My minimum living allowance is credited to my account every day with 1000 million yuan

Liu Jingjing blushed immediately.

As soon as she said it, she realized she had misunderstood him, so she quickly made him a cup of tea.

"So, Jingjing, how does it feel to be the general manager?"

Liu Jingjing walked to the sofa next to him and sat down. The soft, sunken sofa accepted her weight. She sat sideways with her legs naturally crossed. The hem of her skirt quietly slid up, revealing a section of slender calves—her skin was as white as fresh snow, gleaming delicately under the light. The lines of her ankles were as exquisite as a fine brush painting, with faint blue veins showing through.

Suddenly, I realized she had become the general manager, and the temptation was even stronger. Could it be that I, as Lin Ya said, actually like being a general manager?
Feeling a little embarrassed by his intense stare, Liu Jingjing felt a bit awkward.

{This Chen Xiao, why is he staring at someone's legs like that? So annoying.}
She unconsciously tapped her fingertips lightly on the sofa armrest twice, her knees slightly tucked in, but when she realized Chen Xiao's gaze, she pretended to be calm and stretched her legs out at an angle.

He cleared his throat and said, "I'm being extremely cautious, as if I'm walking on thin ice."

He laughed heartily, "It's not that exaggerated. This is just the beginning. Your career has only just started. Keep up the good work, and your future achievements will be far more than this."

{I really don't know where Chen Xiao gets such strong confidence in himself; I'm so stupid.}
I must work hard and not let him down, nor can I let President Lin down.
"Chen Xiao, you'll be here encouraging me the whole time, right?"

"Of course." He smiled, and Liu Jingjing felt a gentle warmth in her heart as she looked at his refined smile. With him by her side, no difficulty seemed insurmountable.
-
Lin Ping felt a little strange when he saw his brother-in-law Chen Xiao walk into Liu Jingjing's office with such an air of nonchalance.

Although Liu Jingjing is the general manager, which is considered a high-ranking position by those below her, her rank is vastly different from Chen Xiao's, and theoretically, there should be no possibility of them interacting.

Liu Jingjing is a great beauty, isn't she?

It seems that she has not only her sister behind her, but also possibly her brother-in-law.

He was facing the computer, but his eyes were already clouded, and he had no idea what was on the screen. His mind was filled with thoughts of what the relationship between Chen Xiao and Liu Jingjing was.

"Manager Lin."

My thoughts were suddenly interrupted when I looked up and saw the investment manager leading a young man over.

"Manager Lin, this is Zhao Yi, the general manager of Qingfeng Restaurant, Mr. Zhao!"

It turned out he was a merchant. Lin Ping stood up, shook hands with Zhao Yi, and asked him to sit down.

"Manager Lin, I'm here today mainly to discuss the renewal of the lease with Qingfeng Restaurant."

Lin Ping nodded. He had just looked at the merchants whose contracts were due, and Qingfeng Restaurant was among them.

"Mr. Zhao, there's no problem with renewing the contract. There will be a certain increase this year, but not a large one. The guaranteed rent will increase by 8%, and the higher percentage will be deducted by 2%."

He had reviewed Qingfeng Restaurant's performance, which showed an average monthly sales volume of 200 million yuan, enough to cover the rental income. Therefore, raising the minimum guaranteed rent was not very meaningful; the main goal was to increase the rental income to obtain a higher percentage of the commission.

If the commission rate increases by 2%, it's equivalent to an extra 4 yuan in rental income per month, which would amount to 48 yuan per year.

Conversely, for Zhao Yi, paying 48 yuan more in a year meant that the difference was all pure profit, real money, which he obviously couldn't accept.

"Manager Lin, this price increase is too high."

"Is it too high? Mr. Zhao, I've looked through the documents. Even with the rent increase I'm giving you this time, it's still not as high as the terms you signed with Wan Hong Plaza before. Besides, Junxiao Commercial Management is investing so much in marketing every month, and the customer traffic has increased by more than 20% compared to before."

Some time ago, in order to change all fixed rents to a system where the guaranteed rent and the commission-based rent are to be the higher of the two, the guaranteed rent was uniformly reduced, and the commission-based rent was also not high, in order to give merchants a buffer period.

