Once the next morning came, Jiang Yue woke and did her daily routine. It did not consist of much, only the normal cycle of eat, sleep, and work.
This continued on for the next 2 weeks, which really bored her out of her mind.
"This can't continue," she said to herself as she stood up and stretched her limbs.
Only then did she remember the company she worked at. FEV, a huge company that oversaw a bunch of freelance workers with different skill sets and provided a high salary while working from home.
Of course, it sounded too good to be true, but the payback meant having to answer and respond to thousands of emails every day except for weekends.
This kind of work normally did not bother her, but now that she had moved to the city, of course she wouldn't be content.
First step was to get a promotion. This meant working shorter hours with higher pay, but more responsibilities.
But she did not want to stay at work and thus decided to visit headquarters.
There, a supervisor directly working in the company would be able to refer her to their department head to get a promotion, which was easily in the bag considering her achievements and stellar performance.
Jiang Yue smiled and patted herself on the back.
All those years of toiling and working the daily grind in uni were worth it! 28-year-old Jiang Yue could finally see the light in her future.
And so, she readied herself and changed into a formal set of clothes.
The black pantsuit made her look classy and professional, which made her feel like the assistant of some bigshot CEO.
Unfortunately the same couldn't be said with her money.
Hitching a taxi ride, Jiang Yue managed to arrive at her destination successfully without getting lost.
The huge skyscraper looked intimidating with the glass reflecting the morning sun. She imagined arriving in her Rolls Royce with a red carpet and a line of executives greeting her.
'Must be nice…' she thought as she greeted the receptionist.
Meanwhile, at the 28th floor of the FEV building, two men were in a heated discussion planning the construction of yet another branch in the neighboring region.
Qing Shan furrowed his brows. The cost of construction and materials were no joke, considering that they were planning to essentially build a solar powered building in the shape of a sundial.
As he and his client were immersed in their conversation, a knock snapped them out of it.
The secretary in charge informed them of the next meeting and that they needed to end it soon. It did not end well, thus they could only resign with a sigh.
As the client left, Qing Shan walked out of his office. He suddenly felt it was hot and tugged on his tie. A man shorter than him walked by.
"Feeling stressed about the sundial? Still no progress?"
Qing Shan could only massage his temples. "Don't remind me. He's been incredibly stubborn about it. I don't know what else I could do."
"How about I help you persuade him?"
"You?" He looked at him up and down and gave him an unconvinced look.
Of course, the man didn't take it to heart. He shrugged. "If you don't want to, then don't. When have I, Jing Liu, ever been bothered by your words?"
His skin was so thick that even with Qing Shan's passive aggressive remarks, it dealt no damage to him. The tall man rolled his eyes.
"Qing Shan." Jing Liu seriously looked at him. "If you keep being like this, no one will be willing to be your friend, much less your partner."
His response was another roll of the eyes that Jing Liu couldn't help but click his tongue. Rather than talking to him, he would much rather spend his time working.
Thus he left to work in his office and left Qing Shan in the middle of the office space. Qing Shan also didn't dawdle and left to attend yet another meeting.
At this time, Jiang Yue arrived at the publishing company on the 12th floor. She was not at all close with her supervisor, seeing as they only talked during and about work, but it could be said that this senior cared a lot.
That person knew her value and thus would always delegate a little more work for her, even if it meant working overtime.
As for why the supervisor asked to meet her in such a mismatched place, Jiang Yue couldn't guess. She arrived at the 12th floor and asked around.
"Jiang Yue!"
A voice called her out from the crowd. Everyone seemed to be busy and continued to walk around the area which made it crowded. Her supervisor had to hold up her hand in order for Jiang Yue to notice her.
Jiang Yue smiled and hurriedly made her way over.
"Supervisor Kang," she greeted and bowed her head.
Kang Shu, who worked as her supervisor for the duration of her 7 years in the company, is a mature middle-aged woman who always had work in mind and acted more professionally than anyone she knew.
It could be said that Jiang Yue really admired her, similar to a superhero.
"How are you doing?"
"I'm doing well thanks to you, senior." she rubbed the nape of her neck. "If you didn't allow me to have some time off of work, I wouldn't be able to move in my apartment so quickly."
Kang Shu waved dismissively. "It's no problem at all for my junior. What more someone as productive as you."
"Ah… thank you," she smiled sheepishly as her cheeks blushed slightly.
"Moving on, I heard you wanted to get promoted?"
Jiang Yue nodded. "It's presumptuous of me to ask but yes. I would like to be promoted."
"You do know what a promotion means at our company, right?"
"Yes."
At FEV, getting promoted essentially meant having a higher base pay but a lower position in the company.
While supervisors like Kang Shu could have a salary of 80,000 with no problem, that meant that she couldn't compete with her juniors whose salary could rise depending on their work productivity.
Currently, Jiang Yue has a base pay of 50,000 that could rise to 90,000 or even more.
"Are you really sure about this?" Kang Shu asked again.
She wouldn't want her to regret her decision once the promotion passes. She had no doubt that once she gave her the opportunity for a promotion, Jiang Yue would pass with flying colors.
She was not the best, but being humble and consistent really appealed to the higher-ups. And with her credentials, only a fool would not accept her.
"I'm sure," Jiang Yue replied.
Kang Shu read her expression, but the determination in her eyes didn't falter and the former backed off. She nodded approvingly.
"Then how about this, you graduated with an international relations degree, right?"
She nodded.
"Have you considered becoming the company's foreign affairs analyst?"