Chapter 249: A Loss or a Gain?

Inside the conference room.

Lu Xiaolong leaned back in his chair, spinning a silver-gray lighter between his fingers.

The crisp click of the lighter echoed rhythmically through the room.

Beside him, Lu Huang slouched in her seat, staring blankly out the window with a gray headset in her ears. A faint hum of singing drifted from her direction.

She looked both lazy and utterly uninterested.

At that moment—

Lin Ke pushed open the office door and took a seat across from Lu Xiaolong.

Facing the latter’s somewhat expectant gaze, Lin Ke replied politely, “Apologies. Our boss currently has no intention of selling company shares.”

Upon hearing this, Lu Xiaolong snapped the lighter shut and frowned.

“Did you tell your boss we wouldn’t interfere with operations, that we only want dividends?”

“I did.”

Just two words, but the meaning behind them was clear enough.

Lu Xiaolong clearly wasn’t pleased. He tapped the lighter against the table.

“What is it then? You think the offer’s too low?”

“It’s not about the price.”

“Then what is it?”

“Our boss simply has no plans to sell any shares.”

Still the same official response.

“So there’s nothing to talk about then?”

It was obvious that the young executive from Huihuang Group was starting to lose his temper. But Lin Ke had no choice—he could only try to explain in a different way.

“Sorry, but at this time, our company is only accepting distributor contracts…”

“But—”

Before Lin Ke could finish, Lu Xiaolong stood up with a face full of irritation.

“I may not have the best luck in business, but I always do thorough research before making an offer.”

“For a startup that’s only been around for six months, I’m offering one million for 20% of your shares—that’s already a premium.”

“Your boss ought to take a good look in the mirror before turning down a deal like this…”

With that, he shoved his chair back and stormed toward the door.

Just as he reached the exit of the conference room, still fuming, Lu Xiaolong suddenly seemed to remember something.

He turned around.

His gaze fell on his sister, who had been lounging indifferently the whole time. Slowly, she removed one of her earbuds.

“Since we’re already here,” she said lazily, “might as well hear the rest of the terms.”

…

Half an hour later.

Lu Xiaolong walked out of the conference room looking thoroughly disgruntled, a contract clutched tightly in his hand.

Behind him, his sister strolled along with her hands in her pockets, casually glancing at the promotional materials displayed along the corridor.

The siblings maintained a small distance between them as they exited the office building.

They passed several distributors along the way who looked like they wanted to greet them, but the sour expression on Lu Xiaolong’s face quickly shut that down.

Once they both got into the car and shut the doors, Lu Xiaolong finally exploded.

“What the hell?!”

“Why wouldn’t you let me sign?!”

“What’s wrong with me signing it?!”

“Huh?! Sis, come on, tell me! What’s wrong with me signing?!”

Lu Huang didn’t respond to her brother.

Instead, she flipped through a few different flyers in her hand with mild interest—everything from factory brochures to advertising leaflets.

After a while, once Lu Xiaolong had finished venting, he suddenly remembered something and asked curiously, “Hey, sis. Since when did you start caring about business?”

“I don’t,” Lu Huang replied so quickly that it caught him off guard.

“Then just now…”

“Didn’t I say? We were already here.”

Lu Xiaolong’s face darkened with frustration.

“So you just signed a one-million-yuan order contract because ‘we were already here’?”

“What else was I supposed to do?”

“That’s a million yuan! My entire monthly investment budget is only—”

He was still complaining when he noticed that his sister had, at some point, put down the flyers.

She removed her oversized sunglasses and turned to look at him with calm, clear eyes that sparkled like autumn water.

“One million yuan. Six models. 150 units of each. That’s 900 electric bicycles total, averaging 1,111 yuan per unit.”

“These bikes retail for around 2,000 to 2,500 yuan each.”

“After subtracting labor and other costs, you’re making at least 500 yuan per bike.”

“And from what I’ve heard, their factory price for other distributors is only between 1,100 and 1,400.”

“Meaning even if you just resell them to other distributors, you’d still turn a small profit.”

“So.”

“Xiaolong, your sister may be lazy, but she’s not stupid.”

“That kind of trick might work on the old man at home, but don’t think you can squeeze a single cent out of me.”

With that, she slipped her sunglasses back on and leaned comfortably into her seat.

“Let’s go.”

“If we make it home within an hour, I can still enjoy a nice afternoon nap.”

