Beijing, after all, has nothing to do with me

Chapter 20 Everyone Has a Secret (1)
Another week followed, and Tao Jie went to work in the company exhausted physically and mentally.

While doing business, some clips of last weekend's experience will jump out to disturb her from time to time. She thinks that she should really install an automatic switch in her mind, so that she can switch from this channel to another channel at any time, so as not to confuse each other.

It wasn't until after three o'clock in the afternoon that Tao Jie's mental state was completely pulled back to work.

In the first half of this week, there was something not urgent but important to her that needed to be done—she had to choose a gift for Mai Zhiqiang.

Betty's application in the system had already been approved, and she only needed to take the form to the administration department to get it. Tao Jie decided to make a quick decision and send it to Mai Zhiqiang as soon as she got the gift.

What came out was a set of Montblanc's mid-to-low-end ballpoint pens. The black pen body looked quite textured.After Tao Jie came out of the administration department, she walked to the office area of ​​the marketing department.

Unfortunately, Mai Zhiqiang was not there, and his secretary Cuixi told Tao Jie that Mr. Mai was on a business trip and would not be back until next week.It was only then that Tao Jie remembered that Mai Zhiqiang had mentioned to him that because of this, he could not attend the meeting held in Sanya on Thursday.

The gift had to be handed over by Trish.

Not seeing Mai Zhiqiang, Tao Jie actually felt a little disappointed.

Do things seriously, and time often passes by in a flash.

On Tuesday night, Tao Jie started packing the luggage for the business trip the next day.

Li Yaoming didn't return to the rented room until after ten o'clock, and Tao Jie was not used to him leaving early and returning late.

Li Yaoming saw that the suitcase standing next to the closet was moved to the sofa, and Li Yaoming asked casually, "Are you going on a business trip again?"

"Yeah." Tao Jie lay on the pillow and read a pastime novel, she is used to going to bed late now.

Li Yaoming was stunned for a moment. He just picked up some random topics to strike up a conversation with Tao Jie, but he didn't expect to be guessed by himself. I chatted with him non-stop all day long, unlike now, it was so quiet that it was abnormal.

"where to?"

"Sanya." Tao Jie cherished words like gold.

Li Yaoming slowly sat down on the sofa, and his hands that unbuttoned his shirt fell on his knees. He wanted to take a shower first, but he was out of the mood right now.

"Tao Zi, should we talk calmly?" He asked, staring at her drooping eyelids.

"What are you talking about?" Tao Jie raised her head and glanced at him when she heard this, it was rare to see him dressed so formally at home with a serious face.

"I don't think we're in a good state now, you, cough, do you like our current state?" There was a trace of sincere distress in his tone.

Tao Jie put the book aside and sat up on the bed. In fact, as soon as Li Yaoming entered the door, her mind was not on the book.

"Then what do you think you can do?" She kicked the ball back to him.

Li Yaoming sighed, moved his mouth to one side, and asked softly, "You really don't like Beijing at all?"

Tao Jie turned her face to the side, just in time to see a piece of almost rotten wood on the window frame, even the brightest paint can't cover that ugly face.

When she first came here half a year ago, she never doubted her feelings for this city, because there was Li Yaoming, the person she loved.

"I'm in Beijing, and I have no relatives or friends." She said quietly, "The only person I have is you."

Tao Jie said, turning her eyes to Li Yaoming, "But you alone are not enough. I can't impose all my joys, sorrows and sorrows on you alone, you can't bear it, yes ?"

Li Yaoming looked at her and remained silent in a melancholy manner.

"Yao Ming, these days, I'm very unhappy, I often feel suffocated, yes, I don't like Beijing, because it makes me feel depressed."

"...Beijing is huge." Li Yaoming whispered, as if defending the city.

"Yes, it's big, but it doesn't belong to me."

The familiarity in these words made Li Yaoming startled, the same words had also been uttered from Zhao Zhicheng's mouth.

Zhao Zhicheng finally chose to leave Beijing, what about Tao Jie?

An ominous premonition enveloped Li Yaoming's heart like a dark cloud.He walked over, sat down in front of Tao Jie, suddenly lowered his head, and buried his face in Tao Jie's arched thigh like a child.

