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Disclaimer: This article is a short story, the names in the article are pseudonyms, the content is purely fictional, please watch it rationally, if there is any similarity, it is purely a coincidence
Text丨Ukiyo Qinghuan
Editor丨Ukiyo Qinghuan
Preface
This is Lucy's first visit to China, and although it is in the name of a business trip, it does not affect her interest in the slightest, and she is full of curiosity about everything in China, which is destined to be an unforgettable memory for a lifetime.
But to my surprise, after spending a few days in China, she asked this question: How can Chinese people be workaholics?
Lucy visits
I was born into a family of intellectuals, my parents were both university teachers, and I taught at the same university, one in economics and the other in English, and in such a family atmosphere, my academic performance was exceptionally good, especially in English, and I was able to become proficient in conversation in high school.
Later, I was admitted to a key university in the provincial capital to study economics, and in my sophomore year, because of my excellent academic performance, I went to the United Kingdom as an exchange student, and spent a year there, and the general impression of the British was that I was blond and blue-eyed, fair-skinned, and looked exceptionally optimistic and confident.
There, I got to know a lot of British classmates, they were very welcoming to my arrival, and often helped me in my studies and life, but everything was relative, and there were some male classmates who were very hostile to me, and they often showed arrogance in front of me, and no one looked at me.
After graduating from university, my parents wanted me to study for graduate school, but I just wanted to enter the society and break through, regardless of my parents' obstruction, I entered a foreign economic and trade company.
Working in this company, the only fly in the ointment is that I have to often travel to the United Kingdom and the United States for business trips, and it takes ten days and a half a month to go, which makes me very uncomfortable. On this day, the company held a meeting and said that a cooperative enterprise in the United Kingdom would send a few employees to us for training, hoping that we could take more care.
But when the leader introduced those employees to us, I was not calm for a moment, one of them was named Lucy, whether it was from the name or to the resume, and one of my British classmates was very similar, so after the meeting, I quickly called Lucy who was far away in the UK and asked her for verification.
Sure enough, it was her, it turned out that after graduating from university, Lucy went to work for a company in London, and that company happened to work with us. After receiving the exact answer, an inexplicable excitement and excitement welled up in my heart, and I don't know why, maybe it was because old friends met again.
Lucy and several employees who came with her arrived at the company from the airport by special car, and the leader also prepared a simple welcome ceremony for them, and it was then that I found out that in just two or three years, Lucy's appearance has changed greatly, and she looks much more mature and beautiful, giving people a feeling of a noblewoman and a celebrity.
After the welcome ceremony, Lucy and her party entered the conference room, where they were going to be trained, and I should go back to my job and get back to work. To my surprise, Lucy had finished training at 4 p.m., and they were able to return to the hotel to rest.
Before leaving, Lucy came to my workstation and asked me to call her after work, she wanted to invite me to dinner, I quickly smiled and agreed, and said that Lucy came from afar, I, as the host, must invite her to dinner, Lucy didn't say anything about this, just smiled, and then said to me, see you later.
Unforgettable memories
I guess Lucy didn't expect it, I waited until more than eight o'clock in the evening to get off work, that day happened to have a project in hand to be busy, originally half past six off work, forced to drag until eight o'clock, after work I immediately called Lucy, and drove to the door of the hotel.
When I arrived, Lucy was already waiting at the door, she had changed her clothes, and she felt completely different from the feeling of being in the company today, as if she was back in college, and she couldn't see her identity as a professional at all.
Along the way, looking at the various restaurants on both sides, I hesitated in my heart, most of them were some snacks, I really didn't know what to take Lucy to eat, who expected that at this time, Lucy spoke: "Let's go eat hot pot, I heard that Chinese hot pot is very delicious!"
This was quite surprising to me, I didn't expect Lucy to know about hot pot, since she had spoken, I took her to a nearby hot pot restaurant, the air in the store was filled with the aroma of food, which made Lucy linger, sucking hard, calling hot pot great!
