Jin Gan nodded. "Yes, Aunt Wang's niece at our No. 1 store works at the No. 3 State-owned Cotton Mill. I heard that at least half of the workers there were laid off."
Jiang Xiaoli stood up. "Alright, then do as I say for those four stores. Just report back to Brother Yuan once they're done."
"Okay, no problem."
Back home, Li Guizhi sighed upon hearing about the Third State-Owned Cotton Mill. "I had completely forgotten about it if you hadn't mentioned it! I was definitely involved, but we lost contact after we went to Kyoto."
Jiang Xiaoli nodded while eating, "After you see Dad tomorrow, go to the factory. If you're not on the layoff list, just quit. Don't take up someone else's position. There are so many laid-off workers now, this topic is too sensitive."
Li Guizhi agreed, "Okay, we never thought our spicy strips would be so popular. We should have gone to the factory to get the necessary permits a long time ago."
On the morning of the 3rd, the two of them ran into Xiao Jincheng when they went out with their things. When he heard that they were going to the Martyrs' Cemetery, he immediately offered to go with them.
Jiang Xiaoli arranged the offerings in front of Jiang Weimin's tombstone.
She spoke as if she were having a casual conversation, "Dad, Mom and I have come to see you. We're doing quite well in Kyoto now. Mom is going to open a private restaurant. I wonder if you have any delicious food there?"
Li Guizhi smiled as she watched her daughter and husband chat. "Weimin, we may not be able to visit you as often as before. Please don't misunderstand."
Xiao Jincheng laughed and said, "It's okay, Brother Jiang, I'll come over often, so don't find me annoying!"
The three of them talked a lot with the man on the tombstone, about their current situation, their plans for the near future, and how they missed him...
The three of them were not in a good mood after leaving the martyrs' cemetery.
Jiang Xiaoli was the first to speak, "Uncle Xiao, I forgot to ask yesterday, how's the situation at 'Jinghua' on the 2nd?"
Xiao Jincheng then opened up, "Yesterday was really good. Although the number of customers was not as high as the first day, the sales volume increased by nearly 1 million. It should be because many customers who had bought things before promoted the products and attracted a lot of new customers."
She nodded in satisfaction, "Not bad, not bad. It would be great if the turnover could stabilize at 2 million after the event ends."
Xiao Jincheng thought the same thing, "If we could make 2 million a day, then our 'Jinghua' would definitely be one of the top department stores in the country in terms of annual sales!"
"Take it one step at a time, it's all just a matter of time!" Her plan for "Jinghua" is not as simple as just a shopping mall.
"By the way, how's your construction company doing?" she asked.
Xiao Jincheng couldn't stop smiling. "We do half of the projects at 'Jinghua' ourselves. With the experience from this project, we're getting so many projects coming our way now, I can't even choose them all because we don't have enough manpower!"
Jiang Xiaoli burst out laughing upon hearing this, "Uncle Xiao, you can't be complacent. We need to broaden our horizons. This little bit of Xijing is not enough."
“You’re right.” Since he made “Jinghua” a success, Xiao Jincheng’s ambitions have grown. “So when you go to Kyoto, remember to help me find land—no, I mean, help us find land!”
Jiang, a shareholder of Jincheng Real Estate, smiled and agreed, "Don't worry, I'll go look for land for us as soon as I get back to Kyoto!"
Xiao Jincheng took Li Guizhi to the No. 3 State-owned Cotton Mill and Jiang Xiaoli to the No. 20 Middle School before leaving.
Today is only October 3rd, but the senior high school students have already started classes.
She was about to talk to the gatekeeper at the school gate and ask him to let her in when the small door next to the main gate opened.
The gatekeeper warmly invited her, "Oh, is this Jiang? Coming back to school for the National Day holiday? Come in, come in!"
Jiang Xiaoli was wondering what was going on when she walked into the school gate and saw a newly built "Wall of Honor" on the wall at the entrance.
She, Xu Xing, and some other outstanding graduates from previous years are also hanging on it.
Below their names was a long list of awards, honors, college entrance examination scores, and universities they attended.
She stared at her photo for a full minute, while the gatekeeper chuckled and said, "Jiang, this photo is great!"
She really couldn't tell whether the enthusiastic old man was being sincere or just teasing her.
She remembers taking a lot of solo photos on graduation day! What's with this hairstyle where her hair is sticking to her face with sweat?!
Look at how neat and upright Xu Xing looks next to her! The contrast is too stark!
This is absolutely damaging to her image!
She rushed upstairs and knocked on Chen's office door.
"Enter!"
The office was rather empty, except for Teacher Liu.
He was pleasantly surprised to see Jiang Xiaoli. "Oh, the top student from Peking University is back!"
Jiang Xiaoli smiled and pulled up a chair next to him, saying, "It's National Day, so I came back to visit."
Teacher Liu took out a newspaper, flipped to a page, and pointed, "Who doesn't know you're so high-profile?"
The newspaper prominently featured a photo of her attending the ribbon-cutting ceremony for the opening of "Jinghua," with the headline reading:
[The grand opening of Jinghua Commercial Plaza was marked by a joint ribbon-cutting ceremony by government leaders and corporate executives.]
This was the first time Jiang Xiaoli had seen this group photo, and she immediately had objections.
"Teacher Liu, look at me in the reporter's lens, and look at me on the honor wall at the school gate. It's so embarrassing!"
Teacher Liu thought for a moment and laughed, “That’s true. But the problem is that when you were taking graduation photos that day, the film rolls for your and Xu Xing’s individual photos were accidentally damaged by the photographer’s apprentice. There were only a few usable photos, and your teacher Chen probably didn’t have the nerve to call you back to retake them.”
"I see!" she immediately agreed. "I'll have someone send two photos over later!"
As soon as she finished speaking, the bell rang for the end of the third period in the morning. A short while later, Chen returned to the office with her textbooks.
Teacher Liu chuckled as she complained, "Teacher Chen, one of your students is complaining to me that you didn't choose nice photos for her!"
Chen chuckled and touched his forehead. "I figured you'd have to go back to school, so let's just take a few more pictures and replace that one."
Jiang Xiaoli nodded, "How about today then?"
"Haha, you're still the same old you, why are you in such a hurry?" Chen pulled her into a chat.
"How long will you stay after returning?", "How is Kyoto?", "Are you adapting to university life?", "What are your future plans?", "..."
She answered them one by one with a smile.
More than ten minutes later, Chen was fine, and Jiang Xiaoli started asking questions instead.
"Teacher Chen, I heard that you and the other teachers put a lot of pressure on the students?"
Chen frowned and denied it, "No, who told you that?"
She was a little confused. "I heard that you guys have increased the amount of homework and the requirements quite a bit this year?"
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