Chapter 241 - 193: Indomitable

Thank goodness Futong Commerce had a small number of stores. Otherwise, their business metrics would seriously drag down the national average and affect her own KPIs.

It was also fortunate that Yanghe Commerce was strong enough. Even with only one store, it managed to pull up Qingjiang Province’s average. Serene was right. They needed to give more resources to Yanghe Commerce and have them open more stores. That way, Qingjiang’s overall data would look better and better, and they might soon become number one in the country.

She glanced at Yanghe Commerce’s annual store opening plan. It was very pragmatic. It provided store locations and timelines. The key was that the locations were precise down to specific spots on a floor; if those spots weren’t available, they’d rather not open a store at all. This strategy of prioritizing quality over quantity and only opening high-quality stores was something both Song Wen and Serene strongly agreed with.

Futong Commerce, on the other hand, was up to something strange. The previous version of their plan had stores located almost exclusively in Xinyue Square. But just a few days later, they submitted a new version that surprisingly added many local shopping centers. Were these commercial districts even suitable for NLB? Li Yang had talked them up so much, even claiming they weren’t much worse than Xinyue Square. Song Wen didn’t dare believe him. She even suspected he was just trying to grab market share, using quantity to offset the impact Yanghe Commerce was having on him with their quality of management.

’Instead of focusing on proper business, he resorts to these crooked schemes.’ Song Wen was scornful. After some thought, she forwarded yesterday’s performance data—the national average, Yanghe Commerce’s, and Futong Commerce’s—to Li Yang. She only sent a chart, without a single word of comment.

After arranging his work at the office, Yang Hui received a message from Shen Meng asking if he was coming to the company today. By "the company," she naturally meant Yanghe Commerce.

He thought about it. He didn’t seem to have much to do at the company today and hadn’t planned on going. But since Shen Meng had asked, he might as well make a trip. It was a perfect chance to see his gorgeous, enchanting girlfriend. In a flash, he recalled the exquisite taste of her beauty in the Xinyue Hotel in Sanyang, and his heart fluttered.

Just then, Zhu Jing walked up beside him. The young woman’s natural scent, mixed with a faint perfume, made his adrenaline spike again. He subconsciously took a few sniffs, causing Zhu Jing to blush deeply.

"Boss, you still haven’t given me the thing I asked for yesterday."

It took Yang Hui a moment to realize she was talking about the brand materials for Zen. He smiled. "You’re really proactive. I almost feel bad using you without paying you."

Zhu Jing reached up to tuck a stray strand of hair behind her ear. She glanced around before whispering, "You can use me without paying. Use me however you want."

’Use me however you want.’ Those words were practically begging him to let his imagination run wild. If this wasn’t an open-plan office, Yang Hui figured his hand would already be holding hers. He wanted to "use" her right now.

He coughed lightly twice to compose himself. "I’ll send it to you now."

Zhu Jing whispered again, "I heard President Li is in his office yelling at President Shan and Zhang Li again."

He gave a faint smile. ’Goes without saying. It must be about NLB’s performance again. That bunch of amateurs is no match for Yanghe Commerce. Xia Jie will probably be ecstatic when she hears the news.’

"Which store are you visiting today? I can give you a ride, but I won’t be joining you on the tour."

He had to go back to the company to see Shen Meng, so he obviously couldn’t bring Zhu Jing along. ’Bringing another woman to see my girlfriend? That’s just too cruel.’

「In Li Yang’s office」 Dan Biao and Zhang Li stood with their heads bowed, silent. After seeing the NLB performance numbers for Wanlong Square last night, they knew this ordeal was coming. They could only pray that the performance of the NLB on the first floor of Xinyue Square wasn’t too high—that it hadn’t, at least, broken ten thousand.

Who would have thought? The moment they were called into Li Yang’s office, he started laying into them with a furious tirade. He even walked over and kicked Zhang Li twice. Before, people had been envious of Li Yang’s nephew enjoying all sorts of special treatment at the company. Recently, they’d discovered that being his nephew was also a miserable fate. At least with others, Li Yang would only curse them out and not get physical. But with Zhang Li, it was a combination of beatings and curses, with language that was extremely heavy on the maternal insults.

"You’re fucking morons! Before, you said Yanghe Commerce’s performance was good because of their pre-opening publicity and the mall’s shopping vouchers. Fine! Yesterday, they didn’t have any of those advantages! They did 58,000, and you did 3,000! What’s your excuse now? Speak! Goddammit!"

Fuming, Li Yang got out of his chair and paced back and forth, pointing his finger right in their faces as he cursed them.

"Two useless pieces of trash! The person managing the Yanghe Commerce store was your former subordinate! The two of you combined did one-twentieth of their sales! What a complete and utter disgrace! A disgrace!"

When he called them a disgrace, he was really expressing his own feelings. He was terrified the news would get out that an NLB store managed by a supervisor who’d been "encouraged to resign" from Futong Commerce was performing twenty times better than Futong Commerce’s own stores. The slap in the face would be unbearable.

"The worst part is, your performance metrics—both conversion rate and add-on sales rate—have also dropped month-over-month! I had you keeping an eye on the store, and this is the result you give me?! If this continues, both of you can get the hell out and work as salespeople in the store!

Also, the store staff all signed performance-based pay agreements! We don’t make empty promises here! If they don’t meet the target, they get docked! How are you going to face the store then? I gave them such a great policy—with just a little effort, they could have earned an extra 2,000. But because of your negligent management, they’re getting fined 1,000 instead! Are you even fit to be leaders? Do you have the nerve to face them?"

Dan Biao and Zhang Li kept their heads down as he berated them, offering no explanation. ’How the fuck could they even explain this?’ The moment he called his performance-betting scheme a "great policy," Dan Biao felt a sense of despair greater than death itself. ’What’s the point of explaining shit to him? You can’t wake someone who’s only pretending to be asleep.’