Chapter 44

In the morning, Luo Huaizheng rubbed his temples and got up from the hard folding bed. He was busy with a project until late yesterday, so he simply slept in the office - just like many days before.

The people from the company hadn't arrived yet, so Luo Huaizheng washed up in a hurry, folded the quilt, put away the folding bed, put it in the storage room, and changed into clean clothes. There was leftover fried rice from last night in the refrigerator, so he heated it up in the microwave and finished it in a few bites, which was considered his breakfast.

He walked to the window and lit a cigarette to wake himself up, but his temples still ached, partly because of staying up late and partly because of the frequent insomnia in the past week.

In fact, Luo Huaizheng hasn't had insomnia for a long time, unlike the first year he was in prison, when he sat up until dawn every night. Later, the situation gradually improved. He worked hard to exercise and study in prison every day, and fell asleep at night. Occasionally, he would wake up from a nightmare, but he would be able to close his eyes and continue to sleep indifferently.

He was released from prison two years ago, and with the help of the warden and several inmates, he started taking small jobs. Because he made things quickly, well and cheaply, he gradually got more jobs and was able to save some money. But he took each step very cautiously, as if treading on thin ice. Because he knew that he could reintegrate into society so quickly because of the many people who helped him selflessly behind the scenes. So he had no chance to make mistakes.

Every time he was too busy with business, he would hire one person after another. For a long time, Luo Huaizheng only kept a meager living allowance every month and gave the rest to the team. To this day, the company, including himself, has only about 20 people, renting a small half-floor in the most dilapidated office building in the corner of this industrial park. But at last, with stable customers and income every month, he has established a firm foothold in Xiangcheng.

Two months ago, he bought a new house of 120 square meters for his parents. Seeing that his parents were finally able to move away from those old neighbors and finally showed their long-lost smiles, a long-lost happiness also rose in his heart.

It was under such circumstances that Ma Junhong insisted on dragging him to the class reunion. Now that he had started his own business and was a mercenary businessman, he no longer had the noble qualifications to reject these possible connections.

Besides, he also wanted to see them again.

But now, Luo Huaizheng regretted attending this party. He took a deep breath of Baisha cigarette, smiled bitterly, and thought that this might be post-traumatic stress disorder.

He had less than four hours of sleep last night, but he still had dreams all the time. In the week since the party, he had chaotic dreams for four or five days.

He dreamed again that his parents were crying outside the detention center, crying so hard that his heart was broken;
I dreamed of the last few months of my senior year in high school. Outside the classroom window, the shadows of trees were dancing. He was copying the wrong questions in his collection, but he couldn't help but draw a small heart next to a question. Then he secretly looked up and saw the girl beside him who was concentrating on doing the questions.

Her back was clear, but her face was blurry. For several years, Luo Huaizheng could no longer see her face clearly in his dreams. When he was awake, he even felt that he had almost forgotten what Li Qingyao looked like, because she was too far away from him, just like Mercury was as far away from Pluto.

But last night he dreamed about the first semester of the second year of high school, the beginning of September. He had been thinking for a long time downstairs in the teacher's building, and finally went to the head teacher with a serious face, saying that Li Qingyao's father and his father were actually distant relatives, and both parents hoped that he would help her improve her academic performance, so he begged the head teacher to arrange for them to sit at the same table. The head teacher never doubted this sanctimonious top student in the grade, and agreed immediately...

He also dreamed that one day after evening self-study, he was reluctant to go home, so he climbed over the wall into her clinic and kissed her under a tree. This time, he kissed her mouth instead of her face. But her father suddenly pushed the door open and came out with a feather duster in his hand... He hurriedly climbed over the wall and ran away, but was this real? In his memory when he was awake, there was clearly no such thing, and he couldn't remember it clearly.

He also dreamed that when he first entered prison, he was in a trance all day, crying non-stop, and even tried to commit suicide by hitting the wall, but was stopped by his cellmates. The prison bullying in the TV series did not happen at all. Several cellmates looked at him with a confused expression and did not dare to speak loudly. Finally, the warden took him to the office, took out a junior high school math problem book, and said, "Xiao Luo, write down the solutions for these problems for me. My daughter can't solve them no matter how hard she tries. In return, you can read all the books in this office."

