Chapter 8: Wei Xiaoyan
Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
The next day, Su Jin took the subway to the exhibition as usual. She arrived earlier than almost everyone else, but there was one person even earlier than her. Su Jin did not know who it was, though.
Wei Xiaoyan had felt uncomfortable from the moment she saw Su Jin for the first time. She had purposely dolled up nicely to report for her first day, thinking that she should have the spotlight today, but this newcomer had instantly outshone her.
Su Jin looked at Wei Xiaoyan, who was glaring at her extremely viciously. She did not know this overly-tanned girl, did she?
Was this Wang Linda’s recommended newbie?
Just then, Wang Linda walked in, wiping her hands with a paper napkin. She greeted them as she tossed the napkin into a trash can by the wall. When she actually saw Su Jin, though, she felt her heart thump in her chest. Since when had Su Jin been so pretty? She could barely pull her eyes away. In comparison, her cousin looked like an ugly duckling.
Wang Linda had been rather unhappy with Wei Xiaoyan’s appearance today to begin with. This was an exhibition, not a banquet, yet Wei Xiaoyan had caked her face with make-up. The thick eyeshadow and heavy mascara made her look like she would melt if anyone threw water on her. Wang Linda had to resist a strong urge to spray her face with make-up remover.
However, the moment Wei Xiaoyan saw her, she ran up to Wang Linda and hugged the latter’s arm. “Cousin Linda, I’ve been waiting for you! But who is that woman? She’s not part of your company, is she?”
“Didn’t I tell you not to call me ‘cousin’ here?”
“Yeah, yeah. Sis Linda it is.” Wei Xiaoyan hurriedly let go of Wang Linda’s arm. Wang Linda had told her in advance that it would be best if the company did not find out that they were related. That would shine a bad light on them.
Su Jin rolled her eyes. So Wang Linda’s new recommendation was her cousin? Figures.
Wang Linda hastily told Su Jin, “Lil Jin, this is Xiaoyan, your replacement. Her full name is Wei Xiaoyan. Please don’t tell anyone what you just heard, alright?”
‘You want me to keep a secret, but you won’t pay me a fee for my silence? Well played,’ Su Jin thought mischievously.
“I get it, Sis Linda. Don’t worry, I won’t tell anyone. Besides, I’ll be leaving in a few days, so you two will have to keep the show running without me.” It felt good to know their little secret and have some leverage on them. Su Jin did not hold back with her eloquent nonsense.
“You’re leaving in a few days, Big Sis Su Jin? What a shame.” Wei Xiaoyan instantly felt relieved when she heard that Su Jin would not stay here for long.
Big Sis Su Jin, was it? Oh-hoho~
Wang Linda was feeling slightly awkward too. Wei Xiaoyan was far from fair, and her features were plain and flat. Add that to her thick make-up today, and it would not be hard to believe that she was in her thirties. In comparison, Su Jin’s skin was as fair and smooth as porcelain. How could Wei Xiaoyan call her ‘Big Sis’ as though she was so much younger?
Seriously, cousin, open your eyes and use your brain!
Su Jin did not bother holding it against this newly-graduated little snake, either. By then, their other colleagues from the branch were arriving in turn, so they could not just stand around chatting any longer.
Assistant Zhang ran up to Su Jin and asked her on the sly, “Tell me, did you go to the spa and get a facial done? Why’re you so pretty today?”
“As if! I just used a facial mask and took a shower.” She was not lying. She had simply taken a shower and then had an extremely foul-smelling homemade ‘clay mask’.
“What miraculous mask did you use? Send me the link!” Assistant Zhang immediately behaved like a squealing girl friend, asking Su Jin for her secrets excitedly.
“…” Why was he, a grown man, behaving like this?
To be honest, though, Su Jin always thought Assistant Zhang exuded some real bottom energy. He was the spitting image of the silly bottoms she would read about in BL novels. It was just a shame that there was no one else for her to ship him with.
“Um, the mask is my homemade recipe. I’ll teach you when I find the time.” Su Jin hastily tried to pull the wool over Assistant Zhang’s eyes.
“Okay, okay! Don’t forget, alright?” Assistant Zhang had faith in Su Jin. For some reason, from the very first time he saw her, he had the feeling that she was a very reliable person. Later, when they somehow ended up becoming great friends, he realized that Su Jin was more than just reliable. She was practically the ticket to the top that everyone wished they could hitch a ride with~~
All morning, Su Jin patiently taught Wei Xiaoyan everything she needed to know. Wei Xiaoyan’s basic English was decent, but she was lacking when it came to the actual practice.
For instance, there was a foreign client who tried talking to Wei Xiaoyan for a while, but a few lines later he just shook his head and turned back to chat with Su Jin. As the two of them conversed away happily, Wei Xiaoyan felt so embarrassed that she flushed bright red, even if it was slightly difficult to see under all her make-up.
Su Jin wanted to whip Wei Xiaoyan into shape as soon as possible too, because that meant she would have more time to slack off. She had not seen the displays in the other halls yet, and time was running out. Now that she had her dimension, there were plenty of things she wanted to buy.
