Lu Nan said she would be gone for an hour, and when she returned, it had taken exactly one hour and three minutes. 

Thanks to Hua’an City being small and the time still being early, she had avoided the evening rush hour. 

When she returned, she sensed the atmosphere between the two Lius in the private room was a bit strange, but she didn’t mind. Whether they were aligning their stories or scheming something, it didn’t matter to her. 

Even Chen Xiao had once said, “Water that is too clear has no fish.” She couldn’t possibly have just arrived in Hua’an and already reported the former city manager—if she did that, her career in Yuan Chuan would basically be over. 

“Is it about time to head over?” Lu Nan asked. 

Manager Liu stood up. “Let’s go.” 

As before, Old Liu led the way, taking Lu Nan to meet Mr. Zhang. 

Just like most people’s reaction upon learning Lu Nan was the city manager of Hua’an, Zhang Li was quite surprised. 

He was young and not particularly guarded, so he didn’t manage to hide his reaction well. 

Overly young female leaders often face unkind speculation. Either people assume they have connections or believe they’re highly manipulative. Even when someone actually has the capability, it takes a long time for others to reluctantly acknowledge it—and even then, often with a “but” attached. 

Lu Nan pretended not to notice and politely shook his hand. 

After some small talk in Zhang Li’s office, the group headed out for dinner. Compared to the lunch earlier, this meal went smoothly without any hiccups. 

Lu Nan didn’t bring up the issue of Sifang Construction’s budget overrun. Old Liu also stopped trying to influence her judgment. Liu Yang remained as quiet as ever, and Zhang Li… well, he was likely still trying to figure out Lu Nan’s background, so he was quite courteous in both conversation and toasts. It made Old Liu’s earlier comments about Zhang Li being “unruly” seem like an exaggeration. 

The only thing of note was the way Zhang Li looked at Liu Yang—his gaze lingered. 

Lu Nan thought: this isn’t surprising. If Sifang Construction’s beverage procurement lead didn’t have close or solid ties with certain people in the Hua’an city office, Old Liu wouldn’t have been able to inflate the budget so easily. Besides, Liu Yang’s outfit today was clearly a level up from when they were in Hailin City. Since her salary and subsidies hadn’t increased significantly, she must have another source of income. 

The four of them didn’t drink much that night—just one bottle of 15-year-old Classic liquor. 

As they were about to part ways, Zhang Li offered to have his driver take Lu Nan and the others back. Lu Nan smiled and said, “No need to trouble you, Mr. Zhang. I’ve already called a designated driver.” 

When Zhang Li saw her car, he thought to himself: whether this Manager Lu has connections or wealth isn’t clear yet, but one thing’s for sure—she’s definitely not short on money. 

He turned to Manager Liu and Liu Yang and asked, “Manager Lu’s called a driver. What about you two? Are you headed the same way? If not, I can have the driver take you.” 

Lu Nan smiled. “They live near the city office—it’s on the way for me. I’ll take them.” 

“Yes, yes, it’s on the way,” Manager Liu chimed in quickly, as if eager to put a wall between Zhang Li and Liu Yang in front of Lu Nan. He promptly got into the passenger seat when the driver brought the car around. 

Lu Nan glanced at Liu Yang, and then both of them got into the back seat. 

The ride back was very quiet. 

Manager Liu tried to lighten the mood a couple of times but eventually gave up. 

“Manager Liu, we’re going to Wenxiu County tomorrow, and then to Weipu in the afternoon. What time do you think is best to head out in the morning?” Lu Nan asked, trying to be democratic. 

From the front seat, Old Liu, accepting his fate, replied, “Nine… nine-thirty?” 

“Alright. Let’s meet at the city office in the morning, and then we’ll head out.” 

Old Liu weakly responded with an “Okay.” 

Lu Nan dropped them off at their residence, then had the driver take her back to the hotel. 

She hadn’t checked out that morning, anticipating that the day might not go smoothly. Some of her belongings were still in the hotel room. 

It was already late, and she was feeling tired. Although her new place was cleaned, the bedding hadn’t been set up yet, so it was easier to just spend the night at the hotel. 

After washing up, she began reviewing the day’s work. 

The two distributors she met today accounted for the majority of Hua’an City’s contract volume and payment collections. But after her initial visits, Lu Nan felt the situation wasn’t very promising: 

First, Hongtu Liquor’s future is uncertain. Although Lu Nan knew that Tian Aizhen would later become a well-known liquor distributor in the province, she wasn’t going to blindly bet on her now. Business isn’t charity. She sympathized with Sister Tian’s struggles and admired her determination, but as a representative of the manufacturer, she couldn’t let personal feelings influence distributor selection. That’s a basic professional principle. 

Second, Sifang Construction is highly unprofessional. Though they signed a contract for 2 million yuan last year through a single group-purchasing channel, it was clearly just for their own consumption. They hadn’t actually pushed any product through the distribution channels. While Yuan Chuan’s sales team may love such distributors—money with minimal work—for the manufacturer, this isn’t ideal. Support funds are provided based on sales and market share expansion. The manufacturer’s financial support is based on product movement and market share expansion. Sifang Construction was just carving out its own space to play by itself. 

