Back to the 1980s: Becoming the Villain's Lucky Wife

Qin Jiao said, ”I’ll hire you because you’re a good fit for this job. If I don’t, it will be because you aren’t, not because of any personal grudges. Besides, Senior, as I recall, in all our past clashes, I was never the one who came out on the losing end, was I?”

Li Man was speechless. ’How infuriating! But there’s nothing I can say.’

Qin Jiao then turned to Sun Lili. ”Sun Lili,” she said, ”I’m quite surprised you applied for this position. After all, you’re guaranteed a great job placement after graduation. Is it worth giving that up to come work for my small clothing company?”

”Qin Jiao, you might not believe this, but you’re my idol now. I want to learn from you. It’s true, I could have a great job lined up for me, but I don’t feel that’s the right path for me. I want to work hard with you and help you build your business.”

’If only I’d realized this sooner and listened to Qin Jiao, maybe I wouldn’t have been stuck in that mess with Shen Feng for so long.’

’So long that I nearly broke off ties with my family, so long that I kept banging my head against a wall until I was bloody and broken.’

Thankfully, during her suicide attempt, Qin Jiao had berated her until she finally came to her senses. Only then did Sun Lili realize how truly foolish she had been.

’To think I was so foolish as to give up so much for the sake of a relationship.’

Her studies had fallen behind, and she had even angered her grandfather so much that he ended up in the hospital. Sun Lili thought about it for a long, long time before she finally accepted it all. She no longer loved Shen Feng.

She would forgive herself and let go of that love.

Qin Jiao said nothing after hearing this, simply picking up her thermos and taking a sip of water. Li Man, however, grew anxious. ”I’m better than her in every respect, aren’t I?” she blurted out. ”Qin Jiao, if you end up hiring her instead of me, it can only be because you’re letting a personal grudge get in the way!”

”Li Man, right now, I’m not your junior from school. I’m your boss. You have almost a year of work experience. Is this how you talk to your boss?”

”I...” Li Man’s face paled.

’No, I wouldn’t do that.’

She had been perfectly polite to the HR manager earlier. But at the time, Li Man had thought that was just a temporary formality. Once she joined the company, she figured she would be on roughly the same level as the HR manager.

But when she saw Qin Jiao, she couldn’t hold back. The memory of being bested by Qin Jiao in the past had become a thorn in her side.

Sun Lili turned to look at the dejected Li Man and said softly, ”Senior, it’s really not worth it over a man.”

Li Man gave a bitter smile. ”I stopped loving Xu Zhengyang a long time ago. And honestly, I know that even if Qin Jiao hadn’t been in the picture, Xu Zhengyang would never have loved me.”

’So what did I even do back in school, besides study?’

’Thank goodness I didn’t neglect my studies, otherwise I’d be so ashamed I’d want to find a hole to crawl into.’

Qin Jiao asked, ”Senior, can you tell me the real reason you’re so determined to have this job?”

Li Man froze. She clenched her fists again, then finally said, ”My dad is very sick. He needs a lot of money. The salary for the job I was assigned is too low—it’s less than a third of what you’re offering here.”

In truth, Li Man had looked elsewhere, but no other company paid as well as Jiu Yi!

Qin Jiao extended a hand to Li Man, who froze, taken aback.

Qin Jiao smiled. ”Welcome to Jiu Yi, Senior.”

”Qin Jiao! Oh, no—Boss. You mean... I’m hired?”

Qin Jiao nodded. ”That’s right. However, I’m not going to make you head of the legal department right away. You’ll have to work with the other team members for a while. I need to see your performance during a three-month probationary period. Only then will you pass the final review. But don’t worry, for these three months, you’ll be paid at the department head’s salary level.”