At Beijing Airport, Guo Da, wearing a long black down jacket that reached his calves, stood outside the domestic arrival gate number three, holding up a sign and waiting for his important clients.
In fact, these clients were truly important, not just in age but also in number.
He lowered his head and slid open his phone with his free hand. The last message in the Wenzhou housing buyer QQ group was from three hours ago, saying they were about to take off. This group of clients was introduced by a previous customer who had bought a house through his QQ space. At first, Guo Da thought they were pooling money to buy a house together, but then he realized he was mistaken.
He was wrong. Wealthy people were indeed numerous these days. They were pooling money, but not to buy one house, rather to buy a whole building...
He heard that previously they had flown directly to negotiate with local sales offices, getting a 96% discount on loans. The group leader had also told Guo Da to negotiate himself, and if they bought a building this time, any price below 96% would go to Guo Da as his intermediary fee. However, they required all their viewing expenses to be covered.
Thus, Guo Da, whose second-hand real estate business was booming recently, called his cousin Guo Cai, the presidential secretary at Dadi Construction.
After Guo Cai consulted Ren Aixun, he gave Guo Da a super discount of 92%. He had also seen the message Liu Chen, that young girl, had posted on QQ.
He figured that if these Wenzhou sisters really bought a building, he could authorize a discounted price for his relatives, himself, and that young girl Liu Chen, of course, provided this order was successfully closed.
While he was contemplating, the phone in his pocket began to vibrate. Guo Da single-handedly took the phone out of his pocket and answered by sliding the keypad.
"Hello?"
"Yes! Sisters, you're coming out of Gate Three, I'm holding a sign that says 'Xiao Guo,' ah! I think I see you? Here, here!!"
Guo Da waved at a group of older sisters wearing colorful down jackets who had just exited Gate Three.
After successfully picking them up, Guo Da led more than twenty sisters, who spoke an incomprehensible Wenzhou dialect, onto an airport bus.
"Sisters, I had intended to arrange a private bus for you, but I thought, in this pitch black darkness, if I were carrying you sisters, you might feel uneasy, so we'll take the airport bus. When we reach the hotel, Dadi Group's bus will pick us up tomorrow to view the properties."
As Guo Da handed each sister who boarded a bottle of mineral water and two bread rolls, he explained why they had to wait for the airport bus in the heavy snow.
The sisters, who had been grumbling in Wenzhou dialect about Sister Li's unreliable contact after walking a long way from the plane, immediately fell silent.
Indeed, they, a group of older women, were bringing most of their families' fortunes to Beijing to buy property. If the other party had malicious intentions and took them to a desolate area, tied them up, and demanded money, they reckoned they would have no choice but to accept.
At this, they began to praise Sister Li again.
"Sister Li is truly capable, finding such a capable young man to receive us. He's a good person. We don't pay a cent, and he's picking us up, taking us to the hotel, and helping us choose properties."
"Yes, yes."
Sister Li, a beautiful woman in her early forties, sitting at the front of the bus, smiled at Guo Da, whose nose and ear tips were slightly red from the cold.
She had previously checked his QQ space for properties. She had her brother fly to Beijing to buy an affordable second-hand apartment, then carefully inquired about the purchasing procedures. After personally flying to Beijing to inspect the actual condition and location of that property, she decided to cooperate with him.
"Thank you for your trouble. If our cooperation is pleasant this time, I'll bring another group to view properties next month."
Sister Li was good-looking and well-maintained. The southern climate was nurturing. Guo Da even doubted if Sister Li was twenty-eight years old.
The airport bus stopped at the hotel entrance. After the sisters had all gone in to get their room cards, Sister Li came down from the elevator alone and walked outside the hotel. Sometime during this period, the snow had intensified, covering the area outside the hotel with a layer of white.
Sister Li took out a pack of cigarettes from her pocket, poured one out, and held it between her fingers.
"Click."
A small flame appeared. Sister Li looked up.
Guo Da held the lighter and looked at Sister Li, whose eyes and the tip of her nose were slightly red. "It's very cold in Beijing at night. After you finish this cigarette, go back to your room."
Under the orange-red flame, their eyes met.
—
Ever since Lai Jielun was hospitalized, the thickness of the test papers piled on his desk increased daily. When Lai Jielun returned to school, he counted the papers on his desk; in just one week, a staggering twenty-one papers had accumulated...
"Sister, Sister Chen! You're keeping these papers for me to do when I get back, and you've all already checked the answers. What's the point?"
After saying this, Lai Jielun couldn't help but grimace and frown.
"Hiss, this appendix surgery incision can't be stretched. It hurts when I laugh."
As soon as he said this, the students sitting nearby immediately leaned forward to look, and even those further away got out of their seats, standing specifically around Mi Zhuzhu to watch.
"Really? Let me see! Let me see!"
"Move, move, leave a gap for those behind!"
Lai Jing came to the classroom and saw a crowd surrounding Lai Jielun, who had unzipped his down jacket and pulled up his t-shirt to reveal his still raw appendix surgery incision.
"..."
Lai Jing cleared his throat lightly: "Cough, cough, class is starting."
During lunch that afternoon, when the classmates had all gone to the cafeteria to get food, Liu Chen finally had the chance to ask Lai Jielun about the art entrance examination.
"Heh heh, my boss Lai had a fight with my dad, so now the family, under Boss Lai's pressure, has to fully support me to take the art entrance exam. My mom also consulted, and today she's coming to school to get me leave for a month and a half of training. At the end of next month, I'll take the unified exam in the city to see if I can pass."
"Wow! So you won't come back to school until after the exam at the end of next month?" Mi Zhuzhu was the first to react with envy. Wouldn't this guy Lai Jielun get to play until the end of the month?
However, Liu Chen knew that a month and a half of training was extremely tight compared to those who had been preparing since the first year of high school. And given how much Lai Jielun loved acting, he would definitely have to put in a lot of effort during this month and a half.
Otherwise, with Lai Jielun's personality, he would inevitably have to repeat the year.
"Lai Jielun, take care of yourself. If it's too much, we can always try again next year," Ren Mo, who had known Lai Jielun since childhood and knew his temperament, couldn't help but offer advice.
Lai Jielun paused for a moment, then smiled and nodded, patting Ren Mo's shoulder.
"Don't worry."
From this day on, Lai Jielun disappeared from Class Six of Grade Three. When students from other classes inquired, the students of Class Six of Grade Three only said that Lai Jielun was recuperating at home after appendix surgery.
Everyone was waiting, waiting for Lai Jielun's unified exam results.