Chapter 219: You’re About to Hit the Big Time

In the end, Miss Jiang couldn’t win against Old Guo.

She became the Class Monitor of Senior Year 2, Class 3.

But—

On the very first afternoon of her new role as Class Monitor…

She took a leave of absence.

Staring at the blank leave slip on the desk and the figure that had already vanished down the hallway, Guo Ming sighed helplessly and turned to ask the teacher next door, Yang Mei.

“Teacher Yang.”

“How did you manage to tame that girl back then?”

“Tame her?” Yang Mei straightened up and turned around, her gaze drifting to the leave slip on Guo Ming’s desk.

When she saw the blank slip, a knowing smile crept across her face, etched with traces of time.

“That girl can’t be tamed.”

“If you’re expecting her to be obedient and follow every order, that’s just not realistic.”

“Then…” Guo Ming looked puzzled. “Then why did I make her Class Monitor—?”

“That’s not a problem,” Yang Mei said with a gentle smile. “She’s the top science student in the entire grade. If she’s not the Class Monitor, who else could be?”

Yang Mei paused for a moment.

“But Jiang Ning’s personality is like a cat’s. You have to stroke her fur the right way.”

“If you do that, you’ll find she’s actually very sweet.”

“But if you go against the grain…”

The next second, both teachers chuckled meaningfully.

———

Little Cat Jiang, having just left the school gates, had no idea that her former and current homeroom teachers had already come up with a strategy to deal with her.

At this moment, she was riding her Xiaoning No. 3 bicycle through the scorching sun, weaving through the streets and alleys of Jiangzhou.

It took her over ten minutes to arrive at the base of the Tianwei Building.

She parked her bike.

Looked up.

Staring at the 28-story office tower, Miss Jiang felt something she’d never felt before.

She’d visited this place many times in the past, but always as a guest. No matter how often she came, it never felt like home.

But now… it was different.

“Ning Ning, what are you looking at?”

Hearing the voice, Miss Jiang turned around.

Her older cousin, dressed smartly in a tailored suit, was walking toward her from the underground parking exit.

Miss Jiang couldn’t help but tease him.

“Well, well…”

“Looking like a real boss now.”

Tian Wenhao’s smile froze for a second. As he got closer, he replied with a helpless expression:

“Ning Ning, can you stop making fun of me?”

“I’m swamped every single day.”

“Ever since we opened up to franchising…”

“Not only do we get calls from franchisees every day, even the district office keeps calling me to attend various events.”

Knowing her cousin wasn’t the type to enjoy being in the spotlight, Miss Jiang grinned and gave his arm a friendly pat.

“More capable people get more work, right?”

Tian Wenhao had a feeling Jiang Ning was going to say exactly that.

He let out a sigh and asked bluntly:

“Ning Ning, seriously—when are you going to take over some of this?”

He looked at her with a hint of grievance.

“If you don’t step up soon, my mom’s going to start thinking I’m bullying you!”

Auntie?

Jiang Ning blinked, then quickly understood what her cousin meant.

So the business had grown to the point where her aunt was starting to worry about family infighting.

She must’ve been putting pressure on her cousin, afraid things would turn ugly between relatives.

And on top of that, the outside world kept calling him a business prodigy or some such nonsense, piling on the mental strain.

Thinking of this, Miss Jiang gave her cousin a careful once-over.

The eyes that used to be full of energy were now visibly bloodshot.

And his hair… was noticeably thinning.

Poor guy.

But this wasn’t something Miss Jiang could just take over on a whim.

Everything had its process.

So—

After a moment of thought, Miss Jiang said, “Next week, find me a position in the company.”

By the time Jiang Ning and Tian Wenhao took the elevator up to the 18th floor, two people were already waiting at the entrance.

Aside from her cousin’s wife, Xiao Mingxiu, there was also a short, well-fed middle-aged man in his forties.

The moment he saw the cousins step out of the elevator, he greeted them with a broad smile.

“Manager Tian, hello! I’m the Property Manager of Tianwei Building. Just call me Old Fan.”

Seeing this, Tian Wenhao and Jiang Ning nodded politely, then Tian Wenhao followed the Property Manager off to the side to discuss some matters.

Meanwhile, Jiang Ning walked into the ‘Shi Ning Ji’ office area with Xiao Mingxiu.

As the door opened, a light, refreshing scent of nature drifted out to greet them.

The first thing that caught the eye was a marble backdrop with the words ‘Shi Ning Ji’ carved boldly into it.

In front of the wall was a reception bar.

Two pretty receptionists stood behind it, beaming as they greeted them.

“Hello, Store Manager Xiao~”

Their smiles were sweet, and their voices pleasant.

But when it came to Jiang Ning, they hesitated, unsure how to address her.

Seeing this, Miss Jiang stepped right up to the bar.

“You two can just call me Jiang Ning~”

As she spoke, she sniffed the air.

“Mmm, smells so good. You ladies smell amazing.”

“Huh? Sister Nie? Your skin is flawless!”

“Sister Qin, your hands are really something.”

Seeing that Jiang Ning looked ready to keep chatting indefinitely, Xiao Mingxiu—half a generation older—cleared her throat gently.

