Probably because he was short on money, Ye Zhen had been behaving himself quite well lately. And ever since he’d successfully snatched a major project away from Li You’ai, something in him seemed to have caught fire — he grew more combative with every fight.
Jiang Xiaoyi hadn’t had much for him to do recently, so Ye Zhen threw himself entirely into the Project Incubation Department, clearly intent on continuing to poach Li You’ai’s projects — determined to fight to the bitter end for his year-end performance bonus.
Ruiyi’s workload had its busy and slow seasons, and lately things had entered a somewhat quieter lull — the partnership projects that needed negotiating had all been settled, and the other investment and incubation projects were progressing steadily. Jiang Xiaoyi finally got a brief chance to catch her breath.
That day at noon, thanks to a last-minute change in her meeting schedule, Jiang Xiaoyi found herself with a rare hour to spare. Instead of summoning Ye Zhen to “attend” her, she went to a familiar roadside stall and had a bowl of small wontons.
Since becoming Director Jiang, it wasn’t as though she hadn’t sampled all kinds of high-end Michelin restaurants. But whenever she finally had a moment of genuine downtime, she found what she really missed was that bowl of small wontons — and the lively, bustling energy of ordinary street life at the wonton shop, with people coming and going.
She video-called her parents, and watched them proudly show off the sea in Saipan and the villa they were renting. In turn, Jiang Xiaoyi shared her bowl of wontons and this little street with them.
By the time she hung up, satisfied, she realized she had wandered, without noticing, to a familiar corner — Jiang Xiaoyi had once worked a part-time job here for a long time. Just past this corner was the Fire Extinguishing Club that Dan Hui had founded.
Since crossing over into this world, Jiang Xiaoyi hadn’t visited the Fire Extinguishing Club again. She wasn’t even sure what kind of relationship she and Dan Hui had in this timeline.
But as luck would have it, just as she strolled up to the entrance of the Fire Extinguishing Club, she ran straight into Dan Hui, who was pushing the door open on his way out. He froze for a moment when he saw her, then broke into a smile.
“Xiaoyi? What brings you here?”
So Dan Hui knew this version of her too?
Pleasantly surprised, Jiang Xiaoyi waved at Dan Hui and called out tentatively, “Senior?”
Dan Hui nodded with a smile. “So you still remember I’m your senior. You’ve turned down my invitations to alumni events several times in a row, saying you had no time.”
Fortunately, Dan Hui didn’t press the topic further. Even in a different timeline, he was still the same warm, cultured senior — he never let anyone feel awkward. He quickly changed the subject and chatted with Jiang Xiaoyi about other things, never once making her feel out of place or embarrassed.
But just as the two of them were talking, a few young women walked out of the Fire Extinguishing Club—
“Manager Dan, thank you for looking after us these past few years. Since the Fire Extinguishing Club can’t keep operating and has to cut staff, there’s really nothing we can do — we have no choice but to resign…”
Even though they were saying goodbye, the reluctance was written all over their faces. “If the club ever starts hiring again, please let us know right away. We don’t mind if the pay is lower — we really loved working here!”
After saying their goodbyes, the girls each gave Dan Hui a farewell gift before reluctantly leaving.
Dan Hui’s expression was gentle as he wished the girls bright futures ahead. Jiang Xiaoyi, however, was taken aback — what had happened to the Fire Extinguishing Club?
“Senior, why are you cutting staff?”
Asked this, Dan Hui looked a little embarrassed. “Revenue has dropped sharply lately, and the rent went up too. We had no choice but to downsize and cut costs.”
That didn’t make sense — Jiang Xiaoyi remembered how popular the Fire Extinguishing Club used to be. How could this…
Dan Hui smiled, explaining calmly, “The business was very good at first. But recently, several competing shops popped up that copied our concept outright. Their founders have deeper pockets than us — bigger investment, more variety of smashing rooms, and better locations. They’ve siphoned off a lot of our customers. We’re trying to figure out how to develop something new to bring the crowds back.”
During the hardest period of her life, Jiang Xiaoyi had received a great deal of kindness from Dan Hui, and she still carried gratitude for it. The Fire Extinguishing Club held not only memories of her part-time job, but had also given her countless opportunities to vent her emotions, bearing witness to her journey. Whatever the reason, Jiang Xiaoyi didn’t want to see the club forced to bow before copycat capital.
