Sheng Yiqing saw Chen Zhuan coming back from the phone call, and happily poured wine for him, "Why do you look so gloomy when you're on the phone? Is it a call from a client?"
"It's my mom, she's urging me to get married again while we were chatting."
She passed the insurance agent exam by a narrow margin, and she was in a good mood this time, and she had some nonsense in mind: "Oh, then you have to stick to it, good things don't need people to urge you, you can talk about love, but you must be careful about getting married."
Chen Zhuan raised his eyebrows when he heard it, "Is there anyone willing to talk to me about love without getting married?"
"There are so many." Sheng Yiqing said as if it was a matter of course: "This year Which of the top people really want to get married. "
"Don't tell me." Chen Zhuan looked at her seriously, "My ideal life is to be alone, in a one-bedroom apartment, and live alone until the end of my life."
"Why?" Sheng Yiqing half-jokingly said, "Unfortunate family background?"
Chen Zhuan snorted, "No, I just don't like to interact with people."
"I understand, but I can't live alone until the end of my life. My best friend and I have agreed that when we are young, she and I will fall in love separately, and when we are old, we will stay together and die together."
He laughed, "Don't want to be responsible for a man?"
Sheng Yiqing poured the wine, "Don't you think marriage is terrible? You are a good person, free and easy, making your own money and spending it yourself, but once you get this certificate, you immediately put yourself in shackles."
"It's a trap." Chen Zhuan nodded, "In political philosophy, if society can't manage people, let the family manage them. Marriage is just finding someone to restrain yourself, and then trick you into having a child, giving you a soft spot."
"Isn't it?" Sheng Yiqing clinked glasses with him, finished a glass of wine, and continued: "I can understand you! It's normal for men not to want to get married. , once you get married, you have to pay for the mortgage, car loan, wife and children, and you have to take care of the elderly and children. After 35, you become an old slave, and you dare not quit your job, slack off, or even die. "
"You understand a lot." Chen Zhuan smiled after hearing this, and poured more wine for Sheng Yiqing, "But it's not all because of this that I don't want to get married."
"Oh?" After three rounds of wine, she was just a little tipsy, and she came up with blurred eyes, "Then why? Hidden illness?"
Chen Zhuan narrowed his eyes, looked at her, and said slowly after a while, "Yeah. Disappointed?"
Unexpectedly, Sheng Yiqing shook her head, "Impossible. If you have a hidden disease, you should rush to get married."
"What do you mean?"
"Do you know what you don't want to do the most after getting married?"
"Hmm?"
"Make love."
Chen Zhuan was stunned for a moment, laughed softly, clinked glasses with her, and continued: "That's right, passion needs freshness. Living under the same roof for a long time, it becomes a family relationship."
"After all, every day is trivial. A man and a woman have to argue about what time to eat? What to eat? What time to go to bed? Should I take a shower before going to bed? It's annoying. It's annoying. No wonder so many people cheat after getting married. "
"Because people always overestimate their tolerance for loneliness." Thinking of something, Chen Zhuan pulled the corner of his mouth, "Similarly, it is easy to overestimate your love for the other person."
"It's hard for people to love only one person for a lifetime, right? So the promise of a lifetime is a false proposition!" Sheng Yiqing frowned, "Besides, I really don't want to share a bathroom with another person. I can't accept someone controlling me."
Chen Zhuan clinked glasses with her, "Yes. Humans have a stronger sense of territory than they think. Be strong in the image. It is obvious that society is already crowded enough now, why do you still have to let a person live under the same roof as you? "
"Well, as long as you live under the same roof, there will always be quarrels."
"And, compromise is always needed."
"Putting two people with completely different life experiences is destined to have rejection reactions."
"My mother calls these running-in." Sheng Yiqing sneered, "But she pulled my dad away. I am the type of misfortune of my original family!"
"Run-in?" Chen Zhu smiled, "Do you know what is behind the run-in?"
"Of course! This is the most terrifying thing in the world." Sheng Yiqing poured out the last drop of wine from the bottle, "It's just to cut off your edges and corners, bit by bit, and kill the original self."
"Yeah." He chuckled and clinked with her: "Confidant."
...
