The world of film and television begins in the ideal city

Chapter 40 Annual Meeting 3

As the annual gala drew to a close, the stage performances came to an end, and the guests below toasted and exchanged drinks, the lively atmosphere gradually dissipating. Many senior executives and long-time employees rose to say goodbye and left the banquet hall in groups. Lin Chen had even left with Li Wei halfway through the gala. The once brightly lit and bustling hall gradually quieted down.

The night wind was biting cold at the entrance. Wu Hongmei stood on the corridor with her shoulders hunched, her arms tightly wrapped around herself. She was so cold that her whole body was stiff and her fingertips were icy. She stood awkwardly and forlornly at the edge of the crowd, watching the group of executives chat and laugh as they drove away. Her heart was filled with an inescapable sense of inferiority and bitterness.

Not far away, Su Xiao watched this scene but pretended not to see it and walked out of the hotel with the crowd.

In the recent merger and acquisition task force, she has performed outstandingly and has won the appreciation and trust of Chief Economist Xu Zhiping. She is now a rising star with great potential within Yinghai Group.

Meanwhile, the intimacy between her and Wu Hongmei had long since faded. Their former closeness had slowly disappeared, replaced by an invisible barrier and subtle distance, and even their conversations had become more polite and tentative.

Su Xiao understood Wu Hongmei's personality: sensitive, strong-willed, and with an extremely high sense of self-esteem, yet harboring a deep-seated inferiority complex and sensitivity. At this moment, under the watchful eyes of everyone, if she were to proactively offer help, Wu Hongmei would not only fail to appreciate the kindness but would also perceive it as condescending pity or deliberate showing off, making Su Xiao even more embarrassed in front of others and causing their already strained relationship to plummet to rock bottom. Su Xiao could only pretend not to see anything and quietly leave.

Shortly after, Zhao Xiankun saw off the last few important business partners and quickly returned to the hotel. He walked directly past Wu Hongmei, took a few steps, then suddenly took off his dark cashmere cardigan, turned around, and gently draped it over Wu Hongmei's shoulders.

A warm, soft sensation instantly enveloped her cold body, and a faint, elegant woody scent surrounded her. Wu Hongmei froze, abruptly looking up, her eyes filled with panic, confusion, and disbelief.

"Chairman...no need, I'm not cold."

Wu Hongmei hurriedly declined, instinctively trying to raise her hand to take it off.

Zhao Xiankun said gently, "It's too windy at night, wear this on, don't catch a cold."

Without saying anything more, he turned and left.

Wu Hongmei pulled her cashmere cardigan tightly around her shoulders, the warmth slowly spreading from them to her limbs. The long-standing cautiousness in the workplace, the grievances of being publicly criticized by her boss, the unseen humiliation and awkwardness—all of this was soothed by this sudden tenderness and understanding. Watching Zhao Xiankun's car disappear into the distance, her nose tingled, her heart filled with a bittersweet warmth. She carefully pulled the cardigan even tighter, as if protecting a rare sense of dignity and an unprecedented feeling of being cherished.

After a long and bumpy journey, and with night already deep, Wu Hongmei finally returned to the rented apartment she shared with Zhang Xiaobei.

Zhang Xiaobei had been worried about Wu Hongmei and kept his eyes glued to the window. When he saw Wu Hongmei appear, he quickly ran downstairs to greet her.

"Hongmei, aren't you cold? Why are you so late coming back?"

"I'm freezing! It's so cold!"

"Maria insisted that I be the greeter today, and I stood at the hotel entrance until the very end before coming back," she replied softly, her voice weary and weak.

"How could Maria be so unreasonable?"

The two quickly entered the rented room, and Zhang Xiaobei hurriedly went to fetch water for Wu Hongmei to wash her feet.

Wu Hongmei stood in front of the mirror, repeatedly examining herself while wearing that cashmere cardigan.

Zhang Xiaobei came out carrying a basin of water for washing feet, with a towel draped over his shoulder. Seeing Wu Hongmei's cashmere cardigan, he asked in confusion:

"Where did you get this sweater?"

"It belongs to our chairman," Wu Hongmei replied somewhat flusteredly. "Well, wasn't I greeting guests at the door? The chairman saw that I was dressed too lightly and took it off and lent it to me."

"Your chairman is really nice! He even lent you such an expensive sweater!"

"Yes, this sweater feels so comfortable."

Wu Hongmei took off her sweater, carefully folded it, and placed it in the cleanest corner of the sofa.

"Come wash your feet!" Zhang Xiaobei placed the foot basin by the bed and beckoned Wu Hongmei over.

Wu Hongmei walked over and sat on the edge of the bed. Zhang Xiaobei picked up her feet and put them into the foot bath.

"Try it, is it hot?"

"It's not hot, the temperature is just right."

Zhang Xiaobei rubbed the back of her feet, and after thinking for a moment, he couldn't help but ask.

"Is your chairman interested in you?"

"Oh, what are you talking about! Our chairman is surrounded by beautiful women. His ex-girlfriend is the CEO of our group's decoration company, she's gorgeous. How could he possibly be interested in me?"

"Not bad, my silly wife, you're quite self-aware. With your looks, you're the only one who could have blinded me." Zhang Xiaobei relaxed and chuckled.

