Tenant’s Secret Love

Chapter 22: Opportunities for advancement

After dinner, Renee and I walked my father to the edge of the residential area. The hotel where he was staying was just across the street, but he would have to leave in the morning.

Before we left, I asked him, “Dad, when will you come to Suzhou next time?”

“Whenever you have time. Next time I come, I'll bring you some rice and flour,” he replied.

When my Stubborn Father emphasized you, I felt helpless again. By the time he comes next time, I will have already left Renee's house and drifted to an unknown corner of this city. In fact, I don't really want him to come to Suzhou, because my failure and destitution always make me feel extremely guilty when I face him.

My Stubborn Father once again reminded the silent me, “Remember to fix the leaking water pipe when you go back later.”

“I will remember,”

He nodded, patted my shoulder, then said nothing else, turned around and left.

Looking at my father's departing back, I knew he wanted to say something to me, but he didn't say it, he didn't want to burden me with too much.

I lit a cigarette, my heart overwhelmed with a sense of loss. Today Harlan and Natalie got married, Brittany became Robert's girlfriend, and I...it's better not to mention it.

I thought to myself, “I should go back and pack my bags. Tomorrow night, I'll find a place to live in this city where I can have a roof over my head, but no place to call home.”

...

Renee went upstairs before me, and I finished the cigarette before going back.

Once inside, I found the toolbox and replaced the leaky pipe my Stubborn Father had mentioned. I also checked some other places to make sure there were no hidden dangers, and then returned to my room to pack my bags.

Renee stood in the doorway of my room, not sure when she had arrived. She asked me, “Did you fix the leaky pipe?”

“Well, I also checked the rest of the house. If the pipes break in the future, or if you need to change a light bulb, just call me and I'll take care of it.” I said this while putting my guitar in its case.

“Oh, but there are still cockroaches in the house. Do you have a way to get rid of them?”

I laughed and joked with Renee, “If you can get rid of such a vigorous and lively person like me, how can you not handle a few little cockroaches?”

Renee didn't say anything, just looked at me.

“I'm just joking with you. After work tomorrow, I'll buy some insecticide powder and sprinkle it in the bathroom. It's almost winter, and cockroaches generally don't move around much, so you don't have to worry.”

“Oh.”

Renee went back to her room again, and I continued packing my own luggage. Halfway through, I sat on the bed to rest, and looked around again. I took out a cigarette from the cigarette case but didn't light it after all. I had been a jerk for so long, I should still be a man of my word when I left, even though it was just a trivial little thing.

I put the cigarette back in the case, and lay on the bed, looking at the ceiling habitually, emptying my mind, not wanting to think back on what had happened at noon.

...

The next day, I went to work as usual. Today, I had another meeting with the GUCCI representative. This was the last meeting before GUCCI set up a counter in our shopping mall. If it went well, I would get a short break from work. Since Harlan handed over the GUCCI responsibilities to me, I have been working overtime.

I was standing in the mall square with the GUCCI representative discussing advertising space.

The GUCCI representative asked me, “You promised to give us the advertising space in the center of the front entrance, and you must make sure to give it to us as soon as possible to coordinate with our opening promotion.”

“Of course there won't be a problem. We have reserved this advertising space for you GUCCI a long time ago. Your entry will also improve the business level of our mall to a certain extent. The high-quality resources of the mall will definitely be used by you international first-tier brands first.”

The representative of GUCCI nodded and said, “We GUCCI are willing to enter your mall because we can see your sincerity in the business plan. There are more than just your Baoli Department Store in Suzhou's high-end malls!”

“Yes,” I responded, but I didn't want to say too much flattery.

Accompanying the GUCCI representative on a tour of the mall, she suddenly stopped and looked at the promotional posters placed in the middle of the aisle.

“Miss Zhao, what's wrong?” I was a little confused. The promotional posters she was looking at were exactly the ones Violetta had shot in the beginning.

“What do you think of this mannequin?“ she asked me.

“The sense of the camera is very strong, and the plasticity is also very good. The temperament and appearance are more international, and it can create the advertising image of the product in an artistic way. By the way, she is also one-quarter Italian,” I answered truthfully.

“That's quite a coincidence. We at GUCCI are an Italian brand. Do you know her well?”

I hesitated before replying, “We are friends.”

She nodded and looked at the poster of Violetta again. After a moment, she said to me, “I think her image and temperament are very in line with the positioning of our products. Contact her and help us shoot a set of promotional posters for the opening.”

I was a bit at a loss and said, “I'm afraid that's not possible. She's currently filming in Hengdian and won't have time for the next few months.”

Ms. Zhao frowned and said, ‘I don't want to hear words like ’I'm afraid‘ or ’should'. Your answer makes me question the execution capabilities of your shopping mall. We've already come this far in our negotiations, and I don't want such trivial matters to affect our cooperative relationship.”

This blunt threat made me feel uncomfortable, but thinking about the fact that this project was related to Harlan's future, I didn't lose my temper. However, instinctively, I didn't want to contact Violetta. Furthermore, shooting a promotional poster like this might require location scouting, which could not be completed in a day or two. And Violetta, as a newcomer to the crew, could not make the entire production accommodate her schedule. As Violetta naturally treated filming as her top priority, I would be putting her in a difficult position if I asked her to come back.

“Miss Zhao, I'll do my best to get in touch with her, but I can't promise you that she'll be able to find the time,” I said, not really intending to contact Violetta.

She waved her hand impatiently and said, ‘Forget it, I won't make things difficult for you. I'll go talk to your manager.’ With that, she left me alone and walked towards the office area.

...

Sure enough, as I expected, after a short while back in the office, I was notified by phone to go to the manager's office.

I felt another wave of dissatisfaction. This was obviously using my superior to pressure me. For a small staff member like me, she was too lazy to talk to me about nonsense.

I entered the manager's office, and the manager, Mark, was sitting unhappily in his office chair.

“I'm here, Mark.”

“Do you know why I'm looking for you?” Mark asked me with a cold face.

“I don't know,” I responded negatively.

His tone rose as he tapped his fingers on the desk: ”Lucas, how can you be so out of touch? GUCCI is the eighth international first-tier brand to enter our mall. Do you know what this means for our mall? ...It means that according to international rating standards, our mall has officially reached the level of a top-level department store B! It's a landmark achievement!”

“Manager, you don't need to ask yourself questions if you already know the answers.”

Mark said to me, trying to calm me down. “If something goes wrong at this critical time, not only you personally, but our entire planning department will be in trouble!”

“Don't make things difficult for me. What can I do if the schedule for the print models really can't be arranged? Besides, both sides have invested a lot of human resources in this project of setting up a counter in our mall. For something as small as a poster, it's not worth ruining a collaboration that has been discussed for so long.”

“No one can afford to be complacent before the contract is officially signed. Other shopping malls are eyeing the GUCCI brand, and it is not impossible that GUCCI will terminate the cooperation plan at the last minute,” he said with a more serious expression.

I continued helplessly, ”Even if the company fires me, I can't guarantee anything about this!”

Mark stared at me for a long time with a creepy look in his eyes and said, “There's something you probably don't know. The board of directors really values this GUCCI counter in our company. If it is successfully set up, there will be major personnel changes in our planning department. Harlan, as the direct person in charge of the entire project, has the opportunity to take the position of deputy manager of the planning department, and you...have a very good chance of replacing Harlan as the leader of the copywriting planning team!”