“This Xin Hailu was originally an assistant to a vice president at a well-known foreign company. Why did she leave? It doesn’t seem to be written on her resume.”
Manager Lao smiled: “Boss Pei probably doesn’t watch the news often? This vice president had inappropriate intentions after drinking, but unexpectedly encountered a tough opponent. In the end, the vice president was dismissed, and Assistant Yan resigned voluntarily.”
“This incident caused major damage to the foreign company’s reputation and sparked heated discussions online recently.”
Pei Qian was a bit shocked: “So she’s a heroine among women?”
Manager Lao nodded: “You could say that. Perhaps her experience in a large company made her weary, so she doesn’t object to working at a small… oh, a startup company. Frankly speaking, from a business perspective, she is the best assistant candidate.”
Manager Lao specifically added “from a business perspective,” implying that from other perspectives, she might not be as suitable…
Pei Qian immediately made a decision: “Fine, I’ll take her!”
“However, I have one requirement.”
Manager Lao nodded: “Please go ahead. As long as it’s not too excessive, we can discuss it.”
“Only when I consult her should she provide suggestions. In other situations, no matter what happens, she should remain silent and not ask unnecessary questions,” Pei Qian said.
Manager Lao smiled: “Of course, even if you didn’t emphasize this, it’s a basic professional quality of an executive assistant.”
…
…
Three days later, on Monday.
A Cayenne stopped in front of Shenhua Luxurious View, the most high-end office building in Jingzhou City.
“Boss Pei, we’ve arrived.”
Xin Hailu opened the car door for Pei Qian, guiding him into the luxurious office building ahead.
Through the headhunter’s connection, Xin Hailu had become the third employee of Tenda Network Technology Co., Ltd., and also the executive assistant.
Xin Hailu was a standard successful career woman, dignified in appearance, proper in demeanor, and even her figure wrapped in a shirt and business skirt was impeccable.
From all aspects, she was the perfect assistant candidate that Pei Qian needed.
Highly educated and qualified, fluent in three foreign languages, beautiful and poised, eloquent and graceful, skilled in handling people, methodical in handling urgent matters, with a well-reputed professional quality, and never asking questions that shouldn’t be asked.
After a brief interaction for a few days, Pei Qian had one feeling.
Efficient and reliable!
Pei Qian didn’t hesitate at all and directly hired her with a 30% premium over her original salary, with a monthly salary of over 30,000.
This was 2009, when fresh graduates from Handong University were generally still striving for a monthly salary of 3,000.
There were mainly two reasons for offering such a high salary. First, Pei Qian’s “Tenda Network Technology Co., Ltd.” was a startup company, which, compared to the foreign company where Xin Hailu originally worked, didn’t have much of a promising career development prospect, so a premium was needed to poach her.
Xin Hailu was very capable, and her original salary at the foreign company was already high. With an additional 30% premium, this salary level naturally seemed very exaggerated.
Second, Pei Qian’s goal was to spend money frantically, so when hiring people, he naturally would pick the expensive ones. For professional talents with strong abilities like Xin Hailu, offering a slightly higher premium wasn’t considered a violation by the system!
After all, even for someone like Ma Yang, Pei Qian had offered a monthly salary of 3,000…
This Cayenne was just rented in the company’s name.
Pei Qian wanted to buy a car in the company’s name, but the system rejected it.
Buying a car was allowed, but the budget depended on the company’s current account funds; it couldn’t be too expensive.
Pei Qian figured that buying a cheap car wouldn’t make much sense.
So he simply rented a Cayenne, which could at least help maintain appearances.
Although the cost of renting and maintaining the car wasn’t much, even a mosquito bite counts as meat.
Wherever there was an opportunity to spend money, Pei Qian would not miss it.
Pei Qian came to Shenhua Luxurious View today to rent office space.
This was the most luxurious office building in all of Jingzhou City. Pei Qian roughly estimated that the rent here should be around 5 yuan.