With increased foot traffic and better business for merchants, it's reasonable for the mall to raise rents a bit, given the significant investment in marketing expenses.

Moreover, just as Lin Ping said, even if Qingfeng Hotel were to renew the contract according to the terms he offered, it wouldn't be as good as it was before when it was Wanhong Plaza.

Our revenue has increased by more than 50% since then, even though the conditions are worse. Why could we do it then, but can't we now?
Lin Ping's idea was simple: you can't mistake the kindness my business shows you for your own ability to make money.

This mindset came from Lifan Commercial Management. 99% of landlords in the world are desperately raising rents, because as long as you don't lose money, you definitely won't leave.

For landmark projects like Junxiao Plaza Store 3, even if they lose money, some businesses won't leave, since they are flagship stores.

Zhao Yi was furious. This newcomer was nothing like someone from Junxiao Commercial Management. Everyone knew that Junxiao Commercial Management didn't have high performance requirements for their rental income, so the merchants were all trying to negotiate to see if they could get some benefits. Who knew that this idiot would come along?

Taking a deep breath, Zhao Yi decided to try a different approach and handed Lin Ping another cigarette.

"Mr. Zhao, smoking is not allowed in the office area."

{Damn, I know, I was handing you a cigarette, not telling you to smoke it.}
Zhao Yi smiled awkwardly, suppressing his anger, and asked, "Manager Lin, which project were you working on before coming to this store?"

He took the kettle, filled his teacup with water, and then took out a bottle of mineral water from behind him and gave it to Zhao Yi, saying, "Have this."

"Thank you!"

“I’m from Shanghai. I used to work on small projects, so you probably haven’t heard of them.”

Lifan Commercial Management doesn't really have any well-known projects in Shanghai, so it's even less likely that Zhao Yi, a small business owner from a local area, would have heard of them. It would be pointless to even mention them.

"Oh, she's from a big city. Speaking of which, I'm quite familiar with your Junxiao Commercial Management. Do you know Liu Jingjing, your regional operations manager? She's my classmate, and we chat often."

He didn't say that it was someone he admired, but instead said that they chatted frequently. As for the fact that he was always the one sending messages and rarely replied, he didn't mention that either.

Liu Jingjing? We're quite familiar?

Lin Ping looked at him strangely. "We're quite familiar with each other. Don't you know Liu Jingjing is now the general manager of this project?" He'd failed to build a relationship and instead exposed his own true colors.

Seeing that Lin Ping did not react, Zhao Yi thought that Liu Jingjing could not suppress him. After thinking about it, it made sense. After all, Liu Jingjing was from the operations department, while Lin Ping was from the investment promotion department. They were two parallel lines.

He actually knew the regional leasing manager, but the regional leasing manager only assisted the stores in attracting tenants and was not responsible for the stores' rental income KPIs, so he had no say in things like lease renewal increases.

Moreover, regional sales managers have no personnel or financial authority over store sales managers, so they naturally have no control over store sales managers.

Seeing that bringing up Liu Jingjing had no effect on Lin Ping, Zhao Yi lowered his head and said as if gossiping, "My classmate is quite capable. I heard she's the regional general manager of Junxiao Commercial Group and Lin Ya's confidante. But speaking of your General Manager Lin, she's really amazing. In her early twenties, she was already the regional general manager and vice president of a large group, managing a region worth hundreds of billions."

Lin Ping glanced at him, picked up his cup, and took a sip.

{You're praising my sister? Then praise her for a while longer. I'll give you half an hour.}
He wasn't stupid; he could tell that Zhao Yi's intention in saying those things was simply to use Liu Jingjing to pressure him. Later, when he saw that Zhao Yi didn't react, he brought up the fact that Liu Jingjing was President Lin's confidante. This was Zhao Yi using President Lin to pressure him.

{Hmph, how could my sister possibly help outsiders bully me? If she did, I'd go tell my brother-in-law. Now we've found our allies!}
Zhao Yi talked until his throat was dry, recounting all the gossip he had heard and could think of, but found that Manager Lin was still unmoved.

Damn, this guy's completely unyielding. Looks like we're not getting anywhere today.
"Manager Lin, oh, is General Manager Zhao here too?"

