"Mum why do you keep mentioning that, I am an adult!" Zhang Liling retorted.
"Alright, you are an adult. Has your father called you since you moved houses?" Song Jujing inquired.
Zhang scoffed. "Does he know that I'm existing? Mum, I really want to go to bed, tomorrow is going to be hectic for me." I have to clean this house very early before facing lectures all through out the day.
"Your father doesn't care about you, and this is the reason you have to return to Paris and..."
Song Jujing was not even done speaking when Zhang Liling cut her words off. The young lady was becoming increasingly irritated with the way her mother was on about moving to Paris.
"Mum, about my coming back to Paris, let's talk about it some other time, good night."
Glancing at her phone, Song Jujing mumbled to herself, "Liling you can't stay back there because there is no one to protect you from that vile woman and her seedlings."
If Zhang Renshu paid attention to Zhang Liling and her affairs, Song Jujing would not be adamant about her coming back to Paris, because there was no family to look after her and protect her.
Zhang Liling would never understand her mother's worries since her attention and thoughts were on Mr. Fang and acing her results, so that getting into Fang Empire would be an easy task.
The next day being Monday, Zhang Liling woke up by 4:30 to start cleaning. Because she had a lecture around 9 that morning, she took advantage of the time Mr. Fang was in the gym to tidy up his bedroom which didn't require much attention.
From his bedroom, she went to his study and then down the stairs. When she was through with cleaning, she ran to her bathroom to wash up and change into a pretty dress.
Today, she wasn't going to carry a backpack. She took a sling bag and put on a pair of sneakers before leaving her room for breakfast.
By the time she came downstairs, Mr. Fang had already left for work. Because she had to leave on time, she had her breakfast alone.
Butler Gu was busy with laundry and watering the flowers outside the house.
Immediately after having breakfast, she took a cab outside the estate and left for NYU.
At the ZHANG MANOR...
Zhang Xiaoling left for work before everyone else. She didn't even have time for breakfast.
Seeing her in such a hurry, Shi Wenqian asked about it. "Do you have a meeting this morning? Why are you in such a rush that you had to skip breakfast?"
"Mum, I need to organize some documents for a briefing with a client. As for breakfast, I will have it later at work, I will send someone to get it for me later," Zhang Xiaoling replied before leaving the house.
She had lied about the major reason she was leaving for work very early. She was leaving for work earlier than usual so she could do much work before her lunch break.
Lunch break only lasted twenty minutes, and starting work on time meant that she would have extra minutes added to her lunch break.
What did she need that time for?
During her lunch break, she took permission from her manager to have lunch outside. Since the manager saw her effort for the day, he allowed her to leave, but told her not to be late.
"Thank you!" Zhang Renshu said a word of thanks before leaving. Her father was the owner of Zhang Group and it was in her nature to be haughty, but today, she didn't act that way.
Since she was not the biological daughter of Zhang Renshu which not many people knew about, she still had to be mindful of her character.
Instead of going to the cafe close to the Zhang Group's office building, she stopped a cab.
"Fang Group," She said to the driver before getting in.
The driver told her the price before driving off.
In the cab, she took out a mirror from her handbag to glance at her face and hair with it. After patting her hair a few times, she took out powder from her bag to retouch her makeup before using her lipstick on her lips.
Smacking her lips, she smiled when she saw that she looked good. The next thing she did was to use her perfume on her neck and wrists before looking out through the window.
The cab driver briefly glanced at her through the rear-view mirror and felt she was familiar, but he couldn't remember where he had seen her before.
Arriving in front of the skyscraper which belonged entirely to the Fang Group, Zhang Xiaoling paid her cab fare and stepped out to stare at the beauty with her goal becoming clearer in her mind.
Releasing a deep breath, she trotted into the building and went straight for the reception area and stopped right there.
"Hello! How can we help you?" One of the receptionist greeted her with a smile, after seeing how fashionably dressed she was, she showed her respect.
"I'm Zhang Xiaoling, I'm here to book an appointment with Mr. Fang." Zhang Xiaoling stated confidently.
The receptionists exchanged an obvious glance before the one attending to her asked, "What's your reason for wanting an appointment with Mr. Fang?"
"It's business related. I want to discuss with Mr. Fang towards a future collaboration with Zhang Group."
"I'm sorry miss, Mr. Fang is not currently collaborating with any company at the moment." The other receptionist said to her.
Zhang Xiaoling refused to give up and shifted her gaze to her, "You said at the moment, which means that he might change his mind later. I know that even in the next 4 weeks, it wouldn't be my turn to see him, so there is enough time for him to change his mind,"
Again, the 2 receptionists exchanged glances before the one previously attending to her asked, "Miss Zhang are you a director, vice President or president of the Zhang Group? I'm not sure you know this, but not just anyone can come and book an appointment to see Mr. Fang, so which one are you?"
Zhang Xiaoling felt embarrassed with her question because she was not even in any category they mentioned. She was not even a manager of her department yet, so what right did she have to want to book an appointment with Mr. Fang?
Seeing how quiet she was, the two receptionists guessed that she was not in that category and felt annoyed within themselves.
Zhang Xiaoling knowing fully well that she has embarrassed herself, gathered her last shred of confidence to ask, "Is it only people of that hierarchy in a company that is allowed to see Mr. Fang?"
"For top companies like the ZHANG Group, the least hierarchy that can see Mr. Fang is a managing director. For middle companies, their Vice President or CEO can come directly, but as for other smaller companies who only have future prospects, only their CEO can see Mr. Fang." One of the receptionists explained with a serious gaze on her.
"I see... I must be at least a managing director before I can book an appointment with Mr. Fang. That's fine by me, thank you for informing me about the details, see you next time," Zhang Xiaoling said as she managed a smile before walking away.
'See you next time' what did that mean?
The receptionists had wanted to make fun of her for not knowing her place before coming in with that confidence to book an appointment with Mr. Fang, but with her unfazed attitude after learning of the conditions to book an appointment to see Mr. Fang, they didn't have any words left to say.
"She said her name was Zhang Xiaoling, is she not the first daughter of Zhang Group's owner?" The second receptionist asked.
The first one who attended to Zhang Renshu earlier, typed away on her system before replying while gazing at Zhang Xiaoling's face on her screen. "She is the one."
"Since she is truly from Zhang Group, why would she come to book an appointment by herself instead of through her father's secretary?"
"Maybe she is here for personal reasons because she should have followed the protocols."
"Or maybe she is also infatuated with Mr. Fang just like the other women who come here looking for an excuse or one stupid reason just to see him."
"All women are in love with Mr. Fang, but most of them are not the real deal, they only like him for who he is."
Zhang Xiaoling was so disappointed when she left the building. She hailed a cab and gave her address before thinking about how to move up the ranks.
She needed to that fast, as the fastest way to meet with Mr. Fang one on one, was to move up the ranks. Or she could just hope for his presence at any high ranking dinner.
Even if he attended which he rarely did, what position qualifies her to attend?
Zhang Renshu would not let her to come along to any kind of dinner. Business dinners or event hosted by the people at the top, had grades.
If it was an important dinner where someone like Mr. Fang would just attend to show his face, she might be unlucky to not attend, and this is the main reason she must move up the ranks this year!
R𝑒ad latest chapt𝒆rs at freew𝒆(b)novel.c(o)m Only