Chapter 42 What are you doing if you don't sleep...

Zhao Manzhi admitted that she seemed to be a little worried about gains and losses recently. Such a change is obviously a very dangerous signal, but she wanted an answer.

She was afraid of wronging others, so she never speculated on their intentions. She would weigh the pros and cons after asking for a definite result, and would not turn back until she hit the wall.

Sometimes, Zhao Manzhi always felt that she was strong on the outside but weak on the inside. She said she was free and easy, but her emotions could not be cut off so cleanly. This was the case with Fang Ling and Mr. Zhuang.

At this moment, she pretended to be calm and waited for Zhuang Youkai's answer. The small porcelain spoon was clenched in her hand, and it was already covered with slippery sweat. As long as he said yes, perhaps Zhao Manzhi could sort out her mood, stop investing in this relationship, and return to the original sense of propriety.

Zhuang Youkai's eyes were deep and long. After a moment of thinking, he gave his answer, "I don't know."

"Dang", the spoon fell back into the bowl, splashing a little white porridge.

Zhao Manzhi wiped it clean with a napkin. She couldn't tell whether she felt relieved or self-deprecating. She laughed lightly, "Can I understand your words as 'yes'?"

"I'm not trying to evade you. I don't know because I haven't experienced it. It's like a bud. I haven't seen it grow. Can I tell whether it will bloom and bear fruit?"

Zhuang Youkai grabbed her busy hand, trying to calm her down with this action. "The waiter will take care of it. Please listen to me first."

At this point, she really didn't move.

He slowly let go, as carefully as if he was putting aside a treasure, for fear of hurting it.

He used to hear people say that a wealthy family is a besieged city. He always felt hypocritical. Since he had received the wealth and glory given by the family, he must give up something, such as freedom and feelings. Compared with sadness, he cared more about the power in his hands and never felt sorry for himself.

Since meeting Zhao Manzhi, Zhuang Youkai has become more and more aware that this vacuum and even deformed environment may make him lack things beyond imagination, enough to destroy the self-confidence built up by the sense of control since childhood, and make him fall into self-doubt again and again.

It's as if he never knows how a healthy relationship starts, develops, turns and ends, and how to maintain it, and no one can tell him the answer. Everyone is telling him with their actions that sometimes the acceleration and iteration of relationships do not have to follow the laws of nature. As long as you are willing to spend a lot of money, you can buy anything.

But these don't work for Zhao Manzhi. Sometimes, he doesn't even dare to get close, for fear that he will do something wrong and it will only backfire.

"I have never had anyone to chat with like this. When I was in school, my classmates were either rich or noble. The campus was a small place of fame and fortune. Later, the intersection of business partners was profitable. Lin Zhuowen and Jiang Yu were blood relatives who shared the same fate. As for Uncle Ning, Cynthia, and Jeffery, they were paid by the Zhuang family. No matter how familiar they were, they were always separated by a layer of superior-subordinate relationship. They were not close." The words

in my heart had been hidden for too long, just like the aged wine sealed in the cellar. It would be particularly troublesome to open it again. Zhuang Youkai also pondered over and over again before he could tell her a few things, "So I need time to understand what the next step of the relationship that can be chatted with will be, how long it can last, and whether it will gradually fade away."

Zhao Manzhi listened silently, her heartstrings tightened.

"As the only one, are you willing to wait and see with me?"

"I..."

"Don't rush to refuse."

Compared to what she thought it meant, this answer was obviously good, at least there was no avoidance or denial. On the contrary, because it was too solemn, even like a confession, Zhao Manzhi was a little at a loss.

It was ridiculous. She was the first one that the prince of a wealthy family told her that he couldn't make friends.

Even if she had seen it in a novel, she would have complained whether it was true or not, but Zhuang Youkai's behavior didn't seem to be a lie.

What's more, it was hard for a woman to say "no" cruelly when stared at by his charming eyes.

Zhao Manzhi pushed her glasses to cover up her embarrassment, "Well, it's actually not as complicated as I imagined. Originally we could chat, and today we have evolved to have a heart-to-heart talk, right? Making friends is like this, just a little bit of familiarity will be enough."

