A soft-spoken sentence rang next to Jiang Qin’s ear, instantly leaving him with a face full of astonishnt.
How could the seemingly cold and moonlight-like wealthy beauty suddenly whine like this? He stared blankly at the little rich lady with long lashes and pink, glossy lips, suspecting he had misheard. After montarily wiping his drool, he still maintained an arrogant and lofty deanor.
“No, I can’t hug you. Have you forgotten that we are good friends? If we hug, our friendship won’t be pure anymore. It’s very dangerous,” Jiang Qin tried to scare her.
Feng Nanshu looked at him with a cold face: “Jiang Qin, good friends can hug.”
“Who said that? Nonsense! How can you say such an irresponsible thing? It’s totally preposterous!” Jiang Qin was indignant.
“But you’re the one who said it,” the little rich lady said pitifully.
“How could I possibly say sothing like that?”
“When we took a shower together, you hugged , and rubbed my butt with your phone, and then you said good friends can hug each other.”
Jiang Qin choked for a mont: “Even though I said that, feeding you and holding your hand already crossed the line. Hugging you again would be against propriety.”
“You also nibbled on my foot,” Feng Nanshu added for him.
“We agreed not to bring that up.”
“Brother, hug.”
Jiang Qin pondered for a while with narrowed eyes: “So, hugging between friends is fine, and we’ll still be friends after a hug?”
Feng Nanshu nodded seriously: “Friends for life.”
Jiang Qin felt she was playing with semantics, but he had no evidence to prove otherwise.
“Alright, let’s go!”
The transition from evening to night was actually very short, just a blink of an eye. Additionally, the maple forest near the university was lush and expansive, becoming dark and tranquil as soon as one entered, offering an exceptionally serene ambiance.
Jiang Qin zigzagged to find a corner, turned around, and embraced the fragrant and soft little rich lady into his arms, then wrapped around her slender waist.
Feng Nanshu imdiately revealed a pleased expression, buried her head in his embrace and rubbed it twice, feeling warmth flooding her heart.
“Why do you like sticking close to so much?”
The little rich lady shook her head gently: “I don’t know either.”
Jiang Qin fell silent for a mont, then hugged her a little tighter: “This should stay between us, known only to the heavens, earth, you, and . You absolutely can’t tell Gao Wenhui; otherwise, I won’t hug you next ti.”
“I understand.”
“You’re not just saying that again, right?”
“I an it, but you have to keep your word, too. Lasting hugs next ti.”
Feng Nanshu kept her face pressed in his chest, her voice muffled, yet she still grasped the essence of the matter with keen intelligence.
As the sky darkened further, the maple forest grew progressively quieter. Initially, the little rich lady had stood very upright, thinking that a hug simply ant two people standing straight and embracing each other, looking entirely earnest to the point of being sowhat silly.
But gradually, she softened in Jiang Qin’s arms like a little cat, seemingly instinctively mastering the art.
As the night grew even darker and more couples entered the grove, clearly, they were not just friends, so their actions were much more flirtatious than theirs.
The most common sight was that of couples locked in an embrace, which piqued the little rich lady’s curiosity.
However, before she could fully indulge her interest, a hand covered her beautiful eyes while simultaneously lifting her up and carrying her in another direction.
“Let’s play again.”
Jiang Qin paused: “Play what?”
The little rich lady poked her face out of his embrace: “The thing where you lift and spin around.”
“That’s not a ga. It’s to keep you from seeing things you shouldn’t.”
Jiang Qin coughed: “Alright, happy tis are always brief. I think that’s about enough for today. Let’s leave it here.”
“Five more minutes of hugging.”
Jiang Qin gently brushed her cool ear: “Does that tickle?”
The little rich lady giggled with delight: “Tickles.”
“That’s enough. Our friendship was almost on the verge of transforming. Thank god, I knew when to stop!”
“?”
Jiang Qin suddenly let go, took a few deep breaths, found a chair to sit down, quickly crossed his legs, and tugged down the hem of his short-sleeved shirt.
The rise in temperature was inconvenient; without the option to wear a jacket, cooling down was a matter of ti.
After waiting for about half an hour, Jiang Qin felt more relaxed and imdiately took the little rich lady out of the maple forest, zigzagging back to her dorm to ensure she wouldn’t learn too much there.
He then returned to his dorm and watched an episode of “Pleasant Goat and Big Big Wolf.”
“Brother Jiang, did you have insomnia again last night?”
The next morning, Zhou Chao climbed out of bed and couldn’t help but ask, his eyes filled with curiosity.
Jiang Qin laughed nonchalantly: “Nope, I slept even better than usual, all the way till dawn.”
“Brother Jiang, there’s no sha in insomnia. Why do you keep hiding it?”
“Do you want to help you close your eyes?”
“No need, no need.” Zhou Chao shrank his head and burrowed back into the covers.
Jiang Qin dressed arrogantly, started doing sit-ups, and after finishing, he felt his stomach, wondering if it was an illusion, but it seed firr than before.
anwhile, at the top floor of Wanzhong Mall, at Pintuan Information Technology Co., Ltd.
The twelve mbers of the Marketing Planning Departnt were divided into six groups, who began to scout and collect information for ground promotions in specified areas, using Wanzhong as the central point.
For so seasoned marketing veterans with experience in ground promotions, these tasks were second nature.
But for so less experienced staff, especially those with planning backgrounds, it felt odd to be out running the streets like salespeople who were constantly pulling in custors, which they found incomprehensible.