They clinked glasses, clinked glasses, clinked glasses, and sipped with skewers and added a sip of wine. Finally, they concluded, "This marriage - dogs are not tied."
"Cheers!"
Chen Zhu rarely drinks alcohol.
He seemed to be extremely enthusiastic about the word "healthy life". He strictly controlled his diet in daily life. Tonight, probably because Sheng Yiqing was clamoring to drink, he risked his life to accompany the gentleman.
Halfway through the night, the barbecue restaurant closed. The streets in the county town were quiet. You can walk anywhere in a small place. The crew's car was parked downstairs of the county guesthouse, more than ten minutes away from the barbecue stall. A moon hung on the dome, and the moonlight sprinkled on the low and dense buildings in the county town.
The night wind was cool, and her body temperature was close to his side. The steps that were circling around stopped in front of the hotel where she was staying. The glass door was half closed. A receptionist was sitting in the bright yellow light watching a play. There were a few shabby electric cars parked sparsely at the door. Chen Zhuan looked up at the words "Home Inn Guesthouse" and looked at her: "Are you there?"
But she was reluctant to leave. She hummed. She stood there and said to him: "We're here."
He didn't move either. Looking at her with his head down, his eyes sparkled with water vapor after drinking, but still clear. Chen Zhuan smiled faintly and praised her: "You can drink quite well."
Sheng Yiqing's cheeks were hot. She quickly glanced at him, patted her face, and said: "Not bad, still a little tipsy."
He said oh.
Her eyes passed through his shoulders, without moving or speaking.
The two of them stood at the door of the hotel, neither of them was willing to move. The front desk's eyes shot over impatiently through the dirty glass door. Chen Zhuan noticed it and subconsciously pulled her arm to avoid sight. Sheng Yiqing didn't understand his intention, so she didn't move and asked him: "Why are you pulling me?"
Chen Zhuan said softly: "There are people watching over there."
He wanted to say that someone was staring at us, which was not very comfortable.
She dragged her voice and glanced at Chen Zhuan: "Okay."
She really pulled him to the side where there was no one.
The road was quiet at this moment. They avoided the sight and lights of the hotel lobby and hid in the shadows. The night wind blew, and her cheeks were slightly hot. Sheng Yiqing was thinking about the beautiful scenery. Should she take the initiative first?
While she was hesitating, she saw Chen Zhuan touching her elbow and suddenly said, "Hey, wife."
Tenderly, with a long tail tone.
She jumped.
She widened her eyes and scolded him, "Are you sick?"
Is this name addictive?
Chen Zhuan smiled with a triumphant expression: "You are really strange. You say you don't want to get married, but when you hear the word 'wife', you always blush and your heart beats."
"Are you kidding me?!" Sheng Yiqing was annoyed and stared at him to fight back, but after saying the word "old" for a long time, she could only say: "Old dog!"
After saying that, he turned and left. Chen Zhuan was laughing proudly behind her. She was angry and thought of something. She suddenly turned around, jumped in front of him in a few steps, grabbed his collar and pulled it down, and kissed his lips. The warm touch. The slender figure froze in place and stared at her:
"What are you...doing?"
Asking the question, but not moving, lips still pressed together, pronunciation unclear.
"...Aren't you very arrogant?" She also pressed his lips to answer, "Are you shy now?"
Chen Zhuan then moved his lips away an inch and shook his head: "No."
He looked clear and seemed really calm. "...That's right." She was bored, so she let go of his collar and pushed him away, "Then go ahead."
But she didn't expect that the ground behind her was slightly raised. She took a step back and hit her toes. Her center of gravity was unstable. She thought she was going to fall, but someone grabbed her waist and pulled her back. Chen Zhuan said, "You did it on purpose, didn't you?"
"I didn't mean it. I almost sprained my ankle the last time I saw you. You're a jinx." She pushed him.
I couldn't push him.
"Think about it from another angle. Both times you sprained your ankle, it seems that you rejected me. When you took the initiative to kiss me, you were safe." As he said this, his eyes fell on her lips, smiling and teasing her:
"Wife, don't chase me away casually."
"I'm so annoyed!" She was angry, "Get out of here--" The word "get out" was melted in her mouth before it was uttered.