"Taozi, I went to Beijing three years ago and experienced some unpleasant things. I know that it is not easy to live a comfortable life here. If you ask me why I have to stay here, I can't tell you. But, I'm really used to the life here, and I hope I won't live a mediocre life like others. To this day, the dream in my heart is still not shattered, and I can't just leave with regrets like this."

Tao Jie kept her original posture motionless, letting the hot air rush to her legs when Li Yaoming spoke, she just listened numbly.

"I know that forcing you to do things you don't want to do will make you unhappy, but...give me another three years, just three years, okay? Taozi, I love you, and I don't want to be separated from you."

Li Yaoming murmured, "No, two years, no matter what, you have to let me try it before I'm reconciled. If two years is too long for you, even if it's just one year, one year is fine!"

Tao Jie could hear the unbearable sadness in his tone, she suddenly realized that the pressure on Li Yaoming's shoulders was no less than hers, and her heart suddenly softened.

She slowly raised her hand and stroked the base of his neck lightly, just like every time they were tender and sweet.

From her gentle demeanor, Li Yaoming read some kind of understanding. After a while, Tao Jie's voice came from above his head, "...Okay, I will wait for you for another year."

Immediately afterwards, there was a melancholy sigh, which came from Tao Jie's mouth, and also from Li Yaoming's heart.

One year, only one year.

Perhaps because of the fact that she has already experienced several big scenes, the meeting in Sanya was smoother than Tao Jie imagined. In addition, Alice likes to show off. Tao Jie, in this way, Tao Jie is much more relaxed than that time in Suzhou.

Sanya's picturesque scenery and delicious seafood also relieved her original depressed mood to a certain extent.

For two nights in a row, dozens of people ate a coaxing conference meal. On the last night, because many colleagues had already started to return one after another, it was finally a free activity for everyone.

Tao Jie didn’t dare to go out alone. She had a delicious meal at a restaurant near the hotel, and then went to the supermarket next door to buy some Hainan specialties. The leftovers were dried betel nuts and coconut sugar. Although jackfruit is good To eat, but it is said that it cannot withstand a long time. In such a hot day, she was very worried that it would stink before it was shipped back to Beijing, so she had to give up.

Alice didn't know where she went, and she didn't see her all night, but Tao Jie didn't expect to meet her either. Although the two of them took the same plane when they came, they were one behind the other, and they hardly spoke on the way. Like a stranger.

In fact, Tao Jie is not good at playing, but without a companion, she can't lift her spirits. She always feels a little strange and pitiful walking alone on the street. She obviously has a group of familiar colleagues by her side.

After finishing all the things and returning to the hotel room, it was still early, she tidied up her things slowly, then took a shower, leaned on the bed and watched TV.

I happened to see an old movie "The Pianist", which tells the story of how a famous Polish pianist hid under the noses of the Nazis during World War II.In the days when the Nazis were defeated and about to evacuate, a German military officer admired his talent and secretly used the food at home to support him. The goodness of human nature that has not been wiped out is particularly shining in this film that emits a cold and murderous atmosphere as a whole. Bright and precious.

Tao Jie suddenly thought, compared with the pianist in the movie, isn't her life already very happy, with no survival crisis, no food shortage, no continuous war, and not so many relatives. The misery of the afterlife, but why does she still feel that happiness is so far away from her?

Is it too much desire?

At exactly 10:30 when the movie ended, Tao Jie turned off the TV, only turned on a porch light, and closed her eyes to rest in the dim light.

A mass of thoughts kept cutting and being confused, her mind gradually became chaotic, and soon she fell into a drowsy coma...

When she woke up suddenly, she thought it was already dawn, and she struggled to get up and looked at the electronic clock on the bed cabinet. It was actually only past twelve midnight.

The mobile phone kept singing on the dressing table. It turned out that she was woken up by this sound.

Tao Jie frowned and scratched her hair, got up from the bed, feeling a little annoyed at the caller, it was so late at night, and they were not allowed to sleep!
She would never have thought that it was Alice who called her.

Her voice was vague and murmured on the phone. If Tao Jie hadn't saved her number in her cell phone, she would have wondered if someone had made the wrong call.

