Jiang Qian looked at the familiar little creatures and smiled. "Sis, when did you pick up my bad habit?"
Yu Xuan rested her chin on her hand, her delicate, alluring face taking on a vulnerable, helpless expression. "It's because you're never around. The house is so quiet, and I get lonely~"
Tsk...
"Why are you looking at me? Hurry up and take a look at A-Dao."
A-Dao? I have one too. What do I need yours for... Jiang Qian picked up the small glass tank holding the Broad-Axe Mantis and examined it for a while. "Why did you want to buy an adult mantis in the first place?"
"They were having a sale at the store."
Yu Xuan said it as though it were perfectly reasonable, oblivious to the fact that she'd fallen for a marketing trap.
Jiang Qian sighed softly. "Adult mantises usually die after laying eggs in September. Few live past October. There's nothing we can do. Your A-Dao's time is almost up."
Jiang Qian put the glass tank back where it had been.
He turned to his sister. "It's a normal biological process. Of course, you could also call it... a stupidity tax."
"Get lost, get lost, get lost."
"Wait, let me look at these two as well."
Jiang Qian picked up the other two glass tanks in turn. "They're not very active. How have you been feeding them?"
"Well... just following the instructions the shop gave me."
"How many days have you had them?"
"Um, well..."
The Love Demon's clone, which had been clinging to the wall and watching in secret, suddenly chimed in. "She hasn't fed them since they arrived. She's only doing this for fun, not out of genuine love."
I know. It's not like I just met her... Jiang Qian patiently tried to reason with his sister. "You can't even remember to feed them. Why don't you hurry up and bring over some food?"
A box of dead fruit flies was handed to Jiang Qian.
"Sis, dead food isn't fresh anymore." Jiang Qian felt helpless.
"Can't they eat it?"
"No."
"What if I catch some?"
"...It's best not to. They might have parasites."
"Then what do we do?"
"We can only... leave it to fate." Jiang Qian cast a sympathetic glance at the three little creatures, secretly feeling sorry for them.
This was why he loved specimens but didn't like keeping live animals. It was too much trouble. The slightest slip could lead to unexpected losses, like this box of fruit flies with their wings clipped.
If he ordered food now, it would definitely arrive too late to feed them. These three might not even survive the night.
"How about I turn them into specimens for you? They won't be able to move, but maybe that'll ease your loneliness a little?"
Yu Xuan folded her arms and gazed at Jiang Qian with a solemn expression.
The siblings fell silent for a long while.
"See? You can't even hold on to the things you want. If you leave them to someone else, the outcome will be even less predictable." Yu Xuan suddenly rested her chin on her hand and summed it up like that.
Jiang Qian was left somewhat baffled.
"Sis, what do you mean?"
"I mean, stop thinking about leaving the task of carrying on the family line to me, your older sister."
Yu Xuan walked over, straightened Jiang Qian's collar and smoothed out the creases in his shirt, then patted him on the shoulder. Her stunning face wore an expression of unshakable seriousness.
"I've already made my choice. I can't help you with the whole children thing."
"Ahem!"
Jiang Qian had never expected his sister to take such a long detour just to say that?!
If I can live a perfectly normal life, who'd ever count on you for something like that? You could starve even bugs to death... Jiang Qian fought back the urge to complain. "I was joking. Don't take it so seriously. I'm leaving!"
"You need to have confidence in yourself. You deserve someone better."
"Thank you so much!"
Jiang Qian didn't realize until he'd left Yu Xuan's room: what did this have to do with confidence?
Someone better?
What the hell, was she rejecting me? The thing is, I never even confessed!
Just as he was grumbling to himself, his sister's door opened again, and Jiang Qian was pulled back inside.
"Feed these three before you go!" Yu Xuan tossed him a box of fresh, wriggling fruit flies. "From now on, you're to be my personal pet trainer."
"You're messing with me?"
"Eight thousand a month, tips not included." Yu Xuan swayed over to the wardrobe, opened it, and began choosing her pajamas.
"No deal."
"Ten thousand, after tax." Yu Xuan held a black lace set and a gold silk one, comparing them in front of the mirror.
Jiang Qian quietly swallowed, resisting the lure of money. "It won't work. Your little brother is an employee of Wanzhong Group now, a top-tier enterprise and the dream destination for ambitious people. That trick won't work on me anymore."
To his surprise, Yu Xuan calmly raised her offer. "One hour of work a day, weekends off, triple pay for working on public holidays, and if you do well, a little bedtime bonus every night."
As she spoke, Yu Xuan swept her hair back from her neck and twirled a strand around her little finger. "So, are you in?"
Gulp~
A brief silence followed.
"Just tell me what you need, and I'll take care of it."
After feeding Yu Xuan's new pets, Jiang Qian returned to his room, exhausted.
One hour of work had been so hard...
He had to feed her pets and take photos of them hunting with his DSLR so she could show off on her social media and attract attention... Just adjusting the lighting had taken half an hour!
Back in his room, Jiang Qian checked the Little Devil Set's status again. No problem. It looked like it could keep running indefinitely as long as nothing interfered with it.
He took the phone from his drawer.
It was crammed with junk messages from Xue Yang:
"Old Jiang???"
"Jiang Qian!!!!"
"Ah~~ I can't take it anymore. What happened to you? What did you mean by asking your sister to pass on a message? I didn't understand!~"
"The sky is the color of dusk, waiting for the rain, and I'm waiting for you..."
