Luo Bei always felt that Zhou Jianguo was a very contradictory and strange person.
Just like she told her grandmother before, his temperament was like those in command of a company, but he was carrying a snakeskin bag and haggling with the lady boss.
He said he only has a primary school education, but various signs show that he is much stronger than her, who graduated from university. Although education does not necessarily represent a person’s ability in the real society, the aura on Zhou Jianguo’s body is not from an ordinary background. His speech occasionally contains vocabulary that she cannot understand. If he didn’t have a strong knowledge background, he couldn’t reach that level at all.
Upon careful reflection, those things that puzzled her seemed to have an answer.
Why does he say he doesn’t like to use a bank card or electronic payment? Why does he put unmanned stores under her name? Even the new car, is it because he doesn’t care? No, it’s not. Zhou Jianguo is a person who cherishes his own hard work. He has almost invested all his enthusiasm in the unmanned store business. Would he hand over the store to someone he barely knew?
There is only one possibility, that he has no choice but to do so.
Why? Because his name and identity are all fake.
It should have been a shocking thing for her, but Luo Bei accepted it calmly. Everyone has secrets that cannot be told to others. She understands this. If she had found out that Zhou Jianguo was using a false identity when she first met him, she would have spoken out directly. After all, she is a landlady and cannot accept such a tenant.
But now the situation is different. Luo Bei is already very familiar with Zhou Jianguo. From his words and deeds in daily life, she can see what kind of person he is. After weighing the pros and cons, Luo Bei decided to pretend not to know about this matter for the time being. How they used to get along before, they will continue to do so in the future.
Perhaps he has some difficulties that he cannot speak of, so let him take the initiative to confess.
At that moment, her phone rang. It was Zhou Jianguo calling.
He was at the construction site, naturally there was noise, “Luo Bei, what’s up? I was just talking to the foreman about quitting my job.”
Luo Bei looked at the small row of red characters on the ticket booking website page and slowly said, “I pressed the wrong button just now, there’s nothing wrong. You’re quitting your job?”
“Yeah, but I can’t explain it over the phone. Let’s talk about it when we meet.”
“Okay, bye.”
Zhou Jianguo asked Grandma Luo to make a bottle of spaghetti sauce. He’s been busy lately and didn’t have time to cook, so he bought a bag of spaghetti from the supermarket, poured the sauce over it after it was cooked, then boiled an egg in water. This was his dinner.
He always takes good care of his life. When Luo Bei came to his room, it was very clean and tidy. Zhou Jianguo sat on a chair and ate a big plate of spaghetti. After he finished eating, he quickly washed the dishes and utensils clean before saying to Luo Bei, “I didn’t tell you earlier because things weren’t confirmed yet. I quit my job because I found a new one. It’s not far from your company, quite close actually. It’s a car beauty shop owned by a relative of one of my colleagues. I’m going there as an apprentice, so my salary will definitely be lower than on the construction site. But here’s my plan, after I learn how the car beauty shop operates, we can start our own. Then I’ll work for myself.”
Luo Bei was shocked, “Car beauty shop?”
“Well, I’ve thought about it. If things go smoothly, maybe just a few months. By then, we can pool our resources and I can look for other part-time jobs to try to cover the costs. We’ve been selling sugarcane for some time now, made some money and bought a vending machine to put in a hotel. If business is good, we can make over ten thousand in profits a month. Plus, we still have a few tens of thousands of yuan on hand. If we can’t sell sugarcane anymore, we’ll switch to selling other fruits on our electric tricycle. Hopefully, we can open the shop before Chinese New Year.”
Of course, they still had about ten thousand yuan in stocks, which would likely be another source of income for them. But Zhou Jianguo didn’t mention it. He didn’t want Luo Bei to be interested in stock trading and even think of getting rich through it.
“…Yeah, I understand. If we still need more money by then, I can try to borrow some.”
Zhou Jianguo shook his head. “This shop can’t be opened in just a month or two. Let’s try our best not to borrow money from others. It’s not good. We’ll work harder and try not to rely on borrowing.”
“Okay!”
Luo Bei wanted to ask if the car beauty shop doesn’t use bank cards to pay their employees, but she swallowed the words back. She figured that he was able to quit his job because he had made arrangements with the other party. She shouldn’t worry about it too much.
Before National Day, Fang Jingzhou called Luo Bei almost every day, asking her when she would come. Luo Bei was originally too lazy to deal with Chen Lan, but she thought that since Fang Jingzhou was going to his hometown, she asked Chen Lan if there was anything she wanted to bring for her parents and son.