I don't know if the hot pot is too delicious, or Lucy doesn't like to talk when she eats, she is buried in eating the whole time, rarely talking to me, my meal is very small, I didn't eat two bites and stopped, but I didn't play with my mobile phone, just sat aside and waited quietly.
After a while, Lucy seemed to realize something, so she stopped, and then wiped her mouth with a tissue to indicate that she had eaten, and I couldn't help but smile bitterly in my heart, what a greedy child, so I got up and went to the front desk to settle accounts, and then took Lucy away.
After going out, Lucy said that the street was so lively, I hope I can accompany her to walk, feel the different cultural customs, where I have the reason to refuse, so I took her through the streets of the city, along the way, Lucy in addition to amazement is still amazed, she said that China is too lively.
When passing through a square, there was a group of aunts dancing in the square, which immediately attracted Lucy, she couldn't help but stop and watch, and from time to time there was a cheer, seeing that she was so intoxicated, I was embarrassed to interrupt her, so I sat on the bench next to me and guarded silently.
But what happened next surprised me, Lucy seemed to feel unpleasant, and actually followed directly behind the aunts, dancing together, a young and beautiful British girl, dancing in the square, if I hadn't seen it with my own eyes, I really didn't believe it.
We played until 11 p.m. that day, and then I sent her back to the hotel, and for the next few days, I would take her out every night, and Lucy seemed to like eating hot pot, and every time she yelled at it, she came to China for five days, and she ate hot pot for four meals.
Lucy's doubts
In the blink of an eye, Lucy is about to end her business trip and return to England, this night is also the last night of her stay in China, but unfortunately today I worked overtime again, and it was already more than seven o'clock when I got off work, this time we didn't eat hot pot, when we passed through the snack street, we went in to buy something, and then walked in the park.
The two of us talked a lot that day, from the beginning of going to the UK to study, to graduation work, to meeting now, it seems that there are endless words, then Lucy inadvertently saw the high-rise building on the side, which was brightly lit, and couldn't help but sigh: Chinese are really diligent!
I was stunned by this, wondering why she could suddenly say such a thing, so I asked her where she saw it, and then it was Lucy's turn to wonder, she said that today is the fifth day she has come to China, and I have been working overtime for three days, and now at night, the office building on the side is still brightly lit.
Then Lucy said with a little puzzled tone: "How can Chinese be workaholics?" This really made me speechless, and I couldn't speak for a while, and it took half a day to say to her, not all, but the nature of the work.
Lucy was even more puzzled, so she asked me directly, why do I have to work overtime like me, shouldn't I do my job and leave when it's time to get off work? I really don't know how to answer Lucy, I can only say that I work hard to make money for life.
But what I didn't expect was that Lucy actually sighed: "In that case, your salary must be very high!" I can only smile bitterly, you must know Lucy's salary, but mine is several times, although there is a currency exchange rate problem, but her salary is higher than mine is an indisputable fact.
The national conditions of China and Britain are so different that I can't explain it clearly to Lucy, so I can only prevaricate and deal with it on the grounds of high wages, but when she left the next day, she told me not to just think about making money, but to pay attention to my body, which hit me again, but I could only smile and agree, saying that she should also pay attention to her body.
epilogue
Since then, my relationship with Lucy has been getting better and better, every time I go to the UK for business, I have to go to her to catch up with her, tell her interesting things that have happened recently, and gradually Lucy also learned about my real salary, she was only surprised, saying that I work really hard.
However, Lucy also said that although my salary is not high, my life is really happy, every night after work, I can feel the traffic on the street, and I can eat hot pot anytime and anywhere, unlike her, I have to hurry back home after work, because the streets in the UK are empty at night, and safety cannot be guaranteed.
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Disclaimer: This article is a short story, the names in the article are pseudonyms, the content is purely fictional, please watch it rationally, if there is any similarity, it is purely a coincidence