After spending over half an hour in Wang Xinglong’s office, Lu Nan walked out to find the entire city office quiet and nearly empty. 

That was normal—most of the staff were likely out on business. 

She made a quick stop at the restroom, and just as she was about to take the elevator downstairs, Chen Xiao called out to her. 

She wasn’t surprised at all. “Brother Xiao, what is it?” 

“Got time to talk for a bit?” 

Lu Nan nodded. “Back in the office?” She gestured, ready to turn around. 

Chen Xiao shook his head. “Let’s step out.” The others at the provincial office, like Xu Yao, were a little too nosy. 

“Alright.” 

Once downstairs, Lu Nan instinctively moved to put her bag in the front passenger seat, but Chen Xiao had already opened that door. 

She gave a small shrug. If her superior didn’t want to sit in the back, she could take it as a sign of respect—at least he wasn’t treating her like a driver. 

As she started the car, she asked, “Want me to find a place for drinks?” 

“The Starbucks nearby is fine.” 

Since it was a weekday during work hours, parking was easy at the nearby commercial complex. After parking, Lu Nan turned and glanced at Chen Xiao: Aren’t you getting out? 

He caught the hint in her look, smiled, and unbuckled his seatbelt. “Meant to tell you last time—your driving’s really smooth.” 

Lu Nan accepted the compliment with a calm nod. 

Once inside, Chen Xiao asked, “What would you like?” 

“Hot latte.” 

So Chen Xiao ordered two of the same. 

Lu Nan blinked in mild surprise. Oh, not an Americano? 

“I don’t always drink Americanos,” Chen Xiao said as he handed her one of the cups. “Mostly it’s just for the caffeine.” Then, casually, he added, “Earlier, Director Tong gave me a call. Said my subordinate’s impressive—but unfortunately, she not only turned down my kind recommendation, she’s also planning to leave. He said you weren’t interested in the provincial group purchasing manager role.” 

The first part was joking, but there was a hint of mock disappointment in his tone. 

Lu Nan laughed and shook her head. “To be precise, I’m more interested in the city manager position.” She wasn’t surprised Director Tong would call Chen Xiao. 

First, she’d known from the beginning—unlike everyone else—that Chen Xiao was the son of Yuan Chuan Group’s chairman. 

Second, based on everything that had happened, including the investigation into unauthorized shipments, it was clear: Chen Xiao was under Director Tong’s command. 

Chen Xiao nodded. 

He had been slightly surprised when he first heard, but after hanging up and thinking about it, it made sense. 

Lu Nan had always been clear-headed and goal oriented. 

Her ambition to become a city manager wasn’t unexpected. The role involved overseeing the full range of Yuan Chuan Wine’s operations in an entire prefecture-level city—signing contracts, handling shipments and payments, across all product lines and channels. The annual targets were in the tens of millions. The pressure was high, but so were the rewards. The weight and significance of a city manager far surpassed that of a provincial-level group purchasing manager. 

It was like comparing real and honorary posts in ancient bureaucracies. 

But Chen Xiao believed she could handle the job. 

Now that he knew Lu Nan wasn’t quitting, and in fact was aiming even higher, he felt a trace of indescribable regret—but more than that, he was genuinely happy for her and for the company, that they could keep such talent. 

He teased her: “Summoning the dragon? Just to repay the favor?” 

Lu Nan laughed heartily. “That’s why I said back then—you didn’t need to feel pressured. Repaying a favor was just my excuse. Promotion and a raise are my real goals.” 

Chen Xiao felt Lu Nan had changed somehow. 

After a bit of light conversation, he finally brought up the real reason he’d asked to talk: “You did a great job signing an overseas distributor and shifting Green Trading’s inventory.” 

It was a completely new approach. 

In fact, Chen Xiao had vaguely thought about it before, but it was still a rough idea—he hadn’t had time to research it, while Lu Nan had already started putting things into action. 

After learning from Director Tong what she had done, Chen Xiao came to admire him even more—it was the kind of unspoken connection that comes from having the same ideas, the kind of admiration you feel for someone who truly understands you. 

Lu Nan waited for what he’d say next. 

“Anyway… Director Tong will definitely want Green Trading’s inventory resolved before the end of December. If you can sign another distributor on top of that, it would be a win for both him and Manager Wang. So don’t worry—he’ll do everything he can to make it happen.” Chen Xiao couldn’t help offering a bit of encouragement. 

Lu Nan nodded. “That’s exactly why I brought it up with him today. Neither the company nor Green Trading wants this issue dragging into next year. And from a personal standpoint—this is a rare opportunity. Who knows if the next provincial general director will be willing to promote me beyond the usual rules?” 

Chen Xiao chuckled again. “Guess I was just stating the obvious.” 

“But I still appreciate it.” Lu Nan smiled. 

Seeing her now—sharper and more confident than when she first joined the company—Chen Xiao nodded with assurance. “Then keep going. Do your best.” 

Though he had once paid extra attention to Lu Nan and admired her, he was a man of principle. 

