The girls knew the key to giving a sweet date after a slap, and in the next few days, they showed their magical powers, taking turns to use various martial arts on Mr. Zhao, such as the Bone-Dissolving Palm, the Star-Absorbing Technique, the Finger-Wrapping Soft Sword, the Jade Flute Sword Technique, and the Desolate Palm. They fully demonstrated their self-taught skills of receiving, dissolving, and sending. After a few rounds, Mr. Zhao was coaxed around and felt that he was the happiest person in the world.

So, during the rest of the New Year holiday, Master Zhao, who was being refined without knowing it, stayed obediently in the warm Liuyun Mountain Residence and did not go out.

Although it is called a vacation, for Zhao Hao, who is busy with mundane affairs, it is just a change of working place.

During the day, he would sit on the soft sofa or walk barefoot on the thick carpet on the viewing terrace with large floor-to-ceiling windows, racking his brains to think of teaching materials for his classes in the spring.

Xiao Zhuzi sat on the carpet, leaning over the coffee table to listen to his dictation, and helped Secretary Ma to take notes, because Ma Xianglan was busy writing the preparation plan for the secretariat.

As Mr. Zhao's business grew bigger and bigger, the number of people and things he had to deal with became increasingly complex, and it was obvious that Sister Ma, a secretary alone, could not handle it.

She had long suggested that Mr. Zhao find a few more secretaries to share the work, but Mr. Zhao only wanted to find a young and beautiful female secretary... He even said, "I'll be jealous if I find a man to work for you." Although Sister Ma knew that this was not the case, she was determined not to fulfill his wish.

What a joke, how did Sister Ma get to the top? How could the little foxy girl follow suit? You know, in other professions, the older you are, the more popular you are, but in the secretary profession, the younger you are, the more popular you are.

The young county lady and CEO Jiang couldn't agree to this either. A secretary is not a mistress, so they had to put down the fence. In a way, this incident also became one of the triggers for the establishment of Lianli Company. There is only a thief who can steal for a thousand days, but there is no such thing as a thief who can guard against thieves for a thousand days.

When Lianli Company was established and approved by Mr. Zhao, the establishment of a private secretariat for him could be put on the agenda.

Mr. Zhao's obsession with the female secretary really plummeted. Anyway, no matter how beautiful the female secretary was, she would never have a relationship with him, so why bother to be obsessed with men and women? Alas, the feeling of being able to see but not touch is even more uncomfortable, so whoever loves can do it.

Sister Ma can finally stop worrying about all those trivial things and focus on how to set up a powerful secretariat to better serve the young master's career.

After consulting Jiang Xueying, she planned to set up five departments under the secretariat.

The External Liaison Office is responsible for arranging and preparing the daily schedule of the young master; coordinating the connection between various groups and companies and the young master, as well as the reception of visitors, and transmitting information up and down.

The second room is the secretarial office, which is responsible for recording all the meetings, conversations, and decisions of the young master; responsible for drafting all the speeches, documents, and letters of the young master; responsible for receiving all kinds of public and private documents, and making a daily summary of internal and external affairs.

The third department, the General Research Office, specializes in collecting various social and economic data on Daming, Jiangnan, and the industries under the name of Mr. Zhao. In accordance with Mr. Zhao's instructions, it conducts special research and statistical analysis to support Mr. Zhao's decision-making and provide early warning.

The fourth room is the News Room, which is responsible for reviewing various newspapers and periodicals inside and outside the group, and writing important press releases.

The Fifth Room is the Confidential Room, which is responsible for the storage, delivery, recovery, filing of all confidential documents, and the compilation of yearbooks for review.

The Secretariat is affiliated with Singularity Investment and is on the same level as the Security Department, but it is not located on Xishan Island. Instead, it follows the footsteps of Mr. Zhao and is currently located in Jiangnan Building.

Looking at the well-organized secretariat structure, Sister Ma was both happy and worried. She was happy that her various duties were now supported by a special department, and she no longer had to do everything herself. Moreover, the organization was power, so her position was more stable.

But where can she find so many suitable people to fill the secretariat? She was in trouble again and asked Jiang Xueying for help. Miss Jiang agreed to transfer ten interns to her for emergency. At the same time, she solemnly reminded her that this was the private secretariat of the young master, and the confidentiality level should be the highest. It would be best not to transfer them from Jiangnan Group. It would be better to train them herself, who would be more reliable.

Jiang Xueying suggested two ideas to her: one is to recruit fresh graduates from various schools; the other is to recruit some young people who can write and calculate and train them from scratch. Even if this method is slower and requires more effort, the people trained are pure and reliable, which is more important than anything else.

With Sister Ma's intelligence, she could naturally understand the meaning of the words "simple" and "reliable". This was perhaps a subtle criticism from President Jiang. Ma Xianglan couldn't help sweating in her palms, feeling that she had underestimated this young and overly female president.

~~

As for President Jiang, he was dizzy with three large boxes of documents.

Influenced by them, Li Mingyue also began to work on her business plan. During the day, she took Qiaoqiao or Ma Xianglan down the mountain to wander around, and came back to Jiang Xueying for advice at night. After seven days of hard work, the young county lady sat down next to Zhao Hao and showed him her freshly prepared plan.

"Department Store World? That's good." Zhao Hao was just looking for fun, but after reading the plan, his eyes lit up. He smiled and asked the little county lady, "How did you come up with this idea?"

