Chapter 105 Chapter 105 So we are the big fish?

Ji Lanlan looked at Jiang Yulan outside the door with some trepidation. After confirming that there was no dislike in her eyes, she breathed a sigh of relief and said softly, "Aunt Jiang."

"Lanlan, why are you here? Come in first." Jiang Yulan suppressed her displeasure. She felt that Yao Yan had not given up yet and deliberately let Ji Lanlan come to talk to them, making sure that they would not refuse Ji Lanlan.

Jiang Lili was also a little surprised when she heard Jiang Yulan's voice, and she followed her out of the kitchen.

Ji Lanlan followed Jiang Yulan into the house. Before she could pour the water, she stopped her and said, "Aunt Jiang, no need. I'll be back soon. I came here to tell you that no matter what my mother says, don't agree to her."

"Did you know that she was going to Beijing?" Jiang Yulan asked.

"I know, I can do it alone. I'm at school on weekdays and I can cook and wash clothes by myself at home on weekends. I'm the one who does all these things on weekdays. She just wants to take advantage of you." At the end, Ji Lanlan hung her head in shame. Before her parents divorced, she and her mother treated her better than Yao Yan did. After the divorce, she followed Yao Yan. She didn't object to her continuing to study, but she saw the value in her. So she couldn't open her mouth at all about what she asked her to say to them.

"Okay, then you are alone at home. If you encounter other problems, you can come to me. We will definitely help you if we can." After saying that, Jiang Yulan couldn't help but sigh. Yao Yan's goal was achieved.

"I know. Thank you, Aunt Jiang. You guys go ahead and do your work. I'll go back first." Ji Lanlan responded obediently. She had already made up her mind that if she encountered other problems, she could ask the teachers at school or the neighbors around her. She couldn't bother them anymore.

"Drink some water before going back. It's so hot." Jiang Lili said as she stuffed the water cup next to her into her hand.

Ji Lanlan looked at the water cup that was stuffed into her hand, then looked up at Jiang Lili. She smiled gently: "Lili, you are so amazing now!"

"It's okay. Pressure brings motivation." Jiang Lili said softly.

"I followed your advice and submitted my manuscripts to try. I have received royalties several times. My mother went to Beijing, so it is more convenient for me. To be honest, I was relieved to know that she was going to Beijing." Ji Lanlan said with a smile on her face. She was afraid of being discovered by Yao Yan before, so she left the address of the school in her manuscripts and even cleaned the outside of the door for several days. After that, every time the guard saw a letter from her, he would put it away for her immediately to prevent others from discovering her secret. Now that Yao Yan has gone to Beijing, she no longer has to worry about being discovered by her.

"You are great too. Good luck on the college entrance exam next year. You can get into a good university and then be a tutor for other people's children." At this time, the appeal of prestigious schools is still very great, and the part-time job of tutoring is relatively easy compared to other jobs.

"I know, thank you and Aunt Jiang." Ji Lanlan said as she put down the empty cup of water in her hand. It was time for her to go back.

After Ji Lanlan left, the mother and daughter exchanged a glance, each revealing contempt for Yao Yan. Jiang Yulan snorted coldly, "I was wondering why she gave up so easily this time. I didn't expect this was her plan."

"I don't know why I'm angry for her. Fortunately, Ji Lanlan knows what's going on." Jiang Lili said this to calm her down, and then urged her to go to work quickly. She also had to prepare for tonight's big dinner.

*

Seeing Ji Lanlan coming back, Yao Yan immediately came over and asked, "How is it? Did they agree?"

"No, Aunt Jiang directly rejected me, and Lili also said that they didn't have the energy." Ji Lanlan shook her head.

"Can't you say something nice? You can't even do such a small thing. How can you be so useless?" Yao Yan said angrily.

"Why should I agree to it, Mom? If you're not happy with it, forget it. I'll just go back to my grandparents' on weekends." Ji Lanlan was also angry. She had already agreed to rent a room for her to store her things and let her stay there on weekends, but who knew that she would go back on her word after asking about the rent.

