Chapter 22: A Letter of Intent for Love

Page (1/3)

Claiming exhaustion, Anderson politely declined Wei Lin’s dinner invitation, only asking him to escort them to the hotel arranged by Qi Feng. They had dinner at the hotel.

At seven o’clock, after a busy day, Wei Lin casually found a noodle shop and ordered a family combo meal. Only then did he take out his phone, which had been on silent all day.

Missed calls and WeChat messages from Hua Feng of Huamu, Ding Weizhi of Zhijie, and Zhong Xiaowei of Tianzhong appeared.

The inquiries were largely similar, all asking whether Fenglin had any intention of proceeding, so they could make early arrangements.

“There is intention, but the contract hasn’t been discussed yet. Specific details will be addressed after signing.”

Wei Lin didn’t explain each call individually but replied to the three uncles collectively.

He wasn’t new to this field and understood that before a contract is signed, all verbal agreements were unreliable.

The agreement with Anderson was to have Fu Jintang come over tomorrow morning to sign the contract, while Anderson himself needed to attend a video conference.

There was still a whole night before tomorrow morning; no one knew what might happen tonight or if any unforeseen events would occur.

Many contracts could fall through minutes or even seconds before signing due to external forces.

Wei Lin knew this order was not yet secure and dared not promise anything to the three uncles prematurely.

“A turning point.”

As he stirred his noodles, Wei Lin once again marveled at the mysterious power of affection values.

If it weren’t for witnessing the breakdown of talks between Anderson and Tang Qiang, he wouldn’t have been able to make that timely call. Without that call and his rapid arrival, Anderson would never have considered a small company like Xinlin.

The progress between him and Fenglin was mainly due to that opportunity.

“Huh, it seems…”

Despite a full day’s labor, Wei Lin suddenly felt he had energy to spare and wasn’t mentally exhausted.

“The physical changes brought by the second life advancement!”

He knew well that when fully immersed in work, he would quickly drain his energy and nerves, ending the day drowsy and foggy-headed.

But this time was different.

He still felt energetic now and seemed capable of continuing work without fatigue.

“Besides physical strength, my stamina has improved too.”

His eyes brightened as he ate and scrolled through his phone.

“Mr. Wei, why haven’t you arrived yet?”

“Mr. Wei, where are you?”

“Mr. Wei?”

Messages flooded the WeChat chat window from young coach He Jingxuan.

“Uh…”

Only then did Wei Lin remember he had a personal training session scheduled for 4:30 p.m. but had missed it without any explanation.

“Sorry, Coach He, I was too busy today and forgot. It’s my fault for canceling without reason. I’ll still count the session.”

Opening the Lige Fitness mini-app, Wei Lin found his booking record and canceled one session, deducting a class hour.

He was a man of principle.

If he missed a class due to his own reasons, he must take responsibility.

“Mr. Wei!”

He Jingxuan quickly replied: “You don’t have to cancel the class. I didn’t have any members today, so you didn’t affect my work!”

“Regardless of whether it affected your class, since I canceled last minute without notice, that’s on me,” Wei Lin typed. “Today is like this, and it will be like this in the future.”

“As long as I book a class but don’t arrive on time, private sessions will be counted whether or not I actually attend.”

Page (2/3)

Lige Fitness, second floor cardio area.

A young woman in athletic shorts, wearing inexpensive Bluetooth earphones, was on the stair climber doing cardio.

Her full, firm buttocks, shaped by long-term squats, deadlifts, and hip thrusts, slightly trembled with the machine’s rhythm, attracting many admiring glances from men walking behind her.

The restroom was also on the second floor, and because of her presence, the frequency of visits increased.

“Buzz!”

A faint electric hum came from her off-brand earphones as He Jingxuan looked at her phone messages and took off the earphones.

Her sweat-dappled cheeks glowed with a healthy flush, seemingly oblivious to the lingering gazes on her hips and long legs from passing male members.

Wei Lin’s disappearance had put her in a bad mood, and she had cursed him quietly in her mind.

Yet now, the absent Wei Lin had even canceled a class for her on the platform.

She was a new coach with few difficult members.

However, in the gym environment, she had witnessed many problematic members, hearing veteran coaches complain endlessly.

There were those who arrived late, canceled appointments, complained about training intensity being too high or too low, or blamed coaches for aggravating preexisting injuries.

All kinds of people.

The thing veteran coaches hated most were members who failed to arrive on time or suddenly canceled right before class.

Old coaches had many members; one late arrival would disrupt the next member’s training time.

