Volume One: High School Days Chapter Thirty: The Arrival of Miss Ya

At four o’clock in the afternoon, Sister Ya arrived at Liu Sheng’s office dressed in an all-black casual outfit. She wore no wig, nor heavy makeup, appearing natural and pure, which immediately stirred all the male employees into a flurry.

“Why are you sitting in the president’s office? Oh, right, what job did you want to find for me?” she asked.

Liu Sheng didn’t answer, but handed her the Wan Group’s account books, saying, “Let me test you first. If you can make sense of these, we can discuss anything else.”

As Sister Ya was reading the documents, Liu Sheng asked, “Any news about Xiao Ya?”

Sister Ya put down the account book and looked up, “Not yet, but don’t worry. If she wants to come back, she will. What happened that day was partly my fault too—I didn’t take good care of her.”

“Alright, let’s not talk about it. You continue reading.”

“No need. This is Wan Group’s debt statement. I never expected such a large company to have so many liabilities. Wait, these should be confidential. How did you get them? Stealing another company’s confidential files is illegal! I know you want to help Xiao Ya, but this will only get you into trouble!” she said, worried.

Liu Sheng, seeing Sister Ya’s concern, suddenly laughed and said, “I didn’t expect you to worry about others. This was the former Wan Group, but I’ve acquired it and renamed it ‘Liu Yao World Animation Company.’ Looks like you really do know your finances. You’re hired. From now on, you’re the financial manager of my company.”

Sister Ya was baffled. “Hold on, let me get this straight. You’re saying Wan Group no longer exists, this is your Liu Yao World Animation Company, you’re the boss, and you want to hire me as the financial manager here?”

“Exactly!” Liu Sheng replied without hesitation.

“If that’s so, how much are you paying me?”

Liu Sheng held up both index fingers to form the number ten.

Sister Ya’s eyes widened. “A hundred thousand? Per month or per year?”

Liu Sheng put down his hands. “Not per month or per year. It’s available at any time—and it’s not a hundred thousand. It’s a ten percent share, but you’ll have to wait until October. I just took over and don’t really know our finances yet. On October first, our company’s animated film will premiere. Once we make money, you’ll get your share.”

“I’m still a bit lost. Even though we’re sitting here talking face-to-face, I find it hard to believe.”

Liu Sheng simply said, “The Legend of Mountains and Seas is my work.”

He picked up the office phone, dialed 1 and 5, and said, “Come in.”

A moment later, a female employee walked in, dressed in professional attire and carrying a contract. “President Liu, I’ve printed the contract.”

Liu Sheng signaled for her to give the contract to Sister Ya.

“Hello, I’m the HR manager. Here’s your compensation contract. Please have a look.”

Sister Ya glanced at the contract, saw the ten percent share, and signed her name without hesitation.

Liu Sheng was reminded of the time he signed a contract with Senhai—just as decisive.

“You’re not afraid I’m cheating you?”

Handing the contract back to the HR manager, Sister Ya replied, “If Xiao Ya trusts a man, I trust him too. She’s been through the worst, so she wouldn’t misjudge now. No one stumbles twice in the same place.”

After the HR manager left, Liu Sheng continued, “Come to work tomorrow. Your first task is to go through all of Wan Group’s old accounts and see if there are any outstanding debts.”

Sister Ya agreed, then said, “I’ll resign from Nightlife tonight and report for work on time tomorrow. And don’t be too upset about Xiao Ya—I’ll try to contact her and let you know as soon as I hear anything.”

That night, Liu Sheng returned home. He’d been so busy over the past month that he rarely went back, always using the excuse of working at Senhai during summer vacation. When he arrived, his father was out managing the hotpot restaurant, but his mother had prepared a table full of dishes. After dinner, he played games with his younger brother.

That night, Liu Sheng dreamed of Xiao Ya wandering alone, unable to buy food, sleeping on the streets—so pitiful that tears soaked his pillow as he slept.

Early the next morning, Ren Xiadong called.

“Liu Sheng! Wait, President Liu! I’m the vice president of Liu Yao World Animation now. Shouldn’t I have a car? Sister Qian laughs at you every day, says you’re stingy, won’t even get me a car!”

Liu Sheng thought it over—he was literally a big boss now, so why didn’t he have a car? Then he remembered: no driver’s license!

“Do you even have a license? And you want a car? You’re not even eighteen!”

Since Ren Xiadong was born in 1994, he’d only be seventeen in 2011.

Ren Xiadong just laughed. “Don’t care! Get me a driver, then!”

Liu Sheng was amused by the request and promised to arrange both car and driver when Ren Xiadong returned.