Chen Lan now worked long hours and rarely interacted with Luo Bei except for paying rent and utilities on time. It was also good.
“No need.” Chen Lan spoke politely to Luo Bei now that Fang Jingzhou was gone. At best, they were just landlord and tenant, so why should she be impatient with others? Of course, the most important thing was that Chen Lan was a little afraid of Luo Bei. She felt that Luo Bei was a person with deep scheming and power. If she could avoid contact with her, she would. Otherwise, she wouldn’t even know what happened if she got taken advantage of someday. “Usually, we just transfer the money over. There’s nothing else to bring.”
Luo Bei nodded, “Okay.”
Although she didn’t believe that Chen Lan would really send money to her parents.
Chen Lan continued, “Didn’t I renew the lease for another six months before? The contract is about to expire, and I’m planning to terminate the lease.”
“Okay.” Fang Jingzhou wasn’t there, so she couldn’t be bothered with where Chen Lan lived.
Chen Lan’s habit of bragging acted up again, and in the next moment, she proudly said, “My boyfriend rented a high-end apartment for me. The rent seems to be five to six thousand yuan per month, and it’s in the city center. It’s convenient for shopping and eating, unlike this urban village where you have to walk far to get to a decent shopping mall.”
Luo Bei : “….Oh.”
Seeing Luo Bei’s indifferent reaction, Chen Lan didn’t use her prepared lines. The two said goodbye to each other, and there was no conflict or disagreement.
Luo Bei sighed. She didn’t want to save someone like Chen Lan, but also because Chen Lan had already become accustomed to relying on men for her livelihood. Her personality had already been formed. Luo Bei could guarantee that even if she went crazy and told Chen Lan about her own fate, even if Chen Lan believed her, she would still continue to live her old life without any change.
She estimated that Chen Lan couldn’t have even dreamt that the person who would make her live a good life is her own son, whom she despises, despite all her efforts to seduce and pursue other men.
However, according to the plot, and her relationship with Jingzhou, she is unlikely to enjoy such good fortune.
During the National Day holiday, Zhou Jianguo thought that Luo Bei would celebrate his birthday with him again, and he had already planned what kind of expression to make when he received the gift and surprise. But Luo Bei didn’t react at all, which was a pity.
Of course, Luo Bei wouldn’t consider the National Day as Zhou Jianguo’s birthday! She already knew that his identity was fake, so his birthday on October 1st must also be fake!
She wouldn’t take it seriously!
The two of them got up early in the morning and prepared to start their day trip by car.
Grandma Luo got up before dawn and prepared two lunch boxes for them to eat on the road. The night before, Luo Bei took Zhou Jianguo to a nearby supermarket and bought a lot of snacks. A small part was for them to eat on the road, and the majority was for Fang Jingzhou. Although his place was a small county town, it had developed well, and there were large supermarkets where you could buy anything you wanted. Luo Bei had also gone through the same age as Fang Jingzhou, and he longed to be loved. If he received so many snacks, he would definitely be very happy.
On this kind of holiday, and the highways being toll-free, and there was no traffic jam which was all thanks to their good luck.
At 7am sharp, they set off and since Luo Bei was driving the whole way, they would take breaks at service areas to rest. Although Zhou Jianguo thought he could drive, he didn’t have a driver’s license, and Luo Bei wouldn’t feel at ease if he drove. If they were stopped by the traffic police, they would be in big trouble. Therefore, he kept talking to Luo Bei non-stop along the way to keep her spirits up.
They talked about everything under the sun, from aliens to celebrity gossip to business, and inevitably, they talked about relationships.
In fact, as two single people, they didn’t have much experience in this area.
“What kind of boyfriend do you want?” Zhou Jianguo asked.
“Someone who is handsome, rich, and in good shape, who is devoted to me. Even if a woman who is a thousand times prettier than me stands naked in front of him, he will be unmoved and say calmly, ‘I’m sorry, miss, I already have a lover.’ He doesn’t smoke or drink, and even when I’m acting up, he thinks I’m cute. Yes, I want a boyfriend like that,” Luo Bei said, laughing at herself as she spoke.
Zhou Jianguo sneered at her.
Luo Bei : “What? Don’t I have the right to dream?”
“It’s not just a dream. To find a man who is handsome, rich, and devoted to you, you could at least find a man who has one of those qualities. If you can find someone who has two of those qualities, then you have good luck and strong personal charm.”
“What if he has all three?”
“You’re dreaming too big.”