Chapter 148: Chapter 147: Closeness Inside and Out (Part 1)
Shi Yang turned sideways, pulling Zhao Meimei closer to the bed, tugged the quilt over her, covering her carefully, then reached out his large hand to tightly embrace Zhao Meimei in his arms, lowered his head, buried his face in her neck nook, rubbed against her, and silently enjoyed this rare moment of warmth.
Shi Yang was truly exhausted recently. Qu Chaozong was installing Naughty Castle, which required physical effort, while Shi Yang was dealing with a bunch of old foxes at the wine table, consuming his mental energy.
Shi Yang, through Qian Yonggui’s connections, met the mall president, who was scheduled for a meal gathering. He heard others calling him President Zhang, so he joined in calling him that.
President Zhang appeared to be in his early forties, tall and slender, dressed in a meticulously tailored high-end suit. He sat at the wine table, displaying exceptional style with every gesture.
Shi Yang seized the chance to have a couple of drinks with him, casually mentioning the stall rental issue, but President Zhang brushed him off with a few words. Shi Yang hit two tough nails, anxious inside, but kept a stiff upper lip.
President Zhang was difficult to deal with; even after a few drinks, when chatting with people, his words sounded heartfelt on the surface, but upon deeper consideration, they were all nonsense. His mind was clear.
President Zhang’s shrewdness made Shi Yang’s heart silently drum, uncertain, unable to decide how to respond.
He had been busy these days trying to approach President Zhang through other channels, thinking about business matters. As he guarded them closely, he could only start from personal life aspects.
Before he took Qu Chaozong to meet the floor manager, whose partner was the food court’s management personnel. Through the fire department’s people, Shi Yang had just contacted her partner, planning to find a chance to have a meal together, to connect, starting from the floor manager.
Shi Yang looked at the sleeping Zhao Meimei in his arms, lowered his head and kissed her warm, blushing face, struggled to get up, gently carried her out of the quilt, and carefully carried her back to her bedroom.
After helping Zhao Meimei cover up with the quilt again, Shi Yang couldn’t resist, lowered his head and kissed her lips, softly said: "Good night."
The sleeping Zhao Meimei wrinkled her nose, sleeping soundly.
As the new school year started, Zhao Meimei suddenly found the academic pressure greatly increased, with no time allowed for her to adjust, and the learning progress quickly surged forward.
When the first mid-term exam results came out, Zhao Meimei’s suspended heart finally settled. It turned out she wasn’t the only one who hadn’t adapted; others also couldn’t immediately adjust from the pleasant and relaxed holiday life.
The whole class’s grades collectively fell back, Zhao Meimei scored third in the class, with a significant twenty-seven-point difference from Xu Xu, who got second place.
Robber Hao was distressed, standing at the podium, passionately reprimanding each student one by one, using the top-ranked Wang Jiayue and Xu Xu as examples of model children, harshly criticizing those who, despite not changing rankings, had significantly dropped in scores.
The next day, Robber Hao directly announced in class that he had arranged remedial classes. Students could choose subjects they were struggling with themselves if they ranked in the top ten, while the rest had to make up for all major subjects.
As soon as Robber Hao listed the names and contacts of the remedial class teachers on the blackboard, all students were shocked. The teachers for their remedial classes were the current class teachers, and crucially, the school currently strictly prohibited teachers from privately organizing remedial classes. It was only Robber Hao who dared to announce such an inappropriate matter so conspicuously and openly.
In the second half of the first-year term, evening self-study time extended to 5:30, and Robber Hao set the remedial class from 6:30 to 8:30, two hours, located in the neighborhood nearby the school.
Zhao Meimei calculated the time, remedied math on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, and physics on Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday, with English all day on Sunday, choosing three subjects, costing three hundred per subject per month, a total of nine hundred, including the cost of exercise books and test papers.
Among all students, only Xu Xu and Wang Jiayue didn’t join remedial classes. Xu Xu’s family was struggling, and paying an extra nine hundred a month would immediately cause a shortage in essential expenses.
Wang Jiayue came from a wealthy family, she didn’t want to attend remedial classes simply because she didn’t want to walk home alone at night, and her family couldn’t pick her up after school.
Zhao Meimei got a ride home with Xu Xu after school at night, while Wang Jiayue called a taxi.
Standing at the door of her house with her backpack, Zhao Meimei opened the outer security door and immediately heard Shi Yang’s voice inside speaking, excitedly rushed in, cheerfully calling out: "Brother!"
Shi Yang was talking to his father, upon hearing the noise, turned his head and greeted her with a smile.
Zhao Meimei kicked off her shoes, threw herself into his arms: "Brother! Why did you come back so early today?"
Shi Yang had a faint scent of shower gel, clearly had just taken a shower.
He smiled and said: "Had a meal in the afternoon, and returned early when things were settled."
Shi Yang’s mom cheerfully called her: "Meimei, quickly wash your hands for dinner."
Zhao Meimei let go of him, tugged Shi Yang: "Let’s go, brother, wash hands."
Shi Yang’s mom laughed: "Your brother has already eaten, don’t bother him."
The dinner was packed dishes Shi Yang brought back from the restaurant, three meats and two vegetables, just heated in the microwave.
Zhao Meimei had dinner with Shi Yang’s parents, Shi Yang sat beside her, helping her with the dishes, while discussing President Zhang with his father.
Through the floor manager’s partner, he invited the floor manager for a meal together. At the table, the floor manager revealed that the brand’s luggage company had already finalized with President Zhang to secure the spot opposite the stairs, the deposit had been paid long ago, and once money had been received, the location could not change.
The floor manager, partly out of consideration for her partner, and partly because Shi Yang, connected even with the fire department, was aware of his strong background and wanted to build a connection, hinted not to just focus on luggage and bedding areas, as the mall leadership intended to separate the youth and mature women’s sections on the third floor later this year, creating a vacancy when mature women’s clothes were moved to the fourth floor, potentially allowing new leasing opportunities.
This information was extremely important for Shi Yang. If it turned out to be accurate, he could seize the opportunity and negotiate the position in advance, perhaps even establishing a Naughty Castle comparable in size to Li Shuren’s in the provincial capital.
However, this information was internal, yet to be publicly announced, and subject to potential changes.
Shi Yang considered discussing the feasibility of this matter with his father, as back at the meal table, when he mentioned wanting to lease space to open a Naughty Castle, President Zhang’s response was ambiguous, showing no clear intention to attract investments.