"Okay, can't I rent a house for you? There's no need to go to them. Those two old guys are not good people." Yao Yan stopped her. It was not because she was worried that they would treat Ji Lanlan badly, but because she was afraid that someone would take advantage of her during the year she was away. Ji Lanlan was about to become a college student, and she couldn't let her be deceived by those old guys.

"Then let's rent the one we saw before. It will be more convenient for me to come back every time I go on vacation." This was the first time Ji Lanlan made a request to her.

Yao Yan wanted to refuse, but then she thought about tomorrow's train ticket and decided to give up. She looked at other cheaper places and thought they wouldn't be much cheaper. So she agreed. "Okay, I'll listen to you. You know how much the rent is, so you should work hard in your last year and get into a good university to make me proud, okay?"

"I will." Ji Lanlan nodded and clenched her palms. She didn't get into a good university to make anyone look good, she did it only for herself.

"Then you pack your things at home, and I'll go pay you." The new house they chose was not far from where they lived now.

Watching Yao Yan's figure slowly disappear from her sight, Ji Lanlan breathed a sigh of relief. Her freedom would soon come.

*

The feeling of parting is always sad. This time when going to Beijing, both Jiang Lili and Cheng Yuntian took the train with everyone. Except for Jiang Yulan and Jiang Aiguo who were at work, everyone in the family came to see her off.

"Sister Lili, when will you come back?" Jiang Qitong asked with red eyes.

"It'll be a month at most. Aren't you embarrassed to still be losing pimples at this age?" Jiang Lili said, pinching her cheek lightly and teasing her deliberately.

"I didn't." The little guy quickly turned his face away and refused to admit that he was crying.

"When you arrive in Beijing, don't go out by yourself. Ask Xiao Cheng if you have any questions." Jiang Jianyi reminded.

"I know. Don't worry, I will be careful." Jiang Lili waved at them with a smile.

"I almost forgot to give this to you. Eat it in the car." Zhou Qingfen hurriedly handed the fruit in her hand to her. She almost forgot.

"Okay, aunt, you guys go back first." After that, she turned to Jiang Qitong and said, "Tongtong, I'll bring you a gift when I come back."

As expected, children's attention is easily diverted. She quickly forgot her sadness about parting and asked, "What gift?"

"It has to be kept secret now. You'll know when I come back." Jiang Lili said as she smoothed the flying hair in front of her forehead.

"Okay." Jiang Qitong responded helplessly.

"Uncle Jiang, don't worry, I will take good care of Lili." Cheng Yuntian, who squeezed over from the other side, assured Jiang Jianyi.

"Then we'll trouble you to take care of our Lili." Jiang Jianyi asked her.

"Leave Lili to me, don't worry. She is now the lucky star of our factory." Cheng Yuntian joked with a smile.

"This time, so many of us will be riding in one carriage. We will take care of each other, so don't worry." Jiang Lili knew that they were still worried about theft on the train, so she assured them.

After they left, Jiang Lili also breathed a sigh of relief. She had already grown up in her heart, and going to Beijing was just a trivial matter to her?

"Our seats are next to Zhao Dong's. He'll probably feel better with you here." After all, for Zhao Dong, they were the only two people he was familiar with.

"I haven't seen Brother Zhao yet." Jiang Lili said casually.

"Over there, come on, I've reserved two spots with my backpack." Cheng Yuntian said as he pulled her over.

When they walked over to Cheng Yuntian's seat, they found the atmosphere here was exceptionally quiet. Jiang Lili sat down next to Zhao Dong and asked in a low voice, "Brother Zhao, what happened?"

"There was an argument between two people over there just now." Zhao Dong said as he nodded his chin towards that side.

Looking along his chin, Jiang Lili discovered that Yao Yan and Song Zhenzhen were actually sitting together. Did they just have a fight here?

Without thinking, Jiang Lili could guess what they were arguing about. Glancing at the people around her who all looked gossipy, she couldn't help but shook her head. Now, no one knew about the entanglement between them before, but now everyone knows it.

