This group of people didn’t run; they talked as they walked.

Jian Hang asked Qin Shu, “How many laps did you run when you first started?”

Qin Shu also didn’t remember this, “Two or three laps? It really depends on your situation. If you can’t stand it, just run less. If you feel okay, add a lap or two more. It took me more than a year to get to this point, adding laps one by one.”

Now she felt almost nothing after running fifteen laps.

When she first started running, she was so tired that she cried.

On the other side, Han Pei and Qin Moling were chatting, “Your wedding is scheduled for September?”

“Around that. The specific date has not been decided yet.” They could take advantage of Jian Hang’s long break to hold the wedding. Qin Moling said, “I’ll tell you when the date is set.”

This would let Han Pei free up those days in advance.

Han Pei—as his family member and friend since childhood—would naturally go with him to pick up the bride along with the other groomsmen.

After chatting for a few minutes and walking half a circle around the track, they started running separately.

Han Pei and Qin Shu ran ahead. When they had run a few dozen meters, Qin Moling said to Jian Hang, “Start jogging.” He stayed beside her.

When Jian Hang was running her second lap, she felt a tightness in her chest and a twinges of pain in her heart.

By the third lap, she was sweating profusely. Her legs felt like they were filled with lead and tied down with sandbags. She felt like her legs were no longer her own.

By now, Qin Shu and Han Pei had passed them by several times.

Sometimes Qin Shu would chase Han Pei, and from time to time she would tug at Han Pei’s clothes and ask him to pull her along. Han Pei would also sometimes push Qin Shu’s back, pushing her along for a distance.

Qin Shu laughed crisply, the two of them running and playing, and before they knew it, they had finished another lap.

Jian Hang sighed. The relationship between Qin Shu and Han Pei was the normal way for young couples to get along, but between her and Qin Moling, they ran three laps without saying a word.

They kept an even distance from each other.

Jian Hang originally wanted to run four laps, but after three and a half laps, she felt suffocated by lack of oxygen and could not run any further.

Running was not like working on a project that required staying up late all night. You could just grit your teeth and persevere.

“I can’t do it anymore.” Jian Hang panted, taking several breaths before she finished saying these five words.

She couldn’t stand straight; she could only bend over and support herself with her hands on her knees.

She felt so tired that she was about to die. That was how she felt now.

Qin Moling knew that she had tried her best. She ran three and a half laps this time, which was completely beyond his expectations.

He ran over, lifted her up, and let her lean against his arms.

Her clothes were soaked, her hair was dripping with sweat, and her face was pale. He rested his chin on her forehead and stroked her back, soothing back and forth, “I’m sorry.”

Jian Hang clutched at the sides of his T-shirt with both hands and waited until she had caught her breath, “Why are you apologizing? I was the one who wanted to run this much.”

Qin Moling said, “Just run three laps tomorrow.” When she finished running three laps earlier, he could see she was tired but embarrassed to stop. He should have asked her to stop and rest, but he didn’t say it.

Jian Hang rested in his arms for a while until her heartbeat slowly returned to normal.

She raised her head slightly, “Boss Han and Qin Shu have gone back?”

Qin Moling corrected, “Han Pei.”

Jian Hang followed his mood and asked again, “Han Pei and Qin Shu have gone back?” 

“Yes, they just left.”

“I didn’t expect them to have such a good relationship.”

Qin Moling said, “Yeah.”

Jian Hang heard from her mother-in-law that Han Pei and Qin Shu also met through a blind date, but their two families were in an alliance marriage—unlike her and Qin Moling, who were not a good match in terms of family status. There was an invisible barrier between the two of them as they try to get along.

When the pain in her chest subsided, Jian Hang stood up from his arms.

She took the water Qin Moling opened and drank half of it in one go, “Let’s go, I’m fine.”

Qin Moling took the bottle from her and screwed the cap back on.

Worried that she couldn’t walk, he deliberately slowed down his pace.

He suddenly thought, if she was Qin Shu tonight, what would Qin Shu do? Qin Shu would probably act like a spoiled child to Han Pei and ask Han Pei to carry her back.

Qin Moling glanced sideways, “Are you tired?”

“I’m fine. I have no problem walking.”

“If you’re tired, I’ll drive the car over here.”

“No need,” Jian Hang pointed to the parking lot, “It’s only a hundred meters away at most.”

Qin Moling had wanted to say, ‘If you are tired, I will carry you for a while’, but later—he didn’t know how—when he actually said it, it became “I’ll drive the car over here”.

He lowered his head to find her hand and held it.

Jian Hang didn’t look at him. He separated her five fingers and interlocked his with hers.

On this journey of more than a hundred meters, words seem redundant.

… …

When they got home, Jian Hang didn’t have the energy to do anything else.

She ran three and a half laps tonight, exhausting all her energy.

