Chapter 101 – You’re Fired

Jiang Ning knew that Meng Qing’s family situation wasn’t great.

Even though she had never said anything outright.

But if you carefully recalled past memories, it was easy for Jiang Ning to pick up on the clues.

Like how Meng Qing had very few types of clothes, and in any given season, she just wore the same few outfits over and over again.

Or how, when they went out together, Meng Qing rarely bought drinks for herself—most of the time she just didn’t drink anything at all.

Jiang Ning herself hadn’t noticed these things, but Li Yang had—so more often than not, it was Li Yang or the old Jiang Ning who paid for everything.

But sometimes, the girl would treat them too, and she never held back when she did.

Now that she thought about it—

She was probably treating them after getting paid for some part-time gig, huh?

Looking at the overjoyed girl in front of her, Jiang Ning actually felt an inexplicable pang in her heart.

“Why are you working part-time even during New Year?”

“There’s nothing to do at home. Tianyao went out of town to visit relatives.”

Tianyao.

Oh, Li Yang.

Jiang Ning’s brain froze for a second, then she automatically made the switch in her head.

She heard the hint of evasion in Meng Qing’s tone, but Jiang Ning didn’t call her out on it. She simply frowned and asked:

“I remember you’re not even an adult yet, right? Can you actually get paid for a temp job like this?”

“Should be fine. The supervisor here’s pretty nice.”

As soon as she said that, a shout came from not far away.

“Meng Qing! Come mop this area over here!”

Meng Qing reflexively started to respond, but remembering her friend was still in front of her, she hesitated and replied a little awkwardly:

“I’ll be right there.”

But before she could even finish the sentence, a sturdy-looking middle-aged woman came over, dragging a dripping wet mop behind her.

“Meng Qing, I called you here to work! Not to chit-chat with people!”

That tone immediately rubbed Jiang Ning the wrong way.

She raised an eyebrow.

“Hey, who do you think you’re talking to?”

“She was explaining the phone to me. What do you mean, ‘chit-chat’?”

“Explaining the phone?” The middle-aged woman gave Jiang Ning a once-over.

Noticing that Jiang Ning’s outfit didn’t come cheap, she frowned, muttered something under her breath, and walked away.

After she left—

Jiang Ning asked with a frown:

“Who was that?”

“The supervisor…”

“??? That’s the nice supervisor you were talking about?”

Meng Qing muttered defensively:

“She’s actually not that bad… maybe the area over there really did get kinda dirty…”

At that—

Jiang Ning’s expression turned cold.

“Is that so? Then look over at two o’clock and nine o’clock.”

Meng Qing glanced in those directions, and when she saw one or two employees casually chatting at both spots, she suddenly understood something.

She lowered her head.

“Nowhere else would take me. Only this place was willing.”

“So how are you paid here?”

“No base pay. Just commission for selling phones.”

“How much?”

“Ten bucks per phone.”

Jiang Ning laughed out of sheer anger.

Ten bucks.

That was what she could earn running two or three delivery orders for Shi Ning Ji.

And here?

A phone store—where a single phone could easily cost one or two grand—and the commission was just ten bucks?

No wonder she only got a single name tag and not even a uniform.

Seeing this—

Jiang Ning smiled.

Then she looked straight into Meng Qing’s eyes.

“Do you trust me?”

Meng Qing nodded.

“Queen, I trust you.”

Jiang Ning ignored the nickname, reached out and yanked the tag from around Meng Qing’s neck, tossing it aside casually.

“Come with me.”

And with that—

The supervisor exploded.

She shouted furiously:

“Stop right there!”

“Where do you think you’re going!”

Hearing the yell, Meng Qing instinctively paused, but Jiang Ning pulled her forward, dragging her along as they kept walking out.

At the same time, Jiang Ning turned around, made a face, and shouted sweetly:

“You’re fired!”

“Byeeee~!”

Then she zipped away like the wind.

The supervisor behind them was so furious she nearly burst.

She stomped to the entrance and shouted at the two girls in the distance:

“Meng Qing!”

“Don’t even think about finding another part-time job on this street!!”

Her voice was so loud that not only did Jiang Ning and Meng Qing hear it—so did several nearby phone stores.

For a moment, quite a few people peeked their heads out, trying to find the source of the commotion.

Meanwhile, the two culprits—Jiang Ning and Meng Qing—were holding hands and running down the street for a good few hundred meters.

When they finally got tired—

They both stopped, panting and looking at each other.

No one knew who started it—

But both of them burst out laughing.

The difference was, while Jiang Ning was just laughing—

Meng Qing laughed until her eyes turned red.

Then she suddenly threw herself into Jiang Ning’s arms.

Sobbing, little hiccups and all.

Feeling the soft body in her arms, for once Jiang Ning’s mind didn’t wander. She just gently patted her back and comforted her.

“It’s just a part-time job.”

“Whatever kind you want, I’ll help you find it.”

“Your bro’s rich now.”

“Even if you don’t work, I can totally support you for a lifetime.”

At that—

Meng Qing suddenly looked up, her big teary eyes staring right at Jiang Ning.

“You knew, didn’t you? Last time?”

“Knew what? Oh. Yeah.”

Jiang Ning instantly realized what she was talking about, and nodded.

