Chapter 9: The Return of an Old Friend

  Lying on the bed at home, I couldn't help but think of what happened today, especially the scene where I kissed Qin Ke Yi. My reverie was interrupted by the ringing of my phone, which showed that it was Ma Ke calling.

  "Hey, where are you?"

  "I'm at home, where are you? What's all the commotion over there?"

  "I'm at Zhang Wei's new bar, it just opened today, come and celebrate with me!" Mark exclaimed over the phone, obviously there were many beautiful girls on that side.

  "What? This kid has opened a bar? Alright! Where is it?"

  "On Heping East 3rd Street, near the side gate of Shi Da, there's a bar called Moji Bar, come quickly."

  "Okay, I'll be right there."

  ……

  Zhang Wei is a friend I grew up with since childhood. When Zhang Wei was young, his family was very poor and his father died early. When he first started school, everyone isolated him and bullied him, but he wasn't born to be bullied. He developed earlier than others, so gradually he gained fame in our neighborhood. At that time, I was the only one who would talk to Zhang Wei and play with him. In my eyes, he could do things that people of our age couldn't imagine, such as sneaking into the girls' dormitory, arguing with teachers, or urinating at the school principal's gate... It was an era when we idolized heroes, and I naively thought Zhang Wei was a hero back then.

  Because I was Zhang Wei's only friend, Zhang Wei treated me better than his own brother. At that time, if he heard anyone say something bad about me, he would immediately pick up a brick and hit them. I remember when we were in junior high school, he became obsessed with the novel "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" and admired the oath of the three heroes in the Peach Garden. He also wanted to make an oath with me like they did, but unfortunately, we couldn't find a third person who shared our values, and there weren't any peach blossoms in our northeastern hometown, so this idea was eventually abandoned. The greatest gain from being with Zhang Wei was learning how to fight and gaining some of the northeasterners' former pride and bravery that has gradually been lost. Later, due to family financial burdens, Zhang Wei dropped out of high school to work, but he considered it a very happy thing because he could earn money to support his family and he hated going to school. We still met every week, though.

  The day before I left for college, Zhang Wei and I drank all day, I don't remember how many bowls and cups we smashed, I don't remember how many times I cried. All I remember is that when I said goodbye to my high school girlfriend, it was just a meal and a few sad words. Unexpectedly, on the fourth day after I arrived at university, Zhang Wei called me and said that he couldn't bear to be away from me, and was afraid that people in Harbin would bully me, so he decided to come to Harbin to work and also be my bodyguard. He told me that he had found a job at a gas station near our school, with a salary of 700 yuan per month, including food and accommodation. So, Zhang Wei and I continued our brotherly bond in Harbin.

  It wasn't until Zhang Wei had been in Harbin for less than a month that something happened that changed his fate. One evening, Zhang Wei was on night shift, refueling a car, when suddenly a car pulled up and three people jumped out, wielding knives and charging towards his boss who was strolling around the yard. There were only three or four employees present at the time, and only Zhang Wei had a wooden stick in hand, which he used to charge forward. Having been through many battles since childhood, he had developed a rich set of practical theories and experiences, combined with his physical strength, it didn't take long for him to chase away the three men, but not before getting stabbed in the arm.

  Originally, Zhang Wei's boss was a somewhat notorious underworld figure in this area. In addition to running the gas station, he also had a large disco and an internet cafe. Due to gratitude for Zhang Wei's lifesaving efforts, the boss immediately gave Zhang Wei 5,000 yuan. Later, seeing that Zhang Wei was a kind and capable person, he decided to acknowledge Zhang Wei as his adopted son and handed over the management of the disco to him, giving Zhang Wei a 30% stake in it. Thus, Zhang Wei unknowingly joined the underworld and embarked on a path towards a comfortable life.

  The bar is not far from where I live, and it only takes 10 minutes to get there by taxi. From the outside, the bar looks very fashionable, but after entering, I was surprised to find that the interior decoration has a strong cultural atmosphere, with many oil paintings hanging on the walls, accompanied by soft music, a small dance floor, and a long-haired girl holding a guitar singing emotionally. It doesn't look like the kind of bar that Zhang Wei, someone with deep cultural connotations, would open.

  "What took you so long?" Zhang Wei said with a big smile as he walked towards me after seeing me come in.

  "It's packed! Business is so good on the first day of opening. You're quite capable, I didn't think you had what it takes to run a business."

  "I hope it's always like this, thanks to Marco. Half a month before Zhang left, he found several beauties in nearby schools to distribute flyers and do some membership discounts, I don't understand these things."

  "What's with Ma Ke?"

  "Go up to room 3 on the second floor first, I'll call out from downstairs and then come find you guys."

  Not even on the second floor, I heard Marco's mother wolf-like singing voice. No need to look at the door number, just follow the sound and you can find the room. Pushing the door in, I found that it wasn't just Marco, but also five or six of our usual drinking buddies. Looks like today is not going to be a peaceful exit.

