Chapter 220: A Smile Over the Shoulder, When Feelings Run Deep
Lin Yibai walked into the school’s startup building. It looked a bit empty now.
There were lots of old papers scattered on the floor, office desks had been taken apart and were waiting to be moved, and office chairs were stacked up in a corner.
By the window, there were a few pots of green plants.
Lin Yibai picked up a watering can, planning to water them out of habit. But then gave a helpless smile. She gathered the plants and carried them outside.
Xia Changyu saw her and said with a laugh, “No need to move those. We can just buy new ones later.”
But Lin Yibai rolled her eyes and scolded, “Are you dumb? These green plants are so healthy, you can’t even buy them outside for less than a hundred or two hundred yuan! And you just want to throw them away?”
Xia Changyu mumbled, “You’re really good at managing stuff.”
Lin Yibai gave him another eye-roll, put her hands on her hips, and said, “If I don’t watch over you, are you just going to waste everything? If it weren’t because I care about you... Never mind, I wouldn’t bother with you at all!”
Xia Changyu seemed to catch something important and quickly asked, “What did you just say? Because of what?”
Lin Yibai shook her head, “Nothing.”
Xia Changyu pushed a little more, “Just admit it, you care about me. You like me, that’s why you’re helping, right?”
Lin Yibai: “Get lost!”
Xia Changyu burst out laughing, “Okay, okay!”
Watching her "love rival" walk away happily, Lin Yibai let out a small sigh. What kind of situation was this, really?
Also, about the whole “love rival” label…
She wasn’t sure how much longer she could even use that word. What if one day she did end up with Xia Changyu? Would she still call him her “love rival”?
Hmmmm.
Ughhh~~
So annoying~~
Like a little home organizer, Lin Yibai helped Xia Changyu sort out lots of office items. Most of them were small things that Xia Changyu thought weren’t important and planned to buy again at the new office.
In the past, Lin Yibai would’ve thought cleaning up these little things was a waste of time too. Just throw them out and buy new ones, right?
But now, her attitude had changed a lot.
They packed two big boxes of small office supplies. They were only worth a few hundred yuan in total, but still, better than throwing them away.
Later, Xia Changyu took everyone to the cafeteria for lunch.
After that, Lin Yibai visited the new company location. It was in an e-commerce industrial park at the edge of the city center.
Everyone who knows about business parks knows. They’re never right in the middle of the city.
Xia Changyu scratched his head and asked, sounding a little embarrassed, “Do you think it’s too far too? A lot of people quit because they said it’s too far from the school.”
Lin Yibai shrugged, looking calm and said, “Everyone has their own role in society. I’ve calculated it, it’s just about five or six kilometers at most. And you’re not strict about clock-in times either. Anyway, the point is, they have the right to quit if they want. You just need to treat the ones who stay even better. That’s all.”
She pointed to the new office space, where the other employees were busy working. Lin Yibai didn’t know how long Xia Changyu’s startup would last. But if one day he returned to take over the family business, the people who stuck with him now could become his core team.
Maybe they didn’t realize it yet…
But Lin Yibai had quietly opened the door to a life of wealth for them. Years later, would the ones who left regret it? Would they remember the little boss they once worked for?
As for those who quit, Lin Yibai didn’t feel the need to criticize them.
After all, everyone has their own dreams.
Around 2 or 3 in the afternoon. Lin Yibai left the business park with some documents in her hand. They were all related to ceramics.
After getting home, she flipped through them and said, “Changyu’s thesis seems to be about porcelain. Since his export business is related to the ceramic industry, I can use this as a reference.”
She still hadn’t chosen a topic for her own thesis. At first, she thought about writing it on wedding planning since that’s what she had the most experience with.
But wedding planning… well, people who know, know.
These days, fewer people are getting married. Even fewer are having kids. What’s left to write about in this kind of industry?
It’s already considered a dying business, like maternity hospitals and baby products. Maybe that’s why she turned down Brother Jin’s offer to help her enter the industry. After all, who wants to work in a dying field?
“Instead of working in weddings, I might as well work in funerals.”
Because, as everyone knows, wedding planning is clearly fading away. But the funeral industry is secretly growing. The only problem is that it’s harder to get into now.
Even people who studied funeral services might not get in easily. Many need to take exams first. In other words, becoming a civil servant or working in a government-run organization might not be a bad option!
Wait a second... how did she end up talking about civil service jobs?
But honestly, if you could get a stable government job, it didn’t sound so bad, especially for someone like Lin Yibai, someone with no clear direction or goal.
As the saying goes, ‘If you don’t know what to do, take the civil service exam. You can’t go wrong.’
Lin Yibai quickly shook her head and said, “What am I even thinking? Let’s talk about that later!”
She admitted that maybe she wasn’t someone with big dreams.
Other people, after gaining new powers, were chasing big money and probably worth millions by now. And here she was, actually thinking about becoming a civil servant?
But… Is being a civil servant really such a small goal?
She shook her head again, she didn’t know the answer.
Still, as a backup plan, taking the exam seemed like a pretty good option. She quietly made a note of it in her heart.
As for the thesis, she thought for a moment and said, “Changyu’s is about exports, so I’ll do the version for domestic sales. He already gathered so much info, it’d be a waste not to use it.”
In the end, a thesis has nothing to do with ambition. It’s just a school assignment that needs to be handed in.
In the days that followed, Lin Yibai often visited Xia Changyu’s company. Things were mostly settled by then.
Because they didn’t have enough staff, the business had been affected. Luckily, with Lin Yibai’s full support, they managed to get through a tough period.
Xia Changyu was very thankful. Looking at how the company was finally getting back on track, he almost cried. Only he knew how hard and stressful this time had been.
He took a deep breath and said, “If it weren’t for you, I really felt like giving up and shutting the company down in the beginning. Baiyi… thank you.”
“Stop.” Lin Yibai just shook her head and said, “Don’t give me all the credit. This is your success, and everyone else’s too. I only helped a little. I… sigh, never mind. I don’t want to argue with you. I’m heading to school now. They’re holding a campus job fair with company presentations. I need to check it out.”
She left right away for the campus job fair, just like many busy seniors in their final year of college.
But about that emotional support stuff…
As she turned around and smiled, Lin Yibai gave her “love rival,” who was becoming more and more dependent on her, a deep look.
Maybe it was time she just accepted how things were.
By now, she could have easily become someone’s girlfriend. But she wasn’t.
And it clearly wasn’t because of Xia Changyu.
So… what was stopping her?
She could be with him. But still wasn’t.
She didn’t even know what she was struggling with anymore. She was just caught up in her own thoughts.
What a strange girl she was.