Love Affairs in Melbourne-Chapter 195 - 192: Courtesy Calls for Reciprocity

"I gave you an invitation to the dinner, so why don’t you also give me an invitation to the trade show you’re attending? That would be only fair, right?" Lei Pili didn’t want to leave their next meeting up to chance without a concrete plan.

"Ha ha ha, an invitation to the trade show? When exactly did your IQ take a hit?

The invitation you gave me is a scarce resource, just like you said, an opportunity domestic designers dream of.

What do you need an invite for, for a trade show? Just look around, at most they might charge you an entrance fee.

And for a machinery show, there definitely won’t be many viewers; they probably won’t even bother with a ticket fee. freeweɓnovel.cѳm

The organizers probably just want exhibitors to pay.

If they relied on selling tickets, they’d go broke with just a trickle of visitors," Yan Yan seriously scoffed at the "give and take" that Lei Pili wanted.

"This exhibition should be held concurrently with the LINEAPELLE Fashion Leather Show, so there will definitely be a good number of attendees. There’s even a domestic trade association organizing a group trip to see the show and travel a bit. It’s true that for the leather show you can just buy a ticket to get in, but if the machinery show is more specialized, it might not be open to the public. Then you would indeed need an invitation," Lei Pili knew slightly more about the trade fair than Yan Yan, the "faux successor."

"Diplomat Lei has quite a broad range of hobbies~

I just arrived today and haven’t yet checked with the branch office for the specific details of this year’s show.

But you know, when I was little, I often went with my dad to various domestic shoe and machinery exhibitions. Sometimes, we’d see very few visitors at our booth even in half a day.

I seriously doubt if any orders are actually signed during the exhibitions.

If it’s the kind of show that requires an invitation for entry, I’ll give you a dozen, so the sales staff at our booth won’t be bored to sleep for lack of company.

Now I think about it, the folks at the Italian branch might have invited me over just to save themselves from boredom," Yan Yan instantly went from a proud heir to someone who was essentially brought in to relieve others’ boredom.

"A dozen invitations is a bit much; I can’t split myself into twelve parts to attend different events, just one will do," Lei Pili declined Yan Yan’s "generosity."

"Why not organize a diplomatic delegation to inspect our national enterprises in Italy, and drop by for a visit on the side?" Yan Yan asked with a smile.

"Given my current situation, I don’t quite qualify to lead such a group," Lei Pili responded with a smile.

"Alright then, I’m going to head up. I’ll call tomorrow to check things out, and if you need an invitation, I’ll get you one," Yan Yan said and prepared to head upstairs.

"How are you going to give it to me?" Lei Pili meant that they didn’t have each other’s contact information yet.

"Otherwise, should I mail it to the consulate?" Yan Yan thought of a solution within two seconds.

"Will you need my phone number when you mail it?" Lei Pili inquired.

"Ah? I don’t have your contact details?" By now, Yan Yan already regarded Lei Pili as an old friend.

They naturally didn’t need to exchange phone numbers like people who had just met.

"Do you have it?" Lei Pili looked at Yan Yan with some speechlessness.

It seemed that Yan Yan had never even considered calling him; otherwise, how could she not have realized she didn’t have his phone number until Lei Pili had to remind her.

"If I don’t have it, it’s no big deal, right? I can get it if I want. I know where your temple is; I’m not worried about you running away," Yan Yan spoke nonchalantly but still took out her phone.

"Give me your number, and I’ll call you," Lei Pili directly asked Yan Yan for her number so she wouldn’t procrastinate.

"You should have my number, right? It’s the old one, the one I had in Wenzhou. Otherwise, my current phone number is from Melbourne, and it’ll change in a few days. My Wenzhou number is the only one that’s never changed," Yan Yan explained her situation.

"I only have your Xiamen number," Lei Pili was frustrated.

He knew Yan Yan’s Xiamen number by heart, but as soon as Yan Yan left Xiamen, the number was disconnected.

Even so, when Lei Pili first arrived in Beijing, he would still dial it from time to time.

At the time, Lei Pili couldn’t understand his own "irrational" behavior.

"Really? Why wouldn’t I have given you my Wenzhou number?" Yan Yan was the type with selective memory.

She normally only remembered things that were especially important to her.

Whether she gave Lei Pili her Wenzhou phone number during their freshman year was something that didn’t seem worth remembering to Yan Yan.

"No, when I graduated, I told you that I’d give you my contact information once I arrived in Beijing, but you said I was heading to Africa, dark and unlovely – what good was there in staying in touch?" Lei Pili remembered every word Yan Yan had said to him at the time, the kind of memory that seemed to grow clearer with time.

"Uh, that does sound like something I might say. Well, I’d appreciate it if Senior Brother Lei would take down the number now," Yan Yan gave Lei Pili her Wenzhou number.

Lei Pili dialed the number but nobody answered.

"I left that phone at home; I’ll store your number when I go upstairs. Buona notte~" Yan Yan wished Lei Pili a good night in Italian. (note 1)

Tonight, Yan Yan used up all her limited Italian vocabulary, from greeting the brand director at the dinner to this final "good night."

.........

note 1:

Italian is one of the most beautiful languages in the world.

The most standard Italian comes from the dialect of the Tuscany area where Florence is located.

Florence is the birthplace of the Renaissance and also of Italian opera.

Italian is the language that comes closest to music; students in a conservatory, especially those studying opera, definitely need to learn Italian.

In fact, a large part of musical terminology also comes from Italian.

The reason behind adding "one of" before the most beautiful language is to avoid the French from disagreeing.

The French often believe their language is the most beautiful, with French having six tones; the French are convinced that French is the language closest to music.

If one were to compare based on tone, among the widely spoken languages, English is the worst, with only two tones.

Chinese has four tones (yin ping, yangping, rising tone, falling tone), which makes it a much more beautiful language than English.