Beijing, after all, has nothing to do with me

Chapter 23
Tao Jie thought that the relationship with Alice would undergo a qualitative change because of that wonderful night in Hainan. She guessed right. When she came to the company on Monday, Alice was much more enthusiastic towards her than before.

"Tao Jie, this is for you." She handed Tao Jie a paper bag.

Tao Jie readily accepted it, thinking that it was a spare material from the Hainan Conference, and Alice used it for favors. Her expression froze for a moment, and her joy was much less, because she suddenly understood why Alice gave herself such an expensive gift.

"Do you like it?" Alice's tone was fake and flattering, "I saw it when I was visiting the China World Trade Center on the weekend, and I thought it would look great with the beige gray coat you wore when you first came here, so I bought it. I'll see you off."

"You don't have to," Tao Jie replied hesitantly, "Really, it's nothing..."

"It's nothing!" Alice hurriedly explained, "I just bought it when I saw it and thought it looked good on you. Why, don't you think it looks good?"

Tao Jie smiled in her heart. In the end, Alice was still worried about her. She must have regretted what happened that night, so she hoped to use an expensive silk scarf to block her mouth, or to make up for something. .

"It looks good." Tao Jie suddenly calmed down, and said with a smile, "Okay, I'll accept it, thank you."

Since she wants peace of mind, then give it to her.

"As long as you like it." Alice smiled sweetly, like a child who has been praised.

Time is like water, and the circles of ripples caused by the small stones thrown down gradually fade away, and the water surface slowly leveled off, returning to its former tranquility.

In a blink of an eye, it's autumn.

At noon, Tao Jie was eating alone in a corner of the restaurant, when suddenly the light dimmed in front of her eyes, thinking that someone was coming to share the table, she moved a step inside without raising her head.

The person who sat down was Mai Zhiqiang, his hands were empty, and he did not receive the meal.

"Ah, Mr. Mai!" Tao Jie was very surprised, a little flustered, "You finished eating so soon?"

Mai Zhiqiang put his hands in his pockets, leisurely admiring her panic, "Not yet, I'm going to treat someone later, let's go out to eat."

Tao Jie didn't understand what she was nervous about, she was always a little awkward with this boss who helped her a lot.

"Oh, by the way, did you get the gift from last time? I went to your office to look for you, but you weren't here, so I gave it to Trish."

After mentioning this, Tao Jie realized that he hadn't seen him for almost a month.

"got it."

"Do you think it's okay?" Tao Jie glanced at him expectantly, and at the same time explained with some regret: "But the stuff in the administration department is just that level, and I really can't pick a better one."

Mai Zhiqiang stared at her apologetic face, "You picked it?"

"Ah."

"Very good." He replied simply.

"As long as you like it." She smiled sincerely.

"You've changed." He said abruptly.

"Really?" Tao Jie was startled, and instinctively touched her cheek, "Are you tanned?"

Mai Zhiqiang laughed, "No, I just want to say that you are much more capable than when you first came here."

In fact, what he didn't say was that Tao Jie's eyes were filled with something that had never happened before. They were heavy, heavy, and very textured. He didn't understand what that meant.

"Is Sanya fun?" He asked instead.

"It's not bad." Tao Jie thought for a while, "The seafood is delicious, and the fruit is also delicious, but I didn't dare to go diving. I'm not in good health and I'm afraid of dizziness."

"People who can drink generally have a good physique." Mai Zhiqiang said half-jokingly.

"I can't do it." Tao Jie blushed a little when she thought of the time in Suzhou, but she was also very happy. Mai Zhiqiang in front of him seemed to be very close to him when he returned to Suzhou.

"Does Sheng Jun remember? He came to Beijing, and he wanted to invite us out to go clubbing at night, and he asked you to go with him." Mai Zhiqiang said.

Tao Jie widened her eyes, and a funny smile soon appeared in her mind, "Remember, the one who can say it well!"

"Is it convenient for you at night?" When he asked, there was a hint of caution in his tone.

"Convenience!" Tao Jie said without hesitation, "I'm not afraid of making fun of you if I say it. I've never been to a bar before! I just went to see it."

After speaking, she realized that what she said was not true. When she was in Sanya, she went deep into the bar and bravely rescued Alice once, but that time her mind was all on finding someone, and she didn't care about the situation in the bar at all.

Mai Zhiqiang didn't look surprised at all, as if he thought she should be like this, and said with a smile: "It can be seen that you are a good girl who is as good as a fake."

When he said this, Tao Jie was a little embarrassed.

"Then, that's the deal tonight." Mai Zhiqiang made the final decision with her.

Tao Jie nodded heavily. She was worried that she would not have a place to spend the night. She stayed in that small cell-like rented room all day, and she felt that she was about to get moldy.

Originally, she wanted to tell Li Yaoming, but she gave up after thinking about it. He didn't come back early anyway, and she didn't seem to be obliged to report everything to him.

