Chapter 242: A Private Lunch and Business Insights

At noon, Jiang Jingshi prepared a steak lunch for Lin Zheng Ran alone in the private kitchen.

During serving, someone’s phone buzzed with a message from Heqing.

The chat message Heqing sent through her device looked soft and endearing:

“Lin Zheng Ran, when are you coming?”

Originally, after Jiang Jingshi recovered, Lin Zheng Ran had planned to visit them today, but she showed up instead.

So, he’d have to go in the evening.

After replying to the message.

Heqing knew Lin Zheng Ran was busy, so she didn’t press further.

“Okay, we’ll wait for you in the room tonight.”

Jiang Jingshi set her steak on the table, intending to sit across from Lin Zheng Ran, but then thought better and asked, “Mind if I sit next to you for dinner?”

Lin Zheng Ran thought Jiang Jingshi always had that air of an eldest miss about her: “Sure, sit wherever you like.”

Seeing him on his phone, Jiang Jingshi cut his steak for him.

Just as she finished, his phone rang again—this time from Jiang Group work. Ever since her recovery, their calls had been relentless.

Lin Zheng Ran asked curiously, “Is that Jiang Group again?”

Jiang Jingshi looked annoyed at the interruption: “Yeah, can I take this call?”

After Lin Zheng Ran agreed, she picked up and quickly chatted with them.

She hung up hastily—it was about some clients.

Lin Zheng Ran suggested, “Does Jiang Group always struggle with clients?”

Jiang Jingshi said casually:

“Clients come in all shapes and sizes, with personalities as varied as can be. Some are just hard to read. Lately, the manufacturers for our new products have been tough to deal with… Oh well, let’s not talk about it. Time to eat.”

Lin Zheng Ran smiled and said:

“We’re not discussing it now, but once I leave in a few days, you’ll still have to deal with it. I heard you pushed everything to tomorrow on the call, and besides Jiang Group, our company has plenty of clients to handle too?”

Jiang Jingshi gazed at Lin Zheng Ran gently: “Tomorrow when you’re not at the company, I’ll have nothing else to do, so I’ll slowly figure out how to manage those clients. No rush then.”

Lin Zheng Ran pondered if All-Encompassing Mastery could help here: “Do you have detailed info on these clients?”

“Yes, it’s all on my phone. Why?”

“Let me see it.”

Since he asked, Jiang Jingshi pulled up the client info on her phone and handed it to Lin Zheng Ran.

Though this was Jiang Group’s confidential material and shouldn’t be shown to outsiders.

But Lin Zheng Ran was different; Jiang Jingshi had no guards up with him.

Lin Zheng Ran skimmed the client files: “These people are the target audience for Jiang Group’s new products, right? Try to sell as much as possible to them.”

“Exactly. These are some bosses from other provinces. In our province, Jiang Group has a lot of influence, so business talks go smoothly, but out-of-province bosses are temperamental.”

Lin Zheng Ran tried using All-Encompassing Mastery on the files—it worked.

Any industry knowledge he needed flooded his mind instantly.

Lin Zheng Ran pointed to a boss’s photo: “If direct talks fail with this one, approach through his ex-wife indirectly.”

Jiang Jingshi was puzzled: “His ex-wife? Do you know him?”

“How would I know someone from out of province?”

He pointed at the photo, taken outdoors—a middle-aged man in a white shirt and suit pants on a trip.

Nearby were picnic items like blankets, food, and a vase with flowers on the blanket, along with other odds and ends.

Lin Zheng Ran explained:

“See, the picnic food is for two, like this boss eating with a friend. From the setup, the other person is a man, but there’s a bouquet on the blanket, and he’s wearing a wedding ring on his ring finger.”

Jiang Jingshi caught on quickly:

“The vase and his things are together, so he brought the flowers. A man bringing flowers to a picnic and wearing a wedding ring means he really cares about his wife?”

Jiang Jingshi smiled suddenly, curious but not doubting:

“It makes sense logically, but something feels off. For example, how do you know for sure he’s divorced just from this photo? What if his wife couldn’t make it? And some men like flowers—maybe he’s that type?”

“…”

Lin Zheng Ran didn’t say more, just pointed to another detail in the photo.

It was the man’s ring finger.

Jiang Jingshi zoomed in on the photo, her eyes widening in shock—the ring he wore didn’t match the ring mark on his finger.

The current ring was noticeably smaller than the mark.

Lin Zheng Ran had spotted such a fine detail at a glance.

Lin Zheng Ran explained:

“From this, the man has a wife now, but the ring in the photo isn’t from his current marriage—the mark doesn’t match. He clearly swapped it out before going out, and with the flowers, it’s likely he still pines for his ex-wife.”

Lin Zheng Ran added: “Of course, this is just a guess, not 100% accurate, but it gives a direction. Have someone investigate from there—it should work wonders.”

Jiang Jingshi was getting used to Lin Zheng Ran’s genius traits.

It seemed whatever he did, he was always a step ahead of others.

She nodded: “It definitely will. Just that ring alone says a lot. If the sales team follows this angle, we can close the deal.”

She praised with a sigh:

“You’re amazing! I always thought I was sharp at analyzing clients, but compared to you, I don’t even have an edge. If I had your skills, business talks would be so much easier.”

Lin Zheng Ran reached out his hand. Jiang Jingshi asked, “What?”

Lin Zheng Ran said seriously: “I shared all that not just to help temporarily, but to make things easier for you in the future.”

“Hmm? What do you mean?”

Lin Zheng Ran: “Hold my hand. Just answer what I ask truthfully, and after, I’ll teach you some insights. Then, you’ll find reviewing these files much easier than before.”

Jiang Jingshi looked at Lin Zheng Ran’s serious face; she didn’t quite get what he was doing.

But as his girlfriend, she wouldn’t question him.

“Really? That sounds incredible?”

She clasped his hand, their fingers intertwining.

Gently, she asked: “Okay, what do you want to ask me?”

Lin Zheng Ran asked: “Do you want to stay with me forever?”

Jiang Jingshi’s eyes trembled, still lingering on their earlier kiss, her face flushing:

“Of course. From now on, I’ll always be yours and only yours. This life is yours—I’ll follow you forever.”

[You have successfully formed a contract with the Empress of the Imperial City]

Lin Zheng Ran smiled and let go: “All right, now I’ll look at a few more clients, and your work will get easier.”

She was even more confused: “That’s it?”

“Yeah, it might seem odd, but you’ll see soon.”

Next, Lin Zheng Ran analyzed several more clients. Jiang Jingshi didn’t expect much at first—after all, it was just holding hands.

But as she listened, her beautiful almond eyes grew wider with shock, because a unprecedented clarity filled her mind. She found herself keeping up with Lin Zheng Ran’s thoughts!

She was increasingly able to pinpoint the key angles for these clients.