Lin Ping looked up and saw that it was the operations manager. It was probably because Lin Ping had just promised to help him find a solution after the basement plan was completed, which had brought them closer. So the manager came over to ask Lin Ping for a smoke.

Zhao Yi happened to be there too, so the three of them went to the smoking room together. Zhao Yi and the operations manager were old acquaintances. He only dealt with the investment promotion department once a year, but he dealt with the operations department every day.

"Mr. Zhao's business has been doing well lately; I see the private rooms are full every day."

"Haha, that's because Junxiao Plaza is well-managed. The number and quality of customers are much better than before."

Lin Ping exhaled a smoke ring, glanced at him, and thought to himself, "You know that, yet you still want to talk to me about rent? It's only because my brother-in-law is kind-hearted. If your business were in Lifan Commercial Management, I'd dare to raise it by 50%."

"I'll invite Liu Jingjing to the project another day, and we'll have a meal together."

The operations manager looked at him strangely. He had gotten to know Zhao Yi because Zhao Yi often mentioned that Liu Jingjing was his college classmate and that they kept in touch frequently.

This person seems to share the same thought as Lin Ping: "Your classmate, whom you keep in touch with frequently, don't you know she's now the general manager of our store?" It seems there's a lot of exaggeration in what they're saying.

After stubbing out his cigarette, the operations manager said quietly, "Mr. Zhao, Mr. Liu is now the general manager of our project."

"General Manager Liu, which General Manager Liu?"

Zhao Yi was clearly still in shock. The operations manager sighed, thinking that President Liu had made great progress this time.

When she was in the region, she often worked with me. Although she was nominally of a higher rank than me, she had no authority over me. Back then, I gave her face largely because I thought she was one of General Manager Lin's people.

No one could have imagined that in just a few months, she would complete a transformation that many people could not achieve in a lifetime, going from a floor manager in a prefecture-level city to the project general manager of one of Junxiao Commercial Management's most important flagship stores in the Hanjiang area.

She's only in her early twenties! This confirms the rumor. It must be that President Lin appreciates her; otherwise, no matter how capable she is, she couldn't have progressed so quickly.

Mr. Lin is the vice president of Junxiao Commercial Management Group. As long as Liu Jingjing doesn't make any mistakes, her future achievements will definitely be more than this. This is why all the employees of this plaza have more respect for her than for the current regional general manager, Miao Lei, the former project general manager.

Miao Lei's age means that becoming a regional manager at Junxiao Commercial Management is the maximum he can achieve, but Liu Jingjing's future holds much more than that.

"President Liu, that's President Liu Jingjing!"

Zhao Yi's fingers, holding the cigarette, suddenly paused, ash falling onto the tips of his shoes without him noticing. His eyes, hidden behind the smoke, narrowed abruptly, trembling as if stung by a bright light.

{Liu Jingjing? She's actually become the general manager of Junxiao Plaza Store 3! My goodness, what kind of promotion speed is that?}

Oh, this is great news for me! I can just contact her to renew my contract, why should I bother with this Manager Lin?
"My old classmate has become a general manager! I haven't contacted her for a few days, and I didn't expect things to change so much. I'm going to find her right now and give her a piece of my mind for not telling me such important good news."

The operations manager wasn't sure if he was just bragging, yet he dared to criticize General Manager Liu.
Lin Ping laughed. He was 100% certain that the kid was exaggerating; Liu Jingjing was nothing like the person he described.

Knowing that Liu Jingjing was the general manager and that she was in her office today, he couldn't wait any longer and went to find her.

Lin Ping suddenly called him back, not out of concern for him, but because Chen Xiao was currently in Liu Jingjing's office.

"Mr. Zhao, there are guests in Mr. Liu's office."

"That's alright. I'll let her know first. Once she knows I'm here, she'll definitely finish her conversation with the guest sooner."

Lin Ping smiled.

{You're so confident. If your brother-in-law hadn't come out on his own, he probably could have stayed in there forever, and Mr. Liu wouldn't have kicked him out.}
Zhao Yi insisted on going, and no one stopped him; he was determined to see what would happen.

Sure enough, he was stopped by the assistant at the office door. "Hello, Mr. Liu, we have a guest in your office. Do you have an appointment?"