Wang Linda was anxious as well. After all, she had recommended Wei Xiaoyan for the job, and she relied on Wei Xiaoyan’s communication skills to secure her own sales commissions. She could only pray that her decision would not backfire on her now.
During the noon break, Su Jin went to the restroom at the exhibition center and snuck into the dimension. She had bought an extra set of stir-fried glass noodles that morning and thrown them into the dimension. Even at noon, they were as hot as they were in the morning when she bought them. Oh, and there was the ice cream from last night too. Su Jin ate her noodles as she looked at the ice cream she had tossed in here last night.
The ice cream had not melted at all. Did the dimension really have preservation properties? Before this, she just assumed that the food would spoil at a slower rate in here, but it seemed that the dimension had other surprises in store. In that case, she could make more food and keep them in here from now on.
She did not want anyone to suspect anything, so she left the dimension as soon as she was done eating. A glance at her watch told her that only two minutes had passed.
While it was still noon break, Su Jin headed to the blades stall she had visited yesterday.
The bespectacled man at the stall ran toward her the second he saw her. “Miss Su, ya really came!”
He had thought that she had just been browsing yesterday. While she did say that she wanted to make an order, she was just a dainty young lady. Why would she want so many knives?
“I told you I’d drop by, didn’t I?” Su Jin said with a smile.
The bespectacled man rubbed his eyes. Phew, he thought her beauty would blind him for a second there. She had not been this pretty yesterday… Whatever, his business was more important.
Su Jin was still looking at the knife that had cut her yesterday. In order not to arouse suspicions, she had put a bandage on her wound before leaving the hotel that morning. After all, her colleagues had seen her injury yesterday, and there was no way it would recover completely overnight.
The bespectacled man hurriedly introduced the knife to her, but no matter how he tried to sell it, it was just a normal watermelon knife in anyone else’s eyes. At the most, it might be used for killing pigs.
As the rest of the crowd that had gathered began to dissipate once more, the man grew desperate and told Su Jin that he would give it to her at a discount.
Su Jin played with the watermelon knife in her hands, feeling quite happy with it. The blade was light, decently sharp, and longer than usual. That way, she would not dirty her hands if she used it to behead zombies.
Su Jin asked for the price and decisively booked all of the man’s existing stock.
The bespectacled man was stunned. Their knives were high quality, but they had limited uses. These days, knives were not allowed on high-speed trains, planes, or buses, so many people did not dare to buy them even if they were interested. How were they supposed to bring them home? That was why the company had arranged a deal with the delivery services and offered a full delivery package to try and boost their pathetic sales.
Yet here this young girl was buying 362 of these knives. Could she be part of some underworld gang? Su Jin smiled at him sweetly, and the bespectacled man immediately dismissed that possibility. The lady looked so weak and dainty, there was no way she would be involved in such violent things.
The weak and dainty walked into the booth and looked around at the other knives. Common ones like vegetable and fruit knives were all displayed outside, because there was a higher demand for them. What Su Jin really wanted were the blades inside.
She read the labels for each of the blades. There were deer horn knives, jade folding knives, Damascus steel knives, Damascus hand knives, bayonets, Cold Steel knives, butterfly knives, katanas, Tamahagane knives, karambits, and even some faux-traditional machetes, crescent blades, and swords.
There was an especially eye-catching blade called the Demon Claw. Its hilt and blade were merged into one, and the blade had a nice sleek shape that curved beautifully up to the tip.
The bespectacled man was all smiles as he introduced the blade to Su Jin. The Demon Claw was an in-house design. Although the blade and hilt looked conjoined, they were actually made of different materials. The hilt was made of carbon fiber and the blade was made of Damascus steel, a famous metal that made great long-lasting blades.
As the man was getting more and more carried away with his sales pitch, Su Jin asked for the price and was relieved to hear that it was only 5000 yuan per sword. She made an order for twenty of those and then got a few other blades, including a pretty Mopp folding knife. It was lightweight, cute, but also sharp. Su Jin got one for her younger cousin Mao Qiqi too.
Although he did not know why Su Jin wanted to buy so many knives, the bespectacled man never expected to make such a big transaction out of nowhere. The total bill came up to 630 thousand, and he only breathed easy when Su Jin swiped her card without a moment’s hesitation.
“Miss Su, may I know your delivery address?” The bespectacled man’s manner of speaking turned polite without him even realizing it.
Tsk, how could she forget about that? She had a magic dimension now, so she would not need to send anything back home. That would save her a lot of potential trouble.
“Don’t bother with the delivery, I have a friend who can help me transport them. Right, could you just tell me where your factory is? I’ll get my friend to pick the stuff up in their car.”
Was that really orright? They get ta save another big bill in delivery fees like that. The bespectacled man was delighted, writing down their factory address as he asked, “Ya’er such a pleasure ta do business with, Miss Su. May I know when you’ll be coming to pick up the goods?”
“Let’s make it this Saturday morning. I’ll tell you once we head out.” Su Jin already had someone in mind to go there with her.