After closing up shop, Luo Bei and Zhou Jianguo roughly calculated their income from selling sugarcane during this period, excluding costs. They had both made thousands of yuan, although they were tired every day. However, thinking about it, if they worked a bit harder for a while longer, they could buy that brand new vending machine, and Luo Bei wouldn’t feel so tired anymore.
“Tomorrow’s Saturday, you don’t have to wake up early for work. Let’s go, I’ll treat you to some late-night snacks,” Zhou Jianguo directed Luo Bei to sweep the floor while also comforting her with these words.
Luo Bei was taken aback. “You’re treating me to late-night snacks? Why?”
Zhou Jianguo rolled his eyes. “Do you really think I’m stingy? Don’t think I didn’t notice earlier, when that young lady was carrying a spicy crayfish in her hands, your eyes lit up. I coughed several times, but you didn’t react until later. Work a bit faster, and when we’re done, I’ll take you to eat.”
Spicy crayfish was a summer staple!
Luo Bei had wanted to eat it for a long time. When crayfish was in season, she used to go out to eat it. But now, her time was all squeezed out by Zhou Jianguo. Where would she find the time to eat late-night snacks? After closing up shop every day, she was as tired as a dog. She would fall asleep within ten minutes of lying down, and she wouldn’t have trouble sleeping anymore.
Zhou Jianguo was right. Before, she wasn’t as busy. After work, she would either watch TV or browse Weibo, and she rarely went to bed at eleven o’clock. Now, every day was as busy as a dog, but she felt that her sleep quality had improved. She would fall asleep at eleven o’clock sharp and wake up at seven o’clock the next morning, feeling refreshed and not as tired as she had imagined.
“Okay! You said it!” Luo Bei swept the sugarcane skins more vigorously. What would normally take ten minutes to finish only took her six minutes today.
After finishing everything, Zhou Jianguo glanced at the time and cruelly said, “I told you that you were not quick enough. Look, you were four minutes faster than usual today.”
Luo Bei was only thinking about spicy crayfish and didn’t take Zhou Jianguo’s sarcasm to heart at all. She pulled his arm and ordered him to ride the tricycle and take her to the night market.
Zhou Jianguo complained as he rode, “It’s a good thing we didn’t open a night market stall, otherwise you wouldn’t have the energy to help.”
This area had a large population and many night market stalls, and any of them tasted good when entered with eyes closed. So in the evening, the business was always good here.
They arrived at a night market stall, and as soon as they sat down, Zhou Jianguo ordered two pounds of spicy crayfish, a pound of garlic-flavored crayfish, and some barbecue.
“Today, I’ll let you eat your fill,” Zhou Jianguo said.
Luo Bei nodded happily.
He underestimated her combat power. Three pounds of crayfish were nothing to her.
But on second thought, Zhou Jianguo seemed stingy and petty, but when they were really together, he was very generous to her. For example, sometimes when they were out, if he saw her thirsty, he would buy her an ice cream or a slice of watermelon without her having to ask, and let her sit on a small stool and eat. Although he had a sharp tongue and sometimes bossed her around, he was really good to her.
“Did something happen to Superstar Jiang?” Zhou Jianguo asked casually.
Luo Bei nodded as she ate her crayfish, “It’s just some things on set. They’re like a bunch of primary school students, isolating this person and excluding that person. It’s really ridiculous.”
She couldn’t bear to look at Shi Chuan in the future. Whenever she thought of him being such a person, it even affected her ability to watch him act.
Zhou Jianguo didn’t pay much attention, “Where there are people, there are interests, and where there are interests, there will be fights. This is normal. Just tell Xiao Jiang to stay calm. If someone isolates and excludes him, it means that he has the capital to be envied by others. If he wants to really make it in this industry, he will have to go through more than us ordinary people.”
“I told him the same thing. If he really becomes popular, he could easily earn several ten million for just filming a TV drama. Nothing is harder than earning money. That’s definitely more difficult than what we ordinary people go through.”
“The hardest thing to do in this world is also the easiest thing to do,” Zhou the teacher started lecturing again. “As long as a person is diligent and willing to work, they can make money, but most people choose to be lazy and waste their lives, so making money is also difficult.”
Luo Bei was curious for a moment and asked, “What would you do if you became really, really rich?”
Zhou Jianguo : “Continue to make money.”
“Don’t you have any life goals?”
Zhou Jianguo rubbed his chin, “When I become very rich, I will take you with me to get rich, how about that? Is that a life goal?”
“When you become very rich, I will definitely be a rich woman too. Speaking of life goals, for example, you can travel around the world with someone you love.”
“I’m not interested in traveling.”
Luo Bei : Okay, goodbye then.
“Then find someone you love and enjoy your wealth together.”
Zhou Jianguo thought seriously for a moment, “Why should I let someone else enjoy the money I worked hard for?”
Luo Bei fell silent, “I said the premise is someone you love. If you love her, you would be willing to share the fruits of your labor with her.”