At the beginning, she was the one who raised the question, but in the end she had to answer it in return. Zhao Manzhi thought to herself that Mr. Zhuang's conversation skills were indeed superb, and it was not unfair for her to fall into his hands.

However, he was willing to ask this question, at least putting her on an equal footing, and did not define the relationship between them as who favored whom or who depended on whom, which satisfied her.

Just talking about equality——

"Oh, by the way, I have something to ask you."

Zhuang Youkai's lips, which had just been raised, subtly flattened because of the change of the topic, "What?"

"The mooncakes I bought before the Mid-Autumn Festival were stolen. Later, the college investigated and recovered the loss for me. Was it arranged by Mr. Zhuang?" she said, "And the so-called Huanye employee benefits, it's not a coincidence... right?"

He did not deny it.

"I am indeed very grateful for your help, but I don't know how to repay you." Zhao Manzhi took a deep breath, trying to make her words not so ungrateful, "I would also feel embarrassed to bother you all the time."

"It's just a little help."

"Yes, your little help is beyond the reach of ordinary people." She was serious, as if she was a senior, "I now feel that friends should pay back and forth. If one party always pays, the relationship will be unbalanced. If it is unbalanced, it will be difficult to last long."

For him, it is indeed not difficult to mobilize manpower and material resources to investigate a thief and prepare a gift, and naturally he did not think about asking for anything in return.

Originally thought, this kind of tolerance is a goodwill, from her point of view, is it actually condescending?

Thinking back to the story of her "friend", she really reflected a lot from it.

"Okay." He responded straightforwardly, "In that case, can I also make a request?"

Zhao Manzhi nodded.

"Since we are friends, it is not good to always use honorifics. When it's just the two of us, you have to call me by my name."

It's not the first time he has made this request.

But thinking of the last time she called him like this, it's inevitable that she blushed.

Although it's just a name, after the usage scenario is fixed, no matter how you call it, it sounds like a whisper between lovers.

Zhao Manzhi felt her tongue and teeth fighting, but the other party had a natural look, "Try it."

"Zhuang..." No, I can't say it.

I shouldn't play the game of making friends with this young master!

She gave up on herself, "Why do you have to call me by my name?"

"If the name is not so important, you won't sign every email."

"..." The boomerang pierced her body.

Seeing her face flushed like a ripe tomato and it was getting late, Chong did not force her anymore, "If you can't yell in front of her, then practice behind her back first, and you'll get used to it."

As a result, that night, he received a WhatsApp message calling her by her full name.

Zhao Manzhi: Zhuang Youkai

Raymond Chong:?

Zhao Manzhi: ...

Zhao Manzhi: Do you believe me when I say my hand slipped?

She was wrapped in the quilt, scratching her head and looking for the undo function on WhatsApp. In the end, she only deleted this message from her chat history.

No, isn't the bigger problem that this person is still awake at 2:30 in the morning? Is he still on Swiss time?

Zhuang Youkai took a break from the tedious compliance review opinions and couldn't help but smile as he typed, "I really went back to practice right after I said it. No wonder he is an excellent student."

Zhao Manzhi was embarrassed by being guessed at, and it took him a long time to reply, "I said it was a slip of the hand."

Who would have thought that the person who was harassed late at night would immediately call to ask for an explanation.

In the almost dark room with the lights turned off, a sharp phone reminder suddenly rang, and its effect was no less than that of the midnight ring. Zhao Manzhi quickly answered the call, like a thief with a guilty conscience, and answered in a whisper under the quilt, "Why are you calling suddenly?"

"See what you are doing when you are not sleeping."

Hearing the flipping of papers and the rustling of keyboards on the other end, Zhao Manzhi knew that he was still working overtime.

"I... am going to sleep. I will sleep after reading this case."

"Didn't you just pass the midterm? Are you so nervous?"

"I can't sleep, just do something."

In fact, she was also using the case to hypnotize herself. The paper she found was too detailed. The background part alone could take up ten pages. She felt that she would fall asleep if she couldn't finish this part.