Yao Yan didn't regret it at all. After all, she wasn't the one who was embarrassed. She didn't expect that this vixen would be so lingering. It would be fine if she was in the same factory, but now she was going to Beijing again. Glancing at the hem of Song Zhenzhen's skirt, Yao Yan couldn't help but snort coldly. The vixen must not be able to stay in Yuncheng anymore.

Fortunately, this atmosphere did not last too long. Soon it was time to check the tickets. Thinking that this time the ticket was for a hard seat, Jiang Lili couldn't help but sigh inwardly. It would take more than 30 hours to get to Beijing, and it would probably take a day or two to recover.

Glancing at her expression, Cheng Yuntian whispered, "Hold on a bit. With so many people here, it's hard for us to get any special treatment."

"Yeah, I know." Jiang Lili nodded. The Beijing branch had just started, and everyone needed to be united. If they chose plane tickets or sleeper tickets, it would probably cause some dissatisfaction, and it would not be good if the morale of the troops was scattered.

It was then that Zhao Dong realized that all she had was a backpack. He couldn't help but be surprised: "Lili, is this all you have?"

"I brought something last time." Jiang Lili explained with a smile.

After getting on the train, Jiang Lili whispered to Cheng Yuntian, "Sister Cheng, have you arranged accommodation?"

"It's arranged. You and I will live in one room. The remaining four rooms will be equipped with bunk beds, so eight people can live in one room." Cheng Yuntian had already arranged all this.

"Then you can accommodate me." There are four rooms, two men's dormitories and two women's dormitories. The ratio of men to women is just right this time.

"Well, let's live like this for now. I think the vacant land behind the factory can still be used to build a building. When the factory has sufficient funds, we can build a building and then distribute the houses according to the years of use." This was Cheng Yuntian's plan.

"The factory may not need to distribute housing in the future." Jiang Lili knew that the housing distribution system would be abolished soon and housing provident fund would be put on the agenda.

"No one can predict the future, but let's not touch that piece of vacant land for now." The piece of land was not very big, and Cheng Yuntian hadn't thought of any other use for it yet.

"Well, let's put it there for now." What the factory needs most now is funds. I just hope that the Beijing branch will have a lot of orders.

"We should receive the first payment from Manager Zhang and his team tomorrow. This money comes at the right time. If these people follow us, we will have to open the cafeteria." Yes, in the list of people going to Beijing this time, they also brought a chef and a kitchen helper.

"Indeed, the daily expenses of the cafeteria are not small." Jiang Lili nodded.

"By the way, aren't Lu Hongzhe and the others very close to us? It would be fine if they are willing to come to the factory for dinner. It would be as a thank you for connecting us with the advertising company last time." Cheng Yuntiao was really repaying a favor.

"How much does it cost?" Jiang Lili asked her.

"Just give the same price as the factory workers. We may have trouble with them again in the future, so I'm just playing the long game." Cheng Yuntian laughed after he finished speaking.

"Okay, I'm going to send something to Lu Hongzhe and ask them what they think then." Jiang Lili didn't know whether they had found an aunt they liked.

"Well, let's ask them first. It would be better if they are willing. If they are not willing, it doesn't matter. We can continue to maintain a relationship with them." Cheng Yuntian said his plan.

"Okay." Jiang Lili nodded.

It was already afternoon when they boarded the train, and through the window they could see the sky full of sunset glow.

I don’t know how long it took, the sky outside darkened, and the noise in the carriage became louder and louder. Most of the people going to Beijing this time had never traveled far before, so they were very excited, especially when the train passed through the tunnel, their ears were filled with excited sounds.

"Trains also offer different scenery." Hearing these excited voices, Cheng Yuntian felt wonderful. Ever since Cheng Dabiao became rich, she almost never chose to take a hard seat on the train when traveling. But their excited voices at this time reminded her of how she felt when she first took a train.

"Yes, trains have their own scenery." Jiang Lili lowered her eyes. It was a very strange feeling. She actually began to miss her previous life.

