Ruan Guangjian tilted his certificate slightly to the side so Qiao Liang could see it clearly.

“Ascetic Ruan Guangjian, during the Second Phase of the Suffering Journey (December 2012-January 2013), showed innovation and initiative, performed excellently among all ascetics, ranking at the forefront, hereby awarded the title of ‘Outstanding Ascetic’!”

Qiao Liang was stunned for a moment, then his head filled with question marks.

Something felt off!

He looked toward Chen Yufeng on his right: “What about your certificate?”

Chen Yufeng also turned it toward him to see. On it was written: “Ascetic Chen Yufeng, during the Second Phase of the Suffering Journey (December 2012-January 2013), forged ahead with determination and strove for the top, worthy of being called a mainstay, hereby awarded the title of ‘Excellent Ascetic’!”

Qiao Liang felt increasingly uneasy.

The wording of these different titles showed obvious differences!

By now, Bao Xu had finished distributing all the medals and certificates.

“The two-month Suffering Journey has ended, and everyone performed very well.”

“Though the time was brief and leaves us reluctant to part, I believe everyone has received ample training.”

“I hope everyone will remember the spirit of the Suffering Journey and incorporate the resilient will developed during this journey into your work and life, passing on this spirit!”

“If you wish to pursue an even greater challenge, you can sign up again, and there will be higher-level commemorative medals!”

“Finally, on behalf of Mr. Pei and all staff of the Suffering Journey, I extend my heartfelt congratulations to everyone!”

“Everyone can rest here for a while. Tomorrow, we’ll begin our journey back!”

After enthusiastic applause, everyone finally relaxed, sitting down wherever they were, completely letting go of tension.

But Qiao Liang clearly couldn’t sit down calmly like the others. He went around looking at everyone else’s certificates.

After seeing them all, Qiao Liang plopped down on the sandy ground and silently drew circles in the sand.

What a disappointment!

Originally, Qiao Liang had been quite pleased after seeing his certificate.

Just look at those words: fought valiantly, persevered, indomitable, tenacious ascetic…

Weren’t these all positive terms?

Qiao Liang thought this evaluation was completely appropriate, comprehensively and perfectly showcasing his heroic demeanor during the Suffering Journey.

He felt extremely good about himself.

But after seeing others’ evaluations, Qiao Liang realized he had misunderstood.

Because everyone else was either an “Outstanding Ascetic” or an “Excellent Ascetic”!

Among them, there were fewer “Outstanding Ascetics”—three out of ten people. People like Ruan Guangjian and Yao Bo, who had been at ease throughout, all received the title of “Outstanding Ascetic,” representing the top-tier performance in this phase of the Suffering Journey.

The wording in these certificates also revealed this meaning, with phrases like “showed innovation,” “initiative,” “ranked at the forefront,” and so on, all essentially expressing the same idea.

The other six people, like Chen Yufeng and Jiang Yuan, who were department heads at Tenda, didn’t perform as well as Ruan Guangjian and Yao Bo, but they were still acceptable, so they were evaluated as “Excellent Ascetics,” with words like “mainstay” used in their evaluations.

And Qiao Liang was the only one who received the title of “Tenacious Ascetic”!

Considering that he had always been a “key assistance target,” and looking at this evaluation, everything took on a different meaning.

Why did they keep emphasizing Qiao Liang’s hardworking and struggling spirit?

Wasn’t it because he was always at the bottom!

It was precisely because he was always at the bottom, continually persevering, then continuing to be at the bottom, cycling through this pattern repeatedly, that people saw the spirit of arduous struggle in him.

Of course, it might also be because giving the title of “Excellent Ascetic” to the last-place finisher would be too forced. How could someone in last place be excellent?

They could only praise him from a different angle.

It’s just like in games, where the top players have imposing titles like “Transcendent Master” or “Supreme King.” If there are words like “tenacious” or “indomitable” in a title, it’s definitely for those at the bottom…

After learning this heartbreaking truth, Qiao Liang was completely dejected.

He couldn’t help thinking, when he got back and someone asked if he had participated in the Suffering Journey, how should he answer?

Yes, I participated, but not much, just a little bit.

Then if they asked further, I heard there are medals, certificates, and titles—what’s your title? Are you an Outstanding Ascetic or an Excellent Ascetic?

Qiao Liang would answer: I’m a Tenacious Ascetic.

How embarrassing would that be?

And if they asked further, “Hmm, I’ve never heard of the Tenacious Ascetic title. What rank do you need to achieve to get that?”

How could the conversation continue? It couldn’t!

He certainly couldn’t tell others: “This is a rare title; only I received it in this entire phase!”

That would become a laughingstock.

What should he do?

Qiao Liang felt a dangerous thought taking root and growing in his heart.

Bao Xu had actually hinted earlier that although their medals were beautiful, they were only the most basic medals.

Participating in the Suffering Journey once, twice, or three times would earn completely different medals, and only those who conquered the Suffering Journey three times were true Ascetics!

Participating in another Suffering Journey could earn a different title, and Qiao Liang felt that his physical fitness had improved significantly. If he went again, he definitely wouldn’t be at the bottom again…

“Damn it, stop! I can’t think about this anymore!”

“Quickly think about the Slackin’ Delivery at home, sugary drinks, ROF computers, and big TVs!”