Simply offering Dan Hui money outright — he would absolutely refuse it, and besides, that would only treat the symptom, not the cause.
By the time she got back to Ruiyi, Jiang Xiaoyi was still racking her brain — how exactly could she help Dan Hui?
“Director Jiang, please take a look at this proposal. If there’s no issue, I’ll go ahead and start the approval process.”
Interrupted by whoever had come in, Jiang Xiaoyi collected her thoughts and picked up the proposal to look it over carefully.
As it often goes, when the road seems to end, a new path appears. Jiang Xiaoyi had only meant to glance over the proposal, but as she read on, a bold idea began to take shape in her mind.
The proposal’s subject was combining online manga with offline themed-store marketing. Jiang Xiaoyi read through it carefully — the data support and analysis were both solid — and in a flash of inspiration, an idea came to her: could the Fire Extinguishing Club be woven into the popular manga titles from the studios Ruiyi had recently invested in?
No sooner had the thought occurred to her than she went straight to discuss it with Dan Hui.
“Senior, what if we collaborated? You license some of the Fire Extinguishing Club’s merchandise and part of its image to me. I have several popular ongoing manga series, and I’ve already reached out to the head writers — they all say there are suitable places to work the Fire Extinguishing Club concept into their stories.”
“These manga series currently have very high traffic on their platforms, the characters are extremely popular, and fan loyalty is strong. Going forward, we could absolutely work together to turn the Fire Extinguishing Club into a themed store — each smashing room could use a different manga setting. I’ll handle negotiating the licensing for the themed store with the manga studios myself. This new form of collaboration is exactly the direction Ruiyi needs to explore right now, and it would also help the Fire Extinguishing Club build up its competitiveness. If we get it right, it could genuinely be a win-win.”
Dan Hui was sharp — he caught on almost instantly. After listening to Jiang Xiaoyi lay out the plan in detail, his eyes lit up. “A themed store like that really does sound like it could pull in a lot of traffic!”
Getting an affirmative reply lifted Jiang Xiaoyi’s spirits even more. “Exactly! Converting traffic between the two-dimensional and three-dimensional worlds — themed stores themselves are a new route Ruiyi wants to promote. We can write the Fire Extinguishing Club into the manga’s setting and even mark its real address in the story. A lot of manga readers love following clues from the story out into real life, scouting locations and visiting in person. And going forward, every piece of promotional material for the manga can carry the Fire Extinguishing Club concept too.”
“I already sounded out several manga studios, and they’re all enthusiastic about this model. For manga promotion, online banner ads and resources are pretty much tapped out. To expand a manga’s influence any further, they inevitably need to go offline — publishing standalone volumes, selling merchandise, and running themed stores are all solid promotional methods.”
Sharing the same vision, Jiang Xiaoyi and Dan Hui hit it off almost instantly. In just half a day, the two of them decisively hammered out a plan and began putting it into action.
That same day, once back at Ruiyi, Jiang Xiaoyi urgently convened the relevant departments and handed down the task of coordinating the manga-themed-store collaboration with the Fire Extinguishing Club.
While Jiang Xiaoyi threw herself into the project with great enthusiasm, Ye Zhen, upon hearing about it, wore an expression that was hard to describe—
“Is this what you’ve been busy with these past few days?”
His face was full of genuine bewilderment. “Would anyone actually go to a themed store like that?” he said, incredulous. “It’s like how every new KFC item is always terrible — I don’t think this kind of new venture is necessary at all. It’s probably going to flop.”
Ye Zhen wasn’t optimistic, but Jiang Xiaoyi’s view was completely different from his. While polishing her proposal, she shot him a glance. “Ye Zhen, have you ever read manga?”
Ye Zhen shrugged. “No. I was always busy running the company before — I never had time to read manga. It’s a waste of time.”
“I knew you’d say that. It’s precisely because you’ve never read manga that you have such a strong bias.” Jiang Xiaoyi rubbed her brow and, uncharacteristically serious, looked straight at him. “If you think reading manga is a waste of time, do you feel the same way about reading books?”
“Of course not.” Ye Zhen thought about it. “Reading books broadens your horizons and helps develop independent thinking.”