That night, Mai Zhiqiang summoned a total of five people, two of them were students, and the other was a colleague of Sheng Jun's department in Beijing.Alice was also invited, but she couldn't attend because of something at night. Tao Jie was a little suspicious that she was in the shadow of clubbing in Hainan, so she deliberately avoided it. Of course, it was just suspicion, so Tao Jie became the only one tonight. female guests.

The bar I went to was in Gongti, with a thriving population.As soon as Tao Jie stepped into the door, Tao Jie felt a little regretful. It wasn’t the rhythmic background music that filled the room—if it was a few decibels higher, the cups and wine bottles on the table would probably dance along with it. What she couldn't bear was the choking smell of cigarettes. Before she came here, she never expected that guests would be allowed to smoke indiscriminately in the bar.

After taking their seats, the male colleagues who came with them quickly integrated into the atmosphere here. The colorful lights flickered back and forth, and the swaying chatter and laughter shuttled among them. The misty smoke reflected by the light appeared and disappeared before the eyes. Flaming mountains, full of scents and energy.

Wu Gang took the lead to light a cigarette, and he was sitting outside Tao Jie. As soon as the smell wafted over, Tao Jie felt dizzy when he smelled the pungent foreign smoke. She couldn't help it, and turned her head to face him. Said: "Can you stop smoking?"

"Ah?" Wu Gang also turned his head and took a look at her. He immediately understood her request, and then said with a smile, "That's no good. If you don't smoke in a bar, it's uglier than a woman with a beard!"

Tao Jie couldn't laugh or cry at his metaphor, and Mai Zhiqiang, who was sitting across from her, also smiled and persuaded her, "Do as the Romans do, even if he doesn't smoke, there are others."

Tao Jie thought about it too, so she had no choice but to keep silent.

Other male colleagues at the same table also lit up cigarettes one after another. Tao Jie noticed that only Mai Zhiqiang hadn't smoked from the beginning to the end.

Five people ordered a glass of fruit juice, a bottle of Hei Fang and two beers. The fruit juice was specially ordered by Mai Zhiqiang for Tao Jie.

Sitting on a high stool against the wall, Tao Jie watched curiously as the bartender mixed three green tea-like beverages with a glass of whiskey, and finally poured them into a square bottle.She soon passed the discomfort period of being allergic to smoke, and began to pay attention to this mysterious place that she had never set foot in.

As Mai Zhiqiang said, wherever you are, you have to follow the rules of the place. Tonight, didn't she come here just to overturn her old life of following the rules?
Sheng Jun poured everyone a glass, and when it was Tao Jie's turn, Mai Zhiqiang stopped her before she spoke, "Let Tao Jie drink the juice, let's have some wine."

Sheng Jun was not reconciled, and he yelled at Tao Jie earnestly, "Is it unreasonable not to drink when you come to the bar? Besides, I have absolute confidence in Teacher Yuan's drinking capacity! Isn't it, Teacher Yuan, at least give me some face!"

Tao Jie is not a man of coddling. Seeing Sheng Jun's entreaty and being curious about the taste of the wine, he nodded in agreement. Seeing Mai Zhiqiang, he couldn't say anything more.

She raised her glass and took a sip, her mouth was filled with the taste of green tea, the smell of alcohol was already very light, it could be drunk as a drink, so she felt relieved.

Sipping light wine, another salesman surnamed Feng asked Tao Jie attentively, "Teacher Yuan, what do you think of this place?"

"Very good." Tao Jie replied with a smile. It was a happy thing to be able to temporarily forget the troubles that plagued her repeatedly in the daily life. She turned her eyes and greedily sucked everything here.

There are three stages in the lobby, and every DJ who goes up to sing will take turns between the three stages. The accompaniment band in the center is even more exciting, and the percussion instruments make sonorous and powerful drum noises. Throw into the sky in several sections and never come back.

Sheng Jun is an experienced salesman, how could he be willing to let everyone just sit quietly and watch other people's scenery? He came up with an idea of ​​throwing dice to drink: use two dice to play, and if you roll seven, just pour it into the cup Add wine, if the wine overflows, the person who adds wine must drink up the whole glass; the person who throws eight drinks half of the wine in the glass, and the person who throws nine needs to drink all the wine; The person can arbitrarily designate a person to drink up the wine in the glass.

"You come too!" Sheng Jun pointed to the wine glass in the middle of the table and whispered to Tao Jie.

Tao Jie found it very interesting and wanted to participate. She quickly glanced at Mai Zhiqiang. He smiled with his arms folded and didn't come out to stop him. She nodded to Sheng Jun. She didn't know why she kept it as if she wanted to get it Mai Zhiqiang seemed to agree.