"Liu Jingjing's assistant dares to stop me?" Zhao Yi was a little unhappy. If it were before, he wouldn't dare to utter a word to the general manager's assistant.

But things are different now. Liu Jingjing is the general manager, and you, the general manager's assistant, are just someone who serves my classmate. You have to show me some respect.

With a hint of dissatisfaction and arrogance, he said, "I'm Zhao Yi, a classmate of your General Manager Liu and also a restaurant owner in this square. Can I go in and say hello to her?"

He was about to go inside when his assistant stopped him again. "Mr. Zhao, please wait a moment. I'll go in and ask Mr. Liu for instructions."

"Alright, hurry up and go." Zhao Yi was a little impatient. He turned around and saw the operations manager and Lin Ping standing there. He said to them, "This assistant is ignorant. President Liu will definitely scold her in a while. Rules are rules, but it depends on who you're dealing with. Do I have to announce my presence before entering President Liu's office? That would be ridiculous."

The operations manager glanced at Lin Ping and noticed that his face was expressionless. Not knowing how to respond to Zhao Yi, he stood there, waiting to see how his assistant would react.

The assistant came out shortly after.

"So, Mr. Liu knows I'm here. Did he say it would be ready soon?"

The assistant sneered, thinking to himself, "How narcissistic this guy is. I'm so glad I didn't let him in just because he's a classmate, otherwise President Liu would definitely be furious."

{That handsome guy in Ms. Liu's office is so good-looking! I just noticed that Ms. Liu's skirt seems a bit wrinkled. She's such a beautiful person, and very particular about her appearance. Why is her skirt wrinkled?}
"Is this Mr. Zhao? Mr. Liu has important guests in his office, and she still has a lot of work to do afterward. She asked you to leave a message for her if you need anything. If it's work-related, you can contact the relevant person in charge of investment promotion or operations."

Zhao Yi felt a surge of heat rush to his head, his ears burning red, as if he had been slapped in public.

He didn't even dare to look the operations manager and Lin Ping in the eye. "Liu Jingjing, how could you do this..." He stared intently at the closed door of the general manager's office, as if he could see the elegant woman sitting inside. As her suitor and college classmate, he couldn't even see her face now, and he had to lose face in front of others.

Lin Ping and the operations manager exchanged a glance and shook their heads. This guy thinks too highly of himself and hasn't found his place.

Liu Jingjing's office
Chen Xiao checked the time; it was getting late. To avoid traffic jams and being late to pick up Xiang Jun, he needed to leave 20 minutes early to ensure everything went smoothly.

Liu Jingjing immediately hated Zhao Yi.

{Why did he come so late? He'd just finished massaging his thigh for a few minutes, getting into the swing of things, and then he showed up to see me. What's so special about that?}
She could guess why he was looking for her. If it was business, it was probably about renewing the contract with Qingfeng Restaurant. The contract for that restaurant was also expiring, and she had already reviewed and approved the renewal terms submitted by the business manager when he reported to her.

The remaining negotiation work is the responsibility of the investment promotion team, so Zhao Yi can now contact the operations department for operations and Lin Ping for contract renewal.

A merchant wouldn't need to find a project manager for their job.

If it's a private matter, I'd rather avoid him than see him.

Zhao Yi smiled awkwardly at Lin Ping and the operations manager, "My old classmate is indeed principled, especially when he gets into work. He's ruthless and doesn't care about family or friends. Even classmates can't influence him."

At that moment, the door to Liu Jingjing's office opened, and Chen Xiao walked out.

Upon seeing him, Zhao Yi's pupils contracted sharply, and a twisted, stiff smile appeared on his lips. "What are you doing here?"

Having overheard his assistant's report inside, Chen Xiao already knew Zhao Yi had arrived, so seeing him wasn't surprising. He smiled calmly and said, "My old classmate got promoted, so I came to check on him. I have other things to attend to, so I'll be leaving now."

He was in a hurry to pick up Xiangjun, and since he didn't have a good impression of Zhao Yi, he nodded and left.

Zhao Yi stood frozen in place, while Lin Ping had already returned to his seat. He wanted to see his brother-in-law off, but Chen Xiao waved him off.