Especially as the temperature in Linchuan rose, spending an entire morning outside was truly testing.
Newcors Deng Yuan and Zhang Yu beca visibly tanner after just a couple of days on the job, and every day they couldn’t wait to take a shower and sleep as soon as they returned to their rented apartnt.
But they couldn’t relax just yet, because after collecting the information, they still had to sort it out and compile it into a promotion plan. This fatigue was undeniably uncomfortable.
“I told you, there’s no such thing as a high-paying and easy job in a small company.”
Their flatmate Liang Xiao had just finished brushing her teeth. Looking at Deng Yuan and Zhang Yu sprawled on the couch, she couldn’t help but let out her sarcastic remark.
She had participated in the first round of interviews and received a notice for the second round, but once she learned it involved ground promotions, she imdiately gave up and didn’t even show up for the interview.
Are you kidding? I’m a college graduate. With sumr approaching, running around outside is a death wish, isn’t it?
“Manager Yue said we only need to run for a few days to familiarize ourselves with the surrounding environnt. After that, once we produce the plan, we’ll have day laborers to start the implentation,” Deng Yuan couldn’t help but interject.
“Nowadays, every boss says the sa thing. ‘We’re short-staffed now, but it’ll be better in the future.’ In the end, people are worn down to the ground without ever reaching ‘the future.’”
“Manager Yue isn’t our boss,” Deng Yuan couldn’t help but retort.
Liang Xiao’s eyebrows furrowed: “Then who is your boss?”
“We… we haven’t t yet.”
“Oh my god, the boss doesn’t show up? Could he be ready to flee at any mont?”
Deng Yuan couldn’t help but frown: “That’s impossible. Although we’ve never t the boss, Manager Yue is a very good person.”
“One can’t simply see if a person is good through their eyes. Bad people won’t have the word ‘bad’ written on their face. I’m glad I didn’t go to the second round.” Liang Xiao patted her chest with an expression of relief.
Zhang Yu was a little annoyed: “Alright, we’ve already started working, so let’s work earnestly for a month and see. We need to get our wages, after all.”
“…”
Three days later, on Friday, the twelve promotion plans from the Marketing Planning Departnt were all submitted to office 208.
After discussions and research, three plans were laid out before Jiang Qin.
One was written by a seasoned marketer with five years of experience, another by soone who had worked on internet projects, and the third was rather unique, written by a recent graduate nad Deng Yuan.
As for the others, they all had elents of slacking off.
“For our first round of ground promotions, let’s start in the areas these people are responsible for. Let’s reorganize the remaining nine people and integrate them into these three groups, with Ma Changlong, Hai Shuang, and Deng Yuan as team leaders.”
“That Deng Yuan seems very young, graduated just last year,” Wei Lanlan hesitated.
Jiang Qin was taken aback: “She’s already graduated, isn’t she more mature than ?”
“Er… that’s true.”
“So, ambition isn’t limited to the aged. Young people have more drive, so I prefer using them. At least they’re earnest, while the old hands are harder to manage.”
Jiang Qin patted the planning books on the table: “Also, these three plans are well-written. Give a bonus of five hundred yuan for each.”
“Alright, boss.”
In the afternoon, Wei Lanlan returned to Wanzhong Mall and, together with Yue Zhu, restructured the marketing planning team, then distributed the bonuses as Jiang Qin had instructed.
The purpose of the bonus was twofold: to reward the recipients and to motivate those who didn’t receive it.
The new team was freshly ford and lacked cohesion and loyalty, but Jiang Qin didn’t have ti to implent other strategies, so he opted for direct financial motivation.
As the old saying goes, a modest reward will always yield brave warriors!
But the recipient Deng Yuan was utterly confused – just like that, she was given five hundred yuan? Isn’t that outrageous?
What was even more astounding was, with less than a year of work experience, how could she be chosen as a team leader?
Clutching the money, Deng Yuan felt a heavy sense of responsibility. She called Zhang Yu and, with the planning book in tow, reran their zone, checking for any oversights, until 10 P.M. before returning to their rental.
When Liang Xiao and Qian Lele heard the door open, they imdiately turned off the TV, with a belly full of sarcastic remarks ready to fire. But when they saw Deng Yuan and Zhang Yu, they were montarily taken aback.
“Why did you buy so much stuff?”
Deng Yuan wiped off her sweat and placed the bags on the table: “Uh… the company gave out bonuses, so we bought so at and vegetables. Let’s celebrate tonight with hotpot.”
Liang Xiao paused: “Bonuses? How much?”
“Five hundred yuan.”
“Isn’t your monthly salary only two thousand?”
Knowing Liang Xiao’s twisted personality, Zhang Yu didn’t want to create conflict, living under the sa roof. So she pulled Deng Yuan into the kitchen to avoid more conversation with Liang Xiao, who was always seeking trouble.
Before long, the steaming hotpot was ready, and the table was laden with food.
While eating, Liang Xiao couldn’t help but feel as if she had lost five hundred yuan herself.
“I think there’s sothing wrong with your company.”
“Think about it, you get five hundred yuan after just three days at work, and without much experience, how is it possible?”
Qian Lele nodded: “I think Liang Xiao is right. Deng Yuan, you should be cautious. If sothing seems off, quit right away.”
Liang Xiao agreed wholeheartedly: “Those five hundred might be bait, and you might end up working for nothing without receiving your salary.”
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