“Charged by the second.” Luan Nian finished giving the address and hung up the phone.
Shang Zhitao quickly brushed her teeth, washed her face, threw on a large T-shirt, and left. The address Luan Nian sent was a café, which was crowded. When she arrived, he was already there, sitting in a corner where he could see the entire café with just a glance.
Luan Nian looked at the unkempt Shang Zhitao and guessed that this was probably how she’d be her whole life—a plain face without makeup, never standing out anywhere.
“Sit here.” Luan Nian pointed to the seat beside him. Shang Zhitao sat down and saw Luan Nian push a plate of chocolate waffles in front of her. “Haven’t had breakfast?”
“No.”
“Eat before working.”
He was unusually cordial today, making Shang Zhitao wonder if he had been possessed by something strange. Shang Zhitao was genuinely hungry but only took a few bites before putting it down.
“On a diet?” Luan Nian suddenly asked.
“No… I feel sick if I eat too many sweets when I’m hungry…” Shang Zhitao felt a bit embarrassed. She wasn’t picky about food, but she did have that one little quirk: she couldn’t eat too many sweets when she was hungry.
“Are you still hungry now?”
“Not anymore.”
“Then let’s get to work.” Luan Nian pulled a USB drive from his computer and handed it to her. “Copy the Q4 project inventory folder to your computer.”
“Okay.”
Shang Zhitao quickly copied it and then waited for Luan Nian’s instructions.
“Organize the data, compare Q3 with new customer additions, contract amount month-over-month changes, service project screening, pivot the data results, and write conclusions. Did I make myself clear?”
“Very clear.” Shang Zhitao quickly began working. Luan Nian watched for five minutes and noted another of her redeeming qualities: she was good with office software, writing all data formulas by hand, showing solid fundamentals. Watching her work, her lips pressed tightly together, completely focused on her computer, everything around her irrelevant.
Luan Nian lowered his head and continued with his work.
Shang Zhitao finished organizing the basic data and also organized the data for each salesperson. Lingmei’s sales department was truly an elite team, with sales performance that would be considered outstanding in the industry. Even so, putting their data together revealed various issues, such as contract cycle, contract amount, and different contract service content for the same clients. Shang Zhitao didn’t understand and frowned, pondering for a long time.
“What’s wrong?” Luan Nian asked when he noticed she hadn’t been typing for a while.
“I don’t quite understand. This contract was first reported in May, but wasn’t signed until July 1st, and this one too. Every salesperson has this situation.”
“Can’t figure it out?” Luan Nian asked her.
“No, I can’t.”
“Look at it about the KPIs.” Luan Nian gave her a hint, then went back to his computer.
Luan Nian was always like this; he wouldn’t directly give Shang Zhitao the answer but made her think for herself. Shang Zhitao opened the KPI spreadsheet and studied it carefully for a long time. She seemed to understand a little. So she quietly asked Luan Nian, “I see they all slightly exceeded their Q2 tasks, so these clients were saved for Q3?”
The corner of Luan Nian’s mouth twitched. “Not completely stupid.” Seeing Shang Zhitao’s slight “oh,” he asked her, “If it were you, how would you solve this problem?”
“I don’t know.”
“What’s your brain for? Think.”
“Oh.”
Shang Zhitao thought seriously again. She had never done sales management, but she had been handling market budget management for the past two months. When some project budgets were exceeded, they would be carried over to the next month or quarter. This was an unwritten rule. And at Lingmei, sales incentives meant getting the full bonus if 100% of performance targets were met.
She thought for a long time, then tentatively asked Luan Nian, “Raise the targets a bit?”
Luan Nian laughed when he heard this. “Just directly raise the targets? Do you believe they wouldn’t all resign tomorrow?”
“Huh?”
“What ‘huh’?” Luan Nian closed his computer and carefully looked at the spreadsheet Shang Zhitao had made. There were no data errors, and the analysis logic was clear. “This part of the work can be submitted.”
“Okay.” Shang Zhitao responded but didn’t move.
“Not leaving?”
“The question from earlier still doesn’t have an answer.”
“Your overtime pay will offset the tuition.”
“That’s not quite right, is it?” When Shang Zhitao heard that her overtime pay would be deducted, she quickly tried to negotiate: “Why don’t you teach me when you have time on a workday? I’m not in that much of a hurry.”
Openly bowing for five pecks of rice.
The tenacity of survival.
Luan Nian suddenly thought of this phrase. Shang Zhitao had a real tenacity for survival. She had accidentally been dealt a good hand and was trembling with fear of losing this round, trying hard to find a balance between.
“Create tiered sales rewards, not just set a single target completion. Set their performance by intervals. Better performers can get more, while those who perform less well will see their pay reduced indirectly. The company can use this method to identify, incentivize, and eliminate talent. This is one answer,” Luan Nian said. “If you’re interested, go ask Tracy. I spoke with her on the phone yesterday afternoon.”
“Wow, I see. That’s brilliant.” Shang Zhitao was delighted to have learned something new. After praising him, she noticed something odd in his tone: “What do you mean by ‘my Tracy’? Why is Tracy mine…?”
