Chapter 135: A Beauty Indeed, Yet Bound by Youth

“Ice cream cone~ Whose ice cream cone is this, come get it~”

“Hm? The restroom? Head right to the end, it’s behind the stairs~”

“Hey~ Fresh chicken nuggets just came out…”

“Careful, they’re hot~”

All morning, Jiang Ning had been busy at the Shi Ning Ji Times Square location.

From greeting customers to cleaning.

Then from kitchen duty to storage.

Basically, whatever job the store had, she did it.

Even the staff started giving a thumbs-up to this “Manager Tian’s cousin.”

Right now,

Jiang Ning was dragging out a large bag of frozen sauce from the freezer.

She had barely taken a few steps when two young guys came over and helped her carry it, placing it into a nearby fridge.

Seeing that it really was too heavy for her at the moment,

Jiang Ning quickly wiped the sweat from her forehead and thanked them:

“Thanks! You two handsome guys.”

Upon hearing her thanks,

One of the guys scratched his head with a goofy smile, and the other extended his hand.

“Nice to meet you.”

“I’m Yang Mingliang, junior at Jiangzhou University, majoring in Information Engineering.”

Faced with this kind of extended-hand greeting, Jiang Ning pulled her hand back slightly, signaling that she wasn’t quite used to it.

Seeing that,

Yang Mingliang didn’t seem to mind. He patted the more honest-looking guy next to him.

“He’s Zhu Le, my roommate and brother, majoring in Mechanical Engineering.”

“Hi, hi…”

Jiang Ning politely nodded, only for the guy named Zhu Le to blush—

From his cheeks all the way to the tips of his ears.

Oh?

Is this a pure-hearted college boy?

Jiang Ning couldn’t help but smile, almost laughing out loud.

And Yang Mingliang, standing beside him, clearly noticed his buddy’s embarrassment too.

He shot him a “you idiot” glare, then turned back to Jiang Ning with a smile.

“You’re Jiang Ning, right?”

“If you ever need help with anything heavy in the kitchen, just call us.”

“We two brothers will come running!”

He even bumped his blushing buddy’s shoulder after saying that.

To which Zhu Le instinctively echoed,

“Mm! Come running when called!”

Normally, given Jiang Ning’s personality,

She wouldn’t have talked much with these two boys.

But today, for some reason,

Seeing the two of them made her think of her own college days.

Hanging out with dorm brothers.

Taking part-time jobs, and running into pretty shop girls who needed help.

Jumping in to lend a hand—and maybe taking the chance to chat them up a little.

The only difference was,

Today, she was actually willing to listen to these two boys chat.

Back in her previous life, that pretty shop girl wouldn’t even say “thank you.”

Worse, she even told others the two guys were cringey.

Truly, only those who’ve been caught in the rain will understand the value of an umbrella.

A few moments later—

Watching that graceful figure walk away,

Yang Mingliang suddenly clutched his chest and said to his buddy,

“Old Zhu, I think I’m in love.”

“Mm, you said the same thing when you saw Senior Xu.”

“This time it’s different!”

“Mm, Sister Jiang’s even prettier than Senior Xu.”

“Right?! You think so too?”

Yang Mingliang’s eyes lit up, and he nudged his buddy’s shoulder again.

“Old Zhu, what do you think about me chasing Sister Jiang?”

“She’s underage.”

That one sentence

Was like a bucket of ice water dumped over him, instantly extinguishing all the fire in Yang Mingliang’s heart.

After several long breaths,

He finally smacked his lips and sighed,

“A beauty indeed, yet bound by youth.”

“No hope, no future…”

Meanwhile, back in the office, Jiang Ning had just returned and hadn’t even had time to turn on her computer

when Xia Ling came rushing in, looking windblown and tired.

The moment she saw Jiang Ning, she paused for a beat, then waved her hand.

“Boss, give me a sec, I need some water first.”

With that, she hurried to the pantry and grabbed a bottle of water, chugging it down.

Looking at the familiar face before her,

Jiang Ning couldn’t help but recall the moment when Xia Ling learned that she was actually the real boss behind the scenes.

That expression—A mix of shock and disbelief,

But more than anything, it was realization.

After a while,

Once Xia Ling had had her fill of water,

She walked over to Jiang Ning, sat down, and grinned cheekily.