"Please, buddy, reply when you see this!! Ahhh~~"
"I'm worried sick! I'm scared!!!"
(A bunch of stickers)
"I just called your sister. She said she doesn't understand either."
--All of the above messages were sent less than five minutes apart.
There were more below:
"Buddy~ [Let me see]"
"Are you still alive?"
Jiang Qian selected them all and deleted them, doing his best to suppress the urge to kick Xue Yang into a cesspit.
The next day.
Jiang Qian got dressed and left early.
As soon as he reached the ground floor, he saw Team Bear leaning against a Public Security Bureau car, smiling and waving at him. His round face went perfectly with his impressive general's belly.
"Team Bear, you're giving me a ride, but did you really have to bring a government car?" Jiang Qian got into the police car, remembering his first encounter with the authorities.
Team Bear chuckled sheepishly. "It's all because of my younger brother—the one you're about to meet, who'll be your direct supervisor. He took my personal car early this morning, so I had no choice but to use a government one."
"I'm honored," Jiang Qian said with a smile.
The city streets sped past.
On the way, Team Bear explained the Wanzhong Group onboarding process and what Jiang Qian needed to keep in mind.
"A special HR representative will meet you later and give you your onboarding training. Of course, she doesn't know about your official records. She'll just treat you like an ordinary hire with connections."
"Someone with connections?"
"License Holders," Team Bear said succinctly.
That was a pretty apt description. As long as License Holders didn't pose an obvious threat to society, they could earn a high salary while coasting at a prestigious company. It did sound tempting... Jiang Qian marveled silently at the authorities' conciliatory policy toward License Holders.
"By the way, Jiang Qian, what's printed on your Identity Card?" Team Bear suddenly asked, as if the question had just occurred to him.
Jiang Qian paused.
To his surprise, Team Bear immediately burst out laughing. "You're pretty sharp, kid. That's right! At Wanzhong, don't reveal your Identity Card to anyone lightly, and don't discuss other License Holders. Just try to think of yourself as an ordinary person."
"Understood. Teacher Lan reminded me, too."
The car soon approached Wanzhong Group's headquarters.
As they crossed an overpass, Jiang Qian looked out the window at the Twin Towers, soaring into the clouds in all their grandeur.
They were one of Jinping City's few iconic landmarks.
In every city across the country with a Wanzhong branch, there was a building of similar scale.
In the eyes of ordinary people, Wanzhong Group had always been a prestigious company that symbolized status, strength, and influence.
They drove into the underground garage, where Jiang Qian saw self-service, automated toll booths. The parking spaces and charging stations were all managed by computer systems.
Team Bear personally led Jiang Qian to the elevator.
On the first floor of the magnificent Jinping branch, they stopped at reception to get Jiang Qian a temporary access card. He was told he'd receive a long-term one after completing the onboarding process, valid until the end of his internship.
"All right, I won't go in with you. Take the elevator from here to the fifteenth floor. The receptionist there will tell you where the new employee training room is. After your training, my younger brother—your supervisor—will send someone to pick you up."
"Haha, my younger brother's a very nice guy. I hope you two get along!"
"Thanks, Team Bear. Take care."
The two parted ways, and Jiang Qian stepped into the elevator.
The elevators at Wanzhong Group were made entirely of transparent glass. As he went up, he could clearly see employees coming and going on each floor, along with how they were doing.
There were sharply dressed marketing and business professionals, leggy young women in short skirts and stockings, programmers in plaid shirts, and balding executives... The overall looks of the employees were above average.
He realized that Wanzhong seemed to have a particular fondness for glass. The elevators, cafeteria, conference rooms, lounge areas, gym... Everything was transparent, except for the nursing room and the executives' offices.
Jiang Qian habitually stored these details and observations in his mind, gradually building his understanding of the new workplace.
The fifteenth floor. They'd arrived.
The elevator doors opened, and Jiang Qian stepped out onto the soft red carpet in the employee training department.
What a waste. Did they want every new employee who came through here to marvel at how lucky they were to work in such a place?
"Hello, may I ask who you are?" the receptionist on this floor asked warmly. She wore a white skirt suit and had a sweet, delicate face. One glance was enough to tell that she came from a well-off family.
"Jiang Qian."
The receptionist in the white skirt suit blinked, shock and envy stirring in her gaze. "You're Jiang Qian? Teacher Su's been waiting for you. Please follow me!"
A few new employees who had ridden up in the same elevator froze when they saw the special treatment Jiang Qian was getting.
It was their first time seeing one of those legendary hires with connections. They'd thought they could take it in stride, but when the pretty receptionist was so obviously attentive to Jiang Qian, they couldn't help feeling deep envy or jealousy.
Someone lowered their voice and whispered:
"Look, someone with connections!"
"Not bad-looking, either. Maybe he got in on his looks."
"I didn't think Wanzhong would be this rotten on the inside~"
"Shh, keep your voice down! Those hires with connections can be scary..."
Thanks to:
Lao Yang 1979
Book Friend 20190829220143042
mercyh
Book Friend 20220321201816318
Zuiyue de Hawenze
And all the dear readers who supported me with monthly tickets!
Thanks to everyone who supported me with recommendation tickets, comments, and continued reading~ Sending you all a big hug!
Before you continue