In the evening, inside a coffee shop.
Xia Weilan sat alone in a corner, looking through her phone. After a while, the sound of the door opening came from the entrance.
Xia Weilan looked up and saw several charming young ladies walking towards her.
"You're here." Xia Weilan stood up politely.
"Weilan, long time no see." The one who spoke was the young miss whom Xia Weilan had met a few times during her stay in the Lin family.
"Miss Shanshan, please take a seat." Xia Weilan invited them to sit down.
"I heard that you're now the young miss of the Xia family. I didn't expect you to still invite me out. It's really an honor." Shanshan said as she started to chat warmly.
The young misses chatted from designer bags to jewelry necklaces, and Xia Weilan responded casually.
"Shanshan, I asked you here this time because I want to talk about a business deal. I heard that your family has a resource of emeralds. I'd like to discuss cooperation with you."
Taking advantage of the moment when the others paused, Xia Weilan suddenly spoke up.
"Cooperation?" Miss Shanshan smiled, a flash of disdain in her eyes.
"It's not that I don't want to agree, but you're just a freshman in college and yet you come out to talk about business. Hehe, you'd better just be a proper young miss and don't cause any trouble."
Shanshan had only come to the appointment out of respect for the Xia family. Now she treated it like a joke and brushed it off.
For some reason, the words Xia Weilan had prepared got stuck in her throat and she couldn't say them.
"Yes, young miss, things like business should be left to the CEO of the company. We should go shopping together instead."
"Right, let's go now."
The young misses seemed to have lost interest in sitting any longer and stood up one after another. Before leaving, they said to Xia Weilan:
"Miss Xia, aren't you coming with us?"
Shanshan also looked at Xia Weilan, her expression neither cold nor warm, thinking that Xia Weilan was overreaching herself.
"I'm not going. You guys go ahead. I'll treat you to dinner some other day." Xia Weilan said with a faint smile.
The young misses chattered out of the door, and soon the coffee shop became quiet.
All Xia Weilan could think about was the contemptuous look in Shanshan's eyes when she left.
It was as if it was an insult to Shanshan for Xia Weilan to talk about business with her.
Not far away, Ruili, who had been secretly following Xia Weilan, frowned when she saw the somewhat frustrated Xia Weilan. She picked up her phone and made a call.
"Brother Mo, sister - in - law is in trouble. She's not happy now..."
"Where is she?" Mo Beichen asked.
"In the coffee shop opposite Jinmao Tower."
"I'm just opposite. I'll go there right now." Mo Beichen said and hung up the phone.
In the coffee shop, Xia Weilan finished the coffee in her hand alone. She stared blankly out of the window at the empty view.
Suddenly, a sour feeling welled up in her heart. She herself began to think that she was overreaching herself.
After all, she had never had any experience in business negotiations before. Even though she had learned some things from books, it was just theory on paper.
Now that she thought about it, she didn't even know much about the jewelry industry, such as its channels and market conditions. Yet she had come out so rashly to talk about business.
No wonder Shanshan had looked at her with such disdain just now.
When she walked out of the coffee shop, a cold wind blew towards her, messing up her bangs. Xia Weilan instinctively hugged herself. Just as she was about to raise her foot to hail a taxi, she suddenly felt a warm sensation on her shoulder. When she turned around, she saw a pair of handsome and deep - set eyes. Those eyes, reflecting the light, landed on her.
"Why are you here?" Xia Weilan asked.
Mo Beichen withdrew his hand. His tall and slender figure blocked the wind for her. He said casually:
"I just happened to pass by."
The cold wind blew up a small tuft of hair beside Xia Weilan's cheek. The strands of hair curled around, looking extremely lively, but Xia Weilan's eyes were as cold and deep as the night sea.
"What's wrong?" Mo Beichen frowned slightly. His gaze shifted from her bangs to her clear eyes.
"I think I'm really overreaching myself." Xia Weilan's nose felt a bit cold from the wind and turned slightly red.
"Come on, let's talk in the car." Mo Beichen pulled her hand and led her into the car. Instantly, she felt warm all over.
"Are you unhappy because you were rejected?" Mo Beichen said knowingly, as if he could see through everything.
"Yeah." Xia Weilan leaned back on the seat and watched the people coming and going outside the window.
"So you want to give up just like this?"
Xia Weilan didn't say a word. She seemed to be lost in thought, and her eyes were a bit unfocused.
"Everything has a first time. The first time is always the most difficult. But if everyone gave up at the very beginning, there would be no businessmen in this world. But look," Mo Beichen pointed at the dazzling array of skyscrapers outside the window with his slender fingertips and continued, "There are still all kinds of business transactions in front of you. These are all experiences."
Xia Weilan looked in the direction his fingertips were pointing. Her eyes were filled with the lights.
"So what you lack is just experience." Mo Beichen concluded.
Suddenly, Xia Weilan laughed. Her autumn - water - like eyes glanced at Mo Beichen:
"I'm not going to give up."
A look of relief flashed across Mo Beichen's hawk - like eyes. Then he drove the car and took Xia Weilan back to the Splendid Royal Court.
Just after coming out of the bathroom at night, Xia Weilan saw Mo Beichen standing by the window on the phone. She heard Mo Beichen address the other person as General Manager He.
Mo Beichen put away his phone, turned around and walked towards Xia Weilan. Suddenly, he said:
"You have a weekend off tomorrow. Are you interested in being my assistant for a day?"
"Me, your assistant? Will this bother you?" Xia Weilan blinked her puzzled eyes.
"I have a cooperation negotiation tomorrow. Don't you want to learn some experience in this area? Hmm?" Mo Beichen casually picked up a magazine and sat down on the sofa.
"Really? You can really take me with you? That's great." Xia Weilan realized what he meant. Her eyes immediately lit up. She looked as excited as a puppy that had got a bone.
Mo Beichen looked at Xia Weilan who was coming closer. He squinted his eyes as if he saw Xia Weilan wagging a non - existent tail behind her.
"Come on. Since you're going to be my assistant, you should first get to know some materials."
Mo Beichen stood up again and walked out.
Xia Weilan was extremely interested and quickly followed him.
"This is the latest trend of the He Group, this is the budget given by our company, this is the basic situation of other potential competitors, and this," Mo Beichen presented one document after another in front of Xia Weilan.
"This is General Manager He's background and some..."
Xia Weilan didn't expect that a pile of documents would pile up in front of her unconsciously. She suddenly felt a bit dizzy. There was no way she could finish reading so many in one night.
"You don't need to understand them in detail. Just skim through them." Mo Beichen said.
Xia Weilan dived into these documents. Her eyes widened as if she had discovered a new world. A slight change in the numbers inside could mean a difference of millions.
Xia Weilan felt that her vision was really narrow. These things were different from what she had read in books.
The cases in the books were too far away from her, but what was in front of her now was a real battle.
Occasionally, Xia Weilan would look up from the documents and see Mo Beichen wearing headphones, having a video conference. His calm and confident manner, as well as the self - confidence that came from his bones, made her heart skip a beat.