Chapter 84: Mingyu-jie, You Have a Younger Sister?

When Jiang Ning rushed to the station, it was already 10:30 in the morning.

She estimated there were less than ten minutes until the opening.

Miss Jiang didn’t even have time to properly park the car—she just locked it and sprinted off.

She weaved her way through the crowd.

By the time she arrived at the storefront,

some of the decorations for the grand opening were already in place.

Fresh flowers, fruit, candy.

There were even a bunch of piglet plushies arranged to the side.

One look and it was clear they were for the opening celebration.

Seeing this, Jiang Ning quickly walked over to Tian Wenhao, who was still by the curtain at the shop entrance.

“Cousin, is everything just about ready?”

“Just about.”

Tian Wenhao pulled the rope from the curtain and then took out a bag from underneath.

“Station rules—no firecrackers allowed.”

“But I think… if there’s nothing explosive at a grand opening, it just feels like something’s missing.”

Jiang Ning took the bag and looked inside.

When she saw a few small party poppers inside, she immediately understood.

She nodded.

“As long as it doesn’t break the station rules, it’s fine.”

After that—

Jiang Ning said a few words to her cousin about some details, then stepped through the curtain into the shop.

At this moment, the shop was—

Clean, tidy, and bright.

A few newly hired staff were standing at the counter, seemingly discussing something.

When Xiao Mingxiu from the back noticed Jiang Ning’s arrival, she immediately came out to greet her.

She pointed to the piglet doll on a flyer and said:

“Ningning, why aren’t we selling the piglet dolls individually?”

“Such a cute piglet—if we sold it separately, it’d definitely bring in a good amount.”

That logic wasn’t wrong, but people can’t just chase after short-term profits.

“What does our store sell again?”

“Fried chicken.”

Jiang Ning smiled and waved her hand, not saying more.

The meaning behind her response was clear.

Xiao Mingxiu frowned slightly, half-understanding:

“You mean we should focus on selling fried chicken?”

“Then why did you ask Wenhao to register a trademark for the piglet?”

“That has a different purpose.” Jiang Ning glanced at the time, estimated it was about right, and directly pulled her cousin-in-law’s arm to head outside.

Just as they reached the entrance, they ran into Tian Wenhao coming in.

“Ningning, why isn’t Sister Mingyu here yet?”

“It’s almost time.”

As he spoke, Jiang Ning felt her phone vibrate.

She took it out and glanced at it.

Her eyes narrowed slightly.

Then she smiled calmly and patted Tian Wenhao’s arm.

“Sister Mingyu had something come up last minute—she’s not coming.”

“Let’s get things moving and start prepping.”

“But…” Seeing Tian Wenhao hesitate, Jiang Ning rolled her eyes at him.

“What are you so scared of? It’s not like it’s your first time.”

“Come on, show some backbone!”

“If you’re this hesitant, how are you going to do big things in the future?”

Something in her words seemed to spark a change in her cousin. His expression shifted, and he took a deep breath.

Then he smacked his own cheeks—three slaps on each side.

The next moment, when he opened his eyes, his entire aura changed.

“You’re right, Ningning.”

“This is just our first step. If we can’t even take this step, what’s the point?”

Oh?

Jiang Ning raised her eyebrows in surprise at her cousin’s sudden transformation.

He evolved?

Not bad.

She had even mentally prepared to take the lead herself, but her cousin suddenly leveled up out of nowhere.

To her, this was a pleasant surprise.

She glanced at her cousin-in-law, who was gazing at her husband full of affection, and then smiled at the rest of the staff in the shop:

“Everyone, stop for a moment and listen to me!”

With that one sentence, all eyes in the shop turned to her.

“My name is Jiang Ning. I’m Manager Tian’s cousin. Today, I’m here to say a few words on his behalf.”

“No matter what jobs you had before or how many times you’ve changed jobs—”

“Today, we’re one family. We’re all part of ‘Shi Ning Ji’.”

“I’m not going to talk about corporate culture, or demand a sense of belonging.”

“I’ll just say one thing—”

“If today’s sales exceed 20,000, everyone gets an extra 100 on top of their base pay.”

“If we hit 40,000, it’s 500.”

“If we can pass 60,000—”

At this point, Jiang Ning glanced around at everyone, then smiled.

“I’ll make the call on behalf of my cousin—everyone gets a 1,000 yuan bonus in this month’s paycheck.”

Just that one sentence—

The whole staff was stunned, all turning toward Tian Wenhao.

He cleared his throat.

“What Jiang Ning said represents my thoughts. And I’ll add one more thing.”

“This month, whoever has the top performance score can be first in line for promotion to reserve manager.”

“When the next branch opens, the reserve manager will directly become the store manager.”

At that—

The staff all visibly straightened, their eyes shining with excitement.