Jiang Lili couldn't remember what Cheng Yuntian said later. When she woke up, the sky outside was already pale, and her body was sticky with sweat. This was probably one of the reasons why she hated hard seats. When she moved, Zhao Dong beside her quickly woke up: "I'm going to wash my face and wake up."

Without waiting for her to speak, Zhao Dong walked towards the carriage. Jiang Lili yawned, and Cheng Yuntian woke up as well. She lay on the table and said lazily, "Taking the train is really more tiring than going to work."

"Yeah, I could still feel the shaking under my feet after getting off the train." Jiang Lili echoed. At this time, the other people in the carriage also woke up one after another. One night was enough to consume all their excitement. At this time, everyone looked tired.

In this way, with the shaking of the train, everyone arrived at Jingshi Station. Cheng Yuntian had already planned the way back to the factory, and everyone just filled up the bus.

"What are we going to eat later?" Jiang Lili asked in a low voice.

"I contacted Lao Cheng in advance and asked him to arrange someone to cook in the factory. Lao Cheng has always been reliable, so there should be no problem." Cheng Yuntian thought, even if Lao Cheng is not reliable, there is still Comrade Qu Meilan, she has given instructions.

"That's good. No one ate well on the train." These people usually have a good appetite, and they will probably eat more later.

The moment Jiang Lili returned to the factory and saw Cheng Dabiao and his wife, she immediately relaxed. It seemed that there was nothing for her to worry about. She took her backpack and went to Cheng Yuntian's room. She needed to take a shower first.

It was not Jiang Lili's turn to worry about settling the workers. When she had packed up everything and went to the cafeteria to eat, she could only cook noodles. Noodles were noodles. At this time, she was not picky.

"I will send the advertising script to the advertising company tomorrow. You can take a rest first. I guess they will start to be busy the day after tomorrow." Cheng Yuntian told her about the future arrangements.

"Okay, I'll go to Lu Hongzhe's place tomorrow." Jiang Lili didn't forget that there were photos in her backpack that she needed to bring to him.

"Okay, I'll just ask them if they want to come to the cafeteria. Old Cheng will be my driver tomorrow, and I plan to take Zhao Dong with me." Cheng Yuntian said.

"Sure, let him see how strong our factory is." Jiang Lili teased with a smile. Didn't Zhao Dong choose to come here on loan just to leave himself a way out? First, avoid the conflict with Director Yang. If he doesn't see a future in Beijing, he can choose to return to the First Factory. Conversely, if he sees a future for the factory, he can easily ask to stay. No matter which choice he makes, he can attack or defend.

"We all underestimated him before. He is a truly smart man." At first they all thought that he would agree because he saw the future of Jing City. Now they know that he was just going with the flow and using this opportunity to avoid a head-on confrontation with Director Yang.

"No matter what, it will save us a lot of trouble if we deal with smart people," Jiang Lili concluded.

"That's true." Cheng Yuntian nodded in agreement.

"Then let's arrange it this way. You take Brother Zhao with you. If he is capable, the position of workshop director in our Beijing city is also vacant." Jiang Lili reminded.

Cheng Yuntian chuckled and rubbed her head with a smile: "You are a clever ghost."

Jiang Lili smiled but said nothing. Zhao Dong had many years of experience in a factory and was indeed the best candidate for workshop director. Of course, the prerequisite was that he was willing to stay in Beijing.

"I just counted, there are exactly ten male workers. He and Lin Yuanqing share a room, and the other eight share a room." Cheng Yuntian added.

"This is good. If Engineer Lin has to share a room with so many people, he will definitely not be happy." Jiang Lili thought about it and felt that this arrangement was the best.

"The female workers can arrange their own accommodations." The female workers are currently all workshop workers, and they can allocate rooms evenly.

"It's pretty good." Jiang Lili remembered that the cotton mill also had dormitories, which used to accommodate ten people, so compared to that, the conditions here were not too bad.

"Go to sleep, you have to get up early tomorrow." Cheng Yuntian said and yawned.