Zhou Jianguo replied, “But I only want to share it with my business partner.”
Luo Bei : “……”
Zhou Jianguo paused and said, “Let me give you an example. When you have a house, a car, and a lot of money, and become a rich woman, would you let a man live with you, drive your car, and spend your money?”
After thinking about it, Luo Bei chose to obey her innermost feelings and said, “…No, I wouldn’t.”
Why should she? She worked hard day and night like a dog!
“So don’t say foolish things like sharing the fruits of labor if you like someone.” Zhou Jianguo peeled a shrimp for Luo Bei and put it in her bowl. “Luo Bei, what’s yours is yours, not someone else’s. Don’t be too selfless in love. From a man’s perspective, I prefer someone who has their own fruits of labor. She has her watermelon patch, and I have my sugarcane field. We can share watermelons and sugarcane together. If I’m the only one with the sugarcane field, I don’t want her to act recklessly in my sugarcane field.”
Luo Bei covered her face and said, “That’s deep.”
“Don’t wait for someone to give you a watermelon patch or a sugarcane field. If you do, you won’t even have the right to complain about the sweetness of the watermelon or the sugarcane, do you understand?” Zhou Jianguo sighed. “Forget it, don’t think about these things. You should cultivate your own watermelon patch first.”
Luo Bei nodded. In fact, she understood Zhou Jianguo’s meaning.
Well, she’ll bury her head and work hard, taking up her own watermelon patch with a hoe.
Otherwise, wouldn’t it be too frustrating not to even have the right to complain about the lack of sweetness in the sugarcane in the future?
Luo Bei accidentally discovered that Zhou Jianguo’s birthday was this Sunday.
She found out while she was organizing contracts, and she realized that most men don’t have a concept of birthdays. Luo Bei felt that she and Zhou Jianguo were good friends and business partners, and now that she knew about his birthday, she couldn’t pretend she didn’t see it.
On Saturday, she went to the cake shop and ordered an eight-inch birthday cake.
“We have numbered candles, Miss,” the waiter smiled sweetly. “What number do you want?”
Luo Bei didn’t hesitate and said, “Eighteen!”
Since Zhou Jianguo had repeatedly prevented her from transferring money via WeChat, she knew he hadn’t linked a card to his account. She had originally planned to send him a 188 yuan red envelope early Sunday morning, but she realized he preferred cash, so she held back.
In TV dramas, someone surprises the birthday person by holding a cake and singing “Happy Birthday,” but in real life, no one wants to participate in such an awkward scenario.
Just thinking about it made Luo Bei feel embarrassed, especially since the birthday boy was Zhou Jianguo. So she gave up on that idea.
When Zhou Jianguo returned from the construction site, he took a shower and was called up to the third floor by Luo Bei. As soon as he opened the door, he saw the birthday cake on the table. He lowered his voice and said to Luo Bei, “Whose birthday is it today? I didn’t prepare a birthday gift…”
Luo Bei : “…..”
Did this person really forget his own birthday because he’s so busy?
“Isn’t it your birthday today? I saw a copy of your ID card when I was organizing the rental contract. The birthday on it is today.” Luo Bei confirmed that she wasn’t mistaken. “Or do you prefer to celebrate your lunar birthday?”
At this point, Luo Bei had already put the birthday hat on the birthday person’s head. “But I’ve already bought the cake, and my Grandma made a table full of dishes. So just celebrate your birthday today, Jianguo. Happy birthday! I hope you’ll be happy every day and have a lot of wealth.”
As Luo Bei’s face was full of smiles, Zhou Jianguo was stunned.
When he was creating his fake ID, he randomly made up his birthday, and she saw it, remembered it, and even planned this birthday for him…
But on the other hand, what expression should he make now? Touched or happy?
“Today isn’t my birthday,” Zhou Jianguo said.
He looked at Luo Bei’s foolish expression and even wanted to tell her that his ID card was fake.
Luo Bei had already accepted this possibility, “Then when is your birthday? I’ll give you a big red envelope as a belated gift. Actually, I haven’t figured out what gift to give you yet.”
As the words were about to leave Zhou Jianguo’s lips, he swallowed them back.
“Guess.”
Luo Bei was going to say she wasn’t a fortune teller and couldn’t possibly guess his birthday, but she had a sudden inspiration and asked tentatively, “Your name is Jianguo, could your birthday be on October 1st1?”
Zhou Jianguo : “…”
He gave Luo Bei a thumbs up. “Sister Bei is smart.”
Well, October 1st it is. It was his own stupid idea when he applied for fake ID, he happened to see a “Jianguo Convenience Store” nearby and decided to use it as his name.
- October 1st is the National Day of People’s Republic of China ↩︎
…You covered up the fake birthday by using a different fake birthday? Why? Why not just keep the fake birthday? Does it matter which birthday you use if both are fake?
As a lazy person, I felt attacked reading this last two chapters.