Though thoroughly disillusioned about Jiang Lin, the cooperation between Ruiyi and his company went unusually smoothly. Having closed such a major deal, Jiang Xiaoyi felt a surge of confidence along with her pleasure—being a boss, it seemed, wasn’t so hard after all!
While things went smoothly for Jiang Xiaoyi, Ye Zhen was riding high on his side too.
The comic studio under the game company he’d previously signed a framework cooperation agreement with was now surging forward with unstoppable momentum. Ruiyi’s legal department and the other party’s legal department had finally hammered out the specific details of the cooperation agreement today, completing the OA approval process—all that remained was to formally sign the agreement.
When Ye Zhen used to be a boss, he’d never handled specific business himself—when an OA approval reached his level, if he found a clause insufficiently strong, he’d simply toss it back with a casual line telling the business department to renegotiate. Now that he was actually handling business himself, he discovered that just the back-and-forth haggling over contract terms was exhausting.
Though the framework contract had been settled long ago, when it came to implementing the specific cooperation details, the other company—now bolstered by the popularity boost from the game’s release—had gained leverage in negotiations and grew considerably tougher on the formal contract, with many clauses subject to hard bargaining.
Though it was difficult, Ye Zhen ultimately settled the contract, securing the most favorable investment profit-sharing ratio and terms for Ruiyi.
“Then we’ll formally sign at Ruiyi tomorrow at eleven in the morning.”
After confirming the signing time with the counterpart’s contact, Ye Zhen finally let out a breath of relief.
Tomorrow, he’d complete an entire year’s KPI, and he’d finally be able to hold his head high in front of Jiang Xiaoyi.
Being a working stiff—how hard could it be? Wasn’t he, Ye Zhen, still able to do it just as well as anyone?
Jiang Xiaoyi had no events today requiring his attention, so Ye Zhen sat in the project incubation department, calmly opening a document, deciding to start drafting his project performance report.
After all, with the project set to close tomorrow, Ye Zhen figured that once he finished the performance report, he could practically start drafting his speech for the year-end outstanding employee award ceremony.
But perhaps Li You’ai couldn’t stand seeing him so at ease—right around lunchtime, he sauntered over to Ye Zhen and handed him an assignment—
“This afternoon at Yuekai Hotel’s East City branch, Hall Two, there’s an event, somewhat training-related in nature. Represent the company and attend.”
Ye Zhen frowned. “What event?”
How had Jiang Xiaoyi never mentioned this?
Li You’ai’s expression darkened. “What? Now that you’ve signed a big project, you’re getting arrogant? Boss Jiang did have you continue helping out in the project incubation department—are you now refusing to follow orders from your superior?”
Seeing Li You’ai about to make trouble again, Ye Zhen didn’t want to bother arguing with him—once he finished signing the project tomorrow and completed his KPI target, he’d talk to Jiang Xiaoyi about leaving the project incubation department.
Li You’ai was probably making things difficult for Ye Zhen on purpose, or perhaps he’d simply been too absent-minded during the meeting to actually know the event’s theme, but in any case, he couldn’t name a specific topic. However, this was currently a busy season for cultural and entertainment events and exhibitions, and in past years around this time, most partners did tend to hold themed events or exhibitions. Ye Zhen figured attending as Ruiyi’s representative wouldn’t hurt. Besides, Yuekai Hotel was a five-star establishment, suggesting the event’s caliber wouldn’t be too shabby.
By the time Ye Zhen arrived at the venue, it was just as he’d expected—the event looked rather high-class. Just from the quality of the tea break refreshments, the organizer was clearly well-funded. The attendees were all in formal wear, looking like social elites. Even the event’s slogan sounded quite positive—”Advance Hand in Hand, Forge Ahead Together.”
Only, after Ye Zhen circled the room once, he still had no idea what exactly this “advancing hand in hand” and “forging ahead together” was supposed to mean about. Still, the atmosphere among the attendees was rather lively. The only odd thing was that every single attendee was male.
They did all seem to be executives, though—Ye Zhen glanced at the nameplates in the front rows, and it was all “East China Regional General Manager,” “South China Regional General Manager,” “Central-Western Level-One Manager,” “Overseas Level-Two Manager,” and similar titles.