“Shuangshuang, has President Li arrived yet?”

At the sound of her voice, one of the pretty young women at the front desk responded with a bright smile.

“Yes, per Secretary Wang’s instructions, I took him to the General Manager’s Office.”

Hearing that, Miss Jiang understood that Xiao Mingxiu was subtly reminding her to move along.

She chuckled, gave the two girls a friendly wave, and continued walking inside with her cousin-in-law.

As they walked, Jiang Ning noticed the way her cousin-in-law seemed like she wanted to say something but held back.

Grinning, Miss Jiang said cheerfully,

“Cousin-in-law, you know…”

“The front desk is actually a really important position.”

“They represent the face and image of the entire company, and they handle key reception and communication duties.”

“So it’s not just about looking good—their professional skills matter too.”

“Take just now, for example. I was actually testing their ability to respond to unexpected situations.”

“They did pretty well. Worth praising.”

That did make some sense.

But for some reason, Xiao Mingxiu still felt like something was off.

“Alright, we can definitely include more training like that in the future.”

After that, the two of them began touring the company.

The internal departments—Procurement, Human Resources, Administration—were already set up.

The outward-facing ones—Food Development, Sales, Market Franchise—also had their signs up.

The only downside was that the external departments looked a bit empty inside.

Just a few scattered people sitting around.

Seemed most of them were already out on assignment.

Before long, as Jiang Ning and Xiao Mingxiu finished their walkthrough of the company, Tian Wenhao appeared in their line of sight.

He walked over.

“The Property Manager says if we prepay two years of property fees, they can waive part of the utility charges.”

“Then go ahead and pay it. We’ll have to eventually anyway.”

“How many parking spaces is our company renting?”

“Let’s start with ten.”

“Ten?” Tian Wenhao thought he misheard and repeated with emphasis,

“Ning Ning, I mean car parking spaces, not for scooters…”

“Yeah, I meant car parking spaces.”

Jiang Ning didn’t know how to explain to her cousin just how hard it would be to rent parking spaces ten years from now.

After all, from today’s perspective, there were still more buses on the road than private cars.

But since Jiang Ning had made the call, Tian Wenhao didn’t question it.

He never doubted his cousin’s judgment.

After that, the three of them chatted for a bit longer.

Then Jiang Ning asked her cousin-in-law to take her cousin around to get familiar with the different departments.

As for herself—

She skipped along lightly to the General Manager’s Office.

Pushing the door open—

The first thing she saw was a slender figure sprawled out on the sofa in a completely unladylike position.

Good thing she was wearing pants.

Otherwise, anyone walking in would’ve gotten a full seafood platter in the face.

“Comrade Wang Jianguo.”

“May I ask what exactly you’re doing?”

At her words, Wang Jianguo scrambled up from the sofa and gave the stern-faced little boss a sheepish grin.

“Boss!”

“Your sofa is amazing!”

“Can I get one for my office too?”

“No.” Miss Jiang shot down her secretary’s fantasy without hesitation.

Then she turned her gaze to the relaxed figure lounging in the boss’s chair.

“Sister Mingyu.”

“How does it feel?”

At the sound of her voice, the woman stretched lazily.

She turned the chair away from the window, revealing eyes that shimmered with an unreadable light.

She looked quietly at Jiang Ning.

“Jiang Ning.”

“Do you remember that night a year ago, when you came to deliver food?”

Jiang Ning wasn’t sure why Li Mingyu brought that up, but she nodded.

“Of course.”

“The three of us, each on a bike.”

“Loaded down with tons of takeout.”

As she spoke, Miss Jiang seemed to recall something, and the corners of her lips curled up.

“I even complained back then about some heartless boss making employees work overtime so late.”

Catching the implication, Li Mingyu shot her a sultry glare.

“I was standing at the window that night, watching you all leave.”

“Thinking how tough it must be, running your own business.”

After saying that, Li Mingyu grew a little wistful.

“Can’t believe it’s only been a year.”

“And now you’re already above me, renting out an entire floor of the building.”

She stopped there.

The elegant woman let out a soft sigh.

“Little Jiang Ning!”

“You’re making me feel so useless ah ah ah ah ah—”

The string of dramatic “ah ah ah”s made both Miss Jiang and Secretary Wang burst out laughing.

Which of course earned them a massive eye-roll.

But right after that, Li Mingyu couldn’t help laughing along too.

After a while, they chatted about the company setup.

Gossiped a bit about the other businesses in the building.

Then, all of a sudden, Mature Woman Li tapped her fingers on the desk.

“Hey, Little Jiang Ning.”

“Hmm?”

“Got a question for you.”

“Sure.”

“What made you decide to get into the electric bicycle business in the first place?”

Jiang Ning paused at the question, falling silent for a moment in thought.

“There were a lot of reasons, I guess…”

“But if I had to pick just one…”

“Probably because… motorcycles are too loud, and the electric bikes out there were just too ugly?”

Li Mingyu chuckled at that.

There was something captivating in her smile.

“Congratulations.”

“You’re about to hit it big.”

(End of this chapter)