Edward Clark stopped in his tracks and looked back at Julia Cooper, his eyes already tinged with emotion. She was undoubtedly a good girl, always considerate of others. He had never imagined that a casual remark of his would be so firmly remembered by Julia Cooper. Even he himself didn’t know how much money he had in his pocket right now!

“You eat here first, just bear with it for now. I’ll make more for dinner and save you a portion. If you come back at noon and haven’t eaten, you can heat it up. You’ll have to pay for the meals later.” Julia Cooper tried her best to make her help seem less like charity, afraid of touching that so-called sensitive pride of a man.

“I probably won’t be able to come back at noon.” Edward Clark smiled. “I found a job.”

“Really?” Julia Cooper’s face lit up with joy, as if she were even more excited than if she had closed a deal herself. “I knew you could do it, Edward Clark. Where is it? How’s the pay?”

“It seems the base salary is a thousand, plus commission.” Edward Clark recalled the offer Olivia Foster had given him. “The name is just one character different from ‘Pioneer’—it’s called ‘Trailblazer’. The general manager values me a lot and wanted me to be the deputy sales director, but I thought it’d be too tiring, so I’ll just keep working as a salesperson.”

Seeing Julia Cooper staring at him in shock, Edward Clark couldn’t help but ask, “You don’t believe me?”

“I—I—Edward Clark, let’s go eat first, we’ll talk after.” Julia Cooper gave him a push. “This meal is to celebrate you finding a new job. Stick with it and do your best.”

The girl’s words clearly had a double meaning. Edward Clark could only nod. “Thank you, I will do my best.”

But the two of them were thinking completely different things. One thought, Edward Clark just got fired, he must feel embarrassed, so she shouldn’t expose his lie about being deputy sales director—she just hoped he would take a job seriously. The other thought, sigh, these days, lies are always easier to believe than the truth.

Section Thirteen: Starting Work

On his first day at work, Edward Clark still dressed up carefully. After all, being a salesperson was different from being a gigolo.

Because of its color, the tie didn’t look old, and the black suit, though a bit wrinkled, looked brand new after Julia Cooper’s skillful hands worked on it. The only problem was that Edward Clark didn’t have a decent shirt—the only white one he had was already yellowed from washing.

When Julia Cooper used half a bag of some detergent, almost scrubbing the collar to pieces, and still couldn’t restore its original color, she helplessly looked up, wiped the soap bubbles from her hands, and dragged Edward Clark outside to buy a new one. Even though it was from a street stall, Edward Clark looked inexplicably sharp in it.

As a salesperson, appearance is the first impression, and of course, it’s very important. Julia Cooper suggested that Edward Clark change his glasses to a pair of small gold-rimmed ones, but Edward Clark flatly refused!

Even so, Edward Clark was still well-dressed and elegant as he started his first day of work. When he arrived at the office, it was only 10:40.

Olivia Foster stopped John Sullivan’s dissatisfaction with a glance and waved, “Mr. Clark, please sit here.”

Edward Clark saw that there was no chair opposite Olivia Foster, and it wouldn’t be appropriate to sit on her lap, so he had to fetch a chair from elsewhere and sat down properly. “Ms. Foster, um, it was traffic again.”

To his surprise, Olivia Foster smiled, graceful and charming, making John Sullivan stare in a daze, his admiration obvious.

“Mr. Clark, I didn’t make things clear to you yesterday. Even if you came in the afternoon today, the fault is mine.” Olivia Foster was using the carrot before the stick. Any leader doesn’t want their subordinates to be lax, but any wise leader also knows that when a salesperson has a deal, it’s better to speak kindly—otherwise, if he takes the deal elsewhere, it’s just a loss for the company. “But I’m officially informing you now: the company’s working hours start at nine in the morning. This time doesn’t count, but if you’re late again, your pay will be docked.”

What she said was perfectly reasonable. You’re working for someone else, it’s an eight-hour workday. If you’re late by two hours every day, it invisibly shortens your effective working time, which no private boss can tolerate.

Edward Clark wasn’t an unreasonable person. On the contrary, he thought he was more reasonable than anyone. He completely understood what Olivia Foster said, but if he had to lose sleep just to get to work early, he’d rather have his pay docked.

“Alright, Ms. Foster, I’ll pay attention to that.” Edward Clark nodded. “Is there anything else you’d like me to do?”

“Your seat is over there.” Olivia Foster pointed to a spot by the window, where the light was great and the air circulated well. Most importantly, there was a potted plant there—it was truly a nice workspace. Two people who looked like sales staff, a man and a woman, were looking at Edward Clark enviously. Clearly, it was a prime spot. “Now, I’d like to hear if you have any concrete, workable plans for yesterday’s deal, Mr. Clark?”

“Yesterday’s deal?” Edward Clark was taken aback. “Does Ms. Foster really think we can deliver the product Fat Bolton needs in twenty days?”