Chen Zhuan lowered his head, but did not kiss her lips. His warm kisses fell on her neck, forming a warm current. Her waist was wrapped in his palm, unable to move. Her throat was choked and she even stopped breathing.
Her mind was blank for a moment. She grabbed his clothes like a drowning person grabbing a life-saving straw, but the water still flooded up, and she was about to drown in his kiss.
"Okay."
His voice was low and hoarse. He let go of her waist and said, "I'm leaving."
"..."
In a small hotel in a county town, Sheng Yiqing took a shower and wiped her hair. She was sober but still drunk. She stared at the computer screen, but her mind was drifting further and further away.
Chen Zhuan's lips were slightly cold, but the place where she was kissed seemed to be branded and slightly hot.
The phone was silent, and Chen Zhuan's avatar lay quietly in the list - she panicked. How could this be? Did he say anything after the kiss? Dog, really a dog.
After a night of trouble, the only one who was most afraid of being distracted was herself.
Sheng Yiqing gritted her teeth and simply turned off the phone. She buried her head in the pillow.
After tossing and turning all night, she dreamed of his fingertips brushing her lips. The memory of drinking at the barbecue stall came to her. His hands were well-jointed, his skin was fair, and his slender fingers were holding the wine glass. When he clinked the glasses, he brushed her hand intentionally or unintentionally, and his hand grasped her waist, with a slight force in his palm...
Until the morning sky came through the gap in the curtains, with a grayish blue, Sheng Yiqing struggled to get up and couldn't wait to turn on the phone. Dozens of message reminders came one after another, but she didn't dare to look at them.
It was not until she finished washing and putting on light makeup, facing the new self in the mirror, that she mustered up the courage to take out her phone, scrolling through the WeChat work messages, and finally her heart settled down-
At 2:30 in the morning, the dog man sent a message: "Are you asleep?"
The client set the departure time for all the intermediaries at 8 o'clock in the morning, and they were going to a new ranch today. Sheng Yiqing hummed a song and packed her luggage, and went to the supermarket downstairs to buy milk. Just when she was checking out, Sheng Yiqing took out her phone again, staring at the words "Are you asleep?", with a curved corner of her mouth.
She didn't say a word, and stuffed the phone back into her bag with satisfaction.
The car got on the highway. Inner Mongolia is too big, and the distance between counties is long. In addition, in order to keep the rent cheap, most ranches are located in remote areas. As soon as I got on the car, the client told me that the destination was about 5 hours away. At the same time, in order to prevent drivers from driving fatigue, it is recommended that all intermediaries should ensure their energy and spirit no matter how sleepy they are, and never sleep in the car.
So everyone had to force themselves to be energetic, staring at the vast wilderness outside the window and complaining secretly.
The kiss came again.
The phone was very quiet at this moment. Sheng Yiqing was probably bored. She took out her phone and stared at Chen Zhuan's profile picture for a long time. She couldn't help but flirt with him again: "By the way, you said that if you refuse you, you will have bad luck. Then what happened last night, do you think I will have good luck today?"
Chen Zhuan replied immediately: "So free today?"
The tone was unfriendly.
"So..." She made up her mind, "Will there be a next time?"
Before Chen Zhuan responded, the phone rang first. It was Sheng Yiqing's boss, Mr. Hu, who was in charge of this ranch project. Mr. Hu was over 40 years old and had been in the industry for more than ten years. He was a director in the investment banking department of Hongye Securities. Sheng Yiqing followed him since he joined the company. He just felt that he was like a jack of all trades, with no real talent, but fortunately he was smooth. Whenever the big boss couldn't take care of the project, he would be put on it.
Investment banks are very hard to work in. When you first enter the industry, there are many people. After ten years, they either resign or change their careers. After the great waves, the only ones who can stay are the elites among the elites, and the rest are probably the idlers with parents and children.
In the long-term cooperation, Sheng Yiqing firmly believes that Mr. Hu is the latter.
He first asked Sheng Yiqing about the project situation. Then he mentioned, "By the way, Xiao Sheng, did you pass the insurance agent exam this time?"