“I’m going to sleep.” She said to Qin Moling and lay down on the bed.

Qin Moling took her used bath towel to the bathroom. After just a minute, he walked to the bed and saw that she was already asleep.

Tomorrow was Monday. She would discuss with him the conditions for her to go to Lemeng’s Fourth Division. He didn’t know whether she would go to the company in the morning or in the afternoon.

He turned off the lamp, leaned over, and kissed her on her eye.

Jian Hang was too sleepy to open her eyes. She thought that she was having an erotic dream in which Qin Moling was kissing her.

… … translated by Maela @ whitemoonlighttranslations.com

The next day, Jian Hang was woken up by the alarm clock.

She planned to go to Lemeng this morning to discuss her conditions with Qin Moling and other Lemeng executives.

After turning off the alarm, she tried to sit up and her brows immediately furrowed.

Her thighs hurt so much that she couldn’t move.

Due to lack of exercise for a long time, those three and a half laps last night almost cost her her life.

Jian Hang had no choice but to send a message to Qin Moling: [I’ll be there at three o’clock in the afternoon.]

She needed to stay at home this morning and move her legs about, otherwise she would definitely be wobbly when she walked.

Jian Hang finally got out of bed, and every step she took was a hundred times more difficult than last night.

By noon, her legs still hurt, but she could walk normally—just barely.

Before going out to Le Meng, she found a dark blue high-waisted long skirt and matched it with the simplest white shirt. She tucked it into the skirt with a cinched waist.

Her legs were not strong enough to wear high heels, so she went out wearing flat shoes.

Qin Moling informed several other directors in the morning that he planned to recruit Jian Hang to be the General Manager of the Fourth Division.

The reaction of several directors was the same as Uncle Qin’s: they thought that Qin Moling was planning to divorce Jian Hang.

Some people disagreed. “Jian Hang has no experience at all. As an outsider, she can’t manage the veterans in the Fourth Division.” They all knew the situation in the Fourth Division.

Some disagreed, not because they were considering Jian Hang’s lack of expertise, but mainly because they were worried about the Fourth Division and didn’t want the people there to make a fuss and cause more problems.

Qin Moling said, “Inviting Jian Hang is my decision after careful consideration. Jian Hang coming to the Fourth Division is much riskier than not using her in the Fourth Division. She is not worried about taking this job, so you don’t have to worry either.”

If it were any of the other three Divisions, they would definitely not agree to Jian Hang parachuting in. But the situation in the Fourth Division unit was a bit special. Perhaps, if she tried her best, maybe the division could still survive?

They didn’t know much about Jian Hang, but now that even Uncle Qin agreed to hire her, they didn’t say anything more.

At 2:50, Jian Hang arrived at Lemeng’s conference room 10 minutes early. Qin Moling and several directors were already there. This was a different kind of interview.

Jian Hang smiled faintly and nodded slightly in greeting.

Qin Moling motioned to her, “Sit down.”

Jian Hang chose a chair opposite Qin Moling and sat down. This was the first time the two of them had dealt with each other in a workplace setting. As he sat there, his powerful aura radiated to her.

Qin Moling skipped the polite words and went straight to the point, “Tell me your conditions.”

Jian Hang took out her notebook and opened it; she came prepared.

Considering that she was changing her career, salary was not her main consideration for the first few years because the annual salary that would be offered by the company could not possibly be higher than that of a venture capital institution.

“Before I came here, I have a brief understanding of Lemeng and the Fourth Division. The Fourth Division has been operating losses. I don’t know how much Lemeng is willing to invest in the Fourth Division. If I come here, I can’t cook without rice. So, within a reasonable range, give me the right to raise funds. This is the first condition for me to come to Lemeng.”

As soon as she finished speaking, several directors looked at each other. Lemeng has never given financing authority to any Division General Manager.

“The second condition is that I must have a relative say in the R&D department.”

After Jian Hang finished speaking, several directors looked at Qin Moling at the same time. All the R&D teams of the four Divisions were under the Group’s management. They only listened to Qin Moling and were only responsible to Qin Moling.

“One last condition,” Jian Hang glanced at the directors, then looked at Qin Moling, “If I am allowed to be in charge of the Fourth Division, I must have absolute authority to appoint and dismiss personnel in the Fourth Division.”

She stressed it again, “Absolute.”

Don’t let higher-ups parachute in a relative every few days.

Also, don’t let the higher-ups step in and make excuses when she wants to adjust someone’s position.

“I’m heading the Fourth Division, and the Fourth Division is my team. Since it’s my team, then I have the final say.”

Qin Moling looked at her. Her tone was strong and did not allow room for negotiation.

Marriage First, Love Later translated by Maela @ whitemoonlighttranslations.com

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Chapter 47.1 — Careful Attention
Chapter 47.2 — Careful Attention