Tenant's Secret Love

Chapter 75: A trusted friend

The next morning, still half asleep, my mother woke me up. I grumbled, my mind still fuzzy, "Mom, it's only a few o'clock! You woke me up, let me sleep a little longer."

"No more sleeping, I want to ask you something."

"Just forget it, I already told you, I have nothing to do with that girl, really nothing." I yawned loudly, closed my eyes and lay back down on the bed.

"I'm asking you what the girl likes to eat. You said she's coming to visit us today, so I'll go shopping later."

"Just get some lotus root, bell peppers, gluten, river prawns, and make some spicy chicken."

"Aren't these all your favorites?"

"Young people have similar tastes. You can just choose whatever you like."

"You can't be sloppy about this..."

I interrupted before she could finish, saying, "Just go and buy it. She'll love it."

My mother finally stopped nagging and, after thinking for a moment, asked me, "Have you called to see if the girl has had breakfast yet?"

"Mom, we don't live in the same era. Don't impose your habits on us. You don't even know if she's got up yet. Just bring the groceries back first."

"You complain about me nagging all the time. I'm just looking out for you. Hurry up and call the girl and ask her when she's coming over. You'll pick her up."

"I'll do everything you say, just let me sleep for a little while, okay? Just a little while," I begged.

"And don't forget what I just told you, okay?"

I nodded quickly, and after some more nagging, my mother left my room.

...

After my mother left, I gradually lost my sleepiness. I tossed and turned in bed for a long time, and finally took out my phone and dialed Renee's number.

Renee answered the phone quickly and politely said "good morning" to me.

I also said "good morning" back, and then asked, "Have you had breakfast yet?"

"I'm having breakfast in the hotel restaurant."

"Oh, you have a good habit, it's the right time to have breakfast."

Renee responded with a 'hmm."

I felt that this conversation was a bit awkward, so after thinking for a while, I asked, 'What are you going to do after you finish eating?"

"I'll go shopping in your Xuzhou department stores and shopping malls."

"Miss Executive, you've come to Xuzhou especially to do market research!" I exclaimed.

"No, I've come especially to find you. I'll do the market research on the side," Renee said to me in a very serious tone.

I'm afraid of people talking to me very seriously, so I didn't say anything for a while.

Renee then said to me, "Xuzhou is your home turf, aren't you going to be my guide?"

"That's no problem, I have plenty of time now."

"I'll wait for you in front of the hotel."

...

After ending the call with Renee, I quickly got up, washed up quickly, and it took less than 10 minutes. I really wanted to show those slow women what speed was.

Without having time to eat a bite of breakfast, I drove my father's Santana 2000 to the hotel where Renee was staying.

After arriving at the hotel in a few moments, I really saw Renee waiting at the entrance. I lowered the window and asked her, "Do you want to ride with me, or drive yourself?"

Renee didn't say anything, she answered me directly with her actions. She opened the passenger door and sat down next to me, and I started the car immediately.

During the drive to the city center, Renee kept staring at a photo placed in the car. This photo was of our family portrait, except that I was very young in the photo, with a very innocent smile, hugging my father's leg.

Renee looked a little sad, but then she smiled again. I understood that she was sad because of her late father, but she was smiling because she envied our family's reunion and happiness.

I pressed the photo frame, not wanting this photo to continue to tear at Renee's emotions. I changed the subject and asked, "I heard that your Jumei stores in Shanghai and Nanjing are under preparation. Conducting market research in a third-tier city like Xuzhou doesn't really fit your big city strategy, does it?"

Renee shook her head and said, "In fact, there are disagreements among the senior management about the future direction of Jumei's development. I personally think that Jumei's strategic focus should be on second- and third-tier top cities. Competition in first-tier cities is too fierce and will consume a lot of our resources. If we can't make a profit, it will soon affect the operations of the entire group."

I nodded, and I understood roughly in my heart that Darren's strategic plan for Jumei was in first-tier cities, while Renee preferred second-tier and top third-tier cities. This difference would definitely deepen the conflict between the two once again. I had a hunch that Renee and Darren could not coexist in the future of Jumei, and as for who would ultimately gain complete control of Jumei, I could not easily assert an opinion.

Throughout the morning, I accompanied Renee to several of Xuzhou's larger department stores and shopping malls, and the two of us exchanged some views on the market, which is one of the few things we have in common.

Before going to my house to visit, Renee was very persistent in buying a lot of gifts for my parents, and I acted as the porter carrying these gifts, complaining along the way, "You really don't need to buy any gifts when you visit our house, making you seem like my girlfriend."

"Does it have to be a girlfriend to buy gifts?"

"Not really, but we are at the age where men get married and women get married, so it is inevitable that our elders will misunderstand. When you meet my parents later, you have to explain our relationship to them properly."

Renee asked me in return, "So what do you think our relationship is?"

I thought for a while and replied, 'A relationship that is more like a pair than friends."

Renee shook her head and denied, 'I don't think of you as a pair."

"So what do you think of me?" I asked with great interest.

"Friend, a friend you can trust."

I smiled and said, "That's what you should say when you introduce yourself to my parents later, but you mustn't change your opinion of me because of that incident and blindly trust me. I really can't be considered a good person!"

Renee shook her head and said, "I don't like to think of people as complicated, it's exhausting, so I prefer to trust my instincts."

"Did you think the same thing when we first met?"

"No, at that time I just thought you were scum, a rare kind of scum!"

I said, "So you didn't judge me based on intuition either, or I was still a scum in your first intuition."

Renee laughed and said, 'Let's not discuss this anymore. After walking around for a long time, I'm hungry, so let's go try Stubborn-Father's cooking."

I grabbed Meicai, who was walking ahead, and asked doubtfully, 'What did you just call my dad?"

"Stubborn-Father!" Renee replied, instantly reacting and hastily explaining, "I just thought it was funny to call him that, so I let you call him that. It doesn't mean anything."

"You can't call him that in front of him. If you do, it'll really cause a big deal."

Renee realized the seriousness of the situation and nodded very seriously. Then the two of us looked at each other and laughed together for no reason, and her smile was so heart-stopping in the middle of the day in the sunshine.