The Early Spring - Chapter 113

Chapter 113 - Hello

The very first order for Shang Zhitao's new company came from Sun Yu's firm.

They held a bidding event in Harbin to recruit suppliers, and Shang Zhitao went accompanied by Fu Dong.

Before going, Fu Dong asked, "Boss, we have nothing to our name except a 200-square-meter office and a PPT. Can we really pull this off?"

"We can."

"We even have to advance the funds ourselves!"

"I still have some savings." When calculating the costs, she had specifically factored in the advanced funding. Initially, they couldn't take on massive orders—a single large event required over a million in advanced capital, which Shang Zhitao couldn't afford. Once the capital chain broke, the company would be ruined.

Selling her stocks had left her with some funds, just enough to advance the money for four small-scale events for Sun Yu's company. After four events, the capital would flow back.

Shang Zhitao also had another sum of money, but she would never touch it. She thought to herself: Perhaps I should choose an opportune time to donate this money.

The two arrived at the bidding site, where the other competing companies looked exceedingly wealthy. Fu Dong grew nervous for no apparent reason, sweat breaking out on his forehead as he asked her, "Boss, are we really going to be okay?"

"We're fine."

Shang Zhitao took Fu Dong along as they refined the proposal and negotiated venue arrangements. Fu Dong felt his boss was truly incredible, knowledgeable about absolutely everything. When talking about Shang Zhitao to his former classmates, he described her like this:

"You guys truly haven't seen what a female boss from a top global company is like—she is ridiculously cool!"

"She practically knows everything! Nothing can stump her!"

"Working with her, you can learn anything. She loves to teach me and explains everything with total clarity from start to finish."

"Put it this way: are you guys sure your companies can teach you all this? In a place like Harbin, can you find anyone more professional than my boss, Taozi?"

And so, the two jumped right in. Shang Zhitao's PPT was almost like a personal resume, detailing all the projects she had executed in previous years. Fu Dong kept muttering holy crap in his head; she was just too impressive.

On the day they learned they had won the bid, Shang Zhitao treated Fu Dong to a lavish meal under the guise of a company team-building event. Right now, their company consisted of only the two of them, but it was time to recruit more people. At the same time, they needed a reliable ground execution agency. That was when she remembered Xing Yi. He worked at the Culture and Tourism Bureau, so he bound to know plenty of trustworthy execution companies.

Xing Yi indeed proved reliable. In less than half an hour, he brought over the owner of an execution company. After a meal together, Shang Zhitao's company officially took off.

After dinner, Xing Yi walked Shang Zhitao back home.

The two walked together. In truth, they were already quite familiar with each other. Xing Yi was warm-hearted and had chipped in plenty to help out at the "Old Couple's Diner." Since Shang Zhitao was unfamiliar with the city upon her return to Harbin, Xing Yi had resolved many problems for her.

"With a personality like yours, do you ever feel out of place working in the government?" Shang Zhitao was referring to Xing Yi's hobbies—he loved playing basketball, and back in high school, countesses of girls would watch him play.

"It's actually not bad. Aside from having to drink heavily on occasion, which I dislike. To be honest, if I have to drink, doing it with friends is the most comfortable. You can't drink like that with colleagues."

"That's true."

"What about you? Is running a company exhausting? Just watching you tire me out—managing the company and promoting the restaurant all at once. Your marketing is so effective that it even reached my colleagues. Yesterday, one held up a phone and asked me, Have you eaten at this place before? I thought to myself, Isn't that my family's property?"

Shang Zhitao burst out laughing at his humor.

Seeing her laugh so happily, Xing Yi grinned back at her.

She began to experience the hardships Sun Yu had endured during the early years of her startup—doing everything herself, from social networking to drafting proposals, pitches, execution, and accounting. She had to attend to every single detail personally. Fortunately, Fu Dong learned quickly; after following along on a few projects, he could independently draft proposals and handle execution. By the end of the year, Shang Zhitao gave Fu Dong a raise to ten thousand a month, complete with a year-end bonus, and handed over the newly hired staff for him to lead. In terms of talent management, Shang Zhitao had always been learning from Tracy—learning her boldness and professionalism.

Business at the "Old Couple's Diner" grew better by the day. More and more customers came to eat, line formed outside by evening, and some even ordered takeout. Everything was sprinting in a good direction—except for marriage.

