Chapter 14 Blind Date European-style buildings, ceilings covered with hanging flowers, the aroma of coffee floating in the air, and folk songs in a small language that moan without reason... The petty-bourgeois style BUFF is fully stacked. Seeing Li Guiqin sitting there feeling uncomfortable, Zhou Hao laughed secretly with schadenfreude. There are so many places to choose, but you have to choose this kind of place. Aren't you just making yourself uncomfortable? "Oh my, they say girls change a lot when they grow up, Yuanyuan, you have changed a lot." The girl's mother, who had big wavy hair, looked at Zhou Hao with a smile on her face. "I remember you were like a little kid when you were in college. How come you've become so handsome all of a sudden?" Before Zhou Hao could answer, Li Guiqin said, "It's no use for a man to be good-looking. The real ability is to make money. Your Qianqian is the most promising. She is already the deputy director before she is even 30." "That's just bluffing. They have three deputy directors in the Second Design Institute..." "What are you talking about? Why don't you find someone else to be the deputy director? Isn't it because Qianqian is capable..."
"Hey, please don't say that to her face, your tail is flying up to the sky..." The two of them were chatting enthusiastically, and Zhou Hao, an outsider, recalled today's blind date, Ding Jiaqian. As I recall, the Ding family also lived in that building, and they were neighbors living on the upper and lower floors of the Zhou family. At that time, the two families often visited each other and had some friendship, but Ding Jiaqian was almost always Zhou Hao's childhood nightmare. Every time when he did not perform well in an exam, Li Guiqin would always use Ding Jiaqian to motivate him, a true “other people’s child”. After she was admitted to a key university, Li Guiqin would talk about Ding Jiaqian almost every three sentences when chatting with her son. Unfortunately, the original body was not very ambitious and failed to create a miracle in the college entrance examination two years later. In the end, he could only settle for a second-tier normal university. Later, the Ding family took advantage of the e-commerce boom and made a lot of money. After a few years, they moved out of the apartment building and lived in a big mansion, but the relationship between the two families has never been severed. The Ding couple are pretty nice people, and they didn't become ugly just because they became rich overnight. It had been more than a quarter of an hour since the agreed time, and the main person had not yet arrived, so Aunt Su, with her big wavy hair, picked up her cell phone directly. "Qianqian, where are you? Aunt Li has been waiting for you for a long time... so hurry up." "Why are you rushing us? We are not in a hurry anyway." Li Guiqin said hurriedly: "Tell her to take her time and drive carefully on the road." "Don't spoil her." Aunt Su waved her hand. "No matter what the reason is, it's not right to let the elders wait for the younger ones." After saying that, he looked at Zhou Hao with an apologetic look on his face, "Yuanyuan, I'm sorry, please wait a little longer, she will be here soon." "It's okay Auntie. I have nothing to do anyway." Zhou Hao smiled and was secretly surprised: This Aunt Su is really easy to get along with. If I had such a sensible mother-in-law, life would be much less stressful. Five minutes later, the real owner finally arrived. He is about meters tall, wearing a well-tailored suit. His figure is not that good, just an average-looking one. She has a cute round face, neat short hair and gold-rimmed glasses, which makes her look very capable.
