Jin Yuanyuan's Top-Tier Life

Jin Yuanyuan sat on a bench by the roadside, covering her face with her hands, trying to regulate her breathing and calm her buzzing mind.

Five minutes, ten minutes later? Anyway, I felt pretty cold all over, and sitting here seemed rather pointless.

Then, she discovered a very real problem: it wasn't easy to hail a car here.

After all, this place is quite a distance from the city center, and not many people usually come here.

People came out of the building one after another and drove away. The hospital was past dinner time, and the bright lights gave off a warm feeling of impending sleep.

"Oh, I was thinking, perhaps you would need a handkerchief?" A man offered her a white handkerchief.

"..." Jin Yuanyuan looked up at him. The light was dim, but the man looked very familiar. "Um, I don't think I cried, so I don't need to wipe anything."

"Oh, then I'll keep it. This handkerchief is made of silk, it's quite expensive." The man laughed. "Actually, I'm quite reluctant to part with it."

"...Who are you?" Jin Yuanyuan's mind was still buzzing.

"Sigh, it seems you still don't have a deep impression." His smile widened. "Zhao Zhuoran, head of the catering team..."

"Yes, yes, Manager Zhao..."

"...That sounds awful. Just call me Zhao Zhuoran."

"Okay." Jin Yuanyuan wiped her face again. "I didn't cry."

"Yes, I see. I'll really keep that handkerchief." Zhao Zhuoran carefully placed the handkerchief into a beautiful wrapping paper and then put it in his pocket. He was still wearing the same black cotton coat over a black suit jacket.

"What are you doing here?" Jin Yuanyuan looked up at him.

"One of my employees' fathers is being transferred to another hospital today. The ambulance couldn't fit all of them, so I drove over to give them a ride." Zhao Zhuoran pointed to the seat next to her. "Shall I sit here? Or where are you going? I can give you a ride. It's warm in my car."

"I'll go back..." Jin Yuanyuan suddenly hesitated, because she didn't know where she should go back to. It was too cold, so she followed Zhao Zhuoran to the parking lot.

This truck is a bread truck used for hauling goods.

"Don't mind, it'll be comfortable once the heater is on," Zhao Zhuoran laughed. "There are seven or eight of them, so I just drove the truck out."

"I don't mind." Jin Yuanyuan opened the car door and sat in the passenger seat. "This seat doesn't matter, does it?"

"What do you mean?" Zhao Zhuoran was about to help her close the car door.

"For example, is the passenger seat someone's personal space or something?" Jin Yuanyuan asked rather cryptically.

"Oh, my head chef is rather fat, so he can only sit in this seat every time."

"It's alright, it's alright." Jin Yuanyuan automatically and consciously closed the car door.

Zhao Zhuoran got into the driver's seat and handed her a bottle of water. "Are you hungry? I have plenty of food in my car."

"I'm not hungry." The moment the car's heater was turned on, Jin Yuanyuan felt much more comfortable and relaxed.

"Actually, it's not a big deal. Thinking too much is useless. You'll only know if you can do it by doing it." As if performing magic, Zhao Zhuoran pulled another piece of dark chocolate from his pocket and handed it to her. "Although it's bitter, it's actually quite delicious."

"Thank you." Jin Yuanyuan took it. "You saw it?"

"Absolutely! It was so loud! My colleague's dad even woke up, he thought there was an earthquake!" He said casually, "Mother and daughter, right? It's normal for them to argue. You have no idea how loud my dad and I are when we argue, it's like we could bring down a rocket... It's so intense. My brother, oh, he didn't even help me, ugh, it made me so angry. But, you know, it's the path you chose, so you have to keep walking it."

"Yeah, I know." Jin Yuanyuan put the dark chocolate in her mouth; it was really bitter. "Why is it so awful?"

"Hey, hey, I was wrong. This is the purest one. Let me find you the one with a little sugar in it..." No matter how you looked at it, Zhao Zhuoran seemed to have a sense of smug satisfaction at having succeeded in his scheme.

Before they could find any sweet chocolate, the phone rang. It was Jin Yuanyuan's cell phone.

"Yuanyuan! Come back quickly! The warehouse is on fire!" Cao Xiaoyu shouted on the other end of the phone, and the sirens of the fire trucks could already be heard.

Cao Xiaoyu's voice was so loud that Zhao Zhuoran could hear it clearly. Without waiting for Jin Yuanyuan to say anything, he snatched the phone and demanded, "Give me the address!"

"Huh? No. 6, Building 5, Jinjiacun Economic and Technological Development Zone." Cao Xiaoyu was a little surprised. "Who are you...?"

"How big is the fire? How many fire trucks have arrived? What's on fire? Are there any flammable or explosive items?" Zhao Zhuoran had already started the car and said to Jin Yuanyuan, "Seatbelt."

