Chapter 101

Chapter 101

Three days later, at Lincheng Airport.

Jiang Xingchen had bought his ticket back to the United States for today. Chen Zhicheng was away on a work trip and couldn't make it to see him off, so Jiang Yicen and Nan Shuyi accompanied him to the airport instead.

Jiang Xingchen was lugging two large suitcases, both filled with items he'd purchased on behalf of family members: "I thought I'd come back to the country solo and head back solo, but I ended up finding relatives after all. Thanks for seeing me off here."

Jiang Yicen: "No need to be polite—we're family after all. By seniority, I might actually rank higher than you."

Jiang Xingchen: "Man, what a rip-off—my seniority's actually lower than yours."

But hey, what could he do? The guy had the exact same face as his great-great-granduncle. He couldn't even bring himself to call the guy "little bro."

Jiang Yicen cracked a smile, then got serious: "What are your plans after you finish handling the company matters?"

Over the past couple of days, Jiang Yicen had chatted with Jiang Xingchen about the Jiang family's business in the States. Turns out they ran a chain of Chinese restaurants and had set up a company. Business had been doing great, but this time, Jiang Xingchen got scammed by a friend in a partnership, nearly wiping out their entire savings.

The one thing that really comforted him was that nobody blamed him. Everyone pitched in what they could—money or elbow grease—and nobody even chewed him out when he came back to sell the family home. They were all ready to ride out this storm together.

Jiang Xingchen scratched his head: "Maybe I'll start a new business, or maybe I'll just find a job. I'm pretty clueless right now."

Jiang Yicen nodded: "Alright, hit me up once you've sorted things out over there."

Nan Shuyi, however, asked: "Any leads on that buddy of yours who ran off with the cash?"

Jiang Xingchen: "Not yet. Cops are still on it, but it'll be way harder if he's skipped the country."

Jiang Yicen: "Was he in cahoots with someone else?"

Jiang Xingchen: "Yeah, he teamed up with some Japanese guy. I just don't have proof. They're already poaching most of our customers, standing outside our door every day showing off. It's sickening."

The second Nan Shuyi heard the word "Japanese," a fire lit up inside him: "Teaming up with a Japanese guy? He deserves to die a thousand deaths."

Jiang Xingchen was just as fired up: "Exactly. He's my mortal enemy now."

Jiang Yicen, on the other hand, stayed eerily calm. A guy who teamed up with the Japanese to rip off the Jiang family fortune—that guy deserved to die, and so did the Japanese.

He traded a look with Nan Shuyi, who could see the rage simmering behind his calm eyes.

Jiang Yicen said: "Get on your flight first. Once you're back and you've dealt with all this, we'll talk more. There's always a way to handle those who mess with you alongside the Japanese."

This was both a national grudge and a personal vendetta.

Jiang Xingchen: "Is there actually a way?"

Jiang Yicen: "There will be."

His firm reassurance put Jiang Xingchen at ease.

"When I get back, I've gotta tell my grandparents and everyone about meeting you."

And with that, he happily hopped on the plane.

After seeing Jiang Xingchen off, Nan Shuyi kept staring at Jiang Yicen the whole drive back.

Jiang Yicen touched his own face: "Got something on my face?"

Nan Shuyi said: "You're so sharp—how come the younger generation of your family is so clueless they got themselves scammed?"

Jiang Yicen: "Kids these days are too sheltered, and it was a friend they'd grown up with. You can't blame him. Think about it—if you asked Zhou Yi to invest in your new project, wouldn't he?"

Nan Shuyi: "True. He'd trust me no questions asked. Before, when I wanted to buy the restaurant to raise funds, he was willing to loan me three hundred million."

Jiang Yicen: "And if you never paid him back, wouldn't he be left high and dry?"

Nan Shuyi thought about it and laughed: "Then he'd just have to go home and mooch off his parents."

