Mu'en was stunned for a moment before she reached out and accepted the pink heart-shaped gift box.
Though her face remained as emotionless as ever, a wave of sentiments was rippling in her heart.
She was somewhat surprised and doubtful, which combined to make her feel a tad worried.
Using her database of basic knowledge, Door Key: Knowledge, the young girl had familiarized herself with two things that were common in human society.
A pink heart usually represents 'love,' 'confession,' 'adoration,' and other similar feelings.
Ad
And based on that, didn't fashioning a gift box into such a shape as a present mean that they liked the person?
Wasn't this basically a confession?
Mu'en gently cupped the box in her hands and felt its heavy weight. Obvious confusion was plastered on her usually expressionless face. She then looked at Lin Jie to earnestly project her queries.
"Doesn't a heart... signify adoration?"
Lin Jie felt somewhat awkward. He initially wanted to create a gift box better suited for a lady; that's to say one which would be preferred by the fairer sex. The intention was for him to appear sincere.
When it came to the understanding of the aesthetic design of totems and symbols or concepts of traditional clothing patterns, Boss Lin could come up with several theses and explain them eloquently. Even illustrating them personally wasn't a big deal either. Be it a grand or mysterious style, he was able to handle both. After all, he had had lots of experience.
But when it came to this sort of thing for a young girl, Boss Lin was as stumped as a three-year old and completely clueless.
In the end, all he could think of was a rather poor and gaudy design of pink and hearts.
Hence, the gift box was created.
It did look like... Boss Lin was presenting a gift for a confession of love.
"Cough cough..."
Lin Jie covered his mouth and gave a couple of coughs before replying unfazed, "The word 'adoration' isn't just limited to couples. As a boss, it makes sense for me to 'adore' serious and hardworking employees."
Mu'en thought about it and nodded earnestly.
That's right, it's indeed like this.
This child is so naive, thought Lin Jie to himself. He then tapped her shoulder with a smile. "Open it. I think you'll like this gift."
Meow~
At the side, Whitey let out a bitter call.
It eyed the box, then glanced at Lin Jie, its eyes glowing with eagerness. It appeared that the CATerpillar also wanted it...
Mu'en proceeded to open the gift box and froze up when she saw the whole crimson gemstone in it.
Her heart skipped a beat the moment she laid eyes on the gem.
To be more precise, her entire body from her heart to her limbs and bones all seemed to pound involuntarily. Her blood, veins, and even the marrow in her bones seemed to pump as if they were all cheering.
Eat it! Every cell in her body was telling her this.
As long as you eat it, you will gain much more...
"What do you think? It's pretty, right?
"Let me tell you this. Besides your boss, how many others in the whole of Norzin could get their hands on this?"
Lin Jie felt pleased with himself. Have you ever seen a ruby this large?
Even a top dog owner like Ji Bonong would probably struggle to locate a gemstone of this grade, right? …Even if this was actually a philosopher's stone researched and synthesized by the Path of the Flaming Sword and not actually a real ruby.
However, it was basically indistinguishable from an actual ruby both visually and physically.
So, your future as an employee here would be exceptional if you stay. Moreover, your Boss is gentle and generous, able to appease others with reason, making him an excellent leader.
Just ignore any others trying to poach you and focus on your work as a bookstore assistant.
Even though there weren't anyone trying to poach his star employee away, Lin Jie still felt it was best to stay cautious and employ preventive measures.
Business was booming mostly because of Mu'en's hard work. Lin Jie felt that it was necessary to win over his only subordinate, lest he became a lone commander again.
Mu'en nodded, finally returning to her senses after drowning in the philosopher's stone in her hand.
This was a philosopher's stone of perfect quality... It was exactly as Mu'en had thought, there wasn't anyone else in Norzin that could get their hands on one indeed.
The girl suppressed her thumping heart and cautiously pocketed the ruby.
"Thank you," she uttered with a glow in her eyes.
Lin Jie patted her head. He was relieved to see genuine joy in her eyes. "What are you thanking me for? I have seen your months of hard work, this was well deserved."
With a slight glance at the gemstone, he continued, "You can use it however you like, you can exchange it for whatever you want, too."
In Lin Jie's opinion, this gemstone couldn't be crafted into a pendant either. He had simply given it to Mu'en to make her happy. He assumed that she would sell it eventually for money to supplement her living expenses...
Mu'en kept away the gemstone and gave an affirming response, "Yes, I will use it wisely."
For Mu'en, her utmost desire was, of course, power.
And just when she had been pondering her bottleneck, Boss Lin had swiftly provided a swift solution.
He must've long foreseen the results of Mu'en's recent battle and prepared it beforehand for Mu'en to realize her shortcomings.
At the same time, Boss Lin had unsurprisingly once again demonstrated his omniscience and omnipotence.
With this in mind, Mu'en added from the bottom of her heart, "Regardless of what I become, I will always follow you."
There, she expressed her loyalty.
And she wasn't swayed by materialism. What a good girl!
Lin Jie was very pleased, though he was even prouder of his subordinate.
Nobody will be able to poach her away!
"Very well, I'll look forward to that."
He gave Mu'en a pat on her shoulder to encourage his assistant to continue working hard for the bookstore.
With the Rolle Resource Development's distributorship soon, the possibilities will be limitless...
——
While Lin Jie was thinking about Rolle Resource Development, the father daughter duo of the Ji Family were working on the distributorship deal.
But the work this time round had never been harder.
Reason being that they had no idea what they were even selling... Hence they could only fuss over how to sell and who to sell the products to.
The bookstore hadn't expressed any special instructions regarding how to sell the products. Thus, the arrangement naturally would be to follow his habits and practices; the books would be sold how they usually were.
As for who to sell to, this was the most important issue of all. And Ji Bonong already had a plan.
He had already written down a list of names.
And now, when everything was fully prepared, the task would be handed over to Ji Zhixiu.
——
Two days later.
At the entrance of the bookstore, Ji Zhixiu took a deep breath. As per the agreement, she had once more returned here.
Today, she would be presenting Boss Lin the invitation for her banquet as well as collecting the first batch of books.
She pushed the door open and sauntered in, immediately noticing the additional stack of books on the countertop.
There were a total of five books of varying thickness.