Quickly, Zhang Liling made a call to her manufacturer to place an urgent order.
"Two thousand pieces. No, two weeks is too long. You have the formula there with you. A week at most. No, it is out of the question."
Pacing around the gym room with her left hand on her waist, she continued to speak with her manufacturer as Fang Bingwen watched her from the side while gulping down a bottle of water.
"Ten days then."
A few moments later, she got off the phone with them and shrieked excitedly.
"Mr. Fang, the next badge will be here in ten days. My hard work has paid off!"
"What hard work?" Mr. Fang asked while capping the bottle back.
Standing to his feet, he said, "You didn't even speak for more than 5 minutes, how is that a part of your hard work?"
"Didn't you hear me negotiating with them?" Zhang Liling raised a questioning brow at him.
Wasn't he paying attention to her all this while?
"Can that be categorised as a negotiation skill? You must be joking with me."
There was no way Fang Bingwen was going to see that little act of hers as a powerful negotiation. He wasn't going to give her any credit for it.
Does she even know what negotiation is? She was only eating toasted bread with jam.
She didn't even do any work.
Follow on NovᴇlEnglish.nᴇtJust like he imagined, her negotiation skills must be at the bottom of the gauge.
Not wanting to argue with her, he stirred the conversation to another direction.
"How can you be working around in a shirt, do you think we live alone?"
As he said that, Zhang Liling followed his gaze down to her exposed thighs.
She was still staring downwards when he took her hand and led her out of the room. "Follow me."
At that same time interval, Fang Bingwen gave her a sports outfit that suited her because of the skinny trousers, leaving her no room for argument.
After changing into the new outfit, they went for breakfast together while one of the servants got her outfit from the previous day, ready.
*******
As Glint's launch has been on the news since last night because of the hype around it, plus the kind of guests that graced the event, the new brand that just ventured into the market, became the talk of town.
And as this was so, it was not a question for Shi Wenqian not to see it.
The first thing that greeted her sight, was the morning newspaper lying on the centre table in the living room, which was delivered by one of the maids.
On the front page, an interesting caption that included Zhang Liling's name, was captured by her eyes.
"Zhang Liling?"
Immediately, she picked up the magazine. Furrowing her brows, her gaze went to read the caption clearly.
Everything about her step daughter must be treated as important since she had to keep tabs on her anyways.
'Zhang Liling, the founder and CEO of the new brand, Glint.'
Just as Shi Wenqian finished reading that line, it was as if her eyes wanted to pop out from their sockets.
"This can't be!" She mumbled to herself as she flipped the newspaper over to the next page and there, another relating caption greeted her sight.
'Glint's first launch which was hosted yesterday by Zhang Liling, was attended by prominent stars in different industries.'
Below the caption, she saw a group photo that was clear to the eyes.
Zhang Liling was standing in the middle along with Fang Bingwen, Song Jujing and Zhang Renshu, as all other guests surrounded them.
Under the large frame, names of the guests in the photo, was listed.
The more Shi Wenqian's eyes scanned, the more her breathing hitched.
The fingers holding the ends of the newspapers, were already trembling out of shock.
She was unable to control her emotions.
Just by seeing that caption and the few photos attached to it, she couldn't believe her eyes.
How did she not see something like this coming?
Not just that, seeing the part were most of the names of the guests were written, she went mad.
She could clearly see her daughter's name, Zhang Xiaoling, along with a few from the Tang family.
What was worse, was that not even her husband or her daughter told her about Glint being Zhang Liling's.
Follow on Novᴇl-Onlinᴇ.cᴏmShe, just like them, had been hearing about Going, but because of the work she had at hand, she didn't pay it no mind.
'After all, it was just a new brand trying to grab people's attention using heavy publicity.' That was her thought a few weeks ago.
"This can't be! When did she start planning something like this?"
Shi Wenqian was still in shock as this was an automatical mental breakdown for her.
It actually meant a lot to her for Zhang Liling to that go that far without her knowledge.
How was it possible for her to make it when she was there?
Feeling betrayed by her daughter and the man that she no longer regarded, she crumbled the first page of the newspaper in her hands.
Shi Wenqian could feel her chest rise and fall with great speed as her eyes squeezed shut in pain, but she didn't even care that much.
Two minutes later after recovering a bit of her sanity she had long lost, she picked up her phone to make a call.
And as soon as the receiver answer, she started her questioning section.
"Xiaoling, how could you keep that kind of news about Zhang Liling out of my reach?"
"What news?" Zhang Xiaoling inquired in a groggy tone. She seemed half-awake from the way her voice sounded.
"You knew Zhang Liling was the owner of Glint all this while?" Shi Wenqian asked, making things clear for her.
This time around, Zhang Xiaoling understood her, but made sure to ignore her tone.
"I didn't know."
"But you attended the event yesterday." Shi Wenqian retorted angrily.
Who was she trying to play that kind of trick with?