Chapter 367: With Such Force

The first floor of the Qingzhou Xinyue Plaza First Store.

Yang Hui stepped out of the elevator bay. The NLB and Zen stores were doing as well as ever. Last month in particular, Zen’s performance had been slightly better than NLB’s. This month, both stores were fired up and ready to compete for the top spot again.

This was healthy competition—a good thing. It wasn’t like Futong Commerce, where many stores seemed to be competing over who could slack off the most.

He stood outside watching for a moment without going in, then continued on. He planned to take the escalator up to glance at the Ruijing Commerce store before heading to the Xinyue Group’s regional office.

When he reached the Lantu exhibition area, he was surprised to find that Huang Lingyu was actually there. She was staring at her phone, however, and didn’t notice him walk up right beside her.

Her colleague, Xiaoli, craned her neck to look and asked in surprise, “Are you buying a school uniform for one of the kids in your family? But aren’t uniforms all ordered by the school now?”

Mortified, Huang Lingyu quickly blanked her screen and explained, “I was just looking. It’s not like I’m actually buying it.”

Xiaoli had no idea what game she was playing. Not even the wildest imagination could have guessed it was Yang Hui’s suggestion, and that Huang Lingyu was purely indulging his quirk.

Looking up, she suddenly said, “Ah, Lingyu, your boyfriend’s here.”

Huang Lingyu whipped her head around and saw Yang Hui a few meters away, watching her with a smile. It was obvious he had overheard her conversation with Xiaoli, and her face grew even redder. Despite their relationship, she was still easily flustered.

“I… I’m working the late shift today.”

He knew she was explaining that she probably wouldn’t be able to leave, and then he heard her ask, “Or… should I take the day off?”

Surprised she was so afraid of disappointing him, he shook his head. “Don’t worry about it. I have business upstairs, so just finish your shift. I’ll ask you out again in the next day or two. And also… take a good look online. Buy whatever you like.”

She understood his insinuation—”take a good look online” was still about the school uniform. Huang Lingyu mumbled an affirmative, her voice as faint as a mosquito’s buzz.

「Xinyue Group Qingjiang Regional Headquarters」

Yang Hui went to the front desk and mentioned his appointment with President Zhang Chun. The receptionist recognized him, so she didn’t bother to confirm. She just greeted him with a “Hello, President Yang,” and led him inside.

On the way, he subconsciously glanced toward Cheng Jun’s office and was surprised to see that guy, Yang Wei, pacing back and forth by the door. He was clearly waiting to speak with Cheng Jun, but Yang Hui didn’t think much of it. It was perfectly normal for an operations manager to come and discuss business, and it had nothing to do with him.

He didn’t know what a tough spot Yang Wei was in. Li Yang had chewed out Dan Biao, and Dan Biao had naturally taken it out on him. Yang Wei was no Yang Hui, so Dan Biao hadn’t been so polite. He had directly demanded that Yang Wei rapidly improve the store’s performance and get its live-stream shopping events started.

The best way to achieve the former was to secure operational support from the Xinyue Group. As for the latter, he had passed down the order, but his team completely ignored him. He privately called a supervisor, who just passed the buck to the store, claiming the staff had major objections. The message was clear: if they had to do it, the mall needed to provide promotions and online subsidies like last time. Otherwise, with no traffic and no price advantage, wasn’t live-streaming just screaming into the void?

Yang Wei realized that the sticking point for both of the tasks assigned by Dan Biao—or more accurately, by Li Yang—was Xinyue Square. That was why he had scheduled a meeting with Cheng Jun to discuss it.

He had, after all, been in the retail business for over a decade and had known Cheng Jun back when she was just a junior floor manager. That’s why she had agreed to see him. The only problem was that she currently had a guest, so he was stuck waiting anxiously outside.

As Yang Hui spotted him, Yang Wei happened to turn and see Yang Hui, freezing on the spot.

‘Didn’t he quit? Why is he at the Xinyue Group’s regional headquarters? What the hell is he up to?’

He watched as the receptionist led Yang Hui all the way to the door of the regional general manager’s office. The GM’s assistant greeted him and then personally escorted him inside. Yang Wei’s mind exploded. ‘Holy shit! Who the hell is this guy that he can just walk into the general manager’s office? What is he even meeting the GM for?’

It wasn’t just him who saw it; the regional deputy general manager of business saw it as well. He was just stepping out of his office when he saw Yang Hui enter President Zong’s office. He wasn’t too shocked, however, because President Zhang Chun was there. He was simply marveling at how well President Zhang Chun treated Yang Hui. President Zong had just arrived and was incredibly busy; she had even stated on several occasions that she wouldn’t be meeting with clients for at least two weeks. Yet here was Yang Hui, on only her second day in office.

Back in his own office, he sent a message to the group chat with the deputy general managers of business from all the stores: “@all Every store must finalize the placements for NLB and Zen within this month. For anyone who hasn’t completed this by the end of the month, I will be giving you a poor rating on your mid-year KPI review.”

The single message threw the deputy GMs at the stores into an uproar. The NLB and Zen brands had been championed by President Tian, so after hearing he was leaving the region, everyone had started dragging their feet. They couldn’t understand what had gotten into their regional boss. Why was he cracking down even harder than President Tian ever did?

They didn’t have time to dwell on the reason why. Some of the deputy GMs hurried to report to their project general managers and strategize, while others scrambled to start coordinating the placements.

This was Yang Hui’s first time meeting Zong Lan. She sat on a single armchair in her office, her long legs crossed elegantly. The pointed toe of one black high-heeled shoe tapped lightly against the floor. The deep brown leather of the chair set off her beige business suit in a stark, beautiful contrast, making her stand out like a dazzling star.

She held a document, her fingertips tapping a steady rhythm against the paper. With her gaze lowered, her long eyelashes cast a delicate shadow across her cheeks. Zhang Chun sat on another sofa to one side.