In the noisy private room of the hotel, businessmen with rosy faces serving food, toasting, chatting and laughing, this is the daily social life that Li Zhang is already familiar with.
Not every dinner party involves business discussions. More often than not, the wine table is just a place where people can get to know each other and build relationships. Favors are built over time with good wine and good food, and they may come in handy at some point.
Lao Zhou, who was sitting at the same table, brought two female employees over and said he wanted to show them the world.
This kind of thing is very common. Most of them are drunkards who are not interested in drinking. Even if they don't want anything to happen, they still have to take at least two bites of tofu.
One of the two girls was really good at drinking, and drank half of the people at the table, and then found an excuse to sneak away with the other one. Mr. Zhou was disgraced and showed dissatisfaction on his face. Li Zhang, who used driving as an excuse not to drink, promptly slapped him and punched him to persuade him to drink. There was always something inconvenient about refusing, so the matter was revealed.
Not long after, the stall was over, and Li Zhang, half the host, arranged for a vehicle to pick them up and bring them back to their golden years.
This is a fairly well-known KTV in the local area. It has a European style decoration and is directly accessible by an elevator on the first floor. The golden lights are well-lit and reflected on the spotless walls and floors.
Opposite the counter is a row of couches, where seven or eight women with heavy makeup, sequined dresses, stiletto heels, and exquisitely styled hair are sitting there. Some are looking down at their phones, and some are applying lipstick in front of the small mirror.
Li Zhang and others filed in, confirmed the reservation information with the front desk, and entered the KTV's large private room.
Two male waiters came in, one turned on the machine and confirmed the microphone, and the other took the fruit plate and drink order.
"How about a fight? First one?" Li Zhang greeted.
"Okay!" Everyone is familiar with the business, "Is there any tea? Let's get a pot first and hurry up."
"What about that? Let's call some of the princess singers." Mr. Zhou told the waiter.
"Okay, please wait a moment."
The waiter nodded in agreement. After a while, the women who had just been sitting in the hall came in and stood in a row. Li Zhang made eye contact with the one standing on the far right. Hearing the picking sounds of the men around him, Here, they gave each other a rare and polite smile that was not distant.
The selection process was very short. The remaining princesses each sat down next to a male guest. At this time, everyone's hands were polite, not anxious, and very polite.
Accompanied by singing, drinking, and chatting, with the soft voices of women, the atmosphere in the KTV private room became much warmer.
"Hey, order another bottle, I like this."
After three rounds of drinking, there was already a woman sitting in Mr. Zhou's arms. She smiled and said coquettishly.
One of the achievements of the singing princess is to persuade the customers to order. The more customers order, the higher their commission will be. The business men who come here are very clear-minded, but if they are drunk, they really don’t care about the small amount of money. Just order. .
We all usually pretend to be grandsons in front of our bosses and clients. Spending a little money to find a good-looking woman to hold and coax you for a few hours is psychologically refreshing and I think it's worth it.
"Xiao Mei, give me... burp! Show me the way!"
After a few more songs, Mr. Zhou put down his wine glass, drunkenly hugged a singing princess, and told the others that he had to go to the toilet.
The KTV's large private room has its own two restrooms. The men sitting here drinking and singing knew exactly what was going on, so they laughed and let him go.
Li Zhang looked at the person and opened his head. He also secretly breathed a sigh of relief and turned to look at Chen Shufang.
Chen Shufang nodded to him, smiled coquettishly and took one of his arms, and the two of them walked out amidst laughter.
A few minutes later, in the inconspicuous mini private room in the corner, Li Zhang sat on the sofa and sighed deeply.
"Why are you so tired?"
Chen Shufang lost her coquettish look just now. Although her face was still heavily made up, her eyebrows showed a quiet and gentle look.
"well……"
Li Zhang sighed again, covering half of his face and smiling bitterly.
"Water or wine?" Chen Shufang asked softly.
"Bar! It's okay to have a drink. You won't remember it when you're drunk."
When Li Zhang spoke, his eyes were still looking forward blankly, although his vision was unfocused.
"Okay, just wait."
Chen Shufang responded gently and walked out of the private room. After a while, she held a tray with wine and sobering tea.
She poured a glass for Li Zhang and a glass for herself. The two clinked their glasses like friends and drank each.
"It's so difficult."