Gradually, rumors began to circulate among the neighbors regarding the Shang family's only daughter. People claimed that since she had returned from Beijing with a massive sum of money to open a company, buy a house, and purchase a car, she had likely served as someone's mistress back in Beijing. Old Shang overheard this by chance, got into a fierce brawl with that neighbor, and cut ties with them completely. Other neighbors gossiped in secret, saying the Shangs' daughter was thirty years old and still had no settled prospects. Over the past two years, she had grown even prettier than before, but her standards were far too high, making it likely she would never get married. There were also kind-hearted ones who introduced potential suitors to Shang Zhitao. Fearing her parents would be put in an awkward position, Shang Zhitao went on the blind dates. The frequency evolved from once every six months to once every two weeks. She felt she had acquired the aura of someone who had seen it all when it came to men. A couple of those men were decent enough, but upon hearing that Shang Zhitao used to do marketing in Beijing and now frequently attended business dinners, they subtly expressed that they weren't a good match.

Shang Zhitao didn't care either way. By the third year of running the company, business was relatively mature. Yet Shang Zhitao felt a sense of crisis, constantly feeling that the company's business model was too singular and its risk resistance too low. In Luan Nian's former words: Anyone who goes all-in on a single project is a fool; smart people know to put their eggs in different baskets.

She looked into various business avenues. One day, seeing Zhang Lei post a photo of himself speaking at a agency conference on his WeChat Moments, she suddenly thought that becoming an ad agency seemed like a good option. Thus, she genuinely began considering getting into ad representation.

However, an ad agency required a massive security deposit, assembling a team, and a large sum of startup capital. She consulted Zhang Lei on how to go about it, and Zhang Lei said to her, "I can act as your guarantor. You can pay a smaller security deposit, but assembling a team and renting a venue requires significant funds. You'll need at least 1.5 million in startup capital."

Looking at the young men under her care waiting to be fed, Shang Zhitao fell into a dilemma. Three years had passed, and although the young men were living well under her leadership, everyone still wanted to venture further.

However, Zhang Lei advised her not to rush: "Policies are always changing. The deposit issue isn't the urgent problem; the urgent problem is the rest of the funding. If you can't manage it, start as a secondary agency first."

"No, if I'm going to do it, I'll do it big. But I can start by managing a few accounts first to test the waters."

While Shang Zhitao was researching the ad agency market, Lumi called her: "My dear sister, I need to ask you for a favor."

"What's wrong? The company is holding an industry summit next month, set to take place in your Harbin. But the previous supplier had a change in management, couldn't navigate things locally in Harbin, and had their proposals rejected three times in a row. If this continues, it'll be too late."

"What do you need me to do? Draft a proposal? Sure."

"No, I want you to take over the whole thing for me."

"What about the approval process?"

"We'll use a special approval process—don't worry."

"Alright." After hanging up the phone, Shang Zhitao sent her a message: "What's the attendance level?"

"From Lingmei, it's department heads; the other attendees are client owners. All high-value clients."

Hearing the attendance level, Shang Zhitao was certain Luan Nian wouldn't be coming, so she readily accepted the business.

It wasn't that she didn't dare to see Luan Nian; she simply felt that Luan Nian was not Xin Zhaozhou. After breaking up with Xin Zhaozhou, the two could still chat and get along nicely. But if she met Luan Nian again, there was no telling how many harsh words she would have to endure from him.

With Shang Zhitao's current temper, she certainly wouldn't let him hurt her freely. One thing would lead to another, and it would turn into a nasty scene.

She led the young men on her team to quickly draft a creative concept, completely overturning the previous plan of holding meetings before sightseeing. Instead, they would go sightseeing first before returning to Harbin for the conference. Shang Zhitao understood Lingmei's sales tactics—it was nothing more than building influence and signing annual framework agreements. Since that was the case, sightseeing first would allow the sales team to fully engage with clients, subtly penetrating their networks before holding the meeting upon return, which would yield far better results.

Visiting during this season was primarily about seeing the snow. She confirmed the true requirements with Lumi several times, fine-tuned the creative concept, and submitted it. Will synced this version of the concept at the executive meeting, waiting for Luan Nian's final decision.

"Done by the previous agency?"

"No, Lumi made an emergency switch to a new one; otherwise, we wouldn't have made it in time."

"Mm. This version is much better—it clearly fits our goals much closely."

"Then shall we execute it like this?"