Though he had no idea what companies these front-row men belonged to, they looked like they might be even stronger than Ruiyi—after all, as Ruiyi’s representative, Ye Zhen didn’t even have a nameplate seat and had to find a random seat himself.
The event started promptly, with quite a grand production—first came a light-and-sound show, and then the organizer’s representative took the stage, his title displayed on the electronic screen: Special Mentor of the Urban Elite Class, Honorary Graduate of a Prestigious American Business School, Top 20 Global Channel Operator, Global Founder of the Refined Men’s Club, Brand Curator Kevin.
Ye Zhen read through this carefully, several times over, and still couldn’t figure out exactly what qualifications this middle-aged man—wearing an expensive suit, sporting a slicked-back hairstyle, and looking somewhat greasy—named Kevin actually possessed.
A Refined Men’s Club? Such a thing existed?
Perhaps Ye Zhen simply wasn’t well-informed enough, because the rest of the crowd seemed to know Kevin inside and out. The moment Kevin appeared, thunderous applause erupted.
Kevin’s stage presence was steady—the moment he took the stage, he made a gesture, and the entire hall fell almost instantly silent.
“Distinguished elite gentlemen, today we gather here for a shared goal! In this world, we men struggle mightily. Some say a man’s success is simply keeping his family well—but we say no to this trend! We men should have our own careers too! We men! Should stand up!”
“How many of you here, our City Elite Class’s outstanding graduates over the years, have excellent educational backgrounds—many graduated from top domestic universities, and even more have studied abroad. Yet after all this effort we men put in to surpass ourselves, to pursue excellence—was it all just so we could return home and change diapers and do housework? No! We should stand up! We should unite! We should contribute our excellence to society!”
Kevin’s voice rose and fell with practiced cadence, his tone impassioned, deeply inflammatory: “Being born a man is not original sin! We must forge ahead in this difficult society! This is the founding intention of our City Elite Class from the very start—to cultivate more business elites!”
“Every one of the excellent Level-One and Level-Two managers sitting here today—which of them isn’t male? Who says we men are inferior to women? Every single one of us sitting here has proven with our own actions that men, too, can rise into corporate management, can start businesses, can become bosses!”
Though Ye Zhen had no idea what the event’s theme actually was, these words of Kevin’s did strike something deep in his heart. But before he could even get around to being moved that this society, too, had awakened men, he heard Kevin abruptly shift gears on stage—
“Many of you today are attending our event for the first time—now you too have the chance to become one of our elite men. Join our Refined Men’s Club—it only takes a tap of your finger, scan this QR code, register as a member, pay a ten-thousand-yuan membership fee, and enjoy lifetime membership benefits, including free access to all our future high-end banquet events going forward, plus ten sets of our refined men’s facial masks to take home, becoming from that point on an entry-level agent for our products, and you can recommend it to your friends and family—once you successfully refer one new member, you can be upgraded from entry-level agent to mid-level agent, and going forward, you’ll earn commission on every sale made by the downline agents you develop……”
After finishing his passionate spiel, Kevin produced, seemingly from nowhere, an unlicensed, unregulated facial mask and began pitching it: “This mask doesn’t clog pores. After I used it, when I went out to do business, those female clients’ eyes lit right up—their gaze simply couldn’t leave my face. After just one week of using this mask, my sales revenue tripled!”
“Refined men, start with a daily facial mask! Successful entrepreneurship starts with the facial mask business! Self-care is a man’s lifelong pursuit—we men should grasp both self-care and career with equal firmness! Let your woman look at you with newfound respect—handsome and striking, while also earning money to support the family!”
“……”
This turned out to be some kind of multi-level marketing event peddling knockoff products……
Ye Zhen was simply speechless. What kind of event had Li You’ai sent him to? What did this have to do with Ruiyi’s business? He’d have to have a good talk with Jiang Xiaoyi about this later—what was going on with Li You’ai?
Ye Zhen pressed his lips together, his face dark, and turned to leave. But before he could even rise from his seat, a group of law enforcement officers burst into the venue’s entrance and sealed off the exit—
“We are officers from the Market Supervision Administration’s enforcement task force. Based on citizen reports and follow-up investigation, we have determined that this is a major gathering of unlicensed distribution agents involved in the illegal manufacturing and sale of unlicensed facial masks, and we have already raided the associated illegal manufacturing site. Everyone please cooperate with our investigation—you will all be taken in together.”