"Uncle Cheng and the others have gone back?" Jiang Lili asked casually.

"Well, there's no place to live here." Cheng Yuntian said and fell asleep quickly.

Listening to the even and long breathing coming from the bed opposite, Jiang Lili did not feel sleepy at all. She stared at the ceiling above her head and began to think about her future return to Yuncheng.

When Jiang Lili got up the next day, Cheng Yuntian had already taken Zhao Dong to the advertising company. She leisurely went to the cafeteria to eat a steamed bun, and then returned to her room to take out the photo belonging to Lu Hongzhe.

The two places weren't far apart, but it still took Jiang Lili almost twenty minutes to get there. Beads of sweat formed on her forehead. This was her first time here. Following the address Lu Hongzhe had given her, she knocked on the door. It took a long time for the door to open from the inside. Jiang Liangbo, with his messy hair, asked in a stern tone, "Who is it?"

"Sister Lili, why are you here? Didn't you go back to Yuncheng?" Jiang Liangbo was surprised to see that the person coming was Jiang Lili.

"I arrived in Beijing yesterday. Is Brother Hongzhe there?" Jiang Lili asked.

"Yes, he is typing code up there. Come on, I'll take you upstairs." Jiang Liangbo said as he moved sideways to let her in.

"Brother Jiang, have you found a suitable aunt?" Jiang Lili asked casually.

"No." Speaking of this, Jiang Liangbo had a lot of things to complain about.

"Our factory is about to start operation and we have opened a cafeteria. Sister Cheng said that if you don't mind the trouble, you can come to the cafeteria to eat every day." Jiang Lili relayed Cheng Yuntian's words.

"Really?" Jiang Liangbo asked with some surprise.

"Of course it's true. Sister Cheng said this is to thank you for connecting us with the advertising company last time. Your meals will be charged the same price as the workers in the factory." Jiang Lili felt that it was better to state some sensitive issues in advance.

"That's great, you are such nice people." The joy in Jiang Liangbo's tone was obvious.

Lu Ziming, who was busy upstairs, heard his voice from a distance: "Old Jiang, who are you talking to?"

"Old Lu, Sister Lili has brought you something." Jiang Liangbo shouted upstairs.

"Hey, didn't she go back to Yuncheng?" Lu Ziming looked at Lu Hongzhe with some confusion.

Lu Hongzhe stared at the screen in front of him without relaxing. He just said lightly: "He has always been careless about his words. Who knows whether what he said is true or false."

"Yeah, I'll go take a look." Lu Ziming said as he stood up.

At this time, Jiang Liangbo brought Jiang Lili up and looked at the busy Lu Hongzhe. Jiang Lili put the photos in her hand on the table beside her and said, "Brother Hongzhe, my aunt asked me to bring you the photos I took last time."

"Thank you for your hard work." Lu Hongzhe put down the work in his hands, stood up and poured her some water.

"Don't bother, I'll be back soon." Jiang Lili stopped him.

"How can this be? Sister Lili, you are our distinguished guest." Jiang Liangbo said as he poured her some water and handed it to her in a fawning manner.

"Brother Jiang, just call me by my name." Otherwise, when she heard the four words "Lili sister", she would always imagine the skits she had seen before.

"Okay, thank you Lili for the good news." Jiang Liangbo said with a willing look on his face.

"What good news?" Lu Ziming was a little puzzled.

"Lili said that we can eat in their cafeteria in the future and pay the same price as the employees. Is this good news?" Jiang Liangbo thought about the future and suddenly felt hopeful.

"Will it be too much trouble for you?" Lu Hongzhe couldn't help but frown. He didn't want to trouble her too much. He should be the one taking care of her. If he did this, he would be taking advantage of her.

"Of course not. Sister Cheng said that she is playing the long game to catch a big fish. She will trouble you again in the future." Jiang Lili explained to him in a gentle voice.

Her words amused Lu Hongzhe, and the corners of his lips couldn't help but rise: "So we are the big fish?"