“I must resist temptation. I absolutely cannot participate in the Suffering Journey a second time!”

Qiao Liang was engaged in an intense internal struggle, wavering frantically on whether to participate in the Suffering Journey again.

Just then, Zhu Xiaocai excitedly said: “The internal list for the next phase of the Suffering Journey is out! Wow, there are so many people this time, and it’s been postponed by a month, starting in March?”

“Brother Bao, is the Suffering Journey expanding?”

Sitting nearby, Bao Xu nodded: “Yes, it’s expanding.”

“External registrations for the Suffering Journey are already full, and internal arrangements have begun to spread from department heads to key department members. Mr. Pei’s ultimate goal is for everyone at Tenda to suffer and bear hardships. To achieve this goal, taking only ten people for two months at a time is far too inefficient.”

“This month happens to coincide with the Spring Festival, which is perfect for giving the staff a break, allowing them to settle down and summarize the experiences and lessons from the first two phases of the Suffering Journey, while also conducting staff training to expand the current team into several teams.”

“In the future, we aim to bring dozens or even hundreds of people in one go, so that everyone can experience the joy of the Suffering Journey!”

Everyone silently scrolled through their phones, trying to hide the shocked expressions on their faces.

Brother Bao, you’ve completely changed; you weren’t like this before!

Are these even human words?

What do you mean by “everyone suffering” and “everyone bearing hardships”? And blaming it on Mr. Pei?

This is clearly what you’ve been thinking all along!

But everyone dared only to be angry, not to speak up, especially after the “three-tier medal” mechanism was introduced. Everyone knew that a second round wasn’t impossible.

Once you offended Bao Xu, a second round could become highly probable!

Zhu Xiaocai quickly changed the subject: “Let’s see which familiar faces are in the next phase… Well, look at that, Tian Mo, Wu Chuan, Chen Kangtuo! Wait, there’s no Zhang Yuan? And why is there a reserved spot specifically for the sales department in this internal list?”

Everyone’s attention shifted to the list for the next phase.

Is there anything in the world more satisfying than seeing your own suffering come to an end?

Obviously there is—seeing familiar faces on the list for the next phase of the Suffering Journey!

At the end of the previous Suffering Journey, the department heads were happily looking at the list of new department heads coming to suffer, grinning with satisfaction.

And this time, the cycle was clearly continuing.

This must be credited to Mr. Pei, who always managed to finalize the list for the next phase of the Suffering Journey before the current one ended, allowing them to experience double happiness.

But after seeing the names on the list, many were confused.

This time, the list contained many more people, no longer primarily consisting of Tenda’s department heads, but including many key members from various departments.

Among these managers, the selection of Tian Mo, Wu Chuan, and Chen Kangtuo made everyone share knowing smiles, feeling a kind of “you can’t escape either” satisfaction.

But Zhang Yuan was still not on the list…

This led to speculation.

After all, some of the department heads had heard that Zhang Yuan had discovered the true meaning behind Mr. Pei’s promotion of the Suffering Journey, as well as a method to avoid it. However, when they first heard this, many considered it nonsense and didn’t believe it at all.

But now, they had no choice but to believe it—this list was validating Zhang Yuan’s viewpoint!

Besides this, there was another interesting point.

There was a vacancy on the list specifically reserved for Tian Mo’s sales department.

Logically, Tian Mo’s sales department had indeed performed well, running the Jingzhou experience store impressively, so it made sense for Tian Mo to suffer; and such achievements clearly shouldn’t be attributed to him alone, so sending two key members to suffer together also made sense.

But why was there a pending vacancy? What was it pending for?

The only possibility seemed to be “someone made a huge contribution but they haven’t pinpointed exactly who it is, so they left a spot open.”

There was still a month before the next Suffering Journey officially began, enough time to find this person.

But on second thought, this didn’t seem to make much sense.

The department heads looked at the list on their phones and fell into deep thought.

The Suffering Journey was feeling increasingly mysterious. Upon returning, they definitely needed to consult Zhang Yuan and learn from his experience.

……

Meanwhile, at the Advertising and Marketing Department.

Meng Chang had just received a promotional video from Tian Mo.

“Brother Meng, the promotional video is ready, please check it out.”

Evidently, at this moment, Tian Heiquan still hadn’t realized the severity of the issue and thought this was just a routine task to support the Advertising Department.

The video wasn’t particularly special—it just showcased the Tenda Experience Store, displaying the structure and layout of each floor, some trendy experiences, constantly sold and restocked inventory, and the surging crowds.

Meng Chang had told him to make a promotional video for the experience store, and the Advertising and Marketing Department would allocate a special budget to place it on websites like AiLiDao to increase the store’s visibility and customer flow.

Tian Mo had no suspicions whatsoever—after all, more publicity was always good!

After a period of careful filming and editing, the video finally reached a level that satisfied Tian Mo, and he sent it to Meng Chang.

A while later, Meng Chang replied, seemingly casually asking: “The editing is very good! Great rhythm—who edited it?”

Tian Mo proudly replied: “Ding Xiyao edited it! Initially, I was planning to find someone outside to edit it, but after asking around in the department, I found out she was very skilled at this, so I just handed it to her.”

Meng Chang: “I see!”