Chapter 93 – The Cunning Little Demon, Jiang

“This is Manager Jiang from ‘Shi Ning Ji.’”

This was a title Jiang Ning had arranged in advance with Wang Xianwei—meant to avoid giving the others any room to pick at her identity.

Sure enough.

Although Liu Ju and Chu Zhigang were puzzled by how young this “Manager Jiang” looked, they didn’t comment on it.

They simply nodded, and Liu Ju was the first to speak:

“We need ‘Shi Ning Ji’ to give us an explanation.”

“Why did you choose to use the station’s screen to display such a video?”

Coming out swinging, huh?

If Jiang Ning hadn’t dealt with negotiations before, she might’ve easily fallen into their trap and been led around by the nose.

But in response, Miss Jiang simply scoffed.

“Why don’t you explain what happened with the billboard incident a week ago first?”

“What’s there to explain? It was just part of the company’s promotional needs.”

“Oh, I see. Well, ours was just for promotional needs too.”

Jiang Ning fired back using the exact same wording.

Instantly, the atmosphere in the meeting room turned tense—as if the room could erupt into shouting at any second.

At that moment—

Chu Zhigang suddenly chuckled and said cheerfully:

“Now, now, you two young folks don’t need to butt heads.”

“We’re all just working people. No need to make life harder on ourselves.”

Given the opening, Liu Ju eased off a little.

And though Miss Jiang still wore that half-smiling expression, the tension in the room clearly defused a bit.

Seeing this,

Chu Zhigang smiled again and asked:

“I wonder where Miss Jiang worked before?”

Oh?

The “good cop” trying to probe now?

Jiang Ning raised her brows and replied with a radiant smile:

“Nowhere special. Just a poor little wage slave like anyone else.”

“Scraping by with a meager paycheck to feed myself.”

“So I hope Brother Chu can go easy on us, yeah?”

Before this meeting, Jiang Ning had already asked Wang Xianwei to dig into both of these men.

One was a top Ivy League graduate returned from abroad, and the other a seasoned industry veteran known for his smiling-tiger routine.

Neither of them were easy to deal with.

But Jiang Ning wasn’t intimidated.

After all, this was business—and that was her turf.

When Chu Zhigang heard her response, he immediately realized: this girl wasn’t someone who could be swayed by charm or pressure.

He frowned slightly.

Still, he kept his tone friendly:

“Miss Jiang, how about this?”

“All three of us take a step back. We pull all the advertising, and treat it like nothing happened. How’s that sound?”

Jiang Ning had already expected something like this. After all, the momentum wasn’t in their favor right now.

But—

You think you can walk in and out of this as you please?

What do you take me for?

So Miss Jiang simply pressed her palms together, leaned back in her chair, and stared silently at the two men across the table.

She held their gaze for a long while.

Eventually, Liu Ju—still a bit green—couldn’t help himself. His tone turned low and cold:

“Miss Jiang, backing down is in everyone’s best interest.”

“There’s no shortage of stories about eggs smashing against rocks.”

Was that a warning?

A reminder that they were international giants, and she shouldn’t overestimate herself?

Heh.

Jiang Ning wasn’t stupid enough to go head-on with CFC or McRonald’s. Her target, at the moment, was just these two local branches.

She knocked lightly on the table to signal him to watch his tone, then reached into her backpack, pulled out a contract, and tossed it onto the table.

“This is the ad screen contract we signed with the station.”

“One month term, renewable anytime.”

Then—

She pulled out her phone and placed it next to the contract.

“This here is Deputy Director Chen’s number from Jiangzhou TV.”

“With just one call and a modest fee, Jiangzhou TV can run this video twice a day.”

She smiled brightly.

“We’re just a little shop. If we lose business, so be it—we can always shut down.”

“But for two high-ranking professional managers like yourselves…”

“You guys…”

“Dare to take that hit?”

So blunt.

She tore straight through Liu Ju’s arrogance and Chu Zhigang’s fake cordiality.

“What do you want!?”

Chu Zhigang’s smile vanished. His round face turned cold, and his small eyes glared at the girl across the table.

But she wasn’t the least bit scared.

Leaning forward slightly, she tucked a few loose strands of hair behind her ear and casually said:

“Me?”

“I don’t want anything.”

“Mm, our shop just wants to do honest business. Of course, if you two big brothers are willing to include us in your ecosystem, well… that’d be ideal.”

Liu Ju and Chu Zhigang weren’t fools.

They immediately caught her drift.

