Chapter 351: Such a Coincidence?

The Mercedes E-Class stopped in front of the Ban Mu Tian homestyle restaurant. Zhu Jing asked, “Want to join us?”

“No, it’s fine. You guys have your gathering. I need to get back.”

Zhu Jing’s staff mostly knew him, but he wasn’t a fan of these farewell scenes. If it were a regular team-building event, he might have joined in.

Yang Hui returned home to find Wenren Meng cooking in the kitchen. He glanced over and noticed something was different about her today. When she saw him, she instinctively looked like she wanted to say something but held back.

He didn’t think much of it, assuming she was just about to say that dinner was almost ready. ‘If it were something important, she would surely bring it up during the meal.’

But when they ate, Wenren Meng was quieter than usual. Their little girl, on the other hand, was happily chattering about fun things from school. Yang Hui placed a banded coral shrimp on her plate.

“When you’re eating, focus on eating. Less talking.”

“Okay.” Du’Er felt the frustration of having her speech cut short, then muttered, “Don’t speak in bed, don’t talk while eating.” Her rebellious streak was surprisingly strong.

Back in his study, he received a message from Brother Chun. He was coming to Qingzhou in the next couple of days and would introduce him to General Manager Zong Lan. Yang Hui was ecstatic. He had been worrying about whether Zhang Chun’s influence over Zong Lan would be enough to secure her support, just as he had with President Tian. Brother Chun offering to make the introduction personally was the best possible outcome—far better than making an unsolicited visit himself.

His original plan had been to try and schedule a meeting himself after starting at Ruijing Commerce, only asking Brother Chun to step in if that failed. After all, she had just arrived in Qingzhou and was likely swamped with handover matters with President Tian; she probably had no time for clients.

This meeting would be the perfect opportunity to bring up the Ruijing Commerce situation. Her support—or lack thereof—would determine whether his stint at Ruijing Commerce lasted one month or three.

Indeed, countless vendors were clamoring to meet with Zong Lan at this time. But without a powerful connection like Zhang Chun making an introduction, she certainly wouldn’t have time to see outsiders in her first week. The handover and getting to know her team would all take time. Besides, since she wasn’t yet familiar with the region’s operations, even if she did meet with clients, she wouldn’t be sure how to answer their questions.

Li Yang was clearly one of the top vendor bosses most eager to meet Zong Lan. When President Tian was in charge, he had fully supported Yanghe Commerce because of Zhang Chun. Now, with a new regional general manager, Li Yang was determined to make a play for her favor. Even if he couldn’t win the entire market, securing even half a chance for Futong Commerce would be a massive gain.

In Li Yang’s mind, President Tian had been taken down by a report. Zong Lan must have been sent down from headquarters to purge President Tian’s faction. That meant she was unlikely to be one of Zhang Chun’s people, limiting his influence over her. This presented a huge opportunity for him.

The mere sight of Han Chao annoyed him now. He had spent over a hundred thousand yuan on the man, and together with Zhao Rui, they had fed him a huge, empty promise. In the end, he realized that promise was just a pile of shit. The feeling had been gnawing at Li Yang for days.

He no longer trusted Han Chao with important channel development matters, let alone something as critical as scheduling a meeting with Zong Lan. He called the regional VP of Sales to ask about Zong Lan’s arrival and learned that she had already met with President Tian at the office that afternoon. The two of them would be at the company all weekend for the handover.

Li Yang asked the VP to help him arrange a welcome dinner for President Zong. The VP gave a wry smile. “President Li, I haven’t even had a chance to report to her myself. Don’t put me in a tough spot. Give it some time. I’ll ask her, and if it’s okay, I’ll give you her contact information so you can arrange it yourself.”

‘It’s still a breakthrough,’ Li Yang thought, feeling a little smug. It was probably impossible for anyone else to get President Zong’s contact info right now. He had to be one of the first. He called a few friends in the vendor circle and confirmed it: they had no way of getting a meeting with President Zong at all.

Zhu Jing had just sat down when she received a text from Xia Jie: “Can you ask Manager Yang if he’s coming this weekend? We’re making dumplings for him.”

‘If only she’d sent this ten minutes earlier,’ Zhu Jing thought. She knew what Xia Jie was up to; she was just too shy to ask herself. Zhu Jing decided to take care of it. After all, her relationship with Yang Hui was different now.

He had flaked on them last week, so Yang Hui would have to show up this weekend. After replying to Xia Jie, Zhu Jing looked at her team sitting around the table, all of them looking completely deflated. They were the people she would miss most after leaving Futong Commerce. But as Yang Hui had said—all good things must come to an end.

‘If I work hard,’ she thought, ‘maybe someday I’ll be able to work with some of these people again.’

“Alright, don’t look so glum. This is a farewell party, not my funeral.”

“Don’t say that! Don’t jinx it, Boss!” one of them protested. “For one, we can’t bear to see you go. You’ve led us for two years, and now you’re suddenly leaving. For another, we’re worried about ourselves. We all know what the situation is like on the front lines. If you hadn’t been leading us, we all would have quit long ago. Then Manager Yang came and helped us increase our income, which finally stabilized the team and got us moving in the right direction. Now Manager Yang is gone, and you’re leaving too. We suddenly feel hopeless.”

Her words made everyone else even more melancholic and anxious, sparking a wave of shared sentiment. A few even pulled out tissues to wipe their eyes. Zhu Jing finally understood why Yang Hui didn’t want to attend gatherings like this.

“Alright, alright, let’s order. You’re all going to ruin your makeup.”

Zhu Jing had no experience with this and didn’t know how to comfort them. It was the first time in her life she had ever experienced such a sorrowful parting.