The operations manager glanced at Zhao Yi with pity, thinking to himself, "It's not that old classmates are useless, it's just that you, as an old classmate, are useless. It seems that you were just bragging all along."
-
Jiangzhou International Airport
A black convoy of Rolls-Royce Phantoms slowly entered the airport's VIP passage. The Parthenon grille of the extended Phantoms gleamed coldly in the sunlight, and the low rumble of the 6.7T V12 engine sounded like the suppressed panting of a beast. The door of the limited-edition model in the middle slowly rose, revealing a Milky Way simulated by 340 optical fibers under its starry sky headliner.

She walked out of the airport terminal with Xu Jia. Her beige linen casual wear made her skin look as white as snow, and the loose cut could not hide her exquisite curves.

Passersby couldn't help but glance over, wondering how such a stunningly beautiful woman could possess such a perfect blend of elegance, scholarly charm, and a devilish figure. She was truly a gift from the Creator.

Zhao Xiangjun suddenly smiled. Xu Jia's first reaction was that she had seen Chen Xiao. Sure enough, not far ahead, a refined and handsome young man was jogging towards them.

Oh my god~
Xu Jia touched her forehead. How could a super-rich man worth trillions be so unsteady?

Just as she was thinking of this, she suddenly noticed that Zhao Xiangjun was also running towards Chen Xiao. She immediately opened her mouth wide. Since she met Zhao Xiangjun, she had never been in a hurry or flustered. Xu Jia had never seen her run before.

Are these two acting as if nothing around them exists? Is this their own private world?

Security personnel quickly stepped forward to guard the surroundings. Xu Jia said to her colleagues, "The company bus is outside, you guys go back first."

Despite wearing flat shoes, she nearly tripped due to her hasty movements.

As the top salespeople walked, they kept glancing in that direction. Zhao Xiangjun suddenly threw herself into Chen Xiao's arms. He wrapped his arms around her waist, holding her tightly, oblivious to everyone else, inhaling the fragrance of her black hair. This feeling was wonderful.

He hadn't seen her for days and was going crazy with longing. He felt that if Zhao Xiangjun didn't exist in this world, he might destroy himself. Without her, life seemed to have no meaning.

"Chen Xiao".

"Um"

"Chen Xiao!"

"Hmm, what's wrong?"

"Chen Xiao, Chen Xiao, Chen Xiao!"

She just wouldn't stop calling his name.

Chen Xiao quickly lifted her face from his chest, "Xiangjun, my darling, what's wrong?"

Suddenly, I noticed that her tears were rolling down her cheeks like a broken string, wetting the front of her clothes.

"Nothing much, I just missed you. I missed you so much."

Haha, Chen Xiao laughed heartily, "Baby, let's go home."

The top sales performers looked at each other in bewilderment.

"We've been hearing that Zhao Xiangjun has a boyfriend, but we didn't believe it at first. What kind of man is so lucky to have such a beautiful goddess? We just saw that handsome guy, and they really look good together."

"Zhao Xiangjun usually appears to be such an independent and strong person, but she only shows her feminine side when she's with that man."

"That's because she really loves him. No wonder I noticed from the second day in Dubai that she was uninterested in any tourist attractions. She must have been missing her boyfriend."

"Probably so. If she had known it would be like this, she would have been better off not coming. She didn't have any fun at all."

They probably didn't realize that if Zhao Xiangjun hadn't come, they would never have had the opportunity to travel abroad.

Xu Jia got into the Maybach S680 armored car that Zhao Xiangjun had left at the airport, while Zhao Xiangjun naturally got into Chen Xiao's extended Rolls-Royce Phantom.

Sister Yan got into the passenger seat.
As the privacy partition rose, Chen Xiao pulled Zhao Xiangjun into his arms. The leather seat sank in with their weight, and the 340 fiber optic cables in the starry sky ceiling suddenly lit up, splashing fragments of galactic light into her astonished, wide-open eyes.

The calluses on his palms brushed against the fine hairs on the back of her neck, and Zhao Xiangjun unconsciously gripped the hem of his shirt with her fingertips, creating messy creases.

The lingering minty taste suddenly invaded her senses, mingling with the aroma of hawthorn tea she had just drunk in the VIP lounge. Outside the car window, the airport neon lights flashed like colorful blades, the soundproof glass completely shutting out the noise. (End of Chapter)