……
Ye Zhen had simply run into terrible luck—he’d never expected Li You’ai to have set him up to attend an unlicensed facial mask marketing conference, only for the whole thing to get swept up in a raid.
No matter how he tried to explain that he wasn’t part of this group and didn’t know any of these other men, the Market Supervision Administration staff were utterly unmoved: “You say you’re not part of it, and that settles it? Which of these men here isn’t dressed to the nines? You really think putting on a nice suit makes you a social elite? You young men just don’t learn, and you drag down us diligent, upstanding men too. Is money really that easy to make? You’re just sitting around waiting for money to fall from the sky. Do you know how many people’s faces these unlicensed masks have ruined?”
The officer handling Ye Zhen’s case, a man himself, couldn’t help but give him a disdainful once-over: “Looking at that pretty-boy face of yours, I bet you don’t even need these unlicensed masks, do you?”
“You say your superior tricked you into attending—where’s your evidence of that summons? Talk is cheap. Out of the ten men here, eight of them are claiming they’re innocent too……”
……
Li You’ai had indeed only verbally instructed Ye Zhen to attend, and lacking any evidence, no matter how he explained himself, the staff refused to release him. To prevent him from potentially coordinating a story with others, they even temporarily confiscated his phone.
By the time he could use his phone again to contact Jiang Xiaoyi, three hours had already passed.
In the end, the truth was naturally sorted out, but Ye Zhen still endured a stern half-hour lecture from the staff before being released. When he saw Jiang Xiaoyi, the way people around him looked at him bore a striking resemblance to how one might regard a recently released convict……
A female Market Supervision Administration officer glanced at Jiang Xiaoyi, then at Ye Zhen, sighing with some feeling: “Ah, so it’s true—women really do judge men by their looks.”
She held back for a moment, then, seemingly unable to help herself, pulled Jiang Xiaoyi aside and earnestly advised her: “Sweetheart, you’re about the same age as my daughter, so let me give you some advice too—men with pretty faces are usually not too bright in the head. Falling for this kind of unlicensed mask success-scheme is truly senseless. You seem like a proper girl—for the sake of your future, you should cut your losses now. A handsome face is just a beautiful pillowcase stuffed with straw!”
“……”
Though the officer had tried to lower her voice, the distance was so close that Ye Zhen still heard every word clearly.
Jiang Xiaoyi hadn’t said anything the whole way, but the look she gave Ye Zhen along the way carried a hint of pity too: “Ye Zhen, I know society puts a lot of pressure on men, and you might be feeling a bit stifled, but there’s no need to resort to selling facial masks through multi-level marketing. If you’re ever short on money, just tell me……”
Ye Zhen was furious to the point of near-death: “Don’t look at me like that! I absolutely don’t believe in these unlicensed masks!”
“And I’m really not short on money! Even if I were, I wouldn’t turn to multi-level marketing!”
He had no choice but to explain that he’d been sent there by Li You’ai to attend the event.
Jiang Xiaoyi nodded repeatedly: “Yes, yes, you were set up by Li You’ai, I know, don’t blame yourself.”
Yet even as she claimed to believe him, her expression clearly showed otherwise, and her repeated nodding seemed more like a perfunctory gesture to save Ye Zhen’s face.
Most infuriating of all, before she left for her own meeting, Jiang Xiaoyi thoughtfully handed Ye Zhen a box: “If you ever run out, just ask me—I have plenty more.”
Once Jiang Xiaoyi had left, Ye Zhen opened the box and nearly coughed up blood on the spot—
Jiang Xiaoyi had given him an entire box of facial masks.
Almost simultaneously, a message from Jiang Xiaoyi arrived on his phone—
“Stop using unlicensed products, they contain hormones. Unlicensed masks always feel moisturizing and radiant at first, but your skin will break out later. Don’t sacrifice your long-term looks for a moment’s beauty—I bought you proper name-brand ones. Skincare is a marathon, not a sprint.”
“……”
Ye Zhen was simply about to explode with rage. Damn Li You’ai, causing him this baseless reputational damage out of nowhere.
Yet Ye Zhen never expected that something even more infuriating awaited him. Rushing back to Ruiyi to confront the matter, he discovered that during his absence over the past few hours, the project incubation department had apparently had some cause for celebration—balloons and banners now decorated the main office area, as if preparing for some kind of celebratory feast.