Luan Nian refused to discuss this with her. Looking at the time, it was already five in the afternoon. He asked Shang Zhitao, “Are you still hungry?”
“Yes,” she answered honestly.
“Let’s go grab something to eat.”
Get something to eat? Was Luan Nian treating? Was she going to eat a meal paid for by the boss? Because she worked overtime on the weekend? Or because she was excessively adorable? No, how dare she let the boss treat her? Did she not want the job anymore?
With too many thoughts in her head, and considering what she had left for the month, Shang Zhitao finally couldn’t help but ask, “Will we split the bill?”
Luan Nian’s hand paused as he was packing up his computer. He looked up at Shang Zhitao with an indifferent expression. “You’re going to split the bill with your boss?”
“Well, if not…”
“You’ll pay.”
Luan Nian dropped these two words and walked out, his expression serious enough to show he meant it. Shang Zhitao followed behind him, thinking that she couldn’t pretend to be rich when she wasn’t. Old Shang once said that in interpersonal relationships, gather when compatible, separate when not. Even if he was her boss, he couldn’t fleece her badly.
The two of them set off, with Shang Zhitao watching as Luan Nian’s car headed toward an area she wasn’t familiar with. To be precise, she was unfamiliar with Beijing except for the areas near her company and home.
“Any dietary restrictions?” Seeing that Shang Zhitao wasn’t speaking, Luan Nian thought this fool was scared. When would she learn to hide her thoughts and emotions instead of wearing that trepidation and defiance on her face?
“No.”
“Then let’s go fish.”
“Hmm?”
Luan Nian didn’t elaborate further, focusing on driving up the mountain. He had a fish restaurant he frequented on the mountain, where they caught rainbow trout fresh and stewed it in an iron pot, making it very flavorful.
The mountain road was dark with few lights. Luan Nian drove slowly and gradually pulled over to the side of the road. Seeing Shang Zhitao’s wide eyes, he asked softly, “Afraid I’ll kill you and dump your body?”
…
Shang Zhitao froze, recalling Luan Nian’s usually cold demeanor, which did make him seem like a serial killer who might murder and dispose of bodies. So she feigned calmness and said, “I told my roommate before I left that I was working overtime with my boss. I also gave her your contact information.”
“Really!” Shang Zhitao added, showing Luan Nian her phone. She wasn’t lying; she had sent Luan Nian’s phone number to a contact.
A girl venturing out on her own needs basic self-protection awareness as a foundation for survival. Shang Zhitao wasn’t as foolish as she appeared.
“Then you’ve escaped a calamity today.” Luan Nian raised an eyebrow and stopped teasing her.
“Shall we continue on our way?”
“Wait a moment.” Luan Nian’s eyes were uncomfortable, so he took out eye drops and applied them, then closed his eyes to rest briefly.
“Are your eyes uncomfortable?”
“Dry eye syndrome.”
“Oh…” Shang Zhitao had always thought Luan Nian was invincible, but even someone like him had ordinary troubles, like dry eye syndrome.
“My dad also has dry eye syndrome.”
“And then?”
“Then he stopped working on computers and changed jobs.”
“So what job do you think would be suitable for me?”
…
Luan Nian wasn’t an easy person to chat with. As Da Zhai would say, some people just have loose lips. Luan Nian rested for a few minutes before continuing to drive. By the time they reached the mountaintop, it was already dark. The fish restaurant had hung up bright red lanterns, creating a lively atmosphere.
The owner recognized Luan Nian and came to greet him from a distance. “Manager Luan, you’re here?”
“Here to eat fish.” Luan Nian said to the owner, “The usual?”
“Sure thing.” Then he smiled at Shang Zhitao, “Hello.”
“Hello, boss.”
Shang Zhitao felt a bit awkward as the owner seemed to think she was someone special to Luan Nian from the way he looked at them. After the owner walked away, Shang Zhitao hesitantly said, “Should we explain to the owner?”
“Explain what?”
“Explain that I’m not your girlfriend…”
“You look like my girlfriend?” Luan Nian was amused by Shang Zhitao’s comment. What was she thinking—that all men and women were up to no good, that having a meal together made them a couple? Was she overestimating herself, or did she not understand him well enough?
“Don’t I?” Shang Zhitao retorted, unwilling to back down.
“Do you think you do?”
…
What kind of person is this?
There was a long corridor behind the fish restaurant. While waiting for the fish, they sat in the corridor, one on each side.
Shang Zhitao received a message from Sun Yu: “Why aren’t you back yet?”
“Just having dinner, then I’ll be back.”
“He’s not giving you a hard time, is he?”
“No.”
“That’s good then.”
Shang Zhitao put away her phone and turned to look at Luan Nian, recalling the strange sensation at her fingertips from last night, which made her blush slightly. She couldn’t tell if what she felt was lust or just ordinary feelings. Whatever it was, Luan Nian’s handsome appearance was right beside her, making her a little flustered.