"Alright." Luan Nian agreed, then turned to his secretary: "Help me coordinate my schedule after New Year's Day. I will participate in this event from start to finish."

Everyone exchanged glances, suddenly feeling tense.

Exiting the meeting, Will stopped Lumi, who was preparing to go downstairs and cut out early: "Where are you going?"

"To buy coffee. Do you want any? Shall I grab one for you?" Lumi appeared utterly respectful.

"Luke made a last-minute decision to participate in this summit. Forget the coffee and go refine the proposal with the supplier!" Will kept a stern face, maintaining his old-fashioned demeanor.

Lumi raised her eyebrows, looking as if she had successfully pulled off a piece of mischief: "I've handed off the proposal. I haven't told you who the specially approved supplier is yet, have I? Look at my memory. Flora Shang."

Even though Shang Zhitao had resigned, Lumi still threw around "Flora" this and "Flora" that in front of Will. Will also remembered the projects he had worked on with Shang Zhitao; he trusted her handling of things, so he let Lumi off to buy coffee.

On the day Lumi arrived in Harbin, Shang Zhitao naturally had to treat her to dinner. When asking what she wanted to eat, Lumi said she wanted Big Zhai's cooking. Thus, the dining location was set at the "Old Couple's Diner."

"Can I bring my old sweetheart along?" "Old sweetheart" was Lumi's newest nickname for Will. She told Shang Zhitao, My old sweetheart is getting up there in age, but his health is still pretty good. I'm serving him hand and foot with good food and drinks, terrified his health might collapse. Utterly unfiltered as always.

"Of course you can!"

"Then it's settled."

A short while later, another message came from Lumi: "The old sweetheart wants to tag two more people along. Is that alright?"

"Sure. You guys head over first—I still have some things to handle here. I need to review all the details for the departure the day after tomorrow."

"No problem! Anyway, I'm close with Mom; whether you come or not makes little difference. See you later!"

Seeing the location pin Will sent him, Luan Nian's brow furrowed slightly.

Beside him, his friend Song Qiuhan asked, "What's wrong?"

"Nothing."

Song Qiuhan was the investor Luan Nian had introduced to Sun Yu back then. Starting last year, he had returned to China as the head of the domestic branch of an investment bank, young and accomplished.

Both men were men of few words. Arriving at the hotel, they dropped off their luggage and headed straight for the restaurant. Only upon arriving at the entrance did they realize it was a modest diner.

Song Qiuhan remarked, "Your company's entertainment standards leave room for improvement."

Luan Nian glanced at him: "When you ate at hole-in-the-wall joints with Lin Chun'er, I didn't see you complaining about them being humble."

The moment Song Qiuhan heard the name "Lin Chun'er," the corners of his lips curled up. Lin Chun'er was his priceless darling; just hearing her name could make him happy.

The two walked inside and saw that Lumi and Will had already arrived. After Luan Nian made brief introductions, he settled into silence. Lumi ordered six dishes; the portions here were substantial, and every single dish was delicious. She explained to Luan Nian, "Luke, it's not that the supplier is stingy—this diner is genuinely fantastic. Family-run, excellent flavor."

The four of them sitting at this table were quite eye-catching. The gentlemen were all respectable and refined, while the sole lady looked a little bold and wild—overall, a pleasing sight to behold.

Lumi got up to help Big Zhai out, mentioning to her in passing, "See the one in the high-end shirt? That's Taozi's and my former big boss—he has a terrible temper."

Big Zhai nodded: "He does look like someone with a bad temper. But he sure looks sharp—you can tell he's a boss at a glance."

Lumi let out a chuckle and returned to the table.

When Big Zhai served the dishes, Luan Nian stood up to take them, saying to her, "Thank you."

"You're welcome. Come eat here often in the future."

"Alright."

Once the meal began, drinks were poured. Lumi chattered endlessly with superficial chatter, giving Luan Nian a headache. The bell at the diner entrance chimed, and the door creaked open, letting in a gust of cold air. Lumi let out a loud shout: "Shang Zhitao!" and rushed forward.

Luan Nian turned his head and saw Shang Zhitao, whom he had not seen in years. She was like a solitary red plum tree standing in a vast, thousand-mile snowfield, blooming proudly all on her own.

Shang Zhitao's gaze met his, then drifted calmly away.

Wiping the past clean in a single stroke.