Chapter 16: 16

It was just as Lin Hui had expected. Feng Juntao had gone to the trouble to invite He Jianshan, so he naturally prepared a full itinerary for them as well.

After playing golf in the morning, the group then went to a members only club for lunch. During the meal, Feng Juntao and He Jianshan had a pleasant chat with each other. The conversation never stopped. Feng Ying didn’t want to be left out either. Perhaps he was worried about not being a good host to Lin Hui. He kept insisting that he try this dish or that dish. He was a very good conversationalist, and he was able to make small talk regardless of what the topic was. Lin Hui noticed the other’s continued goodwill, so the smile on his face became a little more genuine. The two of them even exchanged WeChats. Lin Hui politely extended an invitation to Feng Ying. “If you ever have the chance to come to Beijing, I’ll treat you to dinner.” 

Feng Ying immediately smiled. “Definitely, definitely.”

After lunch, they all went to visit a few properties of Ruitao’s. Feng Juntao’s arrangement was meant to be a bit of a show. Ruitao, as a whole, might not be as impressive as Wanzhu. However, the company had developed well over the past two years, so it could be considered a relatively strong player. Lin Hui had been following He Jianshan for many, many years now. Listening to the two of them negotiate back and forth was honestly a little headache inducing. Still, He Jianshan appeared to be in a good mood. It seemed that the other party was willing to put a lot of money down on the project in Ninghai. Seeing that their time was about up, He Jianshan expressed to Feng Juntao that they had already made other plans for dinner. They made an appointment to meet again some other time. Thus, their official business in Changning had come to an end. Now, it was time for their personal business—Changning Night Market.

 

 

Changning Night Market was located at Xiuting Park, a famous tourism spot. Everyone called it a park, but it was actually a public tourism attraction. The government had built a beautiful parkway around Xiuting Lake. There were flowers to admire in the spring and snow to view in the winter. During summer and autumn, a lively night market was open every night from 7:00 to 10:00 PM. The glittering night market wasn’t really anything special. Lots of cities had night markets like this one. However, Changning’s night market had been established early on. It had integrated a lot of its regional and cultural characteristics into itself and developed all the way up until now. Regardless of whether it was scale or quality, it far surpassed the night markets of other cities in China. Due to its longevity, the night market would sometimes switch up its theme or its merchants. They may even produce some merchandise to match the theme of the market. They were very, very attentive to detail. Many tourists came to the city just for this night market.

It was almost 8:00 PM by the time He Jianshan and Lin Hui arrived at Xiuting Park. They had dinner at a nearby shopping mall. As they walked over to the park, there was a nonstop stream of people passing by them. It looked as though they were all heading towards the night market. It made sense given the timing. Lin Hui could already see the extravagant and gaudy display that was the entrance to the park. It was dazzling bright before a curtain of night. When the two of them entered the park, the employee by the entrance gave each of them a small stamp card. Lin Hui checked what the theme of the night market was this time—fairy tales. No wonder the merchants were all wearing cute accessories. The check-in points were also decorated in bright colors. Lin Hui took a look at all the frolicking children and intimate couples. He furrowed his brows. “President He, don’t you think we’re kind of sticking out?” 

He Jianshan thought for a little bit. Then, he pointed at the small shop next to them that was selling glittery cat ears and said, “If you want, we can buy some of those.”

 

Lin Hui: “…”

He had to admit the atmosphere of the night market was really amazing. They were surrounded by the smell of amazing food and the sound of cheerful laughter. Halfway through the park, Lin Hui was randomly approached by a group of NPCs. It was just a few young people wearing antlers on their heads. They stuffed a bunch of locally produced fruit drops and candied fruit into his hands. Even He Jianshan was infected by the lively atmosphere. A faint smile hung on the corners of his lips. The two of them walked, talked, and looked around as the evening breeze blew past. It truly was a pleasant experience.

As they were walking, they came upon a large gashapon machine. Lin Hui couldn’t help but stop when he saw the crowd gathering to watch. He saw a seven or eight year old boy turn the knob a couple of times with both of his hands. Then, a round ball fell from the machine with a plop. The boy’s father helped him open it. Inside, there was a note that said “third place prize”. The third place prize was a large shark plushie. The little boy happily hugged the shark and left as a crowd of envious gazes looked on.

 

Lin Hui took a careful look at the counter. It was thirty yuan per draw. Most of the prizes were toys that children generally liked. The prize that was worth the most was the first place prize. It was a box of lego flowers, worth about five-hundred yuan.

Lin Hui couldn’t help pointing at the box of legos and said, “The first place prize is pretty good. These legos are pretty hard to come by.”

He Jianshan was a little surprised. “Do you like legos?”

 

“Well … I guess so. I like to play with them every now and then.” 

He Jianshan looked at the box of legos and then at Lin Hui. “Do you want to try?”

“Ah?” Lin Hui was still looking at other prizes. He hadn’t really digested what the other had said.

We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.

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He Jianshan nodded. “I want it. Help me draw.”

Lin Hui softly said, “President He, this is the first place prize. It’s not going to be that easy. If you really want it that badly, you can just buy it online.”

“Aren’t you curious about how many draws it’ll take to win this box of legos?” 

Lin Hui felt like he was going mad. “I’m not curious at all.”

He Jianshan expressionlessly glanced at him. He raised his cell phone and scanned the QR code to pay three-hundred yuan. “It’s thirty yuan per draw, right? Let’s start with ten coins for now.”

 

Lin Hui looked at He Jianshan in dismay.

He Jianshan placed the ten coins in his palm. “Consider this to be a performance assessment.” 

