"What is it? Tell me, quick."
"It’s been less than a month since you two divorced, right? Are you still in the cooling-off period?"
"Yeah, we’re in the cooling-off period right now."
Chen Jingjia nodded. "But it’ll be over in a few more days."
"As long as it’s not over yet, you’re fine!" Zhao Dan said excitedly.
"According to the law, the cooling-off period is considered a continuation of the marital relationship. Any assets he acquires are considered marital property, and you get half!"
Chen Jingjia’s eyes lit up, then dimmed again.
"When we divorced, we signed an agreement. It states that even during the cooling-off period, any personal income doesn’t count as joint marital property. It’s all clearly written in the agreement."
"What? Why would you sign something like that?"
"Because I started working at Century Triumph, I thought I might meet someone with better prospects. If someone bought me a car or a house, I didn’t want to have to give him half, so we made sure to write all that down clearly."
"Well, that’s that, then. This is going to be difficult," Zhao Dan mused.
"If the divorce goes through, it’ll be up to Lin Jiang whether he’s willing to give you anything. The ball’s in his court."
"Actually..."
Chen Jingjia paused, then continued,
"Even if we hadn’t signed the agreement, I don’t think I’d be inclined to do that."
"Why?"
"Just as a man leaves his name and a goose leaves its cry, I want to leave a good reputation. I might be a bit of a gold-digger, but I still want to keep my dignity," Chen Jingjia said.
"Besides, my parents were against the divorce in the first place. If they found out I did something like this, they’d break my legs at the very least, or disown me at worst. I can’t do it."
"If that’s the case, then I think we could try approaching this through your parents." Zhao Dan took a sip of her coffee. "They get along pretty well with Lin Jiang, right?"
"They do. They even met up a few days ago. He’s always been very respectful to my parents," Chen Jingjia said after a moment’s thought.
"A while back, he even helped my sister pay off her mortgage of over two million. It’s just his impression of me that’s not so great."
"That’s to be expected. After the crap you pulled, if I were Lin Jiang’s sister, I’d want to slap you too."
"Don’t bring it up. I should have listened to you back then," Chen Jingjia said regretfully.
"You were obsessed back then, completely convinced you could find someone rich. I never thought Lin Jiang was anything amazing, but for a regular guy, he was pretty decent."
"That’s why I regret it now."
"You wouldn’t be regretting it if Lin Jiang didn’t have money."
"Alright, alright. I asked you to come out to give me ideas, not to make fun of me."
"You should go home and try to win over your parents. Have them step in and plead your case. Lin Jiang might not give anyone else face, but he’ll definitely give it to your folks."
"It seems like that’s the only option left."
Back at the noodle restaurant, Lin Jiang saw that business was even better than yesterday. There was even a line outside.
A little after three in the afternoon, Chen Jingxian arrived.
"President Lin, business is booming."
"It certainly is booming," Lin Jiang said with a smile.
"You haven’t eaten yet, have you? I’ll have Yang Tao make you something."
"Pan-seared steak rice. Just a half portion, I can’t eat a full one."
"Sure."
Lin Jiang had the kitchen make a small portion of pan-seared steak rice. So as not to take up a table in the restaurant, Chen Jingxian ate at the counter.
"Look at Yuanyuan. She’s already starting to act like a manager."
"True. In a few more days, I won’t need to come and supervise anymore. Yuanyuan and the others will be able to hold down the fort."
"Yuanyuan is really quite capable. By the way, I forgot to tell you something," Chen Jingxian said.
"I calculated yesterday’s revenue. A full twenty thousand yuan!"
"That much!"
"I was shocked myself. And that was just the first day of business. It’s bound to be even more in the future," Chen Jingxian said.
"I did a rough calculation. If we can keep this up, I conservatively estimate the annual revenue will reach eight million, no problem. After deducting costs, which are about thirty percent, the gross profit should be around 5.6 million. But rent, employee salaries, and other benefits will cost about 1.8 million, so the net profit should be between 3.8 and 4 million, with the potential to be even higher, though five million would be the ceiling."
"That’s a lot."
"Well, just look at how popular the place is," Chen Jingxian said.
"The food service industry might not be high-end, but the profits are substantial. Let’s stabilize for a while, build up our reputation, and then open more branches. The income will be astronomical."
Lin Jiang nodded. He had thought about this as well.
The recipes for the pan-seared steak rice and the delicious plum soup were both from Tongzi, and he could produce them indefinitely. But the gourmet MSG was a different story; once it was used up, it was gone for good.
Just as Chen Jingxian said, it was best to stabilize for a while, see if Tongzi would provide other similar items to expand the product line, and then it wouldn’t be too late to open more branches.
"Let’s do as you say."
After finishing her meal, Chen Jingxian wiped her mouth.
"Thanks for the meal, President Lin. I’m heading to class."
"Okay, go on. I’ll pick you up tonight."
"I’m a grown woman, you don’t need to pick me up. The restaurant is so busy, I’ll just take a taxi back."
"Taking a taxi every day isn’t a long-term solution. How about I buy you a car? It would make commuting easier."
"No, no, no, you don’t have to."
Chen Jingxian quickly refused. "I’m fine taking the bus."
"Alright."
Lin Jiang knew Chen Jingxian’s personality all too well.
’If I offer to buy her one, she’ll definitely refuse. It’s better to just buy it and give it to her directly.’
For so long, both before and now, she would always come over to help whenever she was free.
With the new restaurant opening and the company being founded, she was the one who ran around under the hot sun to handle a lot of the paperwork. Without her, things really wouldn’t have been sorted out this quickly.
