please]
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