Just as he was about to go back to sleep, Liu Sheng realized he was a year older than Ren Xiadong—born in 1993, birthday in July, and now it was August 2011. He had just turned eighteen. He got up in a hurry and signed up for an accelerated driving course at a school near campus, aiming to get his license before classes started.

After completing the driving exams, Liu Sheng spent his days at Liu Yao supervising the voice-over work. At five-thirty in the afternoon, Sister Ya reported to him about the accounts.

Currently, the company had not a penny of external debt, but also not a penny of spare funds—paying next month’s salaries would be a problem!

Liu Sheng replied, “Don’t worry about salaries. If I could build a company this big, paying a bit of wages won’t be an issue. It was the right decision to bring you in—you’re very efficient.”

On the way home, Liu Sheng got a call from the driving school. His exam for the first part was scheduled for three days later.

He had everything arranged, only needing to show up for the exams. He already knew how to drive, just lacked a license since coming back to this world.

Over the next few days, Liu Sheng supervised the voice-over work every day, while Sister Ya kept the company’s accounts in perfect order. Ten days before the new semester, Liu Sheng completed his third exam in just twenty days.

On the day he finished his exams, Liu Sheng suddenly invited Sister Ya to dinner, wanting to learn more about Xiao Ya’s past.

Though it wasn’t their first meal together, this was the first time they dined alone. Liu Sheng felt a bit awkward, but after two bottles of beer, he finally said, “I miss Xiao Ya. I think about her every day. Can you tell me more about her past?”

Sister Ya drank with him, sharing everything she knew about Xiao Ya.

In their freshman year, they were roommates. Though both were locals, they chose to live on campus, believing that commuting every day made college no different from high school.

Back in university, Xiao Ya was a quiet, refined girl. Because she was beautiful and had a great figure, many pursued her. In the end, she dated a music student. Everyone knew her boyfriend was a scoundrel—everyone except Xiao Ya. That boy even got another girl pregnant behind Xiao Ya’s back, yet she stayed with him, enduring the pain.

Hearing this, Liu Sheng was filled with anger, but above all, worry for Xiao Ya.

After dinner, they each returned home. That night, Liu Sheng once again fell asleep in tears, longing to meet Xiao Ya in his dreams.

Three days before school resumed, Liu Sheng received his driving license. Ren Xiadong also returned to Xinghai City, and Liu Sheng asked him for a work report.

Over the previous month, Ren Xiadong had followed Senhai’s people everywhere, meeting media outlets, negotiating promotional deals. The prices weren’t high, and Senhai covered everything. Ren Xiadong collected all the relevant contacts, so next time, he could take the company’s operations staff himself.

To reward him, Liu Sheng took Ren Xiadong to a dealership that afternoon. At the entrance, a young man about twenty-five or twenty-six was waiting—Zhou Yi, the driver Liu Sheng had hired for Ren Xiadong.

Liu Sheng proudly showed off his freshly-earned license, making Ren Xiadong green with envy.

“How much did you pay for that license? Don’t let them catch you!”

Liu Sheng shot back, “I passed fair and square, didn’t buy it!”

In the end, they both picked out the same black sedan, costing two hundred thousand each.

Zhou Yi drove Ren Xiadong’s car away, since Ren Xiadong couldn’t drive yet. Whenever he needed to go anywhere, Zhou Yi would be at his service.

Ren Xiadong then rode with Liu Sheng to find Ren Jing—he hadn’t seen his girlfriend in a month and insisted on visiting her that day.

Sitting in the new car, Ren Jing asked, “Did you buy this?”

Liu Sheng, not wanting to show off in front of classmates, preferred to keep a low profile and finish school as an ordinary student. He answered, “It’s my family’s car. I just got my license and wanted to try it out.”

On the way, Ren Jing didn’t say a word to Ren Xiadong, who tried everything to cheer her up, but she ignored him.

During dinner, they almost quarreled—the reason being that Ren Xiadong hadn’t visited her in a month. Liu Sheng had told him not to let classmates know about their company, so he hadn’t said a word to Ren Jing, who thought he’d been avoiding her and got angry.

Liu Sheng almost wanted to tell Ren Xiadong, “Stop coaxing her. You two will break up soon after junior year starts, and the reason is she won’t do long-distance!”

He found it amusing—was this even long-distance? Even couples living in the same neighborhood can’t always see each other every day.

Liu Sheng knew a lot about what was to come, but after traveling back in time, many things had changed because of his involvement. Anything related to him shifted at least a little—like Xiao Ya showing up, or how Ren Xiadong chose science over humanities this time, when before, they’d both studied humanities.

After dinner, Ren Xiadong and Ren Jing parted on bad terms, leaving Ren Xiadong frustrated and gloomy.