Chapter 40: Childhood Friend

Li Ling bit her lip, hesitated for a long time, and shook her head, “I don’t want to continue going to school.”

 Of course, she wanted to continue going to school, get into a good university, find a job, and leave here with her mother and siblings.

 But her family’s situation didn’t allow her to continue studying. She had to make a choice.

“Is this your true feeling?” Ling Yao looked into Li Ling’s eyes.

Li Ling looked away, not daring to meet Ling Yao’s gaze, “Yes.” There was an undeniable bitterness in her tone.

“Li Ling, what if there was an opportunity for you to work and continue studying at the same time?”

Li Ling’s eyes lit up, then dimmed again, “No need. Thank you!” She already owed Ling Yao too much. She didn’t want to trouble her anymore.

Ling Yao didn’t persuade her anymore. She took out the fifty yuan from her pocket and handed it to Li Ling, “Take this money.”

“No, I can’t take it.” Li Ling waved her hand in refusal. How could she take Ling Yao’s money?

“This is a loan. You can pay me back when you have money later.” Ling Yao took Li Ling’s hand and put the money in her hand.

 Then, she walked outside with Zhao Kun.

Li Ling looked at the money in her hand, her eyes gradually turning red. She wiped her eyes forcefully, and a determined look appeared in her eyes,

 “Ling Yao, thank you! I will pay you back.” With this money, she could take her mother to the hospital.

Zhang Shaoping and the middle-aged woman saw Ling Yao and Zhao Kun leave. They didn’t give up and chased after them.

Zhao Kun walked to the car and opened the door for Ling Yao.

“Mr. Zhao, wait!” Zhang Shaoping and the middle-aged woman ran up to Zhao Kun, panting, “Mr. Zhao… can you give us another chance…”

Zhao Kun didn’t even give them a glance. He opened the car door, got in, and started the car.

“Ling Yao, I’m sorry! I didn’t investigate their character properly.” Zhao Kun said self-blamingly.

The reason he chose Zhang Shaoping’s factory was because their packaging boxes were the best quality out of all the factories.

 That’s why he had invited Zhang Shaoping to meet at the state-owned restaurant today. He didn’t expect Zhang Shaoping to be that kind of person.

Ling Yao shook her head, “This has nothing to do with you.”

Zhao Kun thought for a moment, “Ling Yao, do you have time now?”

“Mm.” Ling Yao nodded.

“Then come with me to the factory.”

“Okay.”

When they arrived at the factory, Zhao Kun took out all the packaging box samples he had received before, as well as the information of these packaging box factories, and put them all in front of Ling Yao,

“The packaging factory we cooperated with before had their money embezzled by their accountant.

We have to choose another packaging factory to cooperate with.

 Here’s information on several packaging factories, as well as samples of their packaging boxes. Take a look.”

Zhao Kun put Zhang Shaoping’s factory’s packaging boxes aside.

Ling Yao flipped through the information and finally handed one of them to Zhao Kun, “Choose this factory.”

Zhao Kun took the information and looked at it. He was surprised, “This packaging factory is the smallest one among all the packaging factories.

 And it was just established half a year ago.

Isn’t there a risk?” He had directly eliminated this packaging factory when he looked at the information before.

“Choose this one.” Ling Yao decided.

The packaging factory she chose was indeed small now, but in the near future, it would become the largest packaging factory in the country.

The reason for its rapid growth was its owner, Jiang Jianfei. Jiang Jianfei was no ordinary person. He graduated from Beijing University’s Department of Fine Arts.

He was capable and had connections. This packaging factory was just a small attempt for him.

Of course, she wanted to meet someone like that.

“Okay, I’ll call them now.”

Ling Yao nodded, “Make an appointment with the factory manager. I want to meet him.”

Zhao Kun responded and dialed the number on the information. When the call was connected, a deep, pleasant voice came from the other end, “Who is this?”

“Hello! This is Zhao Kun from Longteng Pharmaceutical. I’ve seen your factory’s information and think it’s a good fit. I want to talk to you about cooperation.”

“Really? Why would Mr. Zhao choose our factory? As far as I know, our factory is the smallest one among all the packaging factories.”

The other person’s laughter came from the phone, with a hint of nonchalance.

“This is our chairman’s decision. She thinks your factory has great potential.”

“Alright, let’s set a time to meet and talk.”

Zhao Kun frowned slightly and turned to ask Ling Yao.

Ling Yao picked up a pen and wrote down a time on a piece of paper.

“How about next Sunday?”

“Okay, see you next Sunday.”

Zhao Kun hung up the phone and looked at Ling Yao, “It’s settled. But judging from the other person’s tone, he doesn’t seem to care much about this cooperation.”

He could tell that there was no surprise or excitement in the other person’s voice. It seemed like this was just a casual cooperation for him.

Ling Yao smiled faintly, with a hint of mystery, “You’ll know when you meet him.”

She was looking forward to meeting Jiang Jianfei. She wanted to see what kind of person this legendary business prodigy was.

Jiang Jianfei had just hung up the phone when the phone on his desk rang again.

He raised an eyebrow, stubbed out his cigarette, and lazily picked up the phone, “Who is this?”

“It’s me.” A deep, cold voice came from the other end.

Jiang Jianfei heard the voice and immediately sat up straight, “Brother Lu, why did you call me?”

He had grown up in the same courtyard as Lu Qingyun. He had always liked to follow Lu Qingyun around.

But when he was fifteen years old, his family suffered a sudden change. They were forced to leave Beijing and come to Yuncheng.

 It wasn’t until five years ago that they returned to Beijing. After inquiring around, he found out that Lu Qingyun had secretly helped his family.

He had always kept this kindness in his heart. When he had the ability, he would repay Brother Lu.

“I want you to take care of someone for me. She’s in Yuncheng now.” Lu Qingyun returned to the army after a mission and had just returned today.

 Thinking of Ling Yao, he thought of calling Jiang Jianfei. He had also called his cousin and asked him to take care of Ling Yao.

 He didn’t know why, but he kept thinking about Ling Yao from time to time.

“Who is she? Tell me. I promise to take good care of her.” Jiang Jianfei was curious. The person who made Brother Lu care must be extraordinary.

“Her name is Ling Yao. She’s currently attending Yuncheng No. 1 High School.”

Jiang Jianfei was so surprised that his jaw dropped. Did he hear correctly? Brother Lu asked him to take care of a girl.

“Can you hear me?”

“I can hear you, I can hear you. Brother Lu, tell me.” Jiang Jianfei was dying of curiosity.

He wanted to meet this Ling Yao as soon as possible and see what kind of charm she had that made Brother Lu care so much about her.

But he could be sure of one thing: Ling Yao must be a beautiful woman.

Ling Yao was doing her homework during break when a classmate ran over.

“Ling Yao, the principal wants you to go to his office.”

“Okay.” Ling Yao nodded, stood up, and walked towards the principal’s office.

In the office, Jiang Jianfei was chatting with the principal.

He had just gone to No. 1 High School to inquire and found out that Ling Yao had transferred to No. 2 High School.