At the beginning of the game, everyone was very playful and ambitious. As they poured more wine into the cups, each one became darker than the other. Sheng Jun's Beijing colleague Wu Gang was the most important. There is often a lot of fine wine, and after a few rounds, all of them have suffered. Although the alcohol content of the blended wine is low, the storage in the stomach is limited. After drinking a few more glasses, the stomach will feel bloated, which is definitely not enjoyable.

Every time it was Tao Jie's turn to refill the wine, she was always the lightest one. Both Wu Gang and Sheng Jun laughed at her lack of courage. She retorted, "I'm afraid it's my turn to drink."

In the second half, she was afraid of what would happen. Tao Jie drank half a glass or filled it a few times. Her gastrointestinal function was not strong, and ice was added to the drink. Every time she pinched her nose and drank it, it was miserable. Swallowing was the slowest, and she was repeatedly booed, and her mentality changed from fun to pain.

"Can I not participate?" She asked Sheng Jun timidly, wanting to retreat.

There was only one girl who could tease, Sheng Jun was not willing to let it go, even saying no, Tao Jie's stomach soon swelled up.

After another round of dice was thrown, Tao Jie suffered the fate of being fined again. She stared at the glass of yellow-orange liquid and felt that her intestines were about to be knotted. With a bitter face, he slowly poured ice water into his stomach.

Suddenly there was a sharp shout in the lobby. It turned out that a certain singer who was the most popular in the bar came on stage, which caused the fans to clamor wildly, and everyone at Tao Jie's table turned their heads to watch.

An empty wine glass flashed before Tao Jie's eyes suddenly, and then sneaked down into the gap between the wine table and the wall. Tao Jie stared at Mai Zhiqiang who was sitting opposite her. She winked at her, Tao Jie understood, and glanced nervously to the left, no one was looking at her, she controlled her heartbeat, and poured the wine in the glass into the one held by Mai Zhiqiang in the gap. Pour it into your wine glass!

Because of panic, I don't know if I have aligned my head properly.Can't help Tao Jie to check, Sheng Jun and the others have already turned their heads to urge her, "Have you finished drinking?"

Tao Jie hurriedly put the empty wine glass in her hand on the table, wiped her mouth with the back of her hand, and called out in pretended pain, "It's over!"

"Okay!" Amidst the clatter of applause, the game continued.

Although he escaped this catastrophe, he was not so lucky every time. Fortunately, the bad luck began to reverse, and the one who was always unlucky was no longer Tao Jie.

Even so, she still felt a strange discomfort coming from inside her body.

She wobbled down from the high stool, intending to go to the bathroom to relax, but as soon as her feet touched the ground, she felt her body fluttering.

"Looks like I'm drunk." She thought to herself, but her consciousness was extremely clear.

Before taking two steps, she staggered and almost fell on the back of a stranger!

Sitting at the outermost edge of their table was Wu Gang, who quickly jumped off the chair to support her, "Are you okay?"

"It's okay, I can do it." Tao Jie shook her hand, shook off him, miraculously controlled her pace, and walked towards the bathroom.

"I think she is drunk." Wu Gang said to everyone with a smile when he came back.

Sheng Jun rolled his eyes, "Unexpectedly, Tao Jie really can't drink."

Mai Zhiqiang couldn't help but glanced at him, he knew Tao Jie's real name too.

There are mirrors on all sides in the bathroom, even on the ceiling. Tao Jie looked at her flushed cheeks and blurred eyes in the cubicle, and suddenly giggled.

She felt very happy today, she had never tried drinking so recklessly, or in such a messy environment, with a group of unfamiliar men.It turns out that occasionally subverting the routine is also a means of relaxing the mind!
After she relieved herself, she stood in front of the mirror and looked at herself for a long time. Suddenly, she felt that there was nothing to be happy about. The smile on her face disappeared all of a sudden. She felt sorry for herself, and slowly stretched out her hand, wanting to touch her face. But her fingertips touched the cold mirror, and her tears flowed down inexplicably.

"Why are you crying?" she asked silently to herself in the mirror.

There seemed to be a hole dug out of thin air in my heart, no matter how many tears I used to fill it, it could not be healed.She remembered what Li Yaoming often said to her when he was helpless, "You are just a spoiled little girl who will never grow up."

"Am I really spoiled?" she murmured to herself.

After a long time, she calmed down, pushed open the door of the cubicle and walked out.

After washing her hands, she stood there at a loss, and suddenly found that she couldn't find a way out!
As far as the eye can see, there are white mirrors, and countless herself are reflected in the mirrors. She feels panic and suffocation. Where is her way out?

Something in her head made a piercing sound, and she felt more and more terrified, she held her head in her hands, and almost opened her mouth to scream!
A cleaning staff was standing by the sink with a mop in hand, watching Tao Jie looking around in the bathroom curiously, guessing that she was looking for the door, so she kindly pointed her out.

Tao Jie looked in the direction of her raised hand. Isn't that the exit? The figure floated, although it was impetuous, it was very real.

(End of this chapter)