They exchanged a glance, but neither spoke right away.

For a time, silence fell over the meeting room.

After a long while—

Chu Zhigang suddenly laughed, his smile returning to its original friendliness.

“Heh… Manager Jiang, have you considered working with McRonald’s?”

“If you’re interested, I could recommend you to the provincial headquarters.”

Recommend her to the provincial HQ?!

Liu Ju was visibly startled when he heard that.

Because he had gotten to his current position thanks to a recommendation from an old-school manager.

So he knew exactly how valuable that was.

He wanted to say something—but then he remembered the girl across the table: how calm and confident she had been during the entire negotiation, her words steady and sharp, her looks refined and serene.

In the end, Liu Ju stayed quiet.

“Sorry…Not intrested”

With just those words, Chu Zhigang said no more. He simply replied:

“I understand Manager Jiang’s stance.”

“We’ll withdraw the advertisement and send your store an invitation to join our partner merchant network.”

With that, he got up, nodded toward the station rep, and walked out alone.

Watching McRonald’s leave just like that, Liu Ju frowned deeply.

After a moment—

He also stood up, nodded toward the station rep, then looked at the pretty girl across from him with a complex expression.

“Manager Jiang, looking forward to working with you.”

With that, he also turned to leave.

However, just as Liu Ju reached the door and was about to open it, the meeting room door was suddenly pushed open. A figure came striding in briskly, almost bumping right into him.

This made Liu Ju frown in irritation. Already frustrated from the tense negotiation, he was just about to lash out when he looked up and saw—

A woman with a stylish and elegant appearance.

Then he looked closer at her features.

Liu Ju clearly froze for a moment, and then said in surprise,

“President Li from Golden Twist Decorations?”

“Hmm?”

Hearing the name, Li Mingyu turned to glance at Liu Ju, furrowing her brows in brief thought.

“Sorry, you are…?”

“Liu Ju. At last month’s Outstanding Youth Gala, I had the honor of seeing your radiant presence…”

Hearing he was one of those “outstanding youth,” Li Mingyu raised an eyebrow and responded a bit more politely. She gave a small nod and returned the courtesy.

“A pleasure.”

Then she stepped past Liu Ju and headed straight for the young girl inside the meeting room.

“Jiang Ning, I heard you were in a negotiation.”

“How’d it go?”

“Didn’t get taken advantage of, did you?”

——————

“Little Jiang Ning, come tell sis all about it.”

In the car, Li Mingyu kept pestering Jiang Ning to recount everything that happened in the meeting room.

She was genuinely curious.

Why did that guy named Liu Ju and the folks from the station look at Jiang Ning with such complicated expressions when they left?

Especially that Deputy Director Wang from the station.

His eyes weren’t just complex—they even held a bit of admiration.

So… what the heck did this girl do?

Jiang Ning couldn’t stand up to this sultry older sister’s relentless nagging.

She was practically melting.

So she could only start retelling everything from the very first line of the negotiation.

The moment she described her strong opening, Li Mingyu was already shocked and interrupted:

“You’re just a young girl—how did you dare be even tougher than all those big men?”

“What’s there to be scared of?” Jiang Ning replied nonchalantly.

“Sure, it might’ve looked like I was the underdog in the room, but I had the upper hand outside.”

Li Mingyu knew she was referring to the video playing at the station.

“But weren’t you afraid?”

“Afraid?” Jiang Ning rolled her eyes at this mature woman.

“The worst thing you can do in a negotiation is be afraid. Even if you hold the advantage, fear means you’ll get nothing out of it.”

It was the first time Li Mingyu had heard something like that.

To be honest, she’d been in business for years, but most deals had never needed actual negotiation.

Let alone something like this.

Now, her curiosity was fully piqued. Like a kid discovering a new toy, she clung to Jiang Ning and begged for more details.

Seeing no way out, Jiang Ning singled out the two people from the meeting and started analyzing them for her.

First, Liu Ju.

An Ivy League returnee.

He had talent and vision, but what he lacked was experience.

So Jiang Ning hit hard right from the start—her aggressive tone disrupted the flow of the negotiation.

Of course, this approach only worked because it was him.

As for the other guy, the manager from McRonald’s.

A smiling fox.

Decisive and ruthless.

The moment he realized he couldn’t turn the tide, he cut his losses immediately.

Clean and sharp.

A veteran with deep waters.

Jiang Ning summed them up by saying: both were tough cookies.

Just as she finished saying that, Li Mingyu suddenly reached out and grabbed Jiang Ning’s face, squishing it with both hands.