"Oh." Jin Yuanyuan hadn't reacted yet.

"The factory is on fire, there's black smoke, it's socks, knitted socks." Cao Xiaoyu could already hear the firefighters asking where the fire hydrants were. "Don't hang up, let me show them the way first."

"Okay." Zhao Zhuoran handed the phone back to Jin Yuanyuan. "Fasten your seatbelt. Who is this person to you?"

"Colleagues, classmates, childhood friends, best friends..." Jin Yuanyuan was confused again.

Zhao Zhuoran had already found the route to Jinjia Village using navigation. "Aren't you from a public relations company?"

"I resigned a few days ago."

"Then I need to update my information." Zhao Zhuoran glanced at the rearview mirror. "Help me make a call. Yes, I have my phone in my pocket. The password is 111111. Call Manager Cao. Yes, tell her and her family to figure out how to get home themselves... It's okay, you make the call, I'll explain."

Zhao Zhuoran was very organized, and he gave Jin Yuanyuan clear instructions in just a few words.

Cao Xiaoyu's phone call wasn't over; you could hear him talking to the firefighters from the road. About ten minutes later, the fire was extinguished.

When they arrived at Jin Yaya's warehouse, the fire trucks had already left, leaving behind a lot of water. Cao Xiaoyu was sweeping up the water with the park staff, while others were moving goods.

"Cao Xiaoyu!" Jin Yuanyuan called out to him.

"Hey, over here!" Cao Xiaoyu responded, "It's alright, it's alright, the fire's out, the damage isn't too big. I've done a preliminary calculation, about twenty boxes burned, roughly a thousand pairs of socks... Don't worry, don't worry."

Preliminary assessment suggests the fire was caused by an electrical short circuit. There's a mosquito killer lamp in the warehouse, which appears to be the initial ignition point, but a professional needs to come and inspect it again tomorrow morning for a more definitive assessment.

However, someone broadcast the fire in the park live, and media came to interview, setting up cameras at the park entrance... This is a rather tricky situation.

Cao Xiaoyu told Jin Yuanyuan to face the reporters: "You come, you come, you speak better than me."

"No, I don't know anything," Jin Yuanyuan said nervously.

"You know how good those media outlets are at live streaming. They were just worried about having nothing to talk about, and now that there's a fire, they're all excited."

"Then what should I say?"

"Tell the truth." Zhao Zhuoran stood next to Jin Yuanyuan. "This kind of thing must be clarified in time, otherwise these people will spread rumors. Some self-media outlets have already started talking about it. Look, the fire in Jinjiacun Economic and Technological Development Zone is trending on social media."

Sure enough, opening Weibo, Xiaohongshu, and Douyin and searching for "Jinjiacun" will bring up images of fires or firefighting efforts. Some people even deliberately zoomed in on the open flames or took many pictures of blackened cardboard boxes and water being sprayed by fire trucks, truly wanting to stir up trouble.

"My appearance..." Jin Yuanyuan tightened her light down jacket, a style from five years ago, in rose red.

"Hey, forget about your image, let's shut these people up first." Cao Xiaoyu and Zhao Zhuoran didn't introduce themselves, but they were surprisingly in agreement on how to handle the situation.

Jin Yuanyuan didn't waste any more words and stood directly in the spot where the cameras and mobile phones were broadcasting the most, behaving extremely poised and confidently, a stark contrast to her earlier anxiety.

"Yuanyuan is the type who gets calmer the more people are around." Cao Xiaoyu watched Jin Yuanyuan recounting the events and the fire department's preliminary assessment, expressing satisfaction with her demeanor. "And you are?"

"Zhao Zhuoran, Jin Yuanyuan's former business partner." Zhao Zhuoran extended his hand. "I met him at the hospital just now. I heard the situation here was urgent, so I drove over."

"Oh, that bread truck, right? Could you park somewhere else? There's a pothole over there..."

"Hey, I'll go somewhere else." Zhao Zhuoran took two long strides and stepped over the puddle to move the car.

After seeing that Jin Yuanyuan had finished explaining to everyone, Cao Xiaoyu stood in front of the social media camera with a box of socks, and said quite sincerely, "Our Jin Yaya Socks Factory takes fire safety management very seriously, so even if something like this happens, we put out the fire and call the police immediately. Jin Yaya is a sock manufacturing company with a wide variety of products, excellent quality, and a complete range of colors and patterns. Friends, you are welcome to come and take a look..."

Jin Yuanyuan never expected that Cao Xiaoyu would promote his products at this time, which once again refreshed her understanding and opinion of him.

After working late into the night, they were almost done packing. Jin Yuanyuan, holding her suitcase, asked Zhao Zhuoran, "Shall we go eat?"

"Let's do it another day," Zhao Zhuoran said, also holding the box. "It's not that serious, Jin Yuanyuan. Relax, nothing is insurmountable!"