After washing their feet and lying in bed, the two embraced and whispered intimate words. Zhang Xiaobei said with a hopeful look, "My year-end bonus is pretty good this time, I'll get 60,000 yuan. Adding that to the 460,000 yuan I saved before, it'll be enough for a down payment on a small house."

He then asked Wu Hongmei, "Hey, how much money do you have right now?"

"I have all my money with my mom. All I can think of is around 150,000 yuan."

Wu Hongmei said with a somewhat downcast tone, "I've worked so hard all these years to save up 150,000 yuan, while Su Xiao got 150,000 yuan in year-end bonus this year."

Zhang Xiaobei said somewhat unhappily upon hearing this:

"Why do you keep comparing yourself to her?"

He rolled out of bed and accidentally bumped into the sweater, which fell off the sofa. Wu Hongmei immediately got down and picked it up.

He complained to Zhang Xiaobei:

"What are you doing? Your clothes are on the ground and they're dirty. How am I supposed to return them?"

Zhang Xiaobei grew increasingly dissatisfied. "What's the big deal? It's just a piece of clothing! What's the big deal?"

"What? It's just a piece of clothing? This clothing is expensive, it's worth a month's salary for you! Okay!"

"How dare you talk like that? Do you think my salary is too low?"

Zhang Xiaobei said angrily.

"It's just an old piece of clothing, and you're really taking this small favor to heart? You're so easily moved by a little kindness, Wu Hongmei, are you becoming more and more vain?"

"I'm vain?" Wu Hongmei's eyes instantly reddened, and she could no longer suppress the emotions that had been building up all night. Her voice was choked with uncontrollable sobs.

"If I were truly vain, why would I scrimp and save every day with you? All my clothes are discounted items, I only use sample sizes of skincare products, and even the toiletries at home are things you casually brought back from hotels!"

"Is it wrong for me to be frugal? I'm carefully saving money to buy a house so that we can have a stable life together in the future. What did I do wrong?" Zhang Xiaobei didn't back down, and her voice grew louder and louder.

"Last time you treated Su Xiao to dinner, you insisted on spending 1,800 yuan, which is almost a quarter of my salary! You're vain and love to compare yourself to others. Ultimately, you just think I'm not capable enough to give you the glamorous life you want!"

Zhang Xiaobei was furious. He ignored Wu Hongmei and went straight to his computer to play games.

Looking at Zhang Xiaobei, who was only concerned with money and showed no empathy, and recalling Zhao Xiankun's quiet tenderness and consideration on that cold night, Wu Hongmei felt a strong sense of disparity wash over her, making her feel cold all over. She silently shut her mouth, no longer arguing, her eyes filled with endless weariness, loneliness, and utter heartbreak.

She looked down at the neatly folded cashmere cardigan on the sofa.

At this moment, this garment carries not only the warmth of the winter night, but also the only ray of light that quietly shines into her gloomy, oppressive, and seemingly endless life.

Wu Hongmei was afraid of getting her cashmere cardigan dirty, so she carefully cleaned it overnight. Afraid of damaging it, she dared not machine wash it and could only hand wash it.

She even used a hairdryer on a low temperature to slowly dry it, but accidentally caused the cashmere to pill and become frizzy. She panicked and felt guilty, and spent the whole night feeling uneasy.

At that moment, she forgot about Zhang Xiaobei!

The next morning, she made a point of arriving at the company early to return the dress to the chairman's office.

"What do you mean?" Secretary Tang asked, puzzled, as she saw Wu Hongmei walking over with a bag.

Wu Hongmei explained, "Yesterday, I was standing in the wind, right? The chairman saw that I was cold, so he lent me his clothes. I was afraid that they would smell, so I washed them."

Secretary Tang took the sweater out of the bag, examined it carefully, and then angrily questioned, "It's all fuzzy! Do you know how expensive this sweater is?"

Wu Hongmei quickly replied, "I can pay for it; deduct it from my salary!"

Hearing the commotion, Zhao Xiankun came out from the inner room and asked, "What's wrong? What are you deducting from?"

Secretary Tang immediately grabbed the clothes and complained to Zhao Xiankun, "Chairman, look, they're all covered in fur!"

Zhao Xiankun looked at Wu Hongmei and asked:

"What happened to you?"

Wu Hongmei quickly explained, "I wore it home last night, and I was worried about it smelling, so I washed it. After washing it, I was afraid it wouldn't dry, so I used a hairdryer to dry it, and then it..."

Zhao Xiankun was somewhat surprised. He picked up the clothes, glanced at them, and asked, "Did you dry them with a hairdryer? How long did you dry them?"

Three hours.

Afraid of angering him, Wu Hongmei quickly said, "Chairman, I can compensate you; it will come from my salary."

Before he could finish speaking, Zhao Xiankun interrupted him, saying, "What compensation? It's just a little bit of fluff, it's not like you can't wear it, it's fine."

After saying that, he picked up his clothes, turned around, and went into the inner room.

Wu Hongmei breathed a sigh of relief, feeling even more touched. Compared to Zhao Xiankun's understanding, Zhang Xiaobei's lack of comprehension made her even more dissatisfied.