After hearing this, Pan Sasha was stunned for a moment, then said seriously, “He’s a good teacher.” She and Lu Nan exchanged a glance. In their line of work, they felt a deeper connection to what Professor Zhu had said. 

Before graduation, giving the students the final piece of advice, though somewhat harsh, was the truth. 

Junior A said, still confused, “Huh? Is Old Zhu saying that after we graduate, if he runs into one of his (female) students at a drinking event, he can’t guarantee he won’t have bad intentions?” 

Chi Yan slapped Junior A’s shoulder forcefully: “Can you speak properly? Is that what Old Zhu meant? How did you even twist it that far?” 

Lu Nan looked at the still somewhat naive Junior A and shook her head helplessly. 

Chi Yan, who was constantly watching Lu Nan, of course noticed her subtle expression and smacked Junior A again. 

… 

To be fair, the Christmas Eve event on the university campus was indeed well organized. 

The event was divided into several areas. 

Several large lecture halls were screening movies. 

The gym was partitioned with foam boards, turning it into a large maze. Seven people entered, with Pan Sasha, who had the thickest skin, clinging tightly to Lu Nan’s left hand. Thanks to Lu Nan’s excellent memory, they were the first to find the exit and win the apple prize. Chi Yan followed closely behind, Junior B and C was after him, and You Xiaifei and Junior A came last. 

On both sides of the tree-lined path was a flea market, where people usually sold second-hand books. Today, most of the stalls were selling glow sticks, glowing headbands, and so on, along with apples. You Xiaifei and Junior A, who were the last to exit the maze, had to wear a “punishment” of glowing Mickey Mouse ears. Junior A didn’t feel embarrassed at all; in fact, he seemed to think he looked quite good? 

After passing through the flea market, they arrived at the main event: the playground was decorated with a dreamlike starry sky—3D patterns of stars and moons, UFO shapes, neon lights flashing in all colors. Even ten years later, it would still be perfect for taking pictures. The cheerful tune of “Jingle Bells” played in the background, creating a strong Christmas atmosphere. 

Lu Nan casually said, “It would look even better if it snowed.” 

“This setup is already great! No snow, but the lights are enough. Nan Nan, help me take a picture.” Pan Sasha was so absorbed in taking photos with the lights. 

After a while, a tall, thin boy with glasses—head of the Student Union’s External Relations Department—actually came over to greet Lu Nan. “Senior Lu Nan.” He looked well-behaved. 

“Qin Han, you did a good job,” Lu Nan said with a smile. 

Qin Han pushed his glasses up: “Senior, you’re doing well too. I saw you when you drove in, but didn’t have time to say hi.” 

“Stop it, I’m just a worker. I’m not qualified to add bricks to the student union’s activities yet.” 

Qin Han said with slight regret: “I really hope your promotion and raise come soon. Otherwise, during my time here, I might not be able to get you to sponsor anything.” 

Lu Nan smiled and chatted with him for a while. 

Junior A, who was standing by, was shocked: The head of the external relations department was someone important, someone who could ignore even the president of the student union when his temper flared. But why was he acting so meek in front of Senior Lu Nan? 

After Qin Han left, You Xiaifei said to Junior A: “He’s usually so arrogant, right? Hahaha, but he wasn’t like this when he first entered. He was once your Senior Lu Nan’s subordinate, always trying to challenge her authority as the department head. Later… Senior Lu Nan managed to secure 100,000 in sponsorship funds in one go, and even drank three bottles of beer to make him submit.” 

Lu Nan said seriously: “Xiafei, if you keep talking like that, I really might dig a hole and bury myself. This is getting more exaggerated than a multi-level marketing pitch.” 

You Xiaifei made a gesture of zipping her mouth and whispered: “She’s embarrassed now.” 

Chi Yan and the others laughed. 

Then, it started to snow. 

The snow on Christmas Eve caused a stir on the playground, and people rushed out to take photos. 

Lu Nan’s phone vibrated. She picked it up and looked at the message. 

Chi Yan: “Senior, I requested a song for you.” 

Lu Nan turned slightly to glance at him: ? 

The junior put his hands in his pockets and smiled mysteriously. 

Soon, the song changed on the loudspeaker. 

The intro of a female singer’s voice played, and Lu Nan recognized it immediately as “Carousel,” a song she liked a lot during her university days. 

How did Chi Yan know that? 

With a faint sense of curiosity, she turned to look at Chi Yan. 

Chi Yan was acting proud. Although he saw her glance, he still had both hands in his pockets, looking up at the snow. 

Lu Nan tapped the screen a few times, sending a reply. 

Chi Yan felt his phone vibrate in his pocket. Holding back his urge to check immediately, he took it out and glanced at it as if unintentionally. 