Jiang Yicen was happy for Zhou Yi, having such a good friend—and even more thankful that his own husband was Nan Shuyi.

·

After seeing Jiang Xingchen off in the morning, the two returned to the company in the afternoon.

Jiang Yicen didn't really bother with keeping his distance from Nan Shuyi at work anymore. Everyone figured they were just friends, so nobody thought twice about it.

The new product had finally been locked in as tea drinks, split into three series, each dropping on different dates. He'd named the line something super retro: "Little Tea Stall."

When he'd first pitched the name during the brainstorming session, everyone voted for it unanimously.

Nan Shuyi mostly let him run the project solo without butting in, only stepping in to help when he hit a wall or got stuck on something.

Jiang Yicen wanted to push himself, and Nan Shuyi gave him that chance.

Back at the office, they each had their own stuff to handle.

Jiang Yicen sat at his computer. He'd gotten pretty good at typing now, his speed matching people who used computers all day.

He'd even gotten the hang of a bunch of office software.

He had plenty on his plate lately—the ad campaign for Little Tea Stall needed his final sign-off.

But before Little Tea Stall even dropped, a little hiccup happened.

Jiang Yicen had barely gotten comfortable in his chair when his assistant knocked and walked in: "Mr. Jiang, a company beat us to the punch with a drink, and they ripped off our ad slogan!"

Jiang Yicen frowned: "What's going on? Our project's been under wraps, and the ads haven't even gone live yet. Where did the leak come from? Which company are you talking about?"

Assistant Yang: "It's Jiangda. The ad agency our branding team works with also works with Jiangda. They used our slogan first. Should we redo the ad?"

Jiang Yicen said calmly: "This is on the ad agency. Jiangda clearly came ready for this."

Assistant Yang: "So do we need to swap out the slogan?"

After Nanyuan pulled his investment from Jiangda and Jiang Yicen had fallen out with the Jiang family, he hadn't paid much attention to what they were up to.

He only knew that Lu Xiao had left Jiangda, unwilling to wade into that muddy water. He'd started his own venture, seemingly heading toward smart technology R&D, and had even asked Nan Shuyi whether he wanted to invest. At the time, Nan Shuyi hadn't yet considered buying Yongjiang Restaurant, so he'd put in some money.

Jiang Gongming had already stepped down from his key position. The current head of Jiangda was Jiang Gongming's ex-wife, Ms. Lu. Jiang Yicen had never had any dealings with her, but the fact that Jiangda's new beverage had made it to market—she must have played a significant role. The project was managed by Jiang Yiting, and she was his biological mother. With her support, it was no wonder Jiangda's new product had launched.

Jiang Yicen found it hard to say anything favorable about Ms. Lu's character, given how she'd raised her two sons to be what they were.

Jiang Yicen didn't immediately reply to his assistant. Instead, he asked: "Can we get our hands on their product?"

Assistant Yang: "Yes, I'll have someone bring one over now."

Jiang Yicen nodded.

Information about new projects was easy enough to come by—every company had new products launching. It was just that everyone deliberately steered clear of each other's offerings.

Who would've thought we'd hit a problem like this right before the new product launch? It was obvious Jiang Yiting was deliberately targeting Nanyuan, rushing their launch to drop right before ours and screw us over.

Assistant Yang quickly had someone bring over Jiangda's new products.

Jiangda's new launch was a summer series—six different drink flavors in one lineup.

Jiang Yicen sampled each one.

"Try them yourself," Jiang Yicen told Assistant Yang. "Tell me what you think?"

He'd tasted them during his last trip to the Jiangnan project, and thank god he had—he'd jotted down the pros and cons of every flavor. Back then, he'd told Nan Shuyi the product had no real identity, figuring Jiangda would go back to the drawing board. Instead, they just grabbed six flavors out of dozens and rushed them out the door.

After tasting them, he didn't think they were any better than before.

Assistant Yang was another gem Jiang Yicen had handpicked—guy had an incredibly sharp palate.