"Tao Jie, I... I seem to be drunk... Well, you... Can, can you help me?"

"Huh?" Tao Jie's shock was no small matter, "Where are you?"

"I, I don't know..." Lin Xi's voice fluctuated from far away and nearer, and there were some strange noises around her. I don't know what she was doing.

Tao Jie didn't even know the address, so Tao Jie was in trouble, "Are you in a bar?"

"Bar?" Lin Xi's trance voice came again, "Oh, yes, I'm at the bar—hey! Don't bother me!" Someone is pestering her.

"Tell me the name of the bar, and I'll go there right away!" She said decisively.

"Okay...okay." Lin Xi's voice came intermittently, and Tao Jie judged that she should be asking someone nearby.

"It's called Meichi, a beautiful beauty, a pool of ponds." Lin Xi said.

"Okay, you wait there, don't move around, I'll go find you right away." Tao Jie hung up the phone with a snap, changed her clothes and rushed out.

When the elevator was about to reach the first floor, a thought flashed through her mind, should she ask a male colleague to go there with her?
After thinking about it, I immediately gave up.

Not to mention that the colleagues who are still in the hotel should have entered their dreams at this moment, she guessed that Alice might not be willing to let others see her embarrassment.

However, she was able to call Tao Jie for help, but it was beyond Tao Jie's expectation. No matter how you say it, her distressed appearance should be the last thing Tao Jie wants to see. Maybe she is really too drunk .

The roads in Sanya are not difficult to walk, and most of the bustling areas are concentrated near the bus station.As soon as Tao Jie told the taxi driver the name of the bar, the driver immediately understood the exact location.

Get off the car at the entrance of Meichi, push the door open, as if walking into another world, the dazzling lights and smoky smog make people unable to open their eyes normally, Tao Jie wonders, unexpectedly Alice would like this place.

A waiter at the door came up to ask Tao Jie very attentively. She said she was looking for someone, and while she lifted her feet and poked her head inside, she saw countless moving heads.

Meichi is small in scale. There is a performance stage in the center of the bar, surrounded by several circles of small tables, densely arranged, with dozens of people in it, almost head to head, back to back, most of them are not familiar with each other, but They don't care about such a close distance.

The waiter walked in with Tao Jie, and listened carefully to Tao Jie's description of Alice's appearance. There were many women who came to the bar alone, and it was difficult for him to recall them all at once.

After squeezing around in the crowd but not seeing Alice, Tao Jie's anxiety deepened.The waiter heard from her that Alice might be drunk, so he suggested to take her to the corridor outside the bathroom, where there are several benches where drunk people often lie down and sleep.

It was hard for Tao Jie to imagine that Alice, who was always well-dressed, would fall asleep in such a messy public place, but there was obviously no better way at the moment, so she had to follow the waiter to the bathroom.

Pushing open the backyard separated by the thick glass door, there was a lot of silence around her ears. Before Tao Jie turned her head, she heard whispering voices in the corner, mixed with impatience.

Taking a closer look, it wasn't Alice, with a bored and helpless expression on her face, and she waved her arms weakly. Fortunately, the man who harassed her didn't dare to use force, for fear of attracting the attention of others.

"Alice!" Tao Jie rushed to pull her in surprise.

Alice struggled to open her sleepy eyelids, and when she saw Tao Jie, she was overjoyed at first, "You're finally here!" After she finished speaking, she threw herself into her arms and began to cry.

The man beside him was also quite drunk, and he wanted to tease Alice's arm with a smile, but Tao Jie gave her a hard look and gave her a strong push, "Go away!"

The man was about to get angry, the waiter behind him came over and whispered to him, then he stood up unsteadily, and muttered softly: "So it's Lace!"

Tao Jie didn't feel like arguing with him, so she asked the waiter to help Alice out.

There are many taxis parked in front of the bar in the early morning, and it is very convenient to take a taxi.

After stuffing Alice into the car, Tao Jie thanked the waiter, then got into the car and went all the way back to the hotel.

After getting into the car, Alice stopped crying, and curled up by the car door with her eyes closed, looking extremely tired.Tao Jie felt her chest was slightly wet, looked down, then looked at Alice beside her, and sighed silently.She didn't ask Alice's behavior, and no one was sad, she just happened to witness it.

