101. What Is a Dream?

In such a spacious executive office, not a single desk was to be seen, suggesting that Lao Yu did not handle official business here. Bai Haonan felt that the general manager’s desk at the Blue Wind Club must be piled high with files, let alone someone who sounded like a big boss. But he didn’t ask. Facing Yu Jiali was actually much easier. As a young woman, she sat with her legs casually apart, tapping her fingers on her thigh as she spoke. “Lao Yu wasn’t wrong. I am a bastard—a heartless and carefree type. In less than ten days before coming here, I dumped three girls: one was my childhood friend, one an ethnic minority girl, and the other was a nurse treating Ada…”

Slightly surprised, Yu Jiali didn’t jump up but remained calm. “Go on. Whether you want to tell it backward in reverse chronology or from the beginning, it’s fine. I’m quite eager to hear about a man like you with experiences beyond what I usually encounter. Actually, what my dad meant was that I shouldn’t waste myself on you, but he also admits you have the chance to turn things around. That means you’re not just some ordinary employee. Tell me about your resume—how you managed to earn nearly ten million in a decade or so. And, if you like, you can talk about those women too. Maybe I’ll find it disgusting, but I’ll just treat it as an investment.”

She leaned back on the sofa, crossing her legs with the air of a general manager. Bai Haonan started babbling, and by the time he finished, it was lunchtime. Yu Jiali’s expression showed no anger or disgust. Her once slightly plump face seemed slimmer, whether because of dieting or the serious, austere look she wore. “Are you still coming for lunch? There might be quite a few relatives.”

A person with a little pride or some apprehension might have backed off, but Bai Haonan thought, “Sure, I want to learn from Lao Yu. Even if I can’t be a driver, I want to learn something from him—some experience or wisdom. Even if I have nothing to do in your so-called fitness center, I want to ask him what I should do next.”

Yu Jiali stared at him; this was probably the longest time she had openly looked at him in the ten or so days they had known each other. “Why do you always want to ask him for advice?”

Bai Haonan didn’t hesitate. “I told you earlier, my dad’s a table tennis coach. Apart from taking the team, scolding kids, drinking, and playing cards, he never taught me anything. The only one who taught me was that coach, but he only taught me how to play football and how to be a coach. In the sports school, the team, the club, I didn’t need to behave as a person—I just had to pretend to be happy all day. I’ve met many educated people, including you. But the things you talk about? I don’t understand them and don’t want to bother. It’s exhausting. Yet, my dad isn’t educated but still succeeded. So I think I can probably understand the things he says. At least when he left earlier, I roughly understood what he meant. I really haven’t suffered hardships.”

Yu Jiali sighed. “You were a professional player earning hundreds of thousands a year, but because of your own mistakes, you lost that future. Isn’t that hardship?”

Bai Haonan chuckled. “I stopped wanting to play a long time ago. I just want to see the world. It’s so big and beautiful!”

Yu Jiali quickly rolled her eyes, a bit charmingly. “I don’t even know what to say to you. If you were my employee, I’d just nod and say, fine, fine, go see the world. Just don’t waste time here!”

Bai Haonan, a little nervous, asked, “So you mean there’s no chance for the fitness center?”

Yu Jiali smiled self-deprecatingly. “Do you know how I feel? After hearing about your upbringing and the nonsense you get up to every day.”

Bai Haonan feigned seriousness. “What kind of feeling?”

Yu Jiali’s smile faded, for it was a smile at herself. “I just feel a little sorry. No, I should say quite sorry. I still hold on to my attitude—you still have a beautiful heart. You yearn for a better future. You never care about others’ opinions. You’re utterly disappointed in your current state, so you let yourself go. Deep down, you’re always chasing your dream, even if you haven’t found what it is yet. Maybe, like my dad said, you have to fail completely, hit rock bottom, before you understand those truths. It’s not your fault. If you’d had a good education and guidance when your worldview and life philosophy were forming, maybe you wouldn’t have had to go through all this. But you missed that chance and are now stumbling along in your own way. I want to help you—not just because I kind of like you, but because from the start, your rejection of me seemed a little kind-hearted. Of course, I don’t fit your aesthetic; I know I’m not pretty. Considering you’ve managed to squander millions over the years, you have quite the experience. I at least have that self-awareness.”

Bai Haonan couldn’t help himself. “Actually, you have a good foundation. Losing weight is the first step. Get a better makeup artist to teach you; the women at nightclubs put on better makeup than you. I guess you’ve been beaten down before and given up on yourself, or maybe you really fell for someone, thinking you could ignore looks and money and find a man who truly loves your inner self. Such blind men, if they exist, are probably the leftovers from other women who had no choice but to come to you. What’s that called again…”

Yu Jiali suddenly jumped up. “Ugh! How come when you say the same thing, it sounds so ugly? You’re the mistress! You’re the backup!”

