Free Web NovelChapter 1084: Chapter 305: Sending Flowers
Chapter 305 Sending Flowers
(Really sorry! Updating was delayed because something came up, tomorrow it will be back to normal!)
By the time Li Yan got home, it was already very late—or rather, very early in the morning. Both Yue Yao and Zhang Yurong were already fast asleep. He didn’t wake them, just quietly lay down on the side and fell asleep.
When Yurong got up in the morning, Li Yan also woke up. Squinting at her as she changed clothes, he started to explain, "I came back a bit late last night, because I..."
But Zhang Yurong cut him off. "No need to explain so much to me. Right now you’re in a phase where you have to ’entertain clients’ specially. However you choose to entertain them is your freedom. Even if you play all night and come back in the morning, or like before, go out of town with them and don’t come back at all, you don’t need to report to me."
After speaking, just as she was about to leave the bedroom, she glanced at Li Yan lying on the bed. "If there’s something you really can’t say, even if you ’report’ it, you’ll naturally skip that part, right?"
"Uh..."
"I’m going to eat and then head to work. If you want to sleep a bit more, fine—just don’t end up wasting the whole day."
"Um... it’s Valentine’s Day today. Let’s spend tonight together, yeah?"
Yurong hesitated, then said flatly, "What’s so special about it? We’ll talk about it when the time comes."
"I’ll send you flowers. To your office, okay?" Li Yan said with a smile.
Yurong just snorted. "Don’t waste your money. If you send them to the office, I’ll just toss them without even looking at them." With that, she walked out first.
In fact, even when it wasn’t Valentine’s Day, Christmas or those holidays youngsters like, flowers were often delivered to Zhang Yurong’s office. Even though she always showed a cold face to people, she never lacked passionate suitors. As for Li Yan, he had never once sent flowers to her office.
But this year was different. Their relationship now wasn’t the same as before, so on Valentine’s Day he felt he should at least show something. Normally this kind of thing didn’t need to be announced in advance, but her situation was special—where would she find the time or interest to look at each bouquet? If he didn’t tell her beforehand, it was entirely possible the people in the President’s Office would just handle it according to routine.
...
By the time Li Yan got up, it was already late morning, and Yue Yao had gone to work as well.
What she’d mentioned was about Huang Feng. When he dropped him off last night, the two of them had already matched their stories, saying it had all been a prank, just a practical joke, and that nothing had actually happened. That barely managed to calm his mother and sister down. Because it was already very late, he didn’t stay long and headed home.
Afterwards, the two of them kept asking Huang Feng over and over. He insisted that he wasn’t lying, that nothing really happened. But Huang Ying knew her little brother pretty well. If it had really just been a prank, there’s no way it would’ve dragged on for so long. And once he knew the truth, he’d definitely call home or rush home to explain right away, instead of waiting for Li Yan to find him and bring him back. Just to keep their mom from worrying, and to stop her brother from staying on edge, she pretended not to know.
She also knew this had to be the result of Li Yan not wanting their mom to worry, so he’d arranged the story with him. So now, when she thanked him again in particular, she still didn’t call him out on it. frёeωebɳovel.com
"Thank you for what?" Li Yan deliberately joked.
"..." Huang Ying was a little embarrassed. "Alright, I’m going to work."
"Today’s Valentine’s Day. I’ll probably have to accompany clients again, won’t have time to see you. I’ll have someone send you flowers later!"
"No, no, that’s too... too embarrassing." Huang Ying quickly shook her head. Jie Rui wasn’t like when she was in the Paradise Group’s sales department. Back then she was a nobody in the sales department, with lots of social-butterfly beauties around her who’d get flowers non-stop. If she got a bouquet now, she’d stand out like crazy and everyone would start teasing. She wasn’t good at lying.
Li Yan thought for a moment. "How about this: I’ll just put anonymous cards in, each with a special little heart I draw as the sign. And... I’ll send a bouquet to Li Jie at the same time, that way you won’t look special, okay?"
"Uh... okay then."
The man she liked wanted to send her flowers; even if she was shy about accepting them, she was still happy inside. But the idea of sending another girl a bouquet at the same time did feel a little awkward. Still, Huang Ying’s situation was different—she already knew Li Yan had a wife and a girlfriend, and that he’d had something going on with those two Beihai Country girls. Even if there really was one more Li Jie in the picture, she wouldn’t care.
...
After hanging up, Li Yan drove out to look for a flower shop. To avoid suspicion, he didn’t choose one nearby, but kept driving until he entered the city proper.
He walked into a flower shop he’d never been to before called "Yi Jun Flower Shop." Inside, several shop assistants were busy. Today the main theme was obviously Roses, especially red Roses. And he was sure these profiteers wouldn’t forget to jack up the price for the occasion.
"Sir, would you like to place a flower delivery order?" The lady boss at the counter came over to greet him. At this hour, coming to buy flowers to deliver later made more sense; it was too early to buy and deliver by hand now.