His earlier recommendation for her to become provincial group purchasing manager wasn’t personal—it was because he recognized her value. 

So now, with her aiming for the city manager role, he wouldn’t interfere. 

And by not interfering, he meant: no obstruction, no favoritism. 

He’d originally wanted to say more, but looking at Lu Nan’s ambitious and energized expression, he felt—this was already enough. 

*** 

After saying goodbye to Chen Xiao, Lu Nan had lunch, took a short nap, and then went to the gym. 

Having a car not only made getting around easier and spared her from motion sickness, but it also meant she could keep her workout bag in the trunk and hit the gym whenever she felt like it. 

After exercising and taking a shower, Lu Nan stopped by Feixiang to show her face and check on the shipment speed from the other party—it was still swift. 

She left in a good mood. 

Seeing it was almost four o’clock, she stopped by a nearby supermarket to buy some ready-to-eat food and unsweetened yogurt, then sent a message to Ms. Huang Li: 

‘Mom, I’ll pick you up from work. I’ve already bought groceries.’ 

Ms. Huang was probably busy, and replied a while later with a simple: ‘Okay.’ 

After getting in the car, Ms. Huang had originally planned to scold her daughter a bit—working so casually like that—but she remembered that she had recently squeezed in time to register for a psychological consultation at the hospital and recalled the advice from the specialist. So, she held back the kind of harsh, sharp words that always seemed to come out and awkwardly changed her tone: “Are you not busy today?” She got off work so early. 

Lu Nan tapped rhythmically on the steering wheel as they waited at a red light. 

 “Of course not. I’m just efficient—I finished everything early.” 

“Hmph, how proud.” 

 Ms. Huang couldn’t resist a soft jab in the end. 

But compared to her previous tone, this was already much more tactful. 

Lu Nan thought to herself: Looks like all those searches I did on her computer—things like ‘divorced parents, I feel anxious’ and ‘can’t sleep, no appetite, could it be depression’—actually worked. 

She had, of course, noticed that her mother secretly went to the No. 1 Hospital in Hailin City for a psychological consultation—last time she visited, the appointment slip was tucked under the book Practical Business English on the nightstand. Lu Nan just glanced at it and put it back where she found it. Since her mother wanted to keep it a secret, she decided to pretend she didn’t know. 

Lu Nan skipped over the topic and changed the subject: 

 “I had a video meeting with the regional director this morning. I think within a week, the company will give a formal response on how they’ll handle the overseas distribution rights.” 

Lu Nan was never worried about the company rejecting the proposal: she and Director Tong from the regional office both knew that the overseas market was completely undeveloped and notoriously difficult. Previously, Chinese liquor exports had also failed miserably. Now that a distributor was willing to take the initiative and bear the cost and risk of developing the market, the headquarters leadership at most would just want to play it cool and hold out for a better price. 

“Did the negotiation go well?” Ms. Huang asked. 

“Very smooth,” Lu Nan emphasized. “I told them your purchase price from Green Trading was 90% of the factory price. I didn’t mention the additional 2-point discount afterward—left a little room for negotiation. Otherwise, Yuan Chuan would definitely try to push for below 85%. This way, you can still do a favor for Manager Ni.” 

Ms. Huang had visited Green Trading a few times and knew Manager Ni, who was in charge of liquor, was desperate to clear inventory before the New Year. He had even hinted that if they took it all at once, the price could be negotiated again. 

However, both Ms. Huang and Lu Nan thought that buying it all at once would create too much financial pressure. That’s why they brought Yuan Chuan in. 

Yuan Chuan would buy out Green Trading’s remaining stock and then re-distribute it to Weigou in batches at the factory price. 

It was a win-win-win situation: 

For Green Trading, they could offload all their inventory and recover funds quickly. 

For Yuan Chuan, they didn’t need to worry about Green Trading undercutting prices and disrupting the market and could also sign a new distributor and move more goods. 

For Weigou, though they gave up the 12-point discount Green Trading offered below factory price, they could negotiate at least a 15-point (Lu Nan was confident she could get 20) rebate with Yuan Chuan. Even if the rebate came in the form of finished products, the overall deal would still be worth it. Plus, there was another benefit—flexibility. Green Trading’s stock of 12-year Harmony was low. Once they signed a deal with Yuan Chuan, Weigou could ask the factory to swap in some of the 12-year. Lu Nan figured headquarters would welcome the request—among the three Harmony lines, the 12-year, though priced highest, sold the worst domestically. 

But that required one thing: 

Weigou, as a third party, needed to step in to smooth things over between Yuan Chuan and Green Trading. 

Lu Nan told her mother: 

 “That’s not hard. You’ve got this, Mom.” 

… 

Chen Xiao’s warning turned out to be accurate, which also confirmed Lu Nan’s judgment—Director Tong was very eager to push through the overseas distribution deal. 

The point of the deal wasn’t the amount of money—it was the symbolic weight of the word “overseas.” 

Still, the deal had to be larger than Green Trading’s inventory—barely over one million yuan would sound far too small. 

