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  Chapter 117: Adulthood Is Not Easy

  TL: Etude

  The m dawned bright and sunny. However, due to their location in the mountains, the surroundings were slightly misty. When the sunlight scattered through, casting golden hues, it created a uniquely charming atmosphere.

  Dong Wenhao led a group of mountain climbihusiasts from the small town to hike in the hills. Those who didn’t want to go stayed behind to sleep in, waiting for the bus to pick them up at noon.

  To their dismay, the group returned before noon, fuming with frustration. They hadn’t seen even a siemple. The most infuriating part was that the mountain, though seemingly not too tall, had no clear paths. They trudged through, nearly losing their way back.

  “This pce is terrible, I’m never ing back!” they excimed.

  Jiang Qin, overhearing this, couldn’t help but ugh. “Maybe we should just skip team building altogether. It’s a plete waste of work time!”

  “You’re joking even with a me foot?” Dong Wenhao asked, puzzled.

  “Does a sore foot affect my ability to speak? Get lost.”

  Su Nai also looked over in surprise. “Boss, you didn’t even climb with us. How did you end up me?”

  Jiang Qin, unfazed, replied, “Arthritis. An old problem. Enough chit-chat. The bus is here. Let’s do a headt a going.”

  “The headt is plete, boss.”

  “Good, let’s head back.”

  As Jiang Qin watched the entire 208 team board the bus, he returo the farmhouse courtyard to get his Audi. A small wound on his foot didn’t hinder his driving, and he could manage by going a bit slower.

  Meanwhile, Feng Nanshu stood in the courtyard, watg him. She noticed the rolled-up pant leg and a wound simir to her own, looking both cute and perplexed.

  “Jiang Qin, what happeo your foot?”

  “Slipped ihroom, nded on my ankle.”

  “I don’t quite believe that.”

  Driving away, Jiang Qin grio himself, thinking it didn’t matter whether she believed him or not; she had no proof.

  Back at Lin Uy, the excitement from the team building quickly faded, and everyone in 208 immersed themselves in a big teological promotion activity.

  Apart from teag, Jiang Qin also shuttled between Lin Uy and the Teology Uy. His backseat had various passengers: Wei Lann and Tan Qing iigating market information, Dong Wenhao and Lu Feiyu interviewing tent creators at Teology Uy, and often, just himself.

  Because of these frequent visits, Guo Zihang even started feeling as if he and Jiang Qin attehe same uy. They’d meet after csses or during meals. Sometimes, Jiang Qin, bored, would even attend Guo’s csses, only to fall asleep within three minutes.

  Perhaps due to his unique charm, Jiang Qin even got several girls from Guo’s css asking for his QQ number.

  “Stepfather, you seem to have really bee a heartthrob,” Guo Zihang remarked enviously.

  Jiang Qin curled his lip in disdain. “What’s the use of being a heartthrob? I’d rather be rich.”

  “You could treat everyone in our css to milk tea. I bet someone would call you rich then, believe it or not?”

  “That would make me a resentful fool, no, a Qin Zi’ang!”

  Guo Zihang agreed with the tter part. “Makes sense!”

  Suddenly remembering something from before the team building, Jiang Qin asked, “So, how are things going with you and Cui, your senior?”

  “For some reason, she’s stopped talking to me.”

  “Heh, that’s for the best. Go back to your younger aunt. Older women know how to take care of people.”

  “…”

  After css, Jiang Qin sat on a bench outside the girls’ dormitory, looking across at the milk tea shop, his expressioless.

  The “Enter Milk Tea” shop had received several inquiries about its price, but everyone balked at the 30% markup over market value.

  So, while many were ied in taking over, no one dared to make a move.

  They were all waiting, hoping that Gao Dawei would calm down and see reason, as it was clear his asking price was due to his mental state post-divorce.

  But this mi wouldn’t st forever, aually, he’d e to his senses.

  Jiang Qin, however, didn’t want to wait.

  The promotional campaign was immi, and Jiang Qin couldn’t let the location of a milk tea shop limit him. Before the team building, it didn’t matter much, but afterward, everyone was geared up for the promotion. Any further dey would drain all their enthusiasm.

  So, on a Wednesday afternoon, Jiang Qin once again visited Lin Teology Uy a up with Wei Lann, who had been scouting nearby shops.

  “Boss, I’ve checked five shops, and I must say, ‘Enter’ is the most suitable for our ter-stage promotion. It’s not as crowded as the others, with enough space for activities and queues. Plus, there are three other tea shops nearby, making the advertising impact more noticeable,” Wei Laed.

  Jiang Qin nodded, leaning towards seg the Enter Milk Tea shop. “Have you piled the phoails I asked for?”

  “Yes, everything’s ready, and I have it with me.”

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

  Wei Lann began, “Gao Dawei, 43 years old. He started struggling in Lin at 18, took out a loan for a house, and paid it off five years ago. At 38, through a matchmaker, he relutly married a woma through blind dates. They argued tinuously for three years before div, no children.”

  Jiang Qin frowned. “Damn, why does this story sound so familiar? Is there more?”

  “He’s tired of running the tea shop, just wants to take half of all his possessions, take his parents on a trip. He hasn’t dared tell his family about the divorce, fearing it would upset them.”

  “And his mi?”

  “He feels like a failure, pgued by nightmares.” Wei Lann put down the paper.

  Divorce, a shattered mi, despair in life, immense pressure.

  Jiang Qin nodded, pulled down the sun visor, and looked into the small mirror. “Thirty-eight years old, achieved nothing, afraid to face parents, afraid of the future…,” he repeated to himself.

  Wei Lann was fused. As she started to speak, she noticed Jiang Qin’s face turning exceptionally gloomy.

  Then, Jiang Qin, with a pre-priransfer tract, got out of the car, took two bottles of wine, a bag of soy sauce pork, and a bag of peanuts from the trunk, and walked into the milk tea shop.

  Gao Dawei was venting to anyone who would listen, irritable and rarely having a versation that sted more than a few sentences. He o express himself, to find release, regardless of whether anyone listened.

  He just needed a living, breathing fidant.

  However, everyone seemed only ied in his milk tea shop, infuriating him. He stubbornly stuck to his price, refusing to budge for anyone.

  But this time, he noticed something different about the young man in front of him, Jiang Qin, who had visited the previous week. Jiang Qin wasn’t in a rush to discuss the price but seemed to be listening ily.

  What surprised Gao Dawei most was that Jiang Qin’s expression was as desote as his own, sharing a simir sense of weariness.

  “In middle age, there are too many things beyond one’s trol. That’s why there’s no such thing as ‘easy’ in the adult world,” Jiang Qin murmured, interrupting Gao’s pints.

  Gao Dawei was taken aback. “You uand?”

  “I know what you’re thinking. You feel like you’ve let the family lineage down, worried about still troubling your parents in your forties, afraid of being judged wheurning to your hometown. You feel increasingly lonely, trying to reminisce, but realizing you’ve left nothing behind in life but messes.”

  Gao’s eyes widened in disbelief. “You really uand?”

  “I have an uncle who felt the same. Full rets, afraid to cry as an adult, hiding his sorrows from family. After a lifetime of struggle, he ended up with nothing, feeliy inside. He couldn’t sleep at night, feelirayed by the world.”

  “And then?” Gao Dawei’s voice trembled slightly.

  “Eventually, he couldn’t hold it in anymore and called his nephew, me. We talked all night!”

  Jiang Qin poio his heart, pulling out two bottles of wine from the bag he brought.

  EtudeTranstions