Early the next morning, Ji Zhaoxi was dragged out of bed before she was even fully awake. Qi Zhenzhen said she was taking her out for morning tea.
As soon as they finished morning tea, Qi Zhenzhen pulled Ji Zhaoxi along to go clothes shopping.
People in Guangzhou were much bolder in their fashion choices compared to those from other places, both in terms of color and style.
Ji Zhaoxi looked at the jeans that heavily accentuated the curves of the hips and legs. If someone wore pants like these back in Xinniu Village, they would definitely be called a hooligan.
Qi Zhenzhen was passionate about dressing Ji Zhaoxi up.
Looking at the V-neck shirt in her hands, Ji Zhaoxi felt extremely awkward. "Isn't this... a bit too much?"
Qi Zhenzhen rolled her eyes at her. "Too much? Everyone wears it like this."
She was so pretty, yet her mindset was so old-fashioned.
Picking out a huge pile of clothes wasn't enough; Qi Zhenzhen also dragged Ji Zhaoxi off to get her hair styled into big wavy curls.
Seeing Ji Zhaoxi's uncomfortable expression, Qi Zhenzhen said helplessly, "Don't worry, the curls in your hair will be gone by tomorrow."
Ji Zhaoxi finally breathed a sigh of relief.
Shanghai had already given her a huge culture shock, but she hadn't expected the shock from Guangzhou to be even greater.
Ji Zhaoxi bought a lot of souvenirs, like Cantonese-style biscuits and lotus seed pastries.
But her favorite was the floral-patterned, three-fold automatic umbrella that could fit right into a bag. She specifically bought three of them.
Qi Zhenzhen kept praising her good taste. "I've only seen these umbrellas in Guangzhou. Your sister and brother are definitely going to praise you."
Their fellow classmates teased that Ji Zhaoxi had come to Guangzhou to stock up on wholesale goods.
On the train ride back to school, Qi Zhenzhen fell asleep leaning on Ji Zhaoxi's shoulder.
Ji Zhaoxi was also incredibly sleepy.
Just then, the girl sitting opposite her suddenly looked at her with envy. "Ji Zhaoxi, why is your spoken English so good? Have you been learning English since you were little?"
Ji Zhaoxi froze; she had never expected anyone to ask her this question.
The girl smiled. "I heard you translating for those people the other day. You were amazing! There were so many words I never thought could be used like that."
Ji Zhaoxi's ears turned a little red. "Thank you. I didn't learn it from a young age, I just practice a lot in my daily life."
The girl nodded thoughtfully. "Oh, so how do you usually practice?"
"I practice sentence by sentence along with a tape recorder, and my roommates help correct my pronunciation."
"I see..."
In the blink of an eye, it had been a long time since Ji Zhaoxi and Qin Du last saw each other.
She had written letters to him, but he never replied. However, he kept sending her money.
Ji Zhaoxi didn't know what Qin Du meant by this. She didn't know what he was doing now, nor did she know how he was doing.
But if he wanted to draw a clear line between them, why didn't he just tell her? Instead, he kept sending her money.
Ji Zhaoxi was no longer the person she used to be who had no concept of money. The amount of money Qin Du had sent her over the past few months was unimaginable for an ordinary person.
Ji Zhaoxi didn't go home for the summer vacation. She joined the school's summer foreign affairs reception seminar, where she had to assist the teachers in translating some urgently needed foreign trade documents.
At the docks, the dull sounds of boat whistles constantly rang out. Iron chains clanked relentlessly against the decks, and rusty cranes sprawled along the riverbank.
Most of the workers were bare-chested, their skin tanned pitch-black by the sun. They carried heavy cargo on their backs, breathing heavily. The air was thick with the strong stench of sweat and cheap tobacco.
Wang Jie stood on a wooden stump, wearing a suit and sunglasses, directing the workers. "Everyone be careful, don't rush!"
He kept shouting, "If you drop the goods, you'll pay for it!"
He chugged a few mouthfuls of water and looked at the busy docks, feeling a wave of emotion.
Who would have thought that he, Wang Ermazi from Tongyang Village, would actually make it to Shanghai!
What kind of place was Shanghai? It was a place he wouldn't even dare to dream of before. In the past, he had only heard of Shanghai on the radio.
Back then, Shanghai was no different from a foreign country to him.
Sure enough, you just had to follow the right person.
Qin Du's methods were incredibly ruthless. Almost all the goods from the northern production teams were under his control, and whatever he got his hands on, he would never let go.
Wang Jie initially thought it would be pretty good to stay like that for the rest of his life. Qin Du had practically squeezed all the profit dry, but he hadn't expected Qin Du to be unsatisfied and want to expand south.
At the time, Wang Jie carefully asked why it had to be Shanghai. Going straight to Shanghai seemed a bit too intimidating.
Qin Du didn't answer. Relying solely on a fearless, reckless ruthlessness, he went straight to the Shiliupu Docks, which was the most chaotic place in Shanghai at the time.
Back then, Wang Jie trembled with fear every day, terrified that he might die in Shanghai.
But Qin Du directly used his resources from the north to cut off the supply chains of other merchants, forcing them to come to him.
Cargo ships coming from out of town to the Shiliupu Docks also had to be unloaded by Qin Du's men, essentially collecting protection money in disguise.
A local thug once robbed Qin Du's goods, and the next day, that thug's left hand was gone.
The people at the docks privately cursed Qin Du as a hooligan from the north.
"Master Qin confiscated Lao Wu's goods again."
"What 'Master'? He's a plague god. I think he'd love nothing more than to wash Shiliupu in blood."
"Ever since this guy surnamed Qin came over, he's brought all his hooligan ways with him. He doesn't understand the rules at all."
"What rules does he know? I've never seen anyone with such dirty methods."
Qin Du was completely different from before. In the past, he was merely quiet, but now he was filled with a violent aura.
Wang Jie knocked on the door cautiously and walked in.
"Master Qin."
He put down his things and immediately held his breath as he walked out.
He had wondered why Qin Du came to Shanghai. He had someone keep an eye on Miss Ji's whereabouts every day, like a creep.
She had sent him so many letters, but he never replied after reading them. He just kept filling out remittance slips. The letters even had to be forwarded from Xinniu Village to Shanghai. Couldn't he just tell her directly that he was now in Shanghai?
Wang Jie only had a vague impression of Ji Zhaoxi.
A college student at Shanghai International Studies University, excellent at English, and probably liked to dress up, because she was always sending clothes to Qin Du.
To be honest, those clothes were too refined; at first glance, they were clearly the type of clothes intellectuals liked to wear.
Wang Jie felt that when Qin Du wore those clothes, he looked a bit like a wolf in sheep's clothing.
Ji Zhaoxi also participated in recording some English radio programs. She could earn some extra money, but she mostly wanted to train herself.
Even though it was a small radio station, Ji Zhaoxi was still very happy. She sent the cassette tape to Qin Du and asked him why he never wrote back to her.
This time, she finally received a reply from Qin Du. Qin Du didn't take her money; instead, he sent her even more money.
[Xixi, your reading sounds beautiful. I will listen to it every day. Don't send me money.]
Ji Zhaoxi was extremely angry and felt depressed every day.
Wang Jie was startled when he heard Qin Du listening to English there every day.
Coming to Shanghai really was different; even Master Qin had started learning English.
Later on, whenever he entered Qin Du's office, Qin Du would turn off the sound. Wang Jie was confused about this for quite a while.
Was there some top secret in there that he wasn't allowed to hear?
It was only later that he realized in hindsight that it was probably recorded by that Miss Ji, and Qin Du simply didn't want him to hear it...