"What kind of cases are there? The information on the Internet is mixed. Don't go in the wrong direction and waste your time."

"Rebranding." She remembered that Shatin Huanye was also doing an image reshaping, which was done by Zhuang Youkai himself and was very effective. "Mr. Zhuang, can I ask you a question?"

"Hmm?" It didn't mean to let her continue.

Why are you so obsessed with a title? I don't understand. Zhao Manzhi couldn't resist, so she shouted, "I say, Zhuang... Youkai."

"Speak."

"Now many old hotels are catering to Generation Z and creating younger brands. Why is Shatin Huanye going against the trend? I see that all they are doing now are aging-friendly renovations, as if they want to go all the way on the road of elderly care."

"What is the opportunity for rebranding?" He asked a very simple question.

"Generally speaking, it is to expand market share and increase revenue."

"Since we mentioned the market, the first step should be to determine the target There are many young people on social media, and they have the most say, so naturally people will have the illusion that they can make a fortune by seizing the marketing of Generation Z. "

He paused, "The current situation of Shatin Huanye is that the hotel facilities and decorations are old, and the cost of renovation is too high. However, with the characteristics of beautiful natural environment, proximity to the inland, low land prices and large land area, it is most suitable for elderly travel and holiday reception services. There are not many five-star hotels on the market that specialize in this market, and there will be an aging trend in the next few decades, so it is important to take the lead. Other hotels naturally know that Huanye has made drastic changes, but one is that the family is not rich and dare not gamble, and the other is still greedy and greedy, and has not thought about the potential of the market segment, so most people are still waiting and watching. "

Zhao Manzhi nodded thoughtfully across the phone, "Indeed, when it comes to brand reshaping, it is easy to do it younger, but it limits the thinking. "

They were like this during the group discussion, mostly thinking about how old brands can be rejuvenated, and even considering that the current LGBT has also affected the layout model of many brands, such as a certain underwear brand that used to be perfect body used to promote the devil figure as a gimmick, because the annual show composed of the world's top models was world-famous. Later, the concept could not keep up, and it was slow to start large-size and trans underwear, and there were news of bankruptcy several times.

But in fact, you don't have to pay attention to the most fashionable things on trending. There are business opportunities in every corner of the world. Birth, aging, illness and death are inevitable for people. Huanye jumped out of the limitation and focused on the elderly market, using Shatin Hotel as a pilot, which was bold.

Compared with other group board members, Mr. Zhuang is too young, so young that he is a bit abrupt in the rich list. But at the same time, it is also because of his youth that he can come up with a personalized route such as one city, one scene, one district, one scene. Central Huanye is a high-end business, South Australia is the first choice for staycation, and Shatin is left for him to develop the elderly market.

And they are only four years apart.

Can four years of experience make such a big difference?

Thinking back to before, she said that Zhuang Youkai spoke maturely, and although there was no age difference, he always looked at her like a child. He has to think and do much more than her every day. He has walked a path that many people have to walk for more than ten years. How can he not be mature?

Zhao Manzhi forgot when she fell asleep. When she woke up, her phone was completely out of battery. She quickly found a charging cable to plug it in and turned it on. Messages poured in like a waterfall.

Li Ke was worried and asked her where she went yesterday and why she didn't reply to the message; several other half-familiar classmates asked her about things... There were also scattered discussions in the group chat, which she skipped one by one and clicked on the message sent by Zhuang Youkai to read.

Raymond Chong: I remember you have a class at 3:30 this afternoon. If you can't wake up, someone will wake you up at 2 o'clock. You're welcome.

Just after I finished reading, the doorbell rang and Lu Qianning's voice came: "Mandy, are you still sleeping? Mr. Zhuang asked me to call you."

Zhao Manzhi: ...

She answered, put on her coat, opened the door a little, and told Uncle Ning that she was safe. I don't know who was thoughtful. When Lu Qianning came, he called a dining car and helped her prepare brunch. It was nutritious and delicious.

Zhuang Youkai was "making a small effort" again.