——————

Back at the exhibition hall.

Xiaoning Electric Bicycle had finished presenting all their new models.

After Yu Lingling answered a few questions from the distributors, the event officially moved into the ordering phase.

Looking at the bustling crowd around the order counters, Miss Jiang felt deeply satisfied.

Just then, Little Ye came bouncing back from her little adventure.

“Jiang Ning.”

“Hmm?”

“What do you think of the Xiaoning No. 7?”

Number Seven?

Miss Jiang followed Ye Na’s pointing finger.

On a platform with a rugged, off-road backdrop stood a strikingly wild-looking electric bike.

“It’s great.”

“Four high-pressure spring shocks, vacuum tires.”

“Top-notch off-road performance.”

“Why? You want one?”

Ye Na’s cheeks flushed pink.

“I was thinking… what if I bought one and gave it to Tao Tao?”

If it were anyone else,

Miss Jiang would definitely offer some kind advice.

Something like, “Don’t be a simp. Simps have no future.”

But when it came to Poodle?

Heh.

“Buy it! One isn’t enough. There are seven days in a week, so you need at least seven scooters.”

“Red, orange, yellow, green, cyan, blue, purple—ride a different color each day.”

“That’s the only way to show your love is as dazzling as a rainbow.”

“If you like, I can even have them install speakers on the scooters for you.”

“As soon as you start it up, the music will blast!”

“Just imagine it—Tao Tao riding the bright red electric scooter you bought, cruising down the road, with your song playing from the speakers…”

“Isn’t that amazing?”

………

As it turns out,

Simp money is ridiculously easy to make.

That woman actually went to Yu Lingling and placed the order.

She bought fourteen scooters in one go.

She insisted on turning the week’s worth of colors into matching couple sets.

Even had them add both their names onto the seat cushions.

That bold move nearly threw out Miss Jiang’s back.

What was that supposed to mean?

If you love someone, you sit on them?

If it were a person lying down and you sat on them, well, fine.

You’d be happy, and so would they.

But this is a scooter seat…

Forget it.

As long as the sugar mama’s happy.

——————

Evening.

After sending off the sugar mama,

Miss Jiang returned to the office.

At the moment, in the factory director’s office,

Lin Ke and Yu Lingling were going over the day’s order summary.

Jiang Ning walked over and watched for a bit.

She noticed that nearly every distributor had placed sizable orders.

Adding it all up,

A rough estimate showed that the factory would need to run at full capacity for the next two months just to fulfill them.

And that’s assuming no additional orders came in during that time.

If more came in…

Hehehe…

Miss Jiang was instantly filled with a sense of bliss.

Then,

She turned her attention to Secretary Wang.

She was standing with her back to everyone, feeding stacks of colorful bills into the money counter.

The steady “whirrr whirrr” of the machine was oddly satisfying.

Miss Jiang walked over, just about to say something,

When she heard a resentful mutter from a certain paparazzi’s mouth.

“Not mine, not mine, none of it’s mine…”

Hearing that,

The shameless boss, already in a good mood, suddenly felt like stirring up trouble.

She smirked.

“Want me to give you a cut?”

“No!!”

Wang Jianguo rejected her instantly and firmly.

That actually caught Miss Jiang off guard.

She leaned in closer, eyeing that puffed-up, sulking face.

“Really don’t want it?”

“No!!! Ugh, Boss, can you not?!”

Just as Wang Jianguo was about to explode, Boss Jiang grinned and said,

“Oh, I see.”

“I was actually planning to give you a big red envelope.”

“Looks like you don’t want that either, huh?”

The moment the words left her mouth,

A sharp “Ah!” pierced the air.

Then—

Miss Paparazzi suddenly lunged at Miss Jiang.

Startled, she stumbled backward.

But how could she be faster than Wang Jianguo?

She got caught and pulled into a big bear hug.

“Thank you, Boss!!!”

Then,

Before Miss Jiang could even process what was happening, she got a big smooch on the cheek.

After the kiss,

Wang Jianguo released her, face flushed, and held out her hand.

“Boss, you’ve been kissed, so you can’t skip the red envelope now…”

???

Miss Jiang touched her cheek, completely bewildered.

For a moment, she couldn’t tell if she’d just lost or won.

But by the time she figured it out,

Miss Paparazzi had already fled the scene.

“Wang Jianguo!!!”

(End of Chapter)