Waking up in the plush king-size room, Li Shangyan stretched and felt completely at ease.
He glanced at the twenty jin of gold and some silver in his brain space, and his mood lifted even more.
He casually sent a WeChat message to the store manager at Zhou Xiaosheng, then another in the group chat, before heading to the bathroom feeling wonderfully refreshed.
It was Monday. He should have had class, but Li Shangyan chose to skip.
What mattered more now, class or making money?
After washing up, Li Shangyan casually opened his phone and found a pile of unread WeChat messages.
In a group called “The Four Wolves of Dorm 312”:
“Makes Sense”: Bastards, cover for your father when roll call happens today! Your father will treat you to a big feast.
“Open and Aboveboard”: Holy crap… Second Brother, you’ve been missing for two days. We were about to call the police.
“Fan Fan Talks”: Second Brother, don’t do anything stupid. A breakup isn’t scary. We’ll help you find another female.
“Yuan Loves You”: What big feast?
“Fan Fan Talks”: Fourth Brother, all you ever think about is eating…
“Yuan Loves You”: Don’t worry, everyone. Second Brother is mature. He won’t do anything rash!
“Open and Aboveboard”: True enough, but Second Brother, where did you go?
“Fan Fan Talks”: Why did he disappear again?
Seeing this, Li Shangyan smiled faintly. His brothers still cared about him.
“Makes Sense” was his online alias, “Open and Aboveboard” was Xie Junlei, “Fan Fan Talks” was Fan Yi, and “Yuan Loves You” was Zheng Yuan.
He casually replied: “Remember to answer roll call. We’ll talk about the rest when I get back.”
Then he stopped paying attention to them.
Next, he looked at another unread WeChat message.
“Splendid Years”: Sure, Mr. Li. I’ll be waiting for you at the store!
After breakfast, Li Shangyan took a taxi to the Zhou Xiaosheng store on Gold Street again.
On the way, he wondered whether he should buy a car.
As the saying goes, a car is a man’s second wife.
He had a driver’s license, but he had not really driven much, and the thought made him a little tempted.
So he decided that after he finished his business, he would go look at cars.
Just as he was thinking about it, he had already arrived.
After paying, he carried his black bag and walked into the Zhou Xiaosheng store with practiced ease.
A salesperson saw him enter and quickly came over. “Welcome. What can I help you with?”
Li Shangyan smiled. “I have an appointment with your store manager, Yang Jinxiu.”
The salesperson’s eyes flickered. “You’re Mr. Li, right? Please follow me. You can wait in the VIP room for a moment.”
Li Shangyan nodded and followed her.
After waiting in the VIP room for a while, he saw a woman in her late twenties walk in.
Her appearance was ordinary, but her makeup was heavy.
Still, her outfit was rather distinctive.
Although she wore a short blazer, underneath it was a very low-cut top.
How low?
Half of her ample bust was practically spilling out.
Seeing that the person who entered was not Yang Jinxiu, Li Shangyan was surprised.
And when the woman saw that the room contained such a young, handsome man, she was just as surprised.
Just as Li Shangyan thought she had walked into the wrong room, the woman came up beside him.
A strong fragrance of perfume hit him. She took the initiative and extended her right hand toward Li Shangyan.
With a smile, she said, “Hello, Mr. Li. I am Yu Jiaojiao, the regional director of Zhou Xiaosheng.”
Li Shangyan also extended his hand and lightly shook hers, only to feel as if the palm of his hand had been tickled.
Before he could react, Yu Jiaojiao had already let go, as if it had all been an illusion.
Li Shangyan frowned slightly and said, “Hello, Director Yu. What brings you here?”
He did not have much goodwill toward this uninvited Director Yu.
Li Shangyan was no novice. He would not lose himself just because a woman wore revealing clothes.
Well… mainly because this woman was not all that attractive.
Not to mention a top-tier beauty like his “would-be aunt” Ye Ziyuan; even Yang Jinxiu was several levels prettier than Yu Jiaojiao.
At the very least, his ex-girlfriend Wu Yushan was an 8-point beauty.
And Yu Jiaojiao was at most a 6.5.