But she didn't have time to argue about these things today. After packing up and eating a few mouthfuls of food, she checked out and went to school for class. This general education class was about film appreciation, and she didn't need to listen very carefully. Zhao Manzhi huddled in the back of the classroom, turned on her computer to cover her face, and began to reply to Li Ke's message.

Li Ke came to her to talk about renting a house. She happened to see a senior sister subletting the house on WeChat Moments, so she recommended the house to Zhao Manzhi to take a look. It was two stops away from the school by MTR, or by a minibus in about 15 minutes. The apartment was new and well-equipped, and you could see the sea, which was quite good.

But the price was really expensive beyond her imagination.

"6k is cheap. If you weren't the director, it wouldn't be so cheap. The average house in this neighborhood is 7,000 to 8,000 Hong Kong dollars. My senior said that many people are asking her about it. Do you want to go and have a look? I'll help you contact them."

Zhao Manzhi hesitated. She could certainly afford the money, but if her parents knew that she had a quarrel with Fang Ling, they would inevitably say a few more words, especially Ms. Ding, who was very frugal. She would definitely say, "It's just a conflict between friends. How can it be so serious? Why don't you just ignore her? Why spend this money?"

It seemed that spending money to pay for one's mood was indeed an unprofitable deal.

"Forget it, I'll ask the college first. If it doesn't work, I'll try living here for the next two days. Maybe it's not as unbearable as I thought."

"Okay, if you really want to find a house, I'll go with you when I'm free, and bargain with the agent."

"Okay, thank you."

During the two-hour class, Zhao Manzhi looked at all the rental apps, websites, forums, and information about subletting between students. She calculated her internship salary and scholarships, as well as the money she had saved. As long as she didn't need to pay all the rent at once, she could still make ends meet.

Of course, the best case scenario would be to switch to a new dormitory so that she wouldn't have to live in such a difficult situation.

"Sorry, classmate, you have to register early to change rooms, and you have to ask your roommate to come with you. It's not OK to register alone." The lady at the front desk patiently explained to her, "If she can't come, she can write a letter of authorization and attach a student ID photo."

Zhao Manzhi's heart sank, "Okay, don't show it."

"You're welcome."

She was worried and went upstairs slowly. When she walked to the door of the dormitory to find the key, she vaguely heard Chen Muchuan's voice.

Afraid that she had heard it wrong, Zhao Manzhi looked around. The corridor was empty, with only the sound of the elevator going up and down.

But Chen Muchuan's voice was still there.

With trepidation, she approached the dormitory door little by little. The boy's voice gradually became louder and clearer, and it was mixed with Fang Ling's voice, talking and laughing, so lively.

At this point, there was only one possibility, that is, Chen Muchuan, who is now in her dormitory.

A wave of nausea surged in her heart, Zhao Manzhi stumbled into the bathroom, and retched for a long time before she recovered. She didn't dare to open the door, fearing that it was Pandora's box. Once something was broken, things would become irreversible.

Zhao Manzhi went to the library and stayed there until ten o'clock in the evening. Chen Muchuan had already left. When she opened the door, Fang Ling was humming a song and applying a facial mask. Seeing her come in, she was on level 10 alert and all movements stopped.

The relationship had become so tense that there was no need to say hello. Zhao Manzhi glanced at her bed and desk. It seemed that they didn't touch her things.

That's good, so that she wouldn't feel sick when she thought about it later.

Without saying a word, she took out the suitcase and started packing. At first Fang Ling thought she was going out to play or on a business trip, so she sat on her side and played with her phone, until she found that she had packed up her daily necessities one by one, then she realized something was wrong, "Are you going on a long journey?"

"No, I'm moving out." Zhao Manyi didn't even raise her head, "I can't take all the things at once, I'll move after I find a house."

Fang Ling got up and walked over in surprise, "Is it because we quarreled? Why? Finding a house costs so much money..."

"It's not that." After thinking about it, Zhao Manyi still couldn't swallow this breath, "Did you bring someone to our dormitory?"

"No."

