The senior management meeting was scheduled for nine thirty that morning. As a junior assistant, Wang Cheng would normally have had no right to attend. In another capacity, however, he was certainly entitled to be there.
At nine thirty, the senior managers began filing into the conference room. Nearly one-fifth of the attendees had been missing at the previous meeting, and those positions had now been filled. Some of the new arrivals had transferred from subsidiaries, while the rest were employees promoted for outstanding performance. As it was their first senior management meeting, they looked rather restrained.
Wang Cheng entered with Xie Wenzhi. The two sat in the first and second seats to President Feng’s right, while the secretary taking the meeting minutes sat opposite them.
As soon as Wang Cheng sat down, he felt several gazes settle on him. The moment he looked up, their owners hurriedly looked away. Only one person made no attempt to hide her stare: Zhou Lin. The seat beside her should have been occupied by Zhao Jiansheng, but he had left on a business trip that day and wouldn’t return for three days.
Wang Cheng glanced at her and calmly looked away.
The meeting concerned last month’s performance and the work arrangements for the coming month.
It was Wang Cheng’s first time attending a senior management meeting. He watched President Feng criticize several executives until their faces turned crimson and they had no grounds for argument. Even Zhou Lin didn’t escape. The businesses under her management looked like some of the most profitable in the group, but she had a wastrel of a son dragging her down.
Unlike the other executives, Zhou Lin had the surname Zhou and therefore carried an ingrained sense of superiority. When President Feng criticized shortcomings in her work, she argued back, clearly unwilling to admit any mistake in her decisions. The atmosphere grew oppressive, and no one else dared speak.
Feng Yifan gripped his pen and said evenly, “If I remember correctly, the records name Zhao Chenlin as the person in charge. Isn’t that so, Manager Zhou? Since you entrusted the company to him, responsibility for his mistakes rests with you.”
Zhou Lin’s face darkened. Strictly speaking, Yazhi had remained under her jurisdiction. But Zhao Chenlin was her son, and Zhou Group belonged to their family, so she saw nothing strange about assigning him to manage it. Unfortunately, that also meant she was responsible when something went wrong. Before yesterday she might have had to swallow the criticism.
“President Feng seems to have forgotten that Yazhi is no longer under my management.” Zhou Lin looked at him with a faintly contemptuous gaze.
Feng Yifan smiled. “I didn’t bring this up to assign blame, Manager Zhou. There’s an announcement to make. From today onward, Yazhi will be separated from Manager Zhou’s portfolio and placed entirely under Zhou Cheng’s management. Everyone is expected to cooperate with him in any work-related matters. This is the chairman’s order.” The room erupted in discussion.
Zhou Lin was the most shocked. She had never imagined her father would give Yazhi to Zhou Cheng. He must have known for some time what Chenlin had been doing there. Was he deliberately giving Zhou Cheng an opportunity to prove himself? Her face turned from pale to livid. If so, perhaps her father was planning to groom Zhou Cheng as his successor.
“President Feng, by Zhou Cheng, do you mean Assistant Zhou?” one senior manager asked, stealing a glance at Wang Cheng. Since he served as Xie Wenzhi’s assistant, everyone at work called him Assistant Zhou.
“Is there another Zhou Cheng in our company?” Feng Yifan turned his gaze to Zhou Lin. “Manager Zhou, there’s one more thing. The entertainment business falls within your area, so you in particular must cooperate fully with Zhou Cheng. The chairman emphasized that point.”
“Understood.” Zhou Lin ground her teeth. Did they think she would secretly sabotage him?
With that announcement out of the way, everyone discussed the month’s remaining work. By the time the meeting ended, it was nearly lunchtime.
Wang Cheng left with Feng Yifan and Xie Wenzhi. Zhou Lin had wanted to speak to him, but with no opportunity to do so, she went back to her office. No sooner had she arrived than her disappointing son appeared.
“Mom, the meeting’s finally over. How did it go?”
Zhou Lin slammed her documents onto the desk, folded her arms, and sank into her executive chair. Her expression was stormy with anger.
Seeing this, Zhao Chenlin lowered his voice. Clearly someone had upset her at the meeting. “Mom, did something happen? Why are you so angry? Did Feng Yifan say something nasty again? Want me to find somebody to teach him a lesson?”
That only made Zhou Lin angrier. “And then we can wait for your grandfather to throw all three of us out of the Zhou family? Use your brain. I’m not joking. Your grandfather has already handed Yazhi over to Zhou Cheng. He intends to raise Zhou Cheng as his successor. Grandpa must have known about the things you’ve done outside for ages. If Zhou Group ends up in Zhou Cheng’s hands, you won’t have an endless supply of money anymore. Those friends you spend your time with will look down on you and refuse to associate with you, because you’ll no longer be worth their attention.” This wasn’t an empty threat. Zhou Lin knew how extravagantly her son spent money. He was accustomed to throwing it around. Without Zhou Group backing him, he was nothing.