Ye Zhen stopped Wang Yani as she passed by to ask: “What happened? Something good going on?”
“Director Li completed this year’s full-year KPI target ahead of schedule.”
Li You’ai had actually completed his too? Combined with himself, it looked like the project incubation department would be winning the outstanding department award this year.
Ye Zhen remained quite calm, but the look Wang Yani gave him grew increasingly pitying. “Ye Zhen, try to see the bright side. This kind of thing happens.”
Ye Zhen was rather confused: “Hm?”
He wasn’t paying much attention to anything else, just wanting to find Li You’ai to confront him about why he’d been sent to that multi-level marketing event: “Where’s Director Li?”
Wang Yani’s tone immediately grew tense: “Look forward, look forward! You need to move on! You absolutely must not do anything rash or impulsive……”
Ye Zhen frowned. “Why would I do anything rash?”
“Li You’ai sent you off on purpose and then stole your project.”
For a moment, Ye Zhen didn’t quite process this: “What?”
“You don’t know? He already signed your comic studio project—the one under the game company. You know Ruiyi’s policy: whoever ends up being the contact who successfully closes the signing gets credit for the project’s performance……”
……
Ye Zhen had a bad premonition. Just now, coming out of the Market Supervision Administration, though he’d gotten his phone back, he’d been too consumed with fury to check it the whole way. Only now, pulling it out and looking down, did he indeed find five missed calls, all from the signing contact at the comic studio.
When he called back, sure enough——
“Mr. Ye? Why are you only reaching us now? We just finished signing the contract with Ruiyi—it was your department’s Director Li You’ai who signed with us. He said you’d already left the company, that your department had a sudden emergency tomorrow, so the signing time was moved up to this afternoon, and we should coordinate with him instead. I tried calling you but couldn’t get through—but his business card showed he was a leader in your department, and the signing location was at Ruiyi’s building, so after verifying his identity, we brought the contract over and signed it……”
Hanging up, Ye Zhen felt his mental state had actually grown quite calm—having been so overwhelmingly furious, he’d reached a kind of extreme composure.
No wonder Li You’ai had inexplicably sent him off to that ridiculous multi-level marketing conference—unsurprisingly, that so-called citizen who’d filed the “report” was surely Li You’ai himself too.
This had all been calculated.
Just to forcibly seize his project!
Ye Zhen wasn’t unfamiliar with scheming and deception in the business world, but he’d never seen anything as shamelessly underhanded as Li You’ai’s methods—a manager who, lacking competence himself, would steal his own subordinate’s project for the sake of performance bonuses, even resorting to schemes to suppress his own subordinate.
Yet when Ye Zhen stormed into Li You’ai’s office to confront him, this shameless Eunuch Li looked remarkably composed, even carrying a sense of victorious superiority——
“Little Ye, ah, this is me teaching you a free and vivid lesson. The workplace is a battlefield—everyone’s your competitor, your enemy. Mercy toward others is cruelty toward yourself. Always be on guard. See, now you’ve learned, haven’t you? Young people, it’s understandable to be a bit green in how you handle things—grow slowly. Look at your KPI, still falling quite behind. Better put in some overtime the next couple days, catch up quick.”
Ye Zhen was furious to the point of near-death: “My KPI was about to be completed. You stole it through underhanded means.”
Li You’ai calmly took a sip of tea, glancing sideways at him: “How is this ‘stealing’? Before your project is finalized, it doesn’t belong to you. You should reflect on yourself—why did they end up coming to me to sign instead? Even if you insist on calling it ‘stolen,’ the problem still lies with you. If you’d really served them properly, could I have stolen it?”
“You young people are all the same—can’t handle things properly yourselves, and then want to blame others for it. Just can’t bring yourselves to acknowledge someone else’s excellence.”
Having said his infuriating piece, Li You’ai picked up the watering can on his desk and began watering his potted plants, continuing to needle Ye Zhen as he did: “What can be stolen away was never yours to begin with—and that’s not just true of projects, it’s true of partners too. Don’t go thinking Boss Jiang has fully settled on you—the future’s still long. We Lis, we have the ability to steal your project, and we have the ability to steal your partner too.”
……