"You still say no? I heard Chen Muchuan's voice at the door today, this afternoon." She exposed it directly, "Is this because I'm not here today. What if you bring someone here one day and I'm changing clothes or wearing very little? Have you considered that you have a roommate before doing all this?"

"I..." Fang Ling hesitated for a long time but couldn't find a reason, so she just gave up, "Don't you have classes in the afternoon? There was no one around at that time. He just happened to come to our canteen for dinner and said he would come up to sit for a while after dinner. We just chatted for a while. Is it necessary to get so angry?" "

Why not? He was a boy. He came to my dormitory without my knowledge. What if he touched my things?"

"He didn't touch your things. Besides, Chen Muchuan has such good food and clothing, why would he touch your things? On the contrary, you get anxious and angry every time you mention him. You just don't like him and don't let him come."

After so long, Fang Ling still thought that their conflict was about Chen Muchuan. The more Zhao Manzhi thought about it, the more she felt frustrated. She scratched her hair, looking speechless, "Forget it, wait until I move out, you can do whatever you want, it's up to you, I don't want to control it, and I can't control it." She

closed the suitcase with a "snap", fastened the lock, put on her computer bag and walked out.

Fang Ling chased her to the elevator and held her back, "It's so late, if you want to find a house, you can talk about it tomorrow!"

"Don't touch me!"

Zhao Manzhi shook her hand away, Fang Ling's feet were unstable, she stumbled and fell to the ground. The elevator just stopped at their floor, and a few girls came out sparsely. Seeing the scene of the two of them, they watched and watched them.

Fang Ling felt uncomfortable, and she supported herself to stand up, and her voice was crying, "Manman, I really didn't think we would end up like this today."

Wasn't she the same?

Zhao Manzhi's face floated with a teasing smile, "Anyway, it can't get any worse, so let's stop here."

She walked into the elevator without any regrets, and then the elevator door closed and descended.

The scene in front of Fang Ling was also blurred by tears.

She returned to the dormitory and cried for a long time. In the end, she had no strength to cry and began to laugh at herself. As she laughed, a trace of hatred rose in her heart.

Are you high and mighty? Zhao Manzhi, you'd better never bow down to me.

*

Sophia didn’t expect to meet Mandy again on the night shift: “You’re staying here for five days, is it also to experience the employee discount?”

Zhao Manzhi smiled bitterly while holding the room card, “I’m going to find a house nearby and move there, and stay in the hotel for a while.”

“What’s wrong, are you having a conflict with your roommate?”

“I guess.”

Sophia said angrily, “Why did you move? The rent is so expensive, and she should be the one to leave.”

“Anyway, my college is far away, and the daily commute is about the same as living outside, so let’s do this for now.” She winked at Sophia, “Thanks.”

“You’re welcome, do you want a midnight snack today?”

Thinking of the meal she had last night sitting opposite Zhuang Youkai and eating it with trepidation, Zhao Manzhi almost tripped over her suitcase, “No, no, I’ll go up first.” “

Okay, call me anytime if you need anything.”

Two minutes after the man left, Zhuang Youkai came out of the president’s elevator in the office area. He was listening to a conference call in Switzerland with his Bluetooth headset on, and when he looked up, he saw the girl pushing a suitcase and disappearing into the elevator.

"Is that Mandy?"

Sophia didn't expect the president to ask her so closely, she was flattered, "Yes, she just came to complete the five-day check-in procedures, she said she wants to find a house and live here for a while."

"Okay, got it." But after pausing for a moment, he raised his wrist to check the time, and walked out with big strides. Jeffery hurriedly followed with the documents in his arms.

"Mr. Zhuang, take care."

Zhao Manzhi is looking for a house to move out? What happened, why didn't she mention it?

He only listened to the Swiss person in charge's speech, his mind was full of this matter.

Jeffery saw his worries and suggested, "Do you need my help to take a look? It seems that the old man had several vacant units here before..."

"No need." It was she who said that if you give too much and the relationship is unbalanced, it will not last long. Zhuang Youkai's eyes dimmed, "Let's wait until she speaks."