Otherwise, she wouldn’t have said what she did when she gave her number last time.

Hearing that, Meng Qing’s eyes filled with even more tears.

Then, for no reason at all, she suddenly raised her hand and smacked Jiang Ning’s C-cup chest, grumbling:

“You knew already, but still brought me along on this nonsense today!”

“If I’d known you were gonna pull me out, I would’ve at least collected the commission on those five phones I sold today!”

“This is all your fault! All your fault!”

“You owe me! You better pay up!”

She even hit her a few more times while saying it.

That pouty little act completely melted Jiang Ning’s heart.

“Okay, okay, okay!”

“I’ll pay up!”

“I’ll Pay!”

She immediately reached for her wallet, but Meng Qing stepped up and threw another punch.

“I don’t want your money!”

Huh?

Don’t want money?

Jiang Ning was momentarily confused by this girl’s logic.

But after all, she had been a man in his thirties in her past life.

After thinking about it for a moment, she figured out what was going on in the girl’s head.

She was clearly upset about the money, but also didn’t want to blame Jiang Ning.

In that case—

“Meng Qing, I have a great way to get some money.”

“Come with me.”

But to her surprise, Meng Qing didn’t follow her right away.

Jiang Ning turned around in confusion, only to find the girl staring at her with wide, hopeful eyes.

That pitiful look made Old Man Jiang feel a little baffled.

“What’s wrong?”

“What did you just call me?”

???

Jiang Ning opened her mouth but was stuck for a moment before forcing out two words:

“…Goddess…”

“Hey!”

Meng Qing immediately broke into a grin and wrapped both arms around Jiang Ning’s.

Feeling the soft, bouncy sensation on her arm, Jiang Ning’s embarrassment—akin to scratching one’s foot through the shoe—faded significantly.

Cheerfully, she led Meng Qing to the Nokia store nearby.

As soon as they stepped in, a girl around twenty years old came over to greet them.

“Welcome.”

But as soon as she saw it was two girls, her expression clearly froze for a moment.

Then she glanced at a nearby man in a suit.

The two seemed to exchange a look.

To Jiang Ning, this little exchange wasn’t a big deal. Instead, she smiled and started browsing phones with Meng Qing across the counter.

“How about this one?”

“So small and cute.”

“What about this one?”

“Color’s kind of ugly.”

After browsing for a bit, the young salesgirl caught up with them.

“Hey beauties, are you here to buy phones?”

“What else? You think we’re here to apply for a job?”

There was meaning behind Jiang Ning’s words. The girl just laughed awkwardly and replied,

“If you really want to apply, we’d be thrilled to have you.”

Got it.

So it’s fine if I apply—but not if Meng Qing does.

Jiang Ning caught the implication easily.

But she didn’t press it. Instead, she pointed with a smile to a gray Nokia 8810 in the case.

“Could you take this one out for me to see?”

“Sure.”

The girl called out to a colleague behind the counter.

Just as Jiang Ning picked up the phone, her peripheral vision caught a familiar face.

She glanced over.

Sure enough.

That supervisor from the first store was standing next to the suited man, looking smug and muttering something.

Seeing this, Jiang Ning turned and waved at the woman like she was an old friend.

Then she went right back to discussing the Nokia 8810 with Meng Qing.

After playing around with it for a bit, Jiang Ning felt she wouldn’t get used to a flip phone, so she turned to the staff member and asked,

“Hey sis, do you have a 3310?”

“I like that one better.”

“We do, but…” The girl looked a little hesitant.

Seeing that—

Jiang Ning leaned in close and whispered something into her ear.

The girl’s eyes instantly widened, and after a pause, she gave a reluctant nod.

“Okay. Please wait a moment.”

She turned and walked off.

At that moment, Meng Qing sidled up and whispered,

“What did you say to her?”

“She looked really surprised.”

“If I told you she agreed to let you work part-time here, would you believe it?” Jiang Ning joked.

But just then—

A sharp “In your dreams” suddenly cut into their conversation.

Meng Qing turned around and flinched when she saw who it was.

Meekly, she greeted,

“Supervisor Ma…”

Jiang Ning, acting like a protective mother hen, immediately stepped in front of Meng Qing and locked eyes with the woman.

“Oh, look who it is—the supervisor from that other store.”

“What now, you got cross-store jurisdiction or something?”

Her sarcastic tone instantly caught the attention of other staff and a few customers.

“Cross-store? Please. I’ll just say one thing—this girl’s underage. Which store would dare hire her?”

Supervisor Ma said it with a lot of arrogance.

And, to be fair, she wasn’t wrong.

That one sentence alone was enough to make every phone store think twice about hiring Meng Qing, even as a temp.

Even if she offered to work for free.

But…

Was that necessary?

Jiang Ning just smiled indifferently and patted the trembling little chick behind her.

At that moment—

The female staffer who had left earlier returned, accompanied by the young man in the suit. Both were beaming.

They ignored Supervisor Ma completely and walked straight up to Jiang Ning.

With exaggerated courtesy—almost to the point of groveling—they said:

“Miss Jiang, here are the three Nokia 3310s and five Nokia 8810s you asked for.”

“Would you like to open them and test them out?”
(End of this chapter)