Before Sheng Yiqing answered, Mr. Hu added, "You must have passed. If you pass, you will be responsible for the insurance agent of this ranch project."
Sheng Yiqing was stunned, as if he didn't understand what Mr. Hu meant: "You mean..."
"I have too many projects on hand, and it's time to delegate power. You passed the exam, right? Go and register the sponsor representative, it's very quick. When the time comes, you will sign it. I say, you are officially promoted from co-organizer to main organizer from this project, are you happy?"
Sheng Yiqing didn't react after the phone hung up.
It takes time for joy to rise.
It was at that time that Sheng Yiqing thought in a daze: "It seems... my luck has really improved?"
The sun on the grassland was dazzling, and the business car drove by, with green land all around. The TVC advertisement shooting lasted for 10 days, basically from 9 am to 8 pm every day.
From the staff's point of view, Mr. Chen seemed to be in a bad mood, with slightly blue circles under his eyes. He came early in the morning and sat there without saying a word. He half-raised his eyes and looked out the window, pursed his lips, and looked at his phone every few minutes.
After a while, the phone vibrated, and he glanced at the message. The next second, the corners of his mouth, which had been tightly pursed all morning, rose slightly.
"Is there a next time?"
"Is there a next time?"
"Is there a next time?"
...
The arc of the corner of his mouth deepened a little.
After a while, someone who had cleared the haze replied in a refreshed mood: "No."
The business car arrived at the studio, Chen Zhuan opened the car door, and saw that the "Beihe Dairy Farm" not far away was bustling at the moment. More than a dozen trucks were parked at the door, the door was open, and the staff drove the cows one by one. I felt something was wrong and asked the people around me: "What is this for?"
"I don't know. With such a large scale, where are the cows transported?"
Chen Zhuan frowned, thinking of Sheng Yiqing's work in the past few days, pondered for a moment, and took out his mobile phone to shoot a video.
In the next ten days, the two people never had the opportunity to meet again.
Chen Zhuan continued to stay in the original place to shoot his TVC commercials, while Sheng Yiqing traveled to seven or eight cities.
After walking more than a dozen times on the ranch, she felt that these cows looked very similar, and she even suspected that some of them were cows she had seen before. She mentioned this to her colleague jokingly, and her colleague said, "Cows don't look exactly the same. Not to mention different species, I think foreigners all look the same."
Due diligence on companies that are going to go public is one of the important tasks of the securities firm responsible. The number of cows in this ranch company is a core asset. More than a dozen securities firms have been counting for more than a week. Fortunately, the number of cows is basically consistent with the number submitted by the client. Finally, a big thing is completed and they set off to Beijing.
Chen Zhuan arrived in Beijing three days ago. Before boarding the plane, he sent a WeChat message to Sheng Yiqing to ask her when she would return. Sheng Yiqing directly sent the flight information and asked him, "Are you going to pick me up?" The other party replied vaguely, "It depends on the situation."
The plane landed at T3. Sheng Yiqing was still taxiing. She had just turned off the flight mode when she received a WeChat message from Chen Zhuan - ten minutes ago, a location information of the parking lot of Beijing Capital International Airport. She curled her lips, but quickly replied with a question mark: "?"
The voice reply was slow and there was a noisy background sound: "Let me know when you come out. I'm waiting for you here at the location."
. "
It was the height of summer in Beijing, but the temperature at night was just right. Because of the two-hour flight, she wore a knitted cardigan over her short-sleeved shirt. Chen Zhuan was dressed casually today, with a loose beige short-sleeved shirt and gray straight-leg pants, his hair casually combed, standing next to a broken Mercedes-Benz. Perhaps because of his outstanding figure, he could be seen from a distance.
Sheng Yiqing didn't even realize that her pace had become faster.
"Why are you here?"
"Something happened." He took her luggage, moved the box to the trunk, and opened the passenger door for her, motioning her to get in. Sheng Yiqing jumped into the car and asked him with curved eyes:
"Are you here to pick me up?"
Chen Zhuan got into the driver's seat, locked the door, glanced at her, and shook his head, "No, this is by the way, there are other things. "
Sheng Yiqing pouted and said in a long tone: "Oh - then you go and get busy -"
Before she finished speaking, he lifted her chin, and the man came up, his breath hit her face, and before she closed her eyes, his lips touched. A refreshing touch.
