B5SB -Chapter 217 Refusing Secretary Jiang

The next day.

After breakfast, Gu Yihan rode her bicycle to the textile factory. After parking, she almost ran into Secretary Jiang when she turned around.

Startled, she quickly stepped back a few paces.

“Gu Yihanshi, you’re here pretty early,” Secretary Jiang said, making small talk.

Gu Yihan frowned. Was this guy sick or something?

She arrived at work just on time every day. To hear this from him, it sounded like sarcasm.

Gu Yihan glanced at Secretary Jiang expressionlessly and nodded slightly, acknowledging his words.

She then strode past him without another word.

The smile on Secretary Jiang’s face faltered, and he quickly turned to follow her.

Patience in his tone, he said, “Gu Yihanshi, the garment factory needs your help.”

Gu Yihan paused, then smiled.

She slowly turned around, her eyes full of disdain, giving him a sidelong glance.

Sarcastically, she said, “Secretary Jiang really has a talent for noticing everything: if there’s trouble, you’re all over it; if nothing’s happening, you’re busying yourself with trivialities.”

A flicker of coldness passed through Secretary Jiang’s eyes. Thinking of the phone call from the garment factory, he forced down his anger.

“Gu Yihanshi, the task the factory assigned this time—you completed it. With the contributions you’ve made to the factory, the model worker award this year belongs to no one but you.”

Gu Yihan scoffed. “Such great achievements… Secretary Jiang, you should really give it to someone capable.”

After saying that, she ignored him and quickly walked toward the accounting office.

Secretary Jiang’s fist, clenched at his side, creaked audibly.

She had no shame—refusing the model worker award that others worked day and night for! And yet Gu Yihan didn’t even care.

Elsewhere.

Humming a tune, Gu Yihan pushed open the office door and cheerfully greeted everyone inside.

“Xiaohan, why are you in such a good mood today?” Hu Shan asked curiously.

Gu Yihan skillfully placed her bag in a drawer, looked up at Hu Shan, and smiled. “The weather’s getting warmer, so I’m in a good mood.”

Only then did Hu Shan notice her floral blouse and straight-leg pants. She asked in puzzlement, “Xiaohan, aren’t you cold?”

“No.”

Gu Yihan replied while flipping through the account books.

She was wearing thermal underwear underneath.

It was already late April, the weather gradually warming. Riding her bike from the residential compound to the factory still left her a bit damp.

“Creak.”

Zhang Limin pushed open the office door and walked straight over to Gu Yihan, placing the account book on her desk.

Frowning, Gu Yihan looked up at Zhang Limin and asked lightly, “Sister Zhang, what’s this?”

Zhang Limin didn’t care about Gu Yihan’s attitude. She pressed the account book forward.

Smiling, she said, “The monthly costs need Gu Yihanshi’s help to check.”

Gu Yihan opened it with one hand and glanced over it. It was the April transactions between the textile and garment factories.

She closed the book and pushed it back toward Zhang Limin.

“I’m afraid this isn’t within my job responsibilities,” she said, refusing.

Sister Min stood up, walked over to Zhang Limin, picked up the account book, and smiled. “Sister Zhang, I’ll help you check it.”

Without waiting for a reply, she returned to her seat and began working diligently.

“Secretary Jiang didn’t notify you that the accounting department would now be under my supervision?” Zhang Limin frowned at Gu Yihan.

She hadn’t expected her first attempt at assigning work to be met with resistance.

No wonder, she thought, even before she joined the factory, she’d heard that the three people in the accounting department didn’t get along.

Surprised, Gu Yihan looked at Zhang Limin. “We didn’t receive any notice from HR!”

Even if Secretary Jiang gave oral instructions, what use was it? They hadn’t received Zhang Limin’s appointment notice, and the bulletin board hadn’t announced it either.

Zhang Limin was from the provincial capital, where interpersonal relationships were far more complicated than at the Kun City Textile Factory.

Now that she knew Secretary Jiang hadn’t notified anyone, Gu Yihan’s refusal didn’t bother her. She turned to exchange a few words with Wang Guixiang before taking her leave.

At noon.

In the staff cafeteria.

Gu Yihan found an empty seat and began eating quietly.

Suddenly, Secretary Jiang’s voice came from above.

“Gu Yihanshi, why are you eating so little?”

Gu Yihan frowned, seeing him sit casually across from her.

“Gu Yihanshi, your salary’s increased now—you can’t just take the money without working, can you?” Secretary Jiang said with a smile.

Gu Yihan took two more bites, closed her lunchbox, and looked him straight in the eye. “Working with foreign partners doesn’t seem to affect your application to transfer to the Industrial Bureau, does it?”

Secretary Jiang’s expression gradually turned cold at her words.

His voice was icy. “How did you know?”

He hadn’t told anyone about his transfer application.

He believed that a secret only remained a secret if it ended in his own mouth.

So for anything related to his career, he would never speak of it.

“You didn’t get to this position easily. I suppose you don’t want Director Yang’s father to know you’re stepping on his son to climb up,” Gu Yihan said calmly.

She had learned this from Hu Shan.

Secretary Jiang’s father remarried, and his stepmother was always worried that he would take her son’s inheritance.

Since he was young, she had driven a wedge between him and his father.

Years of manipulation had made father and son bitter enemies.

Secretary Jiang’s achievements today were all thanks to Director Yang’s father, who had paved the way for him to come to Kun City and assist Director Yang.

Secretary Jiang remained expressionless, quietly observing Gu Yihan, then let out a low laugh. “Gu Yihanshi, it seems I underestimated you.”

No matter how angry he was, he had to endure it, because cooperation with foreign partners was crucial for his transfer application.

The path had already been cleared; he needed to elevate the textile factory one more level so that the transfer wouldn’t appear abrupt.

“Gu Yihanshi, one shouldn’t be so selfish. Great men have said that the contradictions between us and the enemy are antagonistic contradictions.”

“The country needs foreign exchange. You can’t let your personal grievances with me override the interests of the nation.”

Gu Yihan gave Secretary Jiang a cold look. He was using a great man’s words to pressure her.

“Secretary Jiang, are great men’s words meant to have farmers develop technology or invent the atomic bomb?”

Secretary Jiang instinctively shook his head. How could he let farmers do something so specialized? They couldn’t even read.

“Exactly. I’m just a humble accountant. I haven’t studied fashion design. No matter how much you talk, a great man wouldn’t put the pressure of earning foreign exchange on a small female employee,” Gu Yihan said, sneering as she picked up her lunchbox and walked away.

If he wanted her to secure follow-up orders with foreign clients, he was dreaming.

She wasn’t someone who sacrificed everything for honor.

Watching Gu Yihan’s back, Secretary Jiang knew this approach wouldn’t work. He needed to quickly find someone familiar with the Western market.

A trace of malice flashed in his downcast eyes. “If someone refuses wine, they must drink the penalty wine. Seems I should notify HR—Gu Yihan’s salary will remain the same as before!”