“Such a crafty little devil!”

“They’re veterans, but what does that make you?”

“A little demoness?”

“Big Sis Mingyu!!” Jiang Ning slapped her hands away, clearly annoyed.

“You were the one who asked me to analyze them!”

“I said analyze, not dissect!” Even though Li Mingyu agreed with some of Jiang Ning’s opinions, she still found it surreal hearing this kind of breakdown from someone her age.

She couldn’t resist squishing Jiang Ning’s cheeks—almost as if trying to see whether there was another face hiding under that pretty skin.

Of course, she didn’t find any mask.

But she did leave Jiang Ning’s cheeks red like apples.

That pissed Jiang Ning off. She immediately counterattacked.

A targeted move hit the “vital spots,” leaving the sultry sister thoroughly defeated.

After a while, Jiang Ning finally pulled her hands back from the older woman’s waist with reluctant satisfaction.

“So, what’s the outcome now?” Li Mingyu straightened her skirt, her cheeks still flushed, her eyes laced with charm as she asked.

“Both stores stepped back and brought our place into their alliance.”

“That way, whenever they run a promotion, they can redirect some traffic to us—and if something goes wrong, they’ll help take the heat.”

“All that, just because of that video you made?” Li Mingyu still couldn’t wrap her head around it.

Just a short two-minute science video—how could that make two stores backed by Fortune 500 giants back off?

Seriously?

But once Jiang Ning explained the full reasoning…

Li Mingyu was stunned.

But as a business owner herself, it only took her a breath or two to process it.

She frowned slightly, still somewhat skeptical.

“Jiang Ning, that video really has that much power?”

“Of course. And as long as it’s used right, it’ll only grow stronger.”

“And you’re not afraid they’ll turn on you later?”

“That’s what I have my dearest Big Sis Mingyu for.” Jiang Ning didn’t even try to hide her “borrowed authority” strategy.

That left Li Mingyu half-exasperated, half-amused.

But it was exactly that kind of open reliance that made her feel… genuinely trusted.

“Relax, Big Sis Mingyu.”

Jiang Ning suddenly flopped down in the car seat, hands behind her head, her body forming a distinct curve as she looked up through the window and said:

“This video is just a necessary product of the times. Even if it wasn’t me, Jiang Ning, there would still be a Ma Ning, a Li Ning, or a Sa Beining to bring it to light.”

Hearing this, Li Mingyu still voiced her concern.

“You’re definitely going to be targeted by some companies in the future—what will you do then?”

Jiang Ning was touched by the worry in her tone, but responded with a gentle smile.

“Why are you so sure this video will bring me trouble instead of opportunity?”

Jiang Ning had her reasons for saying that.

After all, in her previous life, when rumors about “fast-raised chickens” were spreading across the country, it was also the period when fried chicken brands like Huacai Shi and Dekeshi expanded the fastest.

Crisis and opportunity always go hand in hand.

It just depends on whether you can seize it.

That said—

The biggest problem Jiang Ning still had to solve right now was the chicken supply issue.

As long as that problem wasn’t handled, the crisis would never truly go away.

And if the other side got a grip on that weakness again, it’d be hard to bounce back.

One hour later.

After bumming a meal, Jiang Ning rode her bike home and arrived around 7 PM.

As soon as she got home, she saw her mother holding the landline phone, talking to someone.

She leaned in to listen, and immediately said in annoyance:

“Mom, why don’t you just go sit inside with them too?”

Facing her daughter’s sarcasm, Tian Cuilan didn’t say much right away. She wrapped up the call in a few short sentences, then sighed.

“Ningning, he’s still your uncle… and he’s still in there, no one knows what’s going on…”

Her mother’s attitude made Jiang Ning feel strangely uncomfortable.

She snapped back bluntly:

“Mom, do you think prison’s still like some ancient dungeon?”

“That anyone who goes in has to get their skin peeled off first?”

Hearing the sarcasm in Jiang Ning’s tone, Tian Cuilan quickly waved her hand.

“Ningning, that’s not what I meant. I’m just worried…”

“You’re not wrong,” Jiang Ning said flatly.

“From what I’ve heard, all the new inmates get worked over by the old ones first.”

“Doing laundry, scrubbing floors—that’s the easy stuff.”

“If they run into one or two with…special preferences…”

“Tsk, tsk, tsk…”

“Then our dear comrade Chen Zhenguo might come out with one or two new boyfriends.”

(End of Chapter)