Chapter 166: A Visit to the Jinrui Store for Inspiration

Normally speaking,

Dreams are a kind of psychological omen.

A way to interpret the subconscious.

The saying “what you think about during the day, you dream about at night” describes this psychological tendency.

But why did she have such a bizarre dream of being half-man, half-woman?

Was it because of the overwhelming experience in the bathroom the day before?

Or maybe it was the half-hour physiology lecture from her aunt?

In any case—

Throughout breakfast,

Jiang Ning kept pondering the dream she had that morning,

Trying to figure out what it meant.

But dreams,

Have no precise standard of interpretation.

So Jiang Ning could only rely on her own understanding,

Roughly guessing that it might be a sign of conflict or fusion between her physical gender and her psychological identity.

After breakfast,

Jiang Ning cheerfully joked around with her aunt for a bit,

Then rode off on her aunt’s bicycle.

It was already late May.

That time of year when the temperature difference between morning and evening was large.

Even close to 10 a.m.,

Wearing a jacket while cycling, Jiang Ning still felt a bit chilly.

Maybe only in June would the weather fully turn to summer.

And so,

With hair flowing in the wind,

Jiang Ning pedaled through the city streets of Jiangzhou.

After a while,

She arrived at one of her destinations for the day:

The southern Jinrui branch of “Shi Ning Ji.”

This store hadn’t been much on Jiang Ning’s radar lately.

Especially after launching the electric bicycle factory,

Her focus had shifted entirely to production and sales of e-bikes.

Which made her feel a bit guilty, now standing in front of the store—

Like she’d neglected her little wife.

“Cousin Jiang Ning!”

A food delivery guy greeted her.

“…Song…”

She tried “Song”-ing for a while but couldn’t recall the rest.

“Song Ji!”

The guy grinned wide, flashing white teeth.

He clearly didn’t mind Jiang Ning forgetting his name.

His cheerful demeanor even made Jiang Ning scratch her head a little sheepishly.

“Hehe,” she laughed.

“Brother Song Ji, out delivering orders?”

“Yeah! That’s what our delivery team does, right? You back to help again?”

“Mhm.” Jiang Ning nodded, her gaze landing on the black Xiaoning No.1 electric bicycle under Song Ji.

“How’s the ride?”

“Really good.”

Song Ji gave a big thumbs-up, saying straightforwardly:

“I used to pedal a bicycle and could only do ten or so orders a day at most.”

“Now with this—”

“Hey, I can do over ten in just two hours.”

Just then,

A middle-aged man walked up and knocked Song Ji on the head.

“Stop bluffing.”

“If you can do ten in two hours, I’ll take your surname.”

Then he turned to Jiang Ning and warned:

“Jiang girl, this sweet-talking rascal is great at scamming young ladies.”

“Keep your distance.”

“Uncle Peng! When did I ever lie!” Song Ji rubbed the back of his head and turned around, grumbling,

“That was my sixth order in the past hour!”

“Sure, sure. You’re amazing, want a round of applause?” the older man retorted unceremoniously.

The delivery team members passing by burst into laughter.

Clearly,

They were used to this kind of banter.

After a few words, the middle-aged man waved Song Ji off

Then approached Jiang Ning and spoke in a low voice:

“Boss, I’ve got something to talk to you about.”

“Do you have a moment?”

Hearing that,

Jiang Ning looked at the tan-skinned delivery team captain in front of her and smiled warmly.

“Sure.”

——————

Peng Guochang.

Forty-two years old.

A local.

He’d worked as a metalworker and bricklayer on construction sites, and even led small crews.

But none of the jobs lasted long.

The reason was—he couldn’t leave town.

Everyone knows—

Construction work usually means constantly traveling.

Eating, drinking, sleeping—everything happens on site.

But Uncle Peng, in his forties and still unmarried, had a bedridden mother at home to care for.

So he could only take jobs close to home.

Odd jobs, temp work—his last job was even taking out the kitchen trash in a restaurant.

Eventually,

With no other options, and through an introduction, he joined the “Shi Ning Ji” delivery team as a runner.

At first, Jiang Ning didn’t want to hire him.

After all, most of her staff were young, and hiring someone older

Might create friction.

But in reality, she was overthinking it.

Having this middle-aged man around actually brought a more harmonious vibe to the store.

Even the flirty young guys all respected Uncle Peng.

Add to that, the store manager Wang Chan had a calm and steady personality,

Which made the Jinrui Store the most trouble-free of Jiang Ning’s four branches.

The other stores—

Even the one run by her older cousin at Jiangzhou University—

Still had occasional issues.

Like disputes with customers.

Or complaints about short portions.

Maybe that’s why Jiang Ning often forgot this store even existed.

Inside the office now,

Wang Chan was working on reports at the computer.

When Jiang Ning walked in with Peng Guochang,

She was momentarily surprised, then seemed to understand something, smiled, greeted them, and slipped out with an excuse to use the restroom.

Seeing this,

Jiang Ning smiled.

“Uncle Peng, please have a seat.”

She walked over and fetched two cups.

“Plain water or…?”

“No need, boss. Just a few words.” Peng Guochang wasn’t nervous, but remained respectfully polite toward Jiang Ning.

“Alright, go ahead.” Jiang Ning didn’t mind.

She sat on the sofa nearby with a cup in hand, resting her hands on her crossed knee.

Her demeanor was calm and composed.

Seeing Jiang Ning sit like that, there wasn’t even a trace of high schooler in her.

Even though it wasn’t his first time seeing this,

Peng Guochang still found himself a little dazed.

After a moment of focus,

“Boss.”

“There are a few things.”

“First is about charging the electric bikes.”

“Right now we’re just parking and charging.”

“I noticed the batteries are removable—could we prepare more batteries for swapping?”

That was essentially the concept of shared battery systems from the future.

Except what Uncle Peng suggested was just the basic version.

So Jiang Ning had no reason to reject it.

She nodded.

“Sure. I’ll have the factory send twenty spare batteries tomorrow.”

“But be careful with the wiring—safety comes first.”

Hearing that,

Peng Guochang nodded, then continued:

“Second thing—something the guys below wanted to ask.”

“It’s just…”

He seemed hesitant.

Seeing this, Jiang Ning’s eyes curved into a crescent as she smiled and said:

“It’s fine, go ahead.”

After a pause,

Peng Guochang said a little awkwardly:

“The guys heard that the e-bike company and ‘Shi Ning Ji’ are under the same umbrella…”

“They wanted to know if there’s an internal discount… on buying bikes.”

Well now.

She thought it was something serious.

Jiang Ning had already mentally prepared for something big.

But when she heard that,

She was a bit speechless.

But then again,

Even the cheapest Xiaoning No. 3 costs 1,800 yuan.

And that’s just the suggested retail price.

If you run into a slightly greedy retailer, it’s entirely possible they’d add a few hundred more.

Considering the average salary in Jiangzhou city is still around 1,000 yuan,

Even at our “Shi Ning Ji,”

Ordinary employees only make about 1,500 to 2,000 yuan.

Buying a Xiaoning electric bicycle is still quite a burden.

With that in mind,

Jiang Ning thought for a moment,

Then made a decision on the spot.

“Here’s what we’ll do.”

“For regular employees who want to buy our Xiaoning electric bicycles, we’ll offer a 40% discount off the retail price.”

“As for reserve management-level staff…”

At that point,

Jiang Ning paused briefly,

Then chuckled and said,

“If you’re already a reserve manager,

What’s the point of buying one?”

“We can’t provide everyone with a car,

But we can definitely afford to give each person a Xiaoning e-bike.”

(End of chapter)