Ning Qi

Lianhua Store, Xiufeng District, Guilin City, Guangxi Region

A young man is seen standing at a counter, explaining the features of a digital camera to a middle-aged couple who purchased it from his counter.

That young man is about 175 cm tall, and he has neither a catchy nor an ugly look, but overall an above-average look with a slightly lean but healthy body.

He slowly explained to them until the couple grasped how it worked without losing his genuine smile, before walking them to the store entrance and explaining something to them along the way.

The couple then thanked him and went away with satisfied smiles on their faces. They are extremely satisfied with the considerate behavior of that young man over the digital camera they bought.

The young man then walked back to his counter with a satisfying smile too, as his monthly sales exceeded the target, with the last digital camera sold to the couple.

"Ning! If you maintain this flow for the next 20 days, you're going to receive that bonus of 4,000 yuan or more, haha!"

As soon as Ning Qi walked up to the counter, a middle-aged uncle around 40 years old came to his counter with a wretched laugh.

He is the manager of this branch and is friendly with all the staff members, quite the opposite of how he looks like a bear that is ready to tear everyone apart. That's why one should never judge a person by his looks.

"Huh? Brother Dong! Are you a ghost or something? Why are you always creeping around my counter?"

Ning Qi complained playfully as he saw Dong Xu come here right after he completed his transaction.

Every time he completes a transaction, this manager will come here and count them manually, even though all the sales data will be recorded on the system used for billing.

"Ning! I think you already understand why I'm here, right? I only want to remind you of the promise you made to me yesterday, or else I will become a ghost and haunt you, hmph."

Manager Dong and Ning Qi are good buddies. Right after Ning Qi joined this work 3 years ago, Dong Xu was the one that took care of him a lot by directing him with all the work and also providing a lot of other help like finding a rented house, etc.

Therefore, he and manager Dong is considered the best buddies in this branch, and manager Dong also helped him rise from sales staff to staff leader in just 3 years.

"Alright, brother Dong, we will go right after our shift ends. But my budget this time is only 1,000 yuan ... I'm informing you beforehand, ok? If you go over, you must pay the difference yourself."

Ning Qi expressed his displeasure, recalling the last time he threw a party for this shabby brother. He had spent almost 2500 yuan on that, which is about 1/4th of his salary.

"Alright! Alright! Just don't dampen the mood, ok? Let's thoroughly enjoy our drinking party today and have some fun, haha."

Dong Xu laughed, with expectation for the evening written on his face.

His wife allowed him to drink only twice a month, so he consistently has this silly smile on his face whenever that day comes, indicating that he is about to have a drink.

"Hmm, ok, ok! Now, can you shoo away from here, please? ...You are going to disturb my sales."

Ning Qi shooed him away as soon as he spotted some customers entering the shop.

This branch of the Lianhua store has around 15 sales staff, including two managers and four sales leaders.

Sales leaders report sales to managers, train new sales staff and attend to customers. As a result, their work is the most intense in the entire branch.

Ning Qi became a sales leader three months ago, and he has four staff apprentices under him. His reporting manager is Dong Xu.

Lianhua stores specialize in both the electronics and clothing departments!

The 1st floor is all about electronics, and the 2nd floor is completely for clothing, which primarily includes exclusive brands and is relatively costly.

As a sales lead, Ning Qi handles both electronics and clothing. He needs to complete his monthly sales target and also needs to aid the staff under him in accomplishing their goals.

Even though the work is outrageous and strenuous, the monthly salary is quite high for his job, as his salary itself is 10,000 yuan per month, not to mention the bonus he gets after completing his target.

Ning Qi earns around 20,000 yuan every month, which is reasonably good for him to live in this city.

Ning Qi hastened onward to greet the guests before asking what they wanted to shop for. The guests are two relatively young ladies who look around 23 or 24.

"W-we want to see if there is any new stock present in the clothing section... We visited here last month too, but the staff informed us that the clothes we are looking for are out of stock. We want to see if there is any present now," said one girl a bit timidly.

"Oh! We're delighted to see you back! We restocked the supplies this month... Please give me a sec. I will ask my staff to assist you with the current collections in our store."

Ning Qi asked the girls to wait a moment before pulling out his phone and calling one of his subordinates.

Soon, a young lady, around 25 years old, who looked above average but possessed pleasing smiley eyes, came to them and led them to the second floor.

After witnessing them go off to the second floor, Ning Qi again went back to his counter and laid back a bit. He fished his phone out and started scrolling through it to pass the time until he received more customers.

This routine continued until 7 p.m., which was the end of his shift. He hastily packed all his stuff in the bag and waited for his colleagues at the entrance of the shop.

"Let's Goooo!"

Before long, rapid steps came along with a voice, and finally, a bulky man arrived. Who else is it? It's the big boss Dong, and his face is excited and his voice is hurried.

"Wait a bit! I also invited Wen and Li."

Ning Qi spoke unhurriedly. Zhang Wen and Wang Li are both the sales staff under him, and both of them are equally devoted alcohol lovers.

Su Xiao, the only female staff apprentice under him and the one that he assigned to the girls in the afternoon, and Shen Ming, who is only 17 years old and is not allowed to drink at this age.

"Hey boss, we aren't coming this time. You both carry on... I just received a call from my classmates. We have some kind of get-together that we need to attend so that we can reminisce about some past love, hihi!"

Wang Li, who is fat, said this with a wretched smile on his face. Zhang Wen, who looks weak, stood beside him with a nonchalant face and also nodded his head.

Both of them are around Ning Qi's age, and they are working for a pretty good company compared to their friends (except some).

"Hmm!... Alright, in that case, have fun. Don't cause any trouble, ok? And in case you are in any trouble, call my brother Dong or me."

Ning Qi spoke slowly and dragged Dong Xu away, who was looking at both of them with envy.

In a short time, they walked to an adjacent bar and restaurant named Xiananguo.

"Boss Wen! Please give us our usual and also an extra bottle this time."

Dong Xu shouted at the middle-aged man as they sat at a table.

They are frequent customers in this shop, as the boss doesn't have too many formalities with them. He served their order as soon as possible, amidst the complaints of some other customers.

When they started drinking, they began talking about business and their coworkers.

"How is my sister-in-law doing, brother Dong?" Ning Qi asked, as he didn't want to continue with the job discussions on this happy occasion.

"You Brat!! I know you don't want to talk about work here. Sigh! She is doing pretty well, except that she kept proposing to me to bring you home every day, hehe!"

Dong Xu beamed with a smile as Ning Qi mentioned his wife. He and his wife don't have children, even though they have been married for 11 years. Three years ago, his wife got depressed over this and had to be admitted to the hospital.

At that time, Ning Qi had just begun this work. Knowing that his boss's wife was admitted to the hospital, he visited there and cheered for her for almost the entire month that she was there.

She had been an orphan before marrying Dong Xu, and... she discovers this lively Ning Qi, just like a younger brother, whom she yearned for when she was in the orphanage.

Her depression about not having children washed away with the help of both Dong Xu and Ning Qi, and her health quickly recovered. From then on, Dong Xu started taking extra care of Ning Qi.

"Hm! I will visit this weekend. I also want to eat food made by my sister-in-law, haha!" Ning Qi drooled as he thought of food made by Mei Xu (Dong Xu's wife).