Chapter 347: Don't Solve the Problem, Solve the Person (Part 2)

Today, President Zhao had called again to tell him that the mall had already arranged for the next tenant to come and measure the Xinyue Square Store. He urged Fang Zheng to get the communication going immediately. ‘Communicate my ass!’ He couldn’t get anywhere with the junior leasing manager, and when he tried to meet the VP of business, the man just put on airs and refused to see him. It was the sad reality of working for a small company—a dignified regional general manager who couldn’t even schedule a meeting with a regional VP from Xinyue Group.

In reality, it wasn’t that a meeting was impossible. The VP simply knew what Fang Zheng wanted to discuss, and because he had no desire to have that conversation, he kept putting him off.

RING RING RING~

The internal line rang, and Fang Zheng snatched up the receiver.

“President Fang, the special report on lease renewals to headquarters, scheduled for tomorrow, has been canceled.”

Fang Zheng was ecstatic. ‘Headquarters is finally acting human!’ Two special progress reports on lease renewals every week—it was an unbearable way to live. He had to go over the status of every single Xinyue Square store, one by one. The problem was, what progress did he have to report? He had to make it all up. But as the contract expiration dates loomed, some of his lies were becoming impossible to maintain. Every meeting was an agonizing ordeal, and the moment one ended, he had to start dreading the next one.

He was in a constant state of torment. It had gotten so bad that lately, even when he thought about calling Qin Hong over to help him blow off some steam, he couldn’t even get it up.

“Okay, President Zhao. Will they resume next week?”

“The meeting has been canceled indefinitely. At least, it won’t be happening again for the foreseeable future.”

Fang Zheng shot up from his chair in excitement. “Headquarters finally figured out how to do some actual work! What problems can holding meetings every day possibly solve?”

President Zhao said nothing, but he thought, ‘Meetings certainly can’t solve problems. Now it’s time to get rid of the people who can’t solve them.’

When Yang Hui returned to the office that afternoon, Zhu Jing rushed over to tell him that Yang Wei had recently demanded to take credit for the team’s group-buying sales. Seeing the disdain on her face, Yang Hui knew the pretty girl was genuinely angry. ‘Who the hell does Yang Wei think he is? He should take a hard look in the mirror. If he’s so capable, he should go out and secure his own resources.’

He glanced around and, seeing that no one was paying attention, patted Zhu Jing’s butt as she stood beside him, giving it a squeeze as he pulled his hand away. “Don’t waste your anger on an idiot,” he said. “It’s not worth it.”

Zhu Jing’s face flushed, and she quickly scanned her surroundings, only breathing a sigh of relief when she confirmed no one had noticed. ‘This boss is so audacious!’ she thought. ‘Daring to grope me in an open-plan office like this!’

Just then, Han Ya returned from outside. Afraid Han Ya might have seen something, Zhu Jing scurried back to her desk. Unexpectedly, Han Ya leaned in and whispered, “What were you doing? The second I get back, you dash off looking as guilty as a thief.”

‘I wish I could stuff something in her mouth to shut her up,’ Zhu Jing thought. An image of her own mouth being “stuffed” flashed through her mind, but she quickly shook her head. ‘No, that belongs to the boss. I can’t just use it whenever I want.’

“Why’d you come to the office after your business trip?”

Zhu Jing changed the subject. Normally people headed straight home when they got back to Qingzhou, especially since it was almost time to clock out.

Han Ya rolled her eyes. “That Yang Wei said he needed to see me. The man is useless, but he’s always got something going on.”

‘Useless, but always got something going on?’ It wasn’t until long after Han Ya had left that Zhu Jing finally understood what she’d meant by “useless”—it was a pun on his name, which sounded just like the word for “impotent.”

Han Ya always had such a crude sense of humor and loved to gossip. Zhu Jing’s mind drifted to the moments she had shared with the team over the past two years. She was leaving soon, having found her own path, but she worried about what would become of the others. With a leader like Yang Wei, Airex was likely to be knocked right back to where it started.

Zhu Jing had spent most of the past month shadowing Yang Hui. She knew firsthand what kind of client-side resources he commanded, which was how he’d managed to secure so much support for the team. Once he was gone, it wouldn’t just be the useless Yang Wei who’d be screwed—even if Dan Biao himself stepped in, it would be a total wash.

Just as she was lost in thought, Han Ya returned. Even from a distance, Zhu Jing could see the disdain hanging on her lips; obviously, the meeting had gone poorly. Before Zhu Jing could even ask, Han Ya blurted out, “What a fucking joke. He doesn’t know a thing and still tried to PUA me. Do I look like an idiot?”

“What happened?”

“What else?” Han Ya scoffed. “It’s about that in-store livestreaming sales project. He wants my team to be the first to do it. He used the exact same pitch on me that he used on Ji Kun yesterday. I seriously don’t get how he can think everyone else is dumber than he is. I didn’t mince words and shot him down right then and there. You can’t be wishy-washy with his type, or he’ll pester you to death.”

Zhu Jing had to agree. After Yang Wei had pitched the in-store livestreaming idea to Ji Kun, Ji Kun had spent ages complaining about it in their little group chat. It was baffling that Yang Wei would then turn around and try to PUA Han Ya with the same failed pitch.

“Zhu Jing, you’re the smart one for resigning early,” Han Ya said. “Looking at him, I have no idea what’s going to happen to Airex. We’ll just have to wait and see. My guess is either he’ll fail and get replaced, or the rest of us will burn out and leave.”

Zhu Jing smiled but said nothing. ‘This is all thanks to the boss having my back,’ she thought. ‘But Han Ya already knew that, didn’t she?’

Yang Wei sat alone in the conference room, his face a mask of indignation. He couldn’t believe how unappreciative everyone on this team was. A new leader had arrived—weren’t they supposed to be sucking up to him? How was it possible that he couldn’t even delegate the simplest of tasks?

‘This team must have been ruined by Yang Hui,’ he fumed. ‘They have zero sense of organization or discipline. No one respects the rules.’

He pinned all the problems on Yang Hui, but his thoughts quickly turned to worry. He had promised President Shan that they would start promoting the in-store livestream shopping initiative by early July, and President Shan had already reported this to President Li. If he couldn’t get it off the ground by then, it would be a huge loss of face for both him and President Shan. And President Shan would surely get reprimanded by President Li.