Ever since Zhao ii moved in with Shi Yang, you’d think living under the sa roof would an seeing each other often, but the truth is Zhao ii’s interactions with Shi Yang could be counted on one hand.
Since hooking up with Qian Yonggui, Shi Yang quickly worked the connections, getting to know everyone from high-ranking officials to small-ti personalities at the fire departnt, and beca familiar with the main people in charge at several city malls.
While Shi Yang was busy networking day and night, Qu Chaozong took on all the installation jobs himself, personally teaching and guiding a few newly hired workers, studying and designing how to install the Naughty Castle simultaneously. By the end of February, they had already started making money.
The night they received full paynt, Qu Chaozong called Shi Yang and Wang Tianyu, and the three of them ordered a table full of good booze and food to celebrate the first inco after the business transition.
Qu Chaozong had been working himself to the bone lately, putting in overti labor every day. He was with two workers loading and unloading goods, building fras, and climbing heights. He’d never done such tiring work ever since he was a kid, and they noticed he’d lost a lot of weight.
Shi Yang wasn’t much better; he spent days soaking at drinking tables, and his once handso and charming face was prematurely weathered by alcohol, with sunken eyes and red lips, a clear sign of a hangover not fully recovered, a stomach not fully settled.
eting face to face, Qu Chaozong asked with concern, "Are you okay? Your complexion doesn’t look too good."
Shi Yang waved his hand, "I’m fine, just drank a bit too much. I’ll recover."
Qu Chaozong, being quite easygoing, thought nothing of it upon hearing him say he was fine. Yet, he still ordered a pot of hot milk and so light vegetarian dishes for Shi Yang while ordering.
Once the food was served and the server closed the private room door, Qu Chaozong imdiately began ranting about the Kindergarten where they installed the Naughty Castle, criticizing everyone from the principal to the teachers in detail, which relieved his pent-up frustrations slightly.
Naughty Castle was a novel concept; not just the kindergarten staff but even Qu Chaozong, the contractor, had only seen the finished product pictures.
On the images, the completed Naughty Castle looked simply like so pipes fitted together, wrapped pipes, a few big barrel slides assembled, like toys for play, exceedingly simple.
But once they started working, they were stumped. During area asurent, they hadn’t calculated the lengths and thicknesses of all the parts precisely, and however you stacked them together, they didn’t fit, poorly planned dinsions ended with pipes cut too long or short, wasting much material.
With a mouthful of blisters from worry, Qu Chaozong faced the kindergarten principal with spectacles, nitpicking incessantly:
"Is this slope too steep? Can kids climb up?"
"How did you build this little house to look like a land temple? Oh dear, it’s too inauspicious, I don’t want it!"
"Why is the pipe wrapping yellow? It’s too eye-piercing; we want green. Green is good for children’s eyes!"
Qu Chaozong ground his teeth in anger, fed up with the nagging, retorted, "You chose the features when ordering. This house, you said it looked cute back then, kids could play house inside. You chose the pipe color too, saying it matched the overall tone of your kindergarten perfectly. The goods have already been shipped from the factory. If you want to exchange them, fine, but the freight’s on you."
The principal weighed the options and found it not worth it, changed tack to critique Qu Chaozong’s team’s clumsy handiwork and slow work pace instead.
Finishing his rant, Qu Chaozong downed the drink, exhaled deeply, and sumd up with one line: "The principal is just an annoyance!"
Shi Yang recalled the mild-mannered-looking principal and burst out laughing.
You can’t bla the principal for being picky. A tiny kindergarten, only opened for three years, suddenly investing tens of thousands in a new project without knowing its success, has every reason to be ticulous.
Shi Yang sipped his hot milk, drank two mouthfuls, and reassured Qu Chaozong with a smile, "The principal maybe has guts. The kindergarten’s only been running for three years; stability might just be settling in. Spending this investnt causes strains, needing another year to break even. It’s not only her who feels hesitant. Even in our hearts, we’d be reluctant, being cautious is reasonable."
Having vented his grievances, Qu Chaozong moved on, nodded, and enthusiastically started planning the next deals with kindergartens.
The al went splendidly, Qu Chaozong indulged and eventually got drunk. Wang Tianyu followed with two bottles, barely maintaining a bit of sobriety. Among the three of them, only Shi Yang didn’t touch a drink. He drove and dropped Qu Chaozong and Wang Tianyu each ho.
As Shi Yang ca ho, just stomping to activate the voice-activated light, the ho’s door imdiately opened in response.
Zhao ii peered out from the door, beaming with delight.
Shi Yang felt a rush of excitent, dashed inside, tossing aside every worry and irritant, spread his arms wide, enveloping Zhao ii, stole a glance at the closed master bedroom door, intentionally lowered his voice, and asked, "So late, how co you’re not asleep yet?"
Rolling her eyes, Zhao ii replied with a hint of complaint and affection, "If I were asleep, I wouldn’t see you, would I?"
Shi Yang chuckled, rubbed her head, gestured towards the master bedroom: they all asleep?
Zhao ii nodded, gave him a tight hug, released her hold, helped him by taking out slippers, waited for Shi Yang to change shoes, and followed him around.
After Shi Yang cleaned up, Zhao ii bobbed along with him into the bedroom.
Sinking into bed, Shi Yang reached to rub his neck twice. Earlier he helped the drunken Qu Chaozong upstairs, and Qu Chaozong had been fooling around, choking him. Didn’t feel anything strange then, but now any movent felt like a stiff neck.
Seeing this, Zhao ii hurried over, "Bro, let massage you? Neck hurting?"
Lying down, Shi Yang undid a few buttons of his pajamas collar, pulled down his clothes, exposing his long neck and broad shoulders.
Zhao ii kneeled on the bed, started massaging from the neck down to the shoulders. Though lacking technique and hand strength, just randomly kneading managed to occasionally hit the right sore spots, making Shi Yang feel quite comfortable.
Half-closed eyes, Shi Yang drifted between sleep and wakefulness, felt a weight on him, tightly pressed. He stirred, twisted his neck to check, and amusedly discovered Zhao ii had fallen asleep directly on him, still clutching his neck, maintaining the massage posture.
Cautiously, Shi Yang slipped out from under Zhao ii’s body, leaned over watching the peacefully sleeping Zhao ii.
Under gentle lamplight, with closed eyes, Zhao ii’s fine brows concealed dense, long eyelashes, casting shadows on her eyelids.
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