Of course, he kept these thoughts hidden deep in his heart, not allowing anyone to notice.
So in the next second, Jiang Yeqiu smiled politely and said, "I see, this Young Master Lin is quite handsome."
He handed the gift box in his hands to Aunt Qiong.
"I wonder if Uncle Jiang has time to see me."
Situ Qiong simply nodded and said, "Then wait a moment, Xiao Jiang. I will go inform the Master."
Situ Qiong had spent half her life in this large mansion; there was no type of person she hadn't seen.
Young men like Jiang Yeqiu, harboring ambitions to climb the social ladder, she could see right through them at a single glance.
Saying that, Situ Qiong walked over to the telephone on the side and dialed the internal line.
Inside the study, sandalwood incense curled upward in delicate wisps.
A gramophone nearby was playing a vinyl record released in the last century.
Jiang Chengshan nodded along, his fingertips tapping lightly on the heavy solid wood desk with a good sense of rhythm.
The computer screen displayed the final division and acquisition plan for the Zhou Group.
Rather than an acquisition proposal, it was more like an autopsy report.
Chu Lintian's Dajiang Group also got a share of the spoils, but they were merely drinking the leftover soup.
The meaty cuts had all been fed into the mouth of his Tianyun Century Group.
The Zhou family's lineage had withered, nearing total extinction, and their massive family business had become a piece of untended fat meat.
The so-called right of inheritance was nothing but a joke in the face of this gluttonous feast of capital.
Even if some distant relative really popped up to inherit it, they would ultimately only walk away with a charitably bestowed severance package, left to become a wealthy man oblivious to worldly affairs.
At this moment, the phone on the desk rang.
Jiang Chengshan pressed the speaker button without looking up.
"Master, Young Master Lin has come to the house, but he went to find the Miss and the Little Miss. Also, Jiang Yeqiu has come to visit."
Jiang Yeqiu, who was following right behind Situ Qiong, felt his heart sink slightly upon hearing this difference in address.
To that person, it was Young Master Lin, but to him, she called him by his full name directly, not even calling him Xiao Jiang.
This showed that his actual importance was not very high.
In the company outside, relying on a ruthless drive and desperate struggle, he had already reached the position of branch director. Everyone respectfully called him Director Jiang.
But the moment he stepped into this mansion, it was as if he had been knocked back to his original form.
He was still that poor student who needed to rely on others to survive.
Meanwhile, Jiang Chengshan got a headache just thinking about the arrival of Lin Mo, that punk.
"Got it."
His voice revealed a hint of displeasure. "Let Xiao Jiang come up first. I haven't seen him in a long time either."
"Yes, Master."
The call disconnected.
A short while later, there was a knock on the study door, and Jiang Yeqiu walked in under Situ Qiong's guidance.
"Uncle Jiang, long time no see."
Jiang Yeqiu's greeting broke the silence in the room. The custom-made suit he wore was well-tailored, his posture was upright, and his eyes held an unconcealable sharpness.
Jiang Chengshan raised his eyes and scrutinized him carefully, as if examining a piece of rough jade he had discovered years ago, now polished by the passage of time.
After all, Jiang Yeqiu was someone he had personally picked out from a pile of impoverished sponsored students.
Every year, students with excellent grades were as numerous as carp crossing the river. But in the eyes of a capitalist like him, a top student who only knew how to take exams was worth even less than a salesman who understood the ways of the world.
Just like how Jiang Chengshan initially didn't think highly of Lin Mo either, because as a capitalist, he also had a group of top students working under him.
But Jiang Yeqiu was different.
This kid had a sharp mind, high emotional intelligence, and wasn't a blockhead who only read books blindly.
His only shortcoming was his poor background; he lacked a fulcrum to pry the Blue Planet.
Therefore, Jiang Chengshan gave him this fulcrum.
As a result, this kid took the lever he provided but ran off to pry someone else's globe.
He never expected that a good seedling he had personally watered would actually be unwilling to take root in the most fertile soil of Tianyun Century.
This matter had always left Jiang Chengshan brooding.
"Xiao Jiang, a person really looks much more energetic in a suit." Jiang Chengshan leaned back in his chair, his tone betraying neither joy nor anger.
"It's all thanks to Uncle Jiang's help back then." Jiang Yeqiu spoke neither haughtily nor humbly, keeping his posture very low.
"I thought you kid had already forgotten me." Jiang Chengshan actually teased.
"Uncle Jiang is joking. How could I dare to forget your kindness to me."
Jiang Yeqiu leaned forward slightly, keeping his posture extremely respectful. "I have always remembered. It's just... I always felt that coming over just like that would be like taking a shortcut, and I wouldn't feel at ease. So I thought I should at least make a name for myself first, and then come back to ask you for a position with confidence."
These words were airtight, both flattering the other party and showing his own backbone.
Jiang Yeqiu still kept his posture very low, looking submissive and obedient.
Jiang Chengshan lifted his eyelids, his mind as clear as a mirror.
Only those who would study such things were useful. If he were a stubborn person, he wouldn't have asked the other party to join his company in the first place.
As for which company this kid was working for, he had known for a long time.
"Alright."
Jiang Chengshan waved his hand, and the tapping on the desk stopped. "I sponsored you back then just to give you a chance to walk out of those mountains. Now that you've walked out and gained a firm foothold in the big city, that is very good. I don't insist that you must work and sell your life to me; after all, this is your life."
The bellyful of excuses Jiang Yeqiu had prepared instantly got stuck in his throat.
Just before coming up, he had indeed still held onto the idea of continuing to reject the olive branch Jiang Chengshan extended.
However, after seeing that Young Master Lin, he felt that there was truth to the saying that the pavilion closest to the water enjoys moonlight first.
So he temporarily changed his mind. As long as Jiang Chengshan spoke up again, he would use the opportunity to step down gracefully and agree immediately.
But he didn't expect Jiang Chengshan to not play by the rules.
This act couldn't go on.
Jiang Yeqiu's mind spun rapidly, but his face didn't show the slightest hint of it. The perfectly timed astonishment and being moved seemed as if they were real.
"Thank you for your understanding, Uncle Jiang. For now, please let me grow a bit more. I hope that when I decide to join your group, Uncle Jiang, you won't shut me out."
These words were also very appropriate.
Jiang Chengshan chuckled happily. "Of course not. After all, in my eyes, you are a talent to begin with."
The atmosphere was just right, and Jiang Yeqiu brought it up seemingly casually.
"By the way, Uncle Jiang, I just bumped into a Young Master Lin at the door. He looked quite distinguished. Which company's young master is he?"
Which company's young master?
Neither, he's a big shot.
Jiang Chengshan didn't know how to introduce Lin Mo's identity for a moment, so he could only say, "He is Yunlu's classmate, and he has a very good relationship with us."
As an old man, he actually didn't really want to say the phrase 'very good relationship'.
But... the guy had helped him so much; he couldn't just refuse to acknowledge it.
He even helped you get your wife back, so you still have to say a couple of good words about him to outsiders.
But it was as if Jiang Yeqiu only heard the first sentence, "He is Yunlu's classmate."
Just a classmate?
Then perhaps he still had a chance.
--System: Looking for trouble, huh? Just sent away one Zhou Nianqian, and now here comes another?--

