25: I have loved you for fifteen years

Tang Ke's eyes lit up as she said excitedly, "A word spoken by a gentleman cannot be taken back; you must keep your word!"

Jiang Chuan said crossly, "Do I look like a gentleman to you? I've never been one to keep my word."

Tang Ke curled her lip. Unable to refute him, she stopped paying him any mind and turned to whisper with her senior female student.

President Tang was indeed a gentleman who had a lot of face; before long, the two of them arrived at the Part-time Job Society.

Chu Jiaqi was a junior in the Finance Department, a Junior female student in the same department as Jiang Chuan. She had a great figure but was very thin and frail.

However, she had a large face—a standard big-faced girl. She was very friendly and had the gentleness of a girl from the Jiangnan region.

Xu Huaze was very sturdy with a tall, upright build, but his eyes were too small.

It was as if he was in "power-saving mode"; there was no difference between when he opened them and when he squinted.

He was straightforward, saying whatever was on his mind without much scheming. Like Zhang Mingzhe, he didn't seem like a southerner, but more like a northerner.

Chu Jiaqi and Xu Huaze thought only Tang Ke would be there. They were a bit surprised to see so many people and politely greeted them.

Jiang Chuan stood up to welcome these two friends from his past life and introduced himself:

"I'm Jiang Chuan. I just graduated from Luoda University. I'm the one who asked for you this time."

Xu Huaze said in surprise, "You're Senior Jiang Chuan? I was there on graduation day too! I even kicked Xu Kai a few times!"

Jiang Chuan used all his willpower to keep from laughing and sighed:

"It's a pity I didn't get a chance to kick him. That scumbag Xu Kai is truly the shame of Luoda University!"

Several of them nodded in fierce agreement, all deeply despising such a scumbag, unaware that the biggest scumbag of all was right among them.

Chu Jiaqi asked curiously, "What does Senior Jiang want with us? You even went through Senior Tang to call us over."

Jiang Chuan said with a smile, "It's like this: I've started a streaming company, and you're already in your junior year.

It's time to consider your plans for after graduation. Junior Tang Ke has already joined, so I wanted to ask what you think."

Xu Huaze spoke bluntly, "Joining the company is no problem, but what about the salary and benefits? What work would I be responsible for?"

Jiang Chuan was well-prepared; he knew the two of them too well, especially Xu Huaze.

"Junior Xu will mainly be in charge of the Operations Department, such as stream planning, traffic, fan operations, risk control, etc. The initial internship salary is five thousand."

"I believe in Junior Xu's ability. As long as your work performance is fine, the position of COO (Chief Operating Officer) will be yours in the future!"

Xu Huaze was a bit dissatisfied when he heard the five-thousand-yuan salary, but when he heard 'COO', he felt this company had great potential!

After finishing painting the big pie for Junior Xu, Jiang Chuan turned to Chu Jiaqi and said:

"Junior Chu will mainly be in charge of the Finance Department. We're all finance majors, so I know your professional ability. The salary and benefits will be the same as Junior Xu's."

Xu Huaze was the first to speak up, "We're all from Luoda University. Since Senior Tang has joined, then I'll join too!"

Chu Jiaqi thought for a long time before finally nodding and saying:

"Okay, I'll join too. But I want to ask, how much will the salary be after the internship period?"

Jiang Chuan loved employees who actively looked for 'pies'. He held up two fingers and said:

"As long as everything is fine, it'll be this number! Moreover, I've recruited all four hundred members of the Part-time Job Society into the company, so you don't have to worry about being short-handed at all."

Chu Jiaqi was indeed 'fed'. She said happily, "Then I'll join our company too!"

"College students really are easy to fool!" Jiang Chuan was very satisfied with today's harvest. He said to the two of them:

"Alright then, come to the company with Junior Tang tomorrow morning at 8:30 for an interview."

"Okay, Boss!"

"Y-Yes, Boss!"

