Chapter 42

Ning Yuxuan stared at her mobile phone screen.

Why was he calling?

Ning Yuxuan's first instinct was to hang up, but then she felt that doing so would make her look weak, as if she were terrified of him.

After a few seconds of hesitation, Ning Yuxuan pressed the answer button and held the phone to her ear.

The man’s crisp, cool voice came from the receiver: "Xuanxuan?"

Ning Yuxuan remained silent.

After two seconds, Xie Zhiyan spoke again: "I know you're listening."

There was a hint of an indiscernible smile in his voice.

Ning Yuxuan: "..."

She gave a light cough and put on an act. "Hello? The reception isn't very good. What did you just say?"

"Nothing much," Xie Zhiyan said. "Did you just send me a message?"

Ning Yuxuan rolled over on her bed and deliberately replied in a casual tone, "Oh, sorry. I meant to send a message to my younger brother, but I sent it to the wrong person. Did I disturb you?"

There was a second of silence on the line before Xie Zhiyan said, "No disturbance. I just got home."

Ning Yuxuan gave an "oh" in response. "That's good then. If nothing's the matter, I'll hang up?"

"Wait."

Ning Yuxuan's heart tightened instantly.

Xie Zhiyan: "Nothing else you want to ask me?"

Ning Yuxuan bit her lower lip. "Like I said, I sent it to the wrong person."

Over the phone, the man seemed to let out a low sigh.

"Goodnight then, Xuanxuan."

Ning Yuxuan: "...Goodnight."

After hanging up, Ning Yuxuan stared blankly at her phone screen for two seconds.

The next moment, she rolled over forcefully again, burying her entire face into the pillow.

Ning Yuxuan, oh Ning Yuxuan, what is wrong with you!

Wasn't it just asking how many girlfriends he's had? Why did you have to hem and haw, hesitating like a coward!

After all that tossing and turning, she still hadn't managed to ask.

Having spent the entire day in meetings with the renovation team, the accumulated exhaustion of a busy day washed over her once more.

Clutching her phone, Ning Yuxuan drifted off to sleep without realizing it.

Over the next few days, Ning Yuxuan led her management team through several more meetings, ironing out various detailed issues with the renovation crew.

The hotel's general manager, Chen Jun, had been present the whole time. Having worked at Huayuan for so many years, his industry experience and understanding of Huayuan itself far surpassed Ning Yuxuan's.

Ning Fei also attended a few times, though she refrained from interfering with her daughter's decisions and simply sat in as an observer.

From Ning Fei's attitude over these past few days, the members of the management team could tell that she was preparing to gradually hand over the hotel's management rights to her daughter.

No one dared to openly oppose this decision, but when the notion first surfaced, quite a few people had harbored private objections.

Ning Yuxuan was too young, and more importantly, completely devoid of industry experience. Her only redeeming quality was perhaps a prestigious academic background, which still wasn't enough to command widespread respect.

Some even went as far as approaching Chen Jun privately, suggesting that as general manager, he should find a way to persuade Ning Fei to reconsider, urging her not to let a hotel that had finally gotten back on track be ruined by personal favoritism.

However, by now, the dissenting voices had dwindled by more than half.

Whenever Ning Yuxuan pulled them into meetings for discussions, the data she cited and the points she made clearly reflected meticulous preparation. Thanks to her previous multiple on-site inspections, her understanding of the conditions of the new branches was even more profound than Chen Jun's.

As for her strategic decisions, while their long-term effects remained to be seen, at least there were no issues in the short term.

Only a small faction remained dissatisfied with Ning Yuxuan, primarily due to the decision to suddenly open four new branches in Tongxing District all at once.

Compared to Tongxing District where the new branches were located, guests traveling to Beicheng for tourism or business activities distinctly preferred staying in the more prosperous central six districts rich in cultural landscapes.

Zhou Lin, the hotel's deputy general manager, had even taken the initiative to speak with Ning Fei beforehand: "Sister Fei, since we've secured investment from Hengjiang, such a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity—why aren't we choosing to open the new branches in the central six districts?"

As a veteran who had joined Huayuan since its inception, Zhou Lin was experienced and slightly younger than Ning Fei, privately addressing her as "Sister Fei."

Ning Fei had answered Zhou Lin: "The investment was secured by my daughter, and the location is the result of discussions between her and President Xie of Hengjiang."

Zhou Lin still couldn't fathom it: "Sister Fei, I understand your trust in your daughter and President Xie. But no matter how powerful Hengjiang Group is, they aren't professionals in the hotel industry after all—they're merely providing the funding. When it comes to choosing hotel locations, they aren't necessarily more experienced than those of us who have spent years in this industry."

Regarding her daughter's initial decision, Ning Fei herself hadn't been entirely clear on the reasoning behind it.

Later, when Xie Zhiyan came to visit their home with her daughter for the first time, he had personally explained the rationale, and Ning Fei had stopped overthinking it.

However, after hearing that her daughter and Xie Zhiyan were together, Ning Fei had begun to harbor a flicker of doubt:

Could it be that Xie Zhiyan only provided the resources to support her daughter unconditionally because he liked her?

Yet, having already decided to give her daughter full support, Ning Fei naturally wasn't about to back down.

In the end, that discussion failed to yield a mutually satisfactory result, and Ning Fei had mentioned the matter to her daughter, hoping she would pay heed to Zhou Lin's perspective.

For veteran employees like Chen Jun and Zhou Lin, who had stayed with Huayuan from its earliest days and risen to management, valuing their views and opinions was of the utmost importance.