  "What took you so long? No need for explanations, just drink." It's clear that Marco has had a bit too much.

  "Sorry about the traffic jam, I admit defeat." I sat down next to Marco.

  "Guess who came today." Mark said with a red face and an air of mystery.

  "Are they all here? Is there anyone else?" I looked around at the people present again.

  "Kang Jian, you're here." At this time, a person was standing at the door, and it was unclear when he had arrived.

  "Damn it! Song Wei!!!!!! How did you little brat come back?"

  ……

  Li Songwei is a veteran of our studio, majoring in Applied Chemistry at Harbin Institute of Technology. I met him when attending the web production learning class, and he gave me a cool feeling at that time, not only because of his appearance and dress, but also because of his silence. He is not Jay Chou's kind of cool, but has a cool temperament from the bone, giving people a very mysterious feeling, and being with him makes you curious about everything about him.

  Apart from being cool, Li Songwei gave me another feeling - he's very down-to-earth. At least compared to those people who waste their time in internet cafes every day, he's much more down-to-earth. When I got to know him, he was already the campus agent for several companies, including Xiao Lingtong, Step High, cosmetics, and various phone cards. As long as it was something that could make money on campus, he almost did it all. So Li Songwei and I became good friends because we had a lot of common topics to talk about. I categorize my friends into several types: one type is those who just say hello when they see you, but don't really keep in touch - there are many such "friends" in school, but they're not really friends at all. Another type is the "wine and meat" friends, who like to eat, drink, and have fun together - these people are easy to share happiness with, but hard to share difficulties with, yet you can't do without them in life; most of the people present today belong to this category. Then there's another type that I call "partners in spirit", like Zhang Liang by Liu Bang's side, or Tang He and Zhu Yuanzhang - these are friends who share similar values and goals. Finally, there's a type that I define as "brothers", who can help you in all aspects of life, and who will think of you first when you need help most - Zhang Wei, Ma Ke, Guo Cun, Zhao Lijia, Li Songwei, these are my "brothers". So when I had the urge to start a business, one of the people I thought of was Li Songwei. When he received my call, he agreed without hesitation and pushed aside all his agent projects the next day.

  When our work was at its lowest point, Li Songwei was one of the three people who stood by me. Because he was a senior, he had more time, so at that time, it was almost just him taking care of the studio. However, when the studio slowly got back on track, Songwei chose to leave. The reason was that a medium-sized state-owned enterprise in Hangzhou found him a job maintaining their website. He grew up with his parents divorced and lived with his mother, who is now ill, so he had to take on the responsibility of being the breadwinner. Although our studio occasionally had a decent income, it was relative to us as students, and besides, it was just part-time work without much future prospects, so I completely understood Li Songwei's decision at that time.

  Song Wei apparently went to the bathroom and sat between me and Marco after coming in, and it was clear that he had lost a lot of weight over the past year.

  "What brings you back here?"

  "I've resigned." Song Wei said nonchalantly while drinking his wine, and I almost spat out the wine in my mouth, forming a stark contrast.

  The coolest thing about Li Songwei is his personality. Although the state-owned enterprise was well-treated, Li Songwei was very unhappy with his job. A young man in his 20s with a passion for entrepreneurship wanted to make a name for himself with his skills, but unfortunately chose the wrong "stage". In state-owned enterprises, there is always a shallow rule that "the buttocks decide the brain", your promotion is not based on your ability, but on whose "buttocks" you follow. If you want to mix up a future, you have to choose a leader and be willing to be his dog. Ability only accounts for a small part of the factors. This is like a gamble, once the leader you follow "gets the way", as a "chicken dog" you will also "rise to heaven". Once the political enemy of the leader you follow gains power, fear leads to attack, and your political career as a political enemy's dog is over. So in state-owned enterprises, every day is full of intrigue and deception, even if you have ability, you will be disheartened by falling into the mud, perhaps some people are born to adapt to this environment, or perhaps some people are forced to adapt due to their livelihood, but Li Songwei obviously became tired of life there and chose to resign.

  "What plans do you have this time you're back?"

  "Take a break for two days, and then find a job as soon as possible." Li Songwei's tone was still so relaxed, I really wonder what could make him frown, being optimistic is good but it doesn't have to be this excessive.

  "Do you have any job hunting goals at present?"

  "No, it's so hard to find a job now, let's take things one step at a time."

  "Why don't you come and help us instead? We've been extremely busy lately." Mark suddenly stopped howling and added a sentence.

  "Yes, you come back first and help us on one hand, look for a job on the other hand, and we'll talk about it after finding a suitable job."

  "I've been waiting for you to say that, as long as you don't mind splitting the bill with one more person. I'd brave boiling water and walk through fire if needed." After a long time, I finally saw Son Wei's rarely seen smile...