……

And that night, that chaotic, disgusting, bloody night, that night that split his life into two, he hadn't dreamed of it for a long time. Even after seven years, he couldn't remember some details.

He thought it was probably some kind of automatic defense mechanism of the brain.

So after the long separation, he would still dream of those details buried in the first half of his life, those final, sweet and warm details.

Luo Huaizheng raised the hand holding the cigarette, pressed the moist corners of his eyes, and said to himself, it's all over, Luo Huaizheng.

Just like what he had said to himself countless times in these two thousand days and nights: It's all over. The first half of his brilliant and splendid youth life, when he recalled it now, seemed to belong to someone else, and that person was not him.

Now, the 24-year-old Luo Huaizheng has his feet firmly on the dusty ground. His heart is no longer in heaven, but in the ordinary world where countless people are busy.

When Luo Huaizheng finished smoking half a pack of cigarettes, people from the company came in one after another. He made another cup of instant coffee to refresh himself, sat down at the computer desk, and continued to work.

At around 10 o'clock, an employee answered a phone call and stood up excitedly and shouted, "We got the order from Huayu Group! Mr. Luo, we got it! We got it!"

The office was in an uproar. Everyone stood up and gathered around Luo Huaizheng with the employee. Luo Huaizheng also stood up and laughed happily.

Although Huayu Group is a small group, its annual turnover is 400 to 500 million yuan, and it has seven or eight subsidiaries. For a large computer application company, it may not be a big deal, but for Luo Huaizheng's company, it is a valuable big customer.

In fact, in terms of solution quality and professionalism, Luo Huaizheng is not afraid of other competitors. But they are too small, so no one knew whether they could win. Unexpectedly, good news came so soon.

Luo Huaizheng waved his hand and said that he would treat everyone at noon. When the project was successfully completed, everyone would receive a generous bonus. He always treated his subordinates very well, and all the employees were happy and full of energy.

Huayu Group quickly handed over the contract, a standard contract. Luo Huaizheng and the project manager went through the contract carefully, and asked an external legal person to look at it again. After making a few minor suggestions for revisions, the other party readily agreed, and Luo Huaizheng signed and sent it out.

Because the Huayu project will be launched tomorrow, it is not busy yet. In the evening, most of the employees have left. Luo Huaizheng was tired after a week and planned to spend the weekend at his parents' new home. Just as he was about to leave the office, his cell phone rang. It was an unfamiliar number.

He picked up the phone: "Hello, hello."

The other party paused for a moment, and a soft and gentle voice came: "Luo Huaizheng, hello, I am Xiang Siling."

Luo Huaizheng remained silent.

Xiang Siling pleaded, "Don't hang up yet. I, I have something to tell you. I hope you don't feel offended."

"explain."

"I just saw the contract that the technical department brought, and I learned that they chose your company as the service provider. Huayu is my stepfather's company, and technology is the area I'm in charge of, but I didn't know about the cooperation in advance. Now that I see it, I want to tell you so that you don't think too much. Later, the two companies still had normal business dealings. Let's handle things impartially. Do you think it's okay?"

Luo Huaizheng held the phone, a mixture of self-mockery and anger welling up in his heart. In an instant, he made up his mind and said, "Sorry, our company will not cooperate anymore. Please send the contract back."

Xiang Siling was silent for a few seconds and said, "The company has already stamped the document. I only noticed that you are the legal representative after I signed. And I have delegated this kind of cooperation to the department manager. Their decision cannot be overturned without reason."

Luo Huaizheng felt his chest tighten, and his cheeks gradually turned red when he thought of the penalty figure in the contract.

Xiang Siling added: "You hate me, but we are all adults. Personal emotions should not be brought into work. This is not fair to your employees. Don't you think so? I know myself well and will try not to appear in front of you in the future. I'm sorry, Luo Huaizheng. No matter how many years have passed, I only have this sentence to you - I'm sorry."

She hung up the phone, Luo Huaizheng looked around, the dusk was shrouding him, but he just felt that life was ridiculous. He closed his eyes for a while, and calmed down. The contract could not be cancelled, and the project had to be done. He just had to do his own thing and make every bit of the project perfect. If he was worthy of the project money from Huayu, he would have a clear conscience.