Seeing this—

Jiang Ning and Tian Wenhao shared a subtle, knowing smile before turning and heading out.

As they stepped through the curtain—

Jiang Ning gave her cousin a wink.

“Cousin, not bad, you’re pulling this off pretty well.”

“It’s all thanks to you, cousin, for setting the tone.”

“You’re too kind.”

“My pleasure.”

As the two cousins and Xiao Mingxiu came out from behind the curtain—

Many people in the station lobby had already turned to look at them.

Seeing this—

Jiang Ning quietly stepped aside to stand near the curtain while Tian Wenhao and Xiao Mingxiu walked up to the front display table.

Right on cue—

At exactly 10:38.

Tian Wenhao lit the incense in his hand, offered it, and bowed three times toward the sky.

The moment he finished—

Jiang Ning pulled a rope, and the curtain covering the storefront dropped completely.

At the same time—

Xiao Mingxiu twisted open the party poppers in her hands.

Pop! Pop! Pop!

The next moment—

The big sign for ‘Shi Ning Ji’ and the clean, clear floor-to-ceiling windows were fully revealed to the public.

After that—

Jiang Ning turned on the speaker next to her.

“Grand opening! Burgers, wings, fried chicken starting from 5 yuan! Plus unbeatable value meals waiting for you!”

With cheerful music and promotional announcements, the station suddenly came alive.

Meanwhile, in an upstairs office—

Through the glass window, the department head cheerfully asked the stylish woman next to him:

“President Li, are you sure you don’t want to go down and have a look?”

“No need. Watching is enough.” Li Mingyu crossed her arms and smiled.

“As elders, we can help for a while, but not forever. Don’t you think, Director Chen?”

Catching the deeper meaning in her words—

Director Chen cursed inwardly, but still smiled politely.

“President Li makes a good point.”

“The young ones have to learn and grow on their own eventually.”

Just as he finished speaking, there was a knock at the door.

“Come in,” the director called.

Then—

A middle-aged man in a security uniform walked in, quickly stepping up to the director.

“Director, about that store’s loudspeaker—”

“Music is great!” the director interrupted him with a big smile.

He turned to Li Mingyu.

“Just yesterday someone was complaining the station lobby felt too dead.”

Upon hearing that—

Li Mingyu chuckled behind her hand.

Seeing her laugh, Director Chen also laughed along.

Only the security captain stood there, utterly confused…

———

Actually, money is one of those things…

Some people love money, some people hate it.

But Jiang Ning had never met anyone who actually disliked money.

Well—except for a certain big shot.

So.

After a long, busy day—

An utterly exhausted Jiang Ning stared at the large stack of cash spread out in front of her, colorful and plentiful, lost in thought.

66,359.

That was the day’s total revenue.

Sixty-six thousand in one day.

Was this… the power of foot traffic at a train station?

For comparison, their shop near the school usually only brought in thirty to forty thousand a day—and that was with operations from morning until around nine or ten at night.

But here—

They opened at 10 a.m. and closed by 6 p.m.

And still, just seven or eight hours of business brought in over sixty thousand in sales.

Even factoring in today’s utilities, rent, staff wages, ingredient costs, etc.—

What she pocketed…

Jiang Ning did the math, and when she saw the final number—thirty thousand—

She couldn’t help but feel a rush of excitement.

Even though she knew today’s sales were boosted by a promotional campaign—

Jiang Ning still couldn’t stop herself from imagining the future.

Thirty thousand a day… that’s nine hundred thousand a month… ten million a year…

Cough cough cough.

Okay, calm down, calm down.

She finally reeled in her wandering thoughts and wiped the drool from the corner of her mouth.

Just then—

There was a knock at the door. “Knock knock knock.”

“Come in.”

The door opened.

It was Tian Wenhao.

He was struggling to carry a large sack, swaying side to side as he finally plopped it down in front of Jiang Ning with a heavy thump.

“Phew, I’m beat!”

Tian Wenhao wiped the sweat from his forehead and pointed at the big sack, panting heavily.

“These are today’s coins…”

“A total of 4,365.”

“You can count them.”

Count them?

Jiang Ning looked at the sack on the ground in disbelief, then pointed at herself.

“Cousin, if you want me dead, just say so!”

Tian Wenhao realized he might be asking too much—it was a massive task to count all that coinage.

Scratching his head awkwardly, he said:

“Ning Ning, what do we do with all these coins?”

“The safe can’t even hold them…”

At that, Jiang Ning turned to glance at the wall-mounted safe.

She clicked her tongue.

Stingy train station people.

If you’re going to give us a safe, at least give us a big one.

After a brief pause, she said:

“Cousin, the station probably has a high demand for coins. Try reaching out to them later—maybe we can exchange all our daily coins directly with them.”

