Our Glamorous Time

Around noon, Lin Qian and Li Zhicheng sat down at a small restaurant near the newer production base to have lunch.

The owner of the restaurant served them a small steaming hot pot, which smelled spicy and delicious. But no food, no matter how good, could cure the cold and foreboding expression on Li Zhicheng’s face. He sat up straight like a military man, eating quickly and quietly.

Lin Qian concentrated on eating too, trying to look humble and hide most of her presence.

With a clang, the restaurant door opened again. Lin Qian heard the owner ask, “How many?”

Soon, Gu Yanzhi, dressed in a suit, sat down with them, throwing his car keys on the table.

“Hello, Mr. Gu,” said Lin Qian immediately. She then asked the owner to bring another set of plates and chopsticks for him.

Li Zhicheng looked up at him briefly and then continued to have his lunch.

Lin Qian hadn’t had any friendly experiences with Gu Yanzhi in a normal situation before this. She saw that he could be very easy going. He took a pair of disposable wooden chopsticks from the restaurant owner and rubbed them together. He then asked Lin Qian for a cup of hot water and started eating.

After a few bites, he put his chopsticks down and asked Li Zhicheng, “How was your morning?”

Lin Qian also stopped eating and looked at Li Zhicheng.

Having already finished his lunch, he was sipping water, his head slightly bent. “As bad as I thought it would be,” he replied.

Gu Yanzhi nodded. “I’ve arranged a two o’clock meeting for this afternoon. As we talked about yesterday, all the vice presidents and the important department heads will join us for a meeting on our future work priorities.”

“Mmm,” Li Zhicheng replied.

Lin Qian felt her heart skip a beat. Li Zhicheng can finally start working and get to the real point of his position.

As if guessing what she was thinking, Gu Yanzhi suddenly turned to look at her and asked evenly, “I heard that you suggested Mr. Li’s next priority should be finding a turning point and making a comeback’?”

Lin Qian hesitated for a second and was about to answer yes, but suddenly paused.

Did Li Zhicheng tell Gu Yanzhi everything I said the other day?

Lin Qian blushed without speaking.

Her bold statements like “I’d like to be your adjutant” and “this side of me is the true me” had been spoken naturally in front of Li Zhicheng. But to someone else besides her boss, Lin Qian was a little embarrassed. Even worse, it was Gu Yanzhi, a long-time member of the business world.

She looked up and saw a faint but meaningful smile on Gu Yanzhi’s face. She even detected a hint of a smile from Li Zhicheng, who was sitting quietly.

After a moment of silence, Lin Qian spoke up with a smile, as if nothing had occurred in her thoughts. “Yes, that’s what I think. I hope Aida can improve.”

That answer wasn’t enough for Gu Yanzhi. He quickly asked again, “Oh, is it? Since you’ve come up with such an interesting idea, could you tell me what turning point you’re referring to? I don’t want a generalized statement. What I need is a real solution and plan.”

Lin Qian kept quiet for a moment.

In all honesty, when she had expressed her loyalty to Li Zhicheng the other day, she had indeed kept some things to herself. Like Gu Yanzhi said, she had only given Li a vague idea, not an actual solution. At the time, she wasn’t sure if she would get the position of CEO assistant. It would have been too hasty for her to suggest the solution then. Besides, it was a plan full of risks.

A workplace rule that Lin Qian had always believed in was to “brush off petty things tactfully, but to face important things bravely and practically.” If she had to deal with everything tactfully and couldn’t openly express her ideas, how exhausting and boring would things be?

So she replied, “Mr. Li, Mr. Gu, I think the most appropriate turning point for the time being would be the Ming Sheng Group project.”

She stopped to gauge their reaction. Unexpectedly, she found them both watching her in silence, as if they were waiting for her to continue.

So Lin Qian decided to take a risk and started her long speech.

“I think that because we need to turn things around, Aida needs to do something that will really reinvigorate us. I’m not suggesting the Ming Sheng project because it can bring us a large profit. On the contrary, the profit from it might be very low, or close to nothing at all. It would be difficult for us to get the project too. But, I still think that it’s the best way for us to get out of our dilemma right now.

“First, we would have to create a new market through the project. The consumer market is now being held firmly by New Bori and SMQ. Although that was a big share of ours, it will be too difficult and time consuming for us to make any breakthroughs in that particular market.

“On the other hand, Ming Sheng Group is one of the top fifty enterprises in China and is state-owned. An order from them is almost like a getting a government procurement, which can greatly improve Aida’s reputation. Besides, Ming Sheng has close relations with many peer companies in the system of the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission. More orders will come to us as long as we complete this order efficiently. We don’t necessarily have to make money directly from the Ming Sheng project.

“It’s also about morale. Our company’s attitude and enthusiasm are as important as our performance. An important order like this one will surely boost the morale throughout the entire group and bring all the employees together under Mr. Li.

“Lastly, the new base inspection we did this morning has really reinforced my idea. The raw materials that can’t be used for the domestic market can be used in the Ming Sheng project. That way, our inventory can be used in one go and the state-owned companies will be impressed by our low prices and high quality. Aida’s production chains will be revived as well.

“So, the employees, our production levels, and our market shares will all come back. Everything will be revamped.”

…

It was early in the morning back in the eastern United States.

Having finished a full work day, Lin Mochen rubbed his face and habitually opened his personal email. He smiled when he read Lin Qian’s email, which only said, “Thank you.”

He was curious about the status of her current career choice, mostly because it was unconventional. He took out his cell phone and dialed her number.

When Lin Qian received the call, she had just gotten back from lunch with her two bosses. Seeing the caller’s number, she went to an empty stairwell to pick up the call.

“Hey Lin Mochen, shouldn’t you be sleeping?”

Lin Mochen smiled lightly and said, “Assistant Lin, how do you feel about your new job?”

Remembering what she had gone through that morning, Lin Qian smiled and replied, “Well, are you going to cheer me up?”

“Mmm,” he said, “I want to see how long you can actually survive.”

“Aw, Lin Mochen, can you stop being so evil?” said Lin Qian, noticing that he seemed to be in a good mood. His investment had probably gone well that day.

Lin Mochen was in such a good mood that he continued to joke around. “Oh, when I finished my work yesterday, I had some free time to do some simple research on Aida,” he said casually.

“Wow, that’s so kind of you.” Lin Qian was excited. She knew well that “simple” research from Lin Mochen would be worth thousands of dollars to an outsider.

He smiled and said, “Based on an analysis of their current situation of markets, debts, and assets, with the compensation being deducted for the loss resulting from the Carcinogen Incident, I’ve calculated that the capital that the entire Aida Group can raise and use in the future can’t be more than ten million dollars. And their overall business is experiencing negative growth, so if there isn’t a new growth point, that ten million dollars will continue to shrink rapidly, and Aida will soon go bankrupt.”

Lin Qian was shocked speechless.

Ten million dollars? Only ten million? That’s what’s left of a company that used to have a billion dollars in assets?