Chapter 623 - 408: Meeting

Chapter 623: Chapter 408: Meeting

The conversation between them had grown a bit awkward.

Zhang Kai quickly interjected, "Vice President Ouyang, your President Feng wasn’t exaggerating. He genuinely has that kind of influence in Alaska, which is why he dares to launch a tourism business there."

He then turned to Feng Shan and continued.

"Handing the business operations over to Ouyang Xue is absolutely the right call. She’s a true talent in the domestic tourism industry. She’s independently managed several tour routes in the past with excellent results. I had to call in a huge favor to get her to come here and run the show."

"Now that you’re back, you need to handle some company affairs. Specifically, confirming Vice President Ouyang’s salary, benefits, and position. Otherwise, you’ll just up and run back to Alaska, leaving this whole mess for me to deal with."

Zhang Kai said, half-joking and half-serious, a hint of complaint in his voice.

"What do you mean, benefits? You haven’t settled that yet?" Feng Shan frowned slightly, a look of surprise on his face.

’She’s already started working.’

’For her salary and benefits to still be up in the air is certainly unexpected.’

"Of course we’ve settled it. It just needs you, the boss, to sign off on it. I’m not the owner, after all," Zhang Kai said, rolling his eyes in exasperation.

His deliberately playful tone and expression eased the tension in the office a bit.

Ouyang Xue took the opportunity to speak up, her expression confident. "President Feng, when President Zhang recruited me, the position offered was Vice President. The compensation package was 10% of the company’s after-tax profits as an equity dividend, with a starting annual salary of one million yuan. If you have any objections, I believe we can discuss it further."

"No need for discussion. We’ll go with that," Feng Shan said with a wave of his hand, cutting her off before she could continue.

"I’ll rarely be back in the country, but I trust Brother Kai’s judgment. If he says you’re the one for the job, then you are. However, I’ll be arranging for someone else to handle the finance position. I hope you understand."

Feng Shan explained. Although he was giving Ouyang Xue a great deal of authority and trust, he still had his own considerations when it came to finances.

After all, business is business.

Back when he ran a restaurant, he managed every aspect of the shop himself, but the finances were always handled by Ms. Hong.

Hearing that Feng Shan had no objection whatsoever to her compensation and position, Ouyang Xue was filled with a mix of complex emotions, chief among them being surprise.

She thought back to the travel agency where she had poured ten years of her life.

When confronted with one of the industry’s "unspoken rules," she had fearlessly refused and resolutely exposed the matter publicly.

After making that decision,

Ouyang Xue had resigned, leaving the place where she had poured her youth and sweat.

However, she hadn’t expected her former company to fly into a rage out of sheer humiliation.

As a major, influential player in the industry, they put the word out to have her blacklisted.

And reality proved to be just as cruel as they had threatened.

Afterward, she sent out resume after resume, hoping for a new job opportunity to restart her career.

But her applications vanished without a trace, like stones cast into the sea.

Ouyang Xue waited, only to be disappointed time and time again. During that period, she felt a sense of defeat and helplessness like never before.

Caving to the pressure from her former employer, other companies in the industry avoided her like the plague, treating her as if she were taboo.

And so, at her most difficult moment, as she was repeatedly hitting a wall in her job search,

Zhang Kai appeared.

He was like a ray of light, illuminating her bewildering career path and bringing her to the Crown Leader Travel Agency.

At first, Ouyang Xue was filled with nothing but gratitude for Zhang Kai’s kindness.

She was determined to do everything in her power to help him and build up the Crown Leader Travel Agency, which was practically nonexistent at the time.

However, it was only after she delved deeper that she discovered the truth.

The travel agency had been founded less than two months ago, and its business focused on the extremely niche market of tourism in Alaska.

In Ouyang Xue’s mind,

Alaska was a place that,

although possessed of breathtaking natural beauty—glaciers, auroras, and a vast wilderness,

all of which were filled with a mysterious, natural charm,

its environment was also far too desolate and harsh.

In winter, the cold was bone-chilling, enough to freeze a person numb.

Even the summers weren’t much better, with plagues of ravenous insects and wildly unpredictable weather.

For tourists accustomed to the comforts of domestic travel,

Alaska was clearly not an ideal destination.

But even so,

Ouyang Xue’s innate refusal to admit defeat, combined with her gratitude toward Zhang Kai, made her decide to take on the challenge.

After a period of intense preparations and research, Ouyang Xue began to sense that this company held an unimaginable potential.

At first, she had thought that focusing on Alaska tourism was nothing more than a risky venture.

But as she learned more, she discovered...

The boss behind the scenes actually owned a massive tract of land in Alaska.

Furthermore, the infrastructure on that land was exceptionally well-planned, featuring log cabins, a ranch, a plantation, natural hot spring pools, and even a base camp that could provide for all of the tourists’ needs.

These physical assets alone were enough to make it stand out in the high-end tourism market.

With a cautious attitude, Ouyang Xue conducted detailed follow-up calls with the first group of tourists who had visited Crown Camp.

The calls were filled with surprised and delighted praise. Nearly every tourist was singing the praises of the Crown Territory.

One retired teacher even became emotional during the call.

The chronic pain in her legs that had plagued her for years had eased significantly after just one week at the Crown Territory.

A white-collar worker who suffered from chronic insomnia was surprised to find she could sleep soundly through the night in her log cabin at the Crown Territory.

This feedback made Ouyang Xue realize.