Li Zhang lit a cigarette, his face was full of fatigue, and the radiance he had just pretended to be had disappeared.
He rambled about what happened during this period to Chen Shufang, who listened quietly, nodded from time to time, and handed him an ashtray and sobering tea.
"There aren't many like me, right?"
After Li Zhang finished pouring the bitter water, he smiled to himself.
"It's not much, but it's pretty good." Chen Shufang pursed her lips, smiled, and said, "Much better."
"well……"
Li Zhang sighed again.
"I'm so sorry that I come to chat with you every time." He took the last puff of the cigarette and threw the cigarette butt into a glass jar with a thin layer of water and a lot of ash accumulated, "My wife Well, it’s tiring enough to worry about the family, and she’s a typical little woman who worries and cries easily. I really don’t want to tell her this, and she won’t be able to help me, and I’ll still feel uncomfortable after it’s over.”
Chen Shufang's eyes flashed and she smiled silently: "It's okay."
Then he said considerately: "It's difficult to endure these things, isn't it?"
"Yes!" Li Zhang lowered his head and drank. "Every day when I go home, I will be stunned for a while before entering the house. I have to hold it in."
He added: "Hey, man."
My friends who have been friends for many years now have their own families, so they usually don't have enough time to go out and drink together and scold the boss.
Other people of the same age, same generation, and same sex that you can come into contact with are basically in the workplace, but the shopping mall is like a battlefield, and every word from your heart carries potential risks.
Even if not, as a man, you cannot show your vulnerability easily, it is not allowed.
Boss, husband, father, social attributes and role positioning are entangled in a cocoon, wrapping Li Zhang in it.
He had no psychological problems, so he would not seek help from a psychiatrist. In the end, he had no choice but to complain to Chen Shufang.
She is a woman, a gentle country, and a stranger, with a strict mouth.
So Li Zhang came here, spent some money, chatted, relieved his depression, and then went back to continue working hard to live.
Before leaving, he gave Chen Shufang a generous tip.
She is thoughtful, understanding, and sophisticated. Li Zhang regards her as a confidante based on money transactions.
"If I said to you, 'Welcome to the boss next time,' it would sound like a curse."
Chen Shufang escorted Li Zhang downstairs, handed him his suit jacket at the door, and said with a slight smile, "Then I hope you can stay longer next time."
Li Zhang also laughed.
"Thank you."
He said, waving goodbye to her.
Many of the men who came to the banquet were like Mr. Zhou, who spent the night out on business trips, so as the KTV was singing, people gradually disappeared, and they agreed to go back to their respective places without disturbing each other.
Li Zhang was sitting alone on the street. Across the road, there were young lovers, office workers riding bicycles, and students wearing school uniforms wandering around.
He watched quietly, lost in thought, and after dissipating the last bit of alcohol, he took a breath to confirm that he was not driving under the influence, then walked to the parking lot and drove away.
More than an hour later, Li Zhang drove into his community and reversed the car into the garage.
It was quiet, except for the flickering lights of the garage. He sat in the car, lit a cigarette, and finished it very, very slowly. His mind was empty, thinking about nothing and "thinking" about nothing.
Middle-aged men who start a family and start a career have no time for themselves.
Sometimes loving a car is not about loving the car, but rather loving this time of solitude and respite.
When the cigarette between his fingers was almost burning, Li Zhang pressed it into the ashtray and let out a long breath.
He got out of the car, walked into the elevator, and returned to the door.
The lights in the living room were still on, the dining table was set up in the kitchen, and the dishes were covered with dust covers.
My wife, who was wrapped in a blanket on the sofa, heard the sound of the door lock, rubbed her eyes, stood up, and said vaguely:
"You're back, I'll heat up some food for you..."
"It's okay, no need."
Li Zhang walked over, hugged her sideways, and then carried her back to the bedroom with all his strength.
"What are you doing..."
His wife was still feeling sleepy, so she smiled softly and pushed him.
"What are you doing? Go to sleep."
Li Zhang patted her back gently.
"The lights in the living room haven't been turned off yet..."
"I'll go and shut it down."
"You didn't drink today? Be careful with your liver..."
"I didn't drink much, don't worry."
After turning off the lights and getting into bed, the couple leaned together, and Li Zhang's chin rubbed his wife's forehead.
He closed his eyes.
