Leaving the office, Lin Jiang headed to Jiaoda.
He recalled the scene of him "checking her homework" earlier, which had been quite a surprise.
’I didn’t think there’d be so many.’
’Still, the silk panties had a crisp, clean look to them, which suited He Siyao’s personality.’
Soon, Lin Jiang drove to the faculty apartments at Jiaoda.
With finals week over, Li Yueting and Xu Yingjun had entered the intense final stretch of studying for their graduate school entrance exams.
He’d learned from chatting with them that they had been staying over at Shen Qingqiu’s place some nights.
For Xu Yingjun, it was a bittersweet experience.
On one hand, Shen Qingqiu had praised them, saying their recent progress was good. On the other hand, the studying was exhausting. They rarely got to bed before midnight and were surviving on iced Americanos every day.
She was hinting that the pressure was immense and that she wanted Lin Jiang to help her with her English.
BZZZT—
Just as he parked, a message came in from Fang Jie.
Fang Jie: "Mr. Lin, is seafood okay?"
Lin Jiang: "OK."
Fang Jie: "Five o’clock tonight."
Lin Jiang: "Sounds good. Send me the address and I’ll come pick you up."
Fang Jie: "In that case, I won’t be shy."
Fang Jie then sent Lin Jiang a location pin with the address.
After his chat with Fang Jie, Lin Jiang contacted Shen Qingqiu and asked her to lunch.
He didn’t invite Li Yueting and Xu Yingjun, not wanting to disrupt their study rhythm.
When he reached the entrance of the faculty apartments, Lin Jiang gave Shen Qingqiu a call.
Before long, he saw her walk out of the building and get into his car.
Shen Qingqiu was wearing a light blue pencil skirt with a matching blue blouse.
Although she wasn’t very old, she always exuded a sense of mature charm. In short, she had the alluring air of an older woman.
’It’s just that her temperament was a little cold, not as lively as the other NPCs.’
’Even Chen Jingxian was more lively than her.’
"Anything you’re in the mood for?"
"I’m fine with anything. It’s up to you," Shen Qingqiu said.
Her answer was exactly what Lin Jiang expected.
’That was just her personality. When she was with other people, she would never take the initiative to make a request. She always went along with others’ plans, and even if she didn’t want to, she wouldn’t say much, just to avoid troubling anyone.’
"Let’s go to Champion Scholar Tower, then. It’s not far, and their food is pretty good."
"Mm."
Lin Jiang drove to Champion Scholar Tower. They found a table on the first floor and ordered four small dishes, and with that, their lunch began.
"Did you need me for something?" Shen Qingqiu asked, getting straight to the point.
"Can’t I just ask you to lunch for the sake of it?"
His words genuinely took her aback for a moment before a smile bloomed on her face.
"Of course. I’d be honored."
"Actually, there is something I wanted to talk to you about," Lin Jiang said with a smile.
"My company’s organizational structure is a bit of a mess. You’re an expert in this field, so I was hoping you could offer some advice."
"I interned at IBM, so I can give you some pointers, but I’m far from an expert."
Lin Jiang recalled that Huawei had once spent two billion to hire IBM for management consulting, having them overhaul the corporation’s internal organizational processes.
’IBM was the authority in this field. Since Shen Qingqiu had interned there, and his own company was just a startup with a few billion in assets, her expertise would be more than sufficient.’
"For now, that’s more than enough for us. As for your fee, just name a price. We can get started on this after the girls are done with their grad school exams."
"You’ve helped me so much, and I still owe you 300,000. I can’t accept any money for this."
Shen Qingqiu looked at Lin Jiang, her expression serious. "I mean it. If you insist on paying me, I won’t take the job."
"There’s no need to be so serious. It’s a small expense, I can afford it."
"I know you’re not short on cash, but from my perspective, I can’t accept it. I can’t just keep taking advantage of your kindness."
Seeing how insistent she was, Lin Jiang didn’t press the issue. It wasn’t worth wasting time arguing over something so minor.
"Alright, it’s settled then. I’ll leave it in your hands."
"Mm."
"How are those two doing? Do they have a shot?"
"If they keep up this pace, they have a good chance. Even if they don’t pass this time, I’d advise them to try again next year. They’d be a shoo-in then."
"Good. Thank you for all your hard work on this."
"I’m just doing my job. If I hadn’t taken this tutoring gig, I wouldn’t have been able to pay for my mother’s medical treatments. I’ve actually been wanting to thank you properly for a long time."
Shen Qingqiu’s income wasn’t low, but a serious illness requiring hospitalization was a bottomless pit; no amount of money was ever enough.
"Let’s just say it was fate."
Lin Jiang raised his glass. "Let’s have a toast. To a successful partnership."
"To a successful partnership."
Shen Qingqiu’s eyes were clear and bright, carrying the slight coolness of autumn, but her smile in that moment brought them a little closer.
"If you’d be open to it, I’d like to hire you as a consultant for my company in the future. I’d match your current salary. Would you be interested?"
"That’s too much. If your company runs into problems, I can help. You just have to ask, like you did today. You really don’t need to pay me."
"You’re already restructuring my organization for free. If I didn’t offer you a salary on top of that, I’d be too embarrassed."
"The help you’ve given me is beyond what money can measure. I’m happy to help you where I can. Otherwise, even if I manage to pay you back the money one day, I’ll still feel indebted."
"Why do you have to keep such a strict ledger for everything?"

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