"Didn't I say before the New Year that I want to learn how to do business?" The young county lady offered her treasures and said, "But what should I do to practice? I have been thinking about it for a long time but have no idea. Xueying reminded me to go out and look for inspiration in Xiaocangshan. I wandered around for a few days but didn't see any business that caught my eye. It's not appropriate to copy Xiaocangshan..."

"Of course it's not appropriate." Xiao Zhuzi, who was resting on the coffee table, suddenly looked up and said, then realized he had said something wrong and quickly lowered his head to continue copying the courseware.

Zhao Hao smiled awkwardly, thinking that there was nothing that Xiao Zhuzi didn't understand. Xiaocangshan used the catering and entertainment industry to attract the popularity needed by shops, and gradually formed a commercial center model. If a dignified little county lady also opened a brothel, what would it look like if it got out?

"I wandered around like a aimless fly until my legs were sore. When I sat down to rest, Qiaoqiao suddenly said, it would be great if there were a store that sold everything. Visiting one store would be like visiting a hundred stores. That would be so much easier. I suddenly got an idea!"

"I was just talking nonsense." Qiaoqiao brought a plate of cut and arranged fruits and said with a red face, "I just wanted to be lazy."

"This lazy thief is good. Otherwise, how can we say that the world is driven by lazy people?" Zhao Hao laughed and said, "I think this department store world is good. As long as it is managed properly, the business will be booming!"

"That's great!" After hearing Zhao Hao's affirmation, the nervous little county lady cheered excitedly, picked up the little bamboo, and jumped up happily.

The long legs trembled, and Mr. Zhao's eyes almost popped out. He quickly turned to Jiang Xueying and said, "The department store is a good idea. It is especially suitable for leading consumption trends and promoting new products. The group will strongly support it in the future."

"As you wish." Jiang Xueying nodded with a smile and asked the young county lady, "Where is Mingyue going to open this department store?"

"Let's open one in Suzhou first." Li Mingyue said excitedly, "I'll choose a place outside Changmen later, and we can be neighbors."

"Haha, that's great..." Jiang Xueying nodded with a smile, and suddenly felt like she was shooting herself in the foot.

I thought she would come back to Beijing to open a business, but now, oh no.

~~

After Zhao Hao and the girls finished their work during the day, they would gather in the huge bedroom of his house at night and play various games.

The bed is really big, not to mention six people, eight people are more than enough. Sometimes when I am tired from playing, I just lie down on it and fall asleep. Sleeping together on the same quilt, I spend a perfect day...

As the saying goes, one does not know how long time passes in the mountains. In the blink of an eye, the first month of the lunar year has passed. Jiang Xueying could not wait and returned to Suzhou early. Li Mingyue also set off with her to select a location for the Department Store World.

Without these two people who were fighting openly and secretly, Liuyunshan Residence suddenly became a lot quieter. Ma Xianglan and Xiao Zhuzi got along very well, and Qiaoqiao got along well with everyone, so Master Zhao finally had a few days of peace and comfort.

Unfortunately, not long after, on the seventh day of the second lunar month, news came from the mountain that Duke Wei had passed away.

Although it was a bit unkind, Master Zhao still breathed a sigh of relief. He had a lot of things to do in Suzhou, and he stayed in Jinling just to wait for his old master to pass away.

Otherwise, you have to come back again just after going back, which is too much trouble.

On the tenth day of the second lunar month, Master Zhao changed into mourning clothes and took a horse-drawn carriage without any decorations to go to the Duke of Wei's mansion to pay his respects... The so-called mourning clothes means changing the round collar of the official robe into a white robe, and the black gauze hat, leather belt, and black boots are the same as ordinary clothes and do not need to be changed.

Along the way, we saw that the city of Jinling was covered in mourning. Although Xu Pengju had brought shame to his ancestors during his lifetime and his reputation as a fool even spread to Korea and Ryukyu, he had been the garrison commander of Nanjing for fifty-three years after all. Several generations of Jinling people grew up under his rule. When they heard of his death, they inevitably felt empty and spontaneously wore mourning for him, as if they were bidding farewell to an era.

When Zhao Hao arrived, he saw mourning banners, couplets, and wreaths flying everywhere. Amid the low mourning music, there were cries inside and outside the Duke of Wei's mansion, and the atmosphere was very solemn.

He sighed lightly, adjusted his mood, got off the car and walked to the front of Xu's house, presenting a mourning banner, a gift money and a plain business card. The housekeeper of Xu's house, who was welcoming guests at the door, saw that it was a distinguished guest who came to pay his respects, and quickly struck the funeral drum at the gate.

After two drum beats, Xu Weizi, dressed in mourning, came out. When he saw his master, he fell to his knees and burst into tears, unable to control his grief.

Young Master Zhao quickly helped him up and shed a few tears before he was led by him to the mourning shed in the front yard of the mansion, which was as magnificent as a palace.

In front of the coffin of Duke Wei there was a pipa made of ham, a statue of Jiang Taigong made with a cooked pig's head as the head, and cooked pig's lungs and liver as the body; white fish decorated with colorful ribbons, a white elephant made of cooked pig's stomach, and a phoenix made of a boiled chicken, which made people shed tears and drool.

As the monks chanted, Master Zhao kowtowed to the spirit tablet, and Xu Bangrui and his stepmother Zheng returned the greeting.

After hearing the emcee announce Zhao Hao's identity, Zheng looked up at Zhao Hao, hesitating as if wanting to say something, but in the end, she said nothing.

Now that her greatest supporter is gone, she dares not let her son come back.

Why did you come back? To give Xu Bangrui a chance to take revenge?