He was blunt with Jiang Yicen: "It goes down okay at first, but then your throat gets all sticky, and you're reaching for water to wash it down. They dumped a ton of sugar in there."

Jiang Yicen nodded along: "Exactly. A drink's whole job is to quench your thirst, but theirs just makes you thirstier the more you sip. Completely defeats the purpose."

Assistant Yang: "Our Little Tea Stall actually hydrates you, and you get this nice lingering aroma in your mouth. Ours is way better—theirs can't compete. But their marketing push is fierce, and it's clearly aimed straight at us."

Jiangda's stuff couldn't hold a candle to theirs. The boss had personally overseen everything, tasting hundreds of flavors to narrow it down to three series, and he'd even jumped in to tweak the recipes multiple times.

Assistant Yang had sampled it so many times his tongue went numb, but the boss kept at it without missing a beat—that guy's palate was unreal.

On top of that, they'd filed for a patent on the formula during development. And they'd also redesigned the bottle packaging with a fresh concept and patented that too. Just those two moves alone showed how much thought the boss put into this.

Jiang Yicen said, "I'm not sweating the marketing side." After all, they had their Master Nan handling that.

Assistant Yang: "So they're just being a bunch of jerks to mess with us."

Jiang Yicen moved on to another topic: "How are our physical tea stalls looking? Can we get everything locked in for launch day?"

Assistant Yang: "I'll go verify again."

Since they were setting up physical tea stalls, there was no way to keep it under wraps from anyone sniffing around for info on their new product.

The fact that Jiangda could tweak their ads and rush them out meant they'd probably pull something else too.

Jiang Yicen also told the work group to re-audit the entire launch process and cover every possible contingency.

The head of the branding department came by in person to fill him in. They were planning to sue the ad agency they'd hired for leaking trade secrets.

Half an hour later, Assistant Yang came back with everyone's reports.

Sure enough, Jiangda's sabotage wasn't just in the ads—they'd also swooped in and grabbed the best spots for offline events first.

For instance, they were planning to set up a little tea stand at the subway station, styled after those roadside stalls from the Republic of China era—and Jiangda had already set up theirs in advance.

But Jiangda's wasn't a traditional Chinese tea stand—it was a knockoff of an 80s-90s corner store. Both of them were playing the nostalgia angle.

Jiang Yicen had a feeling Jiangda had more tricks up their sleeve. He could only stay on guard, but he had no idea where they'd strike next.

What the hell was Jiang Yiting trying to pull?

He called Lu Xiao directly. Now that he had Chen Zhicheng as a connection, Lu Xiao had warmed up to them over time.

Jiang Yicen: "President Lu, it's Yicen."

Lu Xiao: "Yeah, I know. Did Zhicheng put you up to something?"

Jiang Yicen wasn't one to poke into other people's love lives, but Lu Xiao's protectiveness and possessiveness over Chen Zhicheng were hard to miss.

He chuckled: "No, nothing like that. Isn't he off at work?"

Lu Xiao: "Good. So what do you need?"

Jiang Yicen: "I wanted to pick your brain about Jiangda."

Lu Xiao: "What about Jiangda?"

Jiang Yicen laid out Jiang Yiting's project: "So here's the deal. From your angle, what's my big brother been scheming? After Nanyuan pulled out, does Jiangda even have the cash to keep developing products and running marketing?"

Lu Xiao: "They've definitely got money, but it's probably coming from my aunt. Jiang Gongming wanted Nanyuan's investment back then to fight my aunt for control of Jiangda. Now that he's completely washed up, Jiangda's basically hers. And since I left, it's all my aunt and her son's turf now."

Jiang Yicen said with a self-deprecating laugh: "So I accidentally did your aunt a favor?"

Lu Xiao: "Sort of, but it's not like she can easily prop up Jiang Yiting either. Jiangda still has the Lu family elders to answer to. And you know Jiang Yiting's track record—he's not as slick as he looks; he's all bark, no bite."