’Buying her a car is only natural.’
"I’m off. I don’t have class tomorrow night, so I’ll come over and help again."
"Okay."
After Chen Jingxian left, Lin Jiang didn’t plan on staying much longer either. ’Time to head back, get a workout in, check in, buy a few things, and then go home to catch up on a manhwa. Life should be leisurely.’
BZZZT BZZZT BZZZT—
He had just started the car when his phone buzzed. It was a message from Li Zhiyi.
Li Zhiyi: "Honey."
Lin Jiang saw the message but didn’t think much of it, waiting for the next one.
But after several minutes, no new message came.
’She just sent the word "Honey." What’s that about?’
Lin Jiang: "Miss me?"
Li Zhiyi: "Mhm."
Lin Jiang: "Great minds think alike. I went out of town today and was just on my way to pick you up. I wanted to surprise you, and then you messaged me."
’The truth isn’t always something that needs to be told.’
Li Zhiyi: "Really?"
Lin Jiang: "I should be able to get there before you get off work."
Li Zhiyi: "Okay, okay, I’ll wait for you."
Lin Jiang didn’t reply again, but he got the feeling that Li Zhiyi wasn’t in very high spirits.
’Did something happen at work to upset her?’
’I can talk to her about it tonight during our "after-sales service."’
Starting the car, Lin Jiang didn’t change his route and headed back to Century Triumph first.
’Tonight involves "pre-sales" and "after-sales service," so I can’t go to the gym, but I can’t miss my check-in.’
He drove back to Suya Fitness Center, checked in, then went to buy a bouquet of flowers before driving to the 4S dealership.
When he got to the entrance, he waited a few minutes and saw people starting to trickle out.
Li Zhiyi and Feng Xile were among them.
"Your man’s here to pick you up. Big sis is leaving first, now. Be safe!"
"Oh, you..."
"Stop pretending. Go enjoy your wonderful night..."
Feng Xile gave Li Zhiyi a suggestive wave and headed toward the bus stop by herself.
Opening the car door, Li Zhiyi got in. When she saw the roses in the car, her eyes seemed to light up with little stars.
"Thank you, honey."
"I’ve been busy these past few days and just got back from out of town. I wanted to give you a surprise, but you found out. Ah well..."
Lin Jiang emphasized it again.
’I’m not a scumbag; I’m busy with my career.’
’I went on a business trip out of town. She can’t find fault with that, can she?’
"I know you’re busy."
Looking at the roses in her arms, Li Zhiyi said sullenly.
"Your restaurant opened and you didn’t even tell me. Honey, are you treating me like an outsider?"
’Hmm?’
’How did she know the noodle restaurant opened?’
’Could it be that the restaurant is so popular someone posted about it online and she saw a video?’
"Opened? What opened? It’s still being renovated. It’ll be a while before it opens."
"Honey, you’re lying," Li Zhiyi said, her voice full of jealousy.
"When I went dancing last night, I overheard Yunong on the phone with her mom, saying your noodle restaurant had opened. If I hadn’t heard it by chance, I still wouldn’t know."
’How the hell did that happen?’
"Oh, you’re talking about the noodle restaurant. That doesn’t count as an opening. It wasn’t even in my plans."
"What? What do you mean?"
"I live in a house worth over a hundred million. Do you think I’m going to make a living from a noodle restaurant?" Lin Jiang said dismissively.
"That little bit of money isn’t even enough to pay for my gas and property management fees."
Li Zhiyi’s expression softened. It seemed to make sense.
"I see."
"That noodle shop is beneath your status, so naturally there was no need to ask you to come."
Lin Jiang said with a straight face,
"When the company opens, I’ll definitely have you come over. That would be more fitting for your status."
"Honey, you started a company? You never mentioned it."
"I was planning to take you to see it after everything was set up. If you want to go now, I can take you."
"I’d like to see it. Is it convenient?"
"What’s inconvenient about it? Let’s go."
Lin Jiang drove Li Zhiyi to the company office.
The office door was still open. The construction workers were packing up their things, seemingly getting ready to leave for the day.
When they learned that Lin Jiang was the company’s boss, they all greeted him before leaving one after another.
"It’s actually an investment firm. So impressive."
Li Zhiyi was a layperson, but from her perspective, anyone who could open an investment firm was an incredible person.
"So, are you still sulking now?"
"Of course not. I wasn’t sulking."
Lin Jiang’s hand covered Li Zhiyi’s butt. "Say that again. Were you or weren’t you?"
"Ahh..."
Li Zhiyi cried out coquettishly, "I know I was wrong. I misunderstood you."
"As long as you know you were wrong."
Lin Jiang let go of her. "We’ve seen enough. Let’s go get something to eat first."
"Okay."
Downstairs, the two found a nearby restaurant to eat at.
At this stage, something like a sense of ceremony wasn’t important. Eating anything would do; the main goal was to fill their stomachs.
"Honey, I noticed your company’s name is really interesting. It feels like it fits the internet trend. Most people wouldn’t think of it."
As dinner was coming to an end, Li Zhiyi said,
"Ignore Risk... just thinking about it is interesting."
"When you’re investing, you have to ignore the risk."
"Honey..." Li Zhiyi said in a small voice.
"What is it?"
"You can ignore the risk tonight, too..."
Thank you to reader [Bamboo Leaf Still Green] for the book coin reward. Thank you, thank you.
While I’m at it, please give me your monthly tickets so I can feel what it’s like to break a hundred in a single day. And another reward, hahaha...

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