Jiang Zhiwan, whose edges had long been worn smooth, used her gaze to reassure her colleague, suppressed the coldness in her eyes, and walked toward Jiang Zhenyue. “Miss Jiang, this way, please.”
Jiang Zhenyue gave a light snort, raised her eyebrows, and led her group off to the right.
Jiang Zhiwan, holding a paper menu in her hands, followed closely behind.
After taking their seats, Jiang Zhenyue focused entirely on chatting and laughing with the young ladies accompanying her, treating Jiang Zhiwan, who stood nearby, as if she were invisible.
“Yueyue, that bracelet of yours…”
Someone with sharp eyes caught sight of the touch of emerald green between Jiang Zhenyue’s white sleeves.
Hearing someone mention it, Jiang Zhenyue generously displayed the jade bracelet on her wrist, saying with a smile, “A birthday gift from my father. Apparently, it’s a family heirloom of the Jiang family.”
The jade bracelet, with its rich, almost oversaturated green hue, swayed gently on Jiang Zhenyue’s wrist, making her wrist appear even more slender and fair.
An imperial green jadeite bracelet, round in shape, with a glass-like texture—it was truly a rare sight in the world.
Looking at this bracelet, Jiang Zhiwan froze for a moment, her brows furrowing slightly.
She remembered this bracelet.
When she was very young, this bracelet had been worn on Mother Jiang’s left wrist.
Every time Mother Jiang held her, she would often raise her wrist and dangle the bracelet in the air to make her laugh.
Jiang Zhiwan knew even better that this was not a family heirloom of the Jiang family at all, but the most precious piece of dowry her grandmother had given her mother.
The Jiang family was utterly shameless!
The anger rising in her heart nearly burned away the restraint Jiang Zhiwan had struggled to learn over the past few years.
Jiang Zhenyue, who appeared to be basking in the envious gazes of those around her, was actually keeping most of her attention on Jiang Zhiwan.
The angrier Jiang Zhiwan became, the more pleasure surged endlessly within Jiang Zhenyue.
But what use was anger?
As long as that wretched woman didn’t die, Jiang Zhiwan could only be ground down by Jiang Zhenyue as she pleased.
Jiang Zhenyue smiled, her tone carrying a hint of disdain: “It’s too heavy; I don’t like wearing it. But my mother insisted I put it on, saying jade nourishes the person.”
When she said this, she emphasized the word “mother” slightly, deliberately to warn Jiang Zhiwan.
Sure enough, Jiang Zhiwan lowered her eyes.
Jiang Zhenyue shifted her peripheral gaze from Jiang Zhi’s face downward, saw that the fingertips of Jiang Zhiwan’s hand holding the paper menu had turned white from the strain, and her smile grew even wider.
The group chatted and laughed for a while longer until a call came through to Jiang Zhenyue’s phone.
Jiang Zhenyue spoke briefly with the person on the other end, hung up, and said to everyone, “Let’s go. My fiancé has sent someone to pick us up.”
The others chimed in one after another: “Yueyue, you’re so lucky.”
“The only young miss of the Jiang Group, and your fiancé is the heir of the Shen Group…”
Together, they walked out of the coffee shop, got into a luxury car, and drove off.
Not long after, Jiang Zhiwan received a complaint citing extremely poor service.
By the time she received the complaint, Jiang Zhiwan had already composed herself.
It was her colleague who was furious, rolling her eyes nearly out of her head.
“Just because they have some dirty money, they think they’re so great.”
“They didn’t even order a single cup of coffee the whole time. I don’t know how they had the nerve to file a complaint.”
“I’m so pissed off!”
The penalty for receiving a bad review complaint in the shop was severe—unless the complainant withdrew the complaint, Jiang Zhiwan would lose half a day’s wages today.
But judging by how arrogant that woman was, she definitely wouldn’t withdraw the complaint.
They were all just workers struggling to make a living, and her colleague looked at Jiang Zhiwan with sympathy.
“I’m fine.” Jiang Zhiwan smiled gently, even going so far as to comfort her colleague in return.
Compared to the things Jiang Zhenyue had done to her before, today she had actually been much more restrained.
At nine in the evening, it was almost time to clock out.
Jiang Zhiwan and her colleague had just about finished cleaning up the coffee shop when the owner arrived, holding a yellow envelope.
The envelope didn’t look thick—just a thin layer.
“Xiao Jiang, come here for a moment.” The owner frowned, looking at Jiang Zhiwan with an apologetic expression.
Jiang Zhiwan walked over, immediately forming a bad premonition.
Seeing Jiang Zhiwan standing before her, the owner clutched the envelope in her hand, hesitating as if she wanted to say something.
She knew Jiang Zhiwan had some financial difficulties, so she had already paid Jiang Zhiwan the highest wage she could afford for the part-time work.
But… after all, hers was a small business.
Jiang Zhiwan sighed. To spare the owner the difficulty of speaking up, she took the initiative to bring up resigning.
Hearing this, the owner breathed a sigh of relief and pressed the envelope into Jiang Zhiwan’s hand. “Forget about the fine from today’s complaint. I know it wasn’t your fault.”
She had also slipped an extra hundred yuan into the envelope, as a token of her goodwill.
Jiang Zhiwan was very grateful. “Thank you.”
The owner looked worried. “Xiao Jiang, have you offended someone you shouldn’t have?”
Jiang Zhiwan remained silent.
On the way back, Jiang Zhiwan felt exhausted and sat alone on a bench by the street for a long time.
She returned to the dormitory much later than usual today.
With finals approaching, students were allowed to opt out of staying on campus, and Fu Baozhu had already been picked up by Chi Chen to go home.
After washing up, Jiang Zhiwan lay on the cold bed. Though her energy was completely drained, she couldn’t feel the slightest bit sleepy even with her eyes closed.
Her phone buzzed with a message.
Jiang Zhiwan picked it up and saw it was a termination notice from her boss at another part-time job.
She knew exactly who was behind all of this.
Setting the phone down, Jiang Zhiwan stared at the dormitory ceiling for a long while before slowly closing her sore, burning eyes.
.
The next day.
Her biological clock woke Jiang Zhiwan early. Aches spread throughout her body, her throat felt raw and painful, and her head was heavy and groggy.
She must be getting sick.
Jiang Zhiwan got out of bed, took some medicine, and let herself lie back down to rest.
She slept until the afternoon.
When she woke again, it was to the sound of a ringing phone.
Jiang Zhiwan answered groggily.
“Teacher Jiang, Yueyue’s cousin is back, so her math tutoring will be handled by her cousin from now on. Sorry about that.”
The other party was clearly feeling guilty, rushing through the words before quickly hanging up.
Jiang Zhiwan froze in silence.
After who knows how long, the phone rang again.
Jiang Zhiwan answered quickly, a hint of stubbornness in her voice: “No need for you to fire me—I’m resigning on my own.”
There were countless jobs in the world, and Jiang Zhiwan refused to believe she couldn’t find one.
No destruction, no construction. Break down, then build anew.
For a moment, the other party said nothing.
Just as Jiang Zhiwan was wondering about it and about to check the caller ID on her phone, she heard a timid voice ask: “Miss Jiang, your interview has passed. Are you sure you don’t want to consider working for the Lu family?”
The question was almost cautious to the point of being tentative.
It seemed that if Jiang Zhiwan uttered even a single word with the slightest hint of refusal, the other party would immediately fall apart.