Jiang Yicen: "So this whole Nanyuan thing—was that his call?"

Lu Xiao: "Not necessarily. Hang on, let me ask around about who Jiang Yiting's been talking to lately. My aunt wouldn't go after Nanyuan—she's too smart to mess with something that big."

Jiang Yicen: "Okay."

Lu Xiao called back half an hour later.

Lu Xiao: "I checked with one of my cousins. Jiang Yiting hooked up with another company that threw some money at him. You probably know the one."

Jiang Yicen: "I know them?"

Lu Xiao: "It's Nanyuan's rival. I remember their candy sells pretty well."

Jiang Yicen: "So it's them. Got it. Thanks, President Lu."

Lu Xiao: "No worries. Let's grab a meal together when Zhicheng's back."

Jiang Yicen: "Sounds good."

He'd been swamped all morning, and the second he hung up, the intercom buzzed.

Nan Shuyi's voice crackled through.

The snarky Master Nan made his entrance: "Sixth Master, who were you on the phone with all that time?"

Jiang Yicen: "Just talking to Lu Xiao about Jiangda."

Nan Shuyi: "I already heard about the Jiangda thing."

Jiang Yicen: "You're always in the loop."

Nan Shuyi: "Babe, I'm in the group chat. Took one glance and I knew exactly what was up."

Jiang Yicen: "I just asked Lu Xiao. Turns out Jiang Yiting's teamed up with that company that fought us over the collab before."

Nan Shuyi: "Maria Candies?"

Jiang Yicen: "Yeah. What's the deal with their backers?" Nan Shuyi frowned: "Maria Candies is run by the son of Huanxin's big boss. Huanxin's been our rival for years—always going head-to-head with us and playing dirty. Twenty years ago, they rounded up a crew and threatened to blow up our factory. There were even rumors that Qiao Muchen's dad hired a hitman, all because their products were selling worse than the competition's. They wanted to off the rival's boss, and it scared him so bad he hired eight bodyguards overnight."

Jiang Yicen: "The mob?"

Nan Shuyi's just-formed frown eased again, and he chuckled, "There's no mob now. If the head of Huanxin dared to pull that, he would've been locked up by now. Still, he's a slippery one, but he won't easily wade into the Jiangda and Nanyuan mess."

Jiang Yicen: "So it's Jiang Yiting and Qiao Muchen working together."

Nan Shuyi: "Probably. It's no surprise those two found a way to link up. We snatched Qiao Muchen's project before, and now Jiang Yiting thinks we ruined his new one. They might've just gotten together and teamed up for their shady dealings."

Jiang Yicen was unafraid: "I'll cross that bridge when I get to it."

Nan Shuyi sensed a note of confidence in his words: "So you've got a plan, Sixth Master?"

Jiang Yicen smiled slightly: "In the end, competition always comes back to the product. Now that I know who's behind this, the way forward is clear."

Nan Shuyi chuckled softly over the phone: "Need any backup?"

Jiang Yicen preferred the landline over a mobile phone. He twirled the cord, listening to Nan Shuyi's low laugh, feeling deeply at ease.

Jiang Yicen didn't want to trouble Nan Shuyi; he could handle it himself: "I'll let you know if I need anything."

Now, he could hold his own in this modern world, gradually adapting to its pace and understanding how the market worked here. There's always a way around every problem.

Just as the two were about to discuss what to have for dinner, he heard Assistant An's anxious voice on Nan Shuyi's end.

"Master Nan, the boss just collapsed!"

Nan Shuyi: "I'll go check on him."

Jiang Yicen: "What's wrong with Dad?"

Nan Shuyi's voice tightened: "I don't know yet. I... I'm getting a little scared."

Jiang Yicen: "Don't worry. I'm coming over now. Let's go to the hospital together."

Today really was a case of when it rains, it pours.