Chapter 117: Adulthood Isn’t Easy

The next morning, the sun shone brightly.

But because they were in the mountains, everything looked a bit hazy. When the sunlight scattered through the mist, it had a unique feel.

Dong Wenhao took those who liked hiking to the mountain behind the town while those who didn’t want to go slept in, waiting for the bus to pick them up at noon.

But before noon, the group that went hiking returned, all quite angry, saying they didn’t even see a single temple.

The most infuriating part was, although the mountain behind looked short, there was really no path. They had to walk with uneven steps and almost couldn’t find the way back.

“What a crappy place, I’m never coming again!”

Hearing this, Jiang Qin laughed, “Forget it, let’s not even do team building in the future, it’s a waste of work time!”

“Boss, your foot is lame but you still have the heart to joke?” Dong Wenhao didn’t get it.

“My foot hurting won’t affect my talking, will it? Get lost.”

Su Nai also looked over with a strange expression, “Boss, you didn’t even go up the mountain with us, how did you get lame?”

Jiang Qin calmly said, “Arthritis, an old problem. Alright alright, stop blabbing, the bus is here, quickly do a headcount and get on!”

“We have enough people, boss.”

“Good, then let’s head back.”

Jiang Qin watched all the members of 208 get on the bus, then went back to the rural leisure courtyard to get his Audi. The small wound on his foot didn’t affect stepping on the brakes and accelerator. He would just drive slower.

At this time, Feng Nanshu was standing in the courtyard, looking at his rolled up pant leg and the matching wound on his leg, her expression cute and puzzled.

“Jiang Qin, what happened to your foot?”

“Fell in the bathroom, ankle hit the ground first.”

“I don’t really believe that.”

Jiang Qin grinned as he drove, thinking I don’t care if you believe it or not, you have no proof anyway.

After returning to Linchuan University, the excitement from the team building quickly faded as all of 208 threw themselves into promoting at the University of Science and Technology.

Other than classes, Jiang Qin was also constantly shuttling between Linchuan University and the University of Science and Technology.

The backseat of his car changed passengers many times. Sometimes it was Wei Lanlan and Tan Qing who went to investigate market information, sometimes it was Dong Wenhao and Lu Feiyu who went to interview content creators at the University of Science and Technology.

Of course, more often it was just him.

Because they met so often, Guo Zihang even had the illusion that he and Jiang Qin attended the same university.

They would see each other after class, bump into each other while eating, and when Jiang Qin was bored, he even went with Guo Zihang to two of his classes, but fell asleep within three minutes of listening.

Perhaps because of his unique charm, Jiang Qin was even chased by a few girls in Guo Zihang’s class for his QQ number.

“Godfather, you really seem to have become a male god.” Guo Zihang was a bit envious.

Jiang Qin pouted, looking disdainful, “What’s the damn point of being a male god? I still want to become a wealthy tycoon the most.”

“If you treat our class to milk tea, someone will definitely call you a tycoon, believe it or not?”

“Then they’ll be called major whiners, no, they’ll be called Qin Zi’ang!”

Guo Zihang deeply agreed with the latter half, “Makes sense!”

Jiang Qin suddenly remembered something from before the team building, “Right, how are things with you and that senior sister Cui of yours?”

“I don’t know why, but she’s ignoring me now.”

“Heh, it’s good that she’s ignoring you. Go back to Little Auntie, older women know how to dote on you.”

“…”

After class, Jiang Qin came to the bottom of the female dormitory building and sat on the long bench, looking at the milk tea shop across from him, his expression a bit vexed.

Many people had already asked about the price of Encounter Milk Tea Shop, but for the 30% premium over market price, everyone felt it was hard to accept.

So while many people wanted to take over, no one dared to actually do it.

They were all waiting, hoping Gao Dawei would calm down on his own and come to his senses, because everyone could sense that Gao Dawei was only asking for sky-high prices because his mentality was ruined after his divorce.

But this mentality of his couldn’t be sustained forever. There would come a day when he regained his calm.

However, Jiang Qin didn’t want to wait.

The promotion plan was coming up. He couldn’t limit himself because of the location of one milk tea shop.