5 yuan per square meter per day.
In the parallel world, it was now 2009, and Jingzhou City, the capital of Handong Province, was a second-tier city.
If it were the capital in 2019, it would be more than triple this price.
Other office buildings in Jingzhou City had an average price of about two to three yuan.
But Shenhua Luxurious View was ultra-high-end with fine decoration, so it would be much more expensive.
For other companies, this was a disadvantage.
But for Pei Qian, this was a huge advantage!
Pei Qian was attracted precisely by its expensiveness!
Xin Hailu came to the lobby and directly approached the staff. Since he had an assistant, Pei Qian naturally didn’t need to handle everything personally.
The staff in the office building were all dressed in suits.
Pei Qian was wearing a regular jacket and pants.
But Pei Qian didn’t feel constrained in such an environment at all; he just felt that the weather was getting cooler, and it was a bit cold.
It wasn’t that Pei Qian was naturally confident; it was mainly because he had Assistant Yan beside him.
No matter how short, fat, or ugly a man is, as long as he has a young, beautiful, and tasteful woman by his side, he will always appear wealthy.
Moreover, Pei Qian was neither short, fat, nor ugly; he was quite handsome.
In this era, ugly people couldn’t transmigrate.
It would affect the readers’ sense of immersion.
…
A moment later, the manager came to Pei Qian with a big smile.
“Hello, Boss Pei. My surname is Zhang. Please feel free to ask if you need anything.”
Manager Zhang didn’t know Pei Qian’s background, but seeing that Xin Hailu was his assistant, he instinctively felt that this person was extraordinary.
Pei Qian’s clothes weren’t fancy, and he looked young, appearing in every way like an unemployed poor man.
But he had an assistant like Xin Hailu, who instantly made people think of him as a casual, unpredictable, second-generation rich.
Perhaps rich second-generation people liked to dress this way?
So Manager Zhang naturally didn’t dare to neglect him.
“I plan to rent an entire floor here as an office location,” Pei Qian went straight to the point.
“No problem. If Boss Pei wants to rent an entire floor without sharing with other companies, then our 17th floor is still vacant. It’s high up with an excellent view. Would you like me to show you around?” Manager Zhang asked tentatively.
Pei Qian nodded: “Sure, let’s take a look.”
Under Manager Zhang’s guidance, the three of them came to the 17th floor of Shenhua Luxurious View.
It was clean and tidy, spotless.
Just empty, with nothing in it.
“Hmm, nice view.”
Pei Qian came to the floor-to-ceiling window, where the city view was unobstructed, and he could even see the adjacent park and scenic area.
Besides losing money, he could also enjoy the view. Working in such a place should be mentally and physically pleasant.
Pei Qian glanced at the area here.
A whole floor, large enough to fit seven or eight basketball courts, conservatively estimated at 3,000 square meters.
“If you’re a startup company, the country has relevant preferential policies. Shenhua Luxurious View can allow you to pay a one-month deposit and one month’s rent in advance, settled monthly. This is an extremely rare treatment in other office buildings,” Manager Zhang introduced proudly.
Office buildings generally require one to two months’ rent as a deposit, and the payment method for rent is mostly quarterly or semi-annually. An office building that allows a one-month deposit and one month’s rent in advance is indeed worth boasting about; it’s quite a competitive advantage.
Of course, if there’s an advantage in this aspect, there must be disadvantages in other aspects.
Like price.
Moreover, this preferential treatment is related to policy, specifically provided for startup companies, which Pei Qian’s company happened to qualify for.
“What’s the price?” Pei Qian asked casually.
Manager Zhang smiled broadly: “Four yuan. I know, this price might seem a bit expensive in Jingzhou City, but you’ve seen our various conditions. You get what you pay for. Renting our office space will help enhance the first impression of your company…”
“Four yuan, that’s so cheap?” Pei Qian couldn’t help but frown.
“Che-cheap?” Manager Zhang was stunned.