ing gift was a patch of barren land, and disciples were all picked up along the way. He spent fifty years diligently building three "ramshackle little sects," thinking he could finally live a carefree life relying on his disciples. But right at the fifty-year mark, he was suddenly swept away by a spatial rift and exiled to the Chaos Desolation, the Disorderly Ruins. There was no spiritual energy there, only slaughter. Relying on the cultivation feedback from his disciples, Gu Changyuan hacked his way through a sea of blood for eleven hundred years. When the system finally fished him back out, he discovered the ramshackle little sects he'd built back then had developed a rather... unusual style. Hold on... I vanished for a thousand years, so how did my ramshackle little sects become holy lands?!

pression Bureau] Transported to a fantasy world overrun by demons and monsters, Gu Qingfeng becomes a jailer in the Demon Suppression Prison of the Great Yan Dynasty's Demon Suppression Bureau. From this point on, bizarre cases frequently occur in the Demon Suppression Prison, once known as hell on earth and infamous for its gloomy, terrifying atmosphere! Why do the demons and monsters in the prison wail miserably every night? Why has the corpse demon, capable of transforming into various beauties, donned black stockings and switched careers to become a foot massage therapist? Why has the eye demon, expert in soul-snatching and illusions, turned into a VR headset? Why is the fox spirit performing otaku dances? Are all these occurrences a twisted expression of demonic nature, or a descent into moral depravity? After peeling away layer upon layer of mystery, all clues ultimately point to a jailer named Gu Qingfeng. Gu Qingfeng: "Hehehe... My dear demons and monsters, whose card shall we flip today?"

transmigrates into the world as the sect master of the Heavenly Yan Sect, which is on the verge of being wiped out. He binds a system that grants him cultivation power based on the number of disciples he has: for each disciple, he automatically gains a year's worth of cultivation every single day! Take one disciple: every day he gains 1 year of cultivation power. While others struggle through a year of bitter training, he gets the same just by sleeping through a single night. Take ten disciples: every day he gains 10 years of cultivation power. Foundation Establishment, Core Formation, Nascent Soul—he breezes through all bottlenecks without lifting a finger. Take one hundred disciples: every day he gains 100 years of cultivation power. Even a Soul Transformation Venerable before him can’t survive a single blow. Take ten thousand disciples: every day he gains 10,000 years of cultivation power! With a wave of his hand, he topples empires. With a single step, he crushes the sacred grounds of the universe. ... While others fight tooth and nail for secret techniques, Lin Yan casually hands out Nascent Soul-level cultivation manuals as beginner textbooks. While others strain to find talented recruits, Lin Yan opens his doors to anyone—so long as they’re human. In just three short years, the Heavenly Yan Sect went from a backwater sect made up of three crumbling huts to a sacred land that every cultivator under heaven would kill to enter. ... One day, otherworldly demon gods invade, with a million demon soldiers pressing down upon the realm. Lin Yan, yawning, rises from his lounge chair and glances at the system panel: [Current Disciples: 1.28 million] [Daily Cultivation Increase: 1.28 million years] He waves his hand casually, and the countless demon soldiers are reduced to ashes in an instant. “So noisy… interrupting my fishing.”

lanned to earn money steadily and take life at a slower pace. But he never expected... his father's remarriage, and the stepmother bringing along a dependent, would completely disrupt his life's plans...