Chapter 43: Chairman Zhao and the Little Sunshine

Afternoon 14:30
Yinuo Corporation, Jiangzhou Branch

The branch company had purchased twenty acres of land in the Jiangzhou Economic Development Zone to build its own office building and warehousing center, making it a highly formidable retail enterprise throughout Jiangzhou.

As a Toyota Alphard and a Buick GL8 slowly drove through the gates of the Yinuo Jiangzhou Branch, Zhang Shijie was still looking down at a message on his phone: "Equity change, the third-largest shareholder has become Zhao Xiangjun. Who on earth is this Zhao Xiangjun?!"

According to the message, she was extremely young and beautiful, only twenty-five years old, and a native of Jiangzhou. He fell into deep thought.

It wasn't until his assistant reminded him, "President Zhang, we have arrived."

Zhang Shijie slightly adjusted his attire as Liu Haoran, the general manager of the Jiangzhou branch, stepped forward to open his car door.

Seated in the Buick GL8 behind them were Zhang Shijie's bodyguards. Since they were at the branch office where safety presented no issues, they did not get out of the car.

Zhang Shijie was fifty years old, but he looked very young. He wore a black polo shirt on his upper body, jeans on his lower body, and sneakers on his feet, presenting a style that was both business-like and fashionable.

Zhang Shijie walked with his head held high and chest out, radiating an aura of looking down on everyone else. Liu Haoran accompanied him, leading the way.

"Are you satisfied with the new office environment?" Clearly, Zhang Shijie felt that the office space provided by the company for the branch was of a rather high caliber.

Liu Haoran hurriedly smiled ingratiatingly, "The colleagues in the company are all very satisfied!"

Continuing forward, Liu Haoran introduced the supervisor of the company's business department on this side and the supervisor of the logistics department on that side.

Further inside stood a welcome team composed of eight fashionable and attractive young women.

"These are all sales elites from our stores!"

Zhang Shijie nodded without looking closely, yet no matter where she was, Zhao Xiangjun's radiance could not be concealed. Among the group of beauties, she still stood out far too much.

One could not help but notice her instinctively. Zhang Shijie froze for a moment, feeling a sense of striking astonishment, coupled with a lingering, familiar sensation.

Surrounded by the crowd, he had no time to think deeply and attributed the feeling to the girl simply being too pretty, which had caused an illusion on his part.

After Zhang Shijie went up to the second floor, only Liu Haoran accompanied him while the others went about their respective business. As the sales elites had come from the stores and would be accompanying the store inspections later, they waited on the first floor.

The office area consisted of only three floors in total, though only two were actually in use. The third floor served as a storage room and a recreational leisure area, equipped with a few ping-pong tables and some fitness equipment.

He inspected things very thoroughly, even checking the server room before finally returning to Liu Haoran's office.

"President Zhang, please have some tea and take a brief rest. Later, we will visit the commercial district to inspect the stores. I have already arranged for the expansion supervisor, the retail supervisor, and representatives of the store sales elites to accompany you."

Nodding, he said, "Before we go, give me a general overview of these stores!"

This matter had to be reported by the retail supervisor; as a general manager, Liu Haoran could not possibly be familiar with every single store.

Li Lei felt a bit nervous, as this was the CEO after all, and many branch offices had been established for years without ever laying eyes on the CEO.

Stammering slightly, he introduced the sales figures of several stores. By the time he reached the Wansheng Plaza store, Li Lei gradually calmed his nerves.

He introduced it proudly, as if presenting a treasure: "President Zhang, the Wansheng Plaza store is our best-selling location, with average monthly sales of 800,000!"

This was a very high figure, especially considering it was a monthly average, not a peak value.

"In addition, the sales champion in this store is also the sales champion of our entire company, leading by a wide margin. She alone accounts for half of the entire store's sales volume!"

"Is she that formidable?" This data was extremely exaggerated, considering that a single store had eight to ten sales assistants.

Seeing that he had successfully piqued Zhang Shijie's interest, Li Lei felt a surge of pride and continued, "That sales champion was among those on the first floor participating in the welcome ceremony for you earlier, and she will be accompanying the store inspection this afternoon."

"Oh? What is her name?" Zhang Shijie's interest was piqued. He picked up the itinerary on the desk and glanced at the name list, when suddenly a name caught his eye.

"Zhao Xiangjun," Li Lei said.

"Zhao Xiangjun." Zhang Shijie saw the name on the inspection staff list, and subsequently recalled the message he had received on the way.

Non-executive director, third-largest shareholder, Zhao Xiangjun!

He suddenly remembered the breathtaking, fleeting glimpse of the beautiful girl he had seen on the first floor, and the source of that familiar feeling was finally found.

He hurriedly looked at the subsequent arrangements.

"Manager Liu, the evening banquet exceeds the budget. There's no need to be excessively extravagant and wasteful!"

Liu Haoran wore a blank expression. This reception standard had been cross-checked with his assistant before President Zhang's arrival.

His assistant certainly wouldn't have acted arbitrarily and must have had it approved by him.

What was going on now? He could only ask perplexedly, "President Zhang, should we handle the portion that exceeds the company standards ourselves?"

Zhang Shijie waved his hand and said, "Do not add to the burden of the district branch. Let's do this: keep it from being too extravagant, and if it still exceeds the standard, I will personally cover the excess part!"

Liu Haoran could only rush off to make the arrangements. Once the few of them left, only Zhang Shijie and his special assistant Wu Ting remained in the office.

He beckoned to Wu Ting, and Wu Ting hurried over, saying, "Boss!"

Zhang Shijie pointed at Zhao Xiangjun's name on the store inspection list. "You should pay attention to this Director Zhao, but don't make a fuss about it."

"Director Zhao?" Wu Ting was confused and had no idea who he meant.

Zhang Shijie opened the message on his phone and showed it to her. After reading it, Wu Ting's small mouth remained parted in shock for a long time.

"How can this be? A non-executive director and a store sales assistant... No matter how I look at it, these two identities simply cannot overlap!"

"If you can't figure it out, don't dwell on it. Just be a bit more careful with your work. Also, pay more attention to her, but don't expose her identity in front of outsiders. You can find an opportunity to get closer to her."

Wu Ting agreed with a solemn expression.

Downstairs, Zhao Xiangjun was boredly flipping through her phone. She had zero interest in such grand spectacles of welcoming leaders; day in and day out, it interfered with her sales and genuinely hindered her from making money.

While feeling bored, she saw a message come in from Chen Xiaoxiao, and a smile finally appeared on her face.

"Xiangjun, I was scrolling through Douyin today and saw sesame candy, which brought back childhood memories. Sigh, it's making my mouth water."

"Sesame candy? Is it long or in block form?"

She then sent a picture asking if it looked like that.

"Oh, yes! Where did you see it? Do they have it in Jiangzhou?"

"Yes, I buy it every time I go home, but I don't eat it—it's too sweet!"

"Then I've lost out so much! I've been craving it for so long and never got to eat any. I've missed out for all these years!"

"You're being so dramatic. I'll buy some for you when I go home in a few days."

"Xiangjun is still the best to me. Sigh, my heart feels warm, almost melting!"

"What are you made of, melting away just like that!"

"I'm probably made of candy, otherwise how else could you melt me? And I'm a bit sweet too!"

"Gummy candy, made of rubber—impossible to melt!"

"Are you saying I'm clingy? There is nothing that cannot be melted; it just depends on whether the passion is strong enough. If you throw anything at the sun, it can melt away! And you are my little sun!"

"Chen Xiaoxiao, could you please stop being so disgusting? I'm about to vomit out the lunch I ate."

She sent a goosebumps emoticon.