Tian Wenhao nodded—sounded like a good idea.

“That way we won’t have to deal with this coin headache every day.”

Then he brought up a few new issues:

Like the heavy consumption of ingredients, and delays in trash collection.

Jiang Ning addressed each one with practical solutions.

However—

There was one problem she found harder to swallow.

The Piglet Meal Set wasn’t selling well.

Actually, barely anyone was buying it.

Was her sales strategy off?

After a long silence, Jiang Ning voiced her concerns.

To this, Tian Wenhao suggested it might be a matter of target audience.

As soon as he said it—

Jiang Ning had a lightbulb moment.

In her previous life, McDull (Piglet) first became popular among children, then expanded to adults.

But now? They were in a train station, not a kindergarten or elementary school.

Trying to break into the market by bundling it with meals might’ve been unrealistic.

Still, Jiang Ning wasn’t ready to unbundle the Piglet Meal just yet.

She’d keep it tied in for now.

It wasn’t like she was in a rush to make money off of it.

After parting ways with her cousin, Jiang Ning exited from the back door of the station.

Coincidentally—

The back of the station was right by the exit gate.

As soon as she stepped out—

She was immediately surrounded by several people.

“Hey miss! Looking for a place to stay?”

“My place is cheap! Hot water! Air conditioning too!”

“I’ve got—”

Before Jiang Ning could say a word, an older woman barged in, driving the others away.

“Shoo shoo shoo!”

“This one’s my customer!”

“Get lost, all of you!”

A few sharp words sent the younger hustlers scattering.

Then, as the older woman turned to face her—

Jiang Ning’s eyebrow twitched. She gave an awkward smile:

“Auntie, I’m a local—I’m not looking for a place to stay!”

“I know,” the woman said, smiling mysteriously as she pulled out a few photos from her pocket.

“You’re a pretty girl. Auntie knows a few good young men—how about…”

Before she could finish, Jiang Ning’s legs had already taken off at full sprint.

A while later—

Jiang Ning finally made it out of the station, hunched over and gasping for breath, holding her waist.

Once she stood up again, she suddenly noticed—

Parked near the curb outside the garage was a bright red BMW.

Same plate as always—with those three unforgettable eights.

Seeing this—

Jiang Ning walked over to the driver’s side and knocked on the window.

The window rolled down, revealing a glamorous face with bold makeup.

“What’s this, Mingyu-jie? You also enjoy a little ‘car time’ after work?”

Hearing the tease—

Li Mingyu smirked and shot her a flirty glare.

“Get in. Come have dinner with your big sis.”

Jiang Ning was just thinking about where to eat anyway.

Hearing that, she responded with a cheerful “Sure!” and quickly hopped into the passenger seat.

As for her bicycle—

It could sit there and daydream for now.

It didn’t need dinner, after all.

In the car, Li Mingyu started the engine and slowly pulled out of the intersection.

“Xiao Jiang Ning.”

“Hm?”

“You’re now the boss of two fried chicken shops—how does that feel?”

“Feel?” Jiang Ning blinked, then smacked her lips and said:

“Honestly… not much of anything.”

At the red light, Li Mingyu turned to give her a long, meaningful look.

Sensing her gaze, Jiang Ning gave a cheeky grin.

“Mingyu-jie, what do you think I should be feeling?”

That question caught Li Mingyu off guard.

She opened her mouth, then gave up with a laugh and called her a “little smartass.”

Then the topic shifted—to Jiang Ning’s two songs.

To be honest, Miss Jiang had been quite busy lately, and she really hadn’t paid much attention to the music charts.

But when Li Mingyu said both songs had made it into the top five—

The corners of Jiang Ning’s eyes couldn’t help but curl into two crescent moons.

Half an hour later.

At a fancy Japanese restaurant.

Li Mingyu raised a small cup in her hand.

“Come on, Little Jiang Ning!”

“Let’s have a drink!”

Jiang Ning looked at the sake in her cup.

Thinking back to the iron stomach she had trained in her previous life after countless battles, the corner of her mouth lifted in a smirk.

This stuff was only like… what, fifteen percent?

Little lady.

You’re looking for trouble.

She followed suit, raising her little cup.

“Come on, Sister Mingyu!”

“To celebrate the grand opening of the new shop!”

“Cheers!!”

With that—

Jiang Ning downed the cup of sake in one go.

After drinking it, she struck a bold pose and poured herself another.

“To celebrate the success of the new songs!”

“Cheers!!”

Just like that.

Two cups in a row.

The atmosphere at the table completely lit up, and they went back and forth with three or four more rounds.

Gradually—

Old Man Jiang realized something odd.

She suddenly burst into laughter.

“Huh? Sister Mingyu, how come you have… another little sister?”

(End of chapter)

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