Reducing the late member’s training time often led to complaints, causing headaches for coaches.

Those who outright no-showed on schedule were even more infuriating.

They had freed up time for you, yet suddenly bailed, leaving the busy coach with an empty slot that was hard to fill on short notice.

“The person didn’t show up, so I canceled the class.”

The young coach reflected that Wei Lin had never been late for his two sessions; he always arrived early.

No tardiness, canceling and losing the class — that was truly commendable character.

“Though a bit flirty, he has good morals.”

She grew fond of him.

After hesitating, she sent a message: “Mr. Wei, if you’re free tonight, you can come exercise too.”

“I can get your session done before ten.”

Affection value: 3.5/100.

After finishing his noodles, Wei Lin glanced at the progress bar and was surprised to see it had increased by 0.5.

Three points were contributed by Lin Nanxi during the day; that 0.5 came from chatting with He Jingxuan on WeChat.

Focusing his mind on the progress bar’s 0.5, Wei Lin saw a blurred image of the gym’s cardio area, where a vague figure was exercising on the stair climber.

“Huh!”

His interest piqued.

Previously, every affection value increase had been whole numbers—1, 2, 3, or 4 and 5.

A 0.5 increase had never appeared before.

Through affection value changes, he could see a clear image of the contributor and even their location.

But the 0.5 only revealed a vague silhouette and a blurred setting.

“That’s probably not affection, maybe just… fondness? Like an intention?”

Page (3/3)

“Coach He has a little fondness for me? That’s like submitting a love… letter of intent?”

“Having intention means I can develop this seriously!”

Wei Lin grabbed a tissue, wiped the corner of his mouth hastily, and typed: “Alright, I’m coming now. I’ll be there in fifteen minutes.”

He Jingxuan: “Okay, I’ll wait for you.”

…

7:40 p.m., Liuyun Pavilion — a restaurant in Linjiang City where the average spending starts at 400 yuan.

In a private room, a group was already flushed from drinking, passing wine pots around and toasting everywhere.

Tang Qiang, who could drink a lot, felt only slightly affected after half a jin of white liquor.

As the host, he squinted at everyone’s state, occasionally cracking dirty jokes to lighten the mood, while secretly instructing Fan Lei to book a private room at Royal International.

“Domestic clients are much harder to please than foreigners.”

Though experienced, Tang Qiang was weary.

The hotels had to be top-notch, the restaurants exquisite, with beautiful companions, sometimes requiring two or three rounds.

The whole process often ended at three or four in the morning.

Failing to entertain properly could lead to subtle sabotage, ruining an order.

“Mr. Tang.”

Fan Lei, after booking the business K room, hurried to Tang’s side and whispered, “Anderson visited Huamu, Zhijie, and Tianzhong this afternoon.”

Setting down his wine pot, Tang frowned: “Those three have uneven product quality, few foreign orders, and small scale. Anderson shouldn’t consider them partners.”

“Wei Lin took them there,” Fan Lei explained.

“Wei Lin?”

Tang narrowed his eyes and smiled coldly: “He’s well-informed, knowing we haven’t settled with Anderson! If Wei Lin is leading this…”

Mentioning Wei Lin, Tang unusually took him seriously.

Despite Tang’s deliberate suppression, Wei Lin managed to develop Xinlin’s foreign trade business, which made Tang wary.

“Keep an eye on the guests. I’m going out to make a call.”

Tang decisively left the room.

Finding a quiet spot in the corridor, he immediately dialed Anderson’s number and said with a smile, “Mr. Anderson, I discussed with the boss this afternoon, and we’re willing to lower the unit price to eleven yuan.”

Labor costs were rising, and the boss wanted higher profits; a general price increase for export orders was already planned.

However, the originally agreed price with Fenglin was eleven yuan.

They only raised it by two yuan to twelve because Fenglin was urgent and no large factory could quickly supply.

Since Fenglin and Anderson always looked down on small factories with unstable quality, Tang dared to push the price to twelve.

Wei Lin’s leadership and Anderson’s afternoon visit made Tang feel threatened, so he planned to take a step back.

When Anderson remained silent, Tang added, “Mr. Anderson, you know our quality is always consistent. For a big brand like yours, too many defects in shipped goods would damage your reputation.”

“Tang, I’ve made my decision. This order will no longer cooperate with Qi Feng.” Anderson hung up.

Tang’s expression darkened, and he whispered coldly, “Whoever dares to snatch Fenglin’s order from me won’t end well.”

…

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