“Boss! Mission accomplished!”

Saying that, she pulled a folded notebook from her pocket and opened it.

“There are three types of summer promotions—rebates, lucky draws, and discounts.”

“We’re not joining the discounts.”

“As for the point rebates, they won’t really affect us much.”

“After all, buying fried chicken doesn’t earn you many points.”

Hearing that, Jiang Ning nodded and shifted into a more comfortable position to listen.

“What we’re focusing on is the lucky draw.”

“We’ll supply the prizes, with a daily quota of no less than 500.”

“Every day?” Jiang Ning frowned a little.

“Summer promotion runs over a month, doesn’t it?”

“Five hundred a day—that’s a big investment.”

After all, Jiang Ning was the boss.

The money was coming out of her pocket, and every cent needed to be spent wisely.

Facing her concern,

Xia Ling offered a different perspective, explaining how the money would actually be used.

Once Jiang Ning realized it wasn’t about preparing 500 prizes every single day, she was stunned at first, then quickly understood.

It was like preparing a lucky draw jar—

As long as people believed there were that many prizes each day, they’d only replenish what was drawn.

Next,

Jiang Ning did a quick calculation based on the mall’s promotional subsidies.

And reached a single conclusion:

Worth it.

So worth it, in fact,

That Jiang Ning was genuinely surprised at how generous the mall had been.

After all,

Whenever the mall ran big promotions,

The marketing costs alone were astronomical.

Add on the maintenance and subsidies for each store,

And it was clear—The mall wasn’t a charity.

They ran promotions to make money.

Yet this time, Xia Ling had somehow secured such a favorable deal for their shop.

Looks like her reputation as a social powerhouse wasn’t undeserved.

Definitely someone worth grooming in that direction.

By noon,

Jiang Ning grabbed a quick bite at the shop, then said goodbye to the staff.

She then rode off toward the Jinrui location.

Jinrui was in the southern district,

Quite a distance from downtown.

So it took Jiang Ning nearly twenty minutes of riding to get there.

But just as she arrived,

She saw Wang Chan straddling a Shi Ning Ji bicycle, looking like she was about to head out.

Jiang Ning quickly stopped her.

“Chan-jie, where are you going?”

Wang Chan had initially thought someone random was blocking her path, but when she looked up and saw a bright, beautiful girl—

She froze.

Then glanced around quickly.

“Boss!”

“What are you doing here?”

“Just stopping by to check in. But you—”

Jiang Ning pointed at her vest that clearly marked her as part of the delivery team, confused.

“Why are you out delivering food too?”

“Where’s the delivery crew?”

Two minutes later—Jiang Ning glanced around the somewhat empty “Shi Ning Ji” dining area, then looked over at Huang Cancan—the only cashier who was currently busy packing orders.

For a moment, she didn’t know what to say.

Back when she first guessed that this location would do well with takeout orders, no one had told her it would be this good.

A takeout team of more than a dozen people per shift was somehow short-staffed, to the point where even in-store employees had to help with deliveries.

Were there just too many orders?

Jiang Ning walked over to the ordering counter.

As she helped Huang Cancan pack meals, she also glanced over the order tickets in front.

To her surprise, the number of orders wasn’t nearly as overwhelming as she had imagined.

So…

What was causing the shortage in manpower?

Just as she was puzzling over it, a young guy from the takeout team suddenly ran back in and said to Huang Cancan:

“Cancan, is there a spare bike?”

“My tire’s flat.”

“Hang on,” Huang Cancan replied, immediately opening a drawer and rummaging through it.

But after searching, she could only shake her head.

The delivery guy looked disappointed.

“Ah, alright then… I’ll just go fix the tire first.”

He turned to leave.

But just then—A set of keys, with jingling bells attached, was tossed onto the table.

“If you don’t mind the color,”

“You can take mine. Just get this delivery out first.”

The guy clearly didn’t recognize Jiang Ning.

He looked blankly at Huang Cancan, who simply jerked her chin toward her.

“Manager Tian’s cousin.”

A few moments later—Watching that young man speed away from the store on her pink bicycle, Jiang Ning crossed her arms.

She touched her chin thoughtfully and muttered in a voice only she could hear:

“2001…”

“Did electric bikes even exist back then?”

(End of Chapter)