In the living room, one computer screen was still lit.
Before Wang Shuang could answer, Wen Ying suddenly asked, “Do you normally keep accounts on the computer?”
Wang Shuang nodded. “Of course. It’s the 21st century, and we’re university students starting a business. We can’t still be doing accounts by hand!”
Wen Ying pointed at the computer. “Senior Sister Hang specially came to help tidy up. Since she’s here, this is the perfect time for you to check the stock against the inventory list.”
“You’re right.”
Wang Shuang turned to Hang Xiaowen. “Senior sister, can you help me with that?”
Hang Xiaowen had already talked herself into the role of the considerate one. If she refused now, her whole persona would collapse, so she readily agreed.
This interruption meant Wang Shuang no longer had to answer Hang Xiaowen’s original question.
How he dealt with the clothes didn’t matter; the key was to cut all ties with Hang Xiaowen!
Hang Xiaowen started helping Wang Shuang count stock. Wen Ying opened two bags, took out a couple of skirts, and examined them carefully.
The fabric was good.
The stitching and hemming were decent.
No loose threads.
“This batch is actually pretty nice. Senior Sister Hang picked them, right?”
Wen Ying praised Hang Xiaowen’s eye, but Hang Xiaowen suspected sarcasm. She kept her head down, sorting clothes without replying.
Because they had been priced too high, almost none of this batch had sold. They had been sitting in the room gathering dust.
The clothes were protected inside plastic bags, so they were fine, but the people in the room were suffering. Xie Qian felt his nose starting to itch.
“Let Wang Shuang and her count. Shall we go downstairs for a walk?”
Xie Qian knew exactly what Wen Ying was doing.
Wen Ying didn’t want Hang Xiaowen to keep influencing Wang Shuang, so she was deliberately cutting Hang Xiaowen out of any further involvement in clearing the inventory.
On this point, Xie Qian disagreed with Wen Ying.
Whether Wang Shuang continued contact with Hang Xiaowen was Wang Shuang’s decision alone. Wen Ying could block her this once, but could she follow Wang Shuang around forever? Hang Xiaowen was his university senior. If she was determined to cling to him, Wen Ying couldn’t stop her!
Wang Shuang had to sort this out in his own head.
If Wang Shuang stayed firm, no demons or monsters could sway him!
Xie Qian suggested the walk.
Wen Ying instantly understood the subtext.
Xie Qian was telling her to let go… Wen Ying hesitated for three seconds. “Wang Shuang, the two of you can manage the sorting, right?”
Wang Shuang nodded vigorously. “Of course!”
The silly boy hadn’t noticed Wen Ying’s good intentions at all. Wen Ying immediately accepted Xie Qian’s invitation.
“Fine. We’ll go for a stroll nearby and not disturb you two.”
Once Wen Ying and Xie Qian had gone downstairs, Hang Xiaowen said casually, “I’m not close with your friends, so it would be awkward to keep them helping. Shall I call a couple more people to come and sort?”
If they were real friends, they would have offered to help when they saw how busy it was!
Instead, those two made a flimsy excuse about going for a walk and left.
Hang Xiaowen was implying that Wen Ying and Xie Qian thought themselves too good to get their hands dirty at the critical moment.
To her surprise, Wang Shuang nodded as if it were the most natural thing in the world. “Yeah, we really shouldn’t have asked them. Neither of them is suited to this kind of work. Wen Ying aside, Xie-god especially… anyway, we can’t let them do this.”
Wen Ying’s hands were for creating.
Xie-god lived up to his nickname: he had the hands of a god, specially designed to turn academic failures into gold.
Asking Xie Qian to move clothes around? Wang Shuang didn’t have the nerve, just like back when they sold crayfish together and only Wang Shuang ever washed the shrimp!
Straight men’s words could really choke people. Hang Xiaowen’s attempt to stir trouble fell flat.
She felt a tightness in her chest but had to swallow her discomfort and carry on counting.
A little while later, Hang Xiaowen still couldn’t hold back. She started probing indirectly about Xie Qian’s background.
Wen Ying was a bestselling author. Who on earth was this “Xie-god”?
Hang Xiaowen was, after all, a fashion design student with a decent professional eye. Xie Qian didn’t wear flashy logos, but his upbringing meant he would never wear cheap market knock-offs either.
His clothes were understated, never chasing brands ostentatiously, yet the cut and fabric were always excellent ready-to-wear pieces.
Combined with his aura, Hang Xiaowen guessed that the “Xie-god” Wang Shuang talked about might be even richer than the bestselling author Wen Ying!
Hang Xiaowen wasn’t trying to latch onto Xie Qian; she was simply curious and also wanted to learn more about Wang Shuang’s family background.
After a couple of perfunctory replies, big straight man Wang Shuang lost patience. “Senior sister, if you’re tired, you can go. I can finish the count by myself.”
Just get the work done. Why chat?
Multitasking really does lead to mistakes!
Hang Xiaowen took a deep breath and forced a smile. “I’m not tired. I was worried you’d be tired. Alright, alright, no more talking. Let’s speed up.”
She desperately wanted to know how Wang Shuang planned to handle the inventory, but seeing the impatience on his face, she could only shut up.
…
While Wang Shuang was roping Hang Xiaowen into working, Wen Ying and Xie Qian had already left the compound.
When it came to choosing an office location for his e-commerce start-up, Wang Shuang might have got everything else wrong, but the spot was genuinely excellent.
It was close to his university and also close to Hongqiao Airport.
And, of course, very close to the plot of land Xie Qian owned that had been requisitioned.
That land had been cleared over the Spring Festival, and construction on the planned Hongqiao railway station had officially begun.
The two of them walked towards the station. Xie Qian stopped outside a construction hoarding and pointed ahead. “Once the railway station is finished, this whole area will be allocated to our logistics company.”
If he hadn’t been worried about drawing Xie Jinghu’s attention to Wen Ying, the 1 million she had lent him would definitely have been converted into founding shares of the logistics company.
At the time the company was started, that 1 million from Wen Ying had been an enormous help!
Later, although Xie Qian repaid the 1 million, the favour could never be fully repaid.
On paper, the logistics company belonged solely to Xie Qian.
In Xie Qian’s heart, it belonged to both of them, which was why he had said “our logistics company.”
Only after the words left his mouth did Xie Qian realise they might sound awkward.
He was afraid Wen Ying would read too much into it and instantly prepared an explanation.
To his surprise, Wen Ying’s thought process was practically that of a steel-straight woman. She completely missed the tender undertone in his words. She stared at the area he was pointing to, practically drooling. “This is prime golden land! Whoever gets it will make money!”
Her tone was pure envy.
But she wasn’t greedy.
This was Xie Qian’s fortune, not hers.
She had her own ways to earn money.
She had only written the first book in the Nine Cauldrons series so far, but as she kept writing, this super IP would gradually take shape.
Right now, one book might not earn as much as Xie Qian’s logistics company, but in the long run, a logistics company still had operational pressures, whereas a famous IP could feed Wen Ying for life!