The only thing that’s a bit off is… the lips look a bit thin. "Sorry Aunt Li, the road is a bit congested." "It's okay, it's okay. We just arrived not long ago." Li Guiqin smiled, and the satisfaction in her eyes was almost overflowing. "Hurry up and sit down. Are you tired?" "Not bad." Ding Jiaqian turned her head to look at Zhou Hao, smiled and nodded in greeting. Although she smiled brightly, Zhou Hao still accurately captured the hidden indifference and impatience in her eyes. This blind date ended before it even began. Out of politeness, Zhou Hao still called out "Sister Qianqian" with a smile. "Oh, why are you still embarrassed?" Aunt Su said with a smile, "When you two were kids, you two even shared a bed. How come you can't even talk to each other when you meet now?" "Mom, you're still bringing this up after so long." Ding Jiaqian rolled her eyes. "I was young and ignorant back then." "You don't seem to be very sensible now. You don't have any concept of punctuality and made people wait for so long." Aunt Su took the opportunity to scold her. Li Guiqin hurriedly tried to smooth things over: "Qianqian, you are quite busy at work, right?" "Yeah." Ding Jiaqian nodded. "There are a lot of new real estate projects in Zhouhai City recently, and they all asked our company to do the design. We are a bit overwhelmed." "Your leaders are really something. There are only so few people in total, but they are still trying so hard to take on the work. They are going to tire you to death." Li Guiqin said with a distressed look on her face: "I heard that this kind of design can be outsourced. Can't your leaders think of a solution?" "We can't outsource it. They specifically asked our second institute to do it." Ding Jiaqian pretended to be calm, but there was a hint of complacency in her eyes that could not be concealed. "Because the Meilan Garden we worked on before... Look, that's the community across the street. The model effect was very outstanding and the brand was well-known, so they came to us." "Oh, that's amazing." Li Guiqin said with emotion: "He's so capable at such a young age. Unlike this one in our family, he will probably have to deal with chalk all his life." "What's wrong with being a teacher?" Aunt Su was unhappy. "The career is stable and has good benefits. The pension is higher than other people's wages. During the winter and summer holidays, I can also do tutoring to earn extra money. How many people would envy me for this." At this point, Ding Jiaqian asked Zhou Hao for the first time, "Have you ever been a volunteer teacher?" Zhou Hao nodded, "Yes." "I heard it's a very poor place, in the southwestern mountainous area?" Zhou Hao was stunned for a moment, then nodded. Southwest Zhejiang Province, it’s still Southwest, there’s nothing wrong with it. "Having this experience should give you extra points when evaluating professional titles, right?" Ding Jiaqian asked, "I know a teacher who was promoted as easily as taking an elevator after returning from teaching in remote areas. He now works in the Municipal Education Bureau." "Like you said, this is just a bonus." Zhou Hao smiled calmly, "But some people are born with higher basic scores than me, so the points I added may not be useful." "That's true." Ding Jiaqian stirred the latte in her cup. "When I first entered the design institute, I was also suppressed by those with connections. Later, I squeezed them out with my ability and hard work." "So, in the end, working hard in the workplace still depends on yourself. As long as you are strong enough, no one can stop you. There is no point in always complaining about injustice." As soon as these words came out, Aunt Su's face changed immediately. Even Li Guiqin, who was standing by, couldn't laugh anymore.
The condescending arrogance in these words was almost undisguised. Even close friends wouldn't dare to say such things casually, as the friendship could end if one is not careful. What's more, we are not familiar with each other yet. Li Guiqin was a little embarrassed, but she still changed the subject and said, "So this residential area across the street was designed by you, Qianqian. It's really beautiful. Are these houses selling well?" "It's pretty good, and it's being consumed very quickly." Ding Jiaqian said, "But I'm only responsible for the design of the villa area. The prices there are high, so relatively few people buy there." "But I heard that one unit was just sold today, and it was paid in full." "How much does that cost?" Li Guiqin looked surprised. "About six million." Ding Jiaqian's expression was calm. "Tsk tsk, there are so many bosses these days." Li Guiqin said with some envy, "In the end, it's your design that's good. If this villa wasn't nice, who would buy it?" Ding Jiaqian tucked her hair around her ears, and there was a hint of impatience on her face. After taking a sip of latte, she secretly glanced at the wall clock again. Zhou Hao counted silently. This was the fifth time she looked at the clock in less than fifteen minutes since she sat down. Just as the atmosphere was becoming increasingly tense, a young and beautiful girl trotted in excitedly. Ding Jiaqian was as if she had been pardoned. "Sorry, Aunt Li, it seems like a friend came to see me." Li Guiqin's smile froze again. Aunt Su's face fell, "Ding Jiaqian, what do you mean? You..." Ding Jiaqian ignored her and waved at the girl, "This is Xiaoyun. I knew her when I was an intern. She now works at the sales center across the street." "She is the one who sold the villa today. I heard that the buyer wanted to slightly adjust the internal dimensions, so I have to help draw another drawing." Zhou Hao on the opposite side was stunned for a full ten seconds. When did I say I wanted to adjust the width? (End of this chapter)