Director Tong had been candid with Sales Company Head Xia: 

 “We can’t grant all of the U.S. rights—they’re probably just asking high to start negotiations. We can counter with something more reasonable, like two or three states in the Midwest. That area’s sparsely populated. If we give them rights to just one state, they likely couldn’t handle that much product anyway. And honestly, even if we only grant one state, what’s to stop them from selling outside it? We’re not sending inspectors overseas to chase gray-market sales.” 

Sales Company Head Mr. Xia was Director Tong’s former superior, so Director Tong could speak openly like this. 

After thinking it over, Mr. Xia shared that other company leaders were also intrigued by the idea. It looked like the deal might go through. 

Director Tong took the chance to pitch Lu Nan as well: 

 “One of our reps in Hailin City should get credit for this. She brought in that trade company.” 

“Hailin? Wasn’t Xiyao assigned there this year as the brand rep for Classic Liquor?” Mr. Xia asked curiously. 

“Yes. Coincidentally, this rep works under Chen Xiao and her name is Lu Nan.” 

“Oh?” Mr. Xia raised an eyebrow. “Chens are really stubborn—after the divorce, Xiyao’s mother took him overseas and even changed his full name. He’s been living apart from the chairman for years, and now he comes back claiming he wants to work his way up from the bottom. Isn’t that just a way of rebelling?” 

Director Tong defended Chen Xiao: 

“He entered through campus recruitment. Starting from the ground up is good. He won’t be clueless when he returns to HQ. And you know the chairman’s current companion has been eyeing the liquor sales company for a while now. If Chen Xiao proves himself, he can shut those people up.” 

“True. Good that he’s back. And I heard Chen Xiao’s done pretty well in Hailin—he even exposed that parasite Xiang Yunfeng.” Mr. Xia nodded. “So this Lu Nan’s been working under him for half a year? Seems pretty capable, huh?” 

“She’s really good,” Director Tong said directly. He mentioned Lu Nan’s connection to Weigou’s owner and her intent to apply for the City Manager role. 

“You rarely speak this confidently, Old Tong. Sounds like a real talent. All right—handle it as you see fit. I’ll pull some strings with HQ to help with the Weigou deal.” 

“Thank you, GM Xia!” 

… 

Three days later, Director Tong called Lu Nan. 

Headquarters didn’t intend to squeeze the first overseas distributor too hard and gave fairly reasonable terms: 

First, the contract amount from Weigou Trade must meet the standard for a mid-sized distributor of Yuan Chuan. 

Second, they would only get the distribution rights for two states in the Midwest. 

After hearing this, Lu Nan said she would pass it on to her mother and discuss it with her. 

Hearing this, Director Tong—who had already guessed who was really leading the discussion—laughed over the phone: 

“Xiao Lu, don’t forget to keep public interest ahead of personal interest.” 

It was a joke, but also a gentle reminder. 

After the call, Lu Nan breathed a sigh of relief and texted her mother: 

“Mom, I’ll pick you up tonight and go to Teacher Zhang’s place. We’ll have a video meeting with Brother Xu.” 

Ms. Huang quickly replied: 

“No need to pick me up—I’ll take a taxi.” 

That worked. 

Lu Nan smirked—at least she could avoid the evening rush. 

Even for a seasoned driver, rush hour in the city is the worst. 

Distributor Levels (Annual Contract Value): 

• Small: ¥500K–2.99M 

• Mid-size: ¥3M–5.99M 

• Large: ¥6M–9.99M 

• Key Distributor: ¥10M+ 

Yuan Chuan’s Organizational Structure: 

Vertical Levels: 

HQ → Regional → Provincial → City 

Horizontal Divisions: 

Five Brand Departments (Classic Liquor is the strongest, outselling all others combined) 

The structure is as follows: 

A. Sales Company General Director, Mr. Xia (also the head of the Classic Liquor brand department) 

B. Sales Company Deputy General Director (4 people, heads of the other four brand departments), located at the headquarters; theoretically, the seven regional general directors at the same level, located in the regions (incl. Director Tong) 

C. Provincial General Director (the level of Xiang Yunfeng) 

D. City Manager (Wang Xinglong), City Brand Specialist (Chen Xiao, only Classic Liquor has brand specialists stationed, the other liquors do not, and not all cities at the county level have brand specialists assigned; smaller cities do not have them) 

Provincial Group Purchase Manager (Li Li, Zhou Tian) 

E. Channel (five major channels: Group purchases [special], dining, famous tobacco and liquor, supermarkets, and distribution) Business Supervisor (Group Purchase Manager supervisory level) 

F. Sales Representatives (Group Purchase Manager level) 

G. Promoters, Assistant Salespersons, Major Account Managers (Employed and paid by distributors, Source River reimburses the cost, which is their basic salary to be paid to the distributors) 

Additionally, there is one HR person, one accountant, one cashier, and one office clerk at the provincial level. 

The city office is staffed with one office clerk. 

For City Managers, there is one for each county-level city! 

For Provincial General Managers, there is only one provincial office, which means one provincial general manager per province. 

There are many county-level cities in each province.