That was even after factoring in her makeup and clothing.
Would someone who had eaten a feast go back to pig slop?
Of course, there are always people hungry enough to eat anything.
Yu Jiaojiao said, “Mr. Li, since you are a VIP customer of Zhou Xiaosheng, I, as the director, will be the one receiving you. May I ask what you need today?”
Hearing that, Li Shangyan did not think much of it and said, “I have a batch of gold I want to sell, and I also want to buy some jade from you.”
“However, the quantity may be a little large.”
At that, Yu Jiaojiao’s eyes lit up, and she quickly asked, “Oh? How much are we talking about?”
“Zhou Xiaosheng is a nationally renowned chain gold shop. We can definitely meet your needs.”
Li Shangyan said, “About twenty jin of gold.”
Yu Jiaojiao thought she had misheard.
Since when was gold or silver measured in jin?
She quickly confirmed, “You mean twenty jin of gold? Jin, not grams?”
Li Shangyan nodded. “Of course. Otherwise, why would I say the quantity is a bit large?”
Yu Jiaojiao’s eyes flashed with shock and excitement.
She quickly calculated the value in her head.
At a purchase price of 500 yuan per gram of gold, twenty jin would come to 5 million yuan.
The profit margin on the acquisition would be at least over 10 percent.
This one deal alone could bring in at least 500,000 yuan in profit.
That was more than the total monthly profit of her entire region!
Then she suddenly remembered that Li Shangyan had also said he wanted to buy some jade.
Wouldn’t that mean even more profit?
What a huge customer!
I have to secure him!
At any cost!
Even if…
Thinking of that, Yu Jiaojiao’s legs nearly gave out from excitement.
She was too thrilled.
Yu Jiaojiao quickly smiled at Li Shangyan and said, “Mr. Li, rest assured. As long as the purity of your gold is sufficient, Zhou Xiaosheng will definitely purchase it.”
Her words were tactful; she was not directly saying she suspected it was fake.
Li Shangyan said, “Don’t worry. This is a family heirloom. Although I don’t have a certificate, it’s definitely real, and you can test it.”
“I’ve done business with Store Manager Yang before, and the cooperation went very smoothly, so I wanted to work with you again.”
Yu Jiaojiao straightened her clothes and said seriously, “Mr. Li, I believe our future cooperation will be even more pleasant, and I also hope we can become good friends.”
As she pulled her clothes downward, the half-exposed white curves became even more prominent.
Li Shangyan awkwardly looked away and quickly said, “I’m going to the restroom. We’ll test the purity of the gold later.”
He had intended to go to the restroom and take the twenty jin of gold out of his brain space.
Unexpectedly, that drew a string of giggles from Yu Jiaojiao.
Li Shangyan froze for a moment, then realized she had probably misunderstood him.
This woman… was shameless!
Li Shangyan picked up the black bag beside him and immediately went to the restroom.
After he finished loading the gold and was about to head back, he overheard two people whispering.
One said, “Why did that slutty woman Yu Jiaojiao come to the store today?”
The other said, “Well, isn’t it because she has her eye on the store manager’s big client?”
“Is it that Mr. Li?”
“Exactly! I heard our store’s revenue doubled this month just because of Mr. Li.”
“How does that slutty woman know Mr. Li is coming today?”
“Heh, every store in her region has her informants. As soon as there is a big client, she immediately uses her tricks to steal the deal. I heard she has pretty deep ties with quite a few clients, and that’s exactly how she is able to sit so firmly in the regional director’s seat.”
“Ah! Then is the store manager really willing to let her steal clients like that?”
“What can she do if she isn’t willing? Yu Jiaojiao is the director, after all! And with the things going on in the store manager’s family, if she offends the director, life will only get harder.”
“Poor store manager. She’s such a good person! She’s oppressed at work, and she has to endure oppression at home too!”
“Exactly. If it were me, I would have broken down long ago.”
The two of them seemed to have finished using the restroom and left.
Hearing this, Li Shangyan frowned slightly.
Yu Jiaojiao was using workplace power to steal Yang Jinxiu’s business?
Interesting!