Putting down her tablet, Lu Nan leaned against the headboard and massaged her inner eye corners. 

Her phone rang. She glanced at the screen and answered, “Hello, Mom?” 

Ms. Huang Li asked if her daughter had found a place to stay. “You must’ve been tired from driving yesterday. I didn’t call after you messaged that you’d arrived. Let me tell you…” and then launched into a list of things to watch out for when renting. 

Lu Nan wasn’t too interested, so she set the phone down a bit away from her ear and waited for the monologue to finish, occasionally responding with a few vague “mm”s. 

Not long after wrapping up that call with Ms. Huang, the phone rang again—it was Sasha. 

“Hello?” 

“Nan Nan, let me tell you—I’ve taken care of the gift I promised you!” came Sasha’s excited voice on the other end of the phone. 

Lu Nan had a good memory. She hadn’t forgotten Sasha’s earlier mysterious mention of a gift. But Sasha never brought it up again before Lu Nan left Hailin City, so she had deliberately chosen to forget about it—after all, she couldn’t exactly chase Sasha down asking, “So, where’s my gift?” 

As it turned out, Sasha hadn’t forgotten—she just hadn’t been ready. 

“So, what is it?” Lu Nan asked, a little curious. 

She rolled over and lay on her stomach on the bed, asking while stifling a small yawn. 

“Here’s the situation. I have a childhood friend in Hua’an City. His family’s in business too—specifically in hotel supplies. I figured he probably has good connections with local hotel procurement managers and the like. He’s doing quite well for himself now, so I thought he could help you make some connections. After all, you’re new to Hua’an and don’t know many people—it’s hard to get work going in a place like that. Oh, and he might buy some liquor himself, so I told him to source directly from you.” 

Lu Nan playfully made a mock sobbing sound. “Sasha, I’m forever in your debt. Should I offer myself in gratitude?” 

Sasha laughed. “Stop being silly. I can’t guarantee he’ll be much help, but it never hurts to have more friends.” 

“Mhm, I know, I know.” 

“You sound exhausted—did you wear yourself out? Go to bed early. I’ll send you his contact info later. I already spoke to him; he’ll probably invite you out for a meal over the weekend.” 

Sasha knew Lu Nan would be very busy in the coming days, so she had asked her friend to wait a bit before reaching out. 

Lu Nan was indeed exhausted, so she said into the phone, “Love you, heart emoji, mwah mwah~” and went to sleep. 

On the other end, Sasha paused for a moment and then burst out laughing: “Mwah mwah~ what a cute way to say it.” 

… 

After going to bed early, Lu Nan woke up refreshed the next morning. 

She parked downstairs at the city office. Sure enough, no one chased her off today. The landlady was still downstairs, apparently drying radishes? When she saw Lu Nan, she greeted her. 

Upstairs, Lu Nan noticed that the sales staff had arrived earlier than they did yesterday. 

When they saw Manager Lu enter, most of them quickly put on a show of being extremely busy—like students caught slacking off during early study period by the class teacher. 

Lu Nan felt somewhat helpless. 

She was too young, and as a newcomer, she clearly couldn’t command respect yet, so she absolutely couldn’t take Wang Xinglong’s approach of blending in with subordinates. 

Fortunately, not long after, Manager Liu arrived too. 

Once the former and current city managers, along with Liu Yang, all left the city office, Huang Dafang finally let out a sigh of relief. “Let me offer early condolences for old Guo from Wenxiu and old Li from Weipu.” 

Others didn’t dare say it out loud, but likely had similar thoughts. 

They were wrong, though. Guo Yu, the dining channel supervisor in Wenxiu, and Li Bin, the distribution channel supervisor in Weipu, were both praised by Lu Nan. Thanks to their introductions, her meetings with local distributors in both cities had gone rather well. Naturally, since she was the one driving, the drinking had been left to Manager Liu and Liu Yang. 

They had lunch in Wenxiu and dinner in Weipu. By the time they finished, it was just after 8 p.m.—and it took less than an hour to drive back to Hua’an City. 

Lu Nan first dropped off the slightly tipsy Manager Liu at his residence, then asked Liu Yang, “Care to talk for a bit, Sister Liu?” 

Liu Yang exhaled, the scent of alcohol heavy in her breath. “What does Manager Lu want to talk about?” 

“About you and President Zhang from Sifang Construction… You’re aware of company policy, right?” 

“I am. But Zhang Li and I are not in a romantic relationship. So there’s no need to avoid suspicion, is there?” 

Lu Nan smiled slightly. “I was referring to the issue of falsified expenses, Sister Liu. Where did your mind go?” 

Liu Yang froze for a second, realizing she had walked right into Lu Nan’s verbal trap. She then turned to take a closer look at Lu Nan. “Are you blaming me for not warning him—for not telling him Manager Lu is such a meticulous and capable person?” 

Lu Nan said nothing, waiting for her to continue. 

“What I mean is, I barely knew you before this. We’d only had brief interactions—how could I have warned him?”