After Thursday's management meeting concluded, Ning Yuxuan asked Zhou Lin to stay behind.

"Aunt Zhou," Ning Yuxuan began with a smile, "regarding today's meeting agenda, please feel free to share any thoughts you might have with me."

Zhou Lin hadn't expected Ning Yuxuan to keep her behind specifically.

After a moment of surprise, Zhou Lin replied, "Yuxuan, I admit your capability is much stronger than I anticipated, and you've adapted to this industry remarkably fast. I have no objections to the various details we discussed in today's meeting."

Ning Yuxuan asked, "No objections to the details. What about the overarching direction?"

Zhou Lin observed Ning Yuxuan's expression and, seeing that she seemed genuinely interested in her opinion, spoke her mind: "Then I'll be completely honest with you, Yuxuan. To be frank, I still disagree with the decision to open four branches in Tongxing District all at once, but..."

Ning Yuxuan raised an eyebrow. "But?"

Zhou Lin continued, "But since we've reached a point of no return, I will still do my utmost to cooperate with you and make these four branches a success."

Ning Yuxuan smiled. "Good. Aunt Zhou, your words set my mind at ease. How about we make a bet?"

A trace of surprise flashed in Zhou Lin's eyes. "What kind of bet?"

Ning Yuxuan smiled gently, "A bet that the value of these four new branches will double within a year compared to when we took them over."

Zhou Lin froze for a second before turning serious. "Yuxuan, it's not that Aunt Zhou doubts your capability. If you had said two or three years, I might think it achievable. But one year..."

She shook her head, leaving the rest unsaid.

Yet Ning Yuxuan looked entirely confident: "Aunt Zhou, in my view, one year is more than enough. The terms of this wager are also my own personal goal, but I truly cannot accomplish it alone—your help is crucial to me."

Zhou Lin stared thoughtfully at Ning Yuxuan for a few seconds, then suddenly chuckled. "To be honest, I don't know where you get such confidence. But since you've put it out there, whether we succeed or not, I'm willing to do everything I can to help you."

In Zhou Lin's view, everything Ning Yuxuan had said sounded like children playing house, every word reeking of naivety and childishness.

Even so, there was undeniably something in it that touched her.

Huayuan was the company she had spent the longest time in throughout her career, and the one into which she had poured the most effort.

At forty-five years old, Zhou Lin still considered herself in her prime for pursuing a career; she had rich experience and her physical stamina hadn't significantly declined.

She truly wanted to strive and make another major achievement, but she could see that Ning Fei lacked strong ambition in the hotel industry, opting for stability in almost all her decisions over the past two years, which ran counter to Zhou Lin's philosophy.

Zhou Lin had considered jumping ship, but having walked step-by-step with Huayuan from scratch to where it was now, personal affection and compensation packages made it hard for her to make up her mind to leave.

Now, with the addition of the young Ning Yuxuan—regardless of whether her goals were overly grandiose—it at least injected a renewed sense of purpose into the entirety of Huayuan, giving Zhou Lin a fresh direction to strive toward.

Having received Zhou Lin's answer, Ning Yuxuan raised her hand. "Then let's work hard together."

Zhou Lin shook her head helplessly, but still cooperated by high-fiving Ning Yuxuan.

This young lady's style was truly completely different from Ning Fei's; perhaps this was the advantage of youth.

Leaving work on Thursday evening, Ning Yuxuan arranged to meet Tao悠 again.

After running into Shen Chipeng and his friends during their previous outing, not only had it wasted time, but they hadn't even managed to enjoy shopping properly.

This time, Tao悠 happened to have a compensatory day off on Thursday, so the two agreed to have dinner together.

They went to a Japanese restaurant—not as upscale as the previous one, but extremely popular and requiring reservations two or three days in advance.

This time, Tao悠 insisted on treating no matter what.

When they met up, Ning Yuxuan finally understood the reason.

With a sweet smile, Tao悠 announced, "Xuanxuan, my boyfriend and I are holding our engagement banquet next month. Do you have time to attend?"

Ning Yuxuan asked for the specific date and location. It was a Friday next month, which happened to be a statutory holiday.

What she was currently doing amounted to working for Ning Fei, but her schedule was much more flexible.

As long as it didn't conflict with pre-scheduled variety show recordings, she could easily clear her schedule in advance to attend.

Seeing Ning Yuxuan agree, Tao悠 beamed from ear to ear. "I knew Xuanxuan you're the best! The scale of this engagement banquet isn't very large; among my friends, I've only invited you and Miaomiao. Lanlan flying back from abroad would be too much trouble, so I told her to just come for the wedding."

Tao悠 was referring to their other two college roommates from A University, one of whom was currently working in a neighboring city while the other had gone abroad for further studies.

After expressing a few more words of anticipation and joy, Tao悠 smiled and asked Ning Yuxuan, "Oh right, Xuanxuan, you and your overbearing CEO boyfriend probably haven't held an engagement banquet yet, right? Do you have a date in mind?"

Ning Yuxuan thought of the two marriage certificates locked in her home drawer.

They had already registered their marriage, so holding an engagement banquet was naturally unnecessary.

Ning Yuxuan shook her head. "We're not planning to have an engagement banquet."

Disappointment flickered across Tao悠's face. "Ah, why? Is it that you don't want to, or does your boyfriend not want to do it?"

Ning Yuxuan pondered for a moment and decided to take the blame upon herself: "I'm just too lazy."

If she said Xie Zhiyan didn't want to do it, given Tao悠's personality, she would surely share her indignation and stand up for her, and the meal might end up turning into a criticism session against Xie Zhiyan.