Li Xiang now had two Jade Jewelry Shop chains under his name. One was managed by He Zhixiang, a businessman from Yunnan Province, while the other was run by Xu Xuan and Zhang Youyou. Both chains had already opened numerous branches.

The Nine-Colored Deer Jewelry Shop, his collaboration with Xu Xuan, had been particularly successful. Leveraging the Xu Family’s connections and channels, it had opened more and more branches, now boasting over two hundred chain stores across the country. Business was booming, liquidating the vast quantities of Jadeite Rough Stones Li Xiang had gathered every single day.

Currently, the cash flow from liquidating jadeite alone had brought Li Xiang over twenty billion RMB. As for his other assets and materials, Li Xiang hadn’t bothered to calculate their total value. He couldn’t even if he tried. He simply had them roughly categorized in his system’s warehouse.

For a "great wealth holder," an exact number wasn’t really necessary. Still, he felt he was a long way from truly deserving that title.

Every day, the Jade Processing Factory was swamped with work. His Little Aunt and her team had an endless amount of it.

On another note, he’d heard a bit of gossip: his Little Aunt had started seeing an "old master" from the Jade Processing Factory. The man was five years her senior and had an ordinary appearance, but his strengths were his honest personality, down-to-earth nature, and diligent work ethic. He was a widower with a daughter in junior high.

Li Xiang had spoken with this master craftsman before. His skills in jadeite carving were exquisite, and he often had brilliant, creative ideas. The pieces he produced were always of superior quality.

Li Xiang was, of course, supportive of this. He was genuinely happy that his Little Aunt had found a suitable partner and wished them the best from the bottom of his heart.

"We have about this many stores," Li Xiang said, pushing a list toward Chen Huanhuan. "Out of those, over thirty of them need a deputy manager. They’re all over the country, so pick one. As for your salary, let’s make it five times what you were earning before."

Chen Huanhuan was stunned, then readily accepted. "In that case, it would be rude to refuse."

’Five times her previous salary? What was there to be unhappy about?’

"Oh, there’s one near my hometown? I’ll choose that one, then. It’s closer to home." Chen Huanhuan was from the Qi and Lu region, so she picked a Jade Shop located in Ji City.

"Okay." Li Xiang nodded and then sent a message in a work group chat. About half an hour later, the manager of that store proactively added Chen Huanhuan’s contact information and invited her to the Ji City branch’s group chat.

’That was fast!’ Chen Huanhuan mused. ’This trip to clear my head was the right decision. Hmm, even though there’s probably no future for me and Li Xiang, landing a great job is still pretty amazing.’

"You can start whenever you’re ready. Welcome to the team."

"Thank you, thank you." Chen Huanhuan stood up and hugged Li Xiang, not wanting to let go for a long moment.

Li Xiang personally drove her to the high-speed rail station. Since the store was near her hometown, she planned to go handle the onboarding process first, then make a trip home over the weekend.

’With a high-paying job like this, she wouldn’t have to be afraid of getting nagged when she went home.’

Chen Huanhuan sat on the high-speed train to Ji City, leaning against the window and admiring the scenery. Her fingertips gently traced the pavé diamond decorations on her phone case. Her mood was effervescent, a stark contrast to how she had felt on her way there.

When she came, she had been dejected and her future felt uncertain, with no idea where to turn.

Now, on her way back, she had a high-paying position in hand, close to home, and even the scenery outside the window seemed exceptionally beautiful.

In the northern regions, the climate was harsh and cold. The snow hadn’t completely melted as it had in the south. A thin layer of remaining snow covered the emerald-green wheat seedlings, which glistened with a silver light under the sun. Occasionally, the chimneys of red-brick farmhouses would flash by, with smoke curling lazily into the air.

She draped her down jacket over her knees, revealing the meticulously coordinated taro-purple knit dress underneath. As she adjusted her angle for a selfie for the third time, the reflection in the window showed the deliberate curve of her lips, pressed into a "smiley lip" shape.

She took many selfies, applying beauty filters, but didn’t post any of them.

Chen Huanhuan arrived in Ji City, found a hotel for the night, and reported to the Jade Shop the next day. She was even more satisfied with the work environment there. It was located in the city center, not far from the famous Baotu Spring scenic area. Upstairs from the Jade Shop, she had even been given her own small office. While not large—only about ten square meters—it was very cozily furnished.

Off-white blackout curtains filtered the winter sunlight into a soft, warm glow. A Northern European-style floor lamp stood in the corner, its shade adorned with crystal tassels that cast fragmented spots of light on the light gray carpet. The L-shaped desk was covered with a pink, marble-patterned, heat-resistant mat. Next to the computer sat an adorable Maneki-neko figurine—with a genuine ice-type jadeite embedded in its paw.

The store manager explained that this Maneki-neko figurine had been specially chosen by President Li.

Chen Huanhuan was touched all over again. The ice-type jadeite on the cat’s paw alone was worth a small fortune.

Her work computer was also brand-new: a high-spec laptop paired with a large monitor. A docking station connected the laptop to the monitor, mouse, keyboard, and other peripherals. With everything else plugged into the dock, which also had its own power button, only a single cable connected to the laptop. She wouldn’t even need to open the laptop’s lid for daily use; she could just press the power button on the dock, making it function almost like a desktop.

If she needed to take the laptop to a meeting or on a business trip, she could just unplug that one cable and go. It was convenient and quick.

Chen Huanhuan looked up the laptop online. The same model with the same configuration cost over ten thousand RMB.

At her previous company, she had worked in a large open-plan office with dozens of workstations. Her computer was a second-hand machine from several years ago that had probably only cost three or four thousand RMB when it was purchased. After all this time, it wasn’t even worth a few hundred, and it would lag terribly whenever she ran any large programs.