“Mom, is that really true?” Zhao Chenlin panicked.
“Why would I lie to you?” Zhao Chenlin tugged at his tight necktie and said irritably, “But I have tried. I’m just no good at business. Every time I look at a document, I get a headache.”
Zhou Lin held his shoulders and looked at him firmly. “If you don’t know how, you can learn. Zhou Cheng only finished high school. You started with far more advantages than that boy who grew up in the countryside. Unless you want to lose to him, here’s what we’re going to do. Starting tomorrow, you’ll be my assistant. I’ll teach you myself. Once your father comes back from his business trip, he can teach you in the evenings.”
“All right. I’ll try.” He couldn’t think of any other solution, and a sense of crisis had finally taken hold. If he didn’t start taking his work seriously, he might truly lose to Zhou Cheng.
“Trying isn’t enough. You have to give it everything you’ve got.” She tightened her grip on his hand.
“I know.”
Wang Cheng did not have lunch with Grandpa that day. As soon as they were dismissed, he joined Xie Wenzhi and several others in the cafeteria. After eating hurriedly, he returned to work, much to everyone’s surprise. His colleagues had not yet come back, leaving the office empty except for him. As promised, Wang Cheng called Chu Yifeng. The call connected after two rings. There was some noise in the background, as though Chu were somewhere public, but it soon faded.
“Finished lunch?”
Chu Yifeng’s voice sounded in his ear. Wang Cheng answered, “Yes, I’ve eaten. Did you just finish eating too?”
Chu Yifeng laughed.
Wang Cheng suddenly slapped his forehead. “I forgot. There’s a time difference between your country and mine.”
“Looks as though your brain slows down when I’m not around.”
“Even the best horse stumbles sometimes, and people make mistakes too. I’ve been busy lately. I might even be busier than you. Grandpa put me in charge of an entertainment company. He took it away from Zhao Chenlin. Its reputation is awful, and he says I have three months to bring it back from the dead. My aunt and her son must hate my guts. They might even try to interfere.”
“Which entertainment company?”
“Yazhi. Zhou Group hasn’t gone very far into entertainment yet. This is its only company in the sector, and its reputation is so bad that business has been declining.”
“Its reputation really is poor. You need to solve the problems at the root. With Zhou Group behind it, resources shouldn’t be your main concern. But if you don’t remove the parasites inside the company, even small-time stars won’t want to sign with you.”
Why did celebrities sign with talent agencies in the first place? Because they wanted to become famous. If an agency couldn’t give them the chance, they’d be better off signing with a smaller company where they might at least have an opportunity.
“Exactly. I looked up a pile of news about Yazhi online, and it’s awful. Some lesser-known artists would rather breach their contracts than stay there.”
“No matter how bad it is, Yazhi has managed to survive in the industry. That means there’s still hope.”
“I hope so. All I can do is my best. By the way, did you talk to Old Master and Old Madam Chu about learning Health Fist? I’m free to visit the Chu family whenever they want, as long as it’s early.”
“I forgot to tell you. They went to the countryside for a holiday last Saturday. They won’t be back until the middle of March.” Chu Yifeng stood in a corridor connecting two buildings. The walls on both sides were transparent glass, and the view downward was spectacular. The wide-open space made footsteps echo, particularly those of women in high heels. He had barely finished speaking when a woman passing close by suddenly cried out and toppled toward him, apparently twisting her ankle. Chu Yifeng sidestepped two paces. Her forehead struck the glass with a dull thud. Now she really was hurt.
Wang Cheng’s ears pricked up. “I heard something really loud just now. What happened?”
“Nothing. A woman fell.” Chu Yifeng glanced at her without showing any intention of helping her up.
Wang Cheng understood at once. If he’d heard her fall all the way through the phone, she must have been standing extremely close. He immediately lectured him. “Boss Chu, remember that you’re a taken man. Not only do you have to keep your lower half in check, you have to watch your upper half too. Understand?”
Chu Yifeng laughed. “I understand the lower half. What’s wrong with my upper half?”
“Your hands are too flirtatious. So when you’re not working, avoid physical contact with women as much as possible. Except your mother.”
“Don’t worry. My hands are only flirtatious with you. I guarantee I can make you beg for more.”
“Peel some of that skin off your face. How can you be even more shameless than I am?”
The woman still lying on the floor was completely stunned. At first she’d been embarrassed when her little ploy was exposed, but then the man ignored her and flirted openly with the person on the phone. Wasn’t the boss supposed to be cold and disciplined? Was this smiling man really the boss she knew?
Chu Yifeng put away his phone and turned toward her. A small lump had risen on her forehead where she’d hit the glass. When she realized the boss had finally noticed her, hope flickered in her eyes.
“Hand in your resignation.”
With those words, Chu Yifeng walked away.