The kiss was fleeting.
When Sheng Yiqing reacted, the man had already buckled her seat belt and started the car seriously.
The Oscar movie soundtrack was playing in the car, and no one spoke.
The slight warmth of his lips was his remnant. She secretly traced his outer contour with her eyes, her eyes from the bridge of her nose to her chin and then to her Adam's apple, and then along his shoulders, all the way to his hands holding the steering wheel.
"I've been lucky these days." Sheng Yiqing suddenly said.
"Hmm?"
"Later, our director called me and said that since I passed the insurance agent, he would let me be in charge of this ranch project and I would be the signatory. "
"Signatory? "
"That's the person in charge of this project. If a company wants to go public, it needs to invite a third-party institution as a sponsor to be responsible for verifying the company's operating and financial conditions. Only when the sponsor confirms that everything meets the listing requirements stipulated by the state can the company go public. And the sponsor representative, that is, me, is the final signatory on behalf of our company. "
"So awesome? Are there many benefits to being a sponsor representative? "
"At least there is a signing fee. And this is considered a project hosted by me, so I can get more bonuses at the end of the year, accumulate more experience, and get promoted later. "
"Don't you need to take responsibility? "Chen Zhuan glanced at her through the rearview mirror. She opened the car window slightly, and the night wind blew in, lifting her hair, and the street lights cast bursts of light on her cheeks. "
"Of course. If something goes wrong, such as in A-shares, the sponsor representative will be held criminally responsible. "
"Then you have to check this project carefully? "
"I'm sure. Ever since our CEO Hu told me to be the sponsor representative, I've been counting cows with my eyes wide open these days. I wish I could remember all the cow faces. But this cow looks really similar. I thought I was face-blind several times..."
She was talking to herself, not noticing that Chen Zhuan fell silent. He pursed his lips and looked thoughtful.
"What's wrong?"
The Airport Expressway and the Fourth Ring Road were not congested at all at night. Chen Zhuan lived in a one-bedroom apartment on the North Third Ring Road. In order to send Sheng Yiqing off, he made a special detour. According to him, he was looking for a new home and planning to buy a house. To realize his life ideal: find an apartment for one person and live alone until the end of his life.
Chen Zhuan's car stopped at the gate of Sheng Yiqing's community. Sheng Yiqing was about to open the door and get out of the car, but saw this guy looking at her with a leisurely face.
She simply teased him: "What's wrong? Are there too many beauties on your face today? "
He was amused and tilted his head to look at her, "Yeah. So you believe that every time you get close to me, you will have good luck?"
"Wrong." Sheng Yiqing shook her head, "Not only me, you will also have good luck because you get close to me."
"I don't deny it." He seemed to be in a very good mood tonight. He looked at her intently for a while, and then said, "Sit still, I'll give you a gift."
"Oh--" She laughed, thinking it was another kiss, but she saw Chen Zhuan's expression became a little serious. He took out his mobile phone from his pocket, opened the album and started flipping through the videos. As if he guessed her thoughts, he didn't raise his head, but raised his hand to rub her head, and whispered:
"Kiss again and you'll be addicted."
She was startled, her cheeks flushed, but fortunately Chen Zhuan finally found the "gift" and handed it to her, "Look, the day after you left Beihe Dairy Farm, I saw that they drove all the cows in this ranch out early in the morning and transported them away by car. I thought it was strange and kept it in mind. Our previous filming lasted for a week, and before we left, the cows didn't come back. Until this morning, the day you finished your investigation, my local friend sent me this video. "
As he said this, Chen Zhuan switched the video to the next one: more than a dozen trucks stopped at the gate of Beihe Dairy Farm one by one. Following the instructions of the workers, cows quietly got off the trucks and were driven into the pasture.
"So..." The original beauty was replaced by a chill, and Sheng Yiqing looked up at Chen Zhuan in disbelief: "These cows..."
Chen Zhuan said lightly: "This is just the situation of one pasture. So, I mean, the cows you counted these days may really be repeated. "