The most painful business trip

  The First Return to Pingjin City

  Return to Hometown

  The weather is overcast, the sun only has a weak halo, and the layer outside that blocks it is unknown whether it's clouds or fog, but the lower atmosphere is very dry, it's just the time when autumn and winter are changing, the rain has gone early, and the snow hasn't had time to come yet.

  An old-fashioned green train slowly pulled into the platform, with a lot of paint peeling off its exterior, but still making a rumbling sound and bringing a gust of wind that pressed against the people on the platform, as if showing off its undying body.

  Not far away, a huge billboard was also shaken and buzzing, with the brand advertisement of the most powerful advertising company in the city printed on it.

  The train soon came to a stop, and a group of people carrying large and small bags swarmed around the carriage. The conductor had an expressionless face, and after opening the door, he said indifferently: "Get off first, then get on, and mind your queue!"

  But these people wouldn't care about him and before he could even finish speaking, they would swarm up in a rush.

  At the last moment, a young man with a flat head, sharp eyes and a playful smile walked down slowly. The train conductor frowned at his sloppy behavior and suddenly remembered something that the Municipal Public Security Bureau had entrusted to the railway bureau, so he hastily shouted: "Take out your ID card and ticket!"

  "Why are you checking me alone?" The young man was already taller than the train conductor, and as he spoke, he took a few steps forward, looking down at his counterpart while lighting up a Red Plum cigarette.

  The train conductor waved his hand to disperse the smoke in front of him and shouted, "Take it if you want it, why so much nonsense!"

  "It's in my left pocket." The young man, with a cigarette dangling from his mouth, lifted his left hand holding a tattered bag and raised his right hand clutching a domestic knockoff mobile phone, indicating that he had no hands free.

  The train attendant muttered another curse, then reached into the young man's pocket and pulled out his ID card and ticket. After examining them for a while, he whispered: "How can this be Zhao Gan? He's not even a local, it seems we've really got the wrong person..."

  But unexpectedly, at this moment, a young man named Zhao Gang was making a phone call to the railway bureau: "Right, right, I'm not buying tickets, I'm sure I didn't dial the wrong number. I want to make a complaint. What am I complaining about? ... Didn't I already send you the video I took? I was forcibly searched by your staff at East Station. What? You ask what? What's the name of that train conductor? How would I know, isn't it shown in the video I just took? The evidence is solid, you go check it out yourselves, don't make us ordinary people lose faith in you."

  Upon hearing this, the train conductor finally realized that he had been "fooled" by this young man. In these times, it's not easy to have a stable job eating public food, and coincidentally, there are rumors of layoffs at the railway bureau. The train conductor immediately squeezed out a smile and said in a soft voice: "Young brother, I was wrong earlier. Can you explain again to them?"

  After saying that, the train conductor handed over a pack of 'Yu Xi' cigarettes from his arms to Zhao Gan.

  "Alright, alright." Zhao Gan nodded in agreement. As for this little train attendant, Zhao Gan couldn't be bothered to reason with him, just scaring him a bit would make him less greedy in the future. In fact, he hadn't even made a phone call earlier, it was all just one person talking to himself.

  Then Zhao dared to pick up the phone and talked to himself for a while, and the train staff finally left with peace of mind.

  Everyone was almost gone, Zhao Gan lit another "Yu" Xuan cigarette that had just been robbed, walked out of the platform, came to the exit, stopped, and looked around. Along the floor-to-ceiling window, Zhao Gan's eyes lazily looked at the towering skyscrapers outside, huge billboards displaying economic prosperity and commercial cruelty. It's been three years, he left for exactly three years, did this cold city made of money and cement still recognize him?

  Three years ago, Zhao Gan had just graduated from university and received an offer from a 4A international advertising company. His parents knew he was a child with ideas, but it was also because of his many ideas that he got into trouble since elementary school, having a puppy love in the fifth grade and even bringing the girl home, not to mention fighting, which was a common occurrence at home. Although he relied on his relatively good brain to enter a key university, he was nearly expelled several times due to frequent group fights.

