Chapter 59: Grateful to the Ex

Chapter 59: Grateful to Former Lovers

Walking up to Li Jiayin, flanked by two trainees on the left and right, Xiao Wei first raised his head and managed to chug a bottle of beer with great difficulty. Looking at her puzzled expression, he suppressed his urge to vomit and said, "Beauty, I'm really sorry about just now."

"Oh, it's fine." Li Jiayin finally understood why he had come over. She nodded and cast a thoughtful glance at Gao Yun.

Seeing that the matter was settled, Gao Yun waved dismissively at his ex-girlfriend and resumed chatting with his brothers.

How could Xiao Wei and his tablemates dare to linger? The five of them, feeling both ashamed and terrified, scurried off completely. They felt too humiliated to show their faces and were also afraid that locals might come looking for trouble.

After stepping out of the restaurant, the three men ran and stumbled. Having just consumed a massive amount of alcohol, they threw up as they ran, not daring to slow their pace for a single second, looking utterly pathetic.

"Come on, drink up! Those few morons were quite a show."

"Haha, those guys are going to have psychological shadows from now on. I bet they'll quit drinking!"

Liu Xingsheng and the four trainees stayed at the table the others had just vacated, eating, drinking, and occasionally bursting into laughter.

Li Jiayin and her friends took in the entire scene, and the young men and women naturally began discussing it.

"Gao Yun is way too manly! He just sat there without moving a muscle, casually giving a few instructions to handle the whole situation. It reminds me of a word—the Godfather!"

"Yeah, it totally has that vibe."

"I've decided, he's my male god from now on."

One of the male friends seemed to sense something and asked, "Jiajia, do you and Gao Yun know each other?"

Li Jiayin was a graduate student at the local technological university. She had met Gao Yun online earlier that year. After chatting online for five days, they met in person and immediately established a romantic relationship, finding each other deeply appealing and appreciative.

However, relationships always have their bumps. After dating for a month, a minor argument broke out over a trivial matter.

During the quarrel, Li Jiayin lost control of her emotions and suggested breaking up. It was meant to be empty talk said in anger, but Gao Yun agreed without the slightest hesitation, causing the two to part ways completely.

"You thought I wouldn't leave, while I thought you would beg me to stay."

This was the true reflection of Li Jiayin's inner state at the time. She had nearly suffered a mental breakdown; who could have imagined that Gao Yun wouldn't even utter a single word of retention?

When a girl throws a temper tantrum and brings up a breakup, the guy is supposed to coax her! How could anyone agree without even trying to smooth things over?!

Her friends present were all college classmates. Because her relationship with Gao Yun had been relatively short-lived, and because most of their time had been spent cooped up at home due to the pandemic with very little socializing outside, virtually no one around her knew about this episode.

"You could say we know each other. We've had a few meals together before," Li Jiayin said, adding silently in her heart: *And shared a few cups of coffee, and shared a bed a few times.*

"Then you should go over, say hello, and toast him a drink. After all, he helped us out."

Noncommittal, Li Jiayin stood up. "I'm not feeling very well. I'll head out first, you guys enjoy your drinks."

"What's got into her?"

Ignoring her puzzled classmates, Li Jiayin walked past Gao Yun's table just as the restaurant's audio system switched to Rene Liu's song "Later," prompting many customers to softly sing along.

"Later, I finally learned how to love..."

"It's a pity you had long since drifted away, disappearing into a sea of people..."

Against such a backdrop, the former lovers exchanged a glance. Containing all the weight of the past, both of their hearts remained remarkably serene.

As the old saying goes: "Fame and fortune cannot be left unpursued, yet their pursuit has its destined allotment; those who see through them naturally feel no lingering ties. Affection and love cannot be left unfulfilled, yet their fulfillment has its destined affinity; those who see through them naturally feel no entanglements."

There is no one who does not desire fame and fortune; those who chase them naturally have their reasons, while those who see through them harbor no further attachments in their hearts. The entanglements of mortal affection are inescapable; those who indulge in them have their own affinity, whereas those who see through them are no longer bound by them.

Gao Yun had long since seen through romance, keeping his heart unburdened, undisturbed, and untroubled.

Li Jiayin used to cling to the typical weak psychology of women, resourcing to blaming his coldness and failure to retain her, but now she too had let it go.

The gap in their status and various values had simply grown too vast. Even if they hadn't broken up back then, she likely wouldn't have been able to keep him by her side today.

