Rebirth 04: Starting from Taking an Unconventional Approach

Lu Hai looked down at his hands, noticing they were attracting curious glances from other guests. The woman rested her elbows on the table, her hands supporting her chin. Lu Hai could smell the same perfume she wore as his own cologne. A small alarm bell suddenly went off in his head. Who was this woman? A reporter? A fellow traveler? Or a fellow fan who had struck up a conversation? His overreaction last night had led to a misunderstanding. Was he being paranoid, or simply sticking to his principles?

"Out of town," Lu Hai said.

"Judging from your accent, you sound like you're from Shanghai," the woman said. "That's the downside of traveling alone for work; you don't even know who to talk to during meals."

"Um."

"You look like you've finally breathed a sigh of relief. You must have been exhausted yesterday, right? Me too, I was running around all afternoon, my legs are so thin now," the stranger said, turning to look at the television, shifting her weight so that a slit in her suit was visible underneath. Lu Hai felt his lips were dry, so he took a sip of water, his eyes fixed on the guests gathered in front of the television, his nose focused on inhaling deeply.

"you......"

The woman smiled slightly: "I think I saw you yesterday, in the mobile building. What a coincidence that you're staying at this hotel too. You usually have to pay for your own tickets at these budget hotels, right? Does your company reimburse you?"

"It was given to me," Lu Hai said, glancing at his watch. "Then why were you here yesterday...?"

"I'm here to investigate," the woman said with a smile. "Our company also wants to try our hand at SP (Service Provider) business, so we sent me here to see what the trend is in Guangdong Mobile's bidding this time. I spent the whole afternoon at the site yesterday and looked at several bids. I remember your bid document the most clearly; it was such a thick stack."

The band's lead singer closed his eyes, grabbed the microphone with both hands, and sang the crescendo of the song.

"Yes, that's right." Lu Hai placed the empty bowl in a trolley that was being pushed by. "I'm done eating, I'll be going now."

"What's your favorite Beyond song? I'm guessing it's 'Boundless Oceans, Vast Skies'?"

Lu Hai, whose buttocks had already lifted halfway off the seat, sat back down upon hearing this: "Uh... 'Grey Track'."

"Wow, I like it too," the woman said. Lu Hai saw a glimmer of light in her eyes. "Does your company travel a lot? I thought content creators all worked in offices."

"Occasionally."

"Guangdong's bidding process this time has particularly strict requirements for content copyright and review mechanisms. Did you have prior experience with this? Otherwise, how could you possibly produce so much material all at once? Unlike me, I'm still not even sure what the entry requirements are."

Lu Hai detected the woman's excited reaction in her voice and glanced at her, but her expression revealed nothing. Unable to discern whether she was simply curious or had ulterior motives, he decided not to let the conversation escalate in that direction.

"And you?" Lu Hai asked. "What does your company do?"

"Oh, how about we exchange business cards?" the woman said, opening her handbag. "Maybe we'll have a chance to work together in the future."

"No need!" Lu Hai quickly said.

"Okay," the woman said kindly, "If you win the bid this time, are you going to make a big splash in Guangdong?"

"The results aren't out yet, and we're not sure if we'll win. Let's focus on finishing our current tasks first."

The woman nodded: "I've heard that many large companies have been contacting content teams recently, so you shouldn't have any trouble finding partners, right?"

This question stumped Lu Hai. He made a gesture that seemed to say everything, yet said nothing at all. At the same time, he realized the conversation was spiraling out of control. Regardless of the woman's motives for approaching him, he couldn't continue. He had to leave.

"I'm sorry, this is internal company information and I can't disclose it," Lu Hai said, standing up.

"I understand." The woman chuckled softly. "I was presumptuous. It's just that it's rare to meet someone I can really chat with, so I said a few more words. You know, people in our line of work have an occupational hazard of being nosy. But don't worry, I didn't mean to pry into your inside information."

Lu Hai savored one last look at her before walking toward the exit, the band's lead singer behind him still emitting an almost indistinguishable vibrato in the high notes under the crystal chandelier.

......

The roar of motorcycle engines echoed through Songjiang Town, hurtling along the bumpy, old roads. The engines thundered between the houses. Exhaust fumes surrounded Boss Zhou, whose obese body swayed violently.

Songjiang Town has only one street. At the street entrance stands a crooked old locust tree, and the old man who runs the bicycle repair stall under it hasn't set up shop yet. His stall only has an empty stool and a pile of screws on the ground. The main street of the town is no more than 300 meters long from east to west, and the brick houses along the way are all painted with slogans like "Family Planning is Good." In the middle of the street is a small supermarket converted from a supply and marketing cooperative, and opposite it is the newsstand he needs to go to. The newsstand is made of welded sheet metal, painted entirely in postal green, with a sign on top that reads "Dragon Kingdom Post Office."

Mr. Zhou rode his bike to an open area and then turned around. He prepared to accelerate towards the uphill alley between the newsstand and the utility pole, intending to park the bike on the slope, but as soon as he stepped into first gear, the bike coughed loudly and then stalled. Mr. Zhou cursed and slammed on the starter lever to try to start the engine, but the motor just kept groaning.

He got out of the car and walked towards the newsstand. Old Liu, the owner of the newsstand, perked up when he saw Boss Zhou appear at his shop.

"Uncle Liu," Boss Zhou called out.

"Fatty Zhou," Old Liu walked over and grabbed him, "Tell me the truth, has your magazine gotten into trouble with someone? Xiao Hu called me yesterday afternoon and said a whole bunch of people went over and looted all the Bluebird magazines from his shelf. I've been selling magazines here for twenty years, what kind of people haven't I seen? This doesn't sound right. I just want to ask you one thing, is your magazine clean or not? Don't let me get dragged into this."

"Uncle Liu, don't worry, let me tell you."

Old Zhou pushed Old Liu into the house, just as the clock on the wall struck nine. Apart from the new magazines and the new calendar on the wall, the newsstand looked unchanged since the reform and opening up. Old Liu put down the kettle. Old Zhou picked up a copy of Qingniao Magazine from the counter and found a chair to sit down.

"Uncle Liu, take a look." Boss Zhou flipped open the back cover of the magazine and pointed to the publication number. "Look at this number. This is a legitimate publication, approved by the Shanghai Press and Publication Bureau. The Mobile Dream Network certification on the cover is also real; it's not something they just printed on to fool people."

"Those people that Xiao Hu mentioned..."