"Mm... let’s talk inside." Afraid of running into someone he knew at the door, Li Yan headed straight inside.
The owner went over to pour him a glass of water and then joined him at the counter. "You’re sending flowers to your girlfriend, right? What kind would you like? We have several package options today..."
Li Yan took the price list she handed over. She really knew how to do business—not only were there different price levels of flower arrangements, but also packages that came with different brands and grades of chocolate.
"This one." Li Yan picked the most expensive package. Normally he’d feel embarrassed buying it, but since he was here, he wasn’t going to be polite about it.
"Please leave the delivery address." The lady boss was, of course, very pleased with his choice. For them, delivering one bouquet is one trip; tossing in a box of chocolates is still the same trip, but they earn extra.
She swiftly handed him a stack of pretty cards for him to write on, and asked him to fill in the address, phone number and so on.
Li Yan didn’t hold back. He picked up a card and started writing. There was no salutation and no signature, just a weirdly funny heart sketched at the end.
What puzzled the lady boss, though, was that even though he’d clearly finished and hadn’t made any mistakes or done any crossing-out, he looked dissatisfied and wrote another card, then another, then another, and another...
Watching Li Yan seriously writing one after another, the lady boss started sweating a little. Cards weren’t expensive, but he was wasting everyone’s time! She gently suggested, "Sir, are you unhappy with how the heart looks? Want me to draw one for you?"
Li Yan was surprised. "I like it. I drew it like that on purpose."
"Oh, then you..." The lady boss was a bit speechless. Then how many are you planning to write?
Li Yan realized what she meant and smiled. "Don’t worry, I’m not writing them for nothing. Each one will be sent with flowers."
"Ah?" Now it was her turn to be shocked. Each one gets flowers? That wasn’t one or two cards!
Li Yan’s hand was getting a little sore—he didn’t write by hand very often—so he couldn’t be bothered to write the addresses himself. "I’ll say the addresses, you type them in."
"Oh, sure." The lady boss signaled him to start and began inputting directly into a form on the computer.
Li Yan started listing them one by one:
Three for Paradise Group: Zhang Yurong in the President’s Office, Hai Fu in Administration, and Wen Qianyi in Sales; freёwebnoѵel.com
Two for Jie Rui Company: Li Jie and Huang Ying;
One for Mountain Stone Investment, same address as Jie Rui but different floor: Yue Yao;
One for the Yu Family at the eastern seaside: Yu Xiaodi;
Two for hotel rooms: Matsushima Kui and Shinohara Mirai...
By the time he finished, he’d ordered a total of nine bouquets, with some going to the same address. After entering everything, the lady boss was looking at Li Yan very differently.
Li Yan felt a bit awkward too and gave a small laugh. "Ahem... this year I’m sending a few more than usual."
"You’re buying these on someone else’s behalf, right? Business is good. How much margin do you make off each one?" The lady boss didn’t treat him like a big client at all; instead she switched to talking to him like a fellow in the trade, smiling as she asked.
Li Yan was completely speechless. Do I look like someone who runs a flower-buying side hustle?
"Don’t take it the wrong way. I’ve got nothing against your line of work. After all, the margin you make isn’t from my shop. How much volume can you generate? If it’s big enough, I can even give you a kickback." She simply took his silence as agreement and started talking business.
"Ahem, ahem... actually, that’s all there is. I’m buying them for myself and paying with my own money. No middleman, no margin. If you want to give me a little discount because I’m buying a lot, I’d be happy. But I’m definitely not here asking you for kickbacks..." Li Yan explained, a bit embarrassed.
"Oh—" The lady boss studied him for a moment and seemed to get it. Then, in a tone that could’ve been either mocking or praising, she said, "Casting your net over women from different environments and levels, and willing to spend money on it, plus using identical cards so you don’t mix them up and blow your cover. You’ve got potential. I’m sure at least one of them will bite."
Li Yan was speechless again. So in her eyes he’d turned into someone sweeping the whole field with a blanket ’broadcast’ of flowers to try his luck?
The more he explained, the worse it sounded, so he couldn’t be bothered anymore—he wasn’t coming back here anyway. "Yeah, the cards are all the same. Even if we mix them up it won’t cause a problem. But I do hope your delivery guys are careful. Aside from the hotel ones, which don’t matter if they bump into each other, it’s best if no one else notices they’re identical."
"Don’t worry, we protect our customers’ privacy." A client placing nine orders at once obviously made the lady boss very happy, and she quickly totaled up the cost. "We’re swamped today, and some of your orders are pretty far apart. They’ll take a lot of our time, and we don’t make that much either. I’ll just waive the rounding difference for you."
Li Yan didn’t care about the small discount of a few dozen yuan. He paid by card and double-checked the addresses.
Just as he turned to leave, a girl walked in from outside and looked surprised to see him.
"Li Yan? Buying flowers?" (To be continued. For what happens next, please visit www.qidian.com. More Chapters available there—support the author, support official releases!)