Both were very respectful. After saying their goodbyes, they walked out of the Part-time Job Society to prepare for tomorrow's interview.

Tang Ke rolled her eyes speechlessly and complained, "Boss, you're too good at bragging. I'm afraid the roof is about to be blown off!"

Jiang Chuan pulled Tan Jing away and said crossly:

"Bragging? This is called building company cohesion. What do you know? Take them out for dinner tonight. We're leaving first."

The two walked out of the Part-time Job Society. Jiang Chuan reopened the sun umbrella, and they huddled under it together.

Tan Jing was clearly even more unnatural than when she arrived. She spoke much less, didn't even look at the road, and silently followed him.

"Junior, how exactly did I help you back then?" Jiang Chuan finally asked the question.

A gentle smile clearly appeared on Tan Jing's face, as if it had happened just yesterday. Without needing to think, she put her hands behind her back, looked down at her toes, and said:

"It was in the spring of our junior year. It rained very hard, and we had taken the same part-time job.

We were servers at a Western restaurant. I had seen you before; you spoke very little and didn't interact with others. Your hair was always long—not like you are now. Back then, you always walked with your head down."

Tan Jing seemed to recall what Jiang Chuan used to look like, and her smile became even more pronounced:

"That day, because of the rain, I arrived a bit late and was criticized by the manager. Because I was in a bad mood, I was a bit distracted and accidentally spilled soup on a customer's clothes."

"That customer said the clothes cost tens of thousands of yuan. I was terrified. Everyone was taking the customer's side and telling me to pay, but I didn't have that much. All the money I had on me only added up to a few thousand."

Jiang Chuan had some recollection now. Back then, Tan Jing had been wearing a mask, and he didn't know who she was. He just couldn't stand a group of people bullying a girl.

Tan Jing continued, "The customer still wasn't satisfied and wanted to get physical with me. That's when you appeared and pulled me out of the restaurant.

The rain outside was so heavy you could hardly see the road. You draped your jacket over me.

You ran with me for a long, long time, but I didn't feel cold. I felt that was the warmest time of my life."

"Jiang Chuan, I think I fell in love with you."

Tan Jing was still smiling, but tears had unknowingly begun to flow. She hadn't dared to say it that night.

Now, seeing such a perfect girl like Shen Qingning, she dared even less to speak out. She was insecure and cowardly, only daring to hide her love in her heart.

She didn't know when the person in her heart would finally notice. But she was already satisfied; being able to stay by his side was enough.

The figure wearing a white mask in Jiang Chuan's mind became clearer and clearer, slowly merging with the person before him.

"Ah, so it was you. I've finally found you."

In his past life, Xinghui Investment once ran into a huge problem with insufficient funds. He and Li Xintong had taken out all their savings, but they still couldn't plug the gap.

But the next day, a bank card arrived in the mail along with a note that had only a password on it.

There was no name. The only trace left was a Q-version little girl wearing a mask in the bottom right corner.

At that time, he had no choice but to use those funds. Afterward, he had looked for this person, but no matter how hard he searched, he couldn't find them.

Little did he know, it was also on that following day that news broke of the famous Streamer Jing Jing's suicide.

Jiang Chuan understood everything now. It all clicked. He knew who the Q-version girl was, and he knew why Jing Jing never turned on her camera until the very end.

35,216,941. That was all the girl's assets. That was the reason for Xinghui's success.

Jiang Chuan's eyes reddened slightly, so he had to move the umbrella away a bit. In his past life, he had countless sets of 35 million.

Even any random card of his had that amount. Even now, he wasn't short of those 30-odd million.

But now, he felt those mere 30-odd million were so heavy—so heavy that his vision blurred, so heavy that it felt like a giant stone was pressing on his heart.

He covered his eyes with his hands. It had been many years since he felt his emotions spiral out of control.

One person under the umbrella, tears trailing down her face, yet her mood was beautiful.

One person outside the umbrella, not shedding a single tear, yet his heart was exceptionally heavy.