The night in Sanya is quiet and warm, which is very different from Beijing.Tao Jie looked out through the car window, only thinking that this night was so strange.

At the hotel entrance, Tao Jie was worrying about how to get Alice into the room, but she woke up, opened her confused eyes, and looked at the brightly lit hotel, "Are you there?"

Tao Jie responded and opened the car door for her, "Can you go?"

Alice tried her foot strength, and although it was soft, she could still obey her command, gritted her teeth and said, "It's okay, I can do it."

Unexpectedly, as soon as he stepped out of the car door, he staggered and almost fell to the ground. In the end, Tao Jie helped him step by step into the hotel, and finally got into the elevator. The mirror on the inner wall was so clean that there was no room for any flaws.

Alice glanced at herself in the glasses, only to feel that her face was pale and gloomy. She turned her eyes away with a wry smile, and asked Tao Jie self-deprecatingly, "Am I ugly now?"

Tao Jie couldn't say anything, so she smiled and said, "Just take a bath."

After entering the room, Alice just wanted to fall into the quilt and never wake up again. In her vague consciousness, she had already realized that her behavior today was embarrassing, but at this moment she was too lazy to make a confession.

Tao Jie helped her boil a pot of water and made a cup of hot tea.

After putting the teacup on the bed table, Tao Jie looked at Alice who was lying on the bed with her eyes closed. She guessed that she had no strength to take a bath, so she unfolded the quilt to cover her, and turned the cold room temperature It was slightly raised by two degrees, and there was really nothing to do. She picked up her small bag and tiptoed to leave.

"Tao Jie." Alice suddenly called her on the bed, and at the same time tried her best to turn around, just facing Tao Jie. Only one wall lamp was turned on in the room, and the light was dim. Alice's face was shrouded in shadow. I don't know the expression.

"Can you... stay with me for a while?" Her low voice revealed a little helplessness.

Tao Jie's feet faltered, but she still turned around, "...Okay."

She sat down in the armchair opposite the bed, while Alice lay quietly on her back on the bed, looking over from Tao Jie's perspective, she couldn't tell whether her eyes were open or closed.

After sitting for a while, Tao Jie was a little bored, so she got up and went over to touch the cup of tea that she poured just now. The cup was warm, and she asked Alice, "Do you want some tea?"

"Thank you." Alice moved her body, it turned out that her eyes were always open, "Thank you, I don't need it for now."

"Drinking some tea will help you hangover." Tao Jie reminded kindly.

"Tao Jie, you are a good person." Alice stared at the ceiling suddenly and said.

For some reason, Tao Jie had the urge to laugh when she suddenly heard this sentence from Alice's mouth, but seeing Alice's solemn expression, she held back, she didn't know Is Alice sober or already drunk.

"You're a good man, I know." Alice repeated emphatically, "I've always known, so . . . I'm jealous of you."

Tao Jie was stunned, she didn't understand that there was something about herself that Alice could be jealous of.

"When you first came to BR, Betty was very satisfied with you. She praised you to me, saying that you are careful, down-to-earth, and safe. In fact, there is another point she didn't say: you have no ambition. Betty needs such a person, She hopes to get a long-term assistant who will work hard without complaining. The previous ones before me all quit or changed jobs after working for one or two years. I am a more attentive one, but Betty has always been wary of me. I am willing to work under her hand like this."

Tao Jie was a little restless. On the one hand, she was surprised that she had accidentally obtained such confidential information. The boss had a good impression of her, which is of course something to be happy about, but she was also worried that Alice might regret talking to her after she woke up. say these words.

But in the current situation, it is obviously not feasible to stop her from talking.

"Do you know how I got into BR in the first place?" Alice asked suddenly. Of course, she didn't expect Tao Jie's answer. She needed a question to elicit the following words.

"After I graduated, I joined a small company in Beijing to work. After two years, I was promoted to a supervisor. The salary was OK, but there was no prospect. At that time, I wanted to enter a first-class foreign company. BR was such a company that I admired. The company. In order to be able to enter BR, I lowered the salary of the original unit during the interview, and I applied for a small training specialist. Looking back now, I was really naive and ridiculous at that time.

(End of this chapter)