A man like the sun, radiating light and charm everywhere he went—which woman would have the confidence to hold onto him?

"Goodbye."

Li Jiayin stopped in front of Gao Yun, wearing a rare smile. "Thank you, not just for just now, but also for the past."

Gao Yun remained silent for a few seconds before replying, "Goodbye. I should thank you, too."

Thank you for every encounter along the journey of life, and thank you for the warmth and joy you once brought me.

Gao Yun felt grateful toward every single ex-girlfriend. Even toward the first girlfriend who had once hurt him, he held no resentment. After all, at a certain moment, they had illuminated and warmed each other; there was no point in refusing to let go.

After Li Jiayin left, the guys at the table wore various expressions and began bantering playfully.

Liu Ximing experienced a sudden epiphany. "So you two have a history! No wonder, Ah Yun, pulling a stunt like that isn't your usual style."

"History? For all you know, there might have been a wreckage!" Diao Jun said with a mischievous smile. "Whose ill-fated romance did you provoke this time? The girl is genuinely gorgeous; I don't think I've ever seen her before."

Zhou Tian clicked his tongue with a sigh. "Brother Yun, I feel like there are only a handful of pretty girls in Hushi, and yet somehow they all seem connected to you? Hurry up and head to the capital, stop wreaking havoc in just one place!"

Aha saw Gao Yun's helpless expression, picked up his wine glass to bail him out, and laughed, "Right, we can't let Ah Yun ruin all the pretty girls in this small town. Let's toast in advance to him finding a relationship in the capital that lasts longer than four months."

"Come on, a toast to Ah Yun's next relationship lasting more than four months!"

"Cheers!"

...

In the days following the drinking session, Gao Yun maintained his unyielding routine: physical conditioning and street dance practice during the day, followed by playing the guitar, singing, studying English, and carrying his camera everywhere to capture video footage at night.

During the hosting of the "LJ Dance Studio's Second Ozone Layer Cup Street Dance Competition," with the suggestions and assistance of Diao Jun and Zhou Tian, Gao Yun launched his very first livestream across various video platforms, titled "Trainee Debut Day." He broadcasted the dance moves of over thirty other contestants along with his own championship-winning performance in full. Across all platforms, he brought in over 200,000 RMB in virtual gift tips.

Although Boss Gao didn't care much for such a paltry sum, he seemed to have glimpsed a bright highway ahead. Self-media seemed vastly faster at raking in money than the physical fitness industry, and the effort required was incomparable.

According to his previous mindset of opening gym chains across the country—that would be exhausting and might not even turn a profit. Meanwhile, in modern self-media, one simply opens a camera or phone, shoots casually, and the money flows in effortlessly.

Specialize in self-media! The fitness industry can wait!

Having made this preliminary decision, Gao Yun allocated the 200,000 yuan to Diao Jun and Zhou Tian, instructing them to continue studying self-media tactics and treating it as the seed capital for the video operation team.

Once the two of them secured the funds and tasted success, how they enrolled in online training classes, studied diligently, contacted headhunters to recruit talent, and built their team need not be elaborated upon.

Yunhai Fitness opened as scheduled. With eighty-five memberships plus seven externally hired elite core professionals, the final presale tally for membership cards locked in at 3.8 million RMB, with a member count nearing three thousand. Gao Yun expressed his gratification...

Gratification my foot! Anyone else would have burst into tears. Deducting staff expenses from that 3.8 million, the remaining profit margin was barely over half—just enough to cover the rent.

The twenty newly recruited personal trainers, led by Hu Yue and Li Jianchen, were currently conducting presales for personal training sessions. Yet regardless of the approach, given current market conditions, recovering the investment within the next two years was hopeless; there might be a chance after three years, with stable profitability by the fourth year.

The primary issues remained the lingering impact of the pandemic leading to a downturn in the fitness industry as a whole, coupled with low urban consumption levels and excessively high initial capital investment.

However, compared solely to the dividend period of the fitness industry in previous years, this was merely a slight shortfall. Set against other physical industries, recovering an investment within three years with an expected annual return on investment reaching 33.3333% still qualified it as a very solid project.

Deepest gratitude to all you reader fathers, and profound thanks to my dear editor.

Tomorrow marks the urban category's strong recommendation feature. Rising from the mud is no easy feat, and I earnestly beg for votes, tips, subscriptions, comments, and every form of support!

(End of this chapter)