At the moment, there wasn’t anyone drawing from the gashapon machine, but there were still a lot of spectators gathered around. It was likely they’d seen the ten coins in Lin Hui’s hand. They were curious about what kind of prize he’d be able to win. Lin Hui didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. Even the shopkeeper started egging him on, “Come on! Maybe you’ll get the first place prize in a single draw.”

Lin Hui weighed the coins in his hand. How could it be that easy? If they were to really go for the legos, He Jianshan would have a hell of a lot to spend.

Sure enough, once all the coins were used up, He Jianshan had a handful of paper slips in his hand. He exchanged the paper slips for prizes and distributed them to all the kids that were watching. Everyone was thrilled. They started chattering away at once.

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“Uncle, good luck!” 

“Uncle, you gotta win a big prize!”

“Uncle, I haven’t gotten a toy yet…”

Thus, He Jianshan exchanged another ten coins and handed them to Lin Hui. Lin Hui was somewhat exasperated. “You’ve already spent six-hundred yuan. You could just buy a box yourself!”

He Jianshan reassured him, “Don’t worry. I’ve got enough money to play around a bit.” 

He Jianshan had already said the word, so Lin Hui decided that he might as well go along with it. The lego flowers were like an ultra-rare gacha item, and He Jianshan, a pay-to-win player, was determined to win. Lin Hui could only hope that he’d be able to win the prize sooner rather than later and prevent his boss from spending too much money. More and more people started gathering to watch. Every child that was present had received a prize from Lin Hui and He Jianshan. They refused to leave no matter what. Everyone seemed to be holding their breath. Upon every twist of the knob, they’d quietly whisper to each other. They were all hoping for him to draw the first place prize.

Finally, during the thirty second attempt, Lin Hui unfolded the paper slip and saw the words “first place prize”. Before he’d even had the chance to react, the crowd had already started cheering. Then, they enthusiastically applauded. Lin Hui was beside himself with laughter. He felt that the crowd was even more excited than he was. He Jianshan was also laughing. He was standing next to the box of legos in the display window. Behind him, there was a tree covered in twinkling fairy lights. It was as if the first prize that Lin Hui had won wasn’t the legos. Rather, it was him.

The shopkeeper smilingly handed the box of legos to Lin Hui. He said, “I was about to die of anxiety! If it took you any longer, I was about to just straight up give it to you!”

Lin Hui smiled and shook his head. “I’m sure you earned a lot from today as well!” 

“Hand me your stamp card—”

Lin Hui dug around in his pocket and handed the card to the shopkeeper. He watched the shopkeeper stamp it with a pop. Then, the shopkeeper ran to a couple of other shops nearby. After a while, the card was covered with red stamps. He returned the card to Lin Hui. “You can exchange this card for a cup of tea at the entrance. Changning’s lingonberry tea is amazing.”

Lin Hui asked curiously, “How did you know that we’re tourists?”

“There’s no way any local would come to the night market dressed like the two of you!” 

Lin Hui and He Jianshan looked at each other in dismay. They were both wearing dress shirts with jeans. Personally, Lin Hui felt that this was already a fairly casual outfit, especially for He Jianshan. However, it probably had something to do with his temperament. He didn’t really look like he’d come here to go shopping. Rather, he looked like he’d just finished a conference.

Lin Hui hoisted the box of legos in his hand and smiled. “I just finished up a huge deal.”

 

The two of them bid farewell to the gashapon owner and continued on their way. Lin Hui looked down at the bag in his hand and started calculating just how much money they had spent.  “We drew thirty-two times. That’s a total of nine hundred sixty yuan. President He, does this mean the performance assessment’s been completed?”

He Jianshan was just about to say something when he suddenly stopped. Lin Hui followed his line of sight and found that it was a familiar acquaintance— 

“President He, Lin Hui, what a coincidence!” The person in question was the person they had spent all afternoon with, Feng Ying. At this moment, he was wearing a tee, shorts, and flip-flops. Standing behind him was a beautiful boy with a cup of oden in his hands. The two of them looked very relaxed and carefree. Thinking about how they’d turned down dinner earlier in the afternoon, Lin Hui couldn’t help but feel a little guilty now. He Jianshan, on the other hand, was the same as usual. He nodded. “We came here to take a look around.”

As he was speaking, he glanced at the person next to Feng Ying. The boy seemed to have sensed his gaze and shrank back a bit.

Feng Ying’s eyes wandered around Lin Hui and He Jianshan for a bit. Then, he said with a smile, “Okay, I hope you guys have fun. We’ll be heading off first. Let’s meet up again if we have the chance!”

After he finished speaking, he smiled at Lin Hui. Then, he brushed past them. 

Once the two of them had left, He Jianshan frowned. It wasn’t clear what it was he was thinking. He just stood there without moving.

Lin Hui prodded him, “President He, what’s wrong?”

“Just now—” He Jianshan turned his head to meet Lin Hui’s puzzled gaze. He paused. “It’s nothing. Let’s take a look over there.”

“Mn. Oh, right. Let’s see if there are any vases for sale at the night market. You can put the lego flowers in the vase once you piece it together.” 

“You piece it together.”

Lin Hui was a little dissatisfied. “Weren’t you the one who wanted the legos?”

“This performance assessment is only complete if you piece it together.”

“… Fine.” 

…

The two men bantered back and forth, slowly disappearing into the lively crowd. Xiuting Lake’s lights gently shone down upon them, leaving behind a plethora of separate overlapping shadows.

The Author Has Something To Say:

Some presidents seem hard working on the surface but are secretly sneaking off with their assistant to go to the night market. 

 

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