It was fine before the team building, but now that everyone was ready for the promotion after the team building, they were about to go all out. If this dragged on any longer, all the enthusiasm would be drained.

So on Wednesday afternoon, Jiang Qin came to Linchuan University of Science and Technology again and picked up Wei Lanlan who was surveying the surrounding shops here.

“Boss, I found five shops. I have to say, Encounter is the most suitable location for our later promotions. It’s not as crowded as the front, with enough activity area and queue space. There are also three milk tea shops nearby, so the advertising effect will be very obvious in comparison.”

After listening, Jiang Qin nodded, also inclined to fight for Encounter Milk Tea Shop, “Did you organize the phone call content I asked you to?”

“Mm, it’s all organized. I have it on me.”

Jiang Qin closed the car window, “Read it to me.”

Wei Lanlan took out a form, “Gao Dawei, 43 years old this year, came to Linchuan to try his luck at 18. Later took out a loan to buy a house and paid off the loan 5 years ago. At 38, he reluctantly married a woman he met through a matchmaker. They fought constantly for three years before divorcing. No kids.”

Jiang Qin furrowed his brows, “Damn, why does this character setting seem so familiar? Anything else?”

“He said he doesn’t want to run the milk tea shop anymore, just wants to take half his life savings, bring his parents and go travel. But he didn’t dare tell his family about the divorce, afraid it would be a blow to his parents.”

“And his mentality?”

“Feels like a failure, has nightmares every day.” Wei Lanlan put down the form after reading.

Divorced, mentality collapsed, despaired of life, under immense pressure.

Jiang Qin nodded, stretched out his hand to pull down the sun visor, opened the small mirror and looked at his own eyes, “Thirty-eight years old, accomplished nothing, don’t dare face parents, don’t dare face the future. Thirty-eight years old, accomplished nothing, don’t dare face parents, don’t dare face the future…”

Wei Lanlan was a bit confused. Just as she was about to speak, she saw the boss’s expression suddenly become very downcast.

Then, Jiang Qin took the pre-printed transfer contract, opened the car door, took out two bottles of alcohol, a bag of stewed pork, and a bag of peanuts from the trunk, put them in a cloth bag, and strode into the milk tea shop.

Gao Dawei now complained to everyone. Whoever came, he complained to them, his tone extremely irritable. Very few people could talk to him for more than three sentences, but he still grabbed people to chat, saying how life wasn’t worth it.

He needed to vent, needed to let it out, and didn’t care if anyone was listening to him.

He just needed a living, breathing object to pour his heart out to.

But everyone was staring at his milk tea shop with greedy eyes, pissing him off, so he stubbornly clung to his price and wouldn’t change it no matter who came.

However, this time, he found that the young man in front of him was different.

He recognized Jiang Qin, because he had come once last week and also wanted to take over his milk tea shop. But this time, Gao Dawei found that he wasn’t in a hurry to ask about the price and was just listening.

What surprised Gao Dawei the most was that his complexion was as downcast as his own, his expression also carrying a vicissitude similar to his own.

“In middle age, there are too many things out of your control, so there’s nothing easy in the adult world.”

Jiang Qin muttered a sentence when his complaints suddenly stopped.

Gao Dawei was slightly stunned, “You can understand?”

“I know what you’re thinking. Feeling like the family line is ending with you, feeling like you’ve let your parents worry in their old age after they toiled their whole lives, afraid to go back to your hometown and be gossiped about. Also feeling increasingly lonely, wanting to reminisce about the past, but when you turn around and look, you find you’ve left nothing behind in this life, it’s all trivial.”

Gao Dawei widened his eyes in disbelief, “Damn, you really understand?”

“I have an uncle who is the same, feels there are too many regrets in life. We’re adults now, don’t dare to cry, afraid to lose face. Only report good news to family, never the bad. After struggling for most of your life, in the end everything is empty, and your heart is empty too. So depressed you can’t sleep at night, feeling like the whole world has betrayed you.”

“Then what happened?” Gao Dawei’s voice trembled a bit.

“Later he couldn’t hold it in anymore and called his oldest nephew, which is me. The two of us chatted for a night!”

Jiang Qin pointed to his heart and took out two bottles of alcohol from the bag he brought.