“Well, there you go. You don’t only read reference books or professional texts, do you? Manga is just a different format from prose — but the substance it conveys is often the same. It carries a worldview, it evokes empathy, and it broadens horizons too. What you have is pure bias.”
Ye Zhen nodded, deadpan. “You make such a compelling case. If you were a national leader, you should just decree that all textbooks be turned into manga. The country would surely grow stronger.”
As he spoke, he reached up and pulled a manga book off the shelf — one Jiang Xiaoyi had privately stashed there.
It was a boys’-love manga.
On the cover, two men were kissing…
Ye Zhen smirked. “Manga really does convey a lot, and the formats really are varied. It truly does broaden horizons — you’ve opened my eyes.”
“…”
Jiang Xiaoyi’s face flushed slightly. She protested, “Besides manga that teaches you something, there’s also manga meant purely for entertainment and relaxation! Leisure is an indispensable part of life too!”
“So it’s still a waste of time then?”
Jiang Xiaoyi argued back forcefully, “Do you spend every single minute of your life doing something ‘productive’? I just saw you watching an NBA game a moment ago — does watching a game change its outcome? Does watching it make your own basketball skills suddenly skyrocket so you can go win glory for the country on the international stage? Isn’t watching basketball equally meaningless? Isn’t that also a waste of time?”
“Plenty of people are willing to fly all the way to a stadium just to watch an NBA game in person — well, there are people who love manga who are just as willing to spend money at a themed store. There’s no hierarchy of nobility between the two. Fans of the two-dimensional world and people fully invested in the three-dimensional one are equals.”
Ye Zhen pursed his lips, clearly unconvinced.
His attitude only made Jiang Xiaoyi angrier. “Ye Zhen, you might genuinely be excellent at management and talent, and you clearly understand how the workplace operates. But as someone working in the entertainment industry, you shouldn’t always look down on it from above. You need to actually get close to it and understand it. If you’re too arrogant, if you look down on this industry from the bottom of your heart and don’t even understand your own consumers, how could you possibly win the market?”
“Running a themed store is just a waste of time.”
“Stop judging every decision through your own bias. A manga themed store has a much bigger audience than you think. I don’t believe it’s a waste of time for Ruiyi to explore this.”
Despite everything Jiang Xiaoyi had said, Ye Zhen still stubbornly held his ground. “I understand you studied manga and feel a personal attachment to it, and a bit of idealism about the manga industry or otaku culture is acceptable too. But you’re the head of Ruiyi now — you shouldn’t make Ruiyi foot the bill for your personal dreams. Have you actually analyzed the pros and cons of this themed store from a business perspective?”
“Ruiyi is already a top-tier company in the entertainment industry. I understand that the whole point of founding a business is profit, not charity — but once a company has achieved stable profitability, shouldn’t it give something back to the industry? Shouldn’t it explore new directions for the entertainment industry’s development?”
Ye Zhen shrugged. “There’s always been a crowd in the entertainment industry claiming to have started their companies out of love and for their dreams. Nearly every small startup founder says the exact same thing. Just leave exploring new developments in the entertainment industry to them.”
Jiang Xiaoyi glared at him. “But only a large company like Ruiyi can afford the cost of exploration. When a small company’s experiment fails, it goes straight to bankruptcy. Ruiyi can at least absorb this kind of investment in innovation.”
Watching Ye Zhen’s utterly unmoved expression, Jiang Xiaoyi grew angrier the more she talked. “Ye Zhen, all you have in your heart is money — you have no dreams at all!”
That comment didn’t sit well with him. “What kind of thing is that to say? Slandering me just to make me look bad — who do you think you’re looking down on? I have both money and dreams in my heart.”
“Do you? Then what’s your dream?”
Ye Zhen took a sip of tea and said calmly, “My dream is to make more money.”
“…” What an infuriating man.
Jiang Xiaoyi didn’t want to talk to him anymore. She felt that trying to persuade a capitalist to the bone like Ye Zhen was like playing music for a cow.
“Anyway, I’m the boss now. I have the final say. Ruiyi is moving forward with this.”
With that, Jiang Xiaoyi ignored the look on Ye Zhen’s face that seemed to say “Ruiyi is doomed in your hands,” snorted coldly at him, and walked off to her room clutching her proposal materials.