  Zhao Gang still remembers that when he was drinking, smoking and feeling confused about the future, his good friend Du Xiaoqiang came up with a sentence: "Someone like you should either be the president or an advertising person."

  Actually, Zhao Gan initially chose to study advertising because he thought his mother's clothing store business was too poor and wanted to learn some skills to help with promotion. However, later on, as he gained a deeper understanding of the industry, he really became 'obsessed' with advertising. Or perhaps, people like him who are always thinking about creative ideas are born to do this kind of work.

  Planes are running wildly in my mind, and I couldn't help but recall that scene three years ago...

  That day, the weather was also approaching winter. Nearly 10,000 people were packed into a very high-end auditorium, with some standing and others sitting, some wearing 'flower' patterned clothing to show off their artistic personality, while others wore gold-rimmed glasses and high-end suits, looking elegant and refined. The host on stage blew the "flowers" wildly, finally announcing the start of the Asia-Pacific Advertising Cultural Festival awards ceremony in a very professional tone.

  The company's boss sat next to Zhao Gan, who had just graduated and joined the workforce not long ago, and said with extreme familiarity: "This time the company relied on you to bring glory, well done, keep up the effort, take advantage of your youth now."

  Zhao Gang smiled and nodded, exchanging pleasantries with several high-level executives from his own company who had accompanied him. His eyes, however, kept darting back towards the rear of the room. After a brief moment, the host finally read out his name: "Next, let's welcome with warm applause the winner of the 'Golden Dragon Cup' Advertising Awards China Region Planning Category Gold Award, Zhao Gang from Pingjin Mei Yuan Advertising Co., Ltd., to come on stage and receive his award!"

  The words had hardly fallen when thunderous applause erupted from below the stage.

  Under the company's boss's relieved smile, Zhao Gan walked up onto the stage with big strides, walking into the wind, calm as a pine tree.

  The host still used the old cliché: "Mr. Zhao, hello, can you briefly share your award-winning speech?"

  Zhao Gang nodded to the American female host, and openly glanced at the snow-white area under her low-cut top, just about to start speaking, but then forcibly closed his mouth.

  Because when he was standing on the stage, scanning the rows of seats below with his eyes, he didn't see his parents! Moreover, he still couldn't see his 'girlfriend' Wu Xin.

  Because both parents have work, they can only "squeeze" out time to attend this award ceremony. However, it was already agreed upon last night that the parents would definitely arrive before 3 pm yesterday. But now, it's already 3:01.

  As for Wu Xin, I didn't see even half of her figure from start to finish.

  From the moment I signed up for advertising, standing on this grand award stage has been my long-held wish. It's an honor to have achieved it just two months after graduation, but at this moment, there is no one closest to me to share my joy.

  "Mr. Zhao?" The host noticed that Zhao was distracted and hastily reminded him.

  "Uh..." Zhao Gan snapped back to reality, forcing a smile as he said: "I'll just imitate those stars for a bit. Thank my parents, thank the company, thank my 'girlfriend', thank the people-benefiting policies of the Party Central Committee and State Council, thank the audience in front of me, thank every single person working in advertising, and also thank the beautiful hostess."

  When the last sentence was heard, the host burst out laughing, but this laughter was quickly interrupted. A police officer with a strong leadership style stood far away from the stage and made a pause gesture to the host.

  Behind that policeman, two more policemen followed, one of whom was a rather young little runner who rushed onto the stage and whispered a few words to Zhao Gan, and then Zhao Gan followed him down.

  Then, at this moment, a vibration came from the pocket of his pants. Zhao looked at the three police officers in front of him with a calm and collected expression, and casually took out his mobile phone. It was a text message from his father, with only one simple sentence: Son, don't ask anything, if someone comes to catch you, run, hurry up and run, the farther the better!

  Zhao Gan was shocked in his heart and immediately ran away. From young to old, he had never doubted his father before, and this time would be no exception.