Bai Haonan laughed heartily. “Exactly, exactly. Alright, I’m off. Will you come to the gym again?”

Yu Jiali even led the way out. “I told you, this investment project is my decision. I hope this gives you a real sense of how a career is properly built. Maybe it’ll help you understand what you should do ahead of time. Perhaps by then I’ll be prettier, or you’ll stop wasting yourself in debauchery. Outside of work, maybe things will naturally change.”

Bai Haonan raised a cautionary finger. “My childhood friend thought that way too. In the end, she told me she probably wouldn’t wait for that day. Leaving was the easiest thing.”

Yu Jiali pressed the elevator button. “Many long-term investments fail at the last moment. To me, this is a small investment with a big return. We’ll get to know each other through work. I don’t think I’m at risk of losing money.”

Bai Haonan sighed, showing off a little. “You haven’t seen crazy girls in love—there was one from Rongdu. Later, I heard from other nurses that her forearms were full of knife scars, crisscrossing like fishbones. Would you call that a loss?”

Yu Jiali widened her eyes. “There’s that too? I thought all those hysterical love stories were just acting.”

Bai Haonan made a secret face at her naïve romantic ignorance. Unexpectedly, Yu Jiali caught the reflection in the stainless steel elevator cabin, pulled out an iPhone, and said, “Let’s take a selfie together?”

Bai Haonan rarely took photos with women as evidence and was about to refuse, but Yu Jiali skillfully snapped the picture anyway. “I think it can motivate me to lose weight. Look at that forced expression on your face! Just looking at you makes me lose my appetite for lunch.”

Still, she got off on the second floor. “It’s just a regular family meal. If you want to ask my dad, ask him yourself. It’s not so formal.”

Bai Haonan asked, “Then why did you bring me here?”

Yu Jiali grinned. “If you meet a pretty girl, don’t you want to show off a bit? That’s my whole thought—no other ideas.”

Bai Haonan shook his head. “So cliché! How can you judge people by appearance?”

Recalling his earlier words, Yu Jiali couldn’t help but cover her mouth and giggle, attracting many curious glances at the restaurant entrance.

It truly was a restaurant. Since the downstairs living room was decorated like a miniature hotel lobby, this dining area resembled a hotel restaurant. Several enormous round tables could seat over ten people, with electric glass turntables in the center, dishes placed around the edges, and chairs and tablecloths of hotel quality. Strangely, each table had a huge artificial flower pot in the center that blocked the view of the person opposite. Even Bai Haonan found this aesthetically baffling.

Despite all eyes on him, Yu Jiali, still laughing quietly, led him to the table where Yu Deshui was already seated. The dishes were plainly homemade: stir-fried cabbage, duck, braised catfish, yellow-braised fish, stir-fried taro—nothing looked appetizing and utterly mismatched with the table’s luxury. Yu Jiali finally stopped laughing and began introducing the family members—all immediate relatives and elders. Several elderly smiled, about to ask Bai Haonan questions, but Yu Deshui interrupted. “Sit here with me. Jiali is really getting tricked by you—she’s all flustered!”

Bai Haonan hurried over. Yu Deshui, seeing his daughter’s composed expression, first went to tease a nearby poodle before sitting by the women’s table, then happily called everyone to eat. Everyone quickly and busily ate their meals, chatting casually. It was nothing like Bai Haonan imagined a wealthy family’s strict, grand dining etiquette to be. Taking advantage of the moment, he asked Yu Deshui some questions. Rare opportunity—it was said that dining with successful people often meant paying.

Yu Deshui, scooping rice and dishes with his bowl, showed no formal manners like outside. A nanny hovered around refilling plates. He chuckled. “Young man, your answer earlier left me stunned. Later, I realized that when I got the chance to start working, I had struggled for twenty-plus years, constantly suffering and living in poverty, desperately trying to make money and do things. That’s what drove me to earn my first million. But you’ve had it easy, thinking everything you get is deserved. You’ve never truly experienced poverty or hunger!”

Bai Haonan quietly countered, “We do have diets… What should I do right now?”

Yu Deshui laughed and cried simultaneously. “I mean mentally! You think you’re the best in the world, seeing everyone else as fools, with no faith. What you should do now is go to Thailand and become a monk under Master Tianlong for two years. How about that? For Jiali’s sake, that’s my best advice for you!”

Bai Haonan shook his head vehemently. He could accept many things—but becoming a monk? Never! That meant renouncing women!