… 

Today Pan Sasha had heard endless stories about Lu Nan’s glorious college days. 

As they left the school, she couldn’t help asking, “Nan Nan, you used to be the External Relations head, and that girl… Dong Hui from our school said she was Student Union president. So, was she your boss?” 

You Xiafei said, “Dong Hui? We didn’t have a Student Union president named Dong Hui in any of the last three years.” 

Lu Nan wasn’t supposed to know about this in this lifetime, but she had memories from her previous life, so she told Pan Sasha: “Dong Hui wasn’t from our department. Her major… is only offered at the branch school.” 

Pan Sasha finally understood: “Haha, I get it now. You must have been a thorn in her side from the start. She must be afraid of you exposing her fake high-achiever image.” 

Lu Nan smiled: “Let’s not talk about her.” She was losing interest. 

Sasha quickly added: “Actually, I have no position to mock her. After all, I couldn’t even meet the score requirement for your branch school, and ended up going to a vocational college. If it weren’t for Old Pan’s influence, I might not have been able to land a permanent position in Yuan Chuan.” 

“What’s wrong with that? Heroes don’t ask about origins. I’ve never agreed with the theory that only academic success matters.” Lu Nan said seriously, “I think that in school, besides learning knowledge, what’s more important is learning how to learn, developing good study habits, which will benefit you greatly once you enter the workforce.” 

Sasha wrinkled her nose: “Nan Nan, what you just said sounds like something the class teacher would say. It’s giving me the chills.” 

After Lu Nan’s car drove off, Junior A patted Chi Yan’s shoulder and said: “Old Chi, what are you up to today? The timing was perfect! Even the heavens were helping you—look, it’s snowing! If you had just quietly sent a message in the group, I’d have gone and arranged flowers and candles for you right away.” 

Chi Yan shook his head: “Why make a scene in front of so many people? It’s not a circus where you want to be watched.” 

“Isn’t that how they do it in TV shows? The male lead pulls off a move like that, and the female lead gets all emotional.” Junior A scratched his head. 

Chi Yan was speechless: “Emotional? Is she the female lead or a wolf?” 

The quieter Junior B said something sensible: “Old A, stop giving random advice. What if Old Chi gets rejected?” 

Junior A was surprised: “How is that possible? Our Old Chi! He has looks, a great body, and he’s talented. How could a girl not notice him?” 

Junior B retorted: “You said it yourself, ‘girl.’ She’s not a ‘girl.’ She’s an older sister. She’s three years older than us. Maybe when she was in elementary school, Old Chi was still in kindergarten wearing split pants. Maybe that’s something she can’t get past, and she just can’t accept Old Chi.” 

Chi Yan frowned: “Shut up, you were the one wearing split pants.” 

Glasses-wearing Junior C pushed up his glasses: “Old Chi, maybe you should just let it go. I don’t think Senior Lu Nan seems interested in you. Plus, she’s already working now, and there are so many temptations in society… Plenty of good young men around.” He said the last part quietly, but both of the other two nodded because it was the hard truth. 

“What are you guys thinking?” Chi Yan looked at his three roommates, who were giving him sympathetic looks. “Yes, I do have some feelings for Senior Lu Nan, but she’s not interested in me. I won’t cling to her, okay?” 

He said this calmly, but his hand in his pocket squeezed his phone tightly. 

“For adults, a carousel isn’t romantic—it’s cruel. 
Thanks for requesting that song for me. 
I’ll be transferring out of town after the New Year due to work changes. 
I probably won’t have the chance to skateboard with you again. 
Take care. 
—Lu Nan” 

… 

As he had said, Manager Wang started aggressively pushing for payments after Christmas. 

He put pressure on the sales team, who in turn used all their tactics with the distributors. 

December 30th, Friday. 

In the morning, Lu Nan got a call from Sister Pei about the payment issue. 

On the phone, Lu Nan said, “Are you and Mr. Yang free tomorrow or the day after? I’d like to invite you both for a meal.” 

Sister Pei thought it was unnecessary for Manager Lu to be so polite, but Lu Nan insisted and mentioned that it had been a while since she had seen Yang Pei. 

In the end, they agreed to meet at a bank at 2 p.m. that afternoon, and have lunch together the next day, with Lu Nan treating. 

After hanging up, Lu Nan smiled: It’s settled. 

At 2 p.m. that afternoon, Mr. Yang and Sister Pei issued a draft for the amount of one million yuan, which was solemnly handed over to Lu Nan. Lu Nan thanked Mr. Yang and his wife repeatedly. 

Mr. Yang smiled and said, “Manager Lu, you’re too polite. You can go back to work now.” 

Lu Nan nodded, “I’ll head back to the city office first. See you tomorrow.” 

Back at the city office, there was a buzzing sound from all directions. 

Recently busy with chasing payments, Manager Wang had been stationed to direct operations. Many channel business representatives often had to come to the city office, so it was much livelier than usual. 

After returning, Lu Nan greeted everyone, then went to knock on Chen Xiao’s office door, followed by Wang Xinglong’s office. After both leaders came out, Lu Nan shared the good news that she had received one million in payment. 

Chen Xiao, who had already anticipated this, remained calm. 

Manager Wang was so pleased that he clapped his hands. “Lu Nan, well done.” If he wasn’t worried about giving the wrong impression, he would have hugged her to express his excitement. 

At this point, Manager Wang had figured it out: if Lu Nan wanted to compete for the city manager position, she could go ahead. After all, due to her mother-daughter relationship, she would avoid suspicion and would never push him out of his position. Wherever she went, others would see her as someone coming from the Hailin city office. The more capable she was, the more it reflected well on him as her senior leader. In any case, in Yuan Chuan, the gender ratio of city managers was over nine to one, with fewer than five women in the provincial general manager level, and at the district level—there wasn’t a single female. She was no threat to him.  

With the unexpected one million, Manager Wang could finally relax: the annual administrative goal for payment recovery had been met, and any additional funds collected were pure profit. 

Because Lu Nan had made a significant contribution to recovering payments, Manager Wang generously said, “I heard from Ms. Huang that you’re planning to go back to your hometown for the New Year? It’s cold, and the journey will be tough, so I’ll give you an extra day off starting today. Rest up and prepare for the competition after the New Year.” 

Lu Nan looked up at Chen Xiao: After all, he’s my superior too. 

Chen Xiao also said, “Then you should thank Manager Wang.” 

Grateful for the extra day off, Lu Nan didn’t bother asking, Will I still count as present tomorrow? Instead, she wished Wang Xinglong and Chen Xiao a Happy New Year and left with her bag. 

Once outside the city office, Lu Nan sent a message to Ms. Huang: Our city manager gave me an extra day off, but I have lunch with a distributor tomorrow, so I’ll likely only be back in the afternoon. 

Ms. Huang had already received the final payment for Xu Chengzhi’s first batch of liquor, and the deposit for the second batch was already transferred along with the last payment. 

The second batch of Harmony Liquor, worth about 40,000 USD, had been shipped, and Ms. Huang had nothing urgent on her hands. She quickly replied: “Then you can leave in the afternoon tomorrow.” 

Okay, I’ll pick you up at 10 a.m. tomorrow. 

Pick me up for what? 

I’m inviting Mr. Yang and his family to dinner. I’ve already mentioned it to them, and since you’re in Hailin, it’d be great if you could join us. We’ll be working together more in the future. 

Since her daughter had already mentioned it, Ms. Huang, who cared about her reputation, naturally couldn’t admit she was a little nervous… 

The next morning, Lu Nan went to pick up her mother. 

Lu Nan found a private kitchen-style restaurant and used Pan Sasha’s connection to jump the line and secure a reservation for lunch. 

After Mr. Yang’s family arrived as agreed, Sister Pei praised Lu Nan, “Xiao Lu really knows how to pick places. This restaurant is famous here in Hailin, and the food is authentic.” 

After entering the private room, Lu Nan smiled and introduced the two sides. 

Mr. Yang and Sister Pei exchanged a glance. They were high-quality distributors from Yuan Chuan’s Hailin city office and had signed a full-channel agreement, so they had heard from other salespeople about how Lu Nan helped the office secure a distributor for Harmony liquor. 

However, since it was a different product line with a small scale, they didn’t pay it much attention. 

Now, hearing Lu Nan introduce her mother’s identity, Mr. Yang laughed, “It seems Manager Lu really believes in your company’s products, to even get her own family involved as a distributor.” 

“Yuan Chuan’s liquor is naturally good,” Lu Nan said apologetically, “But there’s something I need to discuss with Mr. Yang and Sister Pei.” 

She briefly explained her plans and the high likelihood of being transferred next year. 

Mr. Yang quickly replied after listening, “So, Manager Lu is going to be promoted? That’s great news, there’s nothing to apologize for.” 

The meal was pleasant for both guests and hosts. Since Lu Nan had to drive home in the afternoon, everyone refrained from drinking. 

When it was time to part, Yang Pei regretfully said, “So, will Sister Lu still be able to play four-handed piano with me?” 

“Of course, my mom is in Hailin